Game I'm making with RPG Maker Ace (Name pending)

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

[Link to latest version] (v1.2.1|14/Apr)
[This version does NOT have the Run Time Package included, so the file size is a lot smaller]

Feel free to play, review, and comment. Also any ideas you have will be very welcome.

New Features for this release:
-New mini-game "Double Decks" card game.
-New augmentation system.
-New Light/Dark System.
-3 New Quests
-One new main area.
-Beginning of a faction/relationship system.

Planned features for next release:
-Trait system (I.E Increased strength, etc)
-Creation of a hub area to go to new levels
-Two (maybe three) new cut-scenes.

Added Features for next release:


Older Release Features

Click to Expand

V1.2 Features
-Two new levels.
-Balanced Battle system.
-Weapon and Armour System.
-Stamina System
-Three new puzzle types. Statues, Mini-Golem, Monk's Riddle
-Expanded debug (can now skip scenes)
-Three new character NPCs. Feyki, Tiggs, and Rikkaz.

Bug Fixes:
(V1.2)

(V1)

Click to Expand

(Thanks to Myrph)
-Getting stuck while trying to extinguish fire from below.
[You now can only extinguish from above]
-Fixed door graphics
-Fixed Debug error
-Now no longer die when changing classes (thanks for the script change Myrph)
-(Re-)Added missing music file
-Debug tool doesn't disappear after use.
- Moving levels via debug will now reset puzzles properly.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

This is from the General Gaming Chat thread.

Okay, first thing I've discovered is that there is at least one audio file missing, named "22 Cave where the demon lives.ogg". Might just have slipped through the net during the packaging of the installer, and there is a easy fix for people anyone who has already downloaded the game, which is to just duplicate one of the audio files in the BGM folder and rename it to the name of the missing file.

Whoops! I actually had a lot more more music in the BGM file that I got rid of to try and reduce the file size. I forgot I actually used the music from some DLC.

[Here] is the missing file. Just slip it in the BGM folder.

Second thing is I've encountered an issue with an event failing to resolve. wherein the character becomes stuck after interacting with a fire in the pits. From having a look at the event itself, it seems the issue arises when the player approaches the event from the wrong direction (ie, looping round from behind it after destroying the rock obstacle) as the event is set to move the player upwards away from the fire, which is fine if the player approaches it from above, but cannot occur if the character is directly below the fire, as the fire is then in the way of the intended movement direction, thus causing the game to become unresponsive. The easiest fix, and one which probably does what you intended the action to do is to use the movement '1 Step Backward', was that will simply move the player one step away from the event block, rather than in a fixed direction.

Thanks. Didn't think of people who would try and go back the way they game. Should be easy fix.

One visual tweak as well for the door entry to the pit, you want to have black tiles on the map behind the event, rather than wall tiles, and the motion for a door opening is 'Turn Left' > 'Turn Right' > 'Turn Up'.

Thanks. Again, should be an easy fix.

The only other 'fix' I've made thus far, is to adjust the initial intro event so that if you select Yes at the debug mode selection dialogue, it also triggers a switch that is checked at the beginning of each dialogue and only plays them if debug mode is not active, just so that when I was jumping in to test things, I didn't have to sit through that whole section each time, but that's more of a personal thing. One thing that did throw up, however is your common event was set up as a parallel process triggering when Switch 01 was active, so when I set Switch 01 as my debug switch, I got stuck in a loop where my character was continuously being transferred to Debugia. As you've set it up such that the event is called when the Debugia Medallion is used, you don't need the event to be constantly running in parallel waiting for that switch to be turned on, so you can set that as 'None' in place of its trigger.

The 'debug mode' was simply to give away the medallion. And thanks for pointing out the Parallel Process. I had actually been using the event for something else that I got rid off and must of forgot to switch the event trigger back.

