Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 19, 2006, 10:58:36 PM
I also tried the tactics system, but found some trouble in making enemy movement, so I just desided not to do that as well.
As you all know, my last game was Pact, which many of you would've wished to see completed, but I wouldn't put out a demo because of bugs. As Pact was my first non-RTP game and non-DBS game, I probally should've worked my coding out a bit better before I actually posted a game, but **** happens. Because of Pact though, I can now make nearly flawless ABS scripts, and so I intend to make another ABS game.
Recalcitrant (meaning rebellious and resisting), is about a young girl (whom you get to name) and her tragic epic. I don't want to give away to much of the plot at the moment (i'll tell you it's sorta like FF2), but I will give you the intro:
In the begining, your mother has chores that you and your brothers must do. These "chores" teach you the ways of the game, from using your sword, to using magic, and to using special sword skills. They also teach you about puzzles and interactive things in the game. Once your tutorial "chores" are complete, your mother will ask you and one of your brothers to go out and pick some herbs for her at are at the bottom of the mountain. To get to the bottom, you'll have to go through a cave, which is filled with rather easy beginer monsters. Your brother will deside to take a different path, leaving you by yourself to fight.
Once you collect the herbs, you'll hear the town bells, and ZOMG (cliche, I know, but I but a large twist to this to make it less cliche) it's under attackzors! You get there to find the greatest portion of the town eradicated, and most of the towns people killed. You, a weaponsmith named Dent (whom you had to do a chore for), your brother, your friend Rhea, and a few other people of no importance to the game live. Dent's son (Derik, who had a mad crush over your character, but you think he's icky) was killed in the raid, and Dent swares revenge. More to find your brother then to help Dent, you and Rhea leave with him....
Your story will revolve around these four characters:
You (age 17)
Weapon: Rapier
Weapon Skill: Long Stab
Strengths: Moderate stats. Auto active weapon skill. Attacks two spaces away instead of one.
Weaknesses: Requires an orb to use magic.
Dent (age 35)
Weapon: Sword
Weapon Skill: Blade Beam
Strengths: High attack power, has double swings, and has two sets of weapon types. Also, has a distance attack.
Weaknesses: Requires an orb to use magic, slightly slower swings then the other players.
Rhea (age 16)
Weapon: Spear
Weapon Skill: Javalin
Strengths: Best weapon skill. Needs no orb to use magic.
Weaknesses: Low stats, less useful lvl3 magic.
Brother (age 25)
Weapon: Axe
Weapon Skill: Heavy Swing
Strengths: Good melee stats. Double swings.
Weaknesses:Requires an orb to use magic, least useful weapon skill.
Explantion of orbs:
This is an outright copy of FF:CC. In fact, the whole magic system is a copy of FF:CC. Orbs can be found in dungeons. By picking one up, you can use it's power. There are three lvls of magic, and 4 types of magic that YOU can use (meaning there's more types of magic that enemies can use). Magic lvls can be switched by pressing the 1,2,or 3 buttons while the orb is equipt.
Lvl 1 Magic: Effects only the square it's on. More powerful then a lvl2 attack, but less effect radius.
Lvl 2 Magic: Depending on the orb type, this will have a large or small radius. It will always have a bigger radius then lvl1 magic though.
Lvl 3 Magic: Effects all enemies on screen for high damage. After the attack, the orb breaks.
Orb types:
Fire
Water
Earth
Wind
Rhea doesn't need to use orbs, so her lvl 3 magic will be timed. If you use lvl3 with Rhea, then you'll have to wait a few minutes before you can use it again.
More info will be posted very shortly, but I just wanted to post this right now to see what you guys thought of the plot. I hope it doesn't sound to cliche.
Post by: MSlash67 on April 19, 2006, 11:21:02 PM
Edit: Nvm....I just read that one line. skimming a story isnt the greatest idea.
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 19, 2006, 11:22:47 PM
Post by: MSlash67 on April 19, 2006, 11:24:40 PM
Post by: Hell Angel on April 19, 2006, 11:41:03 PM
Can't wait for new and exciting screenshots. ;)
Post by: coasterkrazy on April 19, 2006, 11:47:04 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Hell Angel
Can't wait for new and exciting screenshots. ;)
Well, to be honest, I'm not. I'm looking forward to an actual release of something. I mean, I've seen many screenshots already, but I still haven't gotten anything hands-on. So, I can't really compliment this time around like I already have until I get to play something though. I'm sure it'll turn out really cool though when I do get to play it. ;)
Post by: Zeigue on April 19, 2006, 11:58:48 PM
Post by: coasterkrazy on April 20, 2006, 12:00:32 AM
Well, old ones anyway...
