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This was my fifth project overall and first to be canceled. I hit a massive roadblock in making the plot twist work. This was around the time that I stopped working on my own personal projects and focused instead on commission work as well as RMN activities.






The economically powerful land of Valera has enjoyed stability for centuries. War is a thing of the past, unless one considers capitalism a form of warfare. Scores are settled through mergers and acquisitions, not bloodbath—with one notable exception. Instead of militia, Valera uses small groups of trained mercenaries to eliminate any liabilities that surface. The metaphorical "invisible hand" is not as invisible as one would think.

One such mercenary camp is ruthlessly attacked by a mysterious force deemed the "Butcher of Valera." One of the top mercenaries, Julian, suffers great loss in the slaughter and will stop at nothing until the Butcher is silenced. Circumstances lead Julian to the doorstep of an old enemy: Kaufman, leader of one of the most powerful merchant syndicates in all of Arum. Julian assumes that Kaufman is out for his own revenge for what Julian did to one of his supply facilities in the past.

With a clear enemy in his sights, things don't get any easier for Julian. For during his call to vengeance, Julian is repeatedly jarred by lucid dreams involving cryptic instructions from a shapeless spirit. These dreams—and the subtle message they bring—will be the catalyst that changes everything for Julian.





Julian
Second-in-command of the Bergeron Force, a group of mercenaries, Julian has been suffering greatly due to a series of tragic events. His ability to compartmentalize his darker emotions has kept him focused on work without any problems. Although he is able to remain sharp and positive most of the time, he is prone to occasional bouts of anger—though not to the extent of his comrade, Sarah. He is 37 years old.

Sarah
A close ally of Julian and one of the few who can get under his skin without reprisal, Sarah is occasionally brash but intelligent enough to get the job done. Not as stoic as Julian, she tends to wear her emotions on her sleeve. Her skills as a martial artist surprise nobody given her personality. She is 28 years old.

Trey
One of the few foreigners in Bergeron Force, Trey hails from the land of Dermod, more than 1000 miles to the west of Valera. He is collected, curious, and analytical, providing sound advice only when necessary. He has developed proficiency in elemental abilities: a rare trait among mercenaries. He is 25 years old.

Justine
Justine is a supportive, yet misunderstood woman. She is worried about what others think of her, to the point where she is often treated with indifference. There is a degree of jealousy among all of the members of Bergeron Force, for many believe she gets special treatment as Bergeron's sister. She is often marginalized when her brother is not around, even though her skills as an archer and healer make her one of the most valuable members of the force. She has been thinking about leaving Bergeron Force for quite some time. She is 23 years old.

Bergeron
The founder of his band of mercenaries, Bergeron is a natural leader who is somewhat arrogant and instinctive. He counts on Julian and Trey as the voices of logic and reason—especially Trey. Despite his arrogance and boldness, he is prone to lapses of self confidence, which have placed a strain on his subordinates in the past. Little does everyone know that his personal struggles will soon come to a head. He is 29 years old.

Jaal
One of the victims of the "Butcher of Valera", Jaal becomes comatose after suffering a severe stab wound. He is a friend of Julian's, though they have grown somewhat distant since an earlier incident at one of Kaufman's secret vaults. He is 30 years old.

Kaufman
One of Bergeron Force's most frequent targets, Kaufman is a greedy and corrupt businessman, merchant, and manipulator. Hated by Julian due to the vault incident, though one would suspect that the feeling is mutual. He is 51 years old.

Aderna
Kaufman's second-in-command, Aderna is a hyper ambitious and sharp-minded woman from Thranik who is not afraid to speak her mind to her boss. She is 27 years old.




Valera is a turn-based RPG that uses elements of Yanfly's Gameplay Engine Ace. Regular battles are slightly more challenging and strategic than a typical RPG, and many bosses feature twists that require careful use of skills, elements, and status effects. The game emphasizes items: selling loot is the primary way of obtaining money, and the typical 'attack' command has been replaced with 'mug' to facilitate and encourage item acquisition. Most enemies have three items to steal; some of these items, such as the Gift Box and Money Bag, contain random rewards.

Each character has two skill subsets, as well as the 'Mug', 'Guard', and 'Use Item' options:

Julian: 'Cunning' (status-inflicting sword moves) and 'Impedimenta' (status/debuff magic)
Sarah: 'Martial Arts' (TP-based physical attacks) and 'Augmenta' (tanking/buff magic)
Trey: 'Swordplay' (various) and 'Elementa' (elemental magic).
Justine: 'Archery' (TBD) and 'Reficia' (healing magic).

There are three main dungeons in Valera: a mountain pass, an underground passage, and a watery tomb. In an attempt to streamline the game, most town interaction will occur on the world map. Field maps are completely explorable and feature a variety of puzzles, treasure chests, enemies, and NPCs. Completing an area in the final version will yield a special 'Care Package' based on a simple metric. Every opened treasure chest and defeated monster party will yield a point; vanquishing the boss under a certain number of turns will yield a ton of points. The more points collected, the better the care package.




Scripts by Yanfly - http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/core-scripts/ace-core-engine/
"Impending Impact" and "Sentience" BGMs by Vengeance from the Sky: http://vengeancefromthesky.bandcamp.com/
Special thanks to Liberty and Namagomi for direct gameplay ideas.
Logo guidance from #pp...I'm a graphics noob

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Obviously this has been cancelled.

Let's be real here, since it's 2018 and all.

