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Announcement

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.


Game Design

New Damage Formulae

Hey everyone! shyAway here to talk about the new damage formulae I'm using to better understand the inner-workings of the game itself!

So let's talk about how it was originally set up (which admittedly is very, very basic):
MELEE: ATK * 4 - DEF
MAGIC: MATK * X - MDEF

Very straightforward equations. Actually the default damage formulae used by the RPGMaker MV engine. Originally I decided to stick with the default because, honestly, I liked the damage ratios presented for each party member's attacks (magic and melee). However, it would get to a point... somewhere around level 10 or 15 where the player would be able to simply melee attack nearly any enemy to death (mash A, and win) which kind of went against the entire spirit of the combat I was wanting - a very tactic-laden combat system where every enemy feels different and has different ways to triumph over the player. So here are the changes I've made so far with the damage formulae, and I really have to say I like what I'm seeing on screen!

MELEE: ATK * 1.75 + (2.75 * LVL) - (DEF + 0.5 * DEX + 0.5 * AGI)
MAGIC: MATK * (1.75 * INT - 0.25 * WIS) + 5 * LVL -(MDEF + 1.25 WIS)

So what does all of this mean?

Well, we decreased the amount of RAW damage that a melee attack deals based solely off of the ATK/STR stat, and instead leaned more in favor of the damage coming from player level, meaning that as you increase character level - your melee damage increases more and more up to appx. +250 based solely on player level. We did this so that the STR/ATK stat still plays a heavy part in damage ratio, yet the actual weapon(s) and elemental weakness exploiting will ultimately determine optimal damage output. In regards to melee damage recieved, I wanted the dexterity and agility of the enemy (and player) to play a bigger role. For example: Say an enemy has low armor, but is very fast and nimble - Well if you were to swing at the enemy and actually land your attack, wouldn't it be likely that the full-force of that swing would, in a way, be lessened by the enemy/player movement away from the attack (i.e. a glancing blow)? Well we wanted to simulate that in melee combat - hence - the direct contribution of agility and dexterity towards damage negation.

Now when we talk about magic damage, we have to take into account spells. Each spell in the game has its own damage ratio (which is what X is) to determine damage (an apprentice level spell would not deal as much innate/RAW damage as a novice or master level spell). So the MATK of the character is more of a "constant" in regards to damage output. The actual damage is heavily determined by which tier of spell the user is casting. I also HAD to use the WIS stat as a double-edged sword (it bolsters your MDEF, but also impacts your damage output) because - and this is as plain as I can be - with both the INT stat and the MATK stat combined with innate spell/tier damage and elemental weaknesses, the spells in the game dealt WAY TOO MUCH damage and the output HAD to be lessened while still maintaining the general feel of the sorcery in the game.

So there you have it! The explanation behind the, honestly, HUGE changes to combat dynamics both offensively and defensively. I did it to improve the feel of combat in the game so that when the player actually casts a spell that an enemy is weak towards, the enemy feels it... but not to the point of OVERKILL.

So thanks for reading and taking a continual interest in Tale of Aranath! We should have a patch out with the new combat fixes sometime this month - so stay posted!

Progress Report

HUGE NEWS UPDATE!!!

Hey gamers!

Huge update about, well, everything! So version 5.3 Alpha is currently available for download on the shyAway Games itch.io page(apologies for not uploading it here yet!) and the new version has... well... So many fixes and additional content that we couldn't really keep track! Haha! I know - "You had one job."

But on a serious note - my one job is running the entire business AND developing the titles in their entirety- which has proved a formidable foe - until now! That's right: shyAway Games now has a staff!

We've bolstered our numbers from a single developer hiding away from the world in his small computer room to 8 members! So now I don't have to design every. single. thing. by myself anymore!

Now I can focus on developing the game instead of: writing all the music, writing all the dialogue, making all the maps, making all the cutscenes, interacting with the public, designing all of the puzzles, making all the spritesheets, and then taking all of that and trying to make a game/company out of it! So... YAY!

However - back on topic - we now have a brand spankin' new website for the company which you can check out with direct links to our new blog, screenshots, videos, social media accounts - the whole shabang!

So thanks everyone again for taking an interest in our company, our games, and what's going on with everything!

Progress Report

Version 5.0 Releasing TOMORROW!!!

YES! It's finally time to release the 5.0 Alpha version! I've been working on SO many different aspect of the game and fixing all of these little details it's honestly impossible for me to remember every single thing I've fixed or updated!

I am just super excited to have a nicer, more polished version available for all of you tomorrow! So get ready for a better experience with the 5.0 Alpha coming VERY SOON!

Progress Report

Tale of Aranath production continues Monday!

Hey everyone!

Just letting everyone know that production for Tale of Aranath will no longer be on hold effective MONDAY!

Had to put the game on the back burner for a few weeks due to the RPGMaker Magazine Game Jam, but the closing of the game jam we can get back to the real project!

Stay Tuned for further updates and a new alpha version of Tale of Aranath!

Miscellaneous

Update

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been very active lately. I've been sick for about a week and I also moved into a new apartment. Needless to say, it's been very hectic around here lately and I haven't been able to get much work done on the game!

I'll be posting the Alpha Version 5 update in about a week and a half, until then - enjoy the 4.5 update, there's a lot of goodies in there!

After the version 5 alpha, I'm planning one more alpha version until the game is moved into the beta testing phase, so stay tuned for more updates!

Miscellaneous

"Sometimes life gets in the way..."

Hey everyone - how are you? I think that that question isn't asked seriously enough. I mean it though, how are you? I hope you're all doing well and I hope you're all thoroughly enjoying the Tale of Aranath Demo, even it its alpha state!

