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Announcement
Demo 2.0 Uploaded
Blind
Hi all!
Since launching the demo in October 2022, we've received a tremendous amount of support and critiques from all across the spectrum.
I wanted to personally thank everyone who's played the game thus far - it truly means the world to us!
Over the past months, Giznads and I dug into all the feedback, and rebalanced many aspects of the gameplay experience itself. In some cases, we added entirely new systems (such as swimming / fishing).
The demo will still contain the game's first chapter, but with some significant overhaul & refinement. I believe this version represents a more accurate picture of what the final game might feel like!
A list of changes
Since launching the demo in October 2022, we've received a tremendous amount of support and critiques from all across the spectrum.
I wanted to personally thank everyone who's played the game thus far - it truly means the world to us!
Over the past months, Giznads and I dug into all the feedback, and rebalanced many aspects of the gameplay experience itself. In some cases, we added entirely new systems (such as swimming / fishing).
The demo will still contain the game's first chapter, but with some significant overhaul & refinement. I believe this version represents a more accurate picture of what the final game might feel like!
A list of changes
- Added GUIDE Menu: A large menu subsection that allows the player to check the map, view quests, enemy details, game mechanics, and more!
- Swimming: Certain bodies of water are now traversable! The player can also dive to reach hidden gold, chests, or underwater switches!
- Active vs Wait Modes: The player can now CHOOSE if they want battles to run on ACTIVE mode (a FF7 style ATB), vs WAIT (enemies won't attack continuously until the player chooses). This can be changed at any time in the menu.
- Maiden Statues Rebalanced: Statues will now only give a GODDESS TEAR item if the game is running on Story Mode. Otherwise, they only offer single-use healing.
- Fishing: Use your fishing rod + lure at certain locations throughout the game! Over 15 unique fish to catch!
- Item Messages: The "Item Found" message boxes now will show a small visual icon of each item once it's been obtained!
- Golden Chests: New varieties of treasure. Chests will look visually distinct if they contain Gear/Equipment.
- Stats Rebalanced: Some enemies were adjusted according to player feedback.
- New locations: Chapter 1 has been greatly expanded with over 4 new optional areas & hidden treasures.
- Graphical Bugs: Minor visual bugs fixed.
If you haven't played, download it here!
Game Design
Announcement
Progress Report
We've launched on Steam! + Other updates
Yup, the title says it all. Hurray!
This has been a long time coming, but now in the final sprint of development, I'm excited to share that we've finally published this game's official presence on Steam!
BR is now available for preorder/wish listing. Early Access demos may be a possibility, eventually, and of course some RMN folks can feel free to request an early copy.
Steam uses very specific algorithms in order to determine how much to "make viral" new projects that launch on the Store. Any wish-listing will help us get noticed during the period after the game's release!
Widescreen Functionality
I originally believed this to be impossible, because of the limitations of Rm2k3.
But with a bit of experimentation, we were able to recalibrate the files for a proper widescreen experience, including battles!
An enormous thanks to Giznads and Cherry for help on this! It truly couldn't have been done without them!
New Menu System
Since the default menu looked a bit wonky in 16:9, we decided to take advantage of the additional space (+ the new Maniacs patch functionaliyu) and add a custom menu system!
Giznads did an amazing job elevating the presentation even further.
This has been a long time coming, but now in the final sprint of development, I'm excited to share that we've finally published this game's official presence on Steam!
BR is now available for preorder/wish listing. Early Access demos may be a possibility, eventually, and of course some RMN folks can feel free to request an early copy.
Steam uses very specific algorithms in order to determine how much to "make viral" new projects that launch on the Store. Any wish-listing will help us get noticed during the period after the game's release!
Widescreen Functionality
I originally believed this to be impossible, because of the limitations of Rm2k3.
But with a bit of experimentation, we were able to recalibrate the files for a proper widescreen experience, including battles!
An enormous thanks to Giznads and Cherry for help on this! It truly couldn't have been done without them!
New Menu System
Since the default menu looked a bit wonky in 16:9, we decided to take advantage of the additional space (+ the new Maniacs patch functionaliyu) and add a custom menu system!
Giznads did an amazing job elevating the presentation even further.
Progress Report
Patreon! + Chapter II nearly done
Hi all,
Despite my silence, things have been steadily progressing toward us finishing BR!
After an impossibly long time, I believe I may finally be able to finish in 2022 (but I won't jinx myself. XD)
Together with Giznads, we've used the Maniacs Patch update to push the battle system even further! We added fully-animated enemies to every battle, and patch up the bugs from the original demo.
