All My NPCs [now with a story of the game]

I made a bunch of maps and scripts, but I cannot seem to think of a plot or dialog. Hmmm 

Screenshots!

More screenshots!

The best screenshots you will ever see for VX.

Those are all really nice maps - great job.

thnx.

I've had a few friends playing it that are not much into RPGs and they've said it stands well enough without dialog. Like there is plenty of fun with no dialog at all. There are only a few NPCs with dialog and that is mostly shop keepers. Other dialog is from the characters in your party when they interact with something.

Here is some accumulation:

Weeks of Working
After weeks of work, the game is shaping up nicely. The visuals are incredible and the fact that there is no lag is even more incredible! The three inhabited areas of the game are complete as is the fortress and castle. Now the only maps left are a mountain, the shrine of hope and a magician's den.

Enemies added:
- Gusher (standard slimish)
- Skink (more dangerous of a standard foe)
- Sun Sprite (the mages of the desert)
- Baruba (flying foe with wings that slice)
- Sand Scorpion (the heavy hitters of the desert)
- Merauder (challenging foes that will kill your party)

THE TUNNEL
Created the first dungeon, which is a tunnel between Sandica and Florista. Full of puzzles and foes. The tunnel is 100x200 just about and has bridges, pits, push rocks and is haunted by a sun shade.

More enemies added:
- Legly (deadly, big time attackers, but easily killed)
- Zinger (attack in flocks)
- Pherani (typical cave dwelling rat)
- Sun Shade (must be defeated with magic)
- Sun Spot (must be defeated with magic)
- Prankster (provides enemies with support and makes battles more random due to the magic they use to bennefit their party)

ENEMIES AND THE BATTLES THEY BRING
There are also minor battles and major battles. Major battles appear as larger fogs that you can specifically determine where they are, while with minor battles you really cannot pin point a location. Zelda 2 had minor and major battles as well where you could see clearly on the overhead map where each enemy was.

Naturally the major battles are more difficult if you are looking for a challenge or a good place to level up or score some gold. Minor battles are less avoidable due to the fact the game should have some challenge.

The enemies on the world map are far easier to avoid than cave enemies. Caves are hallways where you really cannot avoid or dodge, while on the world map there is plenty of space to avoid danger.

Of course there are standard... talk to me and lets fight battles as well.

Another beautiful thing is that enemies drop treasures and chests on the map itself for you to pick up.

MORE THAN MIGHT

I am about to wrap up the first tunnel that leads from Sandica and Florista. More than might will be needed, and as mentioned in other updates; there are plenty of puzzles.

There are about 8 things considered as puzzles you must get through in order to go through the tunnel. Complete with a save point before and after each puzzle. In addition to that there are of course secret treasures to be found through puzzles as well.

MASSIVE GROWTH (add joke here)
There are now three worlds. There is 1 completed village in the ice world of Glyceria and 4 inhabited areas completed of the graceland world of Caldoria.

As for the desert wasteland, all of the areas but 2 are completed. Once they get completed and I add the dialog, the game will be good to have a demo.

So far the game only has 30 minutes of gameplay with stuff that needs doing. That is not saying much for 2 months of work. At least the groundwork is laid for the entire first chapter / world of Desertopia.

Each kingdom has its own customs and problems. It does make you feel like you are in a different area that you can recognize just by the people. Caldonia has plenty of bards and mercinary mages for security. Desertopia is overrun by beggars in the street, poor protectors (guards) and of course a food shortage.

CLIMBING MOUNTAINS
The second thing that you are really supposed to do in the game is take a hike up Clurvan mountain. I have finished with the map and I think now I should add puzzles like the tunnel.

It is pretty nice up the mountain with a tribe of dog men called Canaan. They are hostile sheep herders that herd sheep to eat, not sheer.

Plenty of new enemies and traps. There is a mute trap to disable any speaking for one battle.

The new enemies include:
- Canaan (brutal, fighter, one is tough enough for a party)
- Mirrage (supportive magic user that creates mirrages around the party)
- Genie (supportive magic user that like the Prankster, he randomizes the battle with his skills)
- Lumanesca (a magic user that can be killed through standard combat unlike most of today's enemies)
- Crisp (flaming hot combat magician that cannot be harmed by weapons)
- Sand Sting (standard poisonous wasp that can be killed easily but packs a punch)

THE SUCCUBUS
A while ago I made a battle with the Succubus. No details on where to find her, but it is a really unique battle done in parts and it requires some intelligence to defeat her.

