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SECOND PLACE in the Golden Week of RM2k3 event.

SUMMARY
A Traitor's Hold is a short prequel to The Difficult Second Quest and tells the story of the "legendary" Tybalt and his party. This was submitted for the Golden Week of RM2k3 event and therefore was made in a week using only RTP.

Tybalt and his party are coming to the end of their journey where they must face off against the Dark Lord.

However, due to recruiting the help of a priest who doesn't seem to have any real powers - and consequently having to sell all their best equipment in order to pay for all the recovery items needed to keep him alive - the party find themselves at the gates of the Dark Lord's tower prepared for the final showdown armed only with a damp rag on a stick and a rusty spoon.

While the Dark Lord ravages the Kingdom of Bieune, the brave heroes decide the best course of action is to walk away from his Tower and instead undertake menial sidequests in order to find themselves better equipment and hopefully learn some new skills.

FEATURES
  • Class Orb System- Each party member has a defined class, but by equipping Class Orbs they can learn a new command, skill or passive that is appropriate to their class and contains the flavour of the class contained within the orb. For more information regarding Class Orbs, please view the Ability Guide.

  • Dexterity System- Characters can hit multiple times with the !Attack command based on their Luck stat and the Dexterity of their equipped weapon.

  • Summoning- There are three hidden bosses in the game. Find and defeat them to learn new summons!

  • Blue Magic- By mastering the Thief Orb, the White Mage gains the ability to cast Blue Magic. Blue Magic can be learned from enemies.

  • Non-linear gameplay- There are many different locations available to the player once the first dungeon is completed. These areas can be explored in any order the player wishes.

Latest Blog

The Future for A Traitor's Hold

I really enjoyed the Golden Week of 2k3 event. It was a lot of fun to interact with different members of this site in a creative way and I felt I learned a lot. Thanks to everyone who gave their time to play A Traitor's Hold and for their useful feedback. I also enjoyed playing all your games!

I always considered my submission as a "first draft" and it is my intention to release a post-event version where I can address all the problems that the event version has as well as implement all the ideas that I never had time for. However, when I signed up for this event I was midway through the 2nd chapter of The Difficult Second Quest and I really want to get that finished so for now I am going to leave A Traitor's Hold as it is and pick it up once I've finished Chapter 2 of DSQ. I think leaving it for a while will allow me to approach the project with "fresh eyes". At least I hope.

For the time being I just thought I'd make a brief summary of the issues that I will be focusing on when I pick this project up again. I'll probably stay with RTP for the remake but will bend a few of the rules that the contest had :P.

  • Balancing- This was definitely the weakest part of the project in my opinion. The abilities learned from Class Orbs need reworking as well as the encounters, which was something I rushed the most with. The first dungeon is quite a mess and the scene outside the cave is very unclear in giving player direction. I'll probably redo the entire first area.

  • Story- The dialogue is all first draft and some of it is a bit baggy and poorly worded. I wasn't that happy with how Henriet turned out as a character so I intend to go back to the drawing board and completely rethink her personality.

  • Revise Orb System- I think I never fully realised the potential of this system. I've got a few ideas of how I can improve it to allow the player to add further customisation to the party but I don't want to ruin it by over-complicating it.

  • Mapping- My mapping abilities have never been better than average but I really wasn't happy with how some of the towns turned out or with Kois Swamp so I will probably rework those.

  • Loot- There isn't much motivation to explore the dungeons at present as the loot is so mundane. Something I may do is have "Trading Posts" in the game, which is something I have in The Difficult Second Quest.

  • Extra Side Quests- I had quite a few ideas that I had to cut out and I would really like to add these to the game. There are a few locations and quests that I would want to add.

  • Progression- At present the Class Orb system gives a few "perks" and the world is completely open right after the first dungeon so there isn't really a feeling or progression in the game. This is something I want to address.


I imagine things will slow down somewhat now that the contest is over. Thanks again to everyone who played.

Posts

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iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
Man, screw that Dark Lord guy!
He keeps crashing every party, popping up here and there :p
Step 1: Take over the world.
Step 2: Try to remember why...
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
author=Cernus
Step 1: Take over the world.
Step 2: Try to remember why...


Genius.
Linkis
Don't hate me cause I'm Cute :)
1025
author=CashmereCat
author=Cernus
Step 1: Take over the world.
Step 2: Try to remember why...
Genius.


REALLY???? How so??? :)
Linkis
Don't hate me cause I'm Cute :)
1025
@Cernus, I downloaded the game but when I click on the exe. I get a
message, "RPG2003 is not found".
Any idea why??
I ask because I have been playing another 2003 game and do not get that error.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I'm able to play, but after the first battle, a slime shows up and the game crashes with this error:

author=Linkis
@Cernus, I downloaded the game but when I click on the exe. I get a
message, "RPG2003 is not found".
Any idea why??
I ask because I have been playing another 2003 game and do not get that error.


