[VX] Rendered Fate: Judgement of Anna

TITLE: Rendered Fate: Judgement of Anna

MAKER: RPG Maker: Vx [Scripts from the original RTP, from ModernAlgebra, and from ClaimH, Music by amkrogh89, Icons by these folks here, Windowskin by Casey, titlescreen by both Rin and landofshadows, Gameover screen by mastermoo420, the rest by me or from the RTP]

GENRE:RPG

BREAKDOWN:Rendered Fate:Judgement of Anna is what some would call a "placeholder title", but the story is about a princess, aptly named Anna [not spoiling much there] who runs away from home because of a plot her king has started. This very same plot is one that could end all life. To stop him, she'll need to gain the support of the provinces and de-throne her dad. Simply put, she was destined to stop him, or the world will die trying.

CHARACTERS:
So far I have a total of 8 characters in mind. To keep guesses going, expect there to be some vagueness in the bio. If you haven't played the demo of Stage 1, the add-ons aren't to be read.

• Anna Faralda

Runaway princess of Vale, her father's province. She is the main protagonist of the story, skilled with all sorts of short blades, and knows a lot about the king's plot. Used to sneak out to be with her people.

Spoiler for:

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON ABOUT ANNA
Anna is sort of snobbish when it comes to clothes. She wants the best, a forced habit from when she was still considered royal and not runaway. She sometimes complains or asides about her clothes ruining. She also has a perky side, in that she gets hyper when she hears a friendly voice or name. She even has a caring side in that, when told to leave, she refuses because her people would be endangered.

• Clara Armsworth

Anna's closest lower-class friend, priestess of Clearism, the running religion in the world, and one of 2 side protagonists. Skilled with Whole Magic and all sorts of rods and staffs.

Spoiler for:

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON ABOUT CLARA
Clara is the one who rescues Anna at the beginning. Her lower status prevents her from gaining a snobby, prissy attitude hinted at by Anna's remarks. She takes her job seriously, but acts before she thinks sometimes.

• Zach BoDiah
Lower-class citizen who dreams of becoming a prince or king one day. Skilled with bows and X-bows. He's a bit clumsy, but means the best and is true to his goals.

Spoiler for:

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON ABOUT ZACH
Zach shows a cool-kid attitude in that, when you first see him, he's leaned up against a shop wall. However, his demeanor shows an honest, kind-hearted soul with a bit more caution than Clara.

• Armistice Algarra

Anna's former maid. Allowed her to escape with some coin before getting apprehended by the king's guard. Skilled with pole-weapons and Craft Magic.

• Lynnch Amherson

Leader of the local resistance. Acts tough, but secretly wishes that fighting not be necessary. Skilled with hidden veil weaponry and Arcane Magic.

• Shoto Kobiyama

A mysterious young mage sent to Farwind to eliminate the Dark Magic resonating there. Rambles a lot, but is extremely serious about her work. Scecializes in dual-rods and Craft Magic.

• King Surrdas Faralda

Main antagonist. Wishes to see all the people in the world bow at his feet. No one knows what his skills are, but Dark Magic is the running rumour.

• Aginy

Dark god under sontrol of Surrdas. Wishes to see the world burn. Rumoured to be the creator of Dark Magic.

DEMOS:
All of the demos I post come in a certain detail, typically the # of the storyline I'm currently doing is first, followed by the # of the progress level [which is 0 through possibly 15]. If there are secrets I want to implement into the game, the amount there will be followed by a 3rd number. If not, this 3rd number is omitted.
EXAMPLE: Stage 1.2
               Area 1, Progess 2, Secrets 0

               Stage 2.1.4
               Area 2, Progress 0, Secrets 4

For Beta Stage 1.0, the file is down here. Know that this is EXTREMELY out-of-date right now, and that a new demo is out that corrects some mistakes from 1.0

Spoiler for:

http://www.4shared.com/file/nUVmT-Xx/Project1.html

For beta 1.1, however, the link is here. Including things from the end of demo 1.0 [the crater scene], some new enemies, and even a rare boss encounter, the Lamia. Free battlestart image to the first to get her treasure.