Post by: Zeigue on April 20, 2006, 12:08:48 AM
eh..erm, sorry..impressive Meiscool, impressive indeed. :)
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 20, 2006, 12:29:37 AM
Dent's weapon skill, which is the blade beam:
Rhea casting magic:
Brother casting magic:
I know they kinda look meh because there's no HUD and ect, but I'm doin my best to bring you screens of the action.
You all remember my old first town right? Well, I redid some of it. Some might think it's to over detailed now and looked better before, others might like it. I like it.
(and yes, the water in the map does move up and down. I used three different tile sets to make that happen)
Post by: Zeigue on April 20, 2006, 12:52:22 AM
Post by: ZeroKirbyX on April 20, 2006, 01:51:37 AM
Post by: drenrin2120 on April 20, 2006, 12:47:24 PM
Quote
Originally posted by ZeroKirbyX
Story seems pretty cool, but its way cliche. I wanna see you make a story game instead of a "Lookit what I can do!" game. I'll be honest. At first your mapping and coding made me think WOW THAT'S COOL! But now, its lost its appeal. Sort of like eating a cheeseburger. Its great at first, but after you eat 12 you start to consider them meh.
Yeah dude, I agree. But you did say there was a a twist, so maybe just the beginning is cliche. I don't really know until I play a demo or something.
So far, not bad, for Meiscool anyway.
One thing, that town map looks sorta familiar. :p
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 20, 2006, 09:22:11 PM
Post by: DragonBlaze on April 20, 2006, 09:42:33 PM
Yeah, the begining is cliche, I don't see how you can twist something and make it less cliche. At least you're not going off for revenge, so thats a plus. Overall, the story seems like it could develope nicely :)
As for maps, they're good, but they need more variety. Not as in variety in the actual maps, but all your maps (or at least the ones I've seen) are build the same style with jagged landscape. You need to make some more smoothed and regular looking. Sure its cool, but when that style is over used again and again, it makes the world look totally unrealistic. A lot of areas are naturally flat, and you have to make sure you desing areas like that too and hopefully are able to make them just as appealing to look at.
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 20, 2006, 10:08:32 PM
How is this for more slope-like rather then random jetting and stairs?
Post by: ZeroKirbyX on April 20, 2006, 10:12:06 PM
Post by: drenrin2120 on April 20, 2006, 10:16:21 PM
I like it, personally.
EDIT: BTW, if you want help with custom MIDIs, I'd be glad to help with some.
Post by: coasterkrazy on April 21, 2006, 12:28:18 AM
Quote
Originally posted by drenrin2120
EDIT: BTW, if you want help with custom MIDIs, I'd be glad to help with some.
Me too... well, some anyway... ;)
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 23, 2006, 02:44:02 PM
As to the plot, I've recieved a few IMs saying how I should change the plot around a bit, still keep my main story, but have the intro less cliche.
My main idea is that after the tut part of your game is over, a thief steals something valuable from the town mayor, and exits the mountain range. Basically, you (and who ever I deside to send with you, be it your Brother, Rhea, or Dent) are sent out to retrieve it.
Honestly, I used the "everyone in town dies" plot idea to have your character have good reason to leave the town, because very few people leave their home for no good reason. I think though that this will work still the same.
Post by: Meiscool-2 on April 29, 2006, 11:39:11 PM
First new thing: Rather then a heart or meter life system, it's gonna have numbers. You will increase your health by spending exp on things, buying things, training, and forging rare items into something called "Life Force". You'll also have attack str, magic str, and defence. You can find forces to increase all of those as well as spending exp and ect.
Str is divided to two things: Weapon Str and Weapon Skill Str. Your main hero is the only character whose Weapon Skil and Weapon Str will always remain the same (making it easier to increase her power)
Magic is divided into two areas too, low/mid magic and full screen magic. low/mid are the lvl 1 and 2 magics, full is the lvl 3. They will be relativly easy to increase, but in the end you'll have to deside if you want a powerhouse full screen spell, or overall powerful low/mid area spells.
Defence is divided into two areas still the same, however, they arn't as important as the others. One is your defence defence (as in reducing damage) and the other is your shield defence (as in how much damage you can prevent while your shield is up). You can get different shields over the course of the game to raise the later one, so focusing on main defence will be most important.
With that said, both the shield and magic systems are fully complete. Also, a new system where if you strike a foe, the ammount of damage you did will show up as a picture was added. Screens of which:
Low lvl water magic: (shows the damage, but kinda hard to see)
Full Screen water magic: (lol)
Picture one of Shielding: (this was taken after attacking, so you can still see the number of damage done)
Picture two of Shielding:
Counter Attack!:
Post by: drenrin2120 on April 30, 2006, 03:58:06 AM
Post by: Meiscool-2 on May 02, 2006, 12:58:58 AM
Yay! I can't begin to explain how good a fight this guy puts up. Now now, it's nothing impossible like a million fire balls and ect, most of the time he just walks around actually. And, unlike most ABS games on RPG Maker, I don't have it to where if you touch the enemy it hurts you, at least not on most enemies. If you touch it, it will take a swing at you. If you're still their for the swing, then you take damage. You can guard the swing and counter, but that has it's limits here....
