[DEMO(n)] Demon Tower

[Crazetex]

Demon Tower Demon Tower
Demon Demon DEMON TOWER

DEMON TOWER

Welcome to Demon Tower. Are you ready for something--something wonderful?

Click here to download Demon Tower!
IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DOWNLOADED DEMON TOWER AND ARE EXPERIENCING LAG, PLEASE REFER TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

Basic Premise
Demon Tower is the story of fourteen souls climbing a large tower infested with fierce demons. Not all is as it seems, however, and there seems to be dischord within the legions of evil...

Demon Slaying 101
So, you've heard of a dragonslayer, eh? A lone knight, chasing a mightly wyrm and saving the princess it stole. Well, Demon Tower expands this. Demons aren't any sissy earth-dragons, that's for damn sure. You'll need your entire army of fourteen characters to take down these monsters. And the princess? Well, she's pretty as ever, but not exactly, shall we say, healthy.

The Fourteen Souls

Kristoph, the Knight Awry -- Man trying to regain political favor

Darren, the Dark Champion-- Quit the Arena due to his demonic pacts

Goldurn, the Guardian -- Warlord cursed by a double-edged artifact

Stefan the Seadog-- Pirate on a quest for fame and treasure

Felix, the Focused One -- Young monk avenging his fallen peers

Ha'naan the Hooker-- Attempting to rescue a trapped man

Never-age, the Ninja -- The mystic bodyguard of Eon Feather

Princess the Pyromancer-- With her amnesia, her doubts, her weakness...

Illinois, the Ice Magus -- Seeking revenge after the murder of his wife

Eon Feather the Epic Savant-- One with the Celunio force

Collin, the Coin Wizard -- Eccentric gambler

Martin IV the Medic-- Run-away teenager looking to become Dr. Pain

Apnis, the Acolyte -- Holy cleric of the strong Light Goddess Helena

Titania the Troubador Queen-- Challenged to prove herself to her bards

Exploring the Tower
The Demon Tower is split into a number of tiers--six floors each, and home to a demon. The higher you go, the more obscure it gets, and the better the treasure you find. Said treasure is arranged by tier: in brown chests, you'll find magical items worthy of your current tier. If you happen upon a special red chest, then hoo baby, you'll be rewarded with a magic item from the next tier up. Since these items are randomly chosen from a large list of Essence and weapons, every climb of the tower will yield new items, new toys, new strategies.

What is Essence? Essence is a mystic energy that forms into solid objects--almost. Essential items can mold into each other, meaning that even if you have two shield-like Essence on a tank character, you'll gain the benefits from both. A character can equip a weapon, a Soulpin, and four Essential items at the cost of Mana. Mana represents how much magical equipment a character can wear without going insane. While Mana probably won't be an issue early on, when you amass a great deal of Essence you'll need to start thinking about who really needs what.

Fending Off Monsters
Monsters in Demon Tower are encountered on the map, when you want to. Some groups may block passages, some may contain elite abominations, some may just be hanging out. Whatever the position, all monster encounters are unique: you'll never have to fight the same assembly of enemies twice! You can engage in Rebattle, however: by activating the defeated enemy icon (a slime as opposed to a wyvern or dragon), you'll fight a tougher version of that monster group. This is useful if you want a specific item drop or desire a little extra AP, but is totally optional and not necessary in order to complete the game successfully.

AP is a secondary form of experience (as with most RPGs, experience is EXP). While all fourteen characters earn EXP post-battle, AP is only gained while a character is in the battle party. When characters reach certain levels of AP, they gain a new skill. AP and the amount needed for the next skill can be seen in the Character part of the menu.

Why YOU Should Play Demon Tower
Here are few reasons:

• The game is free!
• You can take down some epic foes with an elite army of fourteen characters
• The full game will feature nine tiers of play, and the demo showcases the first two
• Each character has their own unique skillset, made to excel both on their own and in synergy with others
• While primarily a team-based rogue-likeish dungeon crawl, Demon Tower offers a medium-paced story involving demons, power struggles, a mystic force known as the Celunio, and a dark prophecy of death
• It's a high-quality game made by Craze!

http://www.rpgmaker.net/games/878/
Click the link to download Demon Tower!

