RMMV Wheel of the Zodiac [Real Time Action Game]

[Garrettino]

WHEEL OF THE ZODIAC

​

SYNOPSIS

Spoiler

SUMMARY:
Wheel of the Zodiac (R) is a remake of an old project of mine, that I've been working on nearly my whole life. It's a real time action game opposed to an RPG, and is similar to Secret of Mana or classic Zelda but updated to be a bit more "modern" hopefully.

MOTIVATION:
You take on the role of one of the 12 Zodiac signs, and take on 8 powerful GREEK Gods, who each have their own realm to conquer, and giant sub-boss monsters to defeat before facing them head on. After defeating each one, on your way up to the "King of Gods" himself Zeus, you will be bestowed with the blessing of defeated Gods to take on the next one, similar to a linear Mega Man style of using villains powers against each other.

GAMEPLAY VIDEO (Demo Alpha 3.0):

SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

The ZODIACS

Spoiler

~Sagittarius~
By accidentally hunting one of Artemis sacred deer, Sagittarius was banished to the sky. He now fights to undo the Unjustly act that has been done upon him.

~Virgo~
She was one of the few mortals to entice Zeus (in human form). Hera, jealous of her youth and beauty, imprisoned Virgo among the stars in her prime. Never experiencing love or motherhood, she fights to regain her lost experiences.

~Leo~
The once King of the Jungle, he gained to much respect and adoration from his animal kin, Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt claimed she was the true Ruler of the Beasts, and banished him out of spite.

~Scorpio~
After betraying another General in an Epic War, the God Ares, answered the prayers of the fallen General, and cursed the traitor by turning him into a Scorpion-man, and cursing him to the stars.

~Cancer~
Turned into a Crab by Hera, after he proposed to Aphrodite, whom he thought was a mortal. Because Aphrodite is married to Hephaestus, he begged his mother to curse him for all time.

~Gemini~
When one of the Brothers died of an Illness, the other Twin decided to kill himself in order to join his best friend. The God Hades, did not condone that lives may be taken by ones-self, so as punishment he merged the 2 as one body.

~Libra~
Forced to carry the Scales of Life at the feet of Hades, after intervening with the Death of one of Hades' targeted souls.

~Taurus~
A simple blacksmith, after refusing to go to WAR, Ares cursed him to be a Bull in Bull-Fights at the Colosseum. He wants to prove war is not the answer.

~Aries~
A woodsman by trade, he angered Demeter by cutting down too many of her Trees. He was cursed to become a Ram for eternity. He hopes his mistake can be forgiven by the King of the Gods.

~Pisces~
One of the many Mermen of Poseidon's realm, after losing his father to a Sea Beast, he slayed it in revenge, little did he know that the Beast was one of Poseidon's offspring.

~Aquarius~
A Shrine Maiden of the God Poseidon; she refused to acknowledge any of the other Gods, including his brother Zeus, who banished her to the stars till she learns her lesson.

~Capricorn~
[SOON]

THE WORLD

Spoiler

Spoiler

Set in the ancient Greece era, you will be freed from the stars and transported to one of 8 God Realms, to defeat their worshipers, Greek soldiers, numerous mythological creatures, and even giant sub-boss monsters on your way to finally facing the God of each realm themself. The following is a list of the God Realms you will face, and their specific areas (48 levels total planned):

1- Realm of DEMETER
1-1 Mob Level: The Plains
1-2 Puzzle: The Labyrinth (Maze)
1-3 Mob Level: The Jungle
1-4 Sub-BOSS: The HYDRA
1-5 Mob Level: The Grotto
1-6 GOD Level: DEMETER Goddess of the Harvest

2- Realm of APOLLO
2-1 Mob Level: The City
2-2 Puzzle: The Concert (Music Timing)
2-3 Mob Level: The Market
2-4 Sub-BOSS: The SIREN
2-5 Mob Level: The Tower
2-6 GOD Level: APOLLO God of Music

3- Realm of ARTEMIS
3-1 Mob Level: The Bridge
3-2 Puzzle: The Cavern (Caves + Torch Switches)
3-3 Mob Level: The Mountains
3-4 Sub-BOSS: The CYCLOPS
3-5 Mob Level: The Cliffs
3-6 GOD Level: ARTEMIS Goddess of the Hunt

