LOOKING BACK: THE REALMS SHATTERED

A look back at some classic Rpg Maker games

  • Tau
  • 09/03/2012 07:07 AM
  • 7981 views

What is Looking Back? A series of articles talking about those classic Rpg Maker games from the past.







Created by: Liberty.
Made With: Rpg Maker 2003
Gamepage: Here

Narissa is an oddity among the people of her Realm.
Where others prefer to focus on creating, arts and trade, she prefers to explore the lands around her, fighting monsters and mapping the unknown. Her love of exploration leads her to trouble, however and because of her actions a trap is sprung that endangers every life in both the True Realm and the Mirror Realm.

Now it is her responsibility to stop the trap before it destroys not one, but both worlds.

Interview with the RTP Princess Liberty


Who is Liberty?
Liberty is a complicated girl who loves reading, writing and creating fantasy. She's a great fan of RPGs, both new and old, and finds herself spending more time on game-making and -playing than she should. But you guys just want the hard facts, right?

Well, I'm a 29 year old woman who lives in Australia and supposedly has an awesome accent. I do a lot of different things with my time - making games, helping out friends with projects, resource edits, writing, mapping, Let's Playing and Trying, helping out with events and other things on the site.

As a child I fell in love with 'Choose your own adventure' books and the Game Book series: Warlock of Firetop Mountain being my favourite. A little later I played my first real RPG - Breath of Fire II - and from that day on I was an RPG addict.

I'm opinionated, and can get quite verbal when riled up, though I try to be nice and welcoming to the newbies and help out where I can. I've been known to swear a lot but there's no heat in it, I promise.

I'm also a huge anime and manga fan and love One Piece to bits. Hm... I guess I'm a bit of a nerd, too, enjoying things like comics and Star Trek and science fiction. Funnily enough, though I've always wanted to, I've never larped or played a desktop RPG. I'll have to change that one of these days.

I think that's about it. ^.^

How did you start off in the rpg maker scene?
It was about 1997 when I first came into contact with one of the Makers. For Christmas my grandmother gave me a copy of RPG Maker PSX and I decided to start making my own RPG like I'd dreamt of. So I started planning in old notepads and began creating my very first RPG: Even Day. Soon a problem reared in the form of limited space, however, and I couldn't continue. I put away my detailed notepads and gave up on the idea of RPG making.

Then I got the internet. My brothers and I would play roms and one day I stumbled upon the old SNES RPG Maker and gave it a shot. I didn't use it long, it being in Japanese, but it had rekindled my passion for game making and I began to seek out new programs I could use to fuel this passion.

I found a free copy of RM95 and started making a game with it, though I soon got stuck. Looking around for tutorials I was surprised to find a bunch of forums dedicated to the creation of games with RM95. I soon learned a lot, but I still wasn't really making much progress - I never joined the forums, content to just download games and play, learning via tutorials and messing about with the program.

When the year 2000 came around I finally latched onto a forum, and that one was Gaming World. I'd go back there many times to check up on the site, though I never joined. Not until 2003, that is. By then I'd already made a few friends in other forums, had downloaded a lot of games to play and gotten in to RPG Maker 2000. I guess you could say that that's when my foray into the world of RM really began.

What is your inspiration, what inspires you?
I take inspiration from a lot of areas - music, games, pictures, dreams, books, poems, random thoughts, system ideas - all kinds of things. I have a folder on my computer where I collect things that inspire me, though of course, games aren't in there. I keep lists of ideas that I have, too.

Most of the time my game ideas come about when I'm thinking about what would be a cool feature, or if I'm trying to fit a character into a setting. Even Day came about because I wanted to make an amnesic love story with a bad guy turned good. Love's Requiem was inspired by the old stories where a hero must complete three tasks to win the hand of the Princess. And Realms Shattered was a bit of a few things - Heroes Realm was a major inspiration, as was wanting to show just how good RTP could look if used well and the idea of parallel universes, other worlds and a dream I had where the world was slowly disappearing.

Have your games been a success in your eyes?
Some more than others, yes. One game that I'm quite proud of is Dungeon Crawl. It's this quirky game that's a top-down rogue-like and I made it for some event a long while ago. As with all my games, it sort of snowballed out of control and managed to become my best-ranked game. I was quite surprised at that, really, since I considered it quite sub-par to my RPGs.

Then there's games like Incarnation, which I was very proud of when I made but now look back at and wonder why I bothered to make at all. It's not that the games are bad, but that they weren't as great as I'd envisioned at the time of making. Either way, though, each has something I like about them, so I guess in that way they are a success.

What do you personally think of the games you've made?
It depends on the game. I know there's a lot of issues with most of them, and I'm definitely disappointed in myself at not finishing more of them, but there's something to be proud of in each one. They each mark a step in my journey to becoming a better game maker and I like to look back at them sometimes and see what I did right or wrong.

I know there's a lot of people out there who hate their older games, but I don't think I could ever do that because I put a part of me into each one and there's always something there that I did well and enjoy.

