LOCKEZ'S PROFILE

If you already have a finished game, there's an easier way than individually copying each file you use and deleting a bunch of resources out of the database. That's to just include the entire RTP in the download, even the parts you don't use. The RTP isn't that big, so most people won't actually care that your game has an extra few megabytes added to it.

Here is a step by step:

1) To start out, locate your game folder, and locate the RTP folder that contains all the default resources. Probably they're both in C:/Program Files/RPG Maker 2003 or C:/Program Files/Enterbrain
2) Make a backup of the RTP folder. Basically you can just copy and paste the whole thing so it creates a "Copy of RTP" folder.
3) Copy your entire game including all the resources into the RTP folder. If it asks whether you want to overwrite anything, choose yes.
4) Copy everything from the RTP folder back into your game folder. If it asks whether you want to overwrite anything, you can choose either yes or no, since they're all the same files.
5) Yay! Your game now includes all the RTP files.
6) Now you still have to do the stuff under the "Trick the Game" section in the tutorial Kentona mentioned. Specifically, this means editing the RPG_RT.ini file to include the line FullPackageFlag=1
7) Delete your saved games out of your game folder, because you probably don't want to include those.
8) Zip your game folder and send it to Kanye West and/or your grandmother. If you need help zipping a folder then ask your grandmother, she unzips for me all the time. I am unable to specify whether this is also true of Kanye as he has forced me to sign a nondisclosure agreement regarding our extramarital affairs which may or may not exist.

Randomization does inherently make the game longer because it causes people to play it more than once. However, making all the maps by hand instead of generating them definitely does cause the game to take a much longer time to design. But it also usually makes them look much nicer, unless you're incredibly good at making scripts to generate maps, or incredibly bad at creating normal non-random maps.

Children of Mana is a modern commercial game with randomly generated dungeons that simply strings pre-drawn maps together instead of actually generating them. The result is that the maps look really nice but it's not particularly strong on the replay value. Though the total lack of any interesting gameplay mechanics after the first few hours of the game is perhaps the primary problem with its replay value. A good randomly generated game needs to make things continue to be interesting and challenging even after you've been playing it a long time, and in Children of Mana, after about halfway though the game there's almost nothing left to do except build your stats in a predictable and predetermined manner so that you can kill the higher-level palette swaps of the enemies.

OP: If you have not played any roguelikes I would recommend trying a couple before you get too far. Diablo 2 is a popular and accessible commercial one - so simple to understand and so well-made that you could play it for months and never realize it's a roguelike. But it very much is. Most games that people think of as roguelikes are either ooooold or are amateur games. Elona is a pretty decent one, free to play, it feels a lot like a classic roguelike so it'll give you some ideas, but it's relatively new so the difficulty is more reasonable and the interface is less horrible and it works properly on modern operating systems. Only problem is, last time I played it there were some parts that weren't translated, but that was almost a year ago so I think it's fixed by now.

When I say busier, I don't mean it should necessarily change more, but rather have more things going on at once. More instruments, I guess. Like I said I'm not a composer and there's a strong possibility I have no idea what I'm talking about! But the repeating background with the high notes sounds fine as long as there are other sounds playing at the same time, it only irritates me when it's the only thing playing.

The first song sounds just as appropriate for a high-energy dungeon (like a final dungeon) or a cut scene of a war as for an actual battle. Compare the song played when escaping from Lufia 2's final dungeon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQL_b18Wzc It feels very similar to your song to me, which is a good thing because that's one of the best tracks in the whole game! (Along with The Last Duel)

I feel both of your songs start out too slow, that they need to change sooner or they risk becoming irritating. Especially in an RPG, where the music changes often and hearing more than 20 seconds of a song is rare. Although there are situations where a longer song is usable, it seems to me that your song will have the most potential uses in games if it starts out fast and stays consistant after that.

In both cases the songs could stand to be busier. This is more true of the second one. The first one is better, but those quick repeating high notes in the background still get irritating when there's nothing else going on in the song. I don't know anything about composing music so I don't know if that's really a good way to fix it. But I know that's how I feel.

The first one is one I'd be much more likely to actually use. If I used the second song, it would be on a desolate world map for a post-apocalyptic science fiction game, or some other very low-energy setting. Possibly a gloomy sewer resistance hideout? Probably not a dungeon, unless the dungeon had no battles.

Perfect Final Fantasy
The Shining Final Fantasy of Final Fantasy
Flame Final Fantasy Shards
Etherial Final Fantasy : The Light
Final Fantasy God of The Tales : Home
Ultimate : Tale of The Final Fantasy
Element of The Remixed Final Fantasy
Heaven : Legion of The Everlasting Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy : The Legacy of Final Fantasy
Demonic Moon : Final Fantasy Lost Kingdoms

Is it terrible that these sound like actual FF titles? Honestly some of them sound better than actual FF titles. If I were to throw "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles : My Life As A King" in there I don't think anyone would notice.