I'm not sure. All I can think is that this game was made with the legit version of RPGMaker2003 and if the other games you've played have been made with the translated copy then maybe something might be different?

author=unity
I'm able to play, but after the first battle, a slime shows up and the game crashes with this error:



I got this error as well while I was testing and I have no idea why it is happening. I thought I had fixed it by putting a small pause before the battle starts but obviously it's still occurring. I've uploaded a new version of the game with the option to skip that battle as it's only a joke encounter anyway.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=Cernus
author=Linkis
@Cernus, I downloaded the game but when I click on the exe. I get a
message, "RPG2003 is not found".
Any idea why??
I ask because I have been playing another 2003 game and do not get that error.
I'm not sure. All I can think is that this game was made with the legit version of RPGMaker2003 and if the other games you've played have been made with the translated copy then maybe something might be different?


You may need the official English version of the 2k3 RTP, Linkis. It's apparently different from the old RTP.

author=Cernus
I got this error as well while I was testing and I have no idea why it is happening. I thought I had fixed it by putting a small pause before the battle starts but obviously it's still occurring. I've uploaded a new version of the game with the option to skip that battle as it's only a joke encounter anyway.


That's odd. It's good that there's a way around it, but I wanted to see the joke encounter, too XD



Sadly, the same error pops up when you get into a normal encounter as well. I also had my entire party magically disappear after I got past the initial cut scenes and had re-entered the cave on the grounds that the only proper way to advance is to go in the wrong direction.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Yes, I have RPG Tsukuru 2003, but I got the new, official RTP to make sure I had the right things for this event. That's the RTP I'm playing with and this is the error I'm getting. I make it through the first cave, then when we go back in, for whatever reason, the characters disappear, then you get into an encounter and the game crashes.
author=thesacredlobo
Sadly, the same error pops up when you get into a normal encounter as well. I also had my entire party magically disappear after I got past the initial cut scenes and had re-entered the cave on the grounds that the only proper way to advance is to go in the wrong direction.

Thanks for trying the game thesacredlobo. Sorry that it was bugged. That battle with the slime ended up being more trouble than it was worth so I have uploaded a fixed version of the game with that battle removed completely. The game should work fine now.

I enjoyed your Let's Try video and it would be great if you could do one for the version that is playable :P

@Unity - I would really like to get this joke battle to work. I think I may go down the route that a few others have mentioned in the event page and release an extended version at some point in the future, which will include all the stuff I had to cut out.

@pianotm - I made a bit of a noob mistake in my haste and put some vital functions in a conditional branch, which ends up rendering the game unplayable. Version 1.2 should work fine though.
Why do my Orbs unequip themselves randomly all the time? It's driving me crazy. I battle for the XP to get new skills but nope, orbs unequipped themselves yet again. You might want to look into that. >.<;
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
The download seems to have vanished ;_;
author=Liberty
Why do my Orbs unequip themselves randomly all the time? It's driving me crazy. I battle for the XP to get new skills but nope, orbs unequipped themselves yet again. You might want to look into that. >.<;

Thanks for the report Liberty! That's another major error that would render the game almost impossible to complete. Once again I never had this error when I play tested my game. I went through the common events very carefully and I think I have identified what might have been causing it. Basically there is a parallel process that is constantly updating your class and there is a common event that auto-starts after battle. If the parallel process triggers before the auto-start common event then that would explain why the class orbs were constantly being unequipped.

I really hope that is it because otherwise I am completely perplexed as to why that happened.

author=unity
The download seems to have vanished ;_;

Yeah, that was me :P. Like the other day I had a few minutes to leave for work and then found out that my game had a horrendous error in it. Seeing as last time when I tried to rush out a fix I ended up making things worse I decided that this time it would be better to hide the download and then fix it properly once I had finished work.

I really, really hope that the game works as intended now but if anyone else encounters any massive errors then please let me know!
I gave up on the tower... I died when we were going to the basement and I don't want to see all the cutscenes again, neither try to grind...

One problem is that hated going to a dungeon because of the random battles, maybe is because the encounter rate is too high or maybe is because we never gain levels, and never get stronger, even after a hour or two playing the battles feels the same, is not like other RPGs when random battles stop being a problem when you reach a certain level

I liked the sub-class system and I would like to see it again, but the problem is that we never got stronger, the bonuses are nice, but a 5 HP regen doesn't make much of a difference neither a skill that I will never use, maybe gaining a few stats would fix this? (So if you level up the monk orb you get a bit extra HP, and maybe if you have it equipped too)

Everything else was good... 2.7/5
author=El_WaKa
I gave up on the tower... I died when we were going to the basement and I don't want to see all the cutscenes again, neither try to grind...