4- Realm of POSEIDON
4-1 Mob Level: The Port
4-2 Puzzle: The Catch (Fishing Mini Game/Rapid Press)
4-3 Mob Level: The Voyage (Boat Ride)
4-4 Sub-BOSS: SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS
4-5 Mob Level: The Depths
4-6 GOD Level: POSEIDON God of the Sea

5- Realm of ARES
5-1 Mob Level: The Beach
5-2 Puzzle: The Marksman (Angry Birds style Archery)
5-3 Mob Level: The Battlefield
5-4 Sub-BOSS: The CHIMERA
5-5 Mob Level: The Colosseum
5-6 GOD Level: ARES God of War

6- Realm of HADES
6-1 Mob Level: The Descent (Spiral Stairs)
6-2 Puzzle: The River Styx (Boat Racing Game)
6-3 Mob Level: The Underworld
6-4 Sub-BOSS: CERBERUS
6-5 Mob Level: The Soul Chasm
6-6 GOD Level: HADES God of the Underworld

7- Realm of HERA
7-1 Mob Level: The Ascent (Climbing Vines)
7-2 Puzzle: Persephone's Flora (Flower Matching Puzzle)
7-3 Mob Level: The Gardens
7-4 Sub-BOSS: MEDUSA
7-5 Mob Level: Temple of Hera
7-6 GOD Level: HERA Queen of the Gods

8- Realm of ZEUS
8-1 Mob Level: Mount Olympus: Gates
8-2 Puzzle: NIKE's Flight (Shoot'em'Up Simulator)
8-3 Mob Level: Mount Olympus: Stairway
8-4 Sub-BOSS: The COLOSSUS
8-5 Mob Level: Mount Olympus: Summit
8-6 GOD Level: ZEUS King of the Gods

DOWNLOAD LINK

Spoiler

Download the playable Alpha Demo 3.0 (Current as of May 2022) below!
Wheel of the Zodiac- Alpha Demo 3.0

 

[Garrettino]

Would like to start the thread off by putting out more links to further content regarding this project!

Besides the YouTube trailer above, you can see other videos on my channel, namely Full Gameplay clips of the old version, to see what I pretty much plan/visualize with this Remake/Redux:
Garrett's YouTube Channel

Most of the work I'm doing, can be seen "LIVE" as I post pretty much daily, in real time, the work I am doing on my Discord server here:
Wheel of the Zodiac: Official DISCORD Server

And lastly, check out the MUSIC of Brandon and Derek Fiechter, who I'm hoping to very soon partner with, in collaboration for this game's score:
Derek & Brandon Fiechter's Music Store
Brandon Fiechter- YouTube Channel


Thanks for checking out my game,
Hope to see you in the Discord

 

[ShadowDragon]

the link doesn't work and is blocked.

 

[Garrettino]

the link doesn't work and is blocked.

Damn, for some reason the Text preceding the URL got mixed in there.
Sorry about that, try again lol

But if you do get to MEDIAFIRE and it's still blocked/ad-blocked, you don't need to Allow or anything, it's the flaw with Mediafire in general, just click back and try again/refresh. It sometimes needs a 2nd try. They suggested to use MediaFire here, so I went with it.

 

[ShadowDragon]

MediaFire can be oke, but it's better to use either Dropbox or itch/io.
rpgmaker.net might work too or gameJolt, depending what you feel
most comfortable for.

I prefer itch though, as rpgmaker download blocks https access, which
is on my side that I dont want to be followed ^^

EDIT:

I tested it, and looks really cool, but the first chest is infinited (as there
might be no store or upgrade yet)? or reset to 0 when the actual game starts?

On start on the Zodiac Wheel, Scorpio = empty while others have black person.
bu I dont know if there are even puzzles on it like mentioned in your first post,
unless they are in the making?

however, there is a gamebreaking point, when the enemy touch you, you cannot
move or attack or use any skills (specially the last map with the omega skill.

I like the popup of x amount of kill and the omega skills.
which is really nicely done.

End of Demo would rather back to title screen rather than Game Over.
for what I have seen, it's really nicely done.

 

[Garrettino]

MediaFire can be oke, but it's better to use either Dropbox or itch/io.
rpgmaker.net might work too or gameJolt, depending what you feel
most comfortable for.

