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Post by Dungeon Warden on Nov 13, 2004 19:10:41 GMT -5
Okay, I downloaded the RTP off of the Japanese website and ran Something Stupid IX. It is just the town? I tried to get to the castle, but there was no way to leave town.
Very funny stuff. I played around with it and found lots of little side jokes like sleeping in the wrong bed and the horse wisher. Funny stuff. I can't wait until you get this finished.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Mar 7, 2005 16:05:30 GMT -5
That is my sample battle system. I used all default VFX and formulas so it is basically the DBS with viewable characters. Go to Battle System Tech to learn more about how it was done. In my own game, I will be using an improved version of this along with my own combat menu system. I hope to have a demo soon but assignments keep getting in the way.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Feb 17, 2005 13:37:52 GMT -5
Doesn't that make it even more pointless to use status effects on bosses? I though the point was that in most RPGs it was useless to use Status effects at all because most common enemies were too weak to bother wasting a special ability/ item on, while most bosses were immune to statue effects.
I think you should go the other way, and have statue effects do special effects on bosses. Ex. The boss always cures the effect the next round giving the party a free round of attacks. Blind causes a boss to be unable to use its petrification attack. Silence works like blind on a boss that has no eyes. Things like that encourage the player to learn and use status effects and it makes them more useful.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Feb 17, 2005 10:59:13 GMT -5
1) I don't know what's wrong with poison doing X amount of damage reguardless of HP. As you meet tougher enemies, the X will become larger. If you do a %, maybe the % could be based on the characters fortitution, i.e. tougher character can resist the effects of poison better than weeker ones. This would go for bosses as well.
2) I like your ideas, they should work fine. You could also make a few bosses (or mini-bosses) that are weak to certian effects. A clue to this weakness should be give at some point (perhaps from a NPC in a nearby town), so that the party isn't killed repeatedly while trying to find the weakness that will make the boss easier to defeat.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Feb 1, 2005 15:02:37 GMT -5
If there is anything about RPG Maker 2 that you don't understand or wonder about, don't be afraid to ask. Anything I can do to speed up the process and help get your game made, just ask.
You know, you don't have to get rid of the preset stuff to start your game. You really only need to worry about it when you're starting to run out of space. You can use the presets as place holders while you test some stuff as well instead of doing everything from scratch and needing to deal with multiple errors. I used a lot of preset stuff in my demo and it looks and plays great. In my final game, I will have removed most of the preset stuff but there was no need to remove it early in development. You can save yourself a lot of time if you just start scripting right away and just throw away preset stuff as you replace it with your own stuff. That's my opinion anyway.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Jan 31, 2005 16:50:11 GMT -5
I vote for RPG Maker 2, if only because I can't play RPG Maker 1 games (I've never owned the game). If you would rather do a RPG Maker 1 game, don't let anyone stop you. There are plenty of people who would play it. Really the choice is up to you.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Nov 21, 2004 20:02:24 GMT -5
Here is a link to hundreds of action story plot cliches: sff.net/paradise/plottricks.htmI didn't read them all but I noticed a few weren't really cliches - at least not the way they were written - since you could tell the story they came from (if you read and watch a lot of action stories). There are quite a few things here you might want to avoid in your plots - mainly dealing with heroes or villians acting like idiots. For example, why does the villian always give the hero the chance to escape unstead of just killing him. This is so cliche that making fun of this cliche is becoming cliche. As far as what your next topic is about, maybe name that game, since several people have trouble coming up with interesting names for their games.
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story?
Nov 24, 2004 16:07:20 GMT -5
Post by Dungeon Warden on Nov 24, 2004 16:07:20 GMT -5
My only beef with the Xenogears story is that, close to the end, there is a long exposition told through text on the screen. This was boring to read and told about events that would have been better to let the gamer play through then to read. I am assuming that the programers put the text in as a place holder to tell them what they need to do, and they ran out of time and left the text in. The big finally that happens after all this text makes it worth getting through it, but I wish they could have found a better way.
