The Knights of Aurora

[The_Exiled_One]

Here's the game adaptation of my novel on Wattpad!

And as a heads up, there are themes of sex, drugs and alcohol, violence, a lot of that one, religion, and philosophy that are to be implemented into the game, so proceed with caution when I actually do put that into the game if you're offended with that. Don't care? By all means, have fun then!

I updated the game and posted the new link where the old one was. New updates will happen when enough content is ready.

Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1nit8tkaorr9dk2/The+Knights+of+Aurora.exe

And just as another heads up to people, the side quest that you can pick up along the way of the demo CAN'T be done; I'm still working on the best way to do that. 

Story:

The legendary mercenary group, The Knights of Aurora, made up of Zachariah, Tialis, X, and Alger, must go on a contract that they thought would be easy, by their standards. The job? They have to hunt down whoever has been bringing demons into the Mortal Lands and elven continent of Fiaith.  But then they discover what has happened to them when their targets seems to have vanished near the end of their contract. They soon discover what has happened to their home and what has happened to all that they used to know. Friends are dead, allies know appear to be mortal enemies, their names become synonymous to death, hatred, and fear, and it seem that the world is changing for the future, and all for the worst. Now, they have to reclaim the world that used to be their home.

Characters:

Zachariah: The leader of the Knights of Aurora. Zachariah possesses the red symbiote Artemis and has no memory of his childhood before meeting the others, except of the fact that he lived in a forest in Aurora for some time and somehow managed to survive all alone. Despite that, Zachariah has founded a strong bond with his unrelated brothers and made them into who they are today as mercenaries.

Artemis: Zachariah's symbiote is the wisest of the symbiotes and the most vague as they come; his answers seldom answer Zachariah's questions with a straightforward answer and is rather sarcastic with the young man.

X: The tactician, strategist, and planner of the Knights of Aurora. X has the blue symbiote of Corvo. X was abandoned by his parents who descended from Anria, and left him in the city of Alexia to fend for himself because they simply couldn't provide for him anymore and wanted for him to live somewhere better than their country of deserts and slavery, but X didn't know that; they just dumped him in Alexia after they shortly arrived there to make a shipment from home. From the callous abandonment by his parents, the suffering that X experienced before he met his brothers, and the years as a mercenary, have made X into a icy-cold man that is virtually emotionless and only shows signs, as small as they are, of happiness to his brothers; family is family after all, but X is still hesitant of his brothers as his family. Despite that, X does his job ruthlessly, effectively, and to the letter on a razor-sharp schedule.



Corvo: X's symbiote, is beyond annoying; he makes Tialis look like the most pleasant person on the planet by comparison. No wonder X is so irritable at times. 

Alger: The assassin and forward assaulter of the Knights of Aurora. When you see a massive man with an almost equally large claymore strapped onto his back, you'd never expect him to be an assassin, but Alger has a tool that allows him to be an effective assassin and fighter, a symbiote that allows him to become invisible. Alger is actually a pretty nice guy and overall a positive guy, unless he's feeling impatient or complaining about something like the frigid cold or blazing heat. Alger's parents both died from disease in the primes of their lives. They told Alger to leave them to their fates and to live. He did that, after a teary goodbye to his loving mother and father that he never wanted to leave, but he knew that it was his only choice, and the only way to do what they told him to do: live. Alger fights with blood-lust, passion, rage, and energy that is partially fueled by him, but also by his partner.



Veil: Alger's symbiote is what causes him to feel his anger and blood-lust in combat. She loves the thrill of a kill, the shadows of a moonless night, the feeling of an assassination, and the sensation of someone's life fading from their body. Despite this seemingly violent nature, she's very kind and respectful to her host; she's also very playful when she interacts with Alger.

