The Dragon Heretics: Awakening (Official Announcement) (Demo)

[boldpaste2]

[SIZE=12pt]Hello everyone! It has been a long time coming but I am finally ready to release my demo and officially announce The Dragon Heretics Awakening! What’s with the awakening part of the name? Well, The Dragon Heretics already exists and to be honest, I’m embarrassed to have released a train wreck of a game. I listened to my feedback (also when I attempted greenlight some time back) and applied everyone’s suggestions into the 6th version. This project has seen 6 total restarts from scratch (and tons of my own money) to get it to where I wanted it today![/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]>>original project thread<<[/SIZE]

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Spoiler

[SIZE=12pt]The Dragon Heretics Awakening doesn’t play like a lot of RM games I have seen. This was purely by design. I wanted the project to attempt different concepts not commonly employed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]For starters, this game will not hold your hand (well, outside of the tutorial really). It is up to the player to find secrets and be smart about their next course of action.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Got a key that unlocks a door? Maybe you found something a quest giver has lost? Well, the door won’t unlock itself and the quest giver won’t search you for the item. You have to do it yourself with the “Use” system.[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=12pt]Want to walk past sleeping guards to avoid a fight? Sneak past them! Want to stab your enemies in the back? Sneak up to them! Want to sneak past all the enemies and only fight the boss? JUST SNEAK![/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]You can literally sneak past anyone. The game doesn’t punish you for doing so (but you don’t get rewarded either).[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=12pt]You heard me right! No more pesky random encounters or complicated commands! With Khas’ Sapphire Action System (with add-ons) you can hack and slash down every opponent you can find. Each of the major characters has their own unique style of fighting and requires you to consider each combat before jumping right on in.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Want to get your hands on some rare stuff, or perhaps earn a little money? You can use the hunt system to take marks from the hunt board, locate your target out in the vast world, and turn it in for chips. (Chips are a special currency for hunts).[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=12pt]          ·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Huge parallax world and larges dungeons to explore.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Side quests that you sure won’t forget easily.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Map system to go with the very large maps and dungeons.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Camp system. If you find a campfire, your party can take a break and talk about the state of things. This also fully recovers the party.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]Region oriented dialog display.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]·         [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]And a bunch of other stuff that doesn’t come to mind.[/SIZE]

Spoiler

[SIZE=12pt]This may be a bit tricky to explain. The Dragon Heretics Awakening has 4 separate stories that all run in parallel with each other. Consider this; you encounter one of the protagonists in a cave. How did they get their? What where they doing beforehand and what is their reason for being there? You won’t find out until you unlock that specific character's story line and find out for yourself. This will leave a lot of plot holes, but at some point (probably in a different story line) that plot hole will be filled in and stamped out. When you play all 4 stories, you then learn the overall picture.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]What good is a story if you don’t know the time and place you play in? I am not too good at explaining this right off the back so I’ll give you the super simple, easy to understand, dumbed down version of the setting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The game takes place in the Kingdom of Espar. Not only do the residence of the region live there, but also a race known as dragons. Simple right? Well, these two communities don’t exactly get along. In fact, one is trying to wipe out the other. With dragons on the brink of extinction, they used an artifact known as the eye (explained in Kaze’s tale), to take on a human appearance and hide in secret villages.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt](This doesn’t mean I got lazy and didn’t actually include dragons. There are dragons in here) =)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Not all humans hated the dragons however. Those who commune or live in harmony with dragons are branded as heretics. 4 protagonist become entangled in a secret plot to use the eyes power to wipe all dragons and heretics from the face of the earth. Well, I think that’s the secret plot, plot twister? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]I won’t be getting into each protagonists story individually. As I said, they each run in parallel but they each of a specific story unique to them.[/SIZE]

Spoiler

[SIZE=12pt]I will only talk about the main 4 as the story heavily evolves around them. I also don’t want to reveal too much about the villain Yami. (No not you Dr. Yami. I came up with the name well before I heard about you. I get this comment a lot, had to say it. ^^)[/SIZE]

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Spoiler

VIDEOS

Spoiler

Nothing here yet, I kept the game under the hood for to long for anyone to know to much about it. If you would like the game and want to post some fan art I would love to do that ^^.

