Dragon Kingdoms V

Today is the 10th anniversary of Dragon Kingdoms V's release. Yes, you read that right. TEN YEARS. Or, in other words, now is the future that I wrote about back then. I predicted that Dragon Kingdoms IX would be out by now, or at least by 2020.

Of course, it was quite an ambitious game, with a custom menu, custom themes, and a mini-map system well before most RPG Maker games did. Dragon Kingdoms A Legend Begins has all those features and more, for a new generation of RPG players. I hope for more progress in the new year of 2015!

So, for the next eleven days, I'm opening this game back up to RMN. But, at the stroke of midnight January 1 it goes back again. For now though, why not celebrate the anniversary of the release?

In Dragon Kingdoms V, the world has been shattered into pieces and it's up to a hero that is quite a jerk to restore it. On April 2nd, RMN was going to be shattered into pieces as well, but Holbert won't let that happen. The site is profitable and not beyond hope, at least not yet.

Dragon Kingdoms V has had a pretty good run on RMN, garnering about 1600 downloads in all and getting a fair amount of input and criticism. Unfortunately, Silviera has already left RMN, which is a shame, as his review goes a fair way toward getting the game to average (it's close- 2.0 out of 5 stars, which, while not great, is certainly better than its predecessor or Celestial Descent did).

It also got a (failed) Let's Try from Dark Gaia, showing only about twenty minutes of footage.

Info on more projects, even those that don't yet have gameprofiles yet, can be seen at http://dragonkingdoms.tumblr.com - on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DragonKingdoms - on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/VideoWizard2006 and also on Meridian Dance.

Yep, after almost six years, I'm preparing a new version of Dragon Kingdoms V, to hopefully make it easier for people to play, and to resolve many of the complaints.

Changes:
Crystals show the way. Blue crystals are in front of towns and red crystals are in front of dungeons or similar areas. Yellow crystals lead to special areas, and gray crystals show that you can't go that way yet, but you can at some point in the future. Sparkles mean that is the path to take to go to the next screen.

I removed the automatic level 50 at the arena event. I did it to test the arena but forgot to remove the event.
I added support for another font and arrow type by fixing the menu system. They were already in but not implemented.

Enemies no longer cause you to enter battle less than one second after running, at least until western Montane (at this time). You'll hear three ticks of a clock and then a sound that means the enemy is ready to fight again. By then, of course, you should be relatively far away.

I added a Frog Icon event in the Swamp Cave, and plan to add a Ghost Icon event in Montane Castle (fitting both areas atmosphere), and changed the spots you can call William to an icon with his face on it.

There's still some fixes to be made, of course, but those will come in future updates.

I know it's not Dragon Kingdoms V, but it pertains to its sequel, which doesn't yet have a game profile on RMN. (It will soon, though!)

After nearly six years, Dragon Kingdoms VI is getting going! It's been tied up in planning, but at least that hopefully means a better game will be at hand. For those that have been following this game since 2005 (WOW!) keep in mind the look of the game has changed quite drastically.

Dragon Kingdoms II to-do list:

Corry's House
Torone Path Done April 2
Torone Township
Torone Castle
Torone Bridge
End of Prologue cutscene
Catherine's House
Altana Path
Altana River Crossing
Okashi Village
Land's End
Little Japan Route
Kyushu Bridge
Honshu Village
Imperial Castle of Edo
Hokkaido Road
Hokkaido Cavern
Tasane Village
Tasane Forest
Fransia Caves
Westport Town
Borea Island Forest
Boreas Tower
Four Horsemen boss
End of episode cutscene
Bugtest and polish
Make intro