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Play ListsLOCKEZ'S PROFILE
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
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The Unofficial Squaresoft MUD is a free online game based on the worlds and combat systems of your favorite Squaresoft games. UOSSMUD includes job trees from FFT and FF5, advanced classes from multiple other Square games, and worlds based extremely accurately upon Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasies 5, 6, and 7. Travel through the original worlds and experience events that mirror those of the original games in an online, multiplayer format.
If a large, highly customized MUD, now over 10 years old and still being expanded, with a job system and worlds based on some of the most popular console RPGs seems interesting to you, feel free to log on and check it out. Visit uossmud.sandwich.net for information about logging on.
If a large, highly customized MUD, now over 10 years old and still being expanded, with a job system and worlds based on some of the most popular console RPGs seems interesting to you, feel free to log on and check it out. Visit uossmud.sandwich.net for information about logging on.
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Reveal your secrets: where did you get your ideas?
Well, I play RM games, but I don't get many ideas from them. Not because they are full of ideas I don't like, but because they are full of ideas that the authors got from commercial games. Sometimes they inspire me in the way they test the limits of the maker, but rarely do they do things I like that I've never seen in commercial games.
Unless you count the writing. They often have very unusual writing. In fact, okay, I admit that The Must Stupidest Game Ever: Re-Duh is what got me to initially consider making a comedy game.
Vindication's style of humor was inspired by Disgaea, though. Not the demons/underworld/evil aspect, but rather the way that Disgaea assaulted you with nonstop humor, some of which was character-driven and some of which was scenario-driven and some of which was built into the gameplay systems. But then secretly, while you weren't paying attention, it was developing a complex plot and making you become really attached to the characters, and it ended up with a very dramatic, touching, and even tragic story at the end. That's what I tried to do in Vindication's story.
Gameplay-wise, I'm not sure. I'm sure there's a little bit of FF6 influence in the affection I have for party splitting. And perhaps also a little bit of FF6 influence in my Narshe-style battle that is directly ripped from FF6.
Unless you count the writing. They often have very unusual writing. In fact, okay, I admit that The Must Stupidest Game Ever: Re-Duh is what got me to initially consider making a comedy game.
Vindication's style of humor was inspired by Disgaea, though. Not the demons/underworld/evil aspect, but rather the way that Disgaea assaulted you with nonstop humor, some of which was character-driven and some of which was scenario-driven and some of which was built into the gameplay systems. But then secretly, while you weren't paying attention, it was developing a complex plot and making you become really attached to the characters, and it ended up with a very dramatic, touching, and even tragic story at the end. That's what I tried to do in Vindication's story.
Gameplay-wise, I'm not sure. I'm sure there's a little bit of FF6 influence in the affection I have for party splitting. And perhaps also a little bit of FF6 influence in my Narshe-style battle that is directly ripped from FF6.
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Chrono Trigger
I am going to make a Let's Play of this game and upload it to Youtube.
In addition to being awesome because the game is hilarious, it will be awesome because it will show up when people search for "Let's Play Chrono Trigger".
I will let you guys know the video is done!
In addition to being awesome because the game is hilarious, it will be awesome because it will show up when people search for "Let's Play Chrono Trigger".
I will let you guys know the video is done!
Languishing Projects
Ugh, this happened to Vindication after I had a hard drive crash and lost about two months worth of work on it. I just could not bring myself to redo all that crap.
Three or four years later I came back and finished it. Mostly due to one of my friends who was getting into RPG Maker and trying to make a game. He got me to start talking to him about his, and then he got me to start making maps for his, and then I decided to finish my own old game also.
Realistically it is rare for me to restart an old project like that, but very common for my projects to take upwards of two years to finish. So as a result, doing only one at a time is something I would not consider.
Aside from that one time with the hard drive crash, when I abandon projects, it's usually due to being frustrated with other team members. I work on a MUD (a text-based MMORPG), and having to run every change by the other admins can be tiresome - especially since one or two of them haven't actually done anything except argue about other people's ideas for over three years. Though that's still better than them quitting entirely. And it's kept me from using a lot of admittedly really awful ideas. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. I like being my own boss sometimes.
Three or four years later I came back and finished it. Mostly due to one of my friends who was getting into RPG Maker and trying to make a game. He got me to start talking to him about his, and then he got me to start making maps for his, and then I decided to finish my own old game also.
Realistically it is rare for me to restart an old project like that, but very common for my projects to take upwards of two years to finish. So as a result, doing only one at a time is something I would not consider.
Aside from that one time with the hard drive crash, when I abandon projects, it's usually due to being frustrated with other team members. I work on a MUD (a text-based MMORPG), and having to run every change by the other admins can be tiresome - especially since one or two of them haven't actually done anything except argue about other people's ideas for over three years. Though that's still better than them quitting entirely. And it's kept me from using a lot of admittedly really awful ideas. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. I like being my own boss sometimes.
DOING IT! - WEEK FIVE
The top of the waterfall looks weird. I'd make that wall go higher, and draw a hole in the wall that the water's coming out of.
Does the VX RTP not have diagonal walls? Yuck. You might invest in finding or making some.
If you dislike the stairs because you want the cave to look natural rather than man-made, use a ramp instead:
Does the VX RTP not have diagonal walls? Yuck. You might invest in finding or making some.
