• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS
Distant members of the royal family are calmly living their lives, scattered throughout the Kingdom of Laurentide. Some are scientists, while others are simple merchants and craftsmen. In the middle of the night, six seemingly random members of the family are kidnapped from around the kingdom in a coordinated effort stretching from the southern tribal lands to the northern ice islands.

After members of the royal family are kidnapped, all evidence points to the Moranthian kingdom. Moranthia, a nearby kingdom to the east, has always had an antagonistic relationship with Laurentide, but economic dependency on one another has kept war at bay. A defector from the Moranthian royal guard provided intelligence as to the whereabouts of the kidnapped royal family members: in Moranthia Castle's prison, held by Prince Crendathien and his wife, Duchess Talutah.

This act of war exceeds all previous actions taken by Moranthia in scope and in cruelty. But why? What plans do the Prince and the Duchess have for the captives? And were the six people taken not random at all?

At Last Alone: Rescue at Moranthia tells the story of Shatter Team Alpha, the top special forces team in the Laurentide ground forces and their mission to rescue the kidnapped royal family members. Led by Calista Strelley and her companion direwolf, Georgie, Shatter Team Alpha also includes Garrard Dwirisa. Strelley and Dwirisa have been partners for years. They are joined by a new archer, Samarah Kessie, who was recently promoted from the ranks of the ground troops.

Take command of the Shatter Team and infiltrate the castle! But watch out, Moranthian troops, royal bodyguards, and mercenary assassins are on guard and will rush you the instant they see you!

****

This is my first RPGMaker game. Everyone's recommendation for someone starting is, "Start small," and that's what this is. This game started as a demo for a much larger concept but eventually bloomed into a full story, although it is meant to be the first chapter of a series (series is pending; we'll see if people like it before I decide on wasting everyone's time with the series).

Latest Blog

New Game!

I wanted to let everyone know that a new game with many of the same characters as Rescue at Moranthia has been released: At Last Alone: Risen

It's been a few years since I released Rescue at Moranthia and, since then, I have been working on a true, full follow-up to the story. But when the IGMC competition opened up last month, I took the opportunity to make the tactical JRPG I'd always wanted to make. And, hence, Risen was born! I feel fortunate that the skills I've built up in the last couple years working on the full follow-up provided me with the ability to put together a complete side-story for Cal, Georgie, and Gary in a short month's time.

If you subscribed to Rescue at Moranthia, I hope you give Risen a try!
  • Completed
  • djbeardo
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 12/08/2014 01:20 AM
  • 08/04/2021 06:36 PM
  • 12/07/2014
  • 109128
  • 34
  • 2493

Posts

Pages: first prev 123 next last
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=djbeardo
@Red_Nova: Thanks again for playing all the way through and all the constructive comments! It seems like people have been into the characters and world, so there will be more to come. Probably another 30min-1hr "episode".


Sounds good!

Random thoughts:
Battlebacks: Crap! I thought I had those fixed... I'll go back and check. BTW, are there suggestions for good battleback DLC? I'm underwhelmed with the RTP battlebacks.


I'm happy with RTP battlebacks, so I've never needed to look for any. Sorry, but I don't know any DLC you can buy. I CAN, however, point you to the My Own Game Graphics event that just wrapped up. There's got to be something there that suits your needs. Of course, then you run into the problem with style conflict, but cross that bridge when you get to it.

Path issue, sound, game over screen, other tiny things: Good catch!


Oh? So the Game Over screen WASN'T intentional? Ooh...

The text box errors are really bad, my apologies (and after bragging how cool the last scene was! That's what I get for hubris!). I'll have to see what the issue is, because those are NOT happening when I playtest. I'll have to admit: I'm a little embarrassed. Has this happened to anyone else? I've checked the text boxes and busts multiple times and it all plays right in the playtest mode. :/


It's very, VERY easy to miss. Especially if you wrote the dialog, since you tend to see the words in your head instead of on the screen.

