Zendir: A New World

[EternalShadow]

​

Off the coast of Zendir lies a small island, slowly being eroded away by the sea. On this island, magic is performed in secret for it is frowned upon by the community of the island, who blame it on the failure of their crops. One person in particular - Zaphilia - was chased out of the village when they saw her perform a magical act, but her childhood friend gives her an avenue of escape - the idea to travel to Zendir, the mainland, where magic is permitted. However, the disaster that has struck the small island is also prevalent on the mainland, and so it falls to Zaphilia to use her abilities to restore the land to what it once was whilst at the same time, restoring faith in magic!​

Throughout Zaphilia's adventures, she will quite literally make friends, enemies and allies for life. The choices she makes in either helping or shunning them will heavily impact on whether she can save Zendir or not. There are at least three different endings to unlock, depending on which avenue of the story is taken and what choices are made. This is Zendir, a new world!


In Zendir, there's a fantastic variety of foods, drinks, monsters and people who need help in their lives. By assisting these people and exploring the local culture, the story will expand upon itself to thrust you into a brand new world which bears little resemblance to our own... unless you look closely. Even then, it is worth exploring the world for what it is, and accepting the curiosities and oddities that come with it. Magic plays a part in this world, but due to an incident in the past which many residents do not like to talk about, it has been shunned. Therefore, the land has become archaic in its nature, and so this is where Zaphilia comes in, in terms of reintroducing the favours that magic brings. It is a monumental task not to be frowned at, and only the correct choices will lead you upon the right path. This is a game of decisions and choices. Take the plunge. Open the book, and begin reading the fantastic story...​

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AN ENGROSSING STORY​

EVERY NPC HAS SOMETHING TO SAY​

HUMOROUS SIDE QUESTS​

CHOICES TO MAKE, SECRETS TO UNCOVER​

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Zaphilia
Zaphilia has had to fend for herself since her parents abandoned her after an incident in her childhood. Since then, she's made friends with some of the locals, having to keep her magical ability hidden for the most part for fear of repercussions. However, her secret is let out and she quickly makes enemies, thus prompting the beginning of the game. Once her mind is made up, it cannot be changed. She is determined, curious and resourceful, a valuable asset to any party exploring the land of Zendir.

Zane
Zane originally became friends with Zaphilia because both of their names began with Z. Now much less naive than he was when he met Zaphilia, Zane has become much more distant as time has gone on. Nonetheless, he remains friends with her due to all the knowledge that they share together, and he is the one to stick up for Zaphilia and believe it wasn't her fault when the crops start dying on the island.

Anya
A young girl who Zaphilia befriended. She has an eccentric father and a (thankfully) normal mother, both of which appear to have contributed to her strange, mixed personality. She is a bag of all-sorts, holding many tricks up her sleeve as well as information that could prove helpful.

Dalnaycus
An over-excitable magician, Dalnaycus is a master of the arcane, the prized student of the Academy. He is witty and knows many of the Ancient Languages and doesn't hesitate in going anywhere with Zaphilia upon her induction to the academy. He however, looks disdainfully upon those who are not academy members, just as those who detest magicians, do.

Dorian
A clumsy, hapless boy who can't do a thing right. He originally wanted to be a squire for a Knight in Galapoca fortress, but they wouldn't take him in. Dreading the prospect of being sent back to his faraway home, he eventually finds another job working for the resident magician of Galapoca Fortress. It is one disaster after another though, and the first job he messes up leads to his introduction to the party...

...and many more!

​

Spoiler

Beta Testers
Rpgmakervxace.net
- Masonxy

Other Sites
- Gaignun Sasaki
- Suzaku Shina
- SilverLegion


RPG Maker
- Enterbrain


Tilesets
Hermit's Farm
Hermit's Shed
All areas in New Magic Academy
- Celianna


Music
Hersey
This is not a drill
Illix town
Fire Drill
Good Night II
- Aaron Krogh

Battle 7
Battle 8
Battle 9
Dungeon 1
Dungeon 2
Dungeon 3
Dungeon 4
Game Over 1
Theme 2
Theme 4
Town 2
Town 3
- Gyrowolf

Can you make it
Can you make it (custom)
Forgotten Kingdom
Mountain Pass
Seaside Story
The Glitch
Theme 1
Theme 6
Valiant Hero
- Reactive Owl

Florida Fire
Siphonia
They're Calling Us
- Eric Carter


Sound
They Approach
- Julio Weigend


Scripts
Title Screen Editor
- Zerbu Engine

Party Menu Editor
Party-Sized Menu
Save Engine
- Yanfly


Battle Transitions
Ash
- Mitchi.exe

 

[EternalShadow]

It's been three days, I'd like to hear the thoughts of everyone who's downloaded the game so far (or has not yet downloaded it and why) - thanks!

- Comments warm the hearts of game developers

 

[Atticus Harper]

I didn’t get very far in the game because it got boring really quickly. So here are some notes of why I wasn’t entertained by the beginning of your game, which really is the most crucial point: keeping the player interested (especially in the beginning).