What's been the most rewarding thing for you so far?
Learning to code properly in RM2K/3. When I first got in to event coding I had no idea what I was doing. It took me a lot of fiddling to be able to truly understand what I was doing with the maker. It took me about a year or so to finally figure out what variables were useful for. XD

I remember copying a CMS event and not knowing how it did what it did. It took me a long time before I could just code the same simple system from scratch, knowing why I was using a switch or variable for something instead of just plopping it in there with no idea. I was so proud of myself when I finally understood - it just so happened to coincide with my sudden understanding of variables, so I was doubly proud of myself. XD

What Rpg Maker games do you play/like?
Oh, lots. I'm a big fan of traditional RPGs, so as long as the story is well-presented and the characters are enjoyable, I'll have fun.

I'm definitely a big fan of games like Hellion, Heroes Realm, Manifest, Story of Innocence, Blurred Line, Legion Saga, Clouded Heart, Blackmoon Prophecy, Paradise Blue and many others. I'm a big fan of longer games, though there are a lot of short ones that I've enjoyed over the years.

Have any words of wisdom for the community?
Don't take critique too harshly. If people are commenting on your game it usually means they see something worth commenting on - even if it seems like a bad comment, they at least took the time to say something. It indicates that they have a desire to see you get better. Something about your game caught their eye, after all.

The saying 'make the games you'd want to play' doesn't mean that you should shut out your target audience altogether. While following that saying you should also try to be a little flexible. This doesn't mean cave to every demand, but do try to take suggestions and critique into account. If lots of people have pointed something out, it might be an idea to look at it.

Asking for help should always be encouraged. When saying no, don't say it in a way to discourage that person from asking again - they at least have a desire to get better at their hobby, which is something we should try to cultivate. If you have to say no be nice about it - give the reasons why you can't or won't help.

Lastly, to any newbies out there, cultivate and practice your hobby. Don't get discouraged. A lot of the older RPG Maker users have spent years learning the ins and outs of the programs and while they're usually happy to help out with a few small requests, they probably won't jump to do everything for you. In that case, levelling up your own skills will make it more likely that people will listen and help in bigger ways.

Effort is never wasted, and neither is learning. I know it's corny, but practice really does make perfect. Don't be afraid to make a new project and mess around with all the commands and scripts to see what they do - it's not like you can break the maker. At worst you'll need to re-install it. At best, you'll learn a lot about the maker you're using.

Lastly: Have fun. Remember, RPG Maker is really a non-lineal, multiple-ending game about making games. You win when you finally complete a game. Good luck!

What are your aspirations for the future?
Well, I'm certainly hoping to finish off a few of my older games - Dungeon Crawl is definitely on that list - and work hard on helping out in the community a lot more. More editing, more events, more LPs and LTs... These are all things I'm going to try to do more of.




(One of the all time classic rpg maker games. Everyone should try this at least once.)

Years ago the Saint Dragoon Lady Flare defeated Chaos. Now, a young swordsman named Ryle must begin an epic adventure of humor, romance, swordplay, tragedy, and did we mention humor? One man, seven women... who knows what lies ahead?

Download!

Posts

Pages: 1
Solitayre
Circumstance penalty for being the bard.
18257
Well, I'm a 29 year old woman who lives in Australia and supposedly has an awesome accent.


"Supposedly?"
Wow, I didn't think that Liberty was 29. Her voice makes her sound much younger.
author=Solitayre
Well, I'm a 29 year old woman who lives in Australia and supposedly has an awesome accent.
"Supposedly?"
Yeah, it's actually "sexy"
Oh you gais~ You're making me blush! ^///^

And yes, I'm Australian, Cinderblock. I'm also one of the older characters on the site, though maybe I act too immature to seem so at times. >.<;

I was so surprised when I got the PM asking for this interview. I mean, me, really? But hell, I'm honoured! It's like winning a prize or something. XD

I'd like to give a shout-out to all my fans! And to my family and friends, thanks for all the support and love~I love you guys! Also, a big thanks to the industry in general. You guys rock! /acceptance speech XD
Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
author=Liberty
I was so surprised when I got the PM asking for this interview. I mean, me, really? But hell, I'm honoured! It's like winning a prize or something. XD
I'm like Willy Wonka & you're all waiting for that golden ticket pm to come from me.
author=kentona
Yeah, it's actually "sexy"
Wait so the quote is "lives in Australia and sexy has an awesome accent"? ;D
BurningTyger
Hm i Wonder if i can pul somethi goff here/
1289
Just for the record, UPRC, I have 3 years on Liberty. Maybe it's time I tried my hand at making a game again? For right now, however, I'm really enjoying the collaborations I have with others.
Cool articles like this remind me of what I missed by shying away from RM communities for so long.
At least now I know I'm not the only one in my yonder-years.
BurningTyger
Hm i Wonder if i can pul somethi goff here/
1289
author=Dyhalto
Cool articles like this remind me of what I missed by shying away from RM communities for so long.
At least now I know I'm not the only one in my yonder-years.

Those yonder-years may be your wonder years!
Pages: 1