Maia 2K8 [DEMO] [region 2 area maps on page3]

Very impressive, the indoor maps are excellent, some of the outdoor maps (excluding the bog) could use some touch ups.

Where could they use touch ups?

One of your forest maps doesn't use the grass tile properly, other than that, I think some of your roads look strange.

In my opinion though, most of your errors and at the point where mapping doesn't matter (shitty mapping can impact a game, you're at the point where the mapping shouldn't impact the game at all).

When do we get the next demo?

Maybe cut out the unneeded files and stick in all of the RTP so there are no other errors?

i second that,,this game has a lot of potential

ALPHA V2 SOON?

I think that I have the errors situation all calmed. The solution is not exactly tollerable to me right now. The game gets boost up to 37 MB. Which for my games that is beyond huge. I have unlimited abuse of a server (thanks to my friend), but I have dialup and I need to upload it! I would find the unneeded files and remove them.

I would also remove the intro for various reasons.

SHANAGRAD: REGION 2

Four weeks ago I left the first region for the second. A shard of the second continent. The southern most region of the massive second continent. This region is a wild and overtaken region with one town and a sprawling farm village. The region has been overtaken by the wilderness because there are no soldiers or guards here. It is a haven for lawbreakers, creatures, and other foes.

The second region (Shanagrad) consists of 10 areas, 1 port, 1 farm village, 1 lighthouse, 1 bridge, 1 giant marsh, 1 church 1 giant mountain pass, 1 tunnel to the 3rd region, 1 large forest and 1 network of tunnels in the mountain pass. The marsh is so massive that you do not even come back the same way that you go in, just so the map can be used twice and still be fresh. The mountain pass (Preston Pass) is a labrynth of rocks, tiers and levels.

With these new areas, the game now has over 200 maps. To counter act that fact... I have started doubling maps up. If I do not. I will quickly run out of maps by the limit of 999.

BIG MONEY BIG PRIZES

Iiiiiii love it! All of the little nooks and crannies in caves, on mountain passes or pretty much anywhere in the wilderness now has some reward for entering them. Like if you see a cliff with a stairway, but there is nothing on the cliff... why would you go up the cliff? Now there is a treasure or some point of interest. A reward.

There are several tiny use your intelligence to get treasures... treasures. Like slice down a bush or flower to get to a treasure. Push a treasure to open it. There are areas where you can CLEARLY see there is nothing there, making it pointless to see what there is... until you take a walk of faith and a treasure appears. These are all SMALL ways that improve the game. There are still grand puzzles though. These are just the simple ones.

MORE EPISODES

There are now an additional 5 episodes that run quicker than the first 5. In a way at least. These take longer to walk to, more enemies to wade through (assuming that you do not smart or stealth your way out of them). The characters get deeper, and those that might hate you... are needed.

I have more effectively streamlined each episode into 3 completable forms. Strength, Smarts, and Stealth. Each quest already had multiple ways to complete it, but now I have just given it a catchy phrase. Strength, Smarts, and Stealth. Sometimes the answers are not as obvious as they seem.

The first 5 episodes were very character driven, these new 5 are very thick in story, content and interest, just like the original 5 episodes on the first content. I would say more, but that would spoil it... maybe I will post in the writing forum.

PARTY OF 5

For a portion of the second region, you will have 5 in your party, but you will not be the slaughtering machine that you think you would be with 5 in the party.

CASH YOUR TOKENS

So far I have placed 5 of 100 tokens into the game world. These tokens are used for a giant game board. Ala Maia 2K3 and Dragon Warrior 3. The only trick is finding the tokens and finding where to use them for a fun and danger filled board.

One more thing. In play testing. I have enemies disabled except for bosses, and I have a nifty little item that lets me warp anywhere so I do not have to waste time with travel. If I RUSH through the game it is 3 hours with the main quests. If I complete all of the side quests it is 6 hours. That is for me, knowing where everything is, warping and no fighting. I would assume for everyone else that it might be 12 hours by now.

uploading 37 megs on dial up,,jeez!!! that will take 4eva.

You could save it on a flashdrive,,and upload it from some school/college/library,,but then again,,driving to those places and back will take about the same amount of time as uploading 37 megs on dial up.  LoL.

I totally agree there with the previous comment! :-)

This project is impressive, much more so than Maia 2k3 and Maia 2k7 (even if they were equally good).

I'd really love to see the new version uploaded and you probably should try another way to compress the stuff: 7 Zip compresses MUCH better than WinRAR or other similar tools and you'd probably should try it.

Hope this helps and good luck with this fantastic game! 

Just to say that later today I will be posting map shots from most of the areas in the second region. Actually I am going to go back to page 2 of this topic and edit it to show only maps from region 1. So that way it keeps everything nice and neat. There are new maps on page 2 that will be there. Like the church and a region map of the overworld.

edit : I have just now added captions / information / back story about each map in the original posting of maps on page 2 of this forum topic. In case anyone feels like reading.

This project is impressive, much more so than Maia 2k3 and Maia 2k7 (even if they were equally good).

