FIRECAT1311'S PROFILE

author=DungeonDevDude
This game looks fun and cute.

Great job so far!

Thanks!
I hope I can get a more finalized public demo polished up and ready to play soon so that this page can be a bit less empty and update-less, haha

As far as gameplay goes, this game definitely does the old NES style of RPG ​right​, which is really a rarity. It's still got that simplicity in exploration and combat, but both are given just enough extra flavor to keep it feeling fresh and a bit more modern. Dungeons aren't just bland, featureless mazes, and combat isn't just mashing the attack option and occasionally healing.

However, I wasn't really a big fan of the story. The writing is fine for the most part, lighthearted and charming, and it had some good ideas, but the execution is really weak when it comes to drama. Well, someone else on the itch.io page has already gone very in-depth with​ pretty much the same problems I had with it, so I probably don't need to rant about it or anything.

But anyway, I just gotta say, I'm a big fan of the combat visuals. It's not an exaggeration to say that I ended up playing specifically because of this. The pixel art is a bit rough, but there's plenty of style and personality in every monster sprite, and skill animations are unique, satisfying, and not too drawn out.
On that note, good on you for making the effort and going without RTP in general, I definitely know how big a task that can be. The new menu layouts are a nice touch as well.

Aw thanks! Being the only artist working on this (and only coder, and only writer, and only... you get the idea) has been a pretty big task, but I'm happy there are people who enjoy my doodly programmer-art, haha

Sounds good, looking forward to trying it out!
Whenever I get around to that I'll try to give some thoughts on that one too, and hopefully it'll be more helpful than a review on a five-year-old game with shortcomings you're probably already familiar with by this point, ahaha
Anyway, keep up the good work

author=Sated

Edit: To clarify, I'm okay with having the "level" stat, level up messages, and things like that still visible, I just don't want them to directly affect the stats in any way.

If you're going to retain the concept of "levels" then how is what you're planning to do any different from simply making the gap between "levels" smaller, whilst also reducing how much each stat increases per level?

yeah, I know, I'm not really trying to go for any major differences mechanically; I'm just more interested in the aesthetic appeal of that little rewarding feeling that comes from having a few stat points go up after every few battles, rather than having to wait for a full level up to see the experience making any difference.
However, if I just made it with lots of level ups with a short distance between them, then that short distance would inevitably just grow into an average distance and then a long distance, bringing it right back to the thing I'm trying to avoid.

author=Marrend
*Edit: RPG::Class.params might be something to look into. The default definition, according to the help file, looks something like...

def initialize
  @params = Table.new(8,100)
    (1..99).each do |i|
      @params[0,i] = 400+i*50
      @params[1,i] = 80+i*10
      (2..5).each {|j| @params[j,i] = 15+i*5/4 }
      (6..7).each {|j| @params[j,i] = 30+i*5/2 }
    end
  # etc
end

I'm not sure, but from what I can see it looks like RPG maker handles stats by just taking the level of the character and then using it to directly take the stats off that level's point on the stat curves, right? That's more or less what I assumed it was, but that makes me wonder if what I'm trying to do might be more trouble than it's worth, huh...