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"Soon... all will be lost..."

Inspired by RPGs like OFF, Undertale and Earthbound, BLANK is a role-playing game that puts you in control of Veta the Harbinger, a young female warrior born with black eyes. Life within her home of Finima Village is peaceful enough. But when a dark and twisted curse begins to corrupt the land and its people, she finds herself travelling across the world of Transech seeking a cure. Will she succeed in her mission, or is there more to this "corruption" than this story lets on?

BLANK includes a notable selection of features, including:

  • Approachable and straightforward user interface systems. One of the core foundations for BLANK's design was to allow almost anyone to jump in and play the game, even if they aren't necessarily RPG fans.


  • Weapon and Armor rarities, going in the order of Normal, Rare, Unique and Legendary. Key Items themselves are labelled as their own rarities.


  • An original soundtrack composed by the excellent Adam Halpin (StygianWhite). BLANK features over 45+ songs, all completely original for the game.

Latest Blog

BLANK: Developer Stream Playthrough



Hey everyone,

In celebration of the upcoming release of my newest game, NIRAVASI, I'll be hosting a Developer Stream on my Twitch.tv channel. For those of you that are interested in the game, or have already played it and just wanted a different look into it, I'll be speaking about some of the design challenges/hurdles that I faced while working on the game. You can find a link to my Twitch Channel here:

https://www.twitch.tv/kingsangos

Now this is my first time doing anything like this, so expect some technical difficulties to pop up as it goes along. Nevertheless, I hope it'll be a cool way to see the behind-the-scenes of my very first game!

Sangos
  • Completed
  • KingSangos
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • RPG
  • 06/01/2015 04:40 PM
  • 06/29/2022 04:26 PM
  • 02/20/2016
  • 103722
  • 31
  • 579

Posts

Pages: first 12 next last
This looks good, but I'm really stupid for the keycode puzzle at the temple
author=silenthilllz
This looks good, but I'm really stupid for the keycode puzzle at the temple


I apologise for the late response, but my advice to you would be to go to the rooms where you find the number tiles and read the stone tablets. Hopefully you'll figure the order the numbers are written from the story of the tablets.
the floor means part of the pass code, and the tablet says where it goes? (3 is first, 4 is second...) Do the top AND bottom room have to do with the puzzle? I have tried every combination I can think of (9331, 9313...) and it isn't working.../hide]
@Arisa

Sorry for taking a while to respond. This message didn't pop until a little while ago, so you'll have to forgive me.

Anyway, the story of the Tablets is split off into four sections. Now I've improved the clarity of the tablets in the newest version of the game (TBR), but the story of the tablets goes in chronological order. So if you count the order of the tablets' story and match it with the number tiles, you'll get this answer.

3991

I'm very sorry if this puzzle prevented you from continuing. I've fixed the clarity of it and hopefully now you should be able to move ahead with the answer.
Dragnfly
Beta testers!? No, this game needs a goddamn exorcist!
1809
I played some of this today (right up to the boss before meeting the mage). Here's some first impressions-

Good things:
I love it when games have the NPC dialogue be a conversation with the party rather than just a comment. It gives a chance for both to develop. Good choice there.

I kept hearing the guards' voices as Cyclonis from Transformers and the Chieftan as the Magister from Freedom Planet. Yay for subliminal voice casting.

Encounter rate seems ok.

Graphics = not bad. Reminds me of the CGA era. Veta's sprite looks more like she has sleepy eyes than no eyes.

music = not bad. Fitting, actually.

Odd things:
Veta's dialogue with townies is an odd mix of pessimistic and reassuring depending on which townie she's talking to. So this makes me think that she just doesn't like some of them.

"The victim's grazes were sharp and deep" Can a graze be deep? I thought that once it's deep it's no longer a graze.

The photo in the chieftan's place says it's "a picture of me when I was younger" but the one in your room says "it's a picture of you." jumping between 1st and 3rd person.

When you go to leave town the guards don't just get out of the way, they go on a hike. LOL

Suggestions:
Add a door to the Chieftan's room. 1-tile-wide passages when the rest of the hall is 3 tiles wide looks like it's missing a door.

Signs/chests only being able to be accessed from the front is supposed to be a joke. If there's nowhere in the game where you have to puzzle out a way to get to the front, make at least the chests accessible from all four sides. Otherwise it's really annoying.

