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Game Design

Mapping style

So, when it comes to mapping, one thing I've noticed that seems to be done very rarely is extending the borders of the map beyond what the player can reach. It's interesting, because this is what the old school Pokémon games used to do their overworld mapping, yet it's an idea barely ever adopted into RPG Making mapping. To show an example:


The red-marked parts of those maps are areas that cannot be entered, but are still mapped out to keep the player in the centre of the screen at all times and provide that illusion of the world being bigger than it is (immersion!) I remember this fascinating me when I played those games as kid, because I always wondered what could be in those unreachable places; like, there could be hidden spots with secret items, characters or Pokémon to be found that are just out of sight. For that reason, it has become one of my most favourite mapping techniques, and it saddens me it's so rarely utilised.

So, for this game, one of the goals with outdoor maps is to never reveal the edge of the maps. There should always be things to be seen beyond what you are able to reach. And for some these areas, some of them might seem inaccessible at first, but who knows... there could be the possibility finding a way to get there one way or another and see what's there.
That is something I want to make clear at the start of the game with the town map, that will have plenty of hidden corners around the edges of the map that you can wander to, find treasure in some of those places and look what's beyond the edges of the forest surrounding the town. For me, the edges of the maps are at least as important as that what goes in the middle, and I hope it'll satisfy those who like to explore. To go with this idea, you can expect to see relatively large maps, only being divided when it transitions into another type of area, or if there's really no other option.



(note: maps are still under construction, lol.)

Game Design

Initial ideas

With the game still in its early stages of development, I'd like to set up an entry to go over what's planned (so I can later come back to it and see how much I actually kept to my initial ideas). As always, everything is possibly subject to change, blahblahblah - you know the drill.

STORY
Well... to put it lightly, I'm not exactly the world's greatest writer. Honestly, I suck at writing anything more complex than a bad guy bad -> kill bad guy kind of story, so without trying to embarrass myself, I'm going to keep things simple here.
The main gimmick of the story is taking a bunch of popular tropes and somehow make them work in a way they're still enjoyable. No, I won't be parodying or making fun of these tropes, because at this point, I think it's something that's been done far too much already.

CHARACTERS
I believe a simple story can be made great with awesome characters, but doing it the other way around tends to not work out so well. So, the characters will really be a much larger part of the focus than the plot itself.
While the sidekicks may seem like 1-dimensional clichés when first meeting them (though hopefully still entertaining that way), I hope to give each of them an optional side-quest that can be unlocked by bringing them in your party for a good part of the game. This side-quest will tell you a little more about them, giving you some more insight into who they are and how they got involved in the whole hero/sidekick business.

WORLD
I don't want this game to become a 20-hour+ epic (because I know if it did, I'd never get to finish it), so I'm probably going to stick to maybe 2 towns, 3-4 dungeons and some field areas as a maximum.
Exploration will be rewarded with various items, with the main treasures consisting of equippable passive skills that might alter the way you play certain characters, or simply boost their effectiveness.

COMBAT
This will be the meat of the game, and where most of my effort will be focused on. Combat is my passion, and ensuring it feels just right is my #1 priority. The system will be largely based on that from my previous game, RTP. For those unfamiliar with it (I assume that would be everyone who reads this...) it means that there's a large focus on strategic usage of skills and HP/MP management during combat itself.

MP bars are set to be small and static from begin to end of the game, not growing by even 1 point. This is to ensure that skills cannot ever be mindlessly spammed, and that thought should go into using them at the right times, under the right circumstances.
Each playable character has its own set of mechanics that are unique to them, and it'll be vital to survival to learn how they play, once you choose to bring them to your party. For example, Nimugem is built around 2 core mechanics:
-Scattering Mines across the field.
-Raising her max. MP (until the end of battle) to increase her Explosion spell.
The Mines are relatively cheap to deploy, and while they can be left to explode on their own (random chance that some of them will), they can be manually detonated to regain Nimugem's resources and increase her max. MP (until the end of battle).
Several of her skills will contribute to building up her max. MP in combat, which in turn will power up her Explosion spell, which deals damage based on her MP value. Though, once Explosion has been used, she'll be unable to partake in battle until the next encounter (pro-tip: get her back on her feet by fully restoring her MP during that same encounter).


I'll be writing more detailed entries, going over each of the playable characters' skill-sets later on, so I'll leave it at this for now.

As is the standard in my games, items are not usable in combat. If you heal, it's through the use of skills (so make sure you manage your MP well). All characters get at the very least 1 form of self heal.

There should be no to minimum requirement grind in order to progress, but if you are having difficulties with beating encounters, the option to do so will be there. The game will be made that the skilful player will come out on top, even if they spent little time on fighting regular encounters.

REPLAYABILITY
Replayability is a huge focus for once the game is finished, and there will be options added for quick replays without going through all the story stuff again. The goal is to provide options to skip all major cutscenes, most if not all of the dialogues, as well as an option to make the game randomly make decisions for you, so you don't know what you're getting until you start playing.

And that about sums it up, I'd say. Having only done the very beginning of the game, and just over halfway of all characters' skill sets, I still have a long way to go...
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