Quest2: The Second Journey (Fan made sequel to Quest64)DEMO

First of all this is a fan game that was originally made only for my friends but we agreed to release it to the public. I only made it for fun.  So do not expect it to be perfect.   It is a fan made sequel to Quest64 (called Holy Magic Century in Europe not sure why). I understand that Quest64/Holy Magic Century was not the best RPG made but I tried my best to make the fan sequel better.  I used my own imagination and creativity, and story. Also I have not played Quest64/Holy Magic Century in awhile so do not grill me if I did something wrong in the story description.  Also I am very bad at explaining things.
-Story-
Five years ago Brian recovered the Etales Book and brought peace back to the land.
   However one day the demon queen Galataya who was thought to be sealed away for all eternity broke free from her prison and brought darkness the world.
   Screen Shots ( Not all are in game some are from the editor so I can show thw full map)

Spoiler for:

Characters:


Brian
Age: 15
Height: 5’10
Weight: 155lbs
Class: Mage
Weapon: Staves
Elemental magic: He can use all of the elements except Shadow, Light and the forgotten element.
Profile: Brian recovered the Etales book five years ago and brought peace back to the land.  He now lives with his uncle Lexx in Selnorm Village since his father is now dead.


Ryke
Age: 16
Height: 6’1
Weight: 163lbs
Class: Healer
Weapon: Maces
Profile: Ryke is Brian’s uncle’s son he met when he moved in with his uncle.  He has a very cheerful personality.  He helps Brian and his uncle around the house and can fix most things that break but not clocks for some reason.


Lexx:
Age: 62
Height: 6’3
Weight: 178lbs
Class: Swordsman
Weapon: Swords
Profile: Lexx is Brian’s uncle.  He saved him five years ago when Galataya killed Lord Bartholomy.  He is over protective of his son and Brian but on;y because he cares.


Irina
Age: 15
Height: 5’3
Weight: 125
Class: Warrior
Weapon: Axes
Profile: Irina is actually a big trouble maker.  She is very grumpy and always complains about everything.  She also gets mad if she doesn’t get her way.

Credits:
Scripts:
Hanzo Kimura's Animated Title Screen
Mog’s Scene Story coverted to RMVX by LoMastul
Woratana’s NMS
Vlad's ABS - Evented like the battles in the Tales of series and Star Ocean series
Zetu's Party Changer
Jens009 Simple Hud
Syvkal's Menu Bars
Music:
Enterbain
Some of it from Breath of Fire 2
Music in opening event is from Quest64/Holy Magic Century
some is from Zelda

Graphics:
Title logo was made by Xach Crisis
Inquisitor's Tilesets
Damain 666’s Character Generator
Enterbain
Kaduki one of the faces
Cannot remember who made the faces I am using for Brian, Lexx, and Irina but if anyone knows let me know so I can give them credit.
Demo:
It should be playable until after the Temple of Dora.
RTP included for those who do not have RMVX:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bgoj81
No RTP Version for those who have RMVX:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/w1hvzk

Five years ago Brian recovered the Etales Book and brought peace back to the land.
   However one day the demon queen Galataya who was thought to be sealed away for all eternity broke free from her prison and brought darkness the world.

-This storyline seems very cliched. Like, a long time ago this person recovered this legendary item that sealed the evil god/boss but one day he came back to bring darkness back...etc. You might want to change it.

-And please don't use clashing facesets, just stick to one style, eg. Kaduki, RTP, etc.

-As for the screenshots/maps, they look very plain. Not enough detail, etc. But of course, I might be seeing screenshots in development stage so, there's nothing really I can say.

-Could you also change the title screen(Design)? The runic design that runs behind each option (New story, etc.) has been too overused. Try to use your own desgin, it will definitely give your game a unique touch.

-As for the battle system, you say you're using Vlad's ABS right? The hud looks very...boring. Try to use a custom HUD, a transparent HUD doesn't look so appealing.

-BTW, the tileset you're using is from Inquisitor. Remember to credit him.

I've got not time to play the demo though, but good luck anyway.

Thank you for the reply I really hope you're not disappointed. As for the story I understand it is cliched but I like it like that.  A game is never pure cliche.   I don't really know how else to describe the story.  I'll see what I can do about the title screen maybe I'll switch to another animated title script. Designing animated ones is not my specialty. Also could you point why the maps seem boring so I can improve, because I don't see anything wrong with them.

I don't normally play RPG Maker games, but the Quest64 game is one of the few games that holds a special meaning for me, even though a lot of people think it's a horrible game. Also I've made about 5 different versions of the Quest64 battle system and wanted to see how yours looked like.

As far as the demo goes, I got to the temple of Dora and beat the Chimera and saw who the cloaked guy was without fighting a single battle, except for the Chimera itself.

And these are a few things that I noticed that could improved.

I don't know if the player and hud visible at the start of the game intentional, but it looks a little off.

Very nice intro with the glowing orbs and scrolling text.

The whole turning to night from day instantly at the camp scene, it would look better if it went from full black to the night tone.

Battles lag horribly, at least for me.

There's a few passability errors like the trees before the first house and the gallows on the second town before the temple of Dora.

And the maps themselves are too big with nothing really happening in them or being captivating, you should try to make smaller maps that keep the players attention instead of big maps that feel like they don't lead anywhere.

As for the story, I don't really comment on stories.

And if you have any ideas and the images/resources for the title screen, menu or simple scripts like that I would be happy to make them for you, just not complex scripts such as battle systems since I don't really have the time to make one at the moment.

Have a nice day and the best of luck with your game.