I took a look at the game in the editor, and I noticed something perplexing: You have the same scene copy/pasted multiple times. This could be the reason it works for you and not for others, as any fixes you make in one scene have to be copy/pasted to every event. Here's how to fix it:

Just make one autorun event and have that event run as soon as the player steps into the room. You don't have to worry about fixing multiple copies of the same event, and dramatically reduce the number of events on each map and, in turn, lower the file size.

Talutah's faces: I know, I'm as disappointed as you are. The emotion faces were slightly off from the basic bust and I couldn't photoshop them. And I didn't want to hassle people for help on the boards as a first-time noob. Now that I'm a second-time noob, I'll probably ask for some help.


RMN is a very helpful community. You'll be fine.

But you know what the best way to learn is? By playing other games. In fact, there's an event going on right now that revolves around playing games. If you can open up other games in the editor, you can see how they solved issues you had, and learn accordingly.
Linkis
Don't hate me cause I'm Cute :)
1025
Sorry, thought I had messaged you about the words missing a few characters on the end of a text line on the right :( Guess I was going to do it and my cat licked my leg requesting her treats :)

I am very happy to see Red Nova giving so many constructive ideas.
Told you this was a good game :)

NOW GET TO WORK AND MAKE MORE :)
@Red_Nova: Thanks again for playing all the way through and all the constructive comments! It seems like people have been into the characters and world, so there will be more to come. Probably another 30min-1hr "episode".

Random thoughts:
Battlebacks: Crap! I thought I had those fixed... I'll go back and check. BTW, are there suggestions for good battleback DLC? I'm underwhelmed with the RTP battlebacks.

Path issue, sound, game over screen, other tiny things: Good catch!

The text box errors are really bad, my apologies (and after bragging how cool the last scene was! That's what I get for hubris!). I'll have to see what the issue is, because those are NOT happening when I playtest. I'll have to admit: I'm a little embarrassed. Has this happened to anyone else? I've checked the text boxes and busts multiple times and it all plays right in the playtest mode. :/

Talutah's faces: I know, I'm as disappointed as you are. The emotion faces were slightly off from the basic bust and I couldn't photoshop them. And I didn't want to hassle people for help on the boards as a first-time noob. Now that I'm a second-time noob, I'll probably ask for some help.



Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
These are my notes from the fixed version.


- THIS map here has the outside battleback. SEE?

- I found a lot of instances where the battlebacks are inappropriate for the area. Take some time to look at every map's battlebacks.

- Path issue HERE.

- Coming out of THIS exit here, the move sound effect plays twice.

- Passibility error HERE. I can walk on this armor set.

- A few text box format errors in this scene. HERE is one of them.

- Um, the Prison is NOT empty. Maybe have one character notice the guy in the cell.

- Wait a minute, why doesn't Adraed want to be let out of the cell HERE? I would think that a prisoner would want to be let out. Can't there just be a simple action of one character unlocking to cell door?

- Be careful about overusing Khas' lightning effects. Larger maps lag like crazy when there's a lot of them.

- Samarah and Garrard don't turn up during THIS cutscene

- Text box issues HERE http://gyazo.com/7a643ec09aab585670d454c9d541bc79 .

- THIS seems like an important scene. Why are there no busts this time?

- Check the emotion faces during THIS scene. Blood and dirt randomly appearing and vanishing is really odd.

- Check the whole cutscene, because text box issues are popping up every other box.

- Talutah was super easy. Granted, I was level 29 with all Dragon equipment, so take that with a grain of salt.

- Woah, this last scene was intense!

- Why does Talutah not have any emotional faces? Even when she's screaming that she's in pain, her face is exactly the same.

- Wow. That was awesome!

- Aw, a game over screen? Oh hell, are we dead?!


