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Miscellaneous

Milestone: 100 Downloads

Seal of the Maidens has just hit 100 downloads!

Sure, this may seem like a small accomplishment to you designers out there with thousands of downloads, but this is still really exciting for me.
If the short demo can get 100 downloads, I have high hopes for the final game.
...Now if only I could get more reviews/feedback from aforementioned downloaders. :P

A big thank you to everyone who has played my game!

Miscellaneous

Looking for feedback on Seal of the Maiden's story

After finally getting over some frustrations with the low reviews that Seal of the Maidens recieved, I figured the best approach would be to get some thoughts and
feedback on the game before I actually complete it. So I threw together a quick synopsis of the current story. I'm hoping that my future players can point out things they
like and don't like with the storyline now, rather than after I'm finished.

So without further ado, you can see my synopsis here:
(Keep in mind that there will be some pretty Massive Spoilers.)

Seal of the Maidens Synopsis

Feel free to post any thoughts either in this blog or on the forum, as I won't feel too confident continuing until I at least get some idea if I'm going the right direction.

Miscellaneous

Does an RPG have to be long and dramatic?

I've been looking over the various reviews on this site, and I noticed that a lot of the positive reviews go to the
really long RPG's with dramatic plots and brooding protagonists. Well dang.

Seal of the Maidens is designed to be a small lighthearted adventure. I have it planned to be an
enjoyable, 2-3 hour experience once completed. The player can quickly complete it and then move on.
By keeping the game short, I hoped to avoid filler and pointless grinding, as well as keep the plot moving.

The characters don't have any dark pasts or clashing moral struggles. They're not uninteresting, as they
each have backstories and differing personalities (though I didn't really get this across in the demo -_-)
They're just more lighthearted as opposed to dark and serious.

Anyways, getting to the point. Can a game like this be received well on this website? Or would I be better
off making a more 'mature' type of RPG?

Miscellaneous

Currency? Who needs currency?

Currency in RPGs always confused me. I want a shield that costs 80 gold. I guess I'd better go kill 20 monsters that drop 4 gold each. It seems like a requirement for mindless grinding, which just isn't fun. It's downright filler material. And why do you need to reward players with gold when EXP works just as well?

I've made a movement away from currency in my latest RPG projects, and haven't looked back. For example, the game I've uploaded on this site, Seal of the Maidens, is totally gold-less.

But what about Equipment? :O
You find it! If you explore an area, you'll find equipment hidden all over. Plus quests and monster drops commonly reward equipment. Besides, how many RPGs have you played where by endgame you have way too much gold and the ultimate equipment is found in a chest? It's silly.

But what about Inns? :O
A player is low on health, but doesn't have the gold to afford an inn. You're going to demand the player to kill even more things before they get the option to heal? That's just moronic. Healing should be free.

tl;dr: currency in RPGs is pointless.

Miscellaneous

A sneak peak: Pathos Temple

Version 1.1 is finally out, and so far people seem to like it.
...But now's not the time to rest, I'm hard at work on Version 2.0!

The current project is to design the famous Pathos Temple, which is only hinted at in the current demo.
I've put a lot of time into it, and I must say, I really like how it's turning out. This is a pretty important area to the
storyline, so it needs to be worthwhile.

Anyways, here's a quick screenshot to tide you over until my next post!


What do you think? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Miscellaneous

Version 1.1 is released! Bug fixes and new features galore!

I've been reading all of the the feedback from everyone, and have compiled Seal of the Maidens Demo 1.1!

So what all has changed? Quite a lot, actually. First off, the naming glitch has been fixed. Secondly, new
difficulty levels have been added! Do you dare try hard mode? (be warned, it's tough. :P)
Not to mention a new cave, some monster balancing, and some changes to the world map! Definitely give this a try. :D


Complete List of Version 1.1 changes:
- Naming Glitch fixed
- New difficulty modes
- Lots of monster balancing
- New Cave Added
- World Map changed to make Library easier to find
- The player will now be warned before entering Druid territory
- Resistance Stat isn't quite so worthless anymore
- Ravager was given enhanced AI
- A few dialogue messages were added to objects in Josh's house
- Background Sounds of Ravager Valley no longer carry over to the World Map
- Two new treasures were added; the player can now complete the 10 treasure quest

Miscellaneous

Version 1.1: still pending...

Version 1.1 of Seal of the Maidens is finished!! It fixes all of the bugs people have pointed out, as well as implements a few new features, not the least of which are new difficulty settings!

I uploaded it yesterday, then proceeded to excitedly rush around and tell everyone about it. But... it's still pending. It's been this way for a day now, and I'm wondering if this is normal? My other uploads were approved in a few hours tops, but a whole day and still nothing?

Even this blog was instantly approved. Yeargh

Miscellaneous

How to deal with under-leveled players?

I was watching my friend test play this demo today. He was proceeding fine, until he traveled too far north while still under-leveled and was quickly overpowered by a Druid.

Should I weaken the Druids in case people try to rush north too soon? Should I just leave them be, because its their own fault for rushing? Or should I post some kind of warning message about higher leveled monsters to the north?

...decisions....

Miscellaneous

Current bugs (v 1.0)

Here is a list of all of the currently known bugs in the game. I hope to fix all of them in version 1.1!

- Regardless of the name selected, Josh's name will remain "Josh".
(thanks to sonofheaven for finding this)

- "Offense" is often mistakenly referred to as "Attack".

- Getting the upper hand on a druid causes him to summon without chanting for a turn.

Miscellaneous

Quick Rundown of the Element System

What? Only three elements!? Where's my light/darkness/thunder/earth/metal/pancake elements?!

The game works like this. Each enemy is immune to one element. This effectively removes about a third of your moves on each enemy you face. And if you want to use a spell that hits multiple enemies, you need to make sure none of them are immune. This gives the game some nice variety.

Adding more elements would make the game way too easy, and the battles far more monotonous. Less elements would be insane as you'd have only half of your move set per enemy.

Still, it's easier to see this system in action. If you've got 30 minutes, try it out, and then let me know if it needs to be tweaked! Thanks!
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