Here are a few progress shots from Chapter II:
Patreon Support
As some of you know, we launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 to help revitalize this old Rm2k3 project as a newfound commercial game. We worked hard to replace every single asset (largely rips from Chrono Trigger and other titles), including new battle animations, pixel-art backgrounds, tilesets, and a full 16-bit soundtrack.
I've learned a few lessons during the time that's elapsed since then. Namely, that we may have underestimated the budget it would actually require to produce a full commercial RPG... (who would've thought? Heh heh)
We've made enormous progress since then, which I'm very proud of! (The game is now over 6 hours!) But on the flip side, a majority of the budget has been used up now.
I talked with my team, and we decided to launch a small Patreon page in order to give some continued support for helping us cross the finish line! I don't expect this to give anywhere close to the level of assistance we derived from the actual Kickstarter, and I take full responsibility for underestimating the money we'd need in the first place. I'll chalk it up to a lesson learned - and if I ever work on future projects, I'll be able to apply that lesson.
I know the followers on RMN, in particular, have watched this project for many years (some of you even from the website's beginning days), and for that, I can't even find the words to express my gratitude. :')
If any of you feel compelled (and able) to support our amazing pixel artists with their work, I plan to do everything possible to create meaningful rewards for our Patrons. I plan to distribute early copies of the game, and even involve them directly with creative decisions in development!
Patreon.com/BelovedRapture
Widescreen Support
As some of you may also know, the Maniacs patch for RPGMaker 2003 allows for customized resolutions, similar to the later engines.
We've began to experiment with the possibility of 16:9 widescreen.
It would require a tremendous amount of re-coding pictures and events, but the payoff might be worth it! How do people here feel about 4:3 vs 16:9 for retro-inspired/pixel games?
Despite my silence, things have been steadily progressing toward us finishing BR!
After an impossibly long time, I believe I may finally be able to finish in 2022 (but I won't jinx myself. XD)
Together with Giznads, we've used the Maniacs Patch update to push the battle system even further! We added fully-animated enemies to every battle, and patch up the bugs from the original demo.
Here are a few progress shots from Chapter II:
Patreon Support
As some of you know, we launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 to help revitalize this old Rm2k3 project as a newfound commercial game. We worked hard to replace every single asset (largely rips from Chrono Trigger and other titles), including new battle animations, pixel-art backgrounds, tilesets, and a full 16-bit soundtrack.
I've learned a few lessons during the time that's elapsed since then. Namely, that we may have underestimated the budget it would actually require to produce a full commercial RPG... (who would've thought? Heh heh)
We've made enormous progress since then, which I'm very proud of! (The game is now over 6 hours!) But on the flip side, a majority of the budget has been used up now.
I talked with my team, and we decided to launch a small Patreon page in order to give some continued support for helping us cross the finish line! I don't expect this to give anywhere close to the level of assistance we derived from the actual Kickstarter, and I take full responsibility for underestimating the money we'd need in the first place. I'll chalk it up to a lesson learned - and if I ever work on future projects, I'll be able to apply that lesson.
I know the followers on RMN, in particular, have watched this project for many years (some of you even from the website's beginning days), and for that, I can't even find the words to express my gratitude. :')
If any of you feel compelled (and able) to support our amazing pixel artists with their work, I plan to do everything possible to create meaningful rewards for our Patrons. I plan to distribute early copies of the game, and even involve them directly with creative decisions in development!
Patreon.com/BelovedRapture
Widescreen Support
As some of you may also know, the Maniacs patch for RPGMaker 2003 allows for customized resolutions, similar to the later engines.
We've began to experiment with the possibility of 16:9 widescreen.
It would require a tremendous amount of re-coding pictures and events, but the payoff might be worth it! How do people here feel about 4:3 vs 16:9 for retro-inspired/pixel games?
Announcement
RPGMaker Cola
Happy 2021, everyone!
Some great news! I've been chosen to appear as a guest on the RPGMaker Cola podcast! It's quite an honor!
RPGMaker Cola is a wonderful interview series (now recently resurfaced for Season 2), hosted by RMN's Cashmere Cat.
My co-guests are:
- Giznads ("Nihilo")
- KoopaKush ("Lakria Legends" & "Shadow Seeker")
What makes me especially proud is that all 3 of us are RPGMaker 2003 users - carrying the torch into the next decade, apparently. XD
If you have any questions you've been meaning to ask me (or my team generally), now is the time! Just leave them in the comments, and I'm sure Cashmere will be compiling a list.
Several users have privately messaged me about their desires to go commercial with their RPGMaker games. I'm excited to unpack my decision-making a bit more thoroughly, but for any more specific questions, I'm happy to tackle 'em.