And that's the end of the demo. Wow. That was really good. While the game needs some serious polish (especially the battles), the overall project has some seriously awesome potential. The character writing was fluid and the presentation was great. I just wished there was MORE. There are lots of opportunities to add in character moments via examining things in the castle. You're on the right track, but it just needs a little more. Something to break up the monotony of constant battles.

But the story alone is why I'm subbing. I reeeeally want to see more!
Red Nova, thanks for the comments. Thoughts and semi-answers below...

author=Red_Nova
Firstly, and most importantly, the game crashed on me after playing for about 30 minutes. This is the scene right before it crashed, and here is the error message I got.

I know... sorry! This got fixed in a later version. If you download it again, it's fixed. If you're familiar with the mirror bust script, you have to put in "bust_mirror(true)" to make them flip - and I kept putting in "mirror_bust(true)". And it's not like I can't read or anything... just have a bad memory. I now have a postit on my computer that says "MIRROR BUST".

author=Red_Nova
- The busts look like Frankenspriting. Did you do those? Because they look pretty good!

I got the main bust from some DLCs and websites online, but photoshopped the emotion faces onto the standard bust. It took a few days, but I am pretty happy with it! THanks!

author=Red_Nova
- This is just a personal preference, but can you have a name in the textboxes or use Yanfly's Message System to add a name? It would really help in making players remember who is who during that intro scene.

This was in the back of my head to do. But didn't know how people would like it. Now that someone else has suggested it, I'll try adding it in.

author=Red_Nova
- Can we have some sort of introduction to the wolf other than using it as a threat? Hell, having Cal refer to the wolf as, "the wolf," and not it's name is kinda demeaning to Georgie. This may sound a bit of a stupid observation, but if Georgie is going to be a party member, I want to know about him. At the very least I feel like he should be addressed by his name.

This is a really thoughtful suggestion! Thanks!

author=Red_Nova
- This story setup and the characters are interesting. I'm not sure what's doing it, but these characters stick out pretty well to me. They all have just enough distinction in their personalities that makes me interested in seeing where they go and how they develop. Though the one exception is Georgie.

Thanks! I agree about the Georgie issue... I'll figure something out.

author=Red_Nova
- The button input for the battles is an awesome idea. It definitely adds enough - player input to keep combat engaging to the player!

Thanks! I saw it in a youtube demo and hunted down the script.

author=Red_Nova
- However, it is kinda diminished by the fact that every character is practically the same, combat-wise. Double and Triple Attack is all you need to survive. That's a real shame, especially since every character has so many abilities. Like, wow. It's kinda overwhelming to see all these abilities for each character. Unfortunately, that's not a good thing, as every character feels the same.

Someone else mentioned this in the comments, and I totally agree. I went a little crazy with the abilities. There are some minor differences, but I could do a better job here. Since magic is limited in this world, everyone is a physical battler.

author=Red_Nova
- Why is the world does Georgia have punching animations for his attacks? Use the Hit 2 Physical animation instead.

I'm gonna chalk this up to "first game ignorance" - I didn't know I could change that. Good idea.

author=Red_Nova
- Speaking of Georgie: It's very strange that he can equip the same stuff as Cal. You're on the right track by removing his weapons, now can you add some animal-specific armor?

Sure!

author=Red_Nova
- It feels rather strange that Samarah, an archer, has the close quarters skill tree. Not that I ever needed it, but still...

Initially, close quarters moves were meant to be of a higher power, but would lower defense. And there was a possibility that an ally attack would hurt a character that just did a close quarters battle. So there's a tradeoff there. I was inspired by LoTR-esque arrow jabbing in melee combat. But I couldn't get the battle system to work that way... Next game!

author=Red_Nova
- Can you please stretch out the battlebacks so that they fit the whole screen? It's not as hard to do as you might think: Just export the battlebacks, open them up in an image editor, and stretch them to the correct dimensions. To make it easier, you can paste Battleback 2 onto the Battleback 1 and only have one image to worry about.

