Tradet Pactum

It's been a couple months since I began the project of making my first rpg maker game. In truth, the hardest part about it, thus far, has been planning the story. Designing characters, maps, parallax design, lighting, they all came as a close second. And while scripting has been the hardest thing for me to learn, I find myself scripting my events pretty quickly, and with some impressive degree of accuracy(at least to myself). I finally feel like I can make this happen now.

As for chapter 1, it should come as no surprise that the main goal is to introduce the character to the story. The pivotal element in the first chapter is the main character's relationship to his grandfather. I want the player to feel that connection from the start, so the challenge has been choosing the right dialog, the right interactions, and to demonstrate the main character's devotion to taking care of him. At the same time, this is still just an introduction, so I can't make this portion of the game too long, but I didn't want to sacrifice elements of the relationship either. Overall, the player should be able to get through it in ~10 minutes, give or take.

Another challenge I'm facing is sound and music. One of my most disliked habits in rpg maker games is the use of the engine's built-in music and sounds. For this, I've gone to Epidemic Sound for some great soundtracks to use instead. Sound and music is so important in a game, because your sense of hearing can affect the player's mood so drastically. I must have spent a couple hours just searching for two songs to use for chapter 1 alone, and another for the title screen.

Even when it comes to parallax mapping, I'm learning about other aspects of design. I have a scene where I needed some map elements I can't find anywhere else, so I'm drawing them myself. I won't say what these elements are, for the sake of spoilers, but it took me some time to get the hang of making them. Perhaps once I'm done with the game, I'll release my assets for you guys to use. It'd be pretty awesome to see my stuff in another game as well.

Hopefully I can update you guys with more info soon, and once chapter 2 begins, I'll have some better screenshots to share with you. I admit, just using screenshots from the house in chapter 1 isn't very representative of what the game will ultimately be.