Spoiler for:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cvw5re

Now for the newer release, Beta 1.2, fixing some of the database errors, event placement, and some grammatical/graphical errors. the link is down here.

Spoiler for:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/62uhdm

Next is Beta 1.3 with some more fixes, including game-breakers. There's even some map overhauls.

Spoiler for:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cy73yq

SCREENSHOTS:

Spoiler for:

The new titlescreen for future updates.


A look at the Menu previously used for playtests, plus Anna and Clara during Beta.

The menu seems out of place to me. It's sort of scifi, and i got a more fantasy vibe from the plot and what not.

Thanks, for the reccomendation. The new windowskin is shown below, with a preview of Zach during Beta.


A quick look at the area of Stages 1.0 and 1.1, plus a sneak peek at later sections of the world map.


The first area of 1.1, where you first see Armistice


Half of the farwind Mountains outside map, scaled to 1/8 its original size.

DETAILS:
Stage 1.1 is done, so I'll be switching to edit mode. If you play the demo, I'd kindly ask you to post your thoughts and reccomendations below or PM me about it. This way I can modify each individual issue and include greater detail to your heart's content.

However, I'm still in need of some working data. It's a non-commercial project, home-made, and most of the map and database editing is done by me. In fact, 70% of the work is done by me, the rest is ModernAlgebra for his element efficiency, zombie leader, party max, and battler blink scripts [Thank you kindly, modern], ClaimH for his battle backgrounds script [Thanks, man.], amkrogh89 for his music [Thanks and great work!], Enterbrain for the RTP, Rin and landofshadows for the titlescreen [Nice work, both of you.], mastermoo420 for his gamover screen [Like it, moo.] and Casey for her windowskin [Nice addition, Casey.]

PROGRESS:
With the current string of events, I haven't recieved much feedback on the demos. Aside from D&P3's review [which pointed out some things I missed in playtesting and database processing], and hiromu656's comment [Again, thanks for the tip. I hope the new windowskin works better], I haven't got much to build upon. I need feedback in order to modify the game so that people don't get pissed off at frozen crap.

The demo links are above, and I'm actually asking for you to play the demo and give feedback so I can actually have something to work with.

LITTLE THINGS:

• Lat: common term for Legal administrative tokens, the running currency of the game.
• Whole Magic: The use of creating and casting spells through the use of a single element. Abbreviated to W. Magic during combat.
• Craft Magic: The use of modifying a spell through the use of 2 or more elements to either pinpoint of augment a spell Abbreviated to C. Magic during combat.
• Arcane Magic: The use of creating spell effects through the use of a person's mind and element. Abbreviated to A. Magic during combat.
• Dark Magic: The use of creating spell effects through sinister rituals. Not used by protagonists in-game but many darker bosses use it.

Let me know what you think of my project below. If you want to offer services, send me details below as well. Since I do this part time [what with school and all], I don't have a lot of man-hours to do the work.

Cheers,
Revtattertot.[/list][/list]

The menu seems out of place to me. It's sort of scifi, and i got a more fantasy vibe from the plot and what not.

Thanks for the insight. I apologize if the menu messes things up, but I'm working with what I've got right now.

What'd work with the theme and tone of the game would be a paper-like windowskin, like something from [but not ripping off] FF: Tactics or a more ornate windowskin from a game like Vandal Hearts. Another classic case of wisdom vs. resource.

I like how straightforward you are in the breakdown. It sounds kinda cliche to me, but I've learned that things aren't always as they appear.

As a suggestion, it would be a good idea to space out your paragraphs in your post a little bit and add bold to important sections (Characters, Screenshots, Demo, etc).
I say this because I completely missed the section which contained your demo during my first read.

I will give your demo a try soon

Thanks for the insight. I might get to modding the post again after school. As for the breakdown, I'm trying to go at the cliche at a different angle. To me, making a game is like writing a story, so I'm looking at it like parts of a book [or as the graphics go, like pages in a manga]. That being the case, I'm putting the majority of my effort into the game itself, refining the details, perfecting the events, smoothing out the database.

