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Beaten and left for dead, the wanderer wakes up to find his family slaughtered, their bodies strewn about. One of his children appears to be missing. He can't find her body anywhere. Arming himself with a couple pistols, he sets off to find the man responsible for his family. He follows the steps leading away from their home toward the desert. The footsteps lead him further and further north, almost in a perfect line until finally, he loses sight of the footsteps thanks to the constant wind that sweeps across the desert, blowing sand all about.

For a time, the wanderer was able to stop for supplies at small settlements that he found scattered about the desert but it has been countless days since his last stop and he is growing tired and dehydrated. This is where our story begins.

NOTE: If you wish to report any bugs, please do so at this page.
http://rpgmaker.net/games/3990/bugreporting/

This game requires you to have the RTP for RPG Maker VX Ace installed. Please make sure that you have that before playing. You can download it for free at the link below.
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/download/run-time-package

Latest Blog

Hindsight and Evolution

I will admit this much: being a solo game developer is tough. I literally sit down on the weekends when I'm off, I either feel extremely creative or I just want to sit back and grind some stupid World Quests on World of Warcraft and get my druid prepared to do some raiding. On the days that I do feel creative, I feel more like learning new things, and man have I learned so much.

This said, I haven't started the official work on the framework for the RPG, and work on the Metroidvania has been halted because I couldn't think of a justifiable reason to work on a Metroidvania game related to this game (but I'll eventually migrate that over to a different universe entirely and I'm keeping the files so I can work on that later). I have however taken things I've learned from working on the Metroidvania (save systems, user prefs, etc.) and started the planning stage for the RPG framework. I want to make this as organized as possible because if I just start throwing C# code at it, that'll end up being a mess and there is nothing more that I hate than a mess (and believe me, with the Metroidvania, I'm going to need to set aside a few weeks to refactor some code because it is vomit inducing).

So what HAVE I done in the meantime? Well, I haven't exactly sat around doing nothing. Mostly prototyping, for the most part. I did start work on a 3D Zelda-like engine with my own 3D models, I started doing work on top-down shooter stuff based on Enter the Gungeon and Monsters and Monocles, which I used as a way to understand Raycasting better. I've even done a little work on a character customization screen similar to an MMO character creation screen. I'm not saying all of these things will be present in my RPG Engine, but with every new thing I learn, I've got more to bring to the table, and I'm excited to work on an RPG game without the limitations of an engine like RPG Maker (and I say that with all the love in he world, because it is like a vacation to play around with my lovely collection of RPG Makers).

At any rate, this blog post has gone on for too long, it seems, but I wanted to stick with my promise to have an update at least every other month (and if I promised every month, then I have a really bad memory and should learn to re-read my old posts), so hopefully soon, I'll have at least a writeup of something to share with you.
  • Production
  • sicksinz
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 04/14/2012 07:09 AM
  • 03/15/2018 10:29 PM
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Any relation to Ender's Game? Coincidentally, I had just read that book for the first time a few weeks ago.
author=kentona
Any relation to Ender's Game? Coincidentally, I had just read that book for the first time a few weeks ago.


Nope no relation lol. At least, not intentional. I have not read Ender's Game before. I'm assuming I should because I heard from a friend or two that it's pretty good.
Ender's Game is worth the read.

Also, I hope you won't be Wiggen out when I tell you this, but you may want to consider changing the name of your main character. Ender is not a very common name to hear outside of Scott Card's book, so most people are probably going to think there's a connection.

I do like the "Armored Eternity" part of the title, though, and I hope it's not just word-salad.

The main character's name is not Ender ;) Should try the download lol
author=kumada
I do like the "Armored Eternity" part of the title, though, and I hope it's not just word-salad.
Forgot to mention this at first but Armored Eternity is the name of something within the game as is The Ender's Amethyst. The demo doesn't go into details on those things yet because the demo was made within a week for a contest and it was just revamped to focus on some of the suggestions the judges provided. When the much bigger demo is released, most questions regarding characters and story will be answered better.
Derp.

I should, in fact, try that demo. Downloading now.

I think there's still going to be some Ender-related confusion with the title, but you are under no obligation to change it just because some other guy wrote a book. :)
I might add a "The" to the beginning of the title just to make it slightly different lol
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.


Can't please everyone.
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
Can't please everyone.


Then think about RPGs. Then think of the successful ones. Then think how the successful ones don't have "the" in them. :)
author=BareGamer
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
Can't please everyone.
Then think about RPGs. Then think of the successful ones. Then think how the successful ones don't have "the" in them. :)
Imagine if every Final Fantasy were "The Final Fantasy"..okay maybe if it "were" the last one but..idk. :o
author=BareGamer
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
Can't please everyone.
Then think about RPGs. Then think of the successful ones. Then think how the successful ones don't have "the" in them. :)


does "The Legend of Zelda" count? lol

The Elder Scrolls

The Witcher

The Last remnant (maybe)

I mean I'm sure I could get a whole list of RPGs with "The" in the title but I wont lol. You could probably argue that one or some of those aren't RPGs but in most aspects they are. lol
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
Can't please everyone.
Then think about RPGs. Then think of the successful ones. Then think how the successful ones don't have "the" in them. :)
does "The Legend of Zelda" count? lol

The Elder Scrolls

The Witcher

The Last remnant (maybe)

I mean I'm sure I could get a whole list of RPGs with "The" in the title but I wont lol. You could probably argue that one or some of those aren't RPGs but in most aspects they are. lol


OK! OK! So those are some good choices and I admit I forgot about the Elder Scroll games. Just an opinion! Apologies if it seemed harsh or straight forward. Btw THIS game looks and sounds good so I subscribed.

Mass Effect
Dragon Age
Fallout
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Ultima Online
Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
World of Warcraft
Icewind Dale
Knights of the Old Republic
Guild Wars 1 & 2
author=BareGamer
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
author=sicksinz
author=BareGamer
"The" in a game title isn't as appealing to me. I think it's fine as it is.

Ender's Amethyst: Armored Eternity...

Yup. Leave it like that.
Can't please everyone.
Then think about RPGs. Then think of the successful ones. Then think how the successful ones don't have "the" in them. :)
does "The Legend of Zelda" count? lol

The Elder Scrolls

The Witcher

The Last remnant (maybe)

I mean I'm sure I could get a whole list of RPGs with "The" in the title but I wont lol. You could probably argue that one or some of those aren't RPGs but in most aspects they are. lol
OK! OK! So those are some good choices and I admit I forgot about the Elder Scroll games. Just an opinion! Apologies if it seemed harsh or straight forward. Btw THIS game looks and sounds good so I subscribed.

Mass Effect
Dragon Age
Fallout
Baldur's Gate 1 & 2
Ultima Online
Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
World of Warcraft
Icewind Dale
Knights of the Old Republic
Guild Wars 1 & 2


lol No way it didn't seem harsh one bit. I'm not to worried about the feedback at all and all of it gets considered in the end. As stated before, you can't please everybody so whether I change things or not, it really just depends on the person playing it and what they are interested in lol. Many things in this game are subject to change, including every single graphic that is being used lol.
Caz
LET'SBIAN DO THIS.
6813
He shouldn't base his game's title on how popular the word "the" is at the beginning of famous games. :P Instead he should consider what this "Ender's Amethyst" is. Is there more than one or is it particularly important? If there is only one, then I believe it does merit a "The" at the start of the title.. if he chooses. He may want that to remain unknown.

But then again, it is his game. Maybe there is no reasoning behind the wording of his title. :D

(Oh and subbbbbed.)
Okay, played a little bit. Gotta say, liking what I see. It's not all smooth sailing, and I'll do my best to highlight what I thought were rough patches, and what I thought really shone. Overall, though, I think this has a lot of promise.

-opening cinematic felt surprisingly poignant, right up until the can-throw. I feel like this game keeps heading for serious territory, and then sharply veering off. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was something I noticed.

-the writing is generally great, with some occasional patches of awkwardness. I loved the dialog between the two bandit guards, and I kind of wish they were a reoccurring thing in the story.

-combat is pretty vanilla. It seems to involve a lot of attack-spam to build up rage--which is better than just endless attack-spam, but still not fantastic. Don't get me wrong. I like the rage gauge. But I think it might be worth taking a page out of Princess Princess' book and having rage, mp, and regular attacks. The mp meter could be absolutely tiny, but having something else to do in combat other than spam attacks and wait for a finisher would do a lot to pick up the battle system.

-by that same token, the "shoot twice" combat animation for the wanderer starts feeling painfully slow after the fifth time it's used. Speeding up the animation (if that's possible) would hugely cut down on combat waiting.

-post-battle chatter is pretty nice. I think it's a good bit of creative flair.

-Definitely getting some Dark Tower vibes from the plot, but it a good way. This doesn't feel like a King book. The characters feel sympathetic and human. But the universe and the wanderer both feel very Dark Towery, and that I like.

-About equipment: it's standard rpg fare to have the player go from town to town getting better stuff. That said, it's not always interesting. One way to help make equipment interesting and strategic again is to make sure every piece of gear does something. Not just raising attack by set amounts, but adjusting other values, too. Maybe the leather armor has higher defense than regular clothing, but regular clothing doesn't reduce your speed. Or maybe the flintlock hits for more damage than the revolver, but it can only fire every other round.

