This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here »
Originally posted in eZine issue 1
Fear of Life, the latest game from the lovely ValentineEnigma,is a grim journey through the bowels of the worst city on
the planet during its darkest hour. In her own words, “Fear of Life is a modern thriller RPG based around a young woman named Morgan
Macaan who finds her life turned upside down when she's brutally murdered three days before her birthday.” Astonishingly well constructed
(undoubtedly among the best of the RMXP community) and full of “a bit of camp, a bit of kitsch, and full of sarcasm and substance
abuse”, Fear of Life is an anticipated title that encompasses all the elements that make a good RPG.
A former RM2k/3 project, Fear of Life was ultimately brought to the RMXP community to take advantage of the program’s scripting
and graphic advancements. Valentine is certainly sparing no effort in creating the game; several years of plot development and graphics
work date back to, as she recalls, “February of 2004 if my memory serves right.” The original incarnation of the game was “a mixture of
many different things, but the entire plot came out while listening to a song called Fear, by Sarah McLachlan.”
Fortunately, an advance copy of the upcoming demo (expands on the teaser in terms of plot and gameplay) weaseled itself
into my possession. If the teaser blew you away, the demo will astound you. In fact, the new demo will more than likely be out well
before this article is published.
Despite this, I won’t spoil it, but some of the things done in the demo stretch the limits of RMXP to the max. The voice acting,
done by the extremely talented Fairuza of the Voice Acting Alliance, is very good and meshes well with the feel of the game. While definitely
not for the kiddies, the new demo is likely to be at least semiappropriate for teens and up. You will get a taste of the dark tale in
store for Morgan in the rest of the game; the tale of the Nephilim, the beast lurking in the shadows of Canave, will be introduced, as
well as some revealing details about the shadowy cult group that plagues the city.
What the demo is sadly lacking is any battle system; while it will be a “traditional side view battle system”, the next release of
ccoa’s CBS won’t be available for a few weeks or more. Rather than having to haphazardly import a script and upgrade later, Valentine is
wisely choosing to wait until the new version, with more features and options. The result is a demo that focuses on Fear of Life’s signature
puzzles and interactive scenery. Levels are also largely open-ended; Valentine comments, “You'll be able to take various different routes
through the city to your destination, from the rooftops to the sewers.” Puzzles are well-developed so far, and the environments are highly interactive. Also interesting is a highly interactive map system
developed by Xk8 that features an active map.
The game’s graphics are stunning as well; Valentine is an experienced spriter. Every sprite, from the cops to Morgan herself, is detailed fully and features well-balanced shading that matches Canave’s hulking, cavernous feel perfectly.
Fear of Life is shaping up to be an impressive project that will truly revolutionize the RMXP community. As the advancement in the utilizations of the program’s features continues, one can only hope
more games like Fear of Life emerge. Valentine has a useful pieces of advice; “Never give too much away. I see far too many games that lay out practically the entire plot on a silver platter within the first
five minutes. The best thing you can do to hold people's interest is get them interested in what's going to happen next.”
She also wishes the RMXP community goodwill and luck on their projects, emphasizing the commitment needed to finish a large-scale project. “Good luck to everyone out there working on a project.
It's a tough road and it takes a lot of blood sweat and tears, but you'll get there. Just don't give up!” Surely, if enough people persist, we can hope to see a number of projects following Fear of
Life’s brilliant example.
Review by Treg
Tags:
Posted under: Game Reviews
Read this blog post »
Originally posted in eZine issue 1
Fear of Life, the latest game from the lovely ValentineEnigma,is a grim journey through the bowels of the worst city on
the planet during its darkest hour. In her own words, “Fear of Life is a modern thriller RPG based around a young woman named Morgan
Macaan who finds her life turned upside down when she's brutally murdered three days before her birthday.” Astonishingly well constructed
(undoubtedly among the best of the RMXP community) and full of “a bit of camp, a bit of kitsch, and full of sarcasm and substance
abuse”, Fear of Life is an anticipated title that encompasses all the elements that make a good RPG.
A former RM2k/3 project, Fear of Life was ultimately brought to the RMXP community to take advantage of the program’s scripting
and graphic advancements. Valentine is certainly sparing no effort in creating the game; several years of plot development and graphics
work date back to, as she recalls, “February of 2004 if my memory serves right.” The original incarnation of the game was “a mixture of
many different things, but the entire plot came out while listening to a song called Fear, by Sarah McLachlan.”
Fortunately, an advance copy of the upcoming demo (expands on the teaser in terms of plot and gameplay) weaseled itself
into my possession. If the teaser blew you away, the demo will astound you. In fact, the new demo will more than likely be out well
before this article is published.
Despite this, I won’t spoil it, but some of the things done in the demo stretch the limits of RMXP to the max. The voice acting,
done by the extremely talented Fairuza of the Voice Acting Alliance, is very good and meshes well with the feel of the game. While definitely
not for the kiddies, the new demo is likely to be at least semiappropriate for teens and up. You will get a taste of the dark tale in
store for Morgan in the rest of the game; the tale of the Nephilim, the beast lurking in the shadows of Canave, will be introduced, as
well as some revealing details about the shadowy cult group that plagues the city.
What the demo is sadly lacking is any battle system; while it will be a “traditional side view battle system”, the next release of
ccoa’s CBS won’t be available for a few weeks or more. Rather than having to haphazardly import a script and upgrade later, Valentine is
wisely choosing to wait until the new version, with more features and options. The result is a demo that focuses on Fear of Life’s signature
puzzles and interactive scenery. Levels are also largely open-ended; Valentine comments, “You'll be able to take various different routes
through the city to your destination, from the rooftops to the sewers.” Puzzles are well-developed so far, and the environments are highly interactive. Also interesting is a highly interactive map system
developed by Xk8 that features an active map.
The game’s graphics are stunning as well; Valentine is an experienced spriter. Every sprite, from the cops to Morgan herself, is detailed fully and features well-balanced shading that matches Canave’s hulking, cavernous feel perfectly.
Fear of Life is shaping up to be an impressive project that will truly revolutionize the RMXP community. As the advancement in the utilizations of the program’s features continues, one can only hope
more games like Fear of Life emerge. Valentine has a useful pieces of advice; “Never give too much away. I see far too many games that lay out practically the entire plot on a silver platter within the first
five minutes. The best thing you can do to hold people's interest is get them interested in what's going to happen next.”
She also wishes the RMXP community goodwill and luck on their projects, emphasizing the commitment needed to finish a large-scale project. “Good luck to everyone out there working on a project.
It's a tough road and it takes a lot of blood sweat and tears, but you'll get there. Just don't give up!” Surely, if enough people persist, we can hope to see a number of projects following Fear of
Life’s brilliant example.
Review by Treg
Tags:
Posted under: Game Reviews
Read this blog post »