If you go in weapons out and try to unload every attack that you have on her, your party will be dead pretty quickly. This is an endurance battle that I hope people have the intelligence to grasp.

This is just something very different and by cluttering the game with puzzles, hopefully the player's mind will be active and thinking before they combat the succubus.

How could I have missed this!? 
Cool maps, the screenshots looks great and looks like significant progress has been
made for this project. Keep up the good work!

I like your curtains in screenshot setB0004.jpg :3

I like your curtains in screenshot setB0004.jpg :3

Do you like them better on fire?

How could I have missed this!? 
Cool maps, the screenshots looks great and looks like significant progress has been
made for this project. Keep up the good work!

You missed it because this project is in the new projects which usually die after a week worth of posting. Plus no one really wants to see what is happening for the VX games.

I post progress on another website, so all of those things I posted yesterday were blogs / posts on another site.

I like your curtains in screenshot setB0004.jpg :3

Do you like them better on fire?

I like them both ways. I just liked that you used the curtains at all and you have them covering windows which would require some sort of edit or graphic event layer.

THE STORY PITCH

Spoiler for:

ME (12:24:29 PM): I am thinking of doing a smaller project.
ME (12:24:34 PM): Care to hear the story?
FRIEND (12:24:39 PM): sure
ME (12:26:24 PM): A merchant comes to a new land selling one thing to a character; let’s call him Charm (player character). The "Rain Pitcher," an item said to pour endless water from it. It is also to have said to be stolen from Charm's land of Desertopia. A land that has not had any rain for 5 years and it’s all dried up.
ME (12:27:51 PM): Merchant selling it for a ridiculous amount, he has to recoup his travel expenses. Anyway, in Charm's small town, there is a pilgrimage by a nun to go to a shrine to pray to their goddess Gaia for rain. Two "protectors" go with her.
ME (12:28:14 PM): Charm's brother, lets call him Tupaul (better than Bastard).
ME (12:28:54 PM): The three set out, Tupaul, Nun and Brute lets call him. They travel through a cave to the north only to discover Charm the player came with them unknown.
ME (12:29:37 PM): Charm came with them, because he stole the Rain Pitcher.  Now 3 men want it from him.
ME (12:31:03 PM): At the next town, there is word that 2 hydromancers (water mages) are headed up to a mountain peak where water used to flow from waterfalls. They are going to make water.
ME (12:31:54 PM): Charm, his brother and the 2 water mages go.
ME (12:32:02 PM): That is when the player jumps into the roll of the 3 mercenaries hired to get the pitcher back. They start at the 2nd town and must trek to and up the mountain following Charm's party.
FRIEND (12:32:45 PM): interesting
ME (12:32:56 PM): They catch up to Charm's party and kill off the water mages, but where is Charm? He ended up staying back in the 2nd town unknown. Tupaul the brother is left alone against 3 mercenaries.
ME (12:34:12 PM): Player goes back to the Nun's party with Charm and the Brute. The Brute tells them that they must press on to finish the mission. They head west to a fort that guards a great water land from big creatures. With the water dried up, that would be a HUGE short cut to the shrine.
ME (12:34:50 PM): Instead they are turned away by the guards. Only people with the king's permission can pass into the great sands. Besides that, the creatures would kill a nun and a boy no matter how big their protector is.
ME (12:35:25 PM): They travel west to a 3rd town, where there is a big commotion. The princess has been kidnapped. There are soldiers there who have put the town under arrest until she is recovered.
ME (12:36:14 PM): The townspeople assume that she has been kidnapped by a mage that has a cave to the south. The soldiers force the Brute to come with them. They are all men of the law; it is his duty to aide in the recovery of the princess.
ME (12:36:52 PM): They defeat the mage, recover the princess and go back to the 3rd town where it is then... 3 soldiers, 1 princess, Charm, Brute & the Nun.
ME (12:37:37 PM): 3/4ths of the story
ME (12:37:53 PM): When they return to town, the 3 mercenaries are there.
ME (12:38:31 PM): They kill 2 soldiers and Brute. As Brute is dying he makes Charm promise to fulfill the mission and escort the Nun safely to the shrine.
