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Aeons ago, four great beings stepped through a great breach in the fabric of space, claiming their new world and all its inhabitants as their own. They were heralded as gods, and under their rule civilization prospered for generations.

Now one man seeks to bring through a fifth being; one greater than all the others combined, one who would exert his dominance completely. He has resurrected a long dormant cult to help him achieve his aims, and now is only missing one thing: a certain disciple of the four extant gods, who is fated to be the key to his success...


Evoker is an obvious nod to the SNES greats. It features a huge and diverse cast of characters, a detailed story, and a bevy of secrets to find. Although it resembles certain games, it isn't a fangame, although its gameplay will be immediately familiar to anyone who has played the first six Final Fantasies. My goal was to make a game that felt as close to the original masterpieces as possible, with special attention paid to the smaller details. I eschewed custom systems to focus my time on creating more content, and as a test to see how far I could push the default systems of Rm2k3.

The game plays most similarly to FF4, looks most similar to FF5, and has a cast of characters as diverse as FF6. Owing to its FF4-inspired combat, a bit of preemptive leveling is recommended, and near the start of the game you'll be selecting "Fight" a lot. If these facts don't scare you away then feel free to subscribe!

Latest Blog

State of the Project [April '18]

I've been very quiet when it comes to updates for Evoker, and not entirely on purpose. Part of the issue is a lack of new screenshots- I've been consumed with filling in and fixing older issues that were either on the backburner or had been overlooked in the past. Small updates don't make interesting screenshots, which means I haven't had much in terms of visuals to show. There hasn't been a new post on the page in almost two years, and the last screenshot was more than a year ago (I think)! That might seem like a death knell, but... it isn't!

So what's going on with the game? What's going to happen in the near future?

I've been working on Evoker steadily and quietly this entire time, so fear not. Things are happening. Spells are being cast. Animations are being animated. Dialogue is being spoken. Backups are being backed up, just in case.

So what's different since the last demo (which was forever ago)? Here's a short list:
- A new dungeon was added to fix pacing problems, and dialogue has been added and tweaked to fix other related issues. Things aren't perfect and I still need to work on slowing down character progression, but strides are being made.
- The game is currently about 2.5x-3x as long as the demo was (thanks to new content after the scope of the demo!). A lot of the new areas use heavily custom graphics, and I think they'll knock at least a few loose socks off.
- The magic system has been overhauled. Spell tomes and scrolls have been revamped to be much more logical and strategic, which less vagueness about what they do.
- New skills have been added for everyone, and more are on the way. More monsters have elemental strengths and weaknesses, and I'm still working on this.
- Many monsters have more skills, and far more are planned to make fights more interesting.
- Almost all the dungeons have added interactivity. This is mostly simple stuff like switches and stuff, but there are a few very small puzzles as well.
- Even more secrets with better balanced treasure have been added.
- Numerous story revamps to better suit the scope of what I've created; this includes more and better character development, though it's mostly to do with world building. The introductory chapter has seen a pretty extensive overhaul.
- Lots and lots and lots of stuff too minor to note, to polish what exists and set the tone as I go forward.

So what's next? Well, sadly, I have no plans on releasing an updated demo any time soon, at least not publicly. I have a possible demo end point ready if I change my mind, but trimming a game down to have something resembling an 'endpoint' is a time-consuming task and I feel I'm better off pushing toward future goals. The game is approximately half done at this point, but I stand on the precipice of a very content-rich section that I don't want to leave out of a public release. A very closed alpha is probably the next step, to gather key feedback and learn what needs changing before I move forward.

I can say for certain that the game is 'shaping up' and that my vision is more solid than ever before. I'm excited to be moving forward toward my next personal milestone!

So, there you have it. Some information about the state of the project. I wanted to reassure everyone that the wheels are still in motion! I'd love any feedback or questions, so if you have any... post away!
  • Production
  • Kaempfer
  • PepsiOtaku
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • RPG
  • 10/30/2014 08:34 PM
  • 05/12/2023 04:57 AM
  • N/A
  • 94736
  • 63
  • 0

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This looks great, Kaempfer! Good to see you're still making games. ^.^)b
I take it this was your aforementioned "secret project!" Can't wait to try it!
author=PepsiOtaku
I take it this was your aforementioned "secret project!" Can't wait to try it!


