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80 years ago, 'The Four Kingdoms War' nearly destroyed the world of Denwyn. The war waged on until Illam I of the Illamian Kingdom bested the three kingdoms of Sturmheim, Stynvale, and Wes'Salim on the planes of battle and united the world under Illamian law. Peace had held for two generations until Illam III valued gold and glory over peace. Through taxation and tribute, the newest King of Illamius has provoked the other rulers countless times. Now, relations between the kingdoms are strained and the world is again on the brink of war.

The story follows the apprentice Rhone and her allies as they attempt to become court mages of the Illamius. When their certification exam goes awry, they must unravel the mysteries of Denwyn and face many foes in order to be recognized as court mages - hopefully before the world is divided by a new war of the four kingdoms.

Do you have what it takes to become a mage of the Illamian court?

Latest Blog

What happened to Tale of Aranath? The whole story of shyAway Games.

Hello everyone, shyAway reporting!

So what happened to Tale of Aranath... and what the heck is "Saga of Denwyn?"

Well, I'm glad you asked! Let me take you through the story of development... the story of shyAway Games:


Originally, I wanted the game to be a game truly on par in terms of size and scope of that to the original Final Fantasy games created by Squaresoft. I have very large ambitions for the title (which has now become "title(s)") and want to provide players with the rich story, drama, and tactical gameplay that they have been yearning for since the newest Games of the Final Fantasy series have (in my opinion) devolved into a series button mashing, mindless and barely compelling story arcs that no longer challenge the player's intuition and logic or truly resonate with an individual on a deep emotional level.

Then came the time to create a demo of the game (I'm old fashioned - I think if you're going to sell something, you should give the player a legitimate sample of what you want them to buy). So I did; I worked and worked for months... almost a year in development now of the full game (many setbacks have occurred) and the demo which I created ceased to be just a demo - it turned into its own game!

Instead of creating a nice 10-15 minute experience of the combat, puzzles, concept and story (Which is now the CURRENT demo that will be uploaded SOON. I PROMISE SOON!!!) that could have consisted of part of a single dungeon... I simply became obsessed in creating content and well... created too much! I created so much for the initial start of the storyline that I had no idea what to do with it all!

So now I was in a situation where I (and this is me, the sole developer who knows the game in and out!) doing a speedrun of about 1.5 hours (Yes, there is THAT much to do - none of which in my opinion feels too grindy or pointless). I'll reiterate: A SPEEDRUN OF NEARLY 2 HOURS WHEN YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHERE TO GO TO FIND THE MOST POWERFUL GEAR, METHODS OF DEFEATING EVERY MOB, BOSS AND MINIBOSS ETC. So that is the entirety of the first portion of the development story.

The company aspect of the studio now moves into the picture: I am a lone developer. I have no art team, I have no music team, I have no programming team... it goes on and on in this fashion. Most importantly... I have 0 investors besides well, yours truly. So every facet of the entire spectrum of game development is handled by one person... let that sink in (I know all you indie devs out there just like me are struggling - hell, it's bad enough when there's only two or three of us on a team - imagine doing everything yourself while still working a full time job... and for anyone who is a sole developer like myself: I completely feel for you and if you would like to talk, I'm here!). Additionally, I've gone through 2 moves and a break-in during the development of the game. So a lot of financial burden has occurred in my personal life, let alone the company's life to the point where I can't afford to commission any help on project (#helpabrotherout?). So, point I'm getting at is that I have to generate a revenue stream from the work I've poured everything into...

Now we find ourselves in current day. I have a nearly completed game, save for only a few more loose ends that need to be tidied up - I have an indie game display at a convention at the end of the month, and I have faith that I've done the best I can to make a truly good game.

So, all of these things put together is the reason why "Tale of Aranath" has changed from a large RPG into the episodic story named "Saga of Denwyn."

Time. Time is everything.

Time will tell whether or not everything I've done from growing from a hobbiest to an amateur to a confident developer will allow me to continue doing what I've come to love (writing compelling stories in a video game format for you, the players) from here into the future.

No matter what happens- whether it turns out good or bad- just know that I truly appreciate all of you who have helped me along this journey... even if it was doing something as simple as trying my game.


  • Production
  • of 4 episodes complete
  • Commercial
  • shyAwayGames
  • RPG Maker MV
  • RPG
  • 09/16/2017 07:55 PM
  • 08/05/2018 09:35 PM
  • 08/31/2018
  • 41046
  • 15
  • 358

Posts

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I was notified of a game-breaking bug; I had to fix it.