No worries, this project looks promising anyways. 

I've downloaded the demo and played a short part of the intro. Very short actually, I don't really have much time to play through the whole demo but I'll eventually will.

-As for the book scene, I like the magical feeling you're creating with the bubbles, but maybe tone down the bubbles a little. As the words scroll up they start to appear 'gritty'; thus I cannot see them too clearly.
  -There's a spelling error: 'Thourgh' (Through)

-Before it flashes to the campfire scene, I can see Brian for a short while in the middle of the screen before it fades out. It can be resolved by NOT starting with Brian as a character, then adding him as a character along with the others when the player takes control of Brian.

-Like TDS said, the screen unnaturally tones to a darker tint, THEN the cut scene starts. It's not as if the sky suddenly darkened eh? You can start by tinting the screen first before transferring the player to the campfire scene.

-As for the big grass field the player encounters at the start of the game. You could definitely use some detail like flowers, more trees, fogs, sunbeams, etc.
  -And there's a shadow issue with the tree autotile at the path to the cottage. The shadows looks strange.

                                                   Shadow                                               
                                               ]     l     
Tree Autotile->                           ]     l 
                                               ]     l

As you can see, there's an aakward space between the tree and the shadow. You might want to fix that.

I'll play the demo further some time and I'll give you more feeback.

@TDS: Thank you could you make me a four person hud that shows the faces but make the hud so it can be disable by script call or switch I cannot really find a decent looking one that displays four people.  I actully tried not adding Brian in the begginning and used a dummy with no graphic instead but it didn't removethe dummy character for some reason when I went to the camp map. Also you encounter monsters in the game by going up to them.  They are the things roaming around. You can also escape from battle by going to the end of the screen on the battle map but not during boss fights.

@ZacPower4: Thank you for your reply! I'm glad that I didn't disappoint you.  I'll probably look for a shadow killer script that is compatable with Vlad's ABS so I won't get any strange looking shadows, because to be honest I don't know how to fix the shadow error.

Well since you basically explained nothing about the HUD aside from four person and disabling it, that's what I made.

Code: [Select]

#==============================================================================
# ** Game_Screen
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  This class handles screen maintenance data, such as change in color tone,
# flashes, etc. It's used within the Game_Map and Game_Troop classes.
#==============================================================================

class Game_Screen
 #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Alias Listings
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  alias tds_quest2_actor_hud_game_screen_initialize    initialize    unless $@
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Public Instance Variables
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  attr_reader :actor_hud                                          # Actor Hud
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Object Initialization
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def initialize
    # Run Original Method
    tds_quest2_actor_hud_game_screen_initialize
    # Make Actor Hud
    @actor_hud = Window_Actor_Hud.new
  end
end


#==============================================================================
# ** Game_Interpreter
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  An interpreter for executing event commands. This class is used within the
# Game_Map, Game_Troop, and Game_Event classes.
#==============================================================================

class Game_Interpreter
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Make Actor Hud Visible
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def make_actor_hud_visible ; screen.actor_hud.visible = true ; screen.actor_hud.refresh end
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Make Actor Hud Invisible
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def make_actor_hud_invisible ; screen.actor_hud.visible = false ; screen.actor_hud.refresh end   
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Move Actor Hud to the top Position
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def move_actor_hud_to_top ; screen.actor_hud.set_to_top ; screen.actor_hud.refresh end 
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Move Actor Hud to the bottom Position
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def move_actor_hud_to_bottom ; screen.actor_hud.set_to_bottom ; screen.actor_hud.refresh end
end


#==============================================================================
# ** Window_Actor_Hud
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#  This window displays party member status on the screen.
#==============================================================================

class Window_Actor_Hud < Window_Base
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Object Initialization
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def initialize
    super(0, 0, 544, 160)
    # Set Opacity
    self.opacity = 0 
    # Set Self to invisible
    self.visible = false
    # Set to Bottom Position
    set_to_bottom
    # Draw Window Contents
    refresh
  end
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Refresh
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def refresh
    # Clear Window Contents
    self.contents.clear
    # Go through Party Members
    for actor in $game_party.members
      # Draw Actor Face
      draw_actor_face(actor, actor.index * 131, 0, 92)
      # Draw Actor Name
      draw_actor_name(actor, actor.index * 131, 0)
      # Draw Actor State
      draw_actor_state(actor, 96 + actor.index * 131, 0) 
      # Draw Actor HP
      draw_actor_hp(actor, actor.index * 131, 76)
      # Draw Actor MP
      draw_actor_mp(actor, actor.index * 131, 96)
    end
  end
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Set Hud to Top Position
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def set_to_top ; self.y = -16 end 
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Set Hud to Bottom Position
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def set_to_bottom ; self.y = 275 end
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Draw State
  #     actor : actor
  #     x     : draw spot x-coordinate
  #     y     : draw spot y-coordinate
  #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def draw_actor_state(actor, x, y) 
    # States Array
    states = actor.states
    # Move Starting Position if there are more than 3 states
    x -= 25 if states.size > 3
    # Go Through Actor States
    states.each_with_index {|state, i|
      # Draw State Icon
      draw_icon(state.icon_index, x + (i / 3) * 25, y + (i % 3) * 25)
      # Break if more than 6 states are displayed
      break if i > 4
    }
  end   
end


Again since there was a lack of explanation about the request I made this one more as a test. If you could explain further what you are using it for I will edit it further.

You can make the hud visible and invisble with a script call using this.

Code: [Select]

make_actor_hud_invisible

make_actor_hud_visible