As for the mod bits, that's for the voice acting function. This game is capable of voice acting but because I don't have any voice actors on hand so I disabled it in the demo. However, this feature can be turned back on in the console. If anyone wants to voice act some (or all) of the characters, I can put it here as a mod. (I wont actually include it in the project as this is just a demo). If you would like to voice act some of this stuff, send me a message and I will be more then glad to send you the sheet that labels out the dialog and the associate voice files.

Spoiler

Because this is a demo, the following features have been disabled.

~Camp

~Achievements

~All Audio Options (excluding voice sound option. I know some people cant stand system beeps)

[SIZE=12pt]Resolution: 1024 X 576[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Storage: 500 MB[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Processor: 2.2 Ghz or better.[/SIZE]

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 >>Download<< 450MB (No RTP)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]** If you find the game to be acting very glitch, such as the dialog not displaying correctly, run the game from the shortcut. It will run it with a higher priority. When the fps drops below 30, some parallel processes will time out with other processes. I have yet to see this happen on any machines yet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Credits[/SIZE]

CreditsIf you find something incorrect or I forgot to add you, please contactme so I can update and correct this. ====================================Art------------------------------------[Copyright](C) 2015 DEGICA Co., LTD;VXAce RTP (licensed)XP RTP (licensed)Sprites---------------Looseleaf Mack Character Creator; geocities.jp/kurororo4/looseleaf/Character Art---------------Sai (radiostarkiller) (c) Siren Games 2015Fog---------------boldpaste2 (c) Siren Games 2015Tilesets---------------[Copyright](C) 2015 DEGICA Co., LTD;Celianna - Parralax Tiles & Ancient Dungeon - http://pixanna.nl/Particle Effects---------------Khas - http://arcthunder.site40.net/orb - boldpaste2 (c) Siren Games 2015System HUD---------------boldpaste2 (c) Siren Games 2015====================================Music------------------------------------[Copyright](C) 2015 DEGICA Co., LTD;JDB ArtistgyrowolfDS+ ResourcesScythuzIron CrocJoel Steudler====================================Sound Effects------------------------------------[Copyright](C) 2015 DEGICA Co., LTD;VXAce RTP (licensed)XP RTP (licensed)====================================Icons------------------------------------Lorc; http://game-icons.net/====================================Scripts------------------------------------? $D13x - CORE - Dekita? $D13x - Common Event Keys - DekitaSapphire Action System IV - Khas Arcthunder+ Wide Line of Site Addon - boldpaste2+ Sneak damage Addon - boldpaste2+ Plane update fix - HudellMap Effects - Zeus81Fullscreen++ - Zeus81Multiple Fogs; Woratana Ported by NecromusInsane Anti Lag - TheoAllenYanfly Engine Ace - Yanfly+ System Options+ Ace Message System+ Ace Message System+ Spawn Event+ Event Chase PlayerProximity Detection - V.M of D.TAutosave - V.M of D.TYami Engine Ace - Dr. Yami+ Overlay Mapping+ Pop MessageGlobal Achievments - AdiktuzMikoVariable Bars and Numbers - LecodeWeather EX - Moghunter 

Special thanks to the following for testing the game for issues. You guys found some important glitches I had overlooked ^^.

-Vox Novus

-LTN Games

-AtlasAtrium (steam)

-SatanicalPriest (steam)


Q&A

Spoiler

These are some common questions I get so if you have a question, check right here first ^^

Why cant I see this or why cant I do that.

If you are still in chapter 1, everything is brought up slowly to introduce the player to the mechanics of the game. Stuff like HP, Money, Battle, will all be turned on one at a time as you complete objectives. This is usually the first question I got from testers.

Why cant I transfer maps!

Because this is an open world type of game, I restricted the game to a confined area within the demo.

I bout potions but they don't appear in my bar.

The small potion that houses your usable items such as potion is the "Flash Use" system. If you run out of potion it set's it to empty. Use "D" to toggle back to potion when you obtain more.

Ashe keeps killing me! Her attacks are way to fast!

Kaze drops a hint before the fight starts. You can't approach all fights like you would with normal enemies. Some requires you to probe for weaknesses.

If you still cant figure it out, this spoil reveals the how to. (the only how to I will provide).

When the fight starts, run from Ashe around the platform in a hexagon pattern. Wait for her to tire out then go in to attack. Note that after a certain amount of attacks she will resume the assualt.

