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Progress Report 1

  • Decky
  • 01/11/2019 11:35 PM
  • 305 views
January 11. 2 days to go.

I started this game maybe 3 or 4 days ago when I was making three small maps for Arcmagic's Seasons entry. Coincidentally, I was falling in love with the song A Change of Seasons yet again, which deals with loss and seizing the moment and the darkness of winter and all that fancy P R E T E N T I O U S stuff. Being kind of a pretentious and broken idiot myself, I figured I'd try to make a seasons game before time expired. Here's where I stand:

Mapping: 85 percent complete
Database: 40 percent complete
Eventing: 20 percent complete
Music Selections: 100 percent complete
Planning: 100 percent complete

Now it's just time to execute the combat system and the cutscenes and playtest. I'll finish the database tonight and spend the next two days on cutscenes.

Initially I wasn't gonna have battles, instead opting for a "REFMAP Exploration Quest" like the Manor Map Madness games. But I like turn-based combat; it makes me feel stronk. And it helps pace a game, especially one as "heavy" as this. So yeah, I'm doing battles.

I'm borrowing some ideas from Xenosaga's stamina-based approach to MP: you have 6 MP and the gauge begins half full at the start of combat. You replenish one MP per turn and can charge up an additional MP, if desired. Regular attacks cost 0 MP; basic skills cost 1, cleave skills cost 3, powerful skills cost 4-6, and so on. Certain equipment will affect this system (e.g. a necklace will increase your max MP by one, another will increase MP regen rate to 2 per turn but inflict you with nasty status ailments, and so forth.) There will hopefully be some synergy here, despite the game being extremely short and made on a time table. I could always expand the ideas if they seem like they have potential.

Levels are boring. Enemies have a chance to drop orbs (or whatever) that boost one stat of your choice. If you apply the Sunder debuff to enemies, you can absorb their consciousness inside the (K E Y I T E M) Encephalator and get some pretty cool rewards, including orbs or even equipment and skill scrolls. There will be no shops in this game - no money - but there will be recovery springs scattered about as well as a ton of treasure chests.

At the end of the day (quite literally), I just want to make something simple and enjoyable in the time I have here.