Manifest - A complete 30 hour VX rpg, 4 years in the making

    MANIFEST 

There exists a most curious and powerful race in the world of Ospes, able to manipulate and alter matter itself.

Their numbers are few, and from the beginning they have lived as outcasts, perceived as a threat to the world and every living thing in it.

They are called Theolar.

Thymetians, the most dominant race on Ospes, have done all that they can to suppress the Theolar.  For they, more than any, are afraid of them.

Most Theolar are content to live in hiding and have abandoned the use of their abilities in hopes they would be forgotten.  But among them there is a small group, known as the
Andurim, who are unwilling to give up that part of themselves.

Their sole purpose is to provide the Thymetians and the rest of the world with a glimpse of their greatness, now long overshadowed by what else they are capable ofâ?¦





Thank you for taking enough interest in this project to view the thread.  This project is a fulfillment of a childhood dream and it is very dear to me.  I do hope you enjoy it. 
If you play it through to completion, I promise you that you will see a few things that have never been done before in Rpg Maker Vx.

In the interest of quality, I encourage everyone who plays the game to leave feedback, comments, advice, or any questions if you have them. 


File size:  133 Mb (remember...30 hours of gameplay)



World and Story:

Spoiler for:

Manifest is a story-driven fantasy game that takes place in a fictional world.  The world is made up of several large islands and what is commonly referred to as the mainland. 

There are several different intelligent races that live in various parts of the worldâ?¦

Thymetians:  The dominant and most populous race, they live in all regions of the world save for one.  Their government consists of a High Lord and a council who make decisions that affect most of the world.  Because of their widespread influence, most other races can understand and speak the Thymetian language.

Orzrak:  A reclusive race who have lived in the mountains for thousands of years.  They are generally avoided by most other races due to their foul tempers and grotesque appearance.

Rulwook:  A peaceful tribe who live on a small island southeast of the mainland.  They are known for their skilled artisans and craftsmen.

Graymarg:  A proud people who were forced from their homes by the Thymetians several decades ago.  They now live in the northern mountains, just south of the Thymetian capital city.

Theolar:  The final race is the sparsest and the most feared.  They have been scattered and forced into hiding because of their unique abilities.  There are some Theolar who are able to manipulate and alter matter.  In an attempt to make peace and live together with the rest of the world, most Theolar abandoned the use of their abilities long ago.  It didnâ??t help.  There is a small organization among the Theolar, known as the Andurim, that is unwilling to give up their abilities, and seeks to prove to the rest of the world that great things can come from them. 
It is on this group of Theolar that the main story is focused.  It begins shortly after the coronation of a new Thymetian High Lord, and so the Andurim has a new chance to reach an understanding between Theolar and Thymetians, and prove that they are not as dangerous as every other living creature believes.  Their numbers are few enough now that failure this timeâ?¦means extinction.

Characters (A sampling):

Spoiler for:

Armegmus
Age:  28
Armegmus is a Theolar and a member of the Andurim.  He is impulsive though he lacks confidence in many areas of his life.  This causes him to rationalize the decisions he makes.  He often feels a great deal of pressure to be more mature than he feels. 

Syndarion
Age:  60
A Theolar and the leader of the Andurim.  He is extremely proficient in the use of his abilities and guides the younger members, such as Armegmus, in their training.  He believes more than anyone that great things can come from their talents, and hopes the rest of the world will soon realize this before they are gone.  He is always searching for Theolar who lack the knowledge to use their abilities so he can recruit and train them among the ranks of the Andurim.  He knows a lot more about the circumstances of Theolar than he lets on.

Vellamik
Age:  44
Vellamik is a jovial and loving Thymetian.  He works as a blacksmith in the village of Relna, where the Andurim is currently hiding.  He met Syndarion a long time ago when Syndarion first visited Relna in search of other Theolar to recruit to the Andurim.

FEATURES:

- In-depth story, both serious and humorous

- ATB Tankentai Battle System

- Customize battle difficulty from the menu

- Hundreds of unique skills including many with complex common events

- A large, lag-free world map to explore

- Challenging dungeons with varied and original puzzles

- Gambling mini-games

- Optional puzzle-filled ruins with plenty of rewards

- 99 hidden relics to find and trade in the world

- Original and addictive lockpicking event system

- Some dungeons involve sneaking past guards and enemies

- Optional Quests/Hunts similar to Phantasy Star 4/Final Fantasy XII

- Fully functional battle arena


Screenshots:

Spoiler for:

New!  "Geyser" puzzles...this being the simplest example (2 part screenshot)

BEFORE:




AFTER:

Gambling minigames in the various pubs and bars around the world, for those wishing for a break from the main story or who want to make some extra Etherum.  The games are as follows:

1)  Water, Earth, Lightning - my version of paper, rock, scissors

2)  A game modeled after blackjack with some of my own unique changes

3)  My own game called "Longshot"




Credits

A big thank you to all of the following people for their wonderful resources:

Spoiler for:

Complete credits are at the end of the game

Scripts:
BigEd781
Enu
Kylock
Mr. Bubble
Moon Man
Mr. Anonymous
Modern Algebra
Puppeto4
Enelvon
KGC Library
Yanfly
Synthesize
Diakonos
Woratana
Moghunter
Aranarther
Tomy
Ccoa
Watermelon
Hevendor
Jens009
Mac Malone (Dr. ?)
OriginalWij

Music:
MaestroRage

Sprites and Graphics:
Tatanya
Razavan Sedekiah
Vibrato
Antares   
Tentacles

Ashvir and blueperiod for not encrypting their demo resources
And many others who I may have forgotten to credit.(If you see a sprite while playing the demo that has not been given due credit, please let me know.  Thanks)

I would never presume to compare the quality of my piece to any of Michelangelo's, only the passion with which we worked on them.