That's possible?! Great!

author=Red_Nova
- The mapping is pretty good. I never thought I'd see such open-endedness in a simple castle. Although because it's so open, it doesn't have a whole lot of coherency. I can't really imagine this place actually functioning like a castle before the events of this game. The whole layout feels, for lack of a better term, "video game-y".

Thanks - hopefully my mapping will get a little stronger the more I do this.

author=Red_Nova
And that's what I've got so far. I don't have much in the plot department because there wasn't a lot of characterization in the 30 minutes I played before the crash. That opening cutscene certainly did enough, and I don't have any issues with that.

I would suggest downloading the new version (Where the conversation is fixed) and play through the end. I spent a lot of time on the end cutscene/events/scripts and I think, imho, it's pretty cool. Also, stay through the credits for a Marvel-esque scene at the end that hints to the sequel.

author=Red_Nova
Holy crap this is seriously your first RPG Maker project?! But there's so much work put into this! I am seriously impressed! Can I ask how long it took you to complete this demo?

Thanks!! I probably started sometime in August. I usually gave it a few hours every night and an afternoon or so on Saturdays and Sundays.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Gaaah! This game is so close! SO CLOSE to being awesome that it's driving me insane!

I forgot to do my usual stream of consciousness, so I'll just write down my overall thoughts:, so I'll just give you my thoughts until that point. For the record, I didn't look at anyone else's feedback, for fear of painting my own expectations about the game. So some of what I have to say may overlap with others.

Firstly, and most importantly, the game crashed on me after playing for about 30 minutes. This is the scene right before it crashed, and here is the error message I got.



- The busts look like Frankenspriting. Did you do those? Because they look pretty good!

- This is just a personal preference, but can you have a name in the textboxes or use Yanfly's Message System to add a name? It would really help in making players remember who is who during that intro scene.

- Can we have some sort of introduction to the wolf other than using it as a threat? Hell, having Cal refer to the wolf as, "the wolf," and not it's name is kinda demeaning to Georgie. This may sound a bit of a stupid observation, but if Georgie is going to be a party member, I want to know about him. At the very least I feel like he should be addressed by his name.

- This story setup and the characters are interesting. I'm not sure what's doing it, but these characters stick out pretty well to me. They all have just enough distinction in their personalities that makes me interested in seeing where they go and how they develop. Though the one exception is Georgie.


- The button input for the battles is an awesome idea. It definitely adds enough - player input to keep combat engaging to the player!

- However, it is kinda diminished by the fact that every character is practically the same, combat-wise. Double and Triple Attack is all you need to survive. That's a real shame, especially since every character has so many abilities. Like, wow. It's kinda overwhelming to see all these abilities for each character. Unfortunately, that's not a good thing, as every character feels the same.

- Why is the world does Georgia have punching animations for his attacks? Use the Hit 2 Physical animation instead.

- Speaking of Georgie: It's very strange that he can equip the same stuff as Cal. You're on the right track by removing his weapons, now can you add some animal-specific armor?

- It feels rather strange that Samarah, an archer, has the close quarters skill tree. Not that I ever needed it, but still...

- Can you please stretch out the battlebacks so that they fit the whole screen? It's not as hard to do as you might think: Just export the battlebacks, open them up in an image editor, and stretch them to the correct dimensions. To make it easier, you can paste Battleback 2 onto the Battleback 1 and only have one image to worry about.

- The mapping is pretty good. I never thought I'd see such open-endedness in a simple castle. Although because it's so open, it doesn't have a whole lot of coherency. I can't really imagine this place actually functioning like a castle before the events of this game. The whole layout feels, for lack of a better term, "video game-y".


And that's what I've got so far. I don't have much in the plot department because there wasn't a lot of characterization in the 30 minutes I played before the crash. That opening cutscene certainly did enough, and I don't have any issues with that.

I'll certainly come back to play more after I leave this comment and edit this post if no one has responded already.