If you have not already downloaded Demon Tower and the game is lagging, please download and apply this small fix--instructions and reasons are included in a .txt file within the zip.
http://www.rpgmaker.net/~craze/DEMONTOW ... _Fix01.zip


Thanks to: Karsuman, KGC, MrAnonymous, sandgolem, modern_algebra, Solstice, ERZENGEL, Magica, woratana, Vixotic, Khai, and CRAZE holy demonpoop. The monster graphics are by etolier studios and the facesets are by somebody I don't know! If anybody could tell me who made them, that would be awesome. Character/tile graphics are from RM2k/3.

If you want to know how something in the game was done, please ask me instead of just taking a random script out and pasting it into your game. Chances are that it will not work as intended because I've modded pretty much everything. I'll be happy to explain/show/link you to anything you want to know about, systems-wise.

 

[Xephyr]

Wow, this looks surprisingly good.  I might download it later and give some more impressions.

 

[Crazetex]

Hey Xephyr, did you download this game? Or, for that matter, did anybody else on rmxp.org? I'm really curious to know what you think about it.

For inspiration/motivation, try this mini-review of the game:

Count Zero? Seriously???

Max Takes On Demon Tower

The first forty eight minutes of Demon Tower contain more PURE UNADULTERATED FUN than the entire of most RPG Maker games PUT TOGETHER. While I will be playing every other release for the sake of doing my duty for the community, I am playing Demon Tower for pure pleasure, which is completely different.

The battle mechanics are incredibly deep, fascinating, and surprisingly solid. The characters are interesting, both as people, and as collections of skills. The slow unveil- always humorous- of the mysteries behind their relationships and motives are extremely fascinating. The intro is just about the coolest thing ever.

I have two complaints. One is that for reasons I cannot even fathom, this game lags worse than any RM game I've ever played on my computer. Two is that I would really like to be getting MORE MAGICAL LOOT. But these are both relatively minor things. Ultimately...

This game is like the fourteen quirkiest, most brilliant people you can imagine playing a DERANGED game of D&D with a DM who is quirkier and more brilliant than all of them combined. I strongly endorse this game.

That bit about the lag? Fixed in the current version of the demo (you don't need to download the patch).  Have fun! =D

 

[Xephyr]

Just gone done playing the demo.

I was pleasantly surprised.  The battle system was fun and the characters were pretty awesome all around.  I liked how you used rm2k3 graphics too.  I liked pretty much everything about it.  I didn't get any lag either.

I recommend this to pretty much anyone.  Seriously, it was fun.

 

[Crazetex]

Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback and the recommendation, Xephyr! That's quite a bit of encouragement--for me to keep working on Demon Tower, and for others to play it.

So, like, people of .org, why aren't you playing this game? Go on, live a little. It's not like you can tackle epic demons every day. =D

 

[nick5674398]

I think I'm a little more than half done of the demo, and I have to say it's an awesome game! The characters are great, the idea is awesome, and the skills are creative and battles are fun. That first demon boss was challenging! It took me a lot of regrouping to take him down .

Just a little suggestion is maybe you could add a puzzle to each tier, not a complex one or anything, just a little puzzle that makes you think and switch up the game play a little. Just a suggestion though it will still be a great game without it. Maybe you already did though, I never played through the whole thing lol.

Good luck with the game, keep working on it!

 

[Crazetex]

Later tiers (starting with tier three) will be more puzzle-oriented. The game slowly shifts from battles to puzzles (essentially making it a bunch of mini-bosses instead of normal encounters). Thanks for taking an intrest in the game, nick. =D

 

[Surmuck]

This sounds like it's being pretty well recieved; and despite the somewhat lame pun in the topic I'll give it a try sometime today.

 

[Diedrupo]

hey a new Crazetex game! i am downloading this now.

 

[xgamexfreakx]

This sounds really cool actually. I'm downloading as I'm typing so I'll be back to get you a review of what I thought!

 

[Necro_100000]

Trade it out. Got to say I like your style! It's a nice spin on how you learn abilities and such. Good job man!

(On floor 4 right now. Count Zero made me laugh)

 

[Crazetex]

Hey-hey you-guys care to tell me anything?

In a less Canadian singer-esque form: lots of people (Diedrupo <3) have said that they're downloading the game, but I have recieved so few actual replies! :boo: C'mon, y'all know that it's for the greater good that you play Demon :devil: Tower!

:down: :down: :down:

 

[Crazetex]

Update:
Demon Tower is now the featured game on rpgmaker.net! Just another reason to download the game and try it out. Also, podcast host and general cool guy Brandon Abley has written a review:

The 47th Amateur Game Made by Craze - Doubles as Work of Genius

Prolific community member Craze has made somewhere between 40 and 900,000 games. Most of them have been unfinished and almost all of them have been produced with some version of RPGMaker. There are common threads running through all of his games: they are all eastern-style Role Playing Games, employ unusual gameplay systems, are profoundly but subversively crass, always feature homosexual characters, and are always pretty good. Demon Tower has all of these qualities, but with a key distinction: it is one of the most clever, well-designed, and fun amateur RPGs I have ever played.