Tialis: The scout for the Knights of Aurora, and the only elf of the group. Tialis's parents, had the most violent fate dealt to them; they were butchered right in front of his eyes when he and his parents were on the road looking for a new place to call home. Bandits had ambushed them and cut his mother and father to pieces. Not even the enhanced abilities of an elf could save the two. All Tialis could do was run. He was completely destroyed, but he hid this inner turmoil behind a mask of arrogance and sarcasm due to his pride and a desire to feel no weakness, perhaps due to the upbringing of his pure-blooded heritage. After Tialis met his brothers as children in Alexia, Tialis soon began to heal on the inside; he has lost a family and had gained a new one. His prideful and sarcastic nature is still prevalent in him, but it's no longer a mask. But what may be a way to still cope with the death of his parents is the alcohol, pure-blooded elves are very hard to get drunk, the women, and the adrenaline from his high-risk job as a mercenary. Despite his flaws and vices, Tialis still defends and loves his brothers, no matter how many jibes that they interchange between each other.



Anya: As Tialis's white symbiote, Anya acts like a motherly figure to Tialis, a source of guidance and advice, and a moral compass, who can only influence him so much of the time. She's loving and caring of her host, but she still can only do so much to someone like Tialis.

Setting:

The Mortal Lands of the planet Ebonheart, which are divided between the kingdoms of Casthar, Aurora, Lueis, and Anria. The elven lands of Fiaith exist across the ocean that exists as the gap between the two continents. 

Credits:

Scripts:

Yanfly

Galv

Khas

Neon Black

Modern Algebra

Graphics, Battlers, Icons, Animations, and etc.:

Archeia

Bougainvillea

CarmenMCS

Ails

Holder

Izark

rgangsta

hiddenone

Kaduki

Knight9910

Ying

Timmah

Jalen

Jennie Crabtree

Jisatsu

Lunara

ximenia

To help further this project, please go to these links to help me with any current requests of mine if you have the time and ability to do so. And by the way, please comment and express any opinions and criticisms that you may have about my game, as long as they are constructive and detailed enough so that I actually what you're talking about; I can only read poorly-written internet grammar so much. 

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/33171-rpg-maker-vx-ace-rtp-style-face-requests/

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/34971-title-screen-wanted/#entry344675

 

[hiromu656]

Did you mean to have a Download for the game? Can't really do the poll otherwise.

 

[The_Exiled_One]

Thought I put the download link in. Ugh, let me fix that. 

Okay, it's been fixed.

 

[Sato1999]

I wanted to see the Battlers i made for ya in action but...

946 MB! THAT'S ****IN HUGE PAL!

On a side note:

YOU NEED TO BUMP YOUR GAME TOPIC!

OR ELSE NO ONE IS GONNA FIND IT!

will see if i can handle the download...

On a 2nd Side Note:

I changed my username to YangFly.

So please creditr me as "YangFly Aka Jitter"

 

[The_Exiled_One]

I wanted to see the Battlers i made for ya in action but...

946 MB! THAT'S ****IN HUGE PAL!

On a side note:

YOU NEED TO BUMP YOUR GAME TOPIC!

OR ELSE NO ONE IS GONNA FIND IT!

will see if i can handle the download...

On a 2nd Side Note:

I changed my username to YangFly.

So please creditr me as "YangFly Aka Jitter"

The reason that it's so big is because there's a lot of music files in there that haven't been used, won't be used, and I'm still thinking of the purpose of some of them. I promise to fix that by getting rid of probably 99% of those, seeing as how they don't need to be used yet. 

 

[Kes]

I was hoping that the file size had been reduced, as I wanted to download and try this out, but I see it's til nearly 1Gb.

For the music files, I am assuming that they are mp3 files.  Could I suggest that you use Audacity (it's free) to convert these to ogg vorbis files.  Typically that will reduce each file by 60-75% without loss of sound quality.  If they are wav files then the saving will be even bigger.  Doing that will reduce the file size even if you are not yet in a position to know which file you are keeping and which you are ditching. 

 

[The_Exiled_One]

I was hoping that the file size had been reduced, as I wanted to download and try this out, but I see it's til nearly 1Gb.

