• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

Let's demo, Uchinoniko!

  • Marrend
  • 09/14/2021 05:24 PM
  • 1174 views
I've just finished uploading the first demo of this game. My best guess as to it's approximate playtime is maybe ten minutes?

The bulk of the gameplay here is in school, and the interactions with the students in Terada's class which will eventually make up for the VN-like elements in the game, with a bit of combat near the demo's end. I feel like I've mentioned this before, but, there is certainly inspiration taken from Memories Neverlasting, and the ability for players to choose who to interact with in the context of a "day". The choice of "how" to interact with said characters is currently limited to whither or not to talk to them, however.

The demo leaves off at a point where the game would likely set itself into a story-loop of school, followed by dungeon. As for optional content to possibly break that up, I've never been particularly good about coming up with that kind of stuff. Then again, not having them might just be my personal preference as a player. I think on the gaming diary thread, and I generally forgo optional content. Off the top my my head, the exception to this general rule is obtaining the 108 Bonus of Destiny in a Suikoden game. If I can think of other exceptions, I might note them in a later comment.

As for what might yet come, I'm not sure how much longer this project will be on hiatus. Though, it might be a more accurate representation of this game's development to say that I maybe do one small thing (usually writing), then close MZ and/or Open Office. I have no idea what the next demo would consist of, or when it might come down. I wanna say that the next demo could be up to Boss Fight #2, and give players a better sense of what the game loop would look like?

Posts

Pages: 1
Zakariya
Every misdeed has its own punishment, and every good deed has its reward.
1174
I'll be sure to try this out and give you my thoughts when I get the chance. :3

Good job on getting the demo ready, though. ^_^
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
While I don't necessarily regret entering into Theme Roulette 4 or Commonplace Book, I set aside this game to make those games. So it goes. However, with those events aside, and by choosing to put aside making entries into the gaming diary thread, I should be able to focus on this title for a while. As far as site-events goes, my attention probably shouldn't be diverted again at least until December. As for the gaming diary, I'm less certain. Particularly if I actually do the written LP of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete.

I wouldn't dare to set a date for the next update. That's not my style, and never has been. Though, on one hand, it would be nice if I had the next update available by Christmas, as kind of gift from me to those willing to give this humble project of mine a go. Also, having a deadline can help make things happen. On the other hand, I have no idea if that's a reasonable deadline for what I aim to do for the next update? I sometimes overestimate how long something could take, perhaps as a way to trick myself into thinking I'm more efficient than I actually am.

All I can really say at the moment is that I'll see what I can do, and see how long it takes me.
Zakariya
Every misdeed has its own punishment, and every good deed has its reward.
1174
Do not berate yourself for refusing to set dates.

If Theme Roulette 4 was anything to go by, deadlines can be very torturous to some developers. For Uchioniko MZ, a limitless time budget is ideal.

I think you should be able to have fun making this promising game, and I'd hate for you to experience what I was plagued with last August. X_X
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The latest bout of self test-playing made me reconsider the cost versus effect of spells, or abilities in general, as well as item effects in the game.

For example, when it comes to healing, Chakra is pretty damn amazing at what it does, and any other ability pails in comparison. It consumes all the character's TP, but, the amount of healing is 10 times that amount in HP, and has the additional benefit of making the character immune to negative states for three turns. Meanwhile, even the strongest healing spell, which requires 39 TP to use, and only heals 195 HP. Both of these numbers are not taking into consideration bonuses/penalties from MAT versus MDF, or the character's innate "damage base", which is generally attached to their current weapon.

Items fair far worse, as they tend to mimic the effect of the weakest spell that applies the desired effect, only using flat numbers. So, like, the Berries that monsters drop are based off the First Aid spell, and restore 20 HP. Which is, well, not particularly useful. The Smelling Salts that resurrect only restore 25 HP, which, yes, mimics the Life skill, but, Dargiaaz, that's just an opening for the character to be knocked out again either in the self-same round, or the one immediately following. I dunno about you, but, that's just plain annoying! ;_;

On one hand, I made the cost of spells relatively low because TP isn't expended to use them. A character only needs to have a minimum amount before they can be used, as specified by their "cost" value. I may have mentioned that this system is inspired by how Wild Arms deals with it's Arcana/spells, and those games also have Force Abilities for each character that actually spend FP/TP. While I still think there should be abilities in both the "use TP" and "require TP" categories, but, I'm no longer 100% sure how to resolve balancing the abilities against each other. A part of me feels like I should still keep the costs of spells low, but increase their effect. But by how much?
Well, the value of healing depends on the cost of damage.

Scaling damage right might be more important??

Then there's Percentage-ism, instead of Fixed Values...

Or Tiered Items...

Math...
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Abilities are already tiered, in a sense. So having tiered items could work. I'd just need to come up with names which I am sometimes terrible at.

As for the math, this game, as so many of my other games, uses the damage formula derived from the Heroes of Might and Magic series. What this does, is that it takes a base damage value (derived from the weapon's note-tag if an ally, derived from a note-tag if an enemy), adds the skill's damage bonus to that, then goes through the comparison of ATK/MAT versus DEF/MDF. This comparison valuates as a multiplier. For each point of difference in the attacker's favor, the multiplier increases by an eighth. Conversely, for each point of difference in the defender's favor, the multiplier decreases by an eighth, with there being processes that force the minimum damage to be 1 if the multiplier falls to 0 or less, or if the damage after the multiplier falls to 0 or less. There is no process for maximum damage, as that's handled elsewhere.

Insofar as healing spells go, the MDF of the target is still evaluated, but it does so at half of it's actual value. This is to allow the multiplier to be higher than it would be normally, but the end effect to still be within reasonable approximation of what the ability-text says/implies.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Okay-ku! The latest bout of playtesting was promising enough for me to upload what I've got so far! This covers up to the fight against Daichi-no-hono. Perhaps not necessarily the aim I intended for in the original post of this blog, but, it's certainly a step in the right direction!

While I sense the competition for the Most Promising Demo Misao is pretty strong this year, it would absolutely, and unabashedly, encourage me to see it at least garner enough nominations to be on the ballet (ie: at least 2). Perhaps I should make one of those Miaso-card-promos people have been doing for Nomination November? I dunno.
Pages: 1