[VX]Netherquest 0.83b (11/24/2017)

[IXFURU]

a project by Ixfuru

[spoiler=INTRO AND HISTORY OF NQ]
NetherQuest was created in table-top form over a decade ago as something to kill time between a group of friends.  It was developed in the form of 13 notebooks and using dice and Trivial Pursuit pie pieces as the table-top characters.  The game became so popular in the little neighborhood, that it even spawned two versus games and the start of a sequel before it all came to an end with the main players moving away.

Fast-forward about six or seven years, when I stumbled upon RPGMakerVX and set out to turn the aging, discolored notebooks of NetherQuest into a playable PC RPG.

Well, this didn't go so well.  With events, it just wasn't possible to do what I needed it to do in order to accurately play like the neighborhood version.  So, giving up, I switched to various new projects.  But in my mind, nothing compared to NQ, and I was determined to make it work. Thus, I tried again.

And once again, I failed.  This time, I scoured around the RPGMaker sites in search of scripts I could use to transform the game into the table-top version.  And I admittedly got a little closer this time.  Yet, in the end, I was left scratching my head.  Folks just weren't about to script me up a battle system, or an in-depth inventory system.  There was only one other choice...I had to learn Ruby!

So, I set out studying everything I could find.  I slapped together a few small scripts, then more.  Suddenly, after only two or three more years, I was finally able to script enough to create NQ the way it deserved to be created.  And that's just what I did.

Now, 400 scripts later and a year and a half having gone by, it's time to share it with you here on RMRK.net. I present to you,

NETHERQUEST
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=STORY]
Rulers have perished before.  They have died of old age.  They have met their fates in accidents.  They have even been the victim of foul, conspiracies and assassinations.  Yet never has there been one as beloved as this one.  His death seems to be the last in the divine signs, signaling some dark era.  Just as he rose to power having ended the greatest conflict the world had ever seen, the new darkness awakens in a realm he can no longer subdue.

[spoiler=The Gray]

The fallen emperor's people and controllers of the political landscape on the continent.  Strong militarily.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The Fole]

The once powerful ancient tribe who stay in the northern mountains.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The Vanian]

The nobles of the south who tend to keep out of continental disputes and cling to royal traditions.
[/spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=FEATURES]
-Custom tactical battlefields as part of a battle system which bypasses the database altogether
-bypassed database actors, replaced with deeply-customizable playable characters, having over 40 parameters, unique leveling systems, and up to 20 equip slots
-detailed inventory system with stack-able items, weight, and the ability to pass items between characters
-spell/skill systems which level alongside main character leveling, level spell and skill level in order to receive better skills/spells; choose which ones you want at what time.
-npc system; probably the deepest part of the game, interaction with npcs is deeply engaging, harkening back to Morrowind , but allowing new features like mind-reading and gift exchanges.
-world atlas;  allows you to track where you are, fast traveling and marks exactly those places you've discovered.
-journal;  highly customizable, the journal only tracks what you want it to.  No more, automatic journal entries.  You push the button when you want to add what characters say to you and the system stores the text under their name
-options;  change the windowskin at anytime, choosing between literally dozens of new schemes
-file system; unique to NQ, the file manager scene tracks location, playtime and the level of each character
-lore;  a very deep history is revealed in quick hit paragraphs on the menu, or in the form of books
-map hud; can hide/show at leisure so that it doesn't cause lag all the time and doesn't invade your screen
-leader shift; allows you to quickly change party leader with push of a button
-drop points; allow you to add/remove characters from your party
-random treasures;  system which makes some chests random, so that they won't be the same next time through
-Weather
-Gambling
-Fortune Telling
-Jumping, Climbing, Pushing inanimate items, etc.
-and so much more...
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=CHARACTERS]

[spoiler=Ixesperus]

the young heir to a throne in the south
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Dufuta]

the reclusive mage from the mountains
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Neru]

the world traveler and adventurer
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Supheus]

the late emperor
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Lassian]

the new emperor
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Agmi]

the statesman from the north, representing an ancient people
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Rethrick]

the mysterious cleric who contacts the heavens
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Dunn]

the high priest of the Gray Regime
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Vina]

the reigning queen of the Southland and mother of Ixesperus
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Mudg]

a magical Fole kid in the segregated city of Cruces
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Moyziun]

the Mage School instructor
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=May]

a clairvoyant citizen of Gren
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Solomon]

Town Chief of Koza
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Bobelle]

Chieftress of Turline
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Drigdruvere]

mad medician of the Gray Regime
[/spoiler]

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Screenshots]

FORGING:


SHOPPING AT MARY'S


BATTLE EFFECTS CHAINS


CHARACTER CREATION EFFECTS WINDOW


COMMUNICATING WITH A GHOST


TURNING FOES TO BONES


PROFILING A FOE IN BATTLE


RANDOM HOME IN BOSALY


ENEMY LOG


WANDERING THE HALLS OF A CASTLE


IT'S RAINING IN GREN


TARGETING THE WITCH FOR HEALING?


GRAY GOONS KEEPING OUT THE LOITERERS


GREN'S CHIEF HALL


EXPLORING SAVED NPC INFORMATION


DATA ON A CITIZEN OF PESSERAK


CONVERSING WITH A RICH GUY


LEVELING UP


THE CHIEF WOULD LIKE A WORD WITH YOU


MESSAGE FROM A 'MYTH'

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=DEMO]
NETHERQUEST 0.83b
This demo is about 438 MB.  It's 60+ hours.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=CREDITS]
[spoiler=Artwork]
Heisenman
Ayene
Celianna
Avadan
RPGLover
Lovely Blue
NatasiaWolf
Johnny0798
Closet
Enterbrain
Mack
Andinator
apoc
Neosky
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Scripting]
I nearly all of this, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the following contributions:
ModernAlgebra's ATS 3.0
Mithrans Prevent Critical Graphics Object
???nOBodY???'s SGEN
ModernAlgebra's Screenshot
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Music]
AaronKrogh
Priya
Gyro
OperationHexagon
SoundJay
J-Run
Margor3000
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Playtesters]
Wife, Jenimae
Kids, Jarps and Barps
Dad, Elmo
Nephew, Bubba
housekeeping
dizzyinc
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Tools of the Trade]
Omegas7's Icon Viewer
Aindra's Windowskin Generator
Damien's CharacterCreator
Jet's SpriteTools
Gimp
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=KNOWN BUGS]
-effects range : FIXED (version 0.81)
-equip scene fast preview : If you go to the equip scene and immediately try to Y Button preview the equipment of an actor, when you back out with B Button, the preview window doesn't disappear
-shapechange_foe : This occurs when you try to alter the 'shape' of an enemy for some reason.
[/spoiler]

[&&&&&&&&&&&&&]

Downloading now.

[IXFURU]

Downloading now.

Cool.  Let me know how it goes. :O)

[yuyu!]

Ixesperus looks so cool *___*

[IXFURU]

Ixesperus looks so cool *___*

Thanks yuyu!

************************************************
Been working on some graphical stuff and redoing the intro scene as I take breaks between
finishing the last playable town.  NPCs, with the system, tend to require about a half-hour to hour work
each.  And the difficult ones, town chiefs, great villagers, etc.  They take longer.  So it's a lot of coding.

At any rate, I've been using the time to fix all my cutscenes by taking out those 'pre-made'  backgrounds and
making them all out of tiles.  Here's a few I have done so far.

[spoiler=Cutscene Backgrounds]

This ones kinda empty, but I'm gonna add stuff to it in different scenes hopefully.