For the music files, I am assuming that they are mp3 files.  Could I suggest that you use Audacity (it's free) to convert these to ogg vorbis files.  Typically that will reduce each file by 60-75% without loss of sound quality.  If they are wav files then the saving will be even bigger.  Doing that will reduce the file size even if you are not yet in a position to know which file you are keeping and which you are ditching. 

I'm terribly sorry. I've been meaning on getting on to that, but I've been putting it off a lot lately; not often that I postpone things this late. I'll plan to have it fixed by Thursday night at the latest. Sorry if I've inconvenienced you.

And just out of curiosity, how long would it take to convert those; would I be able to group them all together for conversion, or would I have to do them all individually? 

 

[bgillisp]

I have unrestricted internet, so downloading it now (I managed to download Witcher 2 from gog.com, and that was 20 GB, this is nothing). I probably won't get to play it til the weekend though, so won't have anything for you until then at the earliest.

 

[Kes]

 would I be able to group them all together for conversion, or would I have to do them all individually? 

Nope, sorry, it has to be individually.

 

[The_Exiled_One]

I have unrestricted internet, so downloading it now (I managed to download Witcher 2 from gog.com, and that was 20 GB, this is nothing). I probably won't get to play it til the weekend though, so won't have anything for you until then at the earliest.

Thanks. I'll still post the "compressed" version with two days for Ks. Word of advice though: no old glitches will be fixed in the smaller version, nor will any new content be added; it'll just be smaller for people to get. 

 

[The_Exiled_One]

Nope, sorry, it has to be individually.

That's fine. If I either have the originals, which might still be in the format that you say, or not, then I'll just do them all; if I can convert them all to MP3 within a few hours of tedium, then I can certainly do it again!

 

[Matchitza]

Here's how to reduce your game size, be careful that it might break your game if not done correctly:

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/3799-releasing-games-without-needing-rtp-lightweight-and-easy/

this is a very old tutorial. I have done this tutorial and it decrease my game size massively..

Edit: I wrong voted in the poll i was supposed to press "Yes" in if you like the game or not..

 

[The_Exiled_One]

Here's how to reduce your game size, be careful that it might break your game if not done correctly:

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/3799-releasing-games-without-needing-rtp-lightweight-and-easy/

this is a very old tutorial. I have done this tutorial and it decrease my game size massively..

Edit: I wrong voted in the poll i was supposed to press "Yes" in if you like the game or not..

I've already converted all of my music to OGG; it was painfully tedious, but at least I had the Pizza Party Podcast to listen to.  

At this rate, the smaller version will definitely be up by tomorrow. I just need to test a few things to see if they work as far as the music.

And thanks for voting, except for the part about voting no accidentally, but I did laugh at your comment for that.

Out of curiosity, what'd you like about my characters? Considering how you did say you liked them.

 

[Matchitza]

I've already converted all of my music to OGG; it was painfully tedious, but at least I had the Pizza Party Podcast to listen to.

At this rate, the smaller version will definitely be up by tomorrow. I just need to test a few things to see if they work as far as the music.

And thanks for voting, except for the part about voting no accidentally, but I did laugh at your comment for that.

Out of curiosity, what'd you like about my characters? Considering how you did say you liked them.

I like their facesets, and their names  . Are you planning to port this game into another language  ?

Suggestion for your game: Make parts of it (according to how long the story in your game is) , that should reduce the file size..

 

[The_Exiled_One]

No, I don't think that I'll port this myself into another language, considering how I'm American and don't speak other languages fluently enough. I've done your suggestion by doing the music files, but I probably won't do your trick until I'm fully done with the game. 

UPDATE: I just posted the smaller version. This one is only a little over 600 MB. 

 

[Matchitza]

ok

 

[The_Exiled_One]

ok

XD What's with the face? 

 

[bgillisp]

Had a chance to play it through today, here is what I noticed:

Spoiler

First, I think some of the problem with the file size is your file has many unused directories. I don't think you need to include every steam workshop file you ever downloaded with it. Delete those, and it might help.