I prefer itch though, as rpgmaker download blocks https access, which
is on my side that I dont want to be followed ^^

EDIT:

I tested it, and looks really cool, but the first chest is infinited (as there
might be no store or upgrade yet)? or reset to 0 when the actual game starts?

On start on the Zodiac Wheel, Scorpio = empty while others have black person.
bu I dont know if there are even puzzles on it like mentioned in your first post,
unless they are in the making?

however, there is a gamebreaking point, when the enemy touch you, you cannot
move or attack or use any skills (specially the last map with the omega skill.

I like the popup of x amount of kill and the omega skills.
which is really nicely done.

End of Demo would rather back to title screen rather than Game Over.
for what I have seen, it's really nicely done.

Thank you so much for such an in depth reply! I'd love to have you as one of my Beta Testers lol

Yes the first chest, with the Ambrosia Tear is infinite, it has no use as of now, but will be used to Upgrade your Attack Power or Shooting Power (Strength or Focus stat, respectively). In this Alpha Demo it's just to show of the mechanics, and try everything out, not even close to what to expect from the actual game play, for that I'd suggest watching the other videos (original game).

On to your next point, the game breaking you have mentioned, when enemies hit you, you take a Hit-stun affect, that was intentional, but I have since toned that down quite a bit. Ultimately though, if you get surrounded, you may die very fast, part of the game is to avoid getting surrounded, but I will balance all of this based on feedback.

Yea, the "Kill Streak" announcements, is something I was inspired to create from MOBAs like League of Legends or SMITE, I think people enjoy this sort of hype, and thought I'd incorporate it into an Action game instead, since some people rarely get "Penta Kills" for example, they can get one here, and counts that go beyond 5. I've settles on anything 11 or higher is just considered an Overkill, with Deci-Kill as the next highest. Glad you enjoyed it!

Hopefully the next demos will be better, but by the final DEMO (Beta Phase) it should resemble more of an actual game, and won't have any of the cheats/debugs I've given out; normally you can't just light a torch and upgrade your arrows to double/triple/quadruple for example, those require Amrbosia Tears and Coins to be used by Hephaestus(Vulcan) an God NPC I will add later, for upgrading your stats.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I saw torches, but toggles 1 on, others off, so always 1 active
for whatever they are for.

I might help you beta test this game, but hit-stun effect when surrounded
is also basicly perma death. (this can quit peple fast) if you want to avoid
it and get surround eventually.

so it's best to avoid that, however, you get use it more, if they want to
use a skill, it will be interupted, so you need to get save (aside for normal attack).

bosses or sub-bosses can use hit-stun, but you need to balanced this out.
if you have a more actual demo (even if it's the 1st chapter out of 8), it can
have a more insight of the game itself.

a tech-Demo can be usefull as well to what to exspect, but you need to bring
it nicely as well to present it.

not to offend you, the attack skill is nicely done and the attack.

 

[Garrettino]

I saw torches, but toggles 1 on, others off, so always 1 active
for whatever they are for.

I might help you beta test this game, but hit-stun effect when surrounded
is also basicly perma death. (this can quit peple fast) if you want to avoid
it and get surround eventually.

so it's best to avoid that, however, you get use it more, if they want to
use a skill, it will be interupted, so you need to get save (aside for normal attack).

bosses or sub-bosses can use hit-stun, but you need to balanced this out.
if you have a more actual demo (even if it's the 1st chapter out of 8), it can
have a more insight of the game itself.

a tech-Demo can be usefull as well to what to exspect, but you need to bring
it nicely as well to present it.

not to offend you, the attack skill is nicely done and the attack.

Yea it definitely needs tuning. What I think you experienced is one of the bugs where if you get hit-stunned during certain parts of the animation (attack animation) you can get stuck, if that happens yea, you're just dead, and/or you have to restart (F12 was the hotkey I think). That is not what I wanted but it can occur sometimes.

My goal is to clean all that up, but for now I've reduced the hit-stun to 10% of what it was in this demo (and yea this is more of a TECH demo, which is why I used Alpha instead of Beta prefix), reduced the animation Speed, by 20-30%, so the attacks are faster, and I changed the animation target of when you get hit, to not target your character anymore (this triggered the bug) but instead just be connected to each enemy, so you shouldn't get "Stuck" in animation, anymore. I should upload the newer Demo with these changes, within the month, hopefully.

