SHORTSTAR'S PROFILE

Hello, my name is ShortStar. You might remember me from such games as >>
- EpiQuest http://rpgmaker.net/games/1986/
- DungeonQuest http://rpgmaker.net/games/2894/
- Super RMN Bros 2 http://rpgmaker.net/events/super_rmn_bros_2/?p=52#posts

I have an idea for a community project that I'd like to spearhead. Its based on the SMBX community project where we all make a town, a dungeon, a quest and submit it.

At the deadline, I will go through everyone's submissions and put them in an order from easiest to hardest. RPG is about leveling up and if we did a hub style world like Super RMN Bros, an uber party wouldn't be challenged.

Information
- Engine > RPG Maker VX
- Tile graphics > Default RPG Maker VX (because its the most basic)
- Sprites & Facesets > You can use custom ones, those are easier to import
- Due date > Monday, March 14th, 2011
- The party > Will be a place holder, pick your own party like Final Fantasy 1, or Dragon Quest 3.
- Weapons, Equipment, Items, Skills & Enemies > Will be copied and pasted.

Requirements
- 1 town (at least)
- 1 battle area (at least)
- 1 quest (at least)
- 1 small land mass (optional, not required)
- All maps must have borders
The Town
- Must have a different building for each indoor shop. Not 1 map for 5 shops.
- Cannot be a giant empty map with a few buildings. Fill the space or make the city smaller.
- Exterior buildings must be 1 block high per floor of the interior. (this is how the boxed in RPG VX maps were)
The Dungeon
- Must be more than a single room.
- Must not be just a random dungeon.
- You can make a random dungeon, but spice it up with decorations! Book shelves, floor tiles, skeletons, treasures, wall damage, pillars
The Characters
- The party is generic, but you can make NPC characters. Princess X has a love affair with squire Y with your help. Sure, go for it.


How to join
1. Tell us you'd like to participate.
2. Tell us what variables and switches you'd like to have (example: Switches 201-220 and Variables 121-150). Switches 1 - 250 and variables 1 - 100 are reserved for the project and its scripts.

Why you should participate
- If we get ten people with 10 quests, 10 towns and 10 dungeons, we can have a lengthily game in a month or two.
- When you submit your maps, people will comment on them and you can improve them. Thus becoming a better mapper in the process. Like coaching.
- Credit. Put a sign on your maps and tell the world who made it. Or get clever and have a talking snowman tell us who made it.
- If people like your maps, quests and so on, they'll seek out your work.

Signups
- Kentona > switches 251 - 300 > variables 101 - 150
- Desmo360 > Switches 301-310 > Variables 151 - 160
- Dudesoft > Switches 311-360 > Variables 161 - 170
- Idida1 > Switches 361-400 > Variables 171 - 200
- Ratty524 > Switches 401-420 > Variable 201 - 220
- Sailerius > Switches 421-470 > Variable 221 - 270
- Dez > Switches 471-500 > Variables 271-300
- Hostile Fun > Switches 501-525 > Variables 301-325

DungeonQuest

I made a dungeon crawler. I think I will call it DungeonQuest. You start out by getting gold from a king and visiting a town where you will pick your party of 4 from 11 classes. Then stock up and go dungeon crawling. There are 3 dungeons, 2 towns heaps of weapons, skills, equipment, monsters and diversity. In the world map, there are random battles, but in the dungeons you can avoid enemy NPCs. Some of which will chase you when they see you. There is no plot, just fun. Dodge enemies, fight enemies. Combat makes you think.

This is mostly to demonstrate the combat system from EpiQuest 2, before releasing Epiquest 2. There are a few bugs I'm trying to stomp out, but it doesn't interrupt the fun of playing. There's around 3 hours of content.

Download
http://www.c3it.com/DungeonQuest.exe

It uses the RPG VX engine and default graphics.

Classes
You can always change your character's class by visiting the guild guides. There are certain classes that have both might and magic (Grey, Hero, Mistress). I don't recommend playing half and half. It is better to have a great fighter or a great mage than an OK mage who is an OK fighter. Commit to either one, but you can always change thier bias if you need to.

Hero
The class of the main hero. This class encompasses everything major from every other class. Might, magic, summons, spells, skills and equipment. The hero is tough to beat and eventually learns uber attacks to finish off the toughest bosses with ease. Assuming the battle lasts long enough for the hero to become enraged.

Warrior
Focusd on big killing weapons, the warrior doesn't have much in the way of defense. All of the warrior's skills are given by the weapons and equipment. The warrior can make short work of any enemy that is not magical.

Soldier
The soldier can use the best armor and a good variety of weapons. This class is a tank meant for abuse and charging forward. They might have limited skill diversity, but it will still get the job done against most foes.

Thief
The thief is quick, nimble and can use fast weapons. This class uses poisons and other status ailments to get the job done and can even wear disguises to take on more skill sets. A very diverse fighter.

Hunter
This is a very diverse class. The hunter uses bows, whips, clubs and knives. You can bulk up on attack power or agility for quick kills with a bow & arrow. Most of the hunter's skills are status ailments afflicted from arrows.

Archer
Ah the cunning archer is designed to not get hit. Standing in the background, they use bows, arrows or guns. Very similar to the hunter, only with better equipment and more diverse skills that include elemental attacks and not just status afflictions.

