Hello Everyone,
So, I started developing my first real game for VXA after giving up on RPGMaker 2003 because of it's lack of scripting freedom and other features. "Realm of Legends" (ROFL) is still in very early development, but I already got support from several people here on the boards. I would like to introduce the project to you and ask you for some feedback and fresh ideas. "Realm of Legends" is a so called "random crawler" (note: this word creation is copyrighted by Mr. Trivel), with many features found in "Roguelike" games like Shiren or Torneco. The only major difference is, that ROFL is party based and uses the regular, turn based combat system instead of on-map-combat.

Over the course of the next blog entries, I would like to talk a bit about the features Im currently adding to the project. Progress is slow, thats due to my job and real life commitments, but its steady. Today I like to begin with a tiny little feature as this blog post is already quite long: The Haggling Feature!

So, there is a set of "common skills" in the game that every character can learn. This skill family compromises typical out-of-combat and every-day skills like "Haggling" and a few others (to be announced later). Every character can learn to haggle and the skill can be upgraded two times to a maximum level of 3.

Haggling is a passive skill that you cannot directly activate. Instead, whenever you access a shop or inn, there is the possibility that "Haggling" grants you a discount to the goods purchased or increases the money you make from selling items. Each level of "Haggling" (1-3) adds 1% discount/bonus to your sales/buys and its important to note that the total Haggling skill of all party members counts. Its therefore possible to gain a 12% discount/refund from 4 party members with Haggling 3 each. Finally, there are some vendors you cannot haggle with, your skill will be ignored. In addition, there is a random factor, so you cannot count on your skill level blindly. Haggling might be just a tiny little feature, but nonetheless its part of the overall style of the project.

Finally, here is a small demonstration movie to show the basic functionality of the engine (kudos goes to Saba Kan for his random dungeon generator). Please ignore the story part, thats just a placeholder for now and note that I accidentally set the enemies to "through". All in all, this video is just a humble beginning of the engine:

woah - im finally back!
I cannot believe that it has been such a long time since I put this project up on RMN. But real life is a crazy one: More often than not, other things - things that consider themselves to be more important than developing games - take control. This being said I also spent a lot of time actually learning about the RPGMaker VX Ace itself. I studied various scripts and details of the database. Hopefully the new earned experience will help to finally make this project come true.

So, besides shouting "Im alive!" what else happened to the project, is there any progress?

1.CLASSES
The core character classes have been determined and outlined. So far, there are the Knight, Warrior, Healer, Wizard, Rogue, Bard and Warlock. Attributes and levelled stats are ready and tested, equipment types are also ready. The skills on the other hand will take a bit longer.

2. THE KNIGHT.
The first class has been completed: The Knight. There will be a detailled blog entry that features the Knight, it's equipment and skills later on. Just so much: the Knight is a true Tank class, capable withstanding a lot of damage and dishing out quite some damage as well. There are currently 11 skills, 8 of them can be upgraded. And there will be a total of ca. 20 skills for each class.

3. ITEMS
The database is growing fast! So far there are dozens of items like potions, vials, scrolls and books with varying effects. To accompany the planned crafting system there are also various herbs, seeds and plants. This will allow Alchemy and will be explained in detail later.

4. WEAPONS & ARMOR
The weapon and armor types are determined and stats have been distributed. Heavier armor has negative impact on speed as well as spellcasting, while lighter armor is better suited for Rogues and Wizards. The weapons also have some special abilities to them, like striking earlier or later in combat and so on.

The whole equipment system was built in a way, so I can add new stuff later without breaking the core system. Enough space is provided in the database and start- as well as end-points for the various stats have been determined and tested.

5. ENEMIES
Not so much progress in this department so far. But, enemies also feature a class and a level. This means you will encounter Tank type enemies, or Wizard enemies, Warrior enemies and so on. The monsters scale with the level of your party, so they will always be challenging. This has been tested in a small battle-room demo and works quite well.

6. TECHNOLOGY
Besides the RPG part, a lot of scripts have been added and many modifications made. Mostly to ensure smooth gameplay experience but also for me to learn more about the Maker. Here are some of the changes:

6.1 ENDLESS DUNGEON
The dungeons are now "endless" and can be of any depth. Small dungeons will feature 5 to 10 floors. But the larger ones can have up to 50 or 100 floors. This is done with a simple trick: Every time enter the map, it generates a new dungeon level. And by quickly teleporting out of the current map and back into it, you are presented with a freshly generated and unique dungeon level to explore. No need to create hundreds of maps for this project!

6.2 INTELLIGENT STAIRS
The "dungeon exit" now only appears when you are the top floor. Vice-versa there is no more "stairs down" when you reached the final floor. All floors are connected via stairs, when a new floor is entered there is always a "stairs up" so you can leave it again (if you want). The current dungeon level is tracked via variable and tougher enemies appear the more you venture into the darkness. In the future I also want to have special events and bosses only appear at a certain dungeon level.

6.3 MINI MAP
Im using the mini map script that comes with "Saba Kan's Random dungeon generator". But the code is a bit annoying because you cannot hide the map. I changed that so you can now toggle the map by pressing the space bar.

6.4 INTELLIGENT ENEMIES
Monsters on the map can now move in various patterns, they can also sleep and detect you only if you are close enough. Some monsters chase you through the dungeons, while others don't. Monsters can also flee if they are lower level than your party. The amount of monsters on each floor varies also according to the current dungeon level you are on.

6.5 RANDOM ITEMS
The dungeon is now littered with random items, that you can pick up. Im using Galv's random loot script, but modified it a bit to suit my taste. with increasing dungeon level, the amount of treasure also increases. The quality of treasure depends on your current party level (but there is a cap). Really powerful items can only be acquired from enemies or bosses or special treasure chest events (to be implemented later).

Besides that I have added a lot of gimmicks to the scripts. Like a floating message window, visible HP bars of enemies during combat, a blurred copy of the dungeon map as battle background, a talent point system that grants each hero 1 TP when levelling up. This TP can be used to learn new skills or upgrade existing skills. The game also uses many states, and Victors "Passive State" script. For example, the Warrior class will be able to acquire natural resistance against fire, ice and poison. The combat system itself is quite simple, but it uses the "Yanfly Visual Battlers" as well as several other scripts to make things more interesting.

And so on...

So, thats all for my "Im back on track" post regarding GRINDQUEST - the JRPG roguelike for RPGMaker VX Ace!

PS: Just noticed that some images on the game page are broken. Will fix this ASAP!

Cheers
-Malagar