As has already been suggested, it is how the story is presented that makes a game fun to play through, not how good the story is. Anyone who has read my game's background or played the demo will notice that there are very few clues about what will happen next. This is because I have the story play out depending on the player's actions. The more the player searches for clues and talks to people, the more information he will get and the more into the story he will become. If you just fight through the game, you can get to the end (although the puzzles will be harder this way), but you wouldn't experience the full story. This makes the game more replayable, especially since I plan to have different party members effect the story as well. Sort of how FF VI (FF III for the SNES) had different events happen depending on who was in the party.
So what is important? Presentation! This is why people say the game play needs to get good (not great) and that other elements enter into the formula of a great game. Many good elements put together make a greater game then a game with a great story and weak gameplay. Always play to your strengths (ex. if you're good at story telling, make a great story) but don't let anything else suffer because of it. Do your best and people will enjoy whatever you decide to do. Conversely, no matter how hard you try there will always be people who don't like your work - don't be controlled by public option. If you enjoy it, that's what matters.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 9, 2004 13:05:42 GMT -5
I have written a few poems myself and have included on in my latest novel. I don't think poems in RPGs are cliche. I believe that there should be more of them in RPGs. Before the printing press, people often told stories in rhyme so that they could remember them. This is where many of our nursery rhymes come from.
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teaser
Dec 3, 2004 21:51:00 GMT -5
Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 3, 2004 21:51:00 GMT -5
The dialogue promises some action and conflict between opposing views, so it sounds interesting. I read a lot of fantasy so nothing stands out as being new or different, but I look forward to learning more.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 9, 2004 13:00:51 GMT -5
The story sounds great. I was afraid it was all back story when I read it, but I'm glad you are actually planing to fully flesh the story out. I'm impressed that you're 45% in. Does that mean the first file is nearly done? I look forward to playing this. (now, I really have to push myself to finish my game )
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Jan 12, 2005 18:20:50 GMT -5
Lets see, I messed with the default town, adding ladders, chests, enemies, changing messages, and creating a new creature to battle on the field map. Also if someone wanted to know how to do something, I worked on the Preset town to figure out how to do it. This was all for practice and I have since deleted it.
Then I worked on my Crown of Order demo and resently made a character vs Enemy DBS battle program and that's it. Most of my energy went into my demo and I still have a lot of work to do.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 9, 2004 12:51:14 GMT -5
Gee, Doan for someone whose only demo is a single castle and no battle system, you're being pretty ambitious Still, that castle was pretty impressive. I just wish you would work on a game (any game) so that we can see some more of your ability to create.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 9, 2004 8:24:56 GMT -5
I have no idea how long my final game will be. At least 20 hours probably, as I plan on a lot of side stories and a long main quest. My game will be replayable to, since different things will happen depending on what characters are in the party.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 28, 2004 20:55:06 GMT -5
Hey, a kinderd spirit!
I too started with Ultima and Bards tale. Ah, Temple of Apshai, I forgot all about that game. Limited in an RPG sense, but still fun. Did you play Phantasie as well. That was another of my favorite games from that era.
I'm also a writer. Three of my short stories were published. One novel is in serious need of editing, but is otherwise finished. I started a new novel, which I have written about three chapters so far.
I know what you mean about tone. You need to set tone in order to create characters and maps (towns, interiors, etc.) I like dark stuff if it's done well, although I'm better at writing for young readers.
Welcome to the board. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Jan 17, 2005 16:28:11 GMT -5
I agree with the middle of the road, save in many places, within reason approach. No one whats to have to repeat a hard task to get through a game and so saves should be avaliable as needed. Some good game design goes a long way to making a task easier as well. For example, opening up passages so that players can get back to where they left off if they decide they need to leave the area and go back to town and resupply.
Ultimately, where saves are and how many depends on how difficult the game is. Play testing can go a long way in determining there saves are needed.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 13, 2004 15:11:00 GMT -5
I was reacting to this quote you made. I suppose that classes are different due to abilities, but shouldn't there be stat advantages as well. Or did you mean that stat differences overall would balance out so that a level 2 knight vs a level 5 knight could still have a chance to win with the right tactics?
I have played several tactical games, so I have some interest in trying yours. I look forward to seeing a demo of the battle system.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 13, 2004 9:28:33 GMT -5
I don't know if I would want to play a hard, realistic tactical game, although I don't normally power my way through battles either. Part of the fun of tactical games is using the special abilities of each character to overcome the enemy.
Might I suggest a rock, paper, sissors approach to battles, where some skills are more effective against certain opponents. This requires testing the enemies abilities to see what there weekness is, but it is better than having no advantage against the enemy. Of course, you need to prevent the enemy from using the same stragities against you.
Keep play testing. You may find the limitations of RPG Maker 2 force you to make certain desisions making most of the above moot points. Good luck with your game.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 12, 2004 17:33:49 GMT -5
Personally, I feel not knowing what class an enemy is greatly increases the difficulty of battles. If the battles are easy to begin with that might not be a problem, but if you plan to make battles hard I see no reason to make then overly hard by not warning the player about what he is up against.
I have no problem with you making the characters all have different models. In a perfet game, all characters would be unique characters with important contributions to the story, but in a tactical game that isn't practical since characters can die - unless you don't play to let characters die (like FFT- advanced).
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 11, 2004 21:46:51 GMT -5
I don't really see this as a Con. Many tactical RPGs use this method and it works. Knowing that people are importaint is scary. I always get a little nervious when I meet a character with a non-standard class appearence because I don't know what they are capible of. This is also true when a new class shows up. Am I the only one who thinks having important characters show up is scary?
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 10, 2004 9:05:53 GMT -5
It wouldn't be that hard. If all members of a certain class always looks the same, you would only need 10-20 characters (depending on the number of classes you use) and just switch models when someone changes class. You would also need a enter map scipt that checked each character to see what class they were and changed the model accordingly. This could be done in a looping script that checks the member number, looks at the class number, and assigns the model (the only bad part since the model command only works on specific characters). Good luck with whatever you decide.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Dec 9, 2004 8:21:37 GMT -5
I agree with William, many tactic games have unique characters that always look the same no mather what class they are while other, less important characters change appearence when they change class. This is most useful for enemies. Instead of trying to create unique enemies, you could simply use the class models. Then it would be obvious what class an enemy was by the model. You would also know if the enemy had a new class type (always a scary thing the first time you meet them). Story enemies should have unique appearences, but there is no need to create unique models for every character.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Jan 27, 2005 12:17:31 GMT -5
I know in Parasite Eve, there was a bonus dungeon with a final powerful boss that concluded with a new ending that tried to explain some of the strange occurences that happened during the game. The new ending wasn't as good as the regular ending , but it did give you a new perspective on the game. Parasite Eve also had a Game+ system so that you could build your levels untill you were finially tough enough to make it through to the final boss. That bonus dungeon was really tough.
It might be interesting to include extra information and explain some back story after beating a powerful enemy as a reward.
Another idea (used in Arc the Lad) is to include a special character that can be used when you play the game a second time - changing the story slightly. In Arc the Lad you needed to unlock the character in part 1 in order to find the character in part two. That might be an interesting option as well.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Nov 15, 2004 11:07:55 GMT -5
Is it just me, or do games with weird names always sell poorly regardless of how goor the game is? Games with very simple names (GTA, Halo) sell very well, but excellent games with weird names (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Katamari Damacy) do poorly. I think it is because many retailers don't stock games with weird names. I haven't seen either of the above games in my local stores although I have seen several bad games on the store shelves.
To answer your question, I think a foreign name should only be used if it is simple to pronounce and has some significence to your game. It sould be clear in the game what the name means, you shouldn't need to spell it out.
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Post by Dungeon Warden on Jan 13, 2005 14:10:57 GMT -5
Yes, I think there is a need to keep random battles short so that the player can get on with the story. It battles are long, then at least make them few and far between. No one wants to fight battle after battle walking between towns - especially if they forgot something and have to walk all the way back to get it. Also, many gamers only have 1/2 an hour to 1 hour to play a game each night due to their busy schedules. If battles take 10 minutes to do, it could take a week just to walk through a dungeon. Most people would give up after a while.
Anyway, it is important to know your audience and cater the game to what they like to play. Since most people here seem to like challenging battles, then that is what you should give them.
I look forward to seeing your battle system in action.
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