[VX] Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney RPG

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney RPG
A game by thomasbradley

This game will obviously be based of the Capcom game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. My goal for this game is to recreate the first Ace Attorney game but in a hopefully unique combination of the visual novel and rpg genres. Be prepared for a very text heavy game. I'm mostly doing it just for fun and so that I can get a feel of game making for future OC projects. The story will be mostly the same, but I'll likely add in a little bit, just to make it fit the different style of game. Much of the dialogue will be from the original game, and much of it will be my own. For the cases' opening cutscenes I plan to make them as close to the original game's as possible, but still with my own little touch to them. I've already completed the first one, and I'm pretty satisfied with it.
Backstory

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Phoenix Wright, a rookie defense attorney, begins his career with a murder trial against a childhood friend of his. He begins under the mentorship of the veteran Ace Attorney, Mia Fey, and later gains the companionship of her younger sister, Maya, a training spirit medium. As he advances in his career, he is pit against his perfect rival, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, and makes friends with the simple minded detective, Dick Gumshoe.

Characters

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Phoenix Wright:
The main character of the game. An inexperienced and somewhat naive attorney, but above all else, determined and trusting in his clients.

Miles Edgeworth:
A legendary prosecutor with a perfect record and the perfect antithesis to Phoenix. Generally calm and collected, he commands the courtroom with his legacy and intelligence.

Mia Fey:
She acts as a mentor to Phoenix, every trick he knows in the courtroom, he learned from her. She founded and runs the Fey & Co. Law Offices.

Maya Fey:
The younger sister of Mia and a training spirit medium. Lighthearted and naive due to a relatively sheltered early life, she always has a positive attitude, even in the toughest of times.

Detective Gumshoe:
A homicide detective and assistant to Miles Edgeworth. Despite working on different sides, he often helps Phoenix out with his investigations, lending him evidence to use in court.

Graphics

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For graphics like characters and tiles, I'll probably just make those as needed, but for graphics like faces, battlers, and other images, I'll use images from the original game. All credit for graphics used goes to Capcom, and I'll make more detailed credits ingame.

Music/Sound Effects

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All of the music and sound effects used in the game are from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, or will be stock se from RMVX, so all credit will go to Capcom. Again, more detailed credits ingame. However, if I find that I need an extra song, such as for game over or something similar, I may created my own song as needed.

Screenshots

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This is about all I have so far, it's a screenshot from the first case's opening cutscene.

Demo

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On the way
I'll release the demo when I've finished the first chapter, which I'm getting through right now. So the wait won't be too long.

Features

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"Battle" witnesses/prosecutor in court, random encounters/battles with characters outside of court. Some witnesses cannot be damaged until incriminating evidence is present (if I can figure out how to do that). Possibly more features to come.

Scripts Used

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Earthbound-ish Battle System
Advanced Text System 3.0c
Scene Tutorial
TDS Equipment Level Bonus
More to come (mostly aesthetic).

Credits

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Earthbound-ish Battle System by cozziekuns
Advanced Text System 3.0c by modern algebra.
Scene Tutorial by modern algebra.
TDS Equipment Level Bonus by TDS.
Story by Shu Takumi.
Some graphics by Tatsuro Iwamoto.
Character designs by Kumiko Suekane.
Music by Masakazu Sugimori and Toshihiko Horiyama.
Sound effects by Hiroshi Nakatani.

By the looks of your screenshot, you mapping seems bland.
Still, good luck with the project. 

Thanks, I just got the main details that I could see in the original game, but I'll get to taking some artistic license and adding some more stuff. Do you have any suggestions of extremely well done mapping I could use as a standard of great mapping?

Thanks, I just got the main details that I could see in the original game, but I'll get to taking some artistic license and adding some more stuff. Do you have any suggestions of extremely well done mapping I could use as a standard of great mapping?

Well, Hanzo Kimura's Overlay Mapping is REALLY good. I mean, REALLY.
Here's an example of his work ;

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If you want, try searching for the OM (Overlay Mapping) Script. 

I'm looking forward to your demo

Does anyone know if it is possible for me to make it so that an item can be used on only a specific enemy? I've posted a topic in the scripting thread, but no one has responded.

I'd suggest not blatantly showing who the villain is in the opening cutscenes like in the screenshot.  Part of what made the first game really great was how they portrayed the crime without giving away who did it.

They specifically showed the criminal in the first case. I'm following the opening cutscenes as close as possible, so for the following cases, it'll be a mystery until you figure it out.

