SCOURGE'S PROFILE

author=Sgt M
I'm not sure if this will solve your particuar problem, but the Steam version of VXA has cloud functions for its Steam Workshop integration, and I find that it causes a lot of unexplained headaches with project management so I highly recommend disabling it entirely.

If you're not using the cloud saves for anything, you can try turning it off through Steam by going to App Info > Betas > Original Version. This will make your copy no different than the vanilla version of VXA that you can get through RMWeb.

I don't want to come on too strong, but I love you.

I switched back to original version and the project loaded up. I don't even have any workshop assets in this project, so I have no idea why that worked, but it did. Now I just have to remember where I was at six months ago. Maybe I'll at least finish Chapter 4 now and get this thing out there.

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=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=SoulAuron
if i may say something, i think the bard is as strong as it was because of the pirate, those songs are very expensive, and geting them from drops is very hard, so without them the class is basically an ok attacker with extra utility and a strongish heal, the first thing i would sugest would be to limit the pirates steal ability, i love the class, but it has so much it can do wich i didnt do because i was too preocupied stealing gold, so if that ability had some sort of cool down of 1 or 2 turns that would be perfect, as it would not stop people who absolutely NEED to grind gold (maybe because their party was terrible and got wiped and they are now broke and have bad items), but it makes grinding gold enough of a bother that people wont do a lot of it usually.

I've been considering lowering the amount of money gained from Mug and the Plunder ability for a while, so I will definitely keep that in mind. I think 200% after battle is a bit much and 150% or 175% might work better. We'll see!

It’s both a blessing and a curse