Yes, yes it is!

author=Liberty
This looks great, Kaempfer! Good to see you're still making games. ^.^)b


Can't stop won't stop
author=Kaempfer
Can't stop won't stop

♫♫ Can't stop. He's just a soldier. ♫♫

I'll always love games that look like this.
author=Dyhalto
author=Kaempfer
Can't stop won't stop
♫♫ Can't stop. He's just a soldier. ♫♫

I'll always love games that look like this.


Me too! This is my love letter to games of the era.
For the longest time I wondered why no one bothered with Romancing Saga 1 sprites for FF5/4 lookalikes.
author=Darken
For the longest time I wondered why no one bothered with Romancing Saga 1 sprites for FF5/4 lookalikes.


Finding them was the final push to start this project!

They are all shaded pretty poorly by default, though, and there is a lot of evidence that the artists working for Square were just learning how to use the larger palette they'd be given.

They're a great base, though, and have proven to be a treasure trove. Unfortunately, the tiles in RS1 are more NES than SNES!
So... when can we expect a demo?
I've been in a bit of a SaGa kick ever since I played SaGa 4 and, well, Albert's a SaGa hero and this game just looks outright amazing no matter how the mechanics work. Can you satisfy an urge anytime soon?
The demo is en route, actually! I was just waiting for the hubbub from the last contest to die down a bit.

edit:
I've decided I couldn't delay the demo any longer.

This first demo is going to be pretty rough around a few of the edges, but it should give a good idea of what the game is going to be like! Any and all feedback is much appreciated! Feel free to write up reviews, as well! There won't be a new demo for some time, so reviews on the demo are welcome!

Oh, and if anyone wants to record their approximate playthrough time and let me know, that'd be great. I'd like to see how long its taking various people so I can let interested parties know how long it might take them to finish the demo.
Awesome :D Ask and ye shall receive.
Feedback will be inbound.
I foolishly deleted what I thought was an unused file from the panorama directory. Anyone who downloaded this prior to Feb. 23rd will need to add this file to the "Panorama" subdirectory and you should be good to go. You'll have to manually rename it and remove the underscores from the file name.
Alright, I just passed through the Imperial Captial. Here's what I've noted down so far:


-Town Names popping up on the screen would be a nice touch. Pretty simple to do with pictures, and would help match the FFV aesthetic.

-The menu is a little hard on the eyes. I think it comes from the blue being too dark, and the fact that there's a barely noticeable shadow on the letters. In any case, it was playing with my eyes a bit.

-Near the very beginning, the world map doesn't scroll to the left when you move that direction. I imagine the starting castle is right at the left side then? I generally try to avoid having the screen lock up like that on a map and "hit the edge", because it makes the player too aware of the boundaries of the world. Sort of a fourth wall breaking thing, I guess.

-The panorama on the mountains leading to the Helios Temple doesn't scroll vertically when you move. I think if it had a slow scroll, it would help the mountains gain a lot of visual depth.

-In the scene with the goblin king, the text should appear at the bottom. Right now it completely hides the king from view, and that doesn't look good.

-Blind's name comes up as ??? in the text box when you first meet him, but he's still called "Blind" in the party menu. Should be a pretty simple fix.


Other than those gripes, I like it so far. It's pretty good, you're getting close to hitting on that old-school feeling with the characters, towns and gameplay. It's not perfect of course and I wouldn't expect it to be, as you're working in the limitations of RM2k3.

I think the game could use a bit of proofreading though. The characters are pretty good, but sometimes the dialogue feels robotic or forced, and the pacing sometimes suffers. I think the story goes by a little quickly, but I'm not sure what you'd do to fix that, as it could be any number of things.

EDIT:

There's also these two things that I screenshotted:



A little passability error in Estra.



