In RPGMaker.net's 2023 Misao Awards, The Lonely League ran for 15 out of 21 categories, and it won 14!

I can't thank enough all those who nominated and voted for the game. It really means a lot. That's the kind of thing that keeps solo hobbyist game developers like me going!



I'd like to make a brief comment on the game's relation to each of the categories it ran for.

Best Game Title
The most clever, original, witty, or cool game title of the year.
That's the only one it didn't win, but I couldn't possibly hope to compete with SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE.

Best Game Profile
The raddest presentation and marketing of the game.
I love sexy game profiles. I don't feel like I'm there yet, but I want to get good at making them!

"Eye Candy" Award
Raddest Graphics & Artwork. An excellent example of art direction and cohesive vision. ie - this is pretty AF!
Even though I use a lot of "recycled" resources, graphics probably take up 80% of my dev time. I think I did a good job matching the battle map sprites with the cutscene sprites, while also maintaining the comicbook aesthetic.

Summoner of Sounds
The best soundtrack and creative use of sound.
Feels like I cheated because I use a lot of commercial music. But the price I pay for it is not being able to sell the game or even have people streaming it because of YouTube censorship. Still worth it.

Excellence in Narrative
The project you think is most effective at telling its story. Think in terms of its presentation, writing, clarity, cutscene direction, or Shyamalan twists.
This will always be the category I'm proudest of winning. I'm very careful about writing. I study a lot, I think about it a lot. I still feel like I need to improve, but it's good to know I have been able to write meaningful and engaging stories.

The "How the Hell Did They Do That?" Award
The game that shows the most innovative and creative Gameplay this year.
I've been wanting to design a tactical battle system on RPGMaker for over 20 years. It has been done, but honestly, I think this is the most fun and polished one I've ever seen.

The Dark Souls of RMN
The game that delivers the best challenges or coolest puzzles.
I wanted the game to be very tactical and challenging, and I know I made some questionable choices because most people find the game too hard. But from what I've seen people play, the satisfaction of coming up with your own strategies and winning is rewarding enough.

Punniest Game Alive
Comedic game of the year. Pick the funniest game you played this year, with the best humour and/or the best/worst puns.
In this category, I tied with The Kaiju is My Childhood Friend. I wouldn't say humor is my strongest point, but I try. ^_^

Trippiest Game
The game that was most strange, bizarre, psychedelic, offbeat, and quirky released this year.
Superman, Batman and Venom go to hell to get John Lennon so they can save humanity from alien chocolate. So, yeah.

Best Lawsuit Waiting to Happen
The best fangame made this year that might get the dev in trouble. ;p
It's not like I haven't been threatened by Marvel before.

Not Dead Yet Award
Given to the best old game that was finally finished this year.
I started the game in 2020, and the original concept is from 2009 if I'm not mistaken.

Best in Positive Diversity
The best game from this year that showed positivity towards diversity and LBGTQ+
I'm happy about this. It wasn't a major focus, and I tend to stay away from stereotyped positive depictions and descriptions of LBGTQ+ people. But I did want to have a MC with a fluid sexuality. Vince is his own thing.

Star Stealing Prince Award
The game that used the best original assets this year.
This is probably the one category for which I don't think I deserve the title. While a few assets were made from scratch, the vast majority were edits. Sometimes it took me over a week to edit a single battle sprite. But still, not sure I could call it original.

"Everlasting Journey" Award
The game that has the most content to offer.
I wanted the game to have an epic feeling, and you can't have that with short games. I guess I could also call the gamedev process an everlasting journey, for I spent over two years of my life doing nothing and neglecting everything in the name of this game.

Game of the Year
The absolute best game you played from RMN for the current year.

Despite having done very extensive and careful testing, I still spotted bugs and problems in the game watching streamers play it and playing it again myself, so I decided to release an update. Version 1.1 features:

- A bunch of minor (and some not so minor) bug and spelling fixes.
- A small change in a certain dialog to make a plot point clearer.
- Added fast mode - if you enable fast mode, turn skipping will be way faster, which will make battles with lots of enemies drag less. This is probably the biggest quality of life improvement for this game yet.
- Added range and unit number (which determines turn order) in Overview character sheet.
- I hated the Strawberry Fields battle so I revamped it... mostly aesthetically, but also added some new mechanics.



The changes are not big enough to justify a replay, but if you're already playing the game, save files should be fully compatible!

Please tell me if you find any additional bugs or issues.

After over two years of development, I finally finished The Lonely League!

Though a parent never compares the love for each of their children, I'm tempted to say this is the best game I've ever made. I'm really proud of this game for a number of reasons.

One chief reason is that I've always wanted to design a tactical battle system, and I have tried many, many times ever since I got RM2k3, always failing miserably. When I started using MV I came across plugins that do it, but they work nothing like I wanted them to. When I started making this game I knew very little scripting, and I spent weeks looking for someone I could hire write code for me, but found no one. In the end, I just did everything myself (with some help from a few acessory plugins, of course), upping my scripting skills considerably along the way. I would say the result, though simple, is not only very polished but allows for some deep strategizing that even other SRPGs with tons of numbers often fail to deliver.

I also felt like, after making a number of games that were deliberately designed to make the player feel uncomfortable (like Beautiful Escape: Dungeoneer and THERAPIST: Mind Manager), I needed to make a game that was just fun. I've been holding a few fun cards up my sleeve with not many opportunities to use them. I feel like I've used them well in this game.

I'm also proud that I feel like I have accomplished the huge task of making a decent story out of such a strange mixture of elements. Superheroes + John Lennon + Calunio flavor don't mash together well easily. Even as a fan of superheroes, in my opinion most superheroes stories (inclusing movies, shows and comics) suck big time. I tried to make something that didn't suck, but was still faithful to all sources. There's been some heavy research behind everything in this game. I think it worked.

I'm really thankful for all the support I got from the RMN community. I started the game during the pandemic, and those were lonely times... but would have been lonelier still if I didn't have my Discord #gammak-chat and #gammak-help peeps helping, supporting, and just vibing with me through all the ups and downs of the process.



A lot of love was put into this project. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it!

For a number a reasons I decided not to release further demos of The Lonely League. The current demo is only a very small fraction of the game, and the next thing you will see is the finished piece.

I started this project in October 2020, and I've been dedicating pretty much all of my free time to making it. Working so hard on a project and waiting two years before being able to show it to people is genuinely painful for me.

For this reason, I would be really glad if someone is willing to playtest the game in its current form. I don't really need detailed feedback, but I welcome any feedback regarding balance. Bug report would also be appreciated. In case you're interested, drop me a comment or PM me!



Final release estimated date is August 2022.

There are Tactical RPGs in which attacks are displayed on the map with the same sprites used for movement (like Final Fantasy Tactics) and others in which attacks happen in a separate screen with bigger sprites (like Shining Force). There is good and bad in each option, but I went with the second because I like high-res character display and because it's more faithful to my main inspiration, which is Shining Force.

Originally I was going to draw all the battlers with my very limited spriting skills. Gladly I found an alternative: Mugen sprites, which are basically rips from numerous fighting games.

It helped me TONS, and while there are hundreds if not thousands of characters available online, I still found the need to make something more custom. So I'm making frankensprites, which is incredibly time consuming but I kinda like the results.



So while I'm still using rips, the degree of customization is enough to give my characters a real unique look. It takes me about a day or two to make a sprite like that (considering each battler has 10 different poses), and a day or two to make his walking charset. So I don't expect to finish this game anytime soon, but I'm enjoying the process!