Demon Tower has an extremely straight-forward setup: the party of intrepid adventurers is climbing a tower full of demons. The party has to kill these demons in order to advance. Battles are fought in a first-person, turn-based battle system with a minimum of animation. Traps are hidden everywhere around the tower, and have a variety of negative effects. Gamers over the age of 25 probably grew up playing games like this (Gold Box titles and Wizardry in particular) and gamers under the age of 25 have probably played tributes to games like this (Etrian Odyssey). Demon Tower is a dungeon crawler, through and through. It could be placed in any different setting – Demon Castle, Demon Forest, Demon Space Station – and it would still be the same game. Despite its hackneyed premise however, Demon Tower is an excellent game because it has exceptional mechanics, design, and a ton of personality.

In Demon Tower, the player does not create his own party, but he is offered so many different options that just about any play style is viable. There are 14 different characters in the player's battle party, and the player has access to every one of them all of the time. Each character is unique and has access to their own skillset (though they do fall into loose categories of Tank, Fighter, Magic, and Support). None of the characters are customizable beyond their equipment sets, but since there are so many to choose from, the player does feel some ownership for his customized battle party.

These characters aren't just specialized, interchangeable drones – they are characters with character. They have histories, objectives, and relationships with each other. The entire story of Demon Tower is revealed through short, five-sentence conversations between any of the 14 characters. Sometimes, this occurs in the middle of a battle, in response to triggering a trap, or completely randomly. The writing is concise and effective, and Craze tells a lot of story through short phrases like this. It's a surprisingly effective means of storytelling that provides context but does not break the game flow.

Demon Tower is a triumph because it takes advantage of its featureset and incorporates it into a wonderful design. The first floors of the tower are pretty straight-forward, but they quickly turn into winding mazes full of traps, options, and multiple paths to success. Every enemy encounter is challenging, but not too difficult as long as the player is able to effectively use the many options at their disposal. There is true strategy to dungeon crawling and monster slaying in Demon Tower.

One event that stands out in particular is the first major boss. This is a brutal battle against a foe who gets progressively more desperate and violent as the battle rages on. In this battle, I had to swap all 14 of my party members in and out of the front line, and by the end of the battle, all but two of them had been killed. It was as tense and visceral an experience as a battle system with almost no animation could possibly provide.

Demon Tower's aesthetics are fine but unexceptional. All resources are royalty-free RPGMaker graphics or public-domain cartoons. The interfaces are functional and well-programmed and provide ready access to the many new features Demon Tower provides.

Demon Tower is an excellent game that is recommended to everyone who likes dungeon crawlers. It has just enough new features to set it apart from other RPGs, with game design and writing that is good enough to maintain player interest.

This review is written for the initial release of Demon Tower featuring the first 1/4 of the game.

And speaking of podcasts--two out of the three hosts on the last RMN podcast described Demon Tower as their favorite Release Something! V offering.

Why aren't you playing this?

 

[coyotecraft]

I played your game, Demo?
It was different. The intro was cool and then, BAM!, your in a dungeon with a full cast of party members with no explanation.
It took me a while to figure it out. People who aren't in my party are talking to themselfs. Wait, they are in my party, when did that happen? Gha, I died in the second battle. I learned a skill while running away? I can change my party during battle? No wonder the battles are so long. :crazy:
It definitely has it's difficulties. A little boring, but the rate of learning new skills kept it interesting.
I made it up past the first boss demon guy and stopped.
I wish there was a dash option, it's annoying to walk to the far corner only to turn around and walk back.

 

[Crazetex]

Yes, it's a three-four hour demo. There is a dash option--hold <shift>. Also, the story is not important in this game.


At all.

It's about throwing armies of characters against demons. It's fun (to most people) and... yeah. Two podcasts say that it's good and full of innuendo. You guys should try it!

 

[Fustel]

Errr.... seems there is a problem with the download link :dead:

 

[Crazetex]

Can you give me more detail with your problem? I can go to the download page just fine.

 

[Fustel]

Forget it... seems to have been a temporary problem.
It works perfectly now.

 

[Crazetex]

Hey Fustel, did you ever play this? I'm curious to know what you think. =D