On this island, magic is performed in secret for it is frowned upon by the community of the island, who blame it on the failure of their crops.

That wasn’t my impression at all. I mean the magic academy is the biggest building in the town. Everybody knows about it and even if you are not a member yet you can just go in and explore everything (even steal some stuff from a chest). So magic really is not a secret, it’s very much tolerated and most people don’t seem to care, despite 2 who are not so happy to see Zaphilia, even though she isn’t even an official member of the oh-so-secret magic club.

I did like the hook of the story, the foul water, which is now affecting the crop. That seemed interesting, but nothing really came of it. Instead one has to find Anya to get away from the little island. Oh, of course, this has to be some smart girl, who has her own theory about the foul water, probably not believing the magic guild is at fault for the sudden crop disaster and so on and so forth…but no. She’s just a girl who sends you to her parent’s house, who need money for a boat. Of course Zaphilia has to be the one who’s in charge of getting that money. And only after that conversation can she join the magic academy because the receptionist refuses to interact properly beforehand. I wonder what suddenly changed?

This was just very very unrealistic to me. Very forced and just not a natural occurrence of events.

Zaphilia just seems like a lifeless doll running around. What is her concern with all of this? Sure she wants to get off the island because they don’t like magicians that much but she’s more forced into it then actually taking lead and doing something about it herself. It just happens alongside having to train in a dungeon. By the way, for me it was very unnatural to walk on lava. A comment from Zaphilia would’ve been nice. Or the other guy. It was kinda ridiculous when Dalnaycus joined the group. “Great. I’m coming with you.” Err, ok, why? Do we have a common goal? Same goes for the 3rd character that joins. There is no interaction between the characters.

In general these unimportant “quests” Zaphilia seems to get involved in (does she even care?) are quite boring and maybe suited for some sort of on-the-side-quest, but if this is what pushes the story forward, then I don’t know.

The characters need a lot of work to actually give them some sort of personality. The only exchange between Zaphilia and Dalnaycus happened when they reach this inner fire place and it was just silly.

It wasn’t for me.

The mapping could use improvements too. The overland maps are ok-ish, but the interior maps are all way too big and open spaced.

 

[EternalShadow]

I can't tell you what it means to have comments ^.^ (even if mostly negative, I don't mind, any comment's good)

The thing with the opening I found was that unless you talk to the right people, it's not entirely clear. It becomes clearer as the game goes along and the character interactions get more complex, especially in Galapoca Fortress and beyond. (Which is like, the first place you visit in the mainland lol) but because of the 30-day time constraint I had in making this, I couldn't flesh out the beginning as much as I wanted to, as I couldn't return to it properly before the trial ran out.

The reason Anya doesn't think it's the fault of the magicians and stuff is because she's been friends with Zaphilia for some time. The receptionist was kind of a joke character, nothing to be taken tooooo seriously. On the note of open maps, that's only for the introductory part as those were my first maps and the Magic Academy's packing to go to the mainland. There's a new Magic Academy in the mainland which is better designed.

In terms of lava tiles, I couldn't actually find any suitable tiles that matched the lava that surrounds the characters, except for the 'dry' lava. I wanted to flesh this out but couldn't. Tell you what, when I purchase Ace, I'll do this, ok?

(By the way, one of the best parts of the game is in Rothgar City, if you'd like to go there)

 

[EternalShadow]

Several bugs have been destroyed in this new version of the game. Please download it as soon as possible and copy over your saves from the old to the new.

 

[EternalShadow]

It's been a while. Any further comments or things to consider in Zendir 2?

 

[Carillon Nightmares]

I think the original Zendir needs to be improved first.

 

[EternalShadow]

I think the original Zendir needs to be improved first.

I'm working on Zen 2 THEN going back for a Director's Cut of Zen 1. Remaking a game before moving on is too disheartening, lol.

 

[Matseb2611]

I could give it a try. How long is it? And which RPG maker's RTP does it use?

 

[EternalShadow]

I could give it a try. How long is it? And which RPG maker's RTP does it use?

2 Hours, Ace. Have fun

Zen 2 is in development, which is a far better game already than Zen 1. I'll be returning to Zen 1 after Zen 2 is done.

 

[Matseb2611]

All righty, so I've downloaded it and going to start it now. Will let you know what I think once I get a bit into it.

 

[EternalShadow]

All righty, so I've downloaded it and going to start it now. Will let you know what I think once I get a bit into it.

Thanks. Have fun (remember it is now an old game, by my standards when comparing it to Zendir 2, which is going rather well in its development)

 

[Matseb2611]

All right, no problem. I'm 1 hour into it now, and I can provide some of my thoughts on it. I'll try to address as many things as possible, both positive and negative.

First impressions. The map design is pretty good, in particular the cities, although the first dungeon seemed a bit too low on detail. It had a good layout and all, but everything just seemed a bit barren. The dungeons later on were a bit better (the castle dungeon and the mine/ice cave).