You might find that I put a great deal of time into actually detailling the maps both on the world and in the towns and dungeons. I had actually noticed that it makes the game a bit easier on larger maps so people can backtrack, and so that people know where places are at, and what people do.

Hope you like the demo. I'm working on the details on Stage 2 soon, adding in a couple new scripts, doing some additional character development [especially with Armistice], and possibly getting that script for the liscences [as mentioned in another post].

Cheers,
Revtattertot.

Why is that download link lead to such a confusing site. I want to download the demo but I'm not even sure how to.

EDIT: JK, I'm blind

Yeah, 4shared.com can make people a bit spiral-eyed in its process. It happened to work for me because I knew it was at least clean. Last time I got something from MediaFire it made my old computer crash.

I at least think about what I give out and how to keep people from losing their desktop/laptop, even if it means having to make a process.

Last time I got something from MediaFire it made my old computer crash.

Maybe you shouldn't be downloading viruses, eh?

I didn't know at the time, and it was a file I needed. Problem is, I've had that problem with MediaFire for a while, where I get a nasty every download [thank GOD for Avira Antivir]. That's why I outright reject it.

Any site which forces me to sign up in order to download your demo is not a good site to host it.

Any good site that isn't MediaFire? I'll switch to those if need be.

Just off the top of my head...

http://www.filefactory.com
http://www.fileflyer.com
http://www.sendspace.com


There are bound to be a lot more.


Doesn't really matter now anyway I already downloaded your game, I just haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

If you decide to reupload to one of those sites, it would be a good idea to rename your project.
I've got quite a few demos from multiple people, so 'Project1' makes me think... "Well what game is this?"

 

Guess I still have a lot to learn about demos and such, but thanks for the insight and the reccomendations. I'll be glad to hear how my game plays to you.

If you want to see changes in the game, let me know so I can update it for Stage 1.1

A few notes to mention just before I even play the game.

We all have the RTP, so you do not need to include this with your demo and it'll save space.
Also your custom music is in .mp3 format. Convert them to .ogg and loop your music; that will save a lot more space as well as keeping the gameplay feel (since the music never fades out).

Spoiler for Commenting as I play it:

Your title screen is just the normal title screen

hmmm... The priestess doesn't say or do anything after she is done talking to me.
The signs also have nothing written on them.

Grammar error: One of the rats are in here. [Replace that are with is.

Inside the enchantment place thingy, you have a wind SFX for no apparent reason, also when talking to the lady, Anna's name is not coloured (it says   \c1]   instead of    \c[1]   )

Guy in town offering for me to catch some fish. He tells me to "just flick your wist like this . . ."      wrist

The building in the top left of your map doesn't allow me to enter it :'(

Interesting way to use the piano in the inn

Whoa, how many chests do you want me to open in the well... God damn.

 :'( Aww... I lost the battle against the captain and the knights.

You need to do something about this 'Stimulant' item, I've entered an endless loop of reviving Clara and that fucking guard killing her the moment she is revived.
It's starting to get on my nerves. Let the stimulant item also heal her by half her HP.

Ah fuck me, finally that asshole dies

Finally gotten past that cave

I'm ending it here, I'm starting to get mad from that many random battles and I had better stop playing for now.

Conclusion: Ok, you definitely need some help for your events, quite a few people don't seem to talk for some reason and there were a few times when Clara attempted to walk back into me (signifying that she has joined the group) but walked in the opposite direction.

Grammar is also something you should look into. It is not bad like some other games I have played, but it is definitely noticeable. Also there are a few other codes you can use in your text besides colour codes.

I would also recommend that you look into something to make the battles feel more lively, that god awful default battle and it's background is absolutely terrible.
And for the love of goodness, reduce the encounter rate for random battles in that freaking cave.

Your Victory ME should also be changed. The one that you're using currently should be used when you defeat boss battles, not regular enemies.
In that cave, The Victory ME would play and I would have already encountered another monster before it faded out...
Seriously, your encounter rate in that cave is terrible.

You should also look into creating a custom title picture for your game. Having the default title screen that simply says 'RPG Maker VX' is not very appealing.


I like the idea of the story and where you're headed with this, but I do hope that it doesn't turn into a cliche story.