One problem is that hated going to a dungeon because of the random battles, maybe is because the encounter rate is too high or maybe is because we never gain levels, and never get stronger, even after a hour or two playing the battles feels the same, is not like other RPGs when random battles stop being a problem when you reach a certain level

I liked the sub-class system and I would like to see it again, but the problem is that we never got stronger, the bonuses are nice, but a 5 HP regen doesn't make much of a difference neither a skill that I will never use, maybe gaining a few stats would fix this? (So if you level up the monk orb you get a bit extra HP, and maybe if you have it equipped too)

Everything else was good... 2.7/5


Thanks very much for the feedback. I'll take what you said into account when I eventually get round to doing a post-event version.

Originally the party did gain stats at level up but I cut this mainly due to wanting the player to be able to explore the dungeons in any order they wanted. New equipment is the primary way in which the party gets stronger. Henriet can also gain summons by finding them in the world and defeating them and Cernus can acquire Blue magic after mastering the Thief Orb.

I can see how perhaps the party doesn't get significantly stronger because the bonuses gained from Class Orbs are admittedly too varied and random in their usefulness and this would be something to look into. I like the idea of orbs increasing stats.

Thanks again for the feedback and I'm sorry you didn't manage to get to the final boss. You were so close! :P
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
This is fun so far, though it's a little uneven in its execution, still I'm enjoying it, one small glitch, your Kraken shield is off, the description says it adds 30 endurance, but it only adds 20.
author=nhubi
This is fun so far, though it's a little uneven in its execution, still I'm enjoying it, one small glitch, your Kraken shield is off, the description says it adds 30 endurance, but it only adds 20.


Thanks Nhubi! That's fair. I traded off testing and balancing in order to get a fairly lengthy game so it is very much in it's "first draft". I'll fix the Kracken Shield error and do a lot of work on balancing the game and improving the dialogue when I eventually release the post-event version.
iddalai
RPG Maker 2k/2k3 for life, baby!!
1194
I had a lot of fun with this game! :) It's pretty long for a game made in about a week.

Some stuff to fix:

- Berserk didn't work, you need to change it to have 100% hit rate on the conditions tab or make the hero 100% susceptible to it.
- I can get behind the shop counter in the village near the desert, all you need to do is add an impassible barrier at the end of the counter near the south wall (unless you plan to do someting secret here).
- A man in the pub in Nasadas says "thjs food is disgusting", shoul be "this".
- Also in Nasadas "welcome to nasdadas not get out", sould be "now".
- The first screen in the swamp is missing a cliff tile next to the barrels.
- In the world map, south of the cave, theres a small error in the mountain tiles.
- I don't remember where this was, but a character says something along the lines of "Tybalt much better looking than Tybalt", shouldn't it be another name there?
- For a total bastard, Cernus sure can tell some cool stories! :P

More feedback incoming! :)

This piqued my curiosity for The Difficult Second Quest! I'll give it a whirl once I finish playing all games in the contest :D
author=iddalai
I had a lot of fun with this game! :) It's pretty long for a game made in about a week.

Some stuff to fix:

- Berserk didn't work, you need to change it to have 100% hit rate on the conditions tab or make the hero 100% susceptible to it.
- I can get behind the shop counter in the village near the desert, all you need to do is add an impassible barrier at the end of the counter near the south wall (unless you plan to do someting secret here).
- A man in the pub in Nasadas says "thjs food is disgusting", shoul be "this".
- Also in Nasadas "welcome to nasdadas not get out", sould be "now".
- The first screen in the swamp is missing a cliff tile next to the barrels.
- In the world map, south of the cave, theres a small error in the mountain tiles.
- I don't remember where this was, but a character says something along the lines of "Tybalt much better looking than Tybalt", shouldn't it be another name there?
- For a total bastard, Cernus sure can tell some cool stories! :P

More feedback incoming! :)

This piqued my curiosity for The Difficult Second Quest! I'll give it a whirl once I finish playing all games in the contest :D


I'm pleased to hear you had fun :). I really did miss a lot of mistakes in my feeble attempt at testing didn't I :P? Thanks for the reports. I'll work on getting those changed. Yeah, that line should have read "Cernus is much better looking than you Tybalt." I realised I bunged up that joke after I submitted version 1.3.

That's awesome that you want to give The Difficult Second Quest a try! I would be very interested in hearing what your thoughts are on that once you have the time. Cernus is a playable character and Tybalt, Henriet and Skidds appear as NPC's (although you do get to play as Skidds' son Edmund).

It sounds like you managed to get all the way to the end. I'm glad someone was able to see it as I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Hopefully it was quite surprising and chilling. Cernus is quite a despicable person :P.

I really enjoyed Tsukuru 9 and hopefully I'll get to play part 2 soon! Still going to stick with the Ninja :P.
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