ME (12:38:57 PM): They are forced to flee from a burning town, Princess, Charm, the Nun and the Soldier.
ME (12:39:41 PM): The mercenaries announce to Charm they have his brother and they want the Rain Pitcher delivered to them in a matter of days. They will all meet at the great sands and make the transfer.
ME (12:40:28 PM): At this point, Charm realizes that the Rain Pitcher does not work as the merchant said. Charm was tricked, and now the 3 mercenaries think he has the real Rain Pitcher, when it does not really exist.
ME (12:41:22 PM): The party of Soldier, Princess, Charm and the Nun press on to the castle. The king will grant them any wish for her safe return. He will even grant his men to smite the mercenaries and return Charm's brother safely.
ME (12:41:49 PM): They get to the castle and the entire thing is in ruins. Everyone is dead, no one is alive. They had been attacked. There is no help.
ME (12:42:50 PM): The Nun knows where they can find aide, the shrine and it is not that far from the castle. They had made a huge trip around the great sands when they could have just passed through the fortress.
ME (12:44:50 PM): Meanwhile, the player jumps into the mercenaries and Tupaul. The mercenaries stroll through the fortress, because they are recognized as the king's soldiers responsible for obtaining the Rain Pitcher.
ME (12:45:02 PM): The player guides them to the meeting place from the south.
ME (12:45:22 PM): From the north, Charm, Princess, Nun and Soldier end up at the shrine, she prays, and her prayers are not answered. She stays to pray, while Charm, the soldier and the Princess vow to meet the mercenaries in the great sands between the shrine and the fortress to save the brother.
ME (12:46:01 PM): So for the end it is 3 mercenaries vs. Charm, Soldier, and Princess. With Tupaul being a wild card.
ME (12:46:05 PM): How do you like it?
ME (12:46:13 PM): If you were able to read it all
FRIEND (12:47:24 PM): who destroyed the castle?
ME (12:48:27 PM): You mean what?
ME (12:48:29 PM):
FRIEND (12:48:35 PM): or what
ME (12:48:38 PM): Well here is where the story can keep going.
ME (12:48:43 PM): They meet for the clash.
ME (12:48:55 PM): The player can choose which party to control.
ME (12:49:25 PM): The brother Tupaul chooses a side too. Whatever side the player does not chose. He will either be brainwashed by the mercenaries or rejoin Charm.
ME (12:51:39 PM): After the battle, all 7 of them are swallowed by the ground and end up in a whole new world, depending on where I want to take this game direction. The same thing that happened to kill everyone in the castle, only with the castle the deadly creatures crawled up from the hole and ate the people of the castle.
ME (12:51:48 PM): Now how do you like the story?
FRIEND (12:52:10 PM): ah, interesting twist
FRIEND (12:52:15 PM): i like it
FRIEND (12:52:36 PM): definitely enough going on that'll it'd be a good sized game
ME (12:53:48 PM): Nope, I broke it down. 3 towns, 1 baron castle, 1 mountain, 1 fort, 1 shrine, 1 tunnel, 1 cave.
FRIEND (12:54:15 PM): i meant plot-wise
FRIEND (12:54:24 PM): a good amount of story and twists
ME (12:54:34 PM): Good, that's what I was aiming for.
ME (12:54:44 PM): Charm is a thief working for a boss.
ME (12:55:01 PM): The Nun is working for a perish if not Gaia.
ME (12:55:20 PM): Tupaul is working for himself and the town. The Brute is working for the town.
ME (12:56:17 PM): The mercenaries are working for a few people. The king, Charm's boss. Charm's boss ends up dead it is revealed at the end when it is lead to believe that they work for Charm's boss.
ME (12:57:07 PM): I figure at the end right before the battle of 3 vs. 4 that the game will scroll back to all of the dead bodies. 2 Hydromancers on a mountain, 2 soldiers in 3rd town, Brute dead in the 3rd town and so on.
ME (12:57:15 PM): Then I've even come up with some ideas in the underworld.
ME (12:57:26 PM): Just ideas, no real story though.
FRIEND (12:58:01 PM): sounds good
ME (12:58:50 PM): Like both parties get split up. However, 2 characters end up in a 3rd party. Like Charm and 1 of the mercenaries. They are forced to stay together to survive. They come upon a miser who gives them shelter. Shelter at a unique price.
ME (12:59:16 PM): When they go to sleep... their souls are transferred. Charm is in the Merc's body and the Merc is in Charm's body.
FRIEND (12:59:32 PM): heh
ME (12:59:46 PM): Both parties find one another, Charm as the Merc goes with the mercenaries and the other one goes with the hero party.