UPDATE: Progress is slow. Between school work, gaming for personal enjoyment, playing other people's demos but not getting far enough to give valid feedback, more school work, working on music, not hanging out with or socializing with friends, and more school work, I don't have much time to work on this game. However, I do need some creative help from you guys. I'm having trouble choosing what sort of equip-able  weapons to use. Since there's no actual fighting in the original and the traditional swords and axes wouldn't really work in the setting, I don't have anything to base this of off, does anyone have any ideas? Also, what do you think I should use for an inn system, since it wouldn't make sense for Phoenix to waste an entire night during investigation for a trial. I'm considering just doing Mother 3's spring system, but the Mother series is already heavily influencing me, and I don't want to take too much from it.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I never played the original, so I don't actually know this characters personality, but maybe this will help.

As a weapon, he should either carry a sealed Baton, Knife or Firearm. I say those weapons because this game seems to be set in modern times and those three are the most common weapons you can find.

As for an Inn sequence, you could have him go to a cafe and pay to sit down and have some coffee/latte/whatever strikes his fancy.

I never played the original, so I don't actually know this characters personality, but maybe this will help.

As a weapon, he should either carry a sealed Baton, Knife or Firearm. I say those weapons because this game seems to be set in modern times and those three are the most common weapons you can find.

Yeah, most of the characters that will be in the party are such lighthearted or kind people, they really wouldn't stab someone to death or shoot them haha, but that did give me the idea to use non lethal weapons like tasers and such.

As for an Inn sequence, you could have him go to a cafe and pay to sit down and have some coffee/latte/whatever strikes his fancy.

I can't tell you how much I love that idea. I'll definitely be using that system.

Thanks for the input! 

you can get all the necessary graphics on this site http://www.court-records.net/
some people use some phoenix wright graphics there.. (this isn't a real-life court records site it just a phonix wright graphics fan page site and other things)
and also i check out your features and mostly the original doesn't have random encounter. it just walk find evidence and then when you at court you can start a objection, hold it or something. this feature is called investigation mode and court mode.

you can get all the necessary graphics on this site http://www.court-records.net/
some people use some phoenix wright graphics there.. (this isn't a real-life court records site it just a phonix wright graphics fan page site and other things)
and also i check out your features and mostly the original doesn't have random encounter. it just walk find evidence and then when you at court you can start a objection, hold it or something. this feature is called investigation mode and court mode.

Trust me, I know about the court records website hahaha. I've already gotten most of my graphics for the characters' faces, it's just a good bit of work making decent looking custom sprites.

And I agree that my game won't be the same as the original, but that's kind of the point, no? I'm not just trying to recreate the entire game in the VX engine, it's essentially going to be the same story line in an RPG. Similar to how Snatcher SD is an RPG version of the original Snatcher.

I like the idea of a battle in court being the attorney vs the witness but You might want to get a script and graphics that make it seem more like your cross examining them and less like you trying to beat them up.

Okay guys, I need some help. I'm using modern algebra's evidence locker script, and I've made it so the evidence locker can be opened at anytime, including during text boxes and such. This is necessary for my game, and it is not a problem unless the  locker is used during a conditional branch. After you close the evidence locker, the choice box disappears and the select cursor goes underneath the text boxes, but it highlights nothing. Can any of you think of a solution to this?

EDIT:I had the idea of having the common event that opens the evidence locker also end the conditional branch, but I don't know if there's a way to just end a branch like that.

I haven't a clue of what you're talking about maybe a screenshot would help.

Yeah, here's some that might help. Ignore the bland mapping/rmvx default sprites. It's still a wip haha

Okay here's the text box with the conditional branch choices:

Then I use the command to open the evidence locker. It's basically just the item screen.

Then when I back out of the screen, the text box resets and the text appears letter by letter again, which is okay, but the choice box disappears. The cursor for the choices shows up under the text and I'm actually able to choose between the three choices, but I can't read them.


I'm sure the game just doesn't like switching between scenes like that, but it's pretty vital to my game. Is there a way to make the choice box reset with the text box?

Hmm, well it appears to be an issue with the ATS in addition to the Evidence Locker. Could you possibly recreate the error in a new project and upload that demo for me to take a look?

That phoenix sprite...

It's so cute!

I want that sprite too.

Me too! I dont have phoenix but i want it so badly.

Why is Mia a catgirl 

Wa-wait, on re-reading this I remember, VX will put choices in the text itself if there's enough space. So it looks like it's reverting to the default scripts after you close the evidence locker...

Why is Mia a catgirl 

Haha I haven't done the sprites for most of the characters yet, I just picked a random one.