This is mostly nitpicking, but the grey shadow looks bad against the path beneath it. A black or brown shadow would fit better.
author=Pizza
-Town Names popping up on the screen would be a nice touch. Pretty simple to do with pictures, and would help match the FFV aesthetic.


Not a bad notion. Now that I'm more comfortable with DynText, I will almost certainly do this. In the beginning, I wanted to make sure I had a smooth, uniform presentation for names, and then I think I kind of forgot about it.


author=Pizza
-The menu is a little hard on the eyes. I think it comes from the blue being too dark, and the fact that there's a barely noticeable shadow on the letters. In any case, it was playing with my eyes a bit.


I'm pretty sure I'm using the exact colours from FF5, but there's no reason I can't include an item that allows you to choose alternate system sets. I'll implement it in the next iteration (which might be some time off, so you might want to change the hue yourself, for now).

author=Pizza
-Near the very beginning, the world map doesn't scroll to the left when you move that direction.


Haha, whoops. The world map is 100% supposed to loop, but since it hasn't come into play in game, yet, I hadn't set it. Fixed.


author=Pizza
-The panorama on the mountains leading to the Helios Temple doesn't scroll vertically when you move. I think if it had a slow scroll, it would help the mountains gain a lot of visual depth.


I'll add a shorter (vertically) version of the mountain panorama since you're right, it is a bit odd that it doesn't scroll.

author=Pizza
-In the scene with the goblin king, the text should appear at the bottom. Right now it completely hides the king from view, and that doesn't look good.


I changed this, for now. It looks a bit fishy hiding the characters, too, but probably less odd than the alternative.

author=Pizza
-Blind's name comes up as ??? in the text box when you first meet him, but he's still called "Blind" in the party menu. Should be a pretty simple fix.


This bug was remedied and then reintroduced itself. It's fixed again. I also discovered a graphical bug with this fight if you somehow manage to induce vine growth before Blind arrives, and that's fixed, too.

author=Pizza
Other than those gripes, I like it so far. It's pretty good, you're getting close to hitting on that old-school feeling with the characters, towns and gameplay. It's not perfect of course and I wouldn't expect it to be, as you're working in the limitations of RM2k3.


Good! As DynRPG evolves and I get more comfortable with it, the game will feel less and less like an RM2k* game and more like a SNES game.

author=Pizza
I think the game could use a bit of proofreading though. The characters are pretty good, but sometimes the dialogue feels robotic or forced, and the pacing sometimes suffers. I think the story goes by a little quickly, but I'm not sure what you'd do to fix that, as it could be any number of things.


A lot of the time I keep dialogue short and snippy to keep from overloading the player with message windows, because I have a nasty tendency to over explain everything. Sometimes it strays into the robotic, but I'd rather err toward terseness than rambling. I do need to proofread it, though, and I'll try to eliminate the worst offenders of this. The early intro is extremely quick because I wanted the player to be thrown into the action, a la FF4/5/6, without a lengthy cutscene, and it was made first during a time in which I had a slightly different direction in mind for the style of story. It's on my "things to do" list to flesh it out a bit.

As for the speed of the rest of the game, well... there's a lot of story and I want to match it to the gameplay. To keep a realistic schedule for myself, I need to keep the story moving quickly, otherwise I'll get bogged down making cutscenes (which I hate) or the player will be faced with walls of text (which I must avoid).



I fixed the passability error (somehow a bunch of signpost legs got stacked there!) but, as for the shadow, it'll stay the same. Currently I'm using the same shadow for everything and, while I'll admit it looks washed out, I don't have any plans on changing it.
I understand keeping the shadow. It's honestly not that noticeable, it's just that I'm an artist and I'm hyper vigilant for that sort of stuff.

As for the system set, I think just slightly brightening the blue would fix it up. Although, if you want to go ahead and add an option to change between different colours or whatever then that's cool too, and sticks with later re-releases of the classic FF games anyways.
The demo was nice, although I often found myself with a question: "What the heck am I supposed to do now?"