EDIT:

Holy crap this is seriously your first RPG Maker project?! But there's so much work put into this! I am seriously impressed! Can I ask how long it took you to complete this demo?
author=Krolan
Well, it is still strange, because the 2 assasins you see also can't pass that point (you actually can see that pretty good on the Wall-of-Friends image in the bottom right corner), and since none of them can have been on the same spot as that guy when they started chasing it seems to be a wall for them. Or is the chasing-limit a limit for all in one area?

Oh! I figured out why... There's a cutscene mapped to an event right where the invisible wall is - forming the invisible wall. I have the events across the whole hallway so it's a guaranteed walk-across for the player. Not sure why the bad guys get stopped from it though...
author=djbeardo
#1: No they aren't supposed to be able to attack from off the wall. I thought I fixed that... I guess not! Thanks for pointing that out! :D


Still think that this Guards are amazing. I'd put them on my walls, that's for sure. I mean, jumping down a wall is one thing, but jumping down a wall in PLATE MAIL?! Now that's badass!

author=djbeardo
#2: Yeah, the wolf is a little OP. There's a few reasons for that. 1) With no mage, I felt like there needed to be a character who could heal out of battle. But he couldn't heal without TP, and couldn't get TP without "snuggle." 2) His agility, HP, and attack are sky high because my wife didn't want the wolf to die. She was very upset when I told her that there was a possibility that the wolf might die. 3) Since the wolf doesn't have many lines, I wanted her to be integral to the experience and not forgotten about - so making her the healer I thought would help that.


I'm a 100% on her side on this one! Wolf's are best!

I really thought it is maybe just for the testers so they don't have a too hard time :) For the Full Release it makes everything just too easy.

author=djbeardo
#3: Lol! Whoops! Good catch!


^.^

author=djbeardo
#4: I'll have to check on the poison thing... I think it's part of the larger Yanfly battle engine script? In contrast to the other things, which are my own bonehead mistakes, I'm not sure how to address this one? Has anyone else had this issue with Yanfly's battle engine?


I really don't have any idea about any of this, but maybe everytime the atb time for all stops because one ATB bar is full it counts as a "turn" and therefore the Poisen Damage applies. Just a guess.

author=djbeardo
#5: Lol! That first image, I'm assuming that the soldier isn't chasing you past a certain point. I think that has something to do with the chase script, which has a limit of 60 (I think) squares that he'll chase. Good catch! The wall of friends is funny too... I'm not sure how to fix this aside from getting rid of the choo-choo train of friends. Again, maybe someone reading this has some suggestions? Maybe there's a script that fixes it?


Well, it is still strange, because the 2 assasins you see also can't pass that point (you actually can see that pretty good on the Wall-of-Friends image in the bottom right corner), and since none of them can have been on the same spot as that guy when they started chasing it seems to be a wall for them. Or is the chasing-limit a limit for all in one area?



Anyone who know about scripts, please help this guy out, will ya.
@ Linkis: Thanks so much for playtest! It was really helpful and I took all of your constructive comments to heart. Even if I didn't get them in this game, I'll keep them in mind for next time.

@Krolan:
#1: No they aren't supposed to be able to attack from off the wall. I thought I fixed that... I guess not! Thanks for pointing that out! :D
#2: Yeah, the wolf is a little OP. There's a few reasons for that. 1) With no mage, I felt like there needed to be a character who could heal out of battle. But he couldn't heal without TP, and couldn't get TP without "snuggle." 2) His agility, HP, and attack are sky high because my wife didn't want the wolf to die. She was very upset when I told her that there was a possibility that the wolf might die. 3) Since the wolf doesn't have many lines, I wanted her to be integral to the experience and not forgotten about - so making her the healer I thought would help that.
#3: Lol! Whoops! Good catch!
#4: I'll have to check on the poison thing... I think it's part of the larger Yanfly battle engine script? In contrast to the other things, which are my own bonehead mistakes, I'm not sure how to address this one? Has anyone else had this issue with Yanfly's battle engine?
#5: Lol! That first image, I'm assuming that the soldier isn't chasing you past a certain point. I think that has something to do with the chase script, which has a limit of 60 (I think) squares that he'll chase. Good catch! The wall of friends is funny too... I'm not sure how to fix this aside from getting rid of the choo-choo train of friends. Again, maybe someone reading this has some suggestions? Maybe there's a script that fixes it?

