Elf's Dairy

[Starmage]

Spoiler

Hello guys! In God’s goodness, here’s another short 2 hours long RMVXace game that I made while I paused development on Rave Heart for a while. xD This short is made as an entry for the RPG maker 28th birthday, Full game category. I really enjoyed making this game and I sure hope that you guys will also enjoy playing it. ^_^

Spoiler

In the isolated town of Karonna, there was a young boy named Faint. Born as a half-Elf, half-Fairy, his compassionate nature lead him to dream of serving the people of Karonna. With the assistance of his friends, Rue and Kailah, he forms his own guild.

With monsters attacking the people of Karonna continuously, Faint's new guild is put to the test. Can they prove their worth to the mayor, and overcome this challenge? What other challenges could await them?

Playable Characters:

Spoiler

Name: Faint
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Zodiac: Leo
Description: Faint is a young Fairy Elf who has always dreamed of being in service to the people of Karonna. He’s a very kind and gentle being, very innocent, even. Unfortunately, there are a few people in Karonna who likes to bully and mistreat Faint just because he is born different. Do not be fooled by his harmless demeanor though, as Faint is actually a skilled fighter and healer who’s very dedicated in protecting the innocents.

Name: Kailah
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Zodiac: Virgo
Description: Kailah is one of Faint's childhood friends. She joins Faint on his quest to building a guild dedicated in protecting the town. Kailah is a very charming, straight-forward and systematic young lady. She is highly skilled in magic.

Name: Rue
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Zodiac: Aquarius
Description: Rue is one of Faint's childhood friends. He is an adventurous spirit who immediately joined Faint on his quest to protecting the town with their new found guild. Rue is a good friend to Faint, but is quite known for his temper. He can be emo and dark at times, too. He is very independent, though.

Name: Ven
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Zodiac: Pisces
Description: Ven is an eager warrior who wishes to join Faint's guild to protect the town. He may be quite young, but Ven is actually already a married man, a father, and a skilled warrior. Ven is very chill to be around, and he's loyalty, bravery and selfless-ness knows no bounds.

Name: Jinn
Gender:Female
Age: 20
Zodiac: Gemini
Description: Jinn is a very pious woman who's devoted to Sunday masses at the Karonna church. She's very friendly, outgoing, religious and virtuous. Jinn joined Faint's guild shortly after knowing all about it from the Priest. She likes to call Faint her BFF and gets angry when Faint doesn't do the same.

Name: Madel
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Zodiac: Taurus
Description: Madel has always been Faint's secret admirer even since he started creating the guild. He sees Faint as her "Knight in Shining Armor", ready to sweep her off her feet. But Madel's quirky and naive nature makes it difficult for her to express herself, even though she's quite expressive. Madel joined Faint's guild shortly, and is quite skilled with the bow.

NPCs (Non-playable Characters):

Spoiler

Faint's Parents (Info below from left to right)
Name: Rolf and Ryla
Gender: Male / Female
Age: 49 / 44
Zodiac: Scorpio / Aquarius
Description: Faint's parents have always been supportive towards their two sons. Faint's elder brother, Mak, was actually adopted by Rolf and Ryla, when he was left at their doorstep during his infancy. But both parents still loved Mak as their own, just as they loved Faint. Rolf, though supportive, can be quite cautious and worry-some with how Faint is leading a dangerous path. Ryla, on the other hand, is very supportive towards Faint and believes in his capabilities.

Name: Mak
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Zodiac: Cancer
Description: Mak is Faint's adoptive elder brother. He was left at their family's doorstep when he was an infant. Mak is always seen hanging around with his friend Eman.

Name: Eman
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Zodiac: Gemini
Description: Eman is Mak's bestfriend and partner in crime when it comes to stuff like happy leaves, drinks, and ladies.

Name: Remie
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Zodiac: Taurus
Description: Remie own's a manor at Karonna. He's sensual and can be very materialistic. Though generous, he is actually enjoying the fact that people are needing his financial help. Remie likes to relax on his manor all day, and have his servants entertain him like jesters. Remie is very wise when it comes to finances.

Name: Zed
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Zodiac: Libra
Description: Zed is a good friend to both Faint and Mak. Zed always gets lots of attention from the opposite sex for his handsomeness.

