Alter A.I.L.A. Variant

For anyone just seeing this, refer to this blog-post for more information: http://rpgmaker.net/games/2994/blog/6124/

If you're not interested in hearing me yak some more about stupid things and just want to help me build this, skip to the second set of paragraphs below.

This part covers why I want to terminate the project
I'll be more specific about what's bugging me. To be honest, I can ignore the criticism on the battle system and the art style. It sucks that some people feel the way they do about it, but I can easily look past all of that.

Why I'm dis-illusioned now is because, though I expected some resistance to the idea of randomized dungeons, I did not expect it to this extent. As far as I can tell, everyone would prefer it to revert back to fixed dungeon maps. In other words, they just want another run-of-the-mill traditional rpg. They want monsters that give money and shops that act as the main source of items, instead of through dungeon exploration. They want fixed maps that you can go through once and never bother with again, not this randomized who-knows-what-you're-gonna-get kinda thing. We're back to the same RPG archetype that hasn't changed at all in decades. While that's not a bad thing (no need to fix something that's not broken, right?), it still dis-heartens me that everyone is apparently this resistant to changing things up. After all, I originally started RPG Maker to experiment and try things that big-name companies would never try for fear of having it not work out.

On that note, I've realized something. It's very easy to criticize FF13 for example, as being one of the dumbest ideas Squenix's put out in a long time. But now I think I can actually understand how something like that ended up happening. Because it seems like I've done the exact same thing with the AA series (and before any of you guys start flaming, I'm in no way saying the AA series is on the same level as the FF series.). Obviously I don't know if this is really true or not, but I really wouldn't be surprised if it is.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not telling people that they should be liking rogue-likes or anything. Part of my intention in making this was specifically to see whether it would fly or not. Now that I know it doesn't, I'm abandoning the idea and moving on. But, since I envisioned AAV completely as a rogue-like, that means all the systems and gameplay is balanced behind the idea of randomized dungeons. It's certainly possible to switch over to a more traditional style, probably even easy. And even though it won't be the AAV I envisioned, I'm okay with that. However, like I said, I have no interest in doing what's already been done. That's definitely not the reason I started this project in the first place. That's why if it's just me, then I'll cut my losses and end it right here.


This part covers what I need to continue the project
So with that all said and done, I'll admit I didn't consider the possibility of someone else taking care of mapping for the project, since all of my projects have always been 100% solo runs (Thanks for that idea, Ness). If anyone wants to get on-board with me on this, I can provide the tools and resources necessary, and I'll leave the jurisdiction of all of that to you. I've always been prepared to handle putting together the battles and cutscenes, so I don't mind continuing with that. And I can easily re-tool everything to be traditional (aka have shops that sell equipment, enemies that drop money, etc.) But I definitely would need someone to help me with the mapping and putting together the dungeon.

So if you're interested in helping this come together, please leave a comment or PM me. As the only caveat, I'm personally not asking nor expecting much, but fans of this game apparently are, so please be prepared to weather any storms you might end up raising if you do something like what I did :).