------
Some great news! I've been chosen to appear as a guest on the RPGMaker Cola podcast! It's quite an honor!
RPGMaker Cola is a wonderful interview series (now recently resurfaced for Season 2), hosted by RMN's Cashmere Cat.
My co-guests are:
- Giznads ("Nihilo")
- KoopaKush ("Lakria Legends" & "Shadow Seeker")
What makes me especially proud is that all 3 of us are RPGMaker 2003 users - carrying the torch into the next decade, apparently. XD
If you have any questions you've been meaning to ask me (or my team generally), now is the time! Just leave them in the comments, and I'm sure Cashmere will be compiling a list.
Several users have privately messaged me about their desires to go commercial with their RPGMaker games. I'm excited to unpack my decision-making a bit more thoroughly, but for any more specific questions, I'm happy to tackle 'em.
------
Progress Report
Summer 2020 Progress
Wanted to share my most recent update from Kickstarter with RMN as well. Hope you’ve all had a safe & enjoyable summer thus far!
This update is long overdue - so I’d like to thank backers for their extraordinary patience! This month marks one year since we launched on Kickstarter!
Development Hurdles
Our team has suffered a couple of unforeseen setbacks during the past months. Rightly or wrongly, I was reluctant to post an update until it felt appropriate to share what’s happened.
Unfortunately, our lead pixel artist became quite ill for several months, leaving him unable to work or generate any new content. Although he was committed to staying involved with Beloved Rapture, his sickness left him unable to concentrate for long enough periods of time to complete the monthly assignments (new tiles, monster sprites, etc).
We tried to work around this by designating more of our monthly budget toward music/audio, and toward miscellaneous artwork. Like much of the world, COVID-related personal concerns diminished a lot of our free time - resulting in less mental energy for the project. I ran into a level of emotional/creative burnout that I hadn't felt in a long time.
The good news? He’s made close to a full recovery now, so we’re back on track in terms of preparing for the demo!
The Steam Demo
We're expecting that the demo will be finished by the end of August/Early Sep, and released on Steam shortly after that time.
We intend to submit this demo to a publisher, so I wanted to be certain that it achieved a level of high detail that resembles a finished game.
With that being said, I'd like to showcase a few cut-scenes / gameplay tidbits here - any criticism is welcome while I begin to maximize polish.
Chapter 1 Opening Scene
Some of you may remember this scene from the original Kickstarter trailer (as well those of you who know me well enough to have played the old prototype demo XD). Well, we've added in the finalized music track!
I may tweak some of the dialogue to improve pacing, but I'm pretty happy with it.
Dungeon 1 Preview
Similarly, here's a quick glimpse of the game's first dungeon.
I tried to establish nice rhythm in terms of puzzles -> exploration -> battles, etc. The cave comes as a moderate initial challenge, while gently introducing simple jRPG mechanics.
There are still a couple of small bugs/the combat is relatively unfinished, but it's pretty close to the final version.
Dungeon & Battle Themes
Here's the full audio track for the cavern area. Andreas was inspired by both Mitsuda and David Wise for the 'soundscape' and style of these instruments. I referenced the audio style of DKC2 in particular in my track notes; as I wanted a song that could feel both melodic and atmosphere-setting.
The battle theme was finished months ago, but we've refined the instruments since that time. Find the updated track below.
This update is long overdue - so I’d like to thank backers for their extraordinary patience! This month marks one year since we launched on Kickstarter!
Development Hurdles
Our team has suffered a couple of unforeseen setbacks during the past months. Rightly or wrongly, I was reluctant to post an update until it felt appropriate to share what’s happened.
Unfortunately, our lead pixel artist became quite ill for several months, leaving him unable to work or generate any new content. Although he was committed to staying involved with Beloved Rapture, his sickness left him unable to concentrate for long enough periods of time to complete the monthly assignments (new tiles, monster sprites, etc).
We tried to work around this by designating more of our monthly budget toward music/audio, and toward miscellaneous artwork. Like much of the world, COVID-related personal concerns diminished a lot of our free time - resulting in less mental energy for the project. I ran into a level of emotional/creative burnout that I hadn't felt in a long time.
The good news? He’s made close to a full recovery now, so we’re back on track in terms of preparing for the demo!
The Steam Demo
We're expecting that the demo will be finished by the end of August/Early Sep, and released on Steam shortly after that time.
- It will last approximately 40-60 minutes - essentially, most of "Chapter 1" in the game.
- Includes battles, bosses, & 1 Full dungeon
We intend to submit this demo to a publisher, so I wanted to be certain that it achieved a level of high detail that resembles a finished game.