Started it out, some sentence fragments early on. Example: One line is just "Depending on if they were contracted or not." That is not a complete sentence, though with a comma after the last sentence and a lower case d it would work. I see a few of those in the intro and throughout the game, though it did appear to get better the further into the game I went (practice)?

I did see a couple lines that just literally made no sense. The one that stood out the most:

All of the death that surrounds them, it stopped being new to these men, not even after the age of fifteen.

I had to read that three times, and I only think I know what you are trying to say here. I'd suggest a reword.

Ok, past the intro now. I go to talk to your companions, and notice that they stop moving after I talk to them. However, if I talk to them again, they start moving again? Could a switch be off? It really makes no sense for them to move for a while, then everyone freeze once I talk to them. Maybe you forgot a move route on the case for after you spoke to them. Also, what is with the fade out/fade in after talking to them. You aren't resetting or removing any sprites, that is not needed at all.

Head up to take on the bandits, 5 bandits for a first fight? Especially when they do 33% of my HP in one turn, and it takes me 2 turns to KO a single bandit. If I hadn't gotten lucky and discovered the ability that makes me counterattack all attacks and dodge all attacks I would have lost that battle and it would have been over. If you intend the player to use that ability, make sure they know of it. If you want them to slowly learn it, an easier fight is needed. As it is, that fight is probably going to make many players rage-quit in it's current form.

Got to the bandit leader, chose to let him live. Some of the text goes off screen in his response, so I could not read it.

Head back, the others joined me. Why was the leader of the group only level 1, and the others level 3? Why would they follow someone of lower level? Levels are usually associated with power in most RPG games, so if you are controlling the leader he should be the highest level person. I'd at least make him level 3 at the minimum, maybe even 5. As it is, very few games except old DQ games, Wizardry and D and D games start you at level 1, even most FF games start you at level 5 or higher.

Looked at the others skills. Invisibility's skill description is cut off. May want to check that all your skills fit on screen.

When an enemy uses Mend in battle, it says recovered HP 242. Recovered 242 HP looks better, may want to change it.

The Big Bee is animated when it dies. Looks like it is hopping off the ground.

I did notice in the forest that a lot of your transfers are right on the transfer tile to return to the previous map. That is considered a no-no by many players, because if you chance your mind you have to move one step forward then one step back, just to exit. Move up the tile you transfer to by one, and you will fix that.

Hit the blockade, and then noticed I have to navigate a forest maze.

Wander the maze for a while, how do I get out of this thing? Plus I get a fight about every 10 steps it feels like. I finally start running away from all fights, and find an exit on the right, but it warps me to a room where I'm facing north? I wasn't expecting that, and still had the right arrow held down so I ran into another transfer event, which takes me back to the beginning?

I quit at that point. I didn't feel like redoing the maze. I'd lower the encounter rate (maybe make it take twice as many steps as it does now) as it was really frustrating at that point. Also check all your transfer events, some of them seem to not be taking you to the right place.

Overall, promising start, some typos. Needs more to explain the system to a new player and more to ease a new player into the game. The maze was frustrating. Was unable to figure out how to save ever while playing, so if I go back I have to start over:

 

[The_Exiled_One]

Had a chance to play it through today, here is what I noticed:

Spoiler

First, I think some of the problem with the file size is your file has many unused directories. I don't think you need to include every steam workshop file you ever downloaded with it. Delete those, and it might help.

Started it out, some sentence fragments early on. Example: One line is just "Depending on if they were contracted or not." That is not a complete sentence, though with a comma after the last sentence and a lower case d it would work. I see a few of those in the intro and throughout the game, though it did appear to get better the further into the game I went (practice)?

I did see a couple lines that just literally made no sense. The one that stood out the most:

All of the death that surrounds them, it stopped being new to these men, not even after the age of fifteen.

I had to read that three times, and I only think I know what you are trying to say here. I'd suggest a reword.

Ok, past the intro now. I go to talk to your companions, and notice that they stop moving after I talk to them. However, if I talk to them again, they start moving again? Could a switch be off? It really makes no sense for them to move for a while, then everyone freeze once I talk to them. Maybe you forgot a move route on the case for after you spoke to them. Also, what is with the fade out/fade in after talking to them. You aren't resetting or removing any sprites, that is not needed at all.