Name: Leika
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Zodiac: Libra
Description: Leika is Zed's beautiful girlfriend. Leika is a very conservative woman, but has a temper when it comes to jealousy.

Name: Bert
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Zodiac: Virgo
Description: Bert is an old acquaintance of Rue. He is very helpful and service oriented. Even though he's not a fighter, he still decides to join Faint's guild and help them in any way he can. Unfortunately, he and Rue seems to have a troubled past with each other.

Ven's Family (Info below from left to right)
Name: Shayie and Farhan
Gender: Female / Male
Age: 19 / 5
Zodiac: Scorpio / Leo
Description: Ven's lovely wife (Shayie), and his fun-loving son (Farhan). Both Shayie and Farhan immediately decided to follow Ven to the town of Karonna as soon as they heard that Ven is getting recruited to Faint's guild. Ven really cares deeply for these two, just as the two shows him their undying love and support.

Name: Jork
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Zodiac: Aries
Description: Jork is Kailah's emotionally abusive ex-boyfriend. Even though Kailah already wishes to move on with her life, Jork still persists on taking her back for himself.

Bullies (Info below from left to right)
Name: Hayme, Sonn, and Skott
Gender: Male / Male / Male
Age: 17 / 18 / 16
Zodiac: Gemini / Scorpio / Sagittarius
Description: The bullies of Karonna. They like to pick on every kids in town just because they enjoy it. Though it's not a secret that all have troubled childhood, they're still acting very inappropriately. Faint, most especially, is their favorite target, for being a little too different.

Name: Mayor
Gender: Male
Age: ??
Zodiac: ??
Description: He is the Mayor of Karonna. Mysterious and puts up a practical front.

Name: Loyce
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Zodiac: Taurus
Description: She is the Mayor's lovely niece. Loyce is a very talented singer. She works as her Uncle's personal assistant and errand girl when it comes to sending specific announcements to certain people around town.

The Heroes (Info below from left to right)
Name: Hilda, Dorothy, Eric and Aluxes
Gender: Female / Female / Male / Male
Age: 23 / 16 / 18 / 19
Zodiac: Cancer / Sagittarius / Taurus / Aquarius
Description: The popular heroes who are defending Karonna from beyond the walls.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Elf's Diary REMASTERED v3.0

Features:
- A Short, simple and fun 2 hours long game
- Engaging strategic free turn based battles
- Simple story-line with themes about friendship, faith and determination
- Small but beautiful areas to discover
- Colorful and fun characters to get to know with

Elf's Diary Goodies:

My simple art for Faint:

Spoiler

Finnuval 's awesome Faint art:

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My old poster for Elf's Diary:

Spoiler

Elf's Diary Remastered Trailer:

CREDITS:

Spoiler

Graphics:

- Cooltext.com
- ItaHoly (Windowskin)
- Liberty (Flower Clutter tile)
- monta!/Milano Cat (Battlers)
- Matseb2611 (Battle transition)
- FatYogi (GameOver screen)
- JKRoots (Title screen)
- Tkool
- Derex (Generator parts)
- Andy Chen (Animations)
- Hiddenone (Generator parts)
- Avery (Icon set)
- CreativeEd (Fire lighting)

Scripts:

- Yanfly
- Moghunter
- RPG Maker Source - http://www.rpgmakersource.com
- siChainlinks
- Yami
- Kread-Ez
- Archeia_Nessiah
- Levi Stepp
- KilloZapit
- TheoAllen


Music:

- Bitter Sweet Entertainment, Inc.
- tobi (http://karugamo.tk/)
- D.C. Kairi Sawler

I hope that you guys will enjoy the game as much as I did making it. ^_^

 

[Starmage]

Hi guys!! I've updated the game to do some improvements to the mappings and some error fixes! ^__^

Version 1.5 download:

*Link removed. See thread for new version.*

Changes

- Maps from interiors to exteriors have been updated and improved.

- Lighting strength on the town has been reduced, while Ayala forest's lighting has been removed completely.

- New title screen

- There will no longer be states such as Paralyze and Sleep on the game, this is to remove game errors that were specifically connected to these states. (Script issues)

- A few dialogues have been rewritten.


Special thanks to everyone who has helped me with their feedback on my mapping as well as some useful tips and advice. You all know who you are. ^_^

 

[Starmage]

Hi guys! Here's another update for Elf's Diary! ^_^ This is a whole bunch of bug fixes that I've missed on the previous version, hopefully, they have all been eliminated now and that this will be the final update. xD Don't worry, if you have a save from the previous version, it should still work if used in this version.