Is there a fast forward for battle? I tired Z, X, CTRL and Shift and they didn't seem to do it. If you don't have one, add one. Seriously, it's one of those conveniences that gamers will thrash you for if you don't allow.

Since going into the house with the iron sword is optional, it'd be a good scare to have enemies prowling downstairs after you take the sword. Still avoidable but it'd give players some worries.

Errors:
Book "Faith Tested", page 2 has errors.

The guy by the 1st floor table in the guard house when returning to town has the weird line "recollect my thoughts." Usually people say "collect my thoughts". It's one of those things that's not inaccurate but sounds like it is. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/collect+thoughts

In the last cutscene of Chapter 1 Dad says "I'm asking you of this because I know you are the only person I know who is capable enough to complete this task.". apart from the mixed up words at the start the rest of the line is clunky too.

Anyway so far good enough.
@Dragnfly

Hiya!

Thanks for the feedback on the game. A lot of the suggestions you made are really good ideas and implementing them should be a piece of cake. (Especially the sword enemy encounter. How did I not think of that?).

I'm also gonna look for any battle speed up scripts, lessons, etc. I've tried using SHIFT before and that has worked in the past, but I think that's only because I was testing the game through VX ACE.

But again, thank you very much for the feedback. I really appreciate it.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Hello! :D I've been playing the game, and I'm stuck at a point. I'm at Serah's manor, and I go see Liam, then Serah tells me to go back to the manor, and it teleports me to my room, and then I have a dream and wake up, and when I head downstairs, Serah talks to me like I just came back, and then the screen goes black. I can access the menu, but when I close it, the screen is still black, and I can't see anything.

I think the scenes are out of order, as it seems like Serah is welcoming me back after I've already returned and slept ^^;
author=unity
Hello! :D I've been playing the game, and I'm stuck at a point. I'm at Serah's manor, and I go see Liam, then Serah tells me to go back to the manor, and it teleports me to my room, and then I have a dream and wake up, and when I head downstairs, Serah talks to me like I just came back, and then the screen goes black. I can access the menu, but when I close it, the screen is still black, and I can't see anything.

I think the scenes are out of order, as it seems like Serah is welcoming me back after I've already returned and slept ^^;


That's probably the case. I think I may have screwed up some of the switches relating to that particular scene. I'll fix it when I can, but for the meantime, just go straight towards the manor rather than going to see Liam. That may work.
Dragnfly
Beta testers!? No, this game needs a goddamn exorcist!
1809
For speeding up the combat, I think the first game I ever played with it was vgperson's English translation of Hero & Daughter by Tachi. Sadly I can't seem to find how to trigger the end credits since all my saves are in post-post-post-game or I'd just tell you which script he used. vgperson's readme doesn't have the detailed credits in it. Sorry.
author=Dragnfly
For speeding up the combat, I think the first game I ever played with it was vgperson's English translation of Hero & Daughter by Tachi. Sadly I can't seem to find how to trigger the end credits since all my saves are in post-post-post-game or I'd just tell you which script he used. vgperson's readme doesn't have the detailed credits in it. Sorry.


That's okay!

I'll think if I have a good search around, I'll eventually find one that's suitable. : >
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Hi again! I think I beat the game (but got a bad end)? Spoilers:

I was called the overseer, I think? And told that my curiosity will get the better of me? And then the game returns to the title.


If there's something I can do to get a better ending, I'm not sure what it is. Do I need to start the game over? Or do I need to wait for the next build of the game?

I must say, this is quite an amazing game, and if there's any more of it that I'm missing, I would totally love to play more! ^_^
author=unity
Hi again! I think I beat the game (but got a bad end)? Spoilers:

I was called the overseer, I think? And told that my curiosity will get the better of me? And then the game returns to the title.


If there's something I can do to get a better ending, I'm not sure what it is. Do I need to start the game over? Or do I need to wait for the next build of the game?

I must say, this is quite an amazing game, and if there's any more of it that I'm missing, I would totally love to play more! ^_^

Awesome! You actually completed the game from start to finish. But... there's still something left to be done. I'll give you a hint. Restart the game and go through it until you reach Castle Lumenax. Then return to Finima Wilds and the Temple of the Displaced.

After that, defeat the Lightbringer and only then will you be able to conquer your vanity...

