Rock the World

Rock the World is my first attempt at a real game (i.e. one I'll be releasing). I've worked with RPG Maker for a while now and I feel it's about time. This whole thing came about when I looked at the New Projects page and thought, "I've seen this all before...". Basically, this is because there are so many projects using settings that have been done far too many times.

Anyways, I should probably end my (surprisingly short) rant and get on with the game.

Spoiler for Setting/Story:

The setting of RTW is a modern-day city, Holmsford. It doesn't take place in England, I just thought the name sounded decent. The city is not too big, but at the same time it isn't a small town.

And as for the story... you (the player) are in a band that's on its way to stardom. The game begins with a quick character creation scene (name, class, gender) followed by an audition. The audition is overly-critical in an effort to create a tutorial (battles work pretty much the same, but there are several mini-games, such as repairing amps or the band's van, and a few guitar duels (or drum, bass or vocal duels, depending on your class) use mini-games instead of battles. Just a few.

On their way to the top, the band will have to deal with corrupt managers, rival bands, hecklers, getting arrested, and a decidedly friendly band whose members' sexual orientations are in question.

Can you guide your band through these trials (and awkward moments) and achieve fame?


   At the start, you have to go through an "audition". This consists of an interview portion (character creation) and an actual audition portion (tutorial). After passing the audition, our hero (you) begins writing songs and touring with the band (whose name I haven't decided on. Should I let the player choose?) Eventually, after getting a small fanbase and writing plenty of songs, the band begins to send out demo tapes. From there on it's fairly obvious what happens (read: title), but there are a few twists to it (some that are anchored in reality).

Spoiler for Characters:

Player:
(Sprite is placeholder; made with Charas, gives basic idea of what character will look like until I can finish its custom sprite. Also, not pictured: female sprite)

As the main character, you have no defined personality. You can be mean, you can be nice, you can be funny, you can be a completely cruel bastard that nobody likes but keeps because you're talented. You know, usual band member personalities.

!NOTE!
All non-player band member names are subject to change at any time. Right now they're a bit generic.

John Griffin:

John is the lead singer of the group (if you choose to be the singer, John is the guitarist). He is bossy at times, but always means well. He isn't particularly mean, but if you do something to offend him he occasionally gets pissy beyond all reason. In short, if you don't mess with him he won't mess with you.


Craig Chandler:
(Sprite is placeholder; made with Charas, gives basic idea of what character will look like until I can finish its custom sprite.)

Craig is the group's bassist (if you choose to be the bassist, Craig is the guitarist). Craig is a soft-spoken man, not prone to talking unless directly asked a question. He is living in the shadow of the other members of the group, but has spouts of brilliance every now and again. He is torn between his dream of being a star and his own shy personality. In time, Craig may overcome this timidness. But could his personality have something to do with his past?


Rick Thompson:

Rick is the drummer (if you choose to be the drummer... screw it, you know what he becomes). He is the most outspoken member of the group, but also the most aggressive. He is prone to picking on anyone and everyone around him, often alienating his closest friends. He is a talented member of the band, and shares the main songwriting duties with John.

Man Hasserfüllten:
The lead singer (and band leader) of Bösartig Charaktere, a German industrial metal band. Man is a spiteful person, and like the other members of Bösartig Charaktere (BC), he views the player's band as his rivals.

Spoiler for Classes:

• Guitarist

The guitarist is a wizard of the fretboard. He can use powerful moves such as power chords (and later on full chords), solos, scales, and can use popular guitar "moves" from throughout rock's history, such as Chuck Berry's duck walk (that Angus Young would later use), Pete Townshend's "Windmill" and Jimi Hendrix's tooth-picking (heh... tooth-picking...).

• Bassist

The bassist is an essential part of any band. Should the guitarist be put out of commission, the bassist can keep things rolling with his rhythmic playing. The bassist can help restore fans (the game's equivalent of HP), and can help bring members back after they've been booed (KO'd).

• Drummer

The drummer is the band's heavy-hitter. The drummer's pounding can steal away more of the rival band's fans, but if a guitarist should focus their attacks on him (or her), he (or she) won't last long.

• Singer

The singer is the band's most mobile member. Since the singer is least likely to be tangled in cords while moving around stage (the drummer could, but then they wouldn't be doing much drumming), this class can sneak around stage and unplug the other band's amps in a guitar battle, along with taking a beer from an audience member and splashing it on opposing bands (think of the possibilities! I mean, spill liquid all over a guitarist, his input jack and his amp's plug and see what happens).


In case you haven't noticed yet, the classes here correspond to more classical ones. The guitarist is the mage, the bassist is the healer, the drummer is the barbarian, and the singer is the rouge.

Spoiler for Features:

• Mini-games! I know that they aren't especially exciting, but I'm making them all using nothing but events and they're actually turning out well. You'll see things like a wire-matching game for repairing amps (think Mass Effect 2's matching game, the one with the weird symbols, not the hacking one), a strumming mini-game for certain guitar duels (think Guitar Hero, but with strings instead of frets), stuff like that. That first mini-game is finished, along with the van repair game.
• A story and setting that I'm 50% sure haven't been seen on RMRK before.
• A humorous story that also has very, very serious points (not really a feature, but I thought only having two wouldn't look as good).