Now, this guy has three attacks, and of them only one is a major problem. However, that one is also his most frequently used attack. (Note, the overlays are animated. It's just sucky that I got them both the same overlays in the screenshots)
The Attacks:
Attack 1: Swipe
Already Explained, easy to block, does pretty good damage to you though.
Attack 2: Petal Dance
After Every #3 attack, the thief will disappear and reapear ninja style. It has a 1 in 5 chance of appearing right next to you with a whirlwind attack. If you contantly stay moving, this is easily avoided.
Attack 3: Ninja Slash
*No picture, impossible to take of shot of*
Every once in awhile, the enemy will disappear, and reappear close to you. When this happens, he will slash out in a straight line. You can either choose to try and move out of the way, or block it with instant reflexes. However, it hits even ME, the creator, 50% of the time, so it's a tough nut to crack. Now, after it completes the line-of-slash, it disappears again. The thief will either appear on some random spot on the map, use Petal Dance, or continue using Ninja Slash.
The slash is hard to explain, but you'll see it in due time :D
BTW CoasterKrazy, a certin Techo Battle midi worked excellently with this battle :p
Post by: coasterkrazy on May 02, 2006, 02:15:37 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Meiscool
BTW CoasterKrazy, a certin Techo Battle midi worked excellently with this battle :p
:D
Post by: PikaTira on May 02, 2006, 03:40:50 AM
*Excitement building to explosion point* ^-^
Post by: drenrin2120 on May 03, 2006, 10:32:58 PM
Post by: Zerlina on May 04, 2006, 08:36:58 PM
But...not that I'm an expert on mapping or anything...I think I'd personally get lost in that first map you posted ^^'. It's just so complicated it's almost overwhelming. Beautiful, though.
Post by: Meiscool-2 on May 05, 2006, 12:57:19 AM
Quote
Originally posted by Zerlina
But...not that I'm an expert on mapping or anything...I think I'd personally get lost in that first map you posted ^^'. It's just so complicated it's almost overwhelming. Beautiful, though.
Worry not about that. Most of the townspeople will tell you something about where to find someone or someplace you're looking for while doing your chores, and your chores will require you to visit many areas of the map. Important places (such as trading areas, Forging areas, and Status-Increase areas) will all be nearby your house for easy access. Lastly, any place that isn't required to be looked at will often house treasure, and will house treasure more then once over time. Hence, if you unlock a chest at the begining of the game, it will be their with new stuff in it later, after you've done some things.
Also, I'll tell you all now, that if a person has an Emote above their head, it normally means you can do something special with them. Two are in the town, and you can find 2 (a merchant, and an Archer that gives you a bow to fight with (yay, even more secert of mana-like, I've got different weapons)) outside of town.
Overall, you'll find the actual demo itself might take only 30 minutes, but be very hard if that's all the time you put into it. If you bother to find all the secerts, go back to town and increase your abilities, and find other little tid-bits that tell stories about the world (such as bookshelfs did in ToP), it will take quite awhile longer, and the game will be much easier.
Post by: Meiscool-2 on May 13, 2006, 05:59:21 PM
In this game, you will increase your states using items. You will also increase your weapons using items. Naturally, it's going to take more to increase your human Str then your weapon Str, so you can play around and easily make different characters everytime you play.
The items:
Mounds. These are the currency of the game. They are used to pay workers fees for forging and can be used to buy resources for forging from various people in the game.
Iron Ore. The most needed item to forge weapons and armor with. Very common, but you'll find yourself using it up quite quickly.
Magic Chests. These are chests surrounded by a magic field. Whatever the field is on when you open it, is what item you will recieve. These chests almost always carry an Elemental Gem though.
Fire Gem. These are used to increase your Human Str, your fire magic damage, or the Str of specific weapons.
Water Gem. These are used to increase your Defence, your water magic damage, or the Def of specific shields.
Earth Gem. These are used to increase your Life Points, your earth magic damage, the Str of specific weapons, or the defence of specific shields.
Wind Gem. These are used to increase you Overall Magic attack, your wind magic damage, the Str of specific weapons, or to increase the power of the Glove's special attack: Shockwave.
Rare Jewel. These can be used to increase anything. They can also be broken into random Elemental Gems. When you break the Jewel, you'll always recieve more then what the Jewel is worth. (Example: It takes 3 Fire Gems to increase your overall Str, but only one Rare Jewel. However, if you break the Jewel, you recieve four different Elemental Gems) However, the Elemental Gems you recieve are random, so you could come out losing rather then winning.Items can be found by talking to people, cutting bushes away, killing enemies and opening the bags they leave, opening chests, buying them, and by searching pots in towns.