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Balmung's Legacy: From 2011 and Beyond

  • Magi
  • 01/28/2011 09:09 AM
  • 7000 views
Introduction
When I began Balmung six years ago, it was definitely the most ambitious project I had ever created. Designed for the sole purpose of stealing the show in Carius' code-off competition, I was certainly surprised by what my opponents fought back with (DE, I still love your Solstice game even today!). It took second place, an honor which I grudgingly shared with others like Legion, who threw up a Lovecraft horror story around his game (cheater, cheater!) This prototype like many of the entries was only designed as a stand-alone tech demo, which sadly meant many of its original features were cut.

From the original code-off demo to Balmung Chronicle, a lot happened to change. While I learned more and more about the engine, I feel that a level of complexity was lost in the battle system that made the original battle demo much more appealing. Trying to remedy this and a host of plot issues, I escalated the project's need for renewal and started over from the beginning. It was the summer of 2006 around the time, and while most people my age were working a job, I recall spending 8 hours a day working a little full-time job of my own. I didn't just set down tiles and slave away in the awkward database tabs, but also studied a myriad of SNES games to improve my mapping ability (most notably Treasure of the Rudras, as it was the game I was borrowing from!) In the modern community, it's hard to picture the members here and abroad taking their design to such an academic level. As the submissions chief, I've seen more than a share of aspiring new people on the scene who have seemingly never touched an SNES controller in their life. It's not very reassuring, but then again the newer generation of members will need ample time to catch up. It took several years before the Don Miguel community began experimenting with rips and tiles beyond the early REFMAP forests.

If there is one thing that Balmung managed, and thanks in part to me stealing everything from Rudra, it's graphical consistency: A pretty well-known term that has been thrown around here a lot. It's one of the many gears in a larger machine that helps a game operate outside the confines of "RPG Maker game", a rather damning title that causes much of the indie community to dismiss us entirely. While I'm not condoning or condemning the use of rips, they can seem mighty appealing today, when the vast majority of all projects utilize RTP graphics. While this is great for consistency, I think it prevents developers from really getting to know the graphics they are using inside and out, and as a result their project suffers.

Balmung's Past and Future:
That said, the game's package has really aged a bit in my opinion. Part of the reason for my long silence in development was due to the fact that I felt my skills were expanding faster than I could complete the game, and this kind of phenomenon has actually been apparent in classic titles such as The Chronicles of Haledos and Tarion Star. Were I to continue amongst that, part 2 was slated to be released as "The Symphony of the Stygian Queen", a story which took place predominantly within Asgard and detailed Hod's declining faith in the einherjar system and the fate of Elm's father Siegfried. While I did intend for it to be released in three parts, it would have been the final episode, which means sadly I would not have gotten to a point where it was revealed Loki was still among the living (gasp......)

Perhaps the story was never really meant to be told, it was far too lofty for a rather weak and shaky part 1, which reveled more in its game design and likeness to an SNES RPG than a compelling RPG narrative. At the very least, there was some sense of conclusion that I was able to leave the player on, however incomplete it may have been. One thing that I know people were very split on was the inclusion of Alrick, who I like to describe as Klarth from Tales of Phantasia minus being cool. He was meant to be a flawed character with visible weaknesses, as I felt Blitz was far too perfect and was less of a character to the story as he was an observer who was merely partaking in the happenings in the game world. For that reason, I don't think as many people were ever truly pulled in. Like Blitz, they were stuck looking through a window on the outside while a family gathered around their dinner table to discuss the day's events.

But Balmung didn't lack story. The story was clearly there, what it did lack was strong scenario direction and writing. This differs completely from the broad story, as a scenario should be written more as a day to day event that does not necessarily find itself driven by the total sum of events in your plot. It was something I didn't understand proper back then, and it is something I'd like to improve on in my future. Perhaps not with Balmung, but with something.

Consider this then, the project's final goodbye. It was very flattering to see multiple projects spring up that closely mimicked my game, a phenomenon which I've never really seen in the community before save for when Legion Saga was HUGE. For all you still working on those games, good luck! I hope your plundering of Balmung's resources will take your projects to new heights. As a special note: Our very own NicoB is working (with?) a staff of people to bring you a game that no doubt achieves the same nostalgic feelings. It's called Forever's End, and is a rather riveting tale that takes place on the northern unexplored continent of Balmung Cycle! ;)

Into the future and back to the past!:
A lot of people can argue nobody has any business working with RPG Maker 2003 in this day and age, and they're probably right. Though my mind cannot comprehend the true form of Enterbrain's intentions: RMXP lacks hardware acceleration, forcing anybody using it to be locked in a circle of hell where fires burn at 20FPS. I can only imagine this came to be when some stupid temp "accidentally" spilled coffee over the programmer's computer after he got sloppy with a harujuku girl on the hood of the intern's car. Whatever the reason, VX popped out a few years later promising to fix everything! That's right, all of RMXP's flaws fixed, for the low price of losing functionality for multiple tilesets. At last, you can make the game of your dreams as long as you resign yourself to designing another knockoff Dragon Quest clone.