 

[Allusion]

Ohhhh this looks (and sounds) interesting! I'm a sucker for multi-pov stories and the plot sounds like it's full of potential! The graphics look amazing (Sai's art omg yay! <333) and I'm really loving some of the original systems I'm seeing. I'm totally keeping an eye on this, and totally supporting it! Can't wait for the demo! 

 

[Scythuz]

Good to see this thread up, I'm looking forward to the demo!

 

[boldpaste2]

Hey folks! I just uploaded to demo and adjusted the credits to thank the testers ^^. They caught stuff I have seriously overlooked.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Oooh... So demo's finally out... It looks awesome from the screenies.

 

[Kes]

Only played a few minutes, so this isn't feedback, just a couple of queries.

I tried to adjust the volume on the sounds because I know that having that sound for every single piece of dialogue is going to drive me demented, but cannot get it altered in the Config part of the menu.  Has this been disabled for the demo?

Is there any way to check the details of the quests picked up?  At the moment I can remember where to find the wolf because I've just read the flyer, but when I went to check the details in the 'Use' part of the menu, it just got an SE and nothing else.

I cannot see where to check how much gold I have picked up from chests.  Even in the shop scene it doesn't tell me.  Where is that info?

Space bar doesn't seem to work all the time.  Has it been disabled in menus?

btw, the guard at the bottom of the village talks about someone who has found an ancient tomb, but some pages are missing.  I therefore assume that it should be ancient tome.

Some of the fadeouts/fadeins are very long e.g. going into the pub and for the mini cut scene with the girl who gives the cat quest and when you interact with the cat.  Have you got the fadeout/fadein commands but not set the fade of the transfer event to 'none'? Having two fades would account for the lengthy time.  I must be honest, I do not see the point of having the separate cut scene with the girl.  It does tend to make things drag a bit, as also with the cat (found it twice so far)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

According to what is written on the original post all audio options are disabled for the demo.

In my experience, using fade out then transfwr with fading will actually make you see the fade in of the transfer then it blacks out again, so if it was indeed done, you will notice it.

 

[Kes]

According to what is written on the original post all audio options are disabled for the demo.

That's a blow because I really don't think I can stand to play it with that noise going for every single dialogue box, on top of the sound effect for finding every single item.  

In my experience, using fade out then transfwr with fading will actually make you see the fade in of the transfer then it blacks out again, so if it was indeed done, you will notice it.

Strange, then, because the time the screen is black for transfers seems far longer than normal.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Maybe it has waits... I do it on my current project.. Fade out before transfer then wait for a few seconds before fade in...

Though I did it because it was cutscenes

PS: my experience on the above btw is for using the normal fade option, dont know what happens if you chose the other..

 

[boldpaste2]

Only played a few minutes, so this isn't feedback, just a couple of queries.

I tried to adjust the volume on the sounds because I know that having that sound for every single piece of dialogue is going to drive me demented, but cannot get it altered in the Config part of the menu.  Has this been disabled for the demo?

-It is disabled for the demo (if you don't like the beeping, you can set the voice sound to "non" which should stop all the beeping.

Is there any way to check the details of the quests picked up?  At the moment I can remember where to find the wolf because I've just read the flyer, but when I went to check the details in the 'Use' part of the menu, it just got an SE and nothing else.

-For quests, I decided not to create a log system but rather let the player discover things for themselves (but I also made sure they were not to hard to remember). As for hunts, using the mark should have told you what the mark was. I guess I need to fix that

EDIT: The game has a camp system, If you find a camp fire you can use their to rest and the protagonists that are with you will talk about what they are doing (if you need a reminder). There are no camp fires in the demo areas but the objective is pretty straight forward.

I cannot see where to check how much gold I have picked up from chests.  Even in the shop scene it doesn't tell me.  Where is that info?

-The HUD gets unlocked in chapter 1. chapter 1 is mostly a tutorial. keep playing ^^

Space bar doesn't seem to work all the time.  Has it been disabled in menus?

-Space bar doesn't serve a function (unless interacting with events)

btw, the guard at the bottom of the village talks about someone who has found an ancient tomb, but some pages are missing.  I therefore assume that it should be ancient tome.