Because of that - I pushed ahead and released the version 4 Alpha as a way of saying "Sorry, I'm dumb - here is a gift" Lol.
Sorry everyone, I fell asleep last night and didn't finish the patch XD.

Tomorrow is the planned Beta release, but I may push it back until the weekend and instead release an alpha v6 sometime later this week - or wrap up the planned v6 changes into the v5 and deploy it in a day or so... I haven't decided yet.

So to sum it up; aiming for beta release tomorrow, hopefully I will have the time to complete it and skip v5 and v6 of the Alpha, if not, expect v5 and v6 of the Alpha and a pushed back date of the beta.
I think I will wait for a more beta-like demo.
I haven't much time for now and have been testplaying other games.
That's fine! Everyone is busy and I completely understand wanting to play a fuller version of the game! It will be released soon!
Hi shyAwayGames, so I played this game and I think the demo was pretty good. I definitely like the efforts you put into the maps and adding overall making the town feel alive with much interactions. I also like what you did with the cut scene in the beginning, especially that battle scene.
However I have found a few glitches and minor errors in the game. So I've sent you a message pointing out with screenshots of the things that needs improving.
Take note, see this as a constructive criticism.
MasqueradeJacker:

Hey - thanks for trying the demo; although it isn't complete yet and there are a lot of stand-in aspects, I think it is still enjoyable!

I appreciate anything that anyone is willing to critique regarding the game! Positive or negative - I want to hear it all! The only way you learn from mistakes, especially if you don't even notice them, is to listen to other people's feedback!

So I sincerely appreciate you playing the demo! I appreciate your feedback! As for you going through the trouble of messaging me with a catalog of the errors - that's an amazing gesture and all the errors you found will be updated in the next version of the demo!

Thank you again!

-shyAway Games
author=shyAwayGames
MasqueradeJacker:

You're welcome!
Hey everyone! 5.3 is out for download on rpgmaker.net in addition to itch.io!

So far we've broken 200 downloads (across all versions of the game) and I am simply honored that over 200 people have thought "Hmmm... this game looks pretty cool!" enough to download a copy of the WIP Demo!

So no - I'm not a very well known developer... mostly because I'm so new to the community/dev scene - but over time I hope to be in a position to help everyone out who is struggling with everything as I have been and still currently am!

and even though there's only 11 of you subscribed to my dev account - I just want to say thank you for at least trying the game - or at the very least taking a general interest in it! I really, really do appreciate it!

- shyAway
Hey, I saw that Driftwood did a play of your game! Pretty cool! I haven't watched it yet.

So I watched it. And I really think Drifty did you wrong, man. He bailed on his playthrough way too quickly. I think that video says more about him than it does about your game.
Oh he did? I mean I asked him to check it out and everything, but like... I didn't want him to make a video about it because it's definitely not ready lol.

But it's all good I guess - I haven't even seen the video, watching it now.
This post has been hidden by the game developer. Click here to show the post anyway.
author=djbeardo
Hey, I saw that Driftwood did a play of your game! Pretty cool! I haven't watched it yet.

So I watched it. And I really think Drifty did you wrong, man. He bailed on his playthrough way too quickly. I think that video says more about him than it does about your game.


Yeah so I finished watching the game review. I think he had some fair points, but I think he bailed too quickly on the game too. I really think I need to railroad the player in the very beginning so that way they don't just wander around for no reason - or at least do my best as the dev to prevent that from occurring... What I took from it was this:

Railroad player early on - at least until the first cutscene (I don't want to automate the process through an event, but I might have to - maybe just transfer the player to the Mage's District the first time they take the exit and bypass the market district - I dunno.

Lock/Deny entry to areas with nothing until there is a reason beyond "Exploring" for the player to go there. This is really about the Commons District. It's old, run down, nearly abandoned - the only reason to go there is for a cutscene for Yael with the orphanage - that's it. So I guess I could just leave it optional or integrate it into the actual storyline.

Fix a lot of little display/eventing errors like fireplaces, etc.

Fix the "Default" aspects of the game - this is a planned thing for the 5.6 and 5.7 versions - where the actual polish goes on and I go through the game with a fine-toothed comb, document every single little thing wrong, then 1 by 1 go in and fix it - then test it again.

Just a lot of minor issues I think can be easily resolved to one degree or another... I still may allow the player to go walk around the Market District so that way they can at least get a LITTLE taste of exploring everything in the world... but still keep them contained in a smaller area compared to the current set up.
I saw the drifty review as well and the guy totally trashes and disrespects people's games. There's a difference between constructive criticism and insults.

Are you still working on this game?
yes I'm still working on it! The full demo will be done by September!
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