Spoiler for Screenshots:

Coming soon. Or eventually. Whichever happens first.

Spoiler for If you feel like helping...:

If you feel like helping, I could use a sprite artist and a tileset artist. If nobody volunteers I'll be doing both by myself, but my spriting/tilesetting is horrid. Just PM me if you're interested in either, along with a sample of your work. The spriter will need to make quite a few sprites, and the tilesetter will need to make mainly in-door settings.

The sprites/tilesets would need to be in RM2k3 format.

Spoiler for Stats and Status:

Playing = Attack
Rhythm = Defense
Musical Theory = Intelligence
(Playing) Speed = Agility

Energy/E = MP
Fans/F = HP

Booed = KO'd
Amp Failure = Poison (if you make no sound, you lose fans)
Blinded = ... blinded
Stunned = Paralyzed (stunned by incredibly sexy playing, no doubt)

"The Zone" = the ultimate condition. It can be self inflicted. It raises your attack, your hit percentage, and doubles all stats except Rhythm. It also lets the afflicted character regain 20% of their maximum Energy every turn. On the down side, all of the character's resistances are drastically lowered. The condition disappears after 3 turns, with a 50% chance of disappearing every turn before that. Equipment cannot be changed while in The Zone.

That's pretty much it (for now). If you like the idea, tell me. If you don't like the idea, tell me. If you steal the idea, I'll hunt you down and murder you, then do unspeakable things to your corpse.

Sounds like a cool concept, hopefully you'll go through with it.

Have fun on your project!

(Also: Gay emos? seriously?)

Sounds like a cool concept, hopefully you'll go through with it.

Have fun on your project!

(Also: Gay emos? seriously?)

Spoiler for Emos:

Doesn't mean you can use "gay" as a general word for things you don't like. :/

Doesn't mean you can use "gay" as a general word for things you don't like. :/

No, I mean that they're actually gay. As in, the emos in question are homosexual (with just the slightest tinge of doubt). I'll remove the (Let's face it..) part if it offends you.

My Chemical Romance isn't gay... well, I don't think they are. Anyway, this is sounding very odd to me, how do you go about playing the game? Do you go to competitions and the announcer's like, 'alright, whoever repairs their amps the fastest is the king of bands!' - Or is there some sort of Guitar Hero-like gameplay?

My Chemical Romance isn't gay... well, I don't think they are. Anyway, this is sounding very odd to me, how do you go about playing the game? Do you go to competitions and the announcer's like, 'alright, whoever repairs their amps the fastest is the king of bands!' - Or is there some sort of Guitar Hero-like gameplay?

The gameplay varies; for example, if you're in a Battle of the Bands, you'll use an actual battle. If you're in a duel, it's a 1-on-1 battle, and certain, less important duels are mini-games. At some points in the game, you'll need to repair your amp with a mini-game (should it be broken by an enemy in battle). The main game consists of regular battles for the most part, and mini-games are thrown in for a bit of variety, but not completely overdone. If the player doesn't want to use a mini-game to repair an amp, they could use a repair kit and get it done instantly.

Okay, now I'm starting to understand the need for classes. Sounds pretty cool, do you level up? And can you buy new instruments?

Mcr may not be gay but they sure are horrible

You do level up and you can buy new instruments; at the beginning of the game everybody in the band has an instrument from a cheap brand (First Act, Gammon Drums, generic, etc.), but as the band makes more money you'll be able to move up the ladder (Epiphone, cheap Ibanez guitars, lower-end Gibsons, higher-end Ibanez, Fenders, Ludwig, etc.)

And I forgot to mention the stats, I'll add them to the main post.

Are their secret dungeons and epic loot?

Are their secret dungeons and epic loot?

There are alleys, sewers and trashcans. To get into the sewer you have to steal borrow a crowbar from a construction site. Fighting off rats is about the only actual combat, but not the only battles, if that made sense.

It made perfect sense. This is becoming more interesting by the minute, can't wait to go all Gordon Freeman on some rats.

It made perfect sense. This is becoming more interesting by the minute, can't wait to go all Gordon Freeman on some rats.

Only instead of a crowbar you'd be whacking them over their little heads with a mic stand or breaking a drum over them or smacking them with a bass or going Pete Townshend on their heads with a guitar.

Added one new character to the characters section, and added two sprites... the sprites are made in charas and are only meant to show what the character will probably look like until I can get the custom sprites for everything done.

um, is this you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4P6Al9DXig&feature=related

don't ask how i found the video, it was just there, the tag said rpg maker xp so i was like... hold on!

No, that's not me... but it was almost spot-on. I'm using RM2k3.

Oh, I forgot about that part. Anyway, if that was spot-on, then I can't wait to see what you've been coming up with.

The answer is gimmicks.
Lots and lots of gimmicks.

A little over a month ago this was posted.. any updates? It seems like a really interesting game (I'm a guitarist myself) and I'd love to play it.