Changes:

Version 2.0

- Big fixes on Church, where a party member speaks when he/she still isn't supposed to be in the party.

- Removed the Paralyze effects on the Lamia Boss' attacks, as I have mentioned on the previous update, Paralyze and sleep effects are to removed completely in the game to remove game-breaking errors.

- More dialogue improvisations.

- New item sold by the rare merchant (Forgot to mention in the previous version).

- Final boss difficulty increased by a little

- Windowskin's color has been adjusted to make it less bright.

Download:

*Link removed. See thread for new version.*

EDIT:

Yay! I've just finished my newb trailer entry for Elf's Diary on the RPG Maker 28th bday event! ^_^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTvOupDGbqI

Forgive me for its short-ness xDD

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Elf's Diary... I was kind of hoping it actually was Elf's Dairy. I was imagining Stardew Valley, but with a centaur or something.

 

[Starmage]

Hi Nathaniel3W! Oh dear! I am sorry to have disappointed you then! xD :D

 

[Starmage]

Hello everyone! I am so pleased to announce that Elf's Diary Remastered is now released! :D I've always been thinking about what I can improve more on the game, as I felt quite unsatisfied with this little game's results on it's previous release. So during the weekends, whenever I'm free, I decided to spend 'em reworking a lot of stuff for this game. Thanks also to our very wonderful reviewers, I have updated the game and tried to change every issue I can. The remastered version involves new things like face-sets, battle sprites, music and etc. I'll detail it on the changes below! I hope everyone will enjoy Elf's Diary Remastered, and please don't hesitate to leave your feedback! ^_^ Enjoy! :D

Changelog:

- Game now runs in 640x480 resolution.

- The game now has "Options" as seen on the system command at the ingame menu.

- All new ingame music (No longer copyrighted stuff).

- Ingame doors now work differently and appropriately.

- New ingame icons!

- Free-action battle system now uses new action points icon.

- Fixed a few typos and tiling errors.

- New static sprite battlers for all playable characters.

- Implemented new face graphics for everyone.

- Removed the Narrator voice at the intro scenes.

- Slightly strengthened all player elemental spells.

- Slightly weakened all enemies at the first dungeon.

- Final boss difficulty has been slightly increased.

- Added a new scene for the ending.

- Game thread/page now has detailed descriptions for all of the important/significant characters in the game for your lore-viewing pleasures.


Thank you so much! Feedback are always welcome! :D

 

[coyotecraft]

I couldn't make it past the Rue and Jork battle. Since there's no random battles you can't obtain more exp or gold. It seems like I might have wasted limited resources creating the wrong build. Buying Equipment for Rue in the beginning only for him to leave. And because exp is limited, leaving a character k.o. at the end of a battle will permanently stunt their growth.

Faint doesn't have a party heal spell except for casting regen on the party. But Jork can hit everyone with a thunder spell multiple times in 1 turn. It seems impossible to recover everyone and get an attack in. They don't seem to run out of MP. If i don't spend all my turns recovering, I'll just wipeout in about 4-5 rounds. Blind somewhat dampens their attacks, but it's mainly the magic attacks I have no defense for. The only equipment with Mdef. goes to Kailah but she doesn't really need it because she's got a reflect spell.

For reference, my party was about lv18. Faint was behind everyone by a level or 2 because I left him K.O. in 1 battle. Some of them had the best armor from the store. Since Faint is always healing or casting support, I didn't upgraded his weapon past a long sword. Putting the money towards Kailah's equipment.
Kailah had the best Weapon and Robe from the store, but if I'm unlucky she can still take a critical hit greater than her Max HP during that Rue fight.

 

[Starmage]

Hi coyotecraft! Thanks so much for playing the game! ^_^ I understand that you find that part hard (most esp. since you cannot grind in this game x( ) But basing off your current build/level, I think there may be a turn-around for this

For the start of the battle, have Madel immediately cast "Quicken", you'll notice that it gives you more action points instantly than casting "Swift. Afterwards, have Faint cast "Swift" once on whoever, this should already give you the 10 action points that you'll need for this fight. Then have Faint cast Regen, and Kailah cast Spell Resistance. Ven should then cast Protector and Tiger Stance (So that he'll take care of the physical damage being dealt.).