The ole Beach scene at the beginning of the game


Here's a 'trying to leave town to early' scene


Sickly girl scene


In an old mine


Snooping around in someones house


In a church

[/spoiler]

And here is a shot from the new intro, using the redone Crowd Parallax I made.  This time, there's no people chopped in half, or people in the back overlapping the front people and such.  I really took my time with it and  it all came together nicely:

[spoiler=Lassian Faces the Crowd]

[/spoiler]

Anyway, none of these things will be visible in the game until the next update I'm afraid.  But I'll try to re-update as soon as the town's finished.

[Miss Nile]

Wow, I must say I'm impressed. More by your persistence on doing this and making it come true than anything! It looks like a lot of work and effort was put in this game and still. Good luck!

I'll be downloading it as soon as I can and letting you know of my opinion.

[IXFURU]

I'll be downloading it as soon as I can and letting you know of my opinion.

I would appreciate that.  Thank you.  And thanks for the kind words!

********IMAGES FROM THE PAST*********
This spoiler contains images from the original 13 notebooks of NetherQuest table top.

[spoiler=Original NQ TableTop]

Think of this one as the database items!


This is the original world map design.  Compare it to the one in the OP.


Original drawing and parameters of DUFUTA.


A playable map of the CULVIAN UNDERWORLD, see how the spaces are.  That makes it
translatable to the coordinates of RPGMaker!


This is one of the wife's original character sheets. This is like the menu system.


Here's an original NQ shop.


'Database'-type enemy sheet for a Polar Wolf


The CAVE OF RUMAHAJ

[/spoiler]

[IXFURU]

Okay.  I've updated this project to version 1.0f

This basically implements the new Title Scene which is finally finished and fixed and rearranged some parts of the opening cutscenes.

This includes a new opening track by Margor3000!

[sylphries]

http://imgur.com/a/LmTDj any fix for this?

[IXFURU]

I'm sorry it took so long to notice this sylphries!   Anyway.  Yes, but you'll have to pick up the new version to fix it.  This was a script error that occurred in the last version.  The link to the new version will be below, and I'll update the original post.  You will probably need to move your save file over to the new project.  I hope that fixes it for you.  You were in the Tomb of Slain Souls?  If that doesn't work, then you'll probably have to restart the game.  But I think it will work.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/oohocraghl7lexf/nqinstV0_81.exe

[IXFURU]

NetherQuest has been upgraded to version 0.82.  This new version adds several new systems to the project, including smithing and the early stages of the 'battlezone', which is the secondary battle system of NQ.  From the last version, there have been over 50 new NPCs added in the new city of 'Cruces' which has been completed as well.  The nation of NOR is complete in its exterior, but there are still two locations that can be 'discovered', but you can't do much there.  The new version probably adds about 5-10 hours of gameplay. 

There have been some alterations to the main characters looks, but this post shall not reflect it just yet, until I'm certain that things will stay this way.

[IXFURU]

NETHERQUEST version 0.83b is here!   

This installment features the following upgrades to 0.82:

-Implemented character creation info window, describing bonuses given for each character trait taken.
-Finished the dungeon, Mount Orion. However, Battlezones are still not completely functional.
-Smithing system has been implemented.
-Fort Dunn map has been completed. However, all NPCs at Fort Dunn are not complete.
-Implemented a new Battle System Feature that pops up any bonuses an actor has upon attacking.
-Identify System is now fully functional
-Added a party stat and parameter sorting scene from the menu (in the 'Score' tab).
-Fixed glitches in the weight scene
-Worked to reduce lag when digging (still not completey right!)
-Fixed an abbundance of minor type-o mistakes in text and NPC conversations.
-Fixed minor glitches to numerous to count or display

Original Post has been altered to display screenshots of these new features and to add current content and download.
A big thanks to all of you who have given NetherQuest a chance!  Remember to share your Screenies, your comments, and your suggestions. 

Version 0.83b allows up to about 90 hours gameplay if the player is thorough.  About 50 or 60 hours if you zoom through it.