Maybe I'm just bitter and disillusioned, that's a good word for my situation. But regardless of the advances and in light of the limitations of the modern Enterbrain lineup, I think I'd still prefer to take my chances with an engine that is old, but has proven itself to me time and again. No, I'm not talking about OHRRPGCE, I'm referring to RPG Maker 2003. Why, you ask? Why did Constantinople refuse to yield to the Ottomans? They were stubborn, as am I.

Fortunately, those who choose to use 2003 despite it approaching nearly 10 years of age, there's a lot of good going on. Between Easy RPG and Wolfcoder's 20XX engine, we're getting RPG_RT replacements that can modernize an engine for those who prefer to keep clicking instead of scripting. Cherry of the German community continues to release patches that expand the functionality of RPG Maker 2003, and in the coming months anybody will be able to create a custom battle system in the program with relative ease. To the script snatching members out there who can't understand why anybody would look forward to that: It's a comfort thing.

Closing:
Having been in the community for nearly 11 years, I've seen it change multiple times. In the early days, RPGMaker.net flourished under the administration of RPG Making legend Rast, and then died shortly after. From the ashes came RPG2knet, Gaming Ground Zero, RPG Wolfpack, Skytower Games, RPGinfinity, and Gaming World; the last of which I think most here are familiar with. This in my opinion was really the golden age of RPG Maker, with so many different communities, the diversity really allowed for a massive exchange of ideas that is far greater than today. One by one however, these communities closed their doors to either financial issues or waning interest by its members. Today, there are still a hand full of communities, but they're much more divided in general. Perhaps it's just the age of VX, but people don't seem to be as focused and goal-oriented anymore. That is reflected sometimes in the communities themselves, many of which just happened to install a forum and call it a day. Will we be able to bring back the golden age? That's really not up to me, but to the members of this community and abroad.

So what am I working on? Well, I've been in league with the creative minds from #shmup for a while, which in popular opinion seems to be viewed as an isolationist fringe community (they'd be partially right ;) ). The notoriously elitist IRC channel #rm2k was viewed like this before it imploded in on itself, and a few of the better minds from there went on to create RPGMaker.net, so you'd better all watch yourselves..... The future of the RPG Making community will be written in blood and twilight................

This is Alrick signing off, saying "o-owow i am sooooOOo drunk!! zzzzZ"

Posts

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TFT
WHOA wow wow. two tails? that is a sexy idea...
445
that is a very beautiful and insightful post old friend. i am just glad we can all take this journey together. the future will be filled with delightful games, i feel it.

Our very own NicoB is working (with?) a staff of people to bring you a game that no doubt achieves the same nostalgic feelings. It's called Forever's End, and is a rather riveting tale that takes place on the northern unexplored continent of Balmung Cycle! ;)
that is no way to talk to the person who created your game
When past obligations become personal choice, will you choose to live a menial life or continue to take up the sword in the name of the gods RPG Maker?

*Grabs Buster Sword*

Magi speaks words of wisdom. I would like to elaborate more but...
Ciel
an aristocrat of rpgmaker culture
367
I like to think of Balmung as one of the final culminations of the collective effort of RPG Makers over the years since RM2K was released. As the years went on people discovered new techniques, refined their abilities and added professional touches... RPG Making evolved slowly from the first small, rough games of RM2000 to vast worlds with complex plots, custom systems, higher graphical standards, and finally some truly solid game design. Balmung was among the last games released with the benefit of six, seven years of collective community effort advancing the craft behind it. It was what everyone was excited to see coming out of RPG Maker, something that didn't happen all too often - a new full length RPG.

It's a bit melancholy for me, thinking back to the beginnings of RPG Maker, the old Don Miguel days when we were 13, our minds expanding with possibilities, and then the dawning golden age - those dreamy, vibrant days at age 16 when you could look around numerous bustling communities and feel the potent excitement, the atmosphere full of creative ambitions and dreams.