Pilgrim
The pilgrim's magic comes from a staff and or an orb (and or an orb?). A variety of staffs that will give the pilgrim new spells as they level up and a wide selection of orbs too. The pilgrim is definately weak in combat, but they are great with a staff and a wise pilgrim can win any battle with a mere staff.

Mage
A mage gets its power from orbs, rods and wands. They have a small selection of weapons, but their power comes from magic. All of the mage's equipment builds up their spirit and can turn them into a devastating force, especially against elemental and undead enemies.

Grey
The grey is similar to the hero and encompasses both harmful and helpful magic. This class can also use a wide variety of fair weapons. A jack of all trades so to speak.

Mistress
This class uses whips, claws and status affecting orbs. She is a multi faceted fighter and magician. She can be used for either category. To make up for this power, she is very weak against status ailments.

Martial Artist
The martial artist is a simple class. Little in the way of defense and weapons, but every piece of humble equipment builds the class's strength to dismantle most enemies. There are also unique skills to help with this.

Combat Strategy
Like Epiquest, there are enemies wandering on the map. You can avoid them, but when you get caught in for combat, you have to come up with a strategy... for every battle. Every battle is different, because every enemy is random (except for bosses) and the enemies are diverse. They don't just have weak points, but different tactics are needed to defeat each. Birds can't be fought by traditional melee items. You will need bows, magic or a jump attack. Magical enemies are immune to normal attacks, so your fighters will have to use items or be on guard.

Your brain is always thinking. Background characters step up to shine, and traditional roles are broken. Especially when you use certain tactics to make a pilgrim into a master of combat against a tough foe.

Enemies use logic and they will heal each other and remove status ailments. They will try to shut you down like a human player would.

You can even get summon skills to switch up your combat when you call upon Sirens, Saghins, Lamias or even gushers. If you see an ogre that can decimate your party and you don't have a confuse spell to get him on your side, summon a Lamia to confuse the big boy. He will do your bidding and knock out his allies.

There are even friendlies that will fight against other enemies and heal your party for you. It turns into a relief knowing not everything in the world is trying to kill you.

To keep all of the information organized, DungeonQuest has a bestiary and scan skills that will tell you everything. You can learn the scan skill from wearing specs or equipping short bows.

Maps & Traps
As I've mentioned before, you can avoid enemies on the map. Different types of enemies have different patterns. Spirits wander randomly and pretty swift. Sentries pace back and forth, but when they spot you, they'll chase after you pretty quick.

Once you're caught, you go into battle, but after the battle, you have 1 second to plow through enemies on the map with invincibility. You'll hear a quiet chime when your 1 second is up. There are items that will buy you longer time. In a second, you can plow through a lot of map enemies, let alone 2 seconds.

There are standard switches to open shut doors, but there are map traps and blocking obsticles. Map traps that will cast status affecting spells or damage you. The status affecting map traps are all visual, but not quite blatant. So if you walk into them, its your own fault.

The physically damaging map traps like spike floors are very blatant and deadly. You might be able to take one stab from the spikes, but not many more. Some spikes have patterns, inactive for 2 seconds, then active for 2. Other spikes are always active until a flip is switched... you know what I mean.

Treasure Hunting in Light & Shadow
In each dungeon... or area in general, there are treasures scattered around. Some are blatant treasures like a sword or scrolls. Other treasures are tougher to find like shinny objects as if someone had dropped something small. These objects don't shine all the time. That would be too easy.

Speaking of too easy, caves and dungeons are dark... obviously. There are shadows that move. The light can play tricks on you and the shadows can hide something blatant that you may have missed your first way through the passage. There are also X-Ray skills that let you find invisible treasures!

With my Epiquest games, most of the treasures were random. That's still the case, but different. Now with a random treasure, a slot machine appears and gives you the chance to get your desired treasure. Well desired if you know what icon will get you something. This might be more helpful for your second play through. Even if you don't get 3 icons in a row, you still get a default prize. Which might not be much in some cases.

Screenshots

Fire beats ice... I will give you that, because it melts.
But Ice beating fire? Do you freeze the fire? Fire isn't a liquid, solid or gas.
Wouldn't water be more effective against water?

I've had a computer job 10+ years. My eyes are shot. I can barely read my DirecTV from 10 feet away. My work had a switchover to Windows 7 and Windows 7 has a changed resolution from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 . Everything is tiny.

But someone at work mentioned all of the tiny text will improve our ruined eyes. I like this eyedia. After a day of it my eyes went from pain to being ok. I mean literal pain, I was straining to read at first.

I have 5 towns with 50+ buildings for a project. The rest of the towns and buildings are done.

Basically I have the placeholders for all 50+ buildings in a .zip file.

Download and open the zip file. Pick a house / shop or two and design the interior.

http://rpgmaker.net/users/ShortStar/locker/housingproject.zip

Give yourself credit with signs, books or NPCs, fires, give it some flair. If you want to make a basement, go for it, but its not required.

Then upload to your locker here at RMN and post the link. If you end up doing an interior that someone else did, I will still find a place for it.

The towns are:
- A thriving farm town
- A desert town at an oasis
- A bustling port
- A secluded and sprawling town in the woods
- A ruined and dusty village

Thanks for reading and or participating.