Thanks again for feedback!

 

[ShadowDragon]

F5 is reset button (even for browser, as well if game window is open).
but I look forward too it.

 

[rpgLord69]

Tested the battles out. This ABS was actually quite nicely done, with all the multi frame attack animations. Is it possible to speed up the attacks and arrow shot a bit though? It went a tad slow for my liking. Also custom keys would be nice. I don't think the esc-key for arrow shot is the best option.

 

[Garrettino]

Tested the battles out. This ABS was actually quite nicely done, with all the multi frame attack animations. Is it possible to speed up the attacks and arrow shot a bit though? It went a tad slow for my liking. Also custom keys would be nice. I don't think the esc-key for arrow shot is the best option.

Thanks alot! Yea the action is definitely not where I wanted it to be yet, but if you watch the Videos of the original game, you'll see what I'm going for (less frames but cruder animation, I wanna strike a balance eventually).

In the next version most of the action was already sped up, removed most frames from the 3 hit melee combo, but the shooting was only sped up a few frames (but still faster) because that was meant to be less frequent, it's not designed to be a pure shooter, as you should mix up both types of attacks (will be more apparent later on).

There's already a full customization of key binds in OPTIONS, and I personally added the AWSD and there should be at least 2-3 options for each Attack or Shot ability, don't remember [ESC] being one of those... I've attached the in-game screenshot with added Diagram notation:

 

[Garrettino]

I have added individual Zodiac (character) videos to my YouTube Channel:

SAGITTARIUS:

VIRGO:

SCORPIO:

TAURUS:

GEMINI:

ARIES:

Only 6 of the planned 12 Zodiacs were completed, and this footage is live gameplay from the original RPGmaker2000 version, in glorious 240p lol
But these will give you an idea of what I'm going for, as the current game is unofficially titled "Wheel of the Zodiac R" and is essentially a remake/reboot, using all new sprites and much better tech (now ~720p).

 

[ShadowDragon]

looks really nice.

 

[Garrettino]

looks really nice.

Thanks alot!
Basically the end of the Sagittarius video (first one) is what I'm shooting for, for the final Demo.
Once I have a mob slaying level, the Hydra Boss, and DEMETER recreated, that's my cutoff point.
Instead of 6 characters available, I'm gonna just stick to 3:
-Sagittarius (Archer Class)
-Virgo (Mage Class)
-Scorpio (Warrior Class)

 

[ShadowDragon]

nice cant wait to retest it.
keep up the good work.

 

[Frostorm]

Does this have Controller/Gamepad support btw?

 

[Garrettino]

Does this have Controller/Gamepad support btw?

Yes it does. There's options for Gamepad config as well, but I've only confirmed Xbox/Logitech types work, been trynna get someone to test a Playstation controller for me, as I don't own one.
Below are screenshots:
And there are only 6 buttons to configure for now, the 2 main action ones: Confirm/Attack and Cancel/Shoot, and the DASH is actually to STOP you in place, rotate on the same tile, and use your special ability (Hold and Press Attack), and the Menu is Disabled, might use for another command later. The Pageup/Pagedwn are gonna be reserved for using 2 consumable items:

I also plan on making a "Touch" function version, for a Mobile Port, but that will also be available on PC for Touch Monitors.

 

[Frostorm]

Yes it does.

Sweet! I'll give the Demo a spin then. I'm using an Xbox controller though, but I wish I had a PlayStation controller as well. It would be nice to have for testing purposes.

 

[Frostorm]

So apparently, you can get infinite Ambrosia Tears at the beginning of the game. You might want to fix that, lol. Should be an easy bug to squash.

 

[Garrettino]

So apparently, you can get infinite Ambrosia Tears at the beginning of the game. You might want to fix that, lol. Should be an easy bug to squash.

Yea that was intended. It's just a tech demo to test functionality. You'll actually NEVER get one of those in a Chest, nor will there be any chests, they will drop from Bosses, Monsters at an extremely low rate (1/1000 or worse) and bought from a GOD npc on your side.

Thx for the attention to detail though, that's the kind of feedback I can work with.