Magic system is pretty nice. I like it how you need to pick up the books throughout the game in order to learn magic spells or even combat skills. The battles themselves though I think could use some improvement. First of all the music during them I think should be more upbeat, and boss battles should have their own theme. But another issue that sort of bugged me a bit was that there wasn't much I could do in combat, even 1 hour into the game. The magic spells take up too much energy and so I end up wacking the bats and spiders with the staffs, what deals very low damage. And also way too many enemies seem to be dealing poison damage, and there aren't enough antidotes around (perhaps this is problem just for me though and maybe I needed to do some grinding for money in order to afford them).

The whole castle bit was pretty good. I think the cutscene in the dungeon was awesome. I can tell it must've taken you a while to do. In fact that whole city was pretty well made and the music fitted it well (really nice song, I must say). (although just one nitpick: the lady who was selling a fake banner in a shop, I don't think she can get away with something like that in the city where a king is quite unkind and throws people into dungeons at a first suspicion of defiance).

The staff side quest was pretty nice. I liked the spikes puzzle in the ice cave. It was well executed and made me think on a couple of occasions.

Oh and lastly, it was a bit funny how I could go into shops and just take the stuff from their chests without the shopkeepers minding. Hehe.

Overall it's not bad. Mind you, this is the first game I am trying out that someone (other than me) has made in RPG maker. With a few small improvements the game can shine. It's got potential already. I'll keep playing till the end and will let you know further on what I think.

Edit: Forgot to mention one last thing. In the castle dungeon when the main character comes out of her cell and goes to find a key to free the others, they are kind of still in the party. Perhaps you forgot to remove them there.

 

[EternalShadow]

Thanks for the comments! As for the last point, I didn't really see a need to remove them from the party for that section since they're still 'with you' and there are no battles before you finish freeing them. Given that I had a month to make it, I had to be economical about things.

And yes, that is a good point about the woman in the magic shop in Rothgar. I think she hides it whenever there are shop inspections!

The music for the battles in Zen 2 is very much more upbeat than that in Zen 1. Zen 1 has 'all-rounder' music, but Zen 2 has customized boss battle music, separate from 'normal battle' music for instance. This makes boss battles in Zen 2 very dramatic.

I couldn't do much for battle interactivity in a month. I'll put your suggestions into Zen 2 though.

The first dungeon... has... rather... dire... mapping... I agree! Come the Director's Cut, I'll change it!

If you get lost at any point in Zen 1, I'll be happy to tell you where to go - Zen 2 has a built-in diary system which tells you what to do next if you get stuck.

Thanks!

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, I got a little lost yesterday when playing. After the part when the king sends you to some village in the South-West, I've been wandering the world map for ages but couldn't find that village. Eventually started reaching the parts with forest bandits, which did a lot of damage and gave back tonnes of money upon death, so I figured that I wandered into the part that I'm supposed to go to much later in the game, so began backtracking, but still can't find the village anywhere. Perhaps the world map could be a little less open and perhaps you can direct the players to their destination by enclosing some of the land with mountain ranges (as you did in the early part of the game). I'll play again in a bit though to see if I find this village this time.

All right then. Cool. How far are you into making Zen 2?

 

[EternalShadow]

The place you're supposed to go is to the South-West, where the desert is, so you can buy a ship in the desert town to reach the south-east island. If you get lost in the forest, follow the path through the trees.

As for Zen 2, I'm really trying to perfect the introduction so I can have a little bit of a demo to show, so about 15 minutes in. After I've done the intro, I should be able to move faster with the making of the rest of the game, since the intro's full of special effects and stuff, lol.

 

[Matseb2611]

All right, so I eventually found it. It's very hard to spot as it's quite small and camouflaged among all the sand. But anyways, I think the game kind of picks up well after that. I liked the Hermit's farm (great mapping there and nice music choice), and also that semi-destroyed village was nice too (Aile I think it was called), so now I'm in Blizzet.

 

[EternalShadow]

All right, so I eventually found it. It's very hard to spot as it's quite small and camouflaged among all the sand. But anyways, I think the game kind of picks up well after that. I liked the Hermit's farm (great mapping there and nice music choice), and also that semi-destroyed village was nice too (Aile I think it was called), so now I'm in Blizzet.

I think the semi-destroyed village is Hydu? But if you meant run-down, then yes. Thanks

Let me know how you're getting on post-Blizzet ^.^

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, the one that had cracked buildings. I think Hydu is where I have to go next, but I seem to be kind of stuck in Blizzet. I'm supposed to get an airship, but before that I need to find out about the ruins. Now one guy at the inn said his mother must know, but she is sleeping and I am not sure how to wake her up. Looked all over town for various noise-producing items.

 

[EternalShadow]

Yeah, the one that had cracked buildings. I think Hydu is where I have to go next, but I seem to be kind of stuck in Blizzet. I'm supposed to get an airship, but before that I need to find out about the ruins. Now one guy at the inn said his mother must know, but she is sleeping and I am not sure how to wake her up. Looked all over town for various noise-producing items.

Hydu's to the North of Blizzet. It's the ruined 'city'.