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Hey everyone, i'm new here. This game is one of those "first rpg maker games ever" that started out as a mere test of the engine, not to mention a total mick take of the genre. But after a while I started to like the idea and the characters grew on me.

So once I started taking it seriously I started fleshing out characters a bit and thinking about battle systems, etc. and now it's a real project. But don't get me wrong, it's still a total mick-take. The characters are dysfunctional, hate each other and spend half their time arguing, but I like to think that gives it a certain charm :).

It is essentially a character driven adventure and there is A LOT of dialogue, so if that's not your thing this won't be for you. The battle system will be side view and the classes will be slight twists on the classics. The total number of playable characters will be around 6 or 7 (not all at once of course) and in the beginning the progression is fairly linear (although I plan to open it up to a world map later on).

This is still only in the very early stages though and so will probably change alot from what it is now. However i'll be providing regular updates for it and if it has a decent amount of play time by the next release something, i'll release a demo.

I do appreciate criticism from the community as long as it is constructive and if you have any questions just leave a comment. I'll post info on the characters and basic plot in a blog soon.

Oh and the name isn't set in stone yet but right now it's ALIS (pronounced like Alice) which stands for A Lesson In Stupidity.


Game Features to date:
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1. Sideview battlesystem including:
-Agility-based Active-Time-Battle system
-Last Resort Abilities (limit break-like abilities)
-Special Combined Abilities that you can use if certain characters are in your party.

2. Passive skills that are not used in combat directly but can be learned through side quests and have other benefits such as:
-Abilities that clear paths in certain maps (cutting down trees, moving boulders etc)
-Abilities that affect combat but are always on (such as auto ressurect one character if another is still alive etc)
-Some character will have certain passive skills from the start.

3. Four playable (and highly dysfunctional) characters (with many more planned).

4. Lots of dialogue with some very dry humour.

5. A plot that barely matters because the characters drive the story anyway.

Latest Blog

New Screens & Battle System Changes

I just dropped a load of screenshots on yous so I thought I'd top it off with some bloggity goodness.

------------------------------------------Battle System Changes------------------------------------------------
I've been doing some major revamping of the games battle system lately. I've used a few scripts from others and tore them apart in my own twisted way and I scripted a sort of FF8 Limit Break system from scratch... It's not that there aren't plenty out there already I just wanted to do this one myself (cus that's how I get my kicks). But it also gives me more control of the system, plus I learned RGSS along the way lol.

The battle system is no longer the default RMXP system with a sideview script. I've used an agility based CBS to make fights more interesting and tactical (the one I chose was Syvkal's which is based off a system by XRXS i believe). It also meant I didnt have to use the SDK or anything messy like that. I modified the bars to suit the style of my HUD and stuck 'em in snugly beneath character names:



Also in that screen you can see the escape option has been moved to the command menu. Instead of getting the "Fight" or "Escape" window, you have this simple escape option when you scroll down in the command menu. This is partly my code and partly mixes of other's, I cant think of whom now but I'll credit them fully in the game credits later.

------------------------------------------Last Resort (Limit Break)------------------------------------------------
Apart from that I wanted to add in a limit break system as the game really felt like it needed one. I looked at systems like SoulRage and such but none were quite what I had in mind (FF8 style with a break when your health is very low). So I made my own. However I know no Ruby and have never scripted in Ruby or RGSS before and so it took a couple of hours of trial and error.... and error.... and.. well you get the point...

At one point I had it 90% complete and had a really impressive system for storing and learning skills separately from limit skills. However this led me into a brick wall (code wise) and so I trashed it all and did things the easy way.

------------------------------------------Geeky programming bit------------------------------------------------
The way it works now is simple. Limit breaks are normal skills except they have their skill IDs specified in one global array. Then when I draw the skill window I only draw those skills whose IDs do not reside in this array. Whereas when I draw the limit break window I do the opposite. It's a very simple yet very effective method as I can have characters learn limit breaks at certain levels as normal but they will only be accessible when the character can use their limit break.
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The actual limit break option (known as a 'Last Resort' btw) appears in the command window instead of the attack option when the character's health is below a ceratin number (right now its one third of their max health). You can see it below:



Here you can also see the fourth main character in the game, Sal (as in Sally), i have loads of plot for her aswell as cut_scenes and new locations but I wont dwell on it all here.

And that's most of the visible changes, I've made lots of little tweaks here and there too such as making the command window NOT disappear everytime you are choosing a skill, last resort, item etc. Mainly i've been getting a feel for RGSS and the script system and now I have big plans for future scripts.


------------------------------------------Your Opinion Matters!!!------------------------------------------------
I am planning to do a tutorial series on youtube sometime for RMXP scripting. These tutorials would be aimed at people who know nothing about programming and are just looking to tweak the interface/battle systems of their RMXP games. I would like to know if any of the community here would like to see such tutorials and if they have any requests. I would also appreciate feedback on the layout of the battle system in ALIS as I am stilll tweaking it.


Cheers for reading,

Neph.

Posts

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This game looks really good; i can't wait for a demo.
This game looks really good; i can't wait for a demo.
Thanks. It's a long way away from completion but I hope to have enough for a decent length demo by the the next release something event. I'm not totally sure when the next one is though! lol
Well once you have a demo, feel free to shoot me a PM to let me know. :D
I like your screenshots, but the battlebacks seem kind of off in proportion to your battlers and characters. In those shots, they all look like tiny midgits in a land of giants. For example, in the first one, looks as if the candles on the wall are 3 times higher than they are. And in the 2nd, looks as if they are about as big as the log they are standing next to. I'm not saying they look bad, either way, just something I observed.
comment=29010
I like your screenshots, but the battlebacks seem kind of off in proportion to your battlers and characters. In those shots, they all look like tiny midgits in a land of giants. For example, in the first one, looks as if the candles on the wall are 3 times higher than they are. And in the 2nd, looks as if they are about as big as the log they are standing next to. I'm not saying they look bad, either way, just something I observed.


Your right they are. The reason for that is that i'm using the default RTP battlebacks right now and they are made for the full size battlers, not the character sprite ones. I'm using them as placeholders for now but I may end up leaving them in, in the end. It's a fairly common issue with RMXP games that use the side view system.
I guess I've never actually bothered to look at the side view for XP before. All the ones I've seen were 2k3 and scripts using the 2k3 system.
It works quite well in XP, maybe not as pretty as the VX one but it's still better than the default in my own opinion. I don't make great use of it in this game though. Havent done too much with the battle system yet. Last thing I did was add in support for combined abilites (skills that require 2 characters).

Also an update on this project:
I have neglected this project a bit due to college and work, however I intend to do some serious work on it soon and will hopefully have a demo within a month or two.
ALIS... that A should be an M.
comment=37831
ALIS... that A should be an M.
comment=38285
??? Missing the reference...

My Lesson In Stupidity?

...that's my guess
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
I like the title! your game reminds a lot of mine : starting out as a simple investigation of the software, tons of dialogues, i.e. never meant to be done ?

Edit : by the way, sbester, what DID you mean by that ?
Seemed promising. Too bad the developer gave up.
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