Thanks a lot for the insight, and very good notes for Stage 1.1, which should be out before the weekend.


THOUGHTS ON THE REVIEW:
The first boss I kinda wanted to be hard, but the AI in that game makes the enemies practically GANG-BANG certain party members.

Th grammatical errors I honestly didn't notice until now, so props on your part. Just goes to show how sometimes playtesters do more than editors.

The SFX has a reason behind it:
I had wanted certain "Enchanting Altars" to be powered by a certain element. the first town had one that was Wind-elemental, so a wind SFX was needed to emphasize the spell powering it.

And as for the well:
It was supposed to be setup like a bit of a minigame, where you needed more than 250Lat by the time you left, however, I will drop the amount there since it was hell on people. I think 10 chests should be enough.

I really should Add a door to that town hall with a conditional branch.

I already sent a request for a Title screen to Rin, so until then, That's the best I can do.

Encounter rate duely noted, I had that changed for 1.1 right after I got done with the actual end of 1.0.

Coding and stuff for the events is already being processed, so bear with me.

I'm also processing the database again for errors in the items.

How about Enc Rate = 45? Will that be enough?

I'm guessing you don't like the cave.

The cave is fine, random battles in all RPGs piss me off.

Some just have a higher encounter rate than others, and the randomness of those battles always ends up making me cringe after awhile.

This is why I like map monster encounters better.

I have never gotten pissed off whilst playing 'Tales of Symphonia' due to battle encounters

45 should be much better

And be sure that the revive item restores enough HP for your characters to survive another hit in the game.

For my own, I just set the revive item to restore 30% of the characters HP and that usually saves them from dying the moment they revive

I noticed it too on my program testing. That's why I said that i noticed not just the captain ganbang Clara, but also the guards.

Little tip: Kill the captain first, saves you a LOT of trouble.

Just a quick update on the post showing the new titlescreen for later demos and products of Rendered Fate.

The Armistice screenshot looks really cool. You should add those flowing lava events on the lavafalls though. It'd look a bit nicer.

Done and done.

Wow, for some reason I've forgotten to play your demo, but I've had it for a couple weeks now.. I'll get to it right this moment and get back with what I thought of it.

Do you have 1.0 or 1.1? If you have 1.0, there's bugs in it that 1.1 fixed.

I have 1.1 (I think), I only played for like 10 minutes or so. I was in a town then I went down a well, collected some money then fought with some soldiers. I thought I was meant to lose that fight when one of the soldiers were revived, so I just accepted defeat and found out that I wasn't supposed to lose, foolish me. But I haven't replayed it since then, which was like an hour ago.

A little advice on that town you begin in, try to remove those blocks of dirt that seem to be frequently found under people's feet. Also it'd be a good idea to make the town more compact to remove that unwanted open space.

If this is 1.1, which I'm not really sure if it is or not, I'll keep playing and see what else is in store.

TOWN: The 1st town you start in is really set up more like an outpost-like village, so to replicate that I created a bigger map and spaced out the buildings a bit. When that happened, I found out I had a lot of open, negative space, so to compensate I decorated the town a bit. If there is still negative space in the town, I apologize for that, as that wasn't my intention, I assure you.

BOSSFIGHT: As I said to Chris 3, the 1st was was supposed to be hard. Every boss in the game requires at least SOME shred of strategy if you want it to be easy, kind of like a little reward for thinking.

Spoiler for:

In that one, because the guard in the middle revives the guards on the outside edges, the strategy for the fight is to take out the captain, and the pyons would drop in like 1 round each.

DIRT BLOCKS: I took a look back into the map for the 1st town, and noticed there weren't actually that many events with dirt blocks under them. I think the one you noticed was the tile under the little girl, all the others were on grass tiles.

I changed it for 1.2, which isnt due until significant changes are made. Depending on the feedback, that could be from a week to a month, so that I can fix what needs to be fixed. If you still notice those dirt blocks when the updated demo comes out, let me know, because in my editor it shows up as fixed.

Out of curiosity, how long does your current uploaded demo have in regards to playability?

How many hours do you estimate I would be playing it before I manage to complete it?