LINK TO MANIFEST GAME:

All known bugs/glitches resolved in this current version as of 12/25/11
If you are playing an earlier version, you should download this one and make sure to transfer your save files into the new folder.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/c028461/n/Manifest.rar

(Download button is at the bottom of that page, click the "slow download" button and wait for 15 seconds and click it again)

Wow, just wow. How many puzzles did you implement?

I like your concept of the chest being pushed up by a spring in the ground, though it took me a while to figure out what was going on at those two pics. That being said, I don't think you should mix XP tiles with VX ones. They clash badly.

And what is up with the font?  The words looks weird. I also don't like the windowskin you're using. It looks too...modern for me. But it's up to you of course.

The mapping is good, though there could be room for improvement.

Also, the squished battleback in the 15th screenshots. You might want to fix that.

But overall, this is really good. Good job with it, trying now.

P.S. Your main character is a Ralph sprite? 

This game looks really well done, but what's up with the black and white mixed up text? It's pretty hard to read.

That 30 Hours of gameplay looks very promising as well, just another thing to add to my list of things to keep me occupied before Skyrim is released.

Yeah I gotta say this is impressive. I probably won't get around to ever playing this, but congratulations on completing your project and being patient enough to spend four years on it. A lot of projects die out after only a few months...

If I ever get time to play a 30-hour RPG in between Xenoblade, Skyward Sword, and Pokemon Black, I will try this.

The text bothers me, too. Is it intentional?

Thank you for the interest in the project.  It's funny you all mentioned the text in the screenshots, because I noticed it showing up like that when I posted the thread.  In the game it looks nothing like that...I use the default font actually.  I'm not sure how it ended up like that when posting the screenshots here.  Even more confusing is the fact that the image files look fine on my computer, and that only some of them were affected in the thread.  If you scroll down to later images you will see how the font actually looks.  I hope you all get a chance to play it.  I believe you will find your time well spent =).

Thank you for the interest in the project.  It's funny you all mentioned the text in the screenshots, because I noticed it showing up like that when I posted the thread.  In the game it looks nothing like that...I use the default font actually.  I'm not sure how it ended up like that when posting the screenshots here.  Even more confusing is the fact that the image files look fine on my computer, and that only some of them were affected in the thread.  If you scroll down to later images you will see how the font actually looks.  I hope you all get a chance to play it.  I believe you will find your time well spent =).

Looks like the white text is transparent. Dunno how that happened..

I'm going to be brave and play through this entire game, as long as you don't have to be the greatest RPG player to complete it. Here goes.

I'm going to be brave and play through this entire game, as long as you don't have to be the greatest RPG player to complete it. Here goes.

That makes me extremely happy to hear that.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, and if you make it through to the end (there is variable difficulty =) I can promise you that you'll see things that have never been done in Rpg Maker before, and I believe you'll find your time was well spent.  Happy gaming and thanks again for giving it a go.

         Steve

I've already put in a few good hours into the game, it's very addicting. So far I've yet to find anything to complain about, the secrets and puzzles scattered about the world is why the game is so satisfying. Like in the opening area where you can find that Necklace that resists poison in that hole, or when you drop in through the roof to get that Vitality Bottle, and the boulder pushing for the chest.

You've done a very good job with this game, it makes exploration fun when you know you'll be rewarded. I'm sure I'll make it to the end and I'll tell you my final thoughts when that comes.

EDIT
Actually, I did find something to complain about. I initially expected that it would pick up later on, but the time it takes to fill your action bar is pretty annoying. And, I never want to try escaping because if you do, and fail, you'll be sitting there for a hearty chunk of your afternoon waiting to start charging that slow bar again... Other than that, I'm still enjoying the game. But I found an error I believe in the large tower infested by red demons, (a while ago actually) where you could go to the right side of the tower and climb the rope without being on the appropriate level, essentially skipping a bit of the dungeon.

I've already put in a few good hours into the game, it's very addicting. So far I've yet to find anything to complain about, the secrets and puzzles scattered about the world is why the game is so satisfying. Like in the opening area where you can find that Necklace that resists poison in that hole, or when you drop in through the roof to get that Vitality Bottle, and the boulder pushing for the chest.

You've done a very good job with this game, it makes exploration fun when you know you'll be rewarded. I'm sure I'll make it to the end and I'll tell you my final thoughts when that comes.

EDIT
Actually, I did find something to complain about. I initially expected that it would pick up later on, but the time it takes to fill your action bar is pretty annoying. And, I never want to try escaping because if you do, and fail, you'll be sitting there for a hearty chunk of your afternoon waiting to start charging that slow bar again... Other than that, I'm still enjoying the game. But I found an error I believe in the large tower infested by red demons, (a while ago actually) where you could go to the right side of the tower and climb the rope without being on the appropriate level, essentially skipping a bit of the dungeon.

If you go to your key items and use the "Fight Plan" you can adjust the charge speed of the atb gauges to your heart's content.  Once you find a speed that works for you, I'm sure you'll enjoy it a whole lot more.   Thanks for pointing out the tower error, I'll look into it. 

Ah, much better! Now to play a bit more.

Important update...

TROOPS fix:
Tiny download (106 KB) that fixes a problem with certain battles in the Onyx Mountains.  Replace old troops data with this one:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/cfd9e03/n/Troops.rvdata

The ling doesn't work....

Sorry, the   l i n k  doesn't work

Thanks for letting me know.  The correct link is up now in the original post.  And thanks for the interest, hope you enjoy.

For those interested, Manifest is on Facebook.  If you have a moment, stop by and check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Manifest/163947670372300