Lihtan

I'll flat out state it. I'm not really proud of this game. Rubi, Adalyn and Paradise Blue, even Island Sky, I'm glad to release them and proud of what I did in them. This one... I'm not. While the game deadline approached, I was forever like "I dunno if I should even release this..." and doubting all the time. Why is this? Well, I'll get to that.

First off, this is a 10 day game and I stated it. However, 80% of the project is actually a 5 day game. I took the other 5 days to just fix it up and add to it (such as the last dungeons, more ruins floors, the intro), balance it a bit more and all. Honestly, I beat both Adalyn and Rubi in gameplay time in a game that took less time to create than Adalyn. But... that's not a real accomplishment. Did the player have fun in that time? Did I learn from making this? Did I try to stand out from the other projects? I dunno (I literally got like 2 comments on this project in total), Yes, No.

I guess the most visible way it doesn't stand out is in the graphics. Can't help that though. I could have picked some other graphics but I figured I'd try out some of Celiannas tiles. They are... even more common in RMVX games than I assumed. I didn't want to use RTP though. Could have used rips and I think it'd have turned out better but I wanted it to be more legit. I used free to use resources/scripts and make sure people were credited for it. I can't make custom resources in such a short time.

My plan for this project was a sort of test recreation of an old project I had that I made in... 2003 I think? It was old. Something about the plans intrigued me to try it again. I got out my very old notes and started going through them for references. I didn't have much time to really go ahead and plan extensively but I figured I'd try out a more quest based game. Less Paradise Blue, and more old WRPG style. The kind of game where you really have the freedom to just wander about, do quests, find shrines, upgrade your characters, explore the world and things like that. Well... that's not a game you make on a time constraint. At all. And secondly, the notes were ultimately too generic to be of any real use. I couldn't have been older than 20 when I wrote them. I guess the older one appealed to me more because it was an action RPG rather than a traditional RPG and I like RM2k3 more. I mean, I like old CRPGs but I can use ideas from it in a way that doesn't make it a generic ripoff. Players don't really get much from a sidequest that just gives them 50 Gold. I'd have to make it more meaningful to the player and to the characters.

I don't really feel like there's much of ME in this project. I think that's the biggest thing I feel. I'm not a huge fan of copy/pasting scripts. I liked eventing because it felt like I was making it myself. Pasted script felt like someone else did it for me and not my own work, and the biggest thing I struggle with in general when I work with RMVX. I'm not a programmer, I'm an artist. I worked with RM2k3 for a long time so I'm familiar with how it works. RMVX has a lot of the events (which is how I was able to pull Adalyn off despite the lag which was a script issue) and scripts can simplify things. But I'm not a scripter. This is actually one of the main reasons I'm not yet working on Azulea. Unless I bring Azulea to RM20XX, then I felt I needed more experience with RMVX before I can do what I really want with it.

Lihtan was still a bit of a learning experience, with customizing/editting scripts, using and dealing with battle skills and enemies, using the sparkle system, how frustrating it can be if you aren't guided and end up in the wrong place, stuff like that. That being said, I can at least rest easy knowing that I don't need to remake that old game. Prototyping can be useful for stuff like this. That being said, I can still appreciate useful comments and will definitely consider them for Azulea in the future... after I get to Adalyn. Still have a very busy game making schedule ahead of me!