Then simply return to the Temple and the Grave after defeating the abomination and confront the Songweaver himself...
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=KingSangos
author=unity
Hi again! I think I beat the game (but got a bad end)? Spoilers:

I was called the overseer, I think? And told that my curiosity will get the better of me? And then the game returns to the title.


If there's something I can do to get a better ending, I'm not sure what it is. Do I need to start the game over? Or do I need to wait for the next build of the game?

I must say, this is quite an amazing game, and if there's any more of it that I'm missing, I would totally love to play more! ^_^
Awesome! You actually completed the game from start to finish. But... there's still something left to be done. I'll give you a hint. Restart the game and go through it until you reach Castle Lumenax. Then return to Finima Wilds and the Temple of the Displaced.

After that, defeat the Lightbringer and only then will you be able to conquer your vanity...

Then simply return to the Temple and the Grave after defeating the abomination and confront the Songweaver himself...


Hmmm, something seems to be amiss. I got right before entering Castle Lumenax, then I returned to the wilds and the Temple...

I entered the dream world and woke up Angeral, and then returned to Lumenax and beat the Lightbringer, yet when I fought T later on, they said I still hadn't overcome my vanity. I'm stumped at this point >.<;;
@unity
Oh snap, did you also beat King Atevius as well in the Temple of Displaced (before fighting Lumenax). You can find King Atevius in the room behind Vivizec's boss room. Because when you beat both Angeral and Atevius, you unlock an item called Jewel of Vanity. And that allows you to fight V. If you DID beat both Atevius and Angeral and DIDN'T get the Jewel of Vanity, that could mean the event's bugged and you'll sadly have to wait until the final release of the game to get the True Ending. :S
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
Ooops, I didn't do that. I may still have a save from back then. I'll go back and give that a try.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
I ran into a problem.

I got the Jewel of Vanity, fought V, got the Prologue. Then I went through the game, fought T, and, even though it says I got the Epilogue, it gave me the prologue again.



And when I beat/got killed by the last boss, the game said I hadn't overcome my vanity.
@unity

Okay, so that's definitely a bug and because I don't have access to RPGMaker.net right now, I can't actually fix the problem until the game's near release date. So sadly I think that's all you can play with the game for now, which is a real darn shame that a bug like that exists.

Hopefully when the game gets its full release, you'll be able to unlock the True Ending, which is where that path was taking you.

So sorry about that! : <
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
That's fine! I can wait to see the true ending ^_^

I figure I may as well give my complete thoughts on the game, or what I've played so far, which I'm guessing is most of it XD

I took a look at this game as it has some of the same inspirations as the current project I'm working on (Earthbound and OFF) and I'm glad I did, as I really enjoyed this. It resonated with me a heck of a lot more than I expected, which is why I was willing to put in so many hours to try to see the true ending ^_^

The storyline has a very nice feel of OFF mixed with a more broad fantasy. The mystery of the corruption along with the lore of the world keeps you guessing, and much like the strangeness of the world in OFF, kept me intrigued and wanting to continue. Veta's not a super complicated character or anything, but she's pretty relatable and the further I went, the more invested I became. The Songweaver battle and the events thereafter were especially potent, and I love all of that.

Some of the villains seemed a bit similar to each other. The conflicts can be broken down into either/or "No I won't help you and in fact you should be destroyed so I'm going to destroy you" and "I'm doing horrific things, you see, and now that you've discovered this, you have to die." This isn't a huge problem, as it works for the setting and the story, but I did feel like it was a tad repetitive.

There was also an issue where plot-important characters would have the same faces as NPCs but with something small to differentiate them. While I felt that this added to the game's charm, it was a bit of an odd choice. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but it felt different, for sure.

The weakest part of the game is the battle system. This is one of those games where part of me was going PLEASE LET ME TAKE THIS AND COMPLETELY REDO THE BATTLE SYSTEM because there is a lot of promise and good ideas, but the way they're used leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of the battles are just spam attack or the same select few skills. That's a shame as there's a lot of cool ideas you could explore with the characters' battle skills as far as strategy goes. OFF had a similarly attack-mashing battle system, but I don't think that means you shouldn't try for a bit more.

