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Act 1 & Release Date

  • Blind
  • 12/17/2015 12:59 AM
  • 3327 views
Hey all~

Thanks so much for the continued support, as always!

Although I haven't posted on here much, I'm happy to say that progress on Beloved Rapture is more consistent than it's been in over a year! I wanted to share an important tidbit about the project, for anyone I haven't filled-in yet.

If I've ever had a single downfall in my professional/creative life... it's surely been a knack for perfectionism - and a consistent overzealous attitude toward game-design. (To be fair, that's a problem for many developers on this website.. XD).

Taking a cue from many RPG Games these days, both commercial and Indie alike, and due to the increasing scope of this project - I've made the decision to make BR an episodic game. This wasn't an easy decision... after so many years of hiatus with this project, I did feel as though certain RMN members deserved a full release. But after weighing the options, it seemed in the game's best interest to simply get something out to the public that was playable.

Barring any unexpected bugs, I'm going to officially work toward a release of Beloved Rapture: Act 1, for January 8th of next year. "Act 1" will contain the first three chapters of BR (plus the prologue), and will be about 5-8 hours in total length. (It'll be a demo, for sure, but also a self-contained experience.) Some more details below:



Why go this route?

  • The project's increasing scope.
    Since I returned to the Game Dev scene last year, and decided to rekindle this game, I've made a lot of stylistic design choices that simply didn't occur to me as a younger adolescent. In June 2014, I made a Kickstarter for the game (which was somehow successful!).. Admittedly, the campaign was a bit of a joke fundraiser that was prompted by some guys in #shmup (lol)... but after getting my feet wet again for a couple of months, I decided I genuinely wanted to do something great with the funds.

    Since that time, I've commissioned two different artists to create over 14 High-Res artworks, hired a composer, and am even looking into custom tile-sets (..to complement all of the original character sprites ^-^). Rm2k3 is a legalized engine now, so why not step things up a notch, right? XD
    .

  • The game was always episodic.
    Even since its first iteration on Gaming World, BR was always closer to a visual novel than traditional RPG Fare. My writing, of course, has thankfully evolved and matured since those days.

    Since last Winter, I split the game up into "Chapters" - different character scenarios that appear unrelated, but ultimately culminate toward a cinematic conclusion. Each chapter has its own mini-story, dungeon, boss, and gameplay style. Frequently, you'll even switch between several characters within a single chapter, or jump several years through the game's timeline.

    Making the game more rigidly split into "Acts" will strengthen the idea that the story is told over a long narrative, with different sub-plots, story-arcs, etc...

  • No exaggeration - BR has been stuck in development Hell.
    Again, this is something most people can probably relate to. I've invested so many years of my adolescence, and now my adult life (which has pretty limited free time tbh) working hundreds of hours on this game. Instead of downsizing to something modest... my vision has only become more nonsensical and grand, in terms of what I really want to pull off.

    But I'm not exaggerating when I say... if I truly held off for the Full Game (we're talking Legacies of Dondoran length), this game wouldn't be out for another year or more. Ironically, I even casually mentioned to Kentona this project would be completed last January... only to find myself still toiling away a year later, lol.

    For the people following this project, and even more-so own personal stamina... I think it's time this game saw some kind of playable demo again (where's Release Something when you need it?! XD) Especially considering the immense change in quality it's received since the last time I uploaded a demo, the time feels right to just put it out there. ^-^

    ---

    I'm still working out some of the smaller details... such as whether I'll keep the Save Files consistent between the Acts, if I want to start a second game page, whether I'll hire a pixel artist to do custom assets for the next part, and so on... XD

    But more on that soon~

Posts

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It's a hell of a thing, coming back to a game you thought you were done with after so long. There's nothing quite as rewarding as watching it come together, though.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
This is good news. I'm glad you're releasing it. I reckon it's gonna feel so good. I know what releasing a completed game is like, and it's insane, even for small games. You're almost there, Blind.
dragonheartman
Developer, Starless Umbra / Heroes of Umbra
2966
I can relate to you all too well! I'm glad you have the persistence to stick with it and I can't wait to see what you come up with.
I'm looking forward to it.

I also highly recommend and strongly urge you to allow players to import their save files into the second act. It'll allow the player to feel rewarded for what he/she has done so far. It may be a bit disheartening if players find that all of their choices (not just story choices, but gameplay choices) and whatnot are made obsolete halfway through the story.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I think going Episodic is smart. It's best to release even a demo of something so grand and long awaited. I think having a demo available is good business period!

Best of luck on your set date, I too have been doing that for myself and it has been going good.
Thanks everyone for the comments!

Save Files will definitely be compatible. I'm still working out the details, but it's likely that Act 2 will "contain" the contents of Act 1... but simply with a choice to skip straight to the cutoff point.

What I'm mostly debating is whether I'll make a separate RMN Game Page, since it'll technically be very distinct content. I already have a lot of Subscribers on this page, so it might be easier to keep all the updates here. (But on the other hand, some of the comments are from 2008, so not necessarily relevant anymore. XD)
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I think splitting the episodes/chapters/acts can be cool if they have their own themes and colors!
And definitely have save compatibility!
Oh shit! This game is coming soon!? This has been one hell of a wait!
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