-Ah thanks for pointing that out ^^

Some of the fadeouts/fadeins are very long e.g. going into the pub and for the mini cut scene with the girl who gives the cat quest and when you interact with the cat.  Have you got the fadeout/fadein commands but not set the fade of the transfer event to 'none'? Having two fades would account for the lengthy time.  I must be honest, I do not see the point of having the separate cut scene with the girl.  It does tend to make things drag a bit, as also with the cat (found it twice so far)

-I am not using the fade out / fade in commands for transfers. Also, because RGSS3 is bit on the slow side, it takes a while for it to draw these maps. if I fade in early, you will see the map appear as red and green for a bit. What I do for transfer is show a picture (hidden) and slide it up. Then the map transfers. When all the processing is complete, it slides it and deletes it.

As for cut scenes, I do use fade in fade out. I fade in once all the event positioning, set ups, etc are completed.

 

[VideoWizard]

I got a strange command about needing a password to unlock the console in the menu screen. I also got knocked into the other screen by monsters that spawn too close to the edge of the screen. Sometimes they are there, and sometimes they aren't. Maybe I'm just bad at the game, but I end up running out of potions and therefore dying in the cave. Finally, potions don't go nearly as far as one might think. You don't get five chances to get through the cave, you get like two. 

Can Kaze really only do stealth and sword attacks? Not even a weak fire spell due to being part dragon?

Also, I don't think it's a good idea to disable basic features for the demo. It's not showing a completed section of the game, but one that is locking out features. Especially the sound options.

 

[BCj]

What happened to your original luna menu?


Also, why can't I see the amount of shards I have in the menu?


Also not a big fan of the annoying sound everytime a messagebox opens. And preferably I would've had a messagebox at one place instead of jumping all over the screen, but that's just my eyes having troubles with it since my surgeries and all


Oh, and why do the characters already have their story written out for them on their selection screen? Why not just some characteristics? I think it's a bit too much info because it was shown right after selecting him.

 

[boldpaste2]

@VideoWizard. the console comes up when you press ~. it is used to do test mode stuff (outside of test mode). there is also a merchant outside the cave. if you find yourself running low on potion you can go and get more. Also, you don't have to fight every monster you see. All monsters are completely optional. If you were attacking everything that moved, you should have plenty of money. As for attacks, there are three standard attacks that each character can do. A form of basic attack, the stealth attack, and power attack (power attack unlocks in Ch3). I locked out places and features that where incomplete. for example, I cant exactly show map data for a map that is not technically done as for the sound options, the reason those are disabled is because I plan to remove them out some point (except for the voice sound)

@BCJ That was version 5, with version 6, I am trying to stream line the amount of scripts I am using . As for the shards, that gets unlocked during chapter 1 when you talk to boris. chapter 1 is primarily a tutorial slowly bringing everything into play. You can turn the mesagebox sounds off by setting the voice sound to none. As for the story on the selection screen, that is to quickly introduce you to their background story and plays from there (rather then attempting to explain the whole thing all at once).

 

[Kes]

as for the sound options, ...  I plan to remove them out some point (except for the voice sound)

Wise decision, imo.  I think far more players would be annoyed by the sound every text box than would find it fun.

 

[boldpaste2]

Hey guys!

I uploaded a video of  the entire demo if you want to check it out that way. Also, you can see how to effectively use sneak damage to minimize your need for potions when attempting the dungeon run.

 

[Bonkers]

Heyos.  Just starting to play your demo here.  I'm finding quite a few bugs that I am writing up, the most amusing of which is the disappearing/reappearing chicken.  The funny thing is he is there, and then when you touch the stairs and go down he vanishes each time.  Really odd that it happens when he is below the tree, and isolated only to that area.  I'll make a total list and report back with them all.  

EDIT: First Hour

When talking to the man on the bridge the wolf nearby immediately agros while in conversation and gets in a free hit when the cutscene concludes.

The chicken vanishes only on the tiles to the bottom of the tree, and when the stairs are used.

I can phase through the cat before the cutscene in akward positions.

I get clipping when I walk along the sides of the lower walls in town.  Everything is on elevated platforms so it becomes hard not to notice.

There is 8 directional movement for my gamepad, but sadly I cannot call the menu nor navigate the menu and activate choices with it- only the keyboard.

This is also true for the titlescreen.

Major concern:  A wolf will knock you back in this screen every time you enter from the bottom.  This means I cannot get back to town to heal.

I move down.  Screen loads.  Wolf is ontop of me and knocks me back with a hit. Back to the bottom of this screen.

