HIMA'S PROFILE

In case anybody want to see donation system in working, here's the link to all the Dwarf Fortress donation report

They started doing this since 2007. Here's the number of donation during the past months.

January: $3689.27
December: $5468.33
November: $3199.46
October: $2503.28
September: $2793.95

If you've tried the game, you'd know that the game is mediocre by today's UI design standard ( all ascii arts, terrible control using alphabets on the keyboard only) but the game found its niche target. People who paid for the game paid after they've played the game, so there is no case of buying the game and feel that you've wasted your money on a crappy game. Every cent they made, they know that it's from people who truly appreciate their game and want to support them.

While you might say that this is an exception, there are more examples like this as I mentioned in earlier post. Admittedly, there are not many examples, but this is probably due to how risky and crazy it sound, releasing your game for free and just accepting donation. Nevertheless, it works for animator, game developer, and musicians, as far as I know.

author=flowerthief
A common complaint I hear about any game I ever make is that it's Windows-only. Which I am sympathetic to; lack of any cross-platform support is the thing I like least about Rpg Maker. I wonder how much potential audience one loses by being Windows-only? When it's a free game you can shrug that criticism off, but if it's a commercial game I imagine you need to care about being accessible.

I think the number of mac gamers is growing. While you don't lose many audience, I have a feeling that currently mac users appreciate your game more than window users, probably because of how rare it is to find a game in mac that is non-casual.

I really think you'd benefit a lot more if you switch the engine to renpy though. It's cross-platform, and all visual novel/renai features are already implemented for you. Heartache is a game that depends on fanbase, so to spread it to as many platforms as possible would help you find more fans easier.

I remember one game but I don't remember its name that has this kind of mechanic. The whole game is in another language, but the grammar is still English, I think. As you progress in the game, you'll learn new words, and those words will replace the gibberish talk automatically. So as you progress more in the game, what NPC talk to you or what do the signs say will finally make sense.

Anyway, I think you're talking about how to represent different languages in the game without confusing the player. I'd go with PepsiOtaku's method. I've seen it done like that in many games, and it didn't confuse me.

One of my favourite games of all time. I play it so many times, both Japanese version and English version.

Now I'm interested in this fangame. Any link? :O

author=flowerthief
Thanks for the explanation, hima.
At least no one can complain about the model of "release free but hope for financial compensation from nice people"...except maybe the developer.

But how does that model work with respect to paying any minions one might have? (artists, scripters, composers, etc)

You're welcome!
As for paying your team, the staffs should be paid for their labour beforehand. The project leader, the one who paid for everything, then take any donation from the project after that.

Or if there are not many people in your team, then split the donation works too.

author=Serpentarius
How about leveling via achievements? The gist of it is that you level up after making a benchmark or accomplishing an achievement. For example, if you had a move called "Moonsault" that ignored evasion and you used it on a certain number of enemies with high evasion, you would get a achievement and thus level up. It is very similar to how Team Fortress 2 unlocks weapons.

This method of leveling awards players that understand and know how to apply the mechanics behind their attacks and just know what they are doing in general. It makes leveling much more involving and exciting for the player as opposed to the traditional and monotonous method of just gaining exp until you level up. It will make having max level from merely a representation of how long you've killed the same group of enemies over and over again into something approaching a proof of skill and knowledge.

I also feel that this system is very similar to how skills in real life are tested, the best example being the driver's test. You aren't passed by just driving for an hour straight; you have to show them that you can actually drive by taking turns, parking, signaling, etc. So doing it this way will make leveling indicative of your skill level.

The major disadvantage of making such a system is that it would be much more involving and time consuming to develop and test than a traditional leveling system. It would also demand techniques to have multiple facets and applications to fit multiple achievements around them as well as enemies and bosses. It would just require much more thought and effort on the part of the the designer.

Leveling via achievements will allow for a more dynamic and involving leveling system that rewards smart and experimental gameplay. If a designer wanted to incorporate this into his game, he would have to devote a great deal of time to making it work effectively. The results will make for a much more rewarding game for both player and developer.

I like this idea. It's actually similar to the online trading card game I'm playing. They have achievements that you can unlock when certain conditions are met, and reward you when you can complete it. This force you to use different cards, setup totally different style of decks in order to achieve that goal. While that is more about keeping the game interesting for players, I can see how this would be an exciting alternative way of just grinding for exp.

I'll definitely keep this in mind :)