SCOURGE'S PROFILE

This looks good! The only feedback I can offer up is the height difference between the shop area and the bedroom area looks a little off. It's possible that there could be a set of stairs hidden behind the wall, but I still can't help but feel that it looks funny.

author=SoulAuron
if you wouldnt mind i might even come up some rough backgrounds, personalities and dialogs for each character after playing through each chapter and then just giving you all of it, again, if you wouldnt mind me intruding on your project.

I really appreciate the offer, and I think I'm going to decline. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to writing and this project as a whole and I would feel uncomfortable outsourcing any part of this project. I even debated whether or not to ask for testers instead of just doing all the testing myself for a long time.

I agree that writing backstory or dialog for all possible characters would be great, and I think it's a bigger task than most people realize. For example, there are 12 base classes, plus the 3 hidden classes for a total of 15, not counting the three master classes. Let's ignore those for now.

15 classes? Well, that's not bad at all! That's only fifteen backstories/personalities/whatever to develop!

That's partially correct.

There's 15 classes and each one can be male or female.

Okay, so 30?

Not quite.

Say someone chooses a Male Black Mage for Marcia and then another male Black Mage for Errol. If those two Black Mages have the exact same backstory and personality, that's not realistic. So then we would need 30 for each hero, totaling out at 120, not counting the master classes, which would then add another 24. That's 144 unique personalities and backstories. I'm a solid writer, but I'm not that good. This isn't a professional undertaking. It's a hobby, and one I enjoy, but I'm not getting paid to spend hours and hours creating all those characters. And even just doing the bare minimum would be a lot of effort towards a comparatively minor area of the game; I'd rather focus my energy on the bigger items. That's not to say that, someday, when the game is much closer to completion, I wouldn't come back and add this, but all signs point to it never happening.

author=Liberty
More like very very similar to Hero's Realm. There's just enough different to be it's own game, but barely. Hopefully the further you go the less it borrows. I'd like to see it gain it's own identity.

I don't want to be mean or negative but while there are some differences, there's so many similarities that it feels like I'm playing a budget version of HR. If I wanted to play my fave RM game again, I'd just go play that.

Since it's still in demo stage it still has time to become it's own thing and I really hope it does! It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination - the balancing is done well enough for a game with so many class choices, and the maps are nice, but it's currently lacking it's own identity something fierce. >.<;

I think the critique you’re offering is far from mean or negative; it’s accurate. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find myself working on this game and thinking “gee this feels a lot like HR.” In my opinion, the second chapter and beyond feel different than what’s currently available and that should help the game find a more unique voice. I’m glad you thought the balance and mapping were solid! Could you tell me a little more about the balance being “well enough?” We’re there certain abilities or classes that felt unbalanced one way or another? I’d appreciate any other feedback! Thanks for trying the game.

author=WheelmanZero
Well, as I'm sure you know, different players have different tastes. Some value graphics above all, some just want a good story, and others need a little extra razzle-dazzle to hold their attention. I feel like this is especially true for rpg maker games, since many of them have the same graphics. After seeing the same animations over and over in countless games, some people actually get aggravated by their presence. I've seen people lose interest in a game early on simply because it uses certain default resources.

With so many games available to them, I feel as if players are pickier these days, and more inclined to drop a game if it doesn't tickle their fancy immediately. Even so, there's no such thing as a game that everyone loves, so you can't please everyone all of the time. Wait, no, that's not right. It should be "you can't please everyone any of the time". Some people are going to dislike your game for reasons you find silly, but it comes with the territory.

As for my take, I do enjoy games with nice animations, as they make battles more entertaining. While default animations are far from a deal-breaker for me, I do think that battles should be fun to watch, considering you spend a good chunk of your playtime on them. The great thing about rpg maker is there's not much to hold you back except the engine's ever-expanding limits. You can make a game with a great balance, fun classes, a good story, AND custom animations if you like. The only real limiter is time.

If we're talking priorities, I say finish what's most important to you first, then when you're done you can add the bells and whistles that are lower on the list if you like. If you take care of the things that are the most fun or important to you, you'll have a much greater chance of finishing. I won't say that custom animations are mandatory for The Seven Seals to succeed (try to say that three times fast), but I will say that the extra razzle-dazzle will draw more player's attention and make the game more entertaining overall. Welp, hope that was helpful.

I think you make some good points. Looking back at this blog post, it's clear to me that I was frustrated while writing it and I kind of channeled that frustration into a rant over a pretty innocuous piece of criticism. That frustration has little to do with game-making and a lot to do with other happenings in my life, and I'm still embarrassed by how it came out through this blog. I apologize for coming across as unprofessional and, honestly, a bit of a prick.

I think you're especially correct with 'you can't please everyone any of the time.' Obviously, I want this game to be successful, and that doesn't mean that I need to make a game that everyone loves. I'm pretty sure that's impossible; even games almost universally considered to be the best ever made, like Chrono Trigger and Witcher 3, have people who dislike them or dislike the genre as a whole. I can't make a game for everyone. At the same time, that extra effort is important if I want a successful game. I think you're right that I should focus on what's important to me before adding the bells and whistles. I think I've beat the whole 'four-year hiatus' horse to death and it still plays a role as I create the game. After sitting on the project for so long, there's a part of me that just wants to churn out the game, but speeding through it would be a disservice both to the people who have subscribed and downloaded the game and myself.

So what's the game design takeaway here?

Don't write blogs when you're upset, I guess.

Also, you know, prioritize and put the extra work in to make your game stand out.

author=Dyluck
I actually never knew the pirate gave double money, because I don't think it's mentioned in the actual skill menu. I also didn't know what Traverse was. I'd suggest adding a dummy skill for these kinds of things to describe their effects.

Good point. The Classes page on the gamepage notes this, but I shouldn't expect people to read that before playing. I'll add dummy skills to classes that need them in the next release.