 

[boldpaste2]

Heyos.  Just starting to play your demo here.  I'm finding quite a few bugs that I am writing up, the most amusing of which is the disappearing/reappearing chicken.  The funny thing is he is there, and then when you touch the stairs and go down he vanishes each time.  Really odd that it happens when he is below the tree, and isolated only to that area.  I'll make a total list and report back with them all.  

EDIT: First Hour

When talking to the man on the bridge the wolf nearby immediately agros while in conversation and gets in a free hit when the cutscene concludes.

The chicken vanishes only on the tiles to the bottom of the tree, and when the stairs are used.

I can phase through the cat before the cutscene in akward positions.

I get clipping when I walk along the sides of the lower walls in town.  Everything is on elevated platforms so it becomes hard not to notice.

There is 8 directional movement for my gamepad, but sadly I cannot call the menu nor navigate the menu and activate choices with it- only the keyboard.

This is also true for the titlescreen.

Major concern:  A wolf will knock you back in this screen every time you enter from the bottom.  This means I cannot get back to town to heal.

 

I move down.  Screen loads.  Wolf is ontop of me and knocks me back with a hit. Back to the bottom of this screen.

Thanks for the feedback ^^.

-There is 8 directional movement for my gamepad, but sadly I cannot call the menu nor navigate the menu and activate choices with it- only the keyboard.

As of right now, there is no gamepad support. A lot of features are looking for specific keystrokes not native to rpg maker. I plan to add support back in.

- A wolf will knock you back in this screen every time you enter from the bottom.  This means I cannot get back to town to heal.

Looks like I missed one, which map is this? (The wolf is on a random move route, if you keep trying, he will face a different direction).

-The chicken vanishes only on the tiles to the bottom of the tree, and when the stairs are used.

I think this occurs when you take the stairs and the walls adjusts what layers its on. Guess I should give the chicken a specific route to follow.

 

[Indrah]

I gave this a try. A bit mixed for me. I can tell there's a lot of love and effort put into it, but I have a lot of issues with it on a gameplay and general engagement level. More feedback in the video below, but if NOTHING ELSE, fix the gameplay balance (it's unfairly demanding for how little control the player has over it).

Here's the LP. I stopped when I died during the first boss and could not be assed to continue. 

(Note: I'm by default sweary-ish and rude, so take away around 3 degrees of that when extracting actual criticism XD)




Anyway, good luck with the project! Don't let my grumpy demanding ass derail you from what's obviously a lot of love and effort put into this.

 

[RainbowGrenade]

it's so beautiful! *o*

 

[boldpaste2]

I gave this a try. A bit mixed for me. I can tell there's a lot of love and effort put into it, but I have a lot of issues with it on a gameplay and general engagement level. More feedback in the video below, but if NOTHING ELSE, fix the gameplay balance (it's unfairly demanding for how little control the player has over it).

Here's the LP. I stopped when I died during the first boss and could not be assed to continue. 

(Note: I'm by default sweary-ish and rude, so take away around 3 degrees of that when extracting actual criticism XD)




Anyway, good luck with the project! Don't let my grumpy demanding ass derail you from what's obviously a lot of love and effort put into this.

Thank Indrah! Ill check it out after work. Your feedback is greatly appreciated =)

EDIT:

-Ok, I watched the video and I agree with most points you made. The battle (part) of the game is the reason I have redone the project SOOO many times. It is my bane. every time I implement a battle system, I think what you think, and try again. (thinking about ditching the ABS aspect after watching you now). (also, the battle system wasn't really "fleshed out", for example, when you are not fighting, your hp should auto regenerate but it appears to be a bug that prevents it).

-The story for this is kinda complicated for me to work out (because of the parallel story) and I know you don't like Kaze so much, didn't expect you to, that was the idea. But ill work on it to see if I can clean it up a bit. I think you would like Lavi the best (guessing from your personality).

-I will up the move speed a bit (and ditch the pixel movement) (especially now that im thinking about ditching the ABS)

-I know the mapping and presentation isn't everything, hence the constant do overs.

-I will also clean up the other things you had mentioned (some of those things were the fillers or incomplete such as the dragons).

End note, I didn't find any of your comments offensive or anything like that. You made some completely valid points and (from all my testers) gave me the biggest direction I needed to take. I will keep making changes and revisions until I can get you to enjoy it. That is my goal. Thank you for taking the time to play this and give me some very valuable feedback.