If you dislike the stairs because you want the cave to look natural rather than man-made, use a ramp instead:
DOING IT! - WEEK FIVE
Coming up with interesting dungeon themes was hard for me at first. Often anything you want to do seems dreadfully overdone. I found that combining two common types of dungeons can be surprisingly helpful. A cave map or a desert map is completely boring, but if you make a desert cave then suddenly your area is energetic and colorful. The player passes back and forth between two motifs, keeping the area from being repetitive without feeling like they are being thrown around at random. It also forces you to keep from making the different parts of the area the same, and also keeps you from making another very similar area later in the game, both of which are quick and easy for the designer but very boring for the player. Here's a section of a forest ruins map from Vindication that illustrates my idea. Though I only show the outdoor area here, the indoor parts of the ruins have constructed openings and broken walls that let you see the forest outside.
DOING IT! - WEEK FIVE
You know what I did to my game's maps that was great? I got rid of all the one-tile staircases, and all the horizontal doors to other maps. I'll give you some shitty RTP examples of what I mean, since the shitty RTP tilesets are some of the only ones that are dumb enough to even include this kind of staircase...
One-tile staircases are just universally unappealing. I can't think of any reason to justify their existance. "Fine" here is relative, since my uncreative use of RTP resources can hardly be called acceptable, but it's a perfectly good staircase at the least.
Horizontal exits are okay in towns where you go off the edge of the screen to get to the next map, but when it's a door in a building or cave? Terrible. Even worse if your character is two tiles tall and the southern wall covers the lower half of him, and thus also covers the actual exit, leaving only the wall behind it visible. It does not look even like an exit when you do that. Either that or you have to make the exit two tiles tall. The downside of getting rid of horizontal doors is obviously that you are limited to north-south doors. But it still looks infinitely better, and it doesn't really impede the function of your maps at all.
Such simple things. You wouldn't think they would matter, as long as you keep your style consistent. But they do. They somehow make the maps feel much less polished.
One-tile staircases are just universally unappealing. I can't think of any reason to justify their existance. "Fine" here is relative, since my uncreative use of RTP resources can hardly be called acceptable, but it's a perfectly good staircase at the least.
Horizontal exits are okay in towns where you go off the edge of the screen to get to the next map, but when it's a door in a building or cave? Terrible. Even worse if your character is two tiles tall and the southern wall covers the lower half of him, and thus also covers the actual exit, leaving only the wall behind it visible. It does not look even like an exit when you do that. Either that or you have to make the exit two tiles tall. The downside of getting rid of horizontal doors is obviously that you are limited to north-south doors. But it still looks infinitely better, and it doesn't really impede the function of your maps at all.
Such simple things. You wouldn't think they would matter, as long as you keep your style consistent. But they do. They somehow make the maps feel much less polished.
Sai Plays Your Games
Hey Sailerius, you still going? Reviewing games for poor shmucks like me was really cool and I'm hoping this didn't dry up!
DOING IT! ~ WEEK ONE
After talking to a few more people who had played Vindication, I realized I had seriously overused the Justin's Soldier enemy:
I was pretty happy with this enemy, since even though it was an edit of RM2000 RTP graphics, it was a good edit and looked very different from the original graphic. But I had used it as the main enemy in three consecutive dungeons - it was present in well over 75% of the battles in those dungeons and the only monster in quite a few of them. I had added more enemies per battle and given it more abilities as the player went on, but it wasn't enough - it still felt like the same enemy, like you weren't getting stronger. So I needed to add more enemies.
I tossed in some guard dogs and guard frogs but it wasn't enough, so eventually I ended up drawing more edited versions of this enemy. I wanted it to feel like a different enemy but still be able to use the same sprite on the map and still feel like a soldier of the same army, so I repositioned the monster's stance and gave it different weapons.
I replaced almost all of the sword soldiers in the later sections with these ones, sometimes in fewer numbers, and made the sword soldiers no longer get stronger in the later levels. It makes the player feel like they are actually gaining power, which is a good feeling, and it adds a lot more variety to battles. End result is that these three dungeons feel a lot less tedious, even though the gameplay is actually very similar to what it was before.
I was pretty happy with this enemy, since even though it was an edit of RM2000 RTP graphics, it was a good edit and looked very different from the original graphic. But I had used it as the main enemy in three consecutive dungeons - it was present in well over 75% of the battles in those dungeons and the only monster in quite a few of them. I had added more enemies per battle and given it more abilities as the player went on, but it wasn't enough - it still felt like the same enemy, like you weren't getting stronger. So I needed to add more enemies.
I tossed in some guard dogs and guard frogs but it wasn't enough, so eventually I ended up drawing more edited versions of this enemy. I wanted it to feel like a different enemy but still be able to use the same sprite on the map and still feel like a soldier of the same army, so I repositioned the monster's stance and gave it different weapons.
I replaced almost all of the sword soldiers in the later sections with these ones, sometimes in fewer numbers, and made the sword soldiers no longer get stronger in the later levels. It makes the player feel like they are actually gaining power, which is a good feeling, and it adds a lot more variety to battles. End result is that these three dungeons feel a lot less tedious, even though the gameplay is actually very similar to what it was before.
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