I would like to just talk about the game for a moment if you're willing to read my words. So here we go:

First things first - Tale of Aranath is my debut title into the gaming industry. With that being said, I just want people to enjoy it! I understand it probably isn't the greatest title out there (although to me it is, haha) and that many other people are, right now in this very moment, working on a game themselves! But believe me when I say that, at the time of this blog being written, I have had 64 game downloads and 8 subscribers - and I truly feel honored by that!

Secondly - and this is kind of piggy backing off of the last sentence - I didn't expect this many people to download the game, I didn't expect anyone to actually subscribe to shyAwayGames, and I didn't expect to enjoy working on the game as much as I do! All I expected was of myself: I would release my game demo in Alpha to let people try it out, chime in with their thoughts, and most importantly to learn from the experience!

Thirdly, the game is still in Alpha. It is VERY new (I've only worked on the title for maybe 2.5 months) and so it has a LOT of polishing needed in order for it to truly portray the image I have in my head for the title. Do I want it to be successful? Of course! That's the dream of every single developer on this website and everywhere else! Am I willing to put in the work? ABSOLUTELY! If I wasn't willing to put in the work, the game would still not be in a playable state - I wouldn't be writing blogs about the game - I wouldn't be making revised versions of the game - I wouldn't be doing a lot of things! But I AM doing those things - so I have high expectations for the demo once it enters the Beta phase and when the demo is officially released!

The title of this blog is the final thing I'd like to talk about. Game Development, as much as I would love it to be, is not my primary job. If it were, the game would be in a hell of a lot better state than it's currently in. But it IS my passion, which is why I pour everything I have into making the game! It's why I take it so seriously! It's why I continue working on the title. It's why I've joined multiple communities just to let people know about myself and the game I'm making. I honestly just can't wait to see how people receive the game once it is in Beta.

So, thank you all! Every single download, subscription, post, share, and everything else (including messages to myself!) continue to further my success and progression in the gaming industry! I look forward to hearing from everyone who reads this, and I hope we can help one another because I would like everyone to be successful in their ventures.

Game Design

Version 4.5 Alpha Released!!! (Finally)

Hey everyone!
I just released version 4.5 of the Tale of Aranath Alpha - and I have to say I'm quite happy with it! There are A LOT of changes in the game - but don't just read the changelog (below), play the updated version of the game and find out for yourself!

-shyAwayGames



CHANGELOG Ver 4.5A

*Removed a majority of NPC portraits - we decided to get rid of most of them except a few important characters and some guards.

*Added new Royal Guards in Illamius Market District. We did this to block off the western path of the area (to the palace) because it still is not finished yet. The character would not be able to access the area until later than the demo would provide anyways.

*Added new enemies/skills

*Added 2nd Boss (Tunnel Troll)

*Added Dungeon

*Updated character outfits/portraits to more closely resemble Illamius (Blue/Gold).

*Added secret quests (enjoy!)

*Added secret items

*Improved look of many building interiors (Sorry, no orphanage yet)

*Fixed several mapping errors

*Fixed several text display errors

*Began working on a secret character/party member to unlock... I wonder who it is... :D

*Added Secret "shyAway" surprise!

Progress Report

Apologies!

Hey everyone! Sorry about the long wait for the version 5 alpha patch - lots of work that we haven't been able to implement yet (I wish game development was my full time job, but it isn't! :( ). We're still working on the Alpha 5 patch, but it's going to be a LARGE patch affecting many things in gameplay. So thank you for your continued patience and your interest in Tale of Aranath!

We worked 8 hours on the patch yesterday and so it's nearing completion, however we still have a few kinks to iron out before deployment. We don't want to just throw some crap up and say "Oh here ya go everyone, hope it works!" We want to give you guys a high quality patch that will improve gameplay and increase your ability to interact with the environment!

So once again, we apologise for not having it ready when we said we would - we're working as hard and fast as we can!

Progress Report

Alpha Version 5 Planned update for 18SEPT2017

Hey everyone! While the time is drawing nearer for the beta release of the demo, here are some planned changes for the version 5 alpha which will launch later today. I'm excited, are you?!

AlphaV5 changelog:

•Changes to Player Character (PC) outfits to more resemble their Illamian heritage (Blue and Gold, baby).

• Decrease in monster HP and damage calculations. The current setup feels like the player struggles with the initial monsters in the first couple regions where the enemies should act more as a "Punching Bag" for the player to get a better grasp of elemental weaknesses/immunities and to test out their PC's skills.

• SLIGHT decrease in PC damage equations. If I'm decreasing the monsters UP, I need to add in some form of compensation for that - nothing too drastic, just to better curve the damage output of PCs during each earned level and to reduce sudden damage spikes in comparison to the types of enemies fought in different areas.

• NPC madness! I'm currently adding many, many NPCs to the various towns which are currently devoid of all life (Why is there a town if there's no people? Sorry about that!) as well as adding a few choice-based reward NPCs and side-quest giving NPCs.


• Increasing monster drop rates of gold to compensate for item cost. I'm keeping the prices for weapons and equipment the same because each item added gives you a significant advantage in combat - however I feel it's very difficult to accumulate the currency required to purchase the items. The reason for this is because I didn't really like the idea of animals/monsters carrying gold around (seriously, why do they need it and where do they even store it?) however wince a majority of the encounters in the demo are monsters, they have to drop gold or else the player will be forever broke.

•Finishing/Decorating buildings in various towns.

•Adding 2nd bossfight and a few new different enemies to Emerald Cavern along with a few new enemy abilities.

•Adding cutscenes for 2nd bossfight.

So as you can see, there is A LOT of work we're doing with the game today! The update is scheduled to be released sometime tonight (no specific time) so we will post an entry when the new game files are uploaded!

Thanks everyone, and happy gaming!
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