As a couple of nitpicky things, there are a few spelling/grammatical errors in some of the dialogues, and for future releases I'd make sure you use royalty free, public domain or copyleft music, so you don't inadvertantly do anything illegal by distributing copyrighted music on the internet, albeit innocuously.

Yes! I defiantly need people to be nit-picky about this. I do struggle with my spelling so I would appreciate any that people found.

And I know the issue about not having royalty free music, but considering I don't really intend to sell this, nor do I think this is going to become a huge phenomenon, I'm willing to take the risk. If it does become a phenomenon, then I may invest time in my own music, but as it is now, I really don't see the point in changing it.

Edit - Just found another bug with the class change system, where if you increase your character level in debugia, then immediately change class, you will kill yourself, as the system reduces your max and current HP level, and when it does that if you've insufficient HP when that happens, it will reduce your HP to 0 and when you exit the menu screen, you'll immediately game over. Not sure what can be done about that as I suspect its a bug in the script rather than anything you've specifically done.

Urrggh. The problem is that your level is tied to your class, so if you change class your level will go back to 1. However, I think I could probably find a solution to this. I probably just have to put in a line to make yourself have at least 1hp when switching.

This is because I'm designing it so that you're able to focus on a certain style (warrior, mage, thief) or be broad and use all three. Therefore I want to be able to switch between classes.

Also, I totally forgot to comment on the game itself. As you said originally, what is there is pretty scant, but I like the general idea of what you're aiming for and I reckon you could flesh it out into something fairly entertaining! Certainly something a bit different from the usual RPG fare!

Thank you. Now that I know people will be actually interested in it I'll definitely work on it more.

Also this would probably work well in its own thread, rather than derailing the general chat thread, since it seems we've got a few people interested in it now!

Good idea.

[Myrph]

Okay, I've taken a look at the script and figured out a simple fix for it.

In the 'Class System' script, near the end of the script, if you replace the "on_class_ok" section with the following code, it checks when it adjusts the HP of your character, if its going to set HP to a value less than 1, it instead sets the HP to 1, preventing death from occuring if the player is low on HP when they change class.

Code: Select all

  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # on_class_ok
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def on_class_ok
    Sound.play_equip
    class_id = @item_window.item.id
    maintain = YEA::CLASS_SYSTEM::MAINTAIN_LEVELS
    hp = @actor.hp * 1.0 / @actor.mhp
    mp = @actor.mp * 1.0 / [@actor.mmp, 1].max
    case @command_window.current_symbol
    when :primary
      @actor.change_class(class_id, maintain)
    when :subclass
      @actor.change_subclass(class_id)
    else
      @item_window.activate
      return
    end
    if (@actor.mhp * hp).to_i > 1
      @actor.hp = (@actor.mhp * hp).to_i
    else
      @actor.hp = 1
    end
    @actor.mp = (@actor.mmp * mp).to_i
    @status_window.refresh
    @item_window.update_class
  end
 

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

Thanks a lot! It's awesome of you to help me like this. : )

[Myrph]

I'm glad to help. I've got rather more time on my hands at the moment than I'd usually do, and this is one of the few things I've got sufficient experience with to actually be useful! Plus it gives me something to stimulate the old grey matter!

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

The battle system I've got in place involves random dice rolls (6 sided die).

Essentially every round the attacker and defender rolls the dice and the difference give multipliers to the attack.

I was just wondering if people think it's better to be told what the dice roll is each round or not. I feel telling you gives it a more D&D feel rather than secret numbers being crunched in the background. But the downside is that it slows down combat and is essentially an annoying pop-up.

[Myrph]

Do you know if the Gab floating text boxes work in combat? Because those would be a relatively straightforward way of displaying the dice rolls without needing an additional popup that requires clicking through.

Edit- Also, just a heads up, the link in the first post hasn't updated with the latest version of the installer, as far as I can tell.

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

I tested it out, but unfortunately it doesn't work.

And the link hasn't been updated. I'm currently working on the end of the first levels, so hopefully I'll post an update by tomorrow.