@unity:
Thanks for the suggestion about the moves and the TP. One of the biggest challenges I had was planning out moves.
Thanks for thinking the wraiths were cool! I'm not sure why they're so weak! Honestly, I think I had them really weak while I was debugging the counting variable so I could kill them quick... and I never strengthened them! Do'h!
I fixed that chest. Fortunately, it was not Super Awesome Armor or anything - just a power up.

Thanks all for the kind words! This community has been really supportive and if I provided anybody with a slight amount of enjoyment, then it's all worth it!
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
For your first RPG, this is very good! I liked the characters and the story ^_^

The battle system works, but the amount of overlap between characters' skills really make the characters feel indistinct, and instead of being complimentary to each other, they all feel like the same character as far as tactics go. Also, the Meditate skill (or Snuggle skill, in the case of the direwolf) kind of ruins any challenge as it completely fills your TP. You may want to cut down how much TP it refills.

Hunting the wraiths in the basement is pretty cool, but why are they so weak compared to all the other enemies in the game?

Also, I noticed a few errors.

This chest wouldn't open:


I thought he used axes?:


Despite my nitpicks, this is an enjoyable and well made game. Excellent work. ^_^
Hey there. Am Playing your game. Some things I wonder:

1:
Are thes guards supposed to be so protective of their wall, that I can't even touch it from below?

Are they supposed to be able to attack me from up there?

What, did he just Jump down the Wall?

That's dedication, man.


2:
Is Snuggle supposed to be working out of combat, making Doggie the only character able to heal outside of combat AND infinitly?

One Useful Dog that is


3:
Is Meditate supposed to show +50TP but in reality fill it up to 100?

That's probably not Meditation...

...it's strong Medication.


4:
Is Poisen Supposed to substract lifepoints from the enemy whenever he gets attacked?

works even if I miss


5:
And now, the infamous...

...Invisible Wall. But this is nothing compared to...

...the Wall of Friends
Linkis
Don't hate me cause I'm Cute :)
1025
Oh boy, oh boy, Just saw my name on your credits :)

I was lucky enough to be the tester for this game.
Found some things that needed correcting and just finished the new download.

There is a wooden container on 2-F just below the kitchen that does not open.
Also, when the good guys confront the oh so terrible villains, a few of the words are chopped off at the end of the sentence.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game. And thank you for allowing me the honor to be your tester :)
I'm sure there are those who might have some constructive things to say :) but
if you enjoy RPG, adventure with a good story, you should enjoy this game and hopefully the many to follow by djbeardo :)
White haired chick o.o

Must... play..
yes...download link...

*becomes 2 hands holding a controller and vanishes into the WoW-Effect*

(Yay :D)
Can't wait to try out your game!
author=Krolan
White haired chick o.o

Must... play..
no...download link...

*becomes dust and vanishes with the wind*


(Of course I realize that this was only added yesterday. Good luck :) )


Ha! Thanks for the support! It's actually being tested right now and it's pretty close...
White haired chick o.o

Must... play..
no...download link...

*becomes dust and vanishes with the wind*


(Of course I realize that this was only added yesterday. Good luck :) )
author=PGK
"profile views 777"
even god approves this project//


Ha! Hopefully he can point out any lingering bugs via burning bush or angel visit...
"profile views 777"
even god approves this project//
Linkis
Don't hate me cause I'm Cute :)
1025
Well, now you have 5 subscriptions :)

Yeah, this sounds promising. I'm subscribing.
Pages: first prev 123 next last