Caldesian Dreams

Well it has been almost a year since I gave up on my Epic Masterpiece. The remake is not happening as I barely made it past the first area. I'm leaving the old download up (maybe 5% complete) in hopes that others may learn from my failures as this project could very well stand the test of time as an object lesson on what not to do with your first game... Let's try to list these lessons.

-Spend at least a year playing around with the engine BEFORE you release anything to the public. I didn't know what a variable or a conditional branch was when I started this game!

-Your Massive Epic Plot is too fucking massive! Scale down your first few projects. If you come up with an great idea for a long game wait until you have a better grasp of the game-making process. Take notes and plan for you long game while you work and complete several shorter games.

-"I'll fix the graphics later". No you won't.

-Your jokes are not as funny as you think they are. Make a joke game or make a serious game don't try to mash the two together.

-When people offer criticism don't just brush them off as a bunch of assholes. Even assholes are right now and then.

-More game does not equal better game. I was actually intentionally slowing level progress in order to strench out the game. NEVER DO THIS

-Don't plan a game with major features you have no idea how to make. Again scale down your first few projects.

-Other people will not make your game for you. Suck it up princess.

And finally... When you realize your game sucks and you've painted yourself into a corner. STOP making it. It's time to move on to a new project.

Of course in my case that new project was Crystals of Kerdesh which turned out to be an even more epic fail but at least the whole CoK fustercluck was a learning experience.
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Thoughts on the Characters. I'm planning to recycle many of the ideas of this game into the Elfquest series including the lead characters at some point. Notice I've stopped using the terms Drow and Half-Drow in Elfquest: Get the Shiny. I'm trying to ease away from D&D and towards something a little more original.

Kataline:
It's interesting that Kataline which I considered the Female Lead when I made this game has become the least important of the four starting characters. Kataline is probably the most Drow-like of the four and fitting her into the Elfquest World is going to take some thought.

Kell:
Kell the Tunnelrunner has become a bit of an archetype with Wooter simply being an older more mature version of Kell.

Zunni:
Zunni has slowly turned from absent minded ditz constantly high on mushrooms into one of my deepest and best thought out characters. She's also my favorite and I'm still using a picture of her as my avatar. I haven't had a chance to really develop her yet but I will get around to it at some point. Phoenix Mystics are also very important religious figures but I'll have to develop that thought more.

Rheen:
Rheen or 'Pinky 'started out a joke character. I mean he can take a bong hit at any point in the game ;) but again like Zunni he's become a more thought out character over time. Going from a limp wristed whiner to a thoughtful philosopher unafraid to face the world.

Gort:
Gort makes only a token appearance in the download but the idea of the rowdy Berserker-like Brave as a section of Half-Dark Elf society is now rather firmly in my work. Especially in contrast to the careful lonely courage of the Tunnelrunner.

Okay kids, let's try this again. After the amount of crap I've taken in the last few months I had been about to stop making games altogether but l reopened this game last night and decided that I would stop crying like a bitch, get off my ass and completely remake the game into something other people make actually enjoy playing.

I've also retitled the game. The old title Druman Action was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ludwig von Mises' magnus opus Human Action and considering the amount magic mushroom related material involved I doubt that he would have appreciated the tribute. It's impossible to keep your political views out of your artwork anyway so there's no point trying to be over clever about dropping vague references and pushing one's world view with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the nuts. Game will now be less preachy.
The new title references a fallen civilization that inspires some of the characters and becomes more important as the story progresses.

The old download will remain up for a while so try not to get too excited, too early. I'll start replacing the screenshots as I get new material.

If anybody actually wants to help me with this game I could really use a playtester and maybe someone to help with selecting music since I have really bad taste.

Well I just uploaded another download and I plan to add a couple of screenshots as soon as I remember where they are.
Total gameplay is just under an hour now and this game is going to be stupidly epic if I get anywhere close to what I had in mind when I started it. I've done some minor skill and item adjustments and I took a few of the F-bombs out. I'm not too sure how much I can take out without really detracting from some of the characters (Kataline swears like your grandfather's drill sergeant) but I'll try to keep the truly vicious language it down to where it makes sense.

For the handful of you who downloaded the RSD9 Version and actually want to try this game again I left a saved game from right before the Plantation so you don''t have to all the way the first section.

Sorry guys I got stuck on the first major cutscene and I've been putting it off for about a month or so now.
It didn't help that real life got in the way either or that I started another attempted novel.

Anyway I've been playing around with the items and skills a bunch but that's beside the point...

Meet Kataline

Class: Bandita:
Race: Half-Drow (Drow Raised)
Weapons (Duel Wields): Daggers, Kamas (small hand sickles)
Armor: Light to Medium
Magic: Some Physical skills, some Leadership based abilities

Class Description: Kataline besides being one the female leads represents a fairly typical female druman. Her combat skills are very ninja-like with a high attack and agility, Magic is limited and defense is below average.

HP: Medium
MP: Med-Low
Attack: High
Def: Medium
Int: Med-Low
Agil: High (2nd highest in game)
Increased Resistance to Poison

Background: Kataline was born in a slave brothel and then sold to a minor house were she was raised as a slave soldier. She fled and turned bandit at the earliest opportunity. She soon linked up with Illian's group and proved herself to be an excellent soldier and a natural leader.