With that being said, I'd like to showcase a few cut-scenes / gameplay tidbits here - any criticism is welcome while I begin to maximize polish.
Chapter 1 Opening Scene
Some of you may remember this scene from the original Kickstarter trailer (as well those of you who know me well enough to have played the old prototype demo XD). Well, we've added in the finalized music track!
I may tweak some of the dialogue to improve pacing, but I'm pretty happy with it.
Dungeon 1 Preview
Similarly, here's a quick glimpse of the game's first dungeon.
I tried to establish nice rhythm in terms of puzzles -> exploration -> battles, etc. The cave comes as a moderate initial challenge, while gently introducing simple jRPG mechanics.
There are still a couple of small bugs/the combat is relatively unfinished, but it's pretty close to the final version.
Dungeon & Battle Themes
Here's the full audio track for the cavern area. Andreas was inspired by both Mitsuda and David Wise for the 'soundscape' and style of these instruments. I referenced the audio style of DKC2 in particular in my track notes; as I wanted a song that could feel both melodic and atmosphere-setting.
The battle theme was finished months ago, but we've refined the instruments since that time. Find the updated track below.
Progress Report
Miscellaneous
Small Retrospective + Old Screenshots
Hey all!
We're back to development full-throttle now that we've reached out Kickstarter goal! Feels pretty fantastic to be so reinvigorated with the game, after a bit of a lull period. :D
As we finish BR during the next 12 months, I thought it'd be cool to take a moment and reflect on the project's long history. For the sake of nostalgia, I'd like to keep some of the images from the classic freeware game saved here in this blog post. This is the only place they'll be available. I'll post them in chronological order, so everyone can see the evolution!
I know some people (all three of you) might be disappointed they'll never be able to play that version of the game, but I hope everyone can trust me when I say the revamp will be superior in every way possible.
I've learned a lot about script-writing and design over the years, and I'm glad to put those lessons to use with a bit of a "blank canvas", if you will. The wonderful team I've accumulated have added their talents, expanded the vision past anything I could hope to do on my own.
Comparison
Early RMN Era Images
The earliest major demo of BR that I released was back in 2008-2009.
At the time, I was still an extreme novice with Rm2k3, so most of the design choices were questionable at best (..and at worst, downright awful).
I had a lot of ambition, but zero idea how to actually create a game. Nonetheless, I learned quite a lot from how game was received - the reviews and comments were notoriously polarized.
Post-Hiatus Revival (2015-17)
Late in 2009, I suffered a pretty severe hard-drive failure, which lost nearly ten month's work of progress. Out of frustration, I effectively cancelled BR as I began my first year of college, putting it out of my mind.
It wasn't until nearly 7 years later that I was able to recover the files (little did I know a friend had the folder saved), and with the legalization of Rm2k3, I was spurred to start work on it again.
For better or worse, I only shared that version with about ten people, all of whom were from RMN.
We're back to development full-throttle now that we've reached out Kickstarter goal! Feels pretty fantastic to be so reinvigorated with the game, after a bit of a lull period. :D
As we finish BR during the next 12 months, I thought it'd be cool to take a moment and reflect on the project's long history. For the sake of nostalgia, I'd like to keep some of the images from the classic freeware game saved here in this blog post. This is the only place they'll be available. I'll post them in chronological order, so everyone can see the evolution!
I know some people (all three of you) might be disappointed they'll never be able to play that version of the game, but I hope everyone can trust me when I say the revamp will be superior in every way possible.
I've learned a lot about script-writing and design over the years, and I'm glad to put those lessons to use with a bit of a "blank canvas", if you will. The wonderful team I've accumulated have added their talents, expanded the vision past anything I could hope to do on my own.
Comparison
Early RMN Era Images
The earliest major demo of BR that I released was back in 2008-2009.
At the time, I was still an extreme novice with Rm2k3, so most of the design choices were questionable at best (..and at worst, downright awful).
I had a lot of ambition, but zero idea how to actually create a game. Nonetheless, I learned quite a lot from how game was received - the reviews and comments were notoriously polarized.
Post-Hiatus Revival (2015-17)
Late in 2009, I suffered a pretty severe hard-drive failure, which lost nearly ten month's work of progress. Out of frustration, I effectively cancelled BR as I began my first year of college, putting it out of my mind.
It wasn't until nearly 7 years later that I was able to recover the files (little did I know a friend had the folder saved), and with the legalization of Rm2k3, I was spurred to start work on it again.
For better or worse, I only shared that version with about ten people, all of whom were from RMN.