Now, you should focus fire on Jork and take him down first as soon as you can. Rue only has 1 hit magic spells, so you can leave him be for a while. Take down Jork with Kailah's "Burst" or have the other party members deal physical dmg to him (Like Madel's arrows or something.) But since you built to have Kailah be the bread and butter, I think Burst should be able to handle him well. Keep casting Burst on Jork until your first turn of action points end. Brace yourself for their turn, but you SHOULD be able to survive this with at least 1 or 2 KO'd member. If lucky, none at all.

In the next turn, if there are KO'd members, revive them immediately then focus again on Bursting Jork until he dies... Then do the same to Rue.

Hope this helps, coyotecraft! :D

 

[Xilef]

I noticed a similar type of deadlock potentially happening in your Cinderella project, it's interesting to see someone else identify the same issue in another project of yours. This might identify a very interesting design challenge that you have a unique opportunity to address and solve for your next project - this is something you can deeper question for yourself and figure out what's going on and what your original intentions were, pretty cool.

 

[Starmage]

Hi Xilef! Thanks for checking out! And yes, admittedly, my game balancing is still not very sharp as of this moment, but I always try my best to provide something that is quite challenging, but at the same time, flexible. xD :D I guess that was what I was aiming for here. ^_^ The Cinderella project's battle system/database, however, was designed by my good friend/teammate; Berry. He does have knack for those sorts of things, despite them being sometimes too Dark Souls esque (But I do love it. xD).

I, on the other hand, am still learning to further improve upon my balancing. ^_^ This game, for example, is aimed to have challenging strategic battles to compensate for its' shortness, while keeping the gameplay flexible. Since the game is designed for allowance of different builds that the player may want. Just as coyotecraft decides to give Kailah (The main mage) all of the power. And that in itself, is a build that works. :D Just as any build that some others may prefer (like Waxius, a good friend of mine, who decides to main the tank (Ven), and work with battles around his skillsets).

I know that the game can indeed be very hard or even unfair at first, and I admit fully to that, but know that it is designed to be flexible (As I have tested 'em myself), and that there are no rights or wrongs with any builds you decide to partake in this game. :D

Having said that, This is indeed a great opportunity for me to learn and improve upon my balancing for future games. ^_^

 

[Xilef]

Having said that, This is indeed a great opportunity for me to learn and improve upon my balancing for future games. ^_^

It's not just a question of balancing, you can look at the mechanics used as a whole. Random encounters provide a lot more than people realise, so by avoiding them what are we losing and what new problems appear? How can these be addressed? Can the problem be solved a different way by flipping the issue and looking at why random encounters were avoided to begin with and solving those problems? You've stumbled upon a number of really interesting questions that you can think about and try to solve for your next project.
Looking at this stuff and questioning it is what makes a really good game designer, saying that it just needs better balance is probably what a regular gamer would say as they do not think about game design, gamers identify the problems at a surface level and a great game designer will start deconstructing what's going on and will reflect on their past decisions and motivations.

Improve balance at the same time.

 

[Starmage]

Oh wow! I can really see where you're going with this, Xilef! That is truly eye-opening for me. :O

A couple of questions like what would happen if I do this vs. that is something I should probably dig into more often. :O Most esp. in crucial things like "What would happen if I remove random encounters altogether?". I see what you mean, Xilef. I guess if I removed Random encounters, then some kind of gameplay compensation should be in order? Hmm. I'm not really an expert on this stuff, but this is an interesting thing to consider, most esp. to game design. ^_^

And you're right. These are some interesting questions I can ask myself if I start designing a game in the future, and how I do the game mechanics + balance.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and insights, Xilef. I really love reading them and learning from 'em! :D

 

[coyotecraft]

I managed to get through the fight but it took a dozen tries. I could spam Burst and defeat Jork by the second round. But there's a high chance Jork will spam his thunder spell twice, and Rue will use his turns to kill off possibly 2 characters. If I'm really lucky Rue will use Dispel twice instead and not kill anyone. That seems to be the winning condition, otherwise I wouldn't have had enough turns.