ME (12:59:53 PM): That is assuming I go past the 3 vs. 4.
ME (1:00:00 PM): Glad you like the story though
ME (1:00:38 PM): Any other ideas, suggestions, questions or comments?
FRIEND (1:01:14 PM): hmmm...i think you've got all your main ideas planned doubt well
FRIEND (1:01:51 PM): I’d have to see it in action to come up with my own ideas
ME (1:02:17 PM): Up until yesterday it did not have the 3 mercs, but I kind of thought that every movie needs a face of evil.
FRIEND (1:02:38 PM): sure
ME (1:03:11 PM): There was no Rain Pitcher until yesterday; at first it was just a nun going to pray... yep that was it.
ME (1:03:25 PM): Everyone loves an anti-hero, so that is why Charm is a thief.
FRIEND (1:07:02 PM): i think it'll turn out well
ME (1:08:12 PM): I will just make sure the maps stink and there are plot twists for the sake of plot twists, like the Princess is really Tupaul's sister and the king is their father, but he gave up Tupaul a long time ago to protect him from his enemies and Tupaul was adopted from Charm.
ME (1:08:18 PM): Wow... Drama. That is pretty good.
FRIEND (1:08:35 PM):
ME (1:09:11 PM): Oh and the soldier and Charm can compete for the Princess's love.
ME (1:11:04 PM): That can be why Tupaul took on this chore, because he remembers the nun from the orphanage.
ME (1:11:29 PM): Wait, that is too big of a part for Tupaul... it is Charm that is the princess's brother... just like Star Wars
ME (1:11:37 PM): Stuff writes itself.
FRIEND (1:11:53 PM): lol
ME (1:12:41 PM): 1 of the mercs can have a secret obsession with the princess... that will be the merc that gets his body switched with Charm's.
ME (1:13:28 PM): Another merc can want the Brute dead as a sort of hunter hunting a lion. He wants a big trophy on the wall.
ME (1:14:08 PM): ... writes itself.
ME (1:15:17 PM): Oh and the Brute can have a wife and 2 kids at home, but find out that Tupaul had an affair with her and 1 of the kids might be his
FRIEND (1:15:28 PM): lol
FRIEND (1:15:31 PM): now it's a soap opera
ME (1:15:42 PM): mmm... thick rich back story.
ME (1:16:08 PM): Tupaul tries to woo the princess, before she rejects him and he uses the nun to make her jealous
ME (1:16:47 PM): Actually Tupaul and the Princess do not meet until the end, so that is not possible.
FRIEND (1:17:06 PM): hey, love at first sight
ME (1:17:16 PM): SO!!! I make it the soldier that tries to woo the princess, she rejects him and he uses the nun to make her jealous
ME (1:18:05 PM): The 2 other soldiers (that die in the 3rd town) can have a gay romance, but hide it because no one would understand and they would be sentenced to death.
ME (1:19:35 PM): The Brute can have the ability to transform into a giant Megasaurus Rex too, but he hides that secret, because it’s contagious.
FRIEND (1:19:54 PM): rofl
ME (1:20:24 PM): The merchant is really a cat with a sack that travels on horseback. He comes from Catopia.
ME (1:20:45 PM): Talking cats that shit could happen in an RPG.
FRIEND (1:21:02 PM): Final Fantasy VII - talking cat
FRIEND (1:21:16 PM): with a megaphone
ME (1:21:17 PM): DaRn that movie!
ME (1:21:27 PM): Oh so an obnoxious talking cat.
FRIEND (1:21:28 PM): riding a big white Kirby looking thing
FRIEND (1:21:57 PM): http://www.flickr.com/photos/11034435@N05/1052127860/
ME (1:22:01 PM): 1 of the mercs will have constant migraines, but that will be because his dead Siamese twin brother still talks to him.
ME (1:23:24 PM): Wow that does look like Kirby grown up.
ME (1:25:21 PM): 1 of the mercs can be secretly gay and get conflicted when he discovers the 2 soldiers they kill are gay.
ME (1:26:14 PM): Must save this as notes.

Your ava looks horrifying.

Your ava looks horrifying.

Especially with the xmas hat!!

Any comments on the story though?

I like the way that battles work. I also think the dungeons sound interesting and fun. It seems like you are adding a lot of puzzles which is a good thing - I hate dungeons that are just giant mazes or hack and slash. Puzzles make them a lot more fun. Anyway, I am looking forward to this game.

The trick is people need to be smart enough to do the puzzles or else they stop playing. It is not like Zelda where they can hit up a forum.

I am discovering there is far too much work and effor into little gameplay. Months of work is less than 2 hours?

i also have too many puzzles and it kills the mood. For each "dungeon" there are 8 puzzles to be completed and it totally kills the game's pace.

Any progress?

Amazing.