We grew up with RPG Maker, wandering through communities, shifting through game ideas and projects, searching for resources to match our concepts, trying to edit our first sprite, slaving away in the editor making scenes for hours on end that one rainy afternoon, playing cool new games from other creators just like us, being inspired and impressed by what people managed to pull off in their games, spending weeks trying to make our own custom battle system (after playing Kindred Saga), finding the latest rips by felix trapper linog or bob the taco, cruising phylomortis.com, giving others feedback, anticipating the release of our community's very own triple-A titles like Legion Saga 3 or Naufragar, holding hope that those cool looking games like Blazing Hearts or Fates of Alerha would be coming out some day soon, eagerly reading those silly articles we would write about game design (with Sephiroth citations), participating in map contests, having debates, forming close-knit groups of like minded game designers and making good friends.

Sadly it seems those great days are behind us now, and if it weren't for the good friends I made in the RPG Maker community I'd feel like it was an irrecoverably lost time in my life. But I'm not interested in giving up those times, because they were important to me creatively. RPG Maker is not something I can 'grow out' of because, as a creator (of music, art, games, whatever) the experience of being in an exciting environment like the 2000-2006 RM world feeds something in me, nourishes my sense of artistry. And it's the sort of thing that makes me feel alive.

I need to be around other people who look beyond the veil of reality into the unmitigated beauty of imagination, people who have the drive within to reach into that realm and pull its fruits out into our world for all to experience. Art is the greatest rebellion against the grim mundanities of life as this universe would have us live it - the most powerful facet of the human condition. As long as we don't give up the things that nurture our creative spirit, it will always be possible to exceed reality with the limitless capacity of our imaginations. We're all still 16 years old and looking for that sublime, creative spark in ourselves and the works of others.



One of the last remaining "RPG Maker" wise men.
me, I like creating Dragon Quest clones.
Magi
Resident Terrapin
1028
Keep on trucking, mr. anderson........
I'll do my best to fulfill your legacy.
TFT
WHOA wow wow. two tails? that is a sexy idea...
445
raiders of the lost balmung resources folder, starring nicob as indiana "bones"
YDS
member of the bull moose party
2516
lol its a shame this blog entry was immediately bumped down by 34234 inane updates about the latest script
Magi
Resident Terrapin
1028
Well, I didn't expect many people to read this as the way the blog list is organized it has no ability to organize them according to quality of post.

Even if you could "like" or "rate up" blogs, it would help a lot in making sure posts of little substance or interest do not hog the spotlight
TFT
WHOA wow wow. two tails? that is a sexy idea...
445
you slowly learn that relevant blog posts are pointless. it's all about the one liners and scripting updates now.
DE
*click to edit*
1313
Thanks for the kudos, man! Although truth be told, whenever I look at that game I'm ashamed at how buggy (and sucky!) it is XD

As for the various RPG Makers, I've used them all over the years and decided to stick with 2K (actually, 2009 Ultimate). 2K3's DBS is buggy as all hell, XP and VX got wrong resolutions, I'm not interested in learning Ruby, and I won't even mention VX's tileset fail. 2K got all I need.
Well, if Blogs were ordered by "latest post", blogs that get responses would bubble to the top more often (and blogs with lots of posts could be an indicator of quality, in the sense that the blog is worth responding to...)
Magi
Resident Terrapin
1028
author=DE
Thanks for the kudos, man! Although truth be told, whenever I look at that game I'm ashamed at how buggy (and sucky!) it is XD

As for the various RPG Makers, I've used them all over the years and decided to stick with 2K (actually, 2009 Ultimate). 2K3's DBS is buggy as all hell, XP and VX got wrong resolutions, I'm not interested in learning Ruby, and I won't even mention VX's tileset fail. 2K got all I need.

I've tested out a beta of Cherry's turn-based battle system for 2k3. Once all the lingering bugs are ironed out, you might actually be able to go from 2000 to 2003.

author=kentona
Well, if Blogs were ordered by "latest post", blogs that get responses would bubble to the top more often (and blogs with lots of posts could be an indicator of quality, in the sense that the blog is worth responding to...)

I think this can be remedied if we all pitched some ideas to WIP. That is, assuming any functionality like that won't further bog down rmn's resource intensive design..
I had pitched the idea of making the Blogs tab more "forum-like", because I find the forum setup more conducive to browsing and reading.

My idea was something along the lines of categorizing blogs into "Game Development" "Announcements" and "Musings", having those 3 categories reflected in 3 lists on the Blog tab, and have the individual blogs be ordered by latest post (within those categories), and also show the Last Post, date and poster in the summary (much like the forums do now).

Basically, it'd be a "forum" of blog posts.

This pitch is in the staff forums somewhere...
dragonheartman
Developer, Starless Umbra / Heroes of Umbra
2966
Your games were always inspiring to me in every way; long live 2k3.
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