On a different note:
Regarding Faint's characterization, he comes off as more more ignorant than innocent to me. Imo, innocent would be missing a dirty joke or not catching innuendo. But that only works when there's an alternate interpretation. So like the "sleeping with chicks" line is a good example of an innocent mind. But further character interaction reveals Faint is just interpreting everything literally; and when there is no alternate interpretation he sounds like an idiot. I mean, he's 18. His older brother is a ladies man. His childhood friends have had romantic relationships in the past - and he doesn't know what a girlfriend is?
It makes me question if he understands much of anything. Like faith and virtues? It's kind of a frightening development. He started out with strong morals and a desire to do good, but then hinting that he may actually be learning impaired and is just having his behavior reinforced by the church.

It would be interesting if there were parallels between Faint and his bother. Like his brother tries to initiate a relationship by flirting; just as Faint tries to recruit members to his guild. His brother gets high with friends in the forest for stimulation; Faint fights monsters in the forest with his friends. As a point of conflict, Faint might argue that he is performing a community service. But in truth, his brother's smoking habit was actually beneficial to the town and kept the monsters placid, while Faint's slaying spree only aggravated them more. Further doubt could be cast in Faint's mind with the fact that the community never asked for his service, and could potentially disrupt the town's existing relationship with "the heroes".
An ice level is the perfect emotional amplifier for rejection. And a Lamia is definitely a missed opportunity to involve Mac somehow. Seduction? Monster Lineage? Maybe Mac turned her down because he figured a monster girlfriend would put a kink in Faint's missions? And throwing more speculation on the fire, what if Loyce was the Lamia?
Of course all that would transform Mac into a major character and plot driver. The rest of the party members beg for more development too.

 

[Starmage]

Hi coyotecraft! Thank you so much for your very wonderful and detailed feedback regarding Faint's characterization and your suggestions with regards to how I can handle his and his brother's character dynamic. ^_^

I understand where you're coming from. That you may think Faint might've been forced by the church to think and believe in things as they are. But don't worry, that is not the case in this game. ^_^ Though as vague as it may be presented, Faint is actually a firm believer of Christ in his own terms, not because it was shoved down his throat. And at the same time, the Church in the game are also not the type to condemn nor demonize anyone who is of a different religion or none, but accepts everyone as they are. ^_^ So in terms of Faint's clue-less nature... I wholeheartedly admit the writing flaws I've made with it as I went along with the development of the game. xD Still, your insight and feedback is highly appreciated! It'll really help a lot. :D

In the meantime...

UPDATE!

Remastered version 1.5 is now available for download! ^_^ Along with it, I made a short trailer that I hope you guys will enjoy! XD

Remastered 1.5 Changelog:

- KO'd party members are still gonna be able to acquire EXP after battles.

- Added a secret boss fight that you can find within one of the dungeons.

- Defeating the secret boss will make the final boss a little bit harder.

- New skills for the party (Post-Secret boss fight)

- New rare items on the shop (Post-Secret boss fight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQuQ1Baxq8A

As a bonus! Here is also an awesome art done for Faint by a good friend of mine from RMW: Finnuval! <3 ^_^ And I love how it turned out! :D

 

[Starmage]

Hello everyone! I have simply decided to update Elf's Diary as a sort of distraction while patiently waiting for Rave Heart's release on steam soon. ^_^ Some people have told me that the gameplay was too easy to exploit, so I have decided to change that at least, and work on some balancing stuff as well, so that the enemies can be more challenging, but not as ultra-hard as the original version. Hope you all enjoy! <3

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zpyhlozl ... 5.rar/file

Remastered 2.5 Changelog:

- Many balance changes which are,
- Spammable aoe spells are no longer exploitable, as their damage output has been decreased by 40%
- Enemies and most especially the bosses have been buffed up a bit, as some players have told me they've become extremely underpowered after the nerfs due to some people stating that the original game was too difficult... Now I've given the bosses some buff in difficulty, but shouldn't be too hard as the original.
- Maximum Action Points have been reduced to 8. (From 10)
- Changed many of the dialogues to sound less "obnoxious" or "vulgar".

 

[Starmage]

Hello everyone! Here to once again share a new poster I made and put together for Elf's Diary! My submission for the RPG maker's 28th birthday! With the help of Leonardo A.I. art generator and photoshopped + put together by me. Hope you enjoy it! ^_^ <3

You may also download the full large image here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/xfo2pagosatq1lt/Elf's+Diary+Poster+Large.png/file