The demo's ending was a real "WTF!? o_O" moment, no kidding. That was very cool, kinda.

Also, my favourite quote from the demo is: "General, my crazy sister and I would like to volunteer for this suicide mission." Plus, I liked the two FFVI references in the Lucan scenario.

The edits you did on those Final Fantasy battle sprites for playable characters are simply wonderful! Do you think you'll use some of that Final Fantasy Record Keeper stuff? They have lots of character and enemy sprites from FFVII+.
Now you wait patiently for the next release, coming ever closer to inevitable madness as the wait stretches on and on.

All the Bravest and Record Keeper both use FF6-styled sprites, which take a surprising amount of work to get to FF5-style. That's not to say they aren't a great resource, though! Right now I face the problem of trying to decide which of the sprites I use for the ever-dwindling number of available remaining cast members, because there are lots and lots of possibilities.

I haven't seen a rip of the monsters from Record Keeper, yet, but I'll certainly be using some of the All the Bravest foes somewhere along the line.
Character and enemy sprites from Record Keeper can be found on Final Fantasy Wiki actually. There are even enemies from some Japanese social game Emperors SaGa which game appears to be added for some weird reason to Record Keeper (possibly because SaGa series started with The Final Fantasy Legend despite the Japanese title for that game not bearing "Final Fantasy" in its name).

The encounter rate was really annoying: I could take even ten steps without entering a battle. >_< It'd be nice if you made the battles a bit less common then it'd be fine.

Some story spoiler(s), hence it's hidden:
I was on the verge of tears when you killed Gallahad (I think that's his name). He was such a cool character and then boom! Death! And I really liked his Swd Art ability. ;_;

I was very saddened and a bit confused why after Garrett was kinda left out there was no mention of him. I thought Lucan would be concerned about them, but there was not a single line of dialogue in the oasis village where he would inform of his comrade's condition. Sure, there might be a few instances where he reminiscenced about him, but he was left unnamed.

And how did Ailla knew about Cassie (BTW: very unfantasy name, but I left it since the first playthrough should be always with the intended names IMO)? I don't remember him telling her anything of sort? You are pacing the story a bit too quickly just in order to tell it and it suffers in some points.
This is quite a repository of monster sprites! Shame nobody's collected them into one sheet yet!

I've lowered the encounter rate, like, five times since the original beta. It's at 30 or greater for most maps. It's no higher than it was in FF5, and significantly lower than it was in FF4. The issue arises in the way Rm2k3 handled its encounter rate, because if I set it much lower you'll be able to cross many of the maps without getting into a single battle and it resets on the teleport command, meaning its possible to chain multiple maps without ever fighting. Then I'd have to rebalance everything! I'll probably lower the encounter rate (again), but no more than slightly.

In response to story spoilers;
Gallagher is a cool guy, I was sad to see him go. You can't have dangerous situations unless you're willing to show that sometimes, it's too dangerous!

Garrett reappears later, after the scope of the demo, don't worry. He isn't forgotten.

Ailla knew about Cassie (her full name is longer but will only appear in her bio information once it is fully canon, but you call her by her everyday name) because Lucan told her on the extremely long walk from Hyros to Myrr. I've changed the dialogue to imply this more directly. I imagined they wouldn't have remained silent the entire journey, which is something that confuses me about a lot of RPGs.


As for the story being paced too quickly... I'm trying to find a balance between the style of SNES RPGs which told their stories in quickly summarised snippets and the trend of modern RPGs to have 9000 message windows detailing basic plot points. I'm always going to be closer to the former because I feel like it fits the overall style of the game (and my vision for it) more closely. The demo is the first third or so of the game, and contains the bulk of the setup for a more open-ended final 2/3rds. Like I said before, I'll definitely go back and flesh out some of the more zealously cropped dialogues but, overall, the story's pacing is where I want it to be. This is partially because I hate making cutscenes, I'll admit.


edit: holy crud FFRK has a lot of new monster sprites, this is beautiful ;_;
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