Thank you oh so much :-) I know that Maia 2k3 was very difficult, and Maia 2k7 was counter productive giving players handicaps they must overcome in the first hour or two of gameplay. That just wasn't fun apparently, and heck going to school in this game might not be fun either in the first 15-20 minutes of the game. Luckily there is a dynamite intro with interesting techniques.

You could save it on a flashdrive,,and upload it from some school/college/library,,but then again,,driving to those places and back will take about the same amount of time as uploading 37 megs on dial up.  LoL.

I have thought of that too, but eh I am still not fond of the idea of people downloading 37 MB only to hear them say... the game still crashes at some random point with no logic behind the crash at all. It is frustrating.

only to hear them say... the game still crashes at some random point with no logic behind the crash at all.

Huh? I've never experienced a single crash while I was playing the alpha version.

Guess I must be lucky. 

only to hear them say... the game still crashes at some random point with no logic behind the crash at all.

Huh? I've never experienced a single crash while I was playing the alpha version.

Guess I must be lucky. 

And how far did you get? Did you acomplish the school system, pick a class, pick a look and leave the town?

I have thought of that too, but eh I am still not fond of the idea of people downloading 37 MB only to hear them say... the game still crashes at some random point with no logic behind the crash at all. It is frustrating.

As long as you don't mind uploading it,,I don't mind downloading it.  And I shall post pictures of where it crashes,,if it does.

If you still have problems with compression, you should try this: KGB Archiver

The archive it makes should be a lot smaller and you'd probably be able to upload it in notime. Let me know if it works.

MAPS:

These map shots were taken a few weeks ago. Since then things have been upgraded to be more detailed, but if they are not good, feel free to comment on them. Plus by taking early map shots it will not disrupt people's play of the game from knowing where everything is.

Spoiler for:

REGION 2: SHANAGRAD

I can tell this is a bit old, because the church is not even on the map. The church will be between Preston Pass and Shanalon. That huge blank land mass to the north west will be region 20 (probably).



PORT SHANALON

As seen originally in the previous post of maps, Port Shanalon is a coastline paradise. There are no guards at all, and it is considered a haven for the unwanted.



PRESTON PASS

Preston Pass is between Port Shanalon and the Maccan village. While you can take a simple pass through the valley, you can also climb the mountain itself and find all there is to find.



TUNNEL SYSTEM OF PRESTON PASS

This does look rather blank yes, but this is a shot I took for a friend 2 weeks ago. It has been detailed since with lilly pads, and... things... inside of the tunnel.





VILLAGE OF MACCAN

The only village and second populated area of the Shanagrad region encountered the scourge. A terrible disease that flowed in the rivers and infected the crops. There is a large graveyard full of the victims.





NEW CHURCH OF VALYON

I have swapped the Valyon church for the church in Shanalon. The first region with Valyon is much larger than the region with Shanalon :-) There is a good sized grave yard in the flower field and a good sized interior.



WOODS OF AQUANIA

There are tons of woods in this game, and I really don't want to show maps of woods, because they are... wooded areas and not much to them, but this is worth showing, because it gets flooded.



DONNOVAN'S WOODS

Like I said there are a lot of wooded areas in the game, but this one has a few places of interest. The cabin and the coastline.



BYER'S BOG

What did I say about woods? There are quite a lot, after all before we had cities there was just... woods... but this one that is so massive that you go one way when going north and another way coming south. I remember people saying my maps were too straight forward in previous games, so I made little branches, shortcuts and secret unmarked paths (most of which are north beyond the map shot) :-) It is so massive that it did not fit into the shot.



CORNOLLA TUNNEL

I am aware that I will run out of maps before the game is done! So I am having to double up on maps.

I think I saw these somewhere before... Screenshot Thread?


In any case, they look pretty good. Nice work.

These are posted in the screen shots thread, but no one commented. Wow my rep jumped 6 points! Sure beats when I won that contest! My rep went down 40 when I won :-)

some of those look kind of vague and empty,,while others look really impressive!

some of those look kind of vague and empty,,while others look really impressive!

So which are which?

REGION 2: SHANAGRAD,,VILLAGE OF MACCAN,,NEW CHURCH OF VALYON,,BYER'S BOG

look vague and empty.  For Maccan,,some growing grass could really spice that overused green land tile.  Same goes for the church.  The bog has overused wooden stick graphics.


PORT SHANALON looks really cool.  Sand with green land seem to work really well together.

NNEL SYSTEM OF PRESTON PASS looks expertly done.

I love that AQUANIA map,,it really has that feeling of a sacred altar hidden in the woods.

Any news?

How's the game coming?

It is really dull right now. Dialog, scripting, enemy designing. Balancing. Filling up stores. Not really worth talking about. I like to keep the news big and not tedious :-)

I really really wish I could download the demo (And play maia 2k7) but I have vista. Vista makes me cry.

But anyway, this game looks like it's going to turn out really well. Good luck on it.

REGION 3: CENTEGRAD

Centegrad is the center of the Terrenian Empire. Ruled by Queen Harmony, she has conquered 70% of the world and has a purpose behind her fury. To find the other five orbs kept by her sisters.

This land has had its major cities destroyed mysteriously by tidal waves and storms that wiped out the east coast.