-the smuggler's mail service is a great idea. Full approval.

-"the words cut through mikael like a warm knife" should really just be "like a knife". It's a pretty narmy moment otherwise.

-Encounter rate is extremely high. Maybe fewer encounters at higher difficulty for more xp?

-demo finished. All in all, despite a few rough patches, I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing how it improves.
author=Caz
He shouldn't base his game's title on how popular the word "the" is at the beginning of famous games. :P Instead he should consider what this "Ender's Amethyst" is. Is there more than one or is it particularly important? If there is only one, then I believe it does merit a "The" at the start of the title.. if he chooses. He may want that to remain unknown.

But then again, it is his game. Maybe there is no reasoning behind the wording of his title. :D

(Oh and subbbbbed.)


There is reason behind the wording :) Some of it is still subject to change but it has it's reasons :D

author=kumada
Okay, played a little bit. Gotta say, liking what I see. It's not all smooth sailing, and I'll do my best to highlight what I thought were rough patches, and what I thought really shone. Overall, though, I think this has a lot of promise.

-opening cinematic felt surprisingly poignant, right up until the can-throw. I feel like this game keeps heading for serious territory, and then sharply veering off. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was something I noticed.

-the writing is generally great, with some occasional patches of awkwardness. I loved the dialog between the two bandit guards, and I kind of wish they were a reoccurring thing in the story.

-combat is pretty vanilla. It seems to involve a lot of attack-spam to build up rage--which is better than just endless attack-spam, but still not fantastic. Don't get me wrong. I like the rage gauge. But I think it might be worth taking a page out of Princess Princess' book and having rage, mp, and regular attacks. The mp meter could be absolutely tiny, but having something else to do in combat other than spam attacks and wait for a finisher would do a lot to pick up the battle system.

-by that same token, the "shoot twice" combat animation for the wanderer starts feeling painfully slow after the fifth time it's used. Speeding up the animation (if that's possible) would hugely cut down on combat waiting.

-post-battle chatter is pretty nice. I think it's a good bit of creative flair.

-Definitely getting some Dark Tower vibes from the plot, but it a good way. This doesn't feel like a King book. The characters feel sympathetic and human. But the universe and the wanderer both feel very Dark Towery, and that I like.

-About equipment: it's standard rpg fare to have the player go from town to town getting better stuff. That said, it's not always interesting. One way to help make equipment interesting and strategic again is to make sure every piece of gear does something. Not just raising attack by set amounts, but adjusting other values, too. Maybe the leather armor has higher defense than regular clothing, but regular clothing doesn't reduce your speed. Or maybe the flintlock hits for more damage than the revolver, but it can only fire every other round.

-the smuggler's mail service is a great idea. Full approval.

-"the words cut through mikael like a warm knife" should really just be "like a knife". It's a pretty narmy moment otherwise.

-Encounter rate is extremely high. Maybe fewer encounters at higher difficulty for more xp?

-demo finished. All in all, despite a few rough patches, I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to seeing how it improves.


Thanks for the feedback. Constructive feedback like that helps a lot. I will admit that it might be slightly dark tower based but only the desert scenes because I haven't read much past the beginning of the book lol. I'll take a look at some of this stuff you mentioned and see what I can do.

Items will all have fairly different stats and whatnot. What you see now really only gives you that base stat due to the difficult nature of the boss in the tunnels. I made him a bit too difficult it seems because some or one of the judges found themselves fighting him about 7 times before they could kill him lol. While I doubt that will be a common thing and most people will think "okay I know it's only an RPG Maker game but I think I'll stock up on healing items like most classic RPGs," I think I'm going to keep most of the items the way they are as to not make things overly difficult lol.
I noticed that Pistol Whip isn't used in combat all that much. Most battles were over before I could build up enough rage to use it. Perhaps lowering the cost would help a bit.
author=sicksinz
Items will all have fairly different stats and whatnot. What you see now really only gives you that base stat due to the difficult nature of the boss in the tunnels. I made him a bit too difficult it seems because some or one of the judges found themselves fighting him about 7 times before they could kill him lol. While I doubt that will be a common thing and most people will think "okay I know it's only an RPG Maker game but I think I'll stock up on healing items like most classic RPGs," I think I'm going to keep most of the items the way they are as to not make things overly difficult lol.

Difficult boss, stocking health potions, you got me, downloading right now ^.^
This sounds great! Subscribed! And the title souds great the way it is, but I know i've changed the title of mine a bunch already lol
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