Your spirit companions liven things up, combat-wise, but while some of their abilities are useful, many are not. I found Contasma the biggest disappointment here, as her (or his, I kinda assumed her for some reason XD;) theme has a bunch of potentially awesome battle ideas. Silence the Sky, for example, is wonderful, as it's powerful but silences her, which really gives a risk/reward choice the whole thing, but I can't give that same praise to a lot of her other skills. A skill that paralyzes an enemy but boosts their stats is odd when we already have another spirit with a skill that just paralyzes them, and Complication, which cures all status effects but confuses the ally you use it on, was almost useless as I find confusion is often worse than the ailments you're curing! These problems left Contasma feeling particularly useless, which is a shame, because she could be really interesting in battle!

Another thing that was odd was the game's lack of healing spots or inns, which a few exceptions. Instead, you heal when you level up. This had an odd effect of me checking when a character was about to level up, and then spamming their best special moves, because I knew I was about to get their MP back. You level up often enough that this isn't a huge problem, but it certainly was a little weird in my opinion. Soon after I reached Decillia, my characters started reaching their max level of 20, and no more level-ups meant no more level-up healing, but at that point, there was a place to backtrack to heal to, so no biggie.

The in-game economy, especially, mid and late game, felt really broken. Equipment you can buy past mid-game isn't all that expensive and doesn't boost you up all that much. In contrast, you've put stat-upping consumables for sale in every shop. Early in the game, buying them isn't feasible, but by the late game, you can pretty much break the game by buying them in bulk. On my first playthru, I gave Veta so many Shards of Might that one Shadow Strike could trigger more than one dialog exchange during boss battles! After fighting all the random encounters and Cultists on Mount Orsus, I had enough extra cash to just load up on shards!



On my second playthrough, I did the same, except with the shards that raise DEF and MDF, and made Veta immune to a lot of enemy attacks! So I very much feel like that's a definite problem that needs addressing.

Adding on to that, I didn't notice much in the way of health-restoring special moves, aside from adding Regen to the party. You heal by chugging potions, which, thanks to the broken economy, means you can buy more than you'd ever need.

Bosses felt a little weird, as well. They had some moves that put the pressure on the party, but others that felt a little useless, so it was a bit of a gamble on how difficult any one boss battle would be. I didn't start feeling the pressure until the endgame (but, again, I had boosted my stats with the Shards, so that doesn't help). It still felt like battles hadn't been overly tested and fine-tuned.

Also, this part is spolierific, so I'll put it in a hide-tag:


I would never have found the path to the true ending if I hadn't asked you. It seems very obscure. The message you get at the ending doesn't tell you anything about how to get the true ending, just that it exists.

Contrast this with something like Undertale, that gives you pretty good hints about what you need to do to get the best ending after you beat it. If you had a hint like "Seek the dreamer in the land where this all began and the king who waits in the ruins of the displaced, only then will you be able to overcome your vanity when you see the light" or something, people would at least have a clue. Otherwise, replaying the game blindly, and having to comb through every nook and cranny to try to get the true ending seems like a bit much.


Okay, I know I've been rambling on and listing a bunch of flaws with the game, but please don't get me wrong. I love this game. That's why I've got so much to say about it, and why I poured hours of playtime in it to try to find the real ending. The strange and engaging story. The simple yet nostalgic tilesets. The cool freaky enemy battlers. The amazing and perfectly fitting music. The intrigue of Veta's journey and the secrets within. It's all fantastic, and I felt very invested in the world and the characters by the end. I enjoyed it all and can't wait to see the ending. You should be proud of what you've accomplished.

That said, I feel like you'd get a lot more people playing with a fun battle system and more balance.

Thanks, and sorry for ranting for so long XD I look forward to seeing the true ending :DDDDDDDDDD

PS: Here's an error I found:



If you approach the statue from the rightmost square, instead of the leftmost, it freezes the game.
@unity

No-no, your critiques and comments are welcomed. I initially had my concerns with the battle systems, mainly because I don't have a lot of experience working with things like that. In fact, I was hoping Contasma would spice up the gameplay with its risk/reward battle mechanics, but I think I'll have to sit down one day and start really adjusting some of the abilities and items.

Nevertheless, your comments have been very insightful and I'm ecstatic that you feel that way about the game. Hell, even critiquing it feels good for me, consisting criticism can only help something improve.

So I guess I'll just end things off here and say thank you very much. :)
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
You're very welcome and I'm very glad I could help ^_^

Best of luck! I'll be cheering for you!
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