[Myrph]

Ah, lame. And I'll keep an eye out for an update then!

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

Version 1.2 is go!

Biggest new features are the new puzzles. I'd like to know what people think of them, and if they're too easy/too hard.

[Myrph]

Okay, had a quick play through last night, and I've got to say, although the combat system is fun, it is in desperate need of some balancing. With the way the dice roller works, its not terribly unlikely for a pair of high rolling slimes to deal damage either in the high single digits or even into double digits. What this means is that after a single combat, its likely that if you somehow manage to survive (won't lie, several times I didn't even survive my first combat), its highly likely that when you get your second random encounter, your HP will be so low that you're unlikely to survive your first round of attacks.

As I see it there are a couple of ways to get around this. First option is to scale down the damage that enemies do, or at least narrow the spread of damage. This seems like a pretty lame way of doing it though, especially long term. Second option is to scale up player HP and defence so that it is possible to survive a few more hits before going down. Even something as simple as shifting from 30 base hit points up to 50 base hit points would likely mean that I could survive enough encounters to be able to reach the second level, as currently I'm not even able to get past the first level of the pits.

Whilst both of the above solutions would improve survivability in the short term, what I think is really lacking, is an easily accessible and replenishable supply of healing. Whether its a vending machine that spits out a 50HP healing potion for 10GP at the start of each level, or even a magic item that permits two full party heals per level in the pits, there needs to be some means of restoring health after taking a few bashes to the noggin, and a means of acquiring more after they are used up.

Edit - Just noticed that the medigel item isn't consumed on use. probably should've checked that first. Nevertheless, I do still think there needs to be some tweaks made, as getting slaughtered by slimes during your first encounter in the game is never fun!

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

Click to Expand

Okay, had a quick play through last night, and I've got to say, although the combat system is fun, it is in desperate need of some balancing. With the way the dice roller works, its not terribly unlikely for a pair of high rolling slimes to deal damage either in the high single digits or even into double digits. What this means is that after a single combat, its likely that if you somehow manage to survive (won't lie, several times I didn't even survive my first combat), its highly likely that when you get your second random encounter, your HP will be so low that you're unlikely to survive your first round of attacks.

As I see it there are a couple of ways to get around this. First option is to scale down the damage that enemies do, or at least narrow the spread of damage. This seems like a pretty lame way of doing it though, especially long term. Second option is to scale up player HP and defence so that it is possible to survive a few more hits before going down. Even something as simple as shifting from 30 base hit points up to 50 base hit points would likely mean that I could survive enough encounters to be able to reach the second level, as currently I'm not even able to get past the first level of the pits.

Whilst both of the above solutions would improve survivability in the short term, what I think is really lacking, is an easily accessible and replenishable supply of healing. Whether its a vending machine that spits out a 50HP healing potion for 10GP at the start of each level, or even a magic item that permits two full party heals per level in the pits, there needs to be some means of restoring health after taking a few bashes to the noggin, and a means of acquiring more after they are used up.

Edit - Just noticed that the medigel item isn't consumed on use. probably should've checked that first. Nevertheless, I do still think there needs to be some tweaks made, as getting slaughtered by slimes during your first encounter in the game is never fun!

Yeah, I'm aware of this. That's why the medigel restores full health (and is not consumed) between battles. It's not something that will be in the final product, but it's essentially a form of duct tape over a problem I know exists.

My preferred solution is to have some sort of healing spring at the start of each level. The twist will be that you can only stock up a limited amount of potions. Each for Stamina, MP, and HP. This will force the player to decide which potions to stock up on, rather than have an endless pool of restoration between levels. Later levels will give you more potions available.

So you'd start the game with 5 potions, (3 health, 2 stamina) that'll hopefully be enough for the player to reach level 2 and the first healing pool.

Also, what did you think of the puzzles?

[Valkyrie-Lemons]

New version up.

Not many big changes, but a lot more dialogues. So apologies if there's any bad spelling.