DETHMETAL'S PROFILE

Hey there. :-) I'm just a guy in his 20s who loves RPGs and creates them as a hobby.
Exile's Journey
A disgraced knight must face his internal conflicts when the world is in danger.

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[Poll] RPG Maker users: Which engine do you use the most these days?

RPG Maker MV, just because that's what I'm using for my current project. However, I've been using RPG Maker 2003 since, well... 2003. This time I wanted to use MV for more flexibility and potential to play my game on phones.

Memories From a Dream

author=Spermidine
I would like to ask one question about the "emphasis on replayability". Since I prefer "play value" over "replay value", I usually don't play through a game multiple times. What I would like to know: Is the "emphasis on replayability" limited to class choices and such elements? Then I would certainly give your new game a chance, all the more so since I enjoyed Exile's Journey. Or is the "emphasis on replayability" also related to story, quests and so on? That, unfortunately, wouldn't be my cup of tea then.

Furthermore, it would appeal to many players if stats distribution could be reversed and repeated in case the player, for example, chose a subpar character build (and a player usually can't determine during the first playthrough which stats will be the most important ones). I'm saying this now because I know that most games that offer free stats distribution don't offer do-over options, and because most players that don't like free stats distribution will be "scared away" if there's no do-over option.

I believe that the replayability factor will result from there being 16 classes to choose from, so some players may choose to play multiple times in order to try out new classes. In addition, I plan on including multiple difficulty setting options, as well as Steam achievements, and a few other features that will encourage multiple playthroughs. There are a lot of people who like to do challenge runs in games like Final Fantasy 1 or Dark Souls by limiting themselves somehow, like using only White Mages or attempting to play the game without upgrading weapons or stats, and I want to accomodate players like that as well.

However, you will by no means be required to play through the game more than once to experience everything. Every quest and story segment will be available in your first playthrough. The only thing you will not be able to do on your first time is use an unlockable class that I plan to include. If you decide you want to move on after playing the game once, that is totally fine, and you won't miss much of anything.

There is an option to reverse stat distribution. However, it costs money (in-game money, obviously). The reason for this is that it's too easy to break the game otherwise. If you could freely adjust your stats to cater to particular fights, that kind of defeats the purpose of building your characters, at least in my mind.

For example, if a player could re-distribute your stats for free, and were to come up against a boss that doesn't use magic, they can re-distribute all of their magic stats to boost their attack and defense to absurdly high levels and trivialize the fight. I do want players to have a lot of freedom, but not THAT much freedom. To me, at that point, it removes a lot of the role-playing aspect. A white mage shouldn't be able to suddenly transform him or herself into the Incredible Hulk, you know what I mean?

I do understand your concern, but I don't think it will be too much of a problem. the stats in this game are not complicated, and there are only five (Attack, Defense, Magic Offense, Magic Defense, Speed). I believe that most players will know which stats they should focus on the most for each character, and I'd say these stats are all equally important (agility is not going to be the most important stat anymore like in Exile's Journey).

I also just want to clarify one thing: Your initial stats depend on which class and race you choose. You don't choose your stats initially. Afterward, upon leveling up you gain skill points which you can then use to upgrade whatever stats you want. :-)

XiShi.png

Autoshadows can definitely be annoying, mainly because they are automatically created by the engine, but they do have their uses. In Exile's Journey, I simulated shadows by having a dark version of every indoor tile. Having two versions of every floor tile definitely took up precious tileset space. It's nice that I don't have to do that anymore and can simply use the built-in shadows to create the same effect.

Exile's Journey

author=dnel57
Just thought I would mention a party event:

After I go to see the princess and obtain the Enchanted Ring , Dargor is still in my party before I rejoin with him. I almost thought I would end up with two Dargors.
Enjoying the play :)

Hm, strange. I wonder how that happened. Luckily, that shouldn't really affect anything. Glad you're enjoying it!

hlajmar.PNG

author=LolloRocketDiver
I agree with you. I'm doing this with my project too...
I think it's not too bad mixing hi-res UI with pixel art sprites. Many games do this these days. Don't worry, the result is good imho.

Yeah. I do think mismatched pixel density is a bad, bad idea, and I always recommend that people avoid it at all costs, but for some reason I personally think it looks okay when it's just a font, message box, or particle effects. However, I'm sure there are many that disagree and that's totally fine. If you asked me a few years ago, I would have said that you should ALWAYS use an appropriate pixel-font when making a game in this style.

By the way, I'm assuming you don't have a game page for this project you're referring to yet?

Can't Be Stopped

Any news on this?

Jamie_02b.png

Awesome. The mapping is fantastic and the tint sets an uneasy mood. My only complaint is that the auto-shadow located near the waterfall looks out of place. I'd probably remove it altogether. Also, the waterfall is a bit hard to see (if that is a waterfall). Waterfalls are quite opaque in real life.

menu.PNG

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping the pixel-art faces. I've been considering hiring someone to produce artwork for each race, although it'll be costly. We'll see. Perhaps the portraits I have are good enough.

hlajmar.PNG

I'm going to keep the font, to be quite honest. I'm actually a big fan of it. Octopath Traveller made me realize that combining high-res menus and effects with pixel art can work when done right, and that's something I'm trying to achieve. I hope it doesn't turn too many people off, though. I've noticed other recent indie games doing the same thing as well, like Death's Gambit.

I'm extremely strict about the tiles and sprites being uniform in regard to pixel density. It's mainly just the menus that will be higher res. I do admit that I'm on the fence about the message box border, though. I like how it looks and I'm leaning towards keeping it, but the corners do look a bit off compared to the actual tiles and sprites. I appreciate the feedback.

Diary of a Madman

Nice to see this in the "buzzing games" section!