It was a cool story idea that I never fully executed due to taking on so many projects at the start of RPG Maker VX Ace's release (as well as 50-hour work weeks) 6 years later, might as well call a spade to spade: it was a way for me to mess around with VX Ace. A sample game that ran its course. Why hide the fact that it's not going anywhere?

I do like the story idea and I think I can use it as a subplot for a character in a larger RPG.

If anyone wants to know what the story was gonna be, just DM me.

I'll keep the download and gamepage up as a relic of the past.
  • Cancelled
  • Decky
  • YF
    Archeia_Nessiah
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 12/06/2011 04:55 AM
  • 05/13/2022 04:21 PM
  • 01/28/2012
  • 173556
  • 53
  • 2075

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Pages: first 123 next last
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
Ice ice baby! More screenshots tonight at some point...
How did you save your game using the trial version?
How did you save your game using the trial version?
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
You technically can't save the game. You have to copy the files into another folder and re-paste them back in after loading the game again. Database cannot be saved/loaded - I will be doing that last!
IT HAS A GAME PAGE!!!!!!!?!?!
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
YES IT DOES. RUN!
I'm confused. Does that mean it auto starts up the project when you close it, because you copied it?
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
No, you have to paste the files into the new project folder that you create when you select new project.
Looks good I like the maps in this project.
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
So here's my feedback:

First of all, while I found that 65k treasure chest, it was nothing compared to the one that had gazillion (not quite as much!). Basically, that made money a non-issue. The healing stores are a first time for me as well. For the store, perhaps you should consider allowing the players to buy weapons and armor and adjust the enemies levels accordingly.

I found the combat options to be refreshing, since you can't just spam the normal attack with the weaker foes and because each character has their own options you have to make more thoughtful choices in the fights, especially since the attacks might have some useful debuffs. Regarding Steal, I think this is the first time I have seen it has a 100% success rate at least with non-bosses, always yielding the same loot and I believe should be for only 1 character in the party, at most.

As mentioned elsewhere, your mapping is very good. There were a couple of passability issues, though. When I exited the cave and walked the road heading toward the bridge that leads to the cave with the final boss, I accidentally found I was able to walk up and down the ledge. Also, in the room before the final boss, you must have forgotten to put a jumping spot to get to the chest there.

I found out you can skip the final boss if you don't walk straight to it, which is probably true (didn't try it!) of the earlier one. As mentioned elsewhere, the fight is tough because it takes a little bit of trial and earlier to figure out how to land a hit on it.

Overall, not bad at all for a rushed game!
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
author=edchuy
So here's my feedback:

First of all, while I found that 65k treasure chest, it was nothing compared to the one that had gazillion (not quite as much!). Basically, that made money a non-issue. The healing stores are a first time for me as well. For the store, perhaps you should consider allowing the players to buy weapons and armor and adjust the enemies levels accordingly.

I found the combat options to be refreshing, since you can't just spam the normal attack with the weaker foes and because each character has their own options you have to make more thoughtful choices in the fights, especially since the attacks might have some useful debuffs. Regarding Steal, I think this is the first time I have seen it has a 100% success rate at least with non-bosses, always yielding the same loot and I believe should be for only 1 character in the party, at most.

As mentioned elsewhere, your mapping is very good. There were a couple of passability issues, though. When I exited the cave and walked the road heading toward the bridge that leads to the cave with the final boss, I accidentally found I was able to walk up and down the ledge. Also, in the room before the final boss, you must have forgotten to put a jumping spot to get to the chest there.

I found out you can skip the final boss if you don't walk straight to it, which is probably true (didn't try it!) of the earlier one. As mentioned elsewhere, the fight is tough because it takes a little bit of trial and earlier to figure out how to land a hit on it.

Overall, not bad at all for a rushed game!


Ah, thanks for the feedback.

I literally put random stuff in the chests for "teh lulz", hehe. Such as the 5938934289 dollar chests.

Yeah, I sort of just plopped that boss sprite at the end around 5 minutes before the upload deadline. Passability issues will be easy to resolve, as I was using a terrain flag script. Eventually, each monster will have an array of 3-5 items, making multiple steal options a good thing.
I am amazed at the speed of development of this game.
Good work~ I'd love to play this with my friend some time. :)
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
author=Renasci
I am amazed at the speed of development of this game.
Good work~ I'd love to play this with my friend some time. :)


Thanks for stopping in for those kind words! Long time no see!
This is looking really nice so far, decky. After playing the demo, I gotta say I'm liking the characters and the general setup of the game so far. The battles are challenging without being too hard and I liked having a group of thieves as characters, instead of just attacking all the time!
edchuy
You the practice of self-promotion
1624
Yeah, I also look forward to see what else happens to this game. I´m pretty sure whatever comes next will be done with more time and less gimmes. Regarding the items to steal, I guess I got an idea of the variety of items the monster will have from Snatch (just previewed, never bothered with it though ...). And I´m with Liberty regarding the boring, repetitive melee attacks in fights.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I might opt to post a demo or two before the game's final release at the end of April.
This looks cool and im downloading. As for the archer I dont know if you ever decided yet but good options for blue mages are always stealing items, getting skills used against character, or your silver arrow idea of sort of stealing the ability. Good luck and I look forward to playing this.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
author=bigtime
This looks cool and im downloading. As for the archer I dont know if you ever decided yet but good options for blue mages are always stealing items, getting skills used against character, or your silver arrow idea of sort of stealing the ability. Good luck and I look forward to playing this.


I might implement this idea in the full version, but for tomorrow's demo release I might not even be implementing the archer.
True, true, well i like the elementalist the best so far. Seems to dominate all. Cant wait to try new demo.
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