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I snagged RPG Maker VX Ace on Steam's insane 80% off sale two weeks ago and I made my first game earlier this week. So yeah, it's not a great game yet, but I threw it together to teach myself VX Ace, so there you go. This is officially my "tutorial game" in the sense that I made a complete game but it will be part of a series. I want some feedback now while I'm still learning so that I don't have to unlearn bad habits later. For simplicity, this game only uses RTP and no additional assets (yes, default combat). Download link is below (7 screenshots, one game file without RTP, one game file with RTP):

http://sheaiden.com/downloads/RandomFactor/

The series as a whole is called The Random Factor and is inspired by something a friend of mine said while playing a game - "Finding the secret areas in this game seems to be random, like if you go right or left." I thought, why not make an entire game based around that? (But you have to walk before running, so this is kind of like the The Random Factor zero-prequel game in the series.) The Random Factor is filled with little pieces of comedy, which not only set the tone of the series but are also explained by the story eventually. But the core of the game is Random Points, which you can acquire by events that are randomly scattered in the world. Some are obvious, some are not, and one is... perhaps no one will get it unless you open up the project and look (I left it unencrypted). For now, you can only acquire these Random Points as you go, check them by talking to an inn keeper (not in the character screen yet), and use them to get one of four different endings. In the future, as I learn more about VX Ace, I would like these to be in your character screen and able to affect encounters, cut-scenes, and probability calculations, and also have ways to lose Random Points. The main character is also only male right now and is alone (one person party for this game so far - sorry!), but I would like to offer a male/female choice and I already have ideas for companions along the way. I had hoped to make a beginning cut-scene to setup the story about you being the hero of the lands and all that, but I just haven't thought of the right angle yet (still working on the story). For now, just be aware that the generic fantasy setting you see is not quite what it seems to be. There are 10 total Random Points in the game with these endings: 0 Random Points (kind of a funny special ending), 1-5 Random Points (average), 6-9 Random Points (unique but still average), and 10 Random Points (gives you a special item AND the secret ending!). I plan to keep this sort of spread but scale it up to 100 Random Points next time, with 0 and 100 being the "super special" endings.

The game right now is really short. Like I got everything in an hour kind of short. The max level is only 10 and the maps are... well, let's just say that I consider my map making abilities to be the worst right now. And of course only one person in the party, which doesn't make for good dialogue outside of the NPCs. Hopefully the story will make up for that. I'll have to add at least one party member.

So if you have an hour to kill, I hope you'll try what I have so far and let me know what works and what doesn't.





Help and inspiration for getting me this far:

- RPG Maker VX Ace tutorials on RPGMakerWeb.com

- YouTube channel: Venthros

- YouTube channel: invisibledoogey

- YouTube channel: CrackedRabbitGaming

- RPG Maker forums