Head up to take on the bandits, 5 bandits for a first fight? Especially when they do 33% of my HP in one turn, and it takes me 2 turns to KO a single bandit. If I hadn't gotten lucky and discovered the ability that makes me counterattack all attacks and dodge all attacks I would have lost that battle and it would have been over. If you intend the player to use that ability, make sure they know of it. If you want them to slowly learn it, an easier fight is needed. As it is, that fight is probably going to make many players rage-quit in it's current form.

Got to the bandit leader, chose to let him live. Some of the text goes off screen in his response, so I could not read it.

Head back, the others joined me. Why was the leader of the group only level 1, and the others level 3? Why would they follow someone of lower level? Levels are usually associated with power in most RPG games, so if you are controlling the leader he should be the highest level person. I'd at least make him level 3 at the minimum, maybe even 5. As it is, very few games except old DQ games, Wizardry and D and D games start you at level 1, even most FF games start you at level 5 or higher.

Looked at the others skills. Invisibility's skill description is cut off. May want to check that all your skills fit on screen.

When an enemy uses Mend in battle, it says recovered HP 242. Recovered 242 HP looks better, may want to change it.

The Big Bee is animated when it dies. Looks like it is hopping off the ground.

I did notice in the forest that a lot of your transfers are right on the transfer tile to return to the previous map. That is considered a no-no by many players, because if you chance your mind you have to move one step forward then one step back, just to exit. Move up the tile you transfer to by one, and you will fix that.

Hit the blockade, and then noticed I have to navigate a forest maze.

Wander the maze for a while, how do I get out of this thing? Plus I get a fight about every 10 steps it feels like. I finally start running away from all fights, and find an exit on the right, but it warps me to a room where I'm facing north? I wasn't expecting that, and still had the right arrow held down so I ran into another transfer event, which takes me back to the beginning?

I quit at that point. I didn't feel like redoing the maze. I'd lower the encounter rate (maybe make it take twice as many steps as it does now) as it was really frustrating at that point. Also check all your transfer events, some of them seem to not be taking you to the right place.

Overall, promising start, some typos. Needs more to explain the system to a new player and more to ease a new player into the game. The maze was frustrating. Was unable to figure out how to save ever while playing, so if I go back I have to start over:

Thank you ever so much for the criticism!

I'm working on a lot of the changes now.  The only things that I can't do are the mend thing, because that's what the system does on it's own (I can't control that) and it looks right to me; it looks grammatically correct. I also can't do the bee (to my knowledge) because I got it from Holder. I'd love to know how to fix it though. And I'll make them all level 1. And for the record, I've played a **** ton RPGs that start you off at level one. XD My citations for that statement? About every Atlas game ever made. XD

I will certainly fix the transfers, work on the whole screen thing, ease down the first battle, add in a text box on how to save, and do everything else that I can. Could you please PM me for what I can do to make the fights better and how I can make other tweaks. Thank you ever so much for the help.  

 

[bgillisp]

I figured there might have been some changes made already, as I did download it 2 weeks ago, just didn't get a chance to play it til tonight.

Level 1 across the board could work, just make sure it is balanced with the other monsters. I'd prefer 3 across the board myself. That at least shows some experience already, and they do appear experienced (they won one battle already before the game started). Just my thought there.

I don't use animated battlers, so no idea on how to fix the bees and the HP. Maybe ask around and see if someone has a fix posted for that? As for the fights, I had no problem with them once I got 4 people, just they were too frequent in the maze. The random fights felt fine until the maze. Maybe the step counter is too low for that one? Go to map properties and try playing with that number, it might help.

Do you have any encounter management scripts installed? If not Yanfly has a good one to help regulate how often random battles occur, and I wrote a little one to allow you to set a minimum number of steps until battles occur (still in alpha as I haven't had the time to make it anything fancy yet, so it is still a little quirky).