[Full Game] The Cartographer "Unencrypted"

[Avadan]

The tale of a young Innkeeper who gets caught by his past and embarks on a
journey that sends him to the far reaches of the world.

The Cartographer is a traditional RPG centered on exploration, from the tropical Howling
Island to the cold kingdom of Bornstad.

The world is constantly threatened by Dragons and to fight them, the "old ones" forged the
Dragon Swords- powerful blades that only the Slayers could wield. Whenever a Slayer died,
his descendant would inherit the title.

The story starts in the kingdom of Althendria, when grim news arrive about the far-away campaign
against the dragon Myrniar. The Kingdom's Dragon Slayer has died and immediately the King sends
various messengers throughout the nation in search for his only son, the rightful heir to the title.
One of the messengers reaches Cinnamon Town...



Characters:

Reuben Rainard grew up moving from one town to another and was always on the
road accompanying his father in the laborious task of hunting Dragons.
Determined to find his own path in life, he stays and opens an Inn in Cinnamon Town- but little did
he know that fate and destiny had other plans for him.

Alina Flaggis a black wizard with a strong adventurous spirit and
a charming curiosity of magic - wanting to learn everything there is to know about it.
Due to her knowledge in ancient cultures, Alina is called to join Arcturus in his expedition
to a mysterious Island that is said to be the core of the ancient Yaxtual Civilization.

Arcturus Mortem was born in the Western land of Epherdon. His parents, however,
were originally from Bornstad. Having witnessed the destructive power of Regnar the Dragon Arcturus
obsesses over them and after years of research has begun to understand their behavior- noticing a pattern
in their landings on the planet. But to conclude his studies he needs the help of a Slayer to reach the
legendary Howling Island.


Screenshots

Spoiler

This is Cinnamon Town... Luv that name :3

Tropic Exploration! this game has it all!

Omg! A monster from the forgotten XP era! XD

Scripts in use


Sideview Battle System Version 3.3
by Enu, Kylock and Mr. Bubble
Level Up Stat and Display Window by BigEd781
Battle Background by Moghunter
Custom Commands by Dargor
Party Changer by Dargor
Large Party by Dargor
Advanced Files by Dargor
Advanced Help by Dargor
Optional Battle Music by Sandgolem
Light Effects VX 1.1 by Kylock
Smooth Scrolling by Woratana
Map Credit by Woratana
Scene_Splash 2.0.2 by D�vic.

Expected game length: 4hrs
Game Size: 20m


The Cartographer Unencrypted

The Cartographer for Non VX users

The Cartographer project started as an excuse to experiment with the mapping in VX, trying to leave behind some of its squareness by slightly editing and mixing its RTP, and of course, working within the program's standard tile spaces. Hopefully RMVX users may use this to see ONE way of mapping. If it is good or bad is up to your interpretation.
The game is completely unencrypted for you, to not only show how the maps are put together but also to show how the cutscenes/dialogues are evented. We still hope you give the story a chance and play through it as it was intended though.
If you get something useful out of this- then our work is done. Leave your thoughts for us to view!

Thanks to everyone that helped improve this post, and specially to Ketski for going through the whole game fixing bugs and spell checking.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Looks cool! You're gonna want to explain more of the games story and plot, at least more than a sentence, though. What part of his past sends him on an adventure, exactly? The screenshots look great but there's really not much substance in this thread-beef it up a little and include more info on your story, maybe some of the gameplay, other characters, etc. You're probably not going to get many more comments until you include more stuff.

 

[Avadan]

Well, the proyect started more like an excuse to do some mapping (hence the name XD) Its always easier to map a place when it has some backstory
With the mapping being the priority, the story remains simple. Its no excuse to do a poor project thread, but I think the less you know of the game, the better. Even if it means less comments

 

[ultimaodin]

I agree with dad there, your characters sections looks more like a blurb you see on the back of the game cover.
So since this is about the mapping I guess that's what I will comment on.
The first maps concept is beautiful however those stone walls look very tiled and in a bad way. Also I don't know if this is all RTP but that tree looks rather soft and blurred in comparison to the rest of the tile-set.

The second map looks rather blah to me, nothing captivates my interest. Also those custom cliffs look like they are floating, dull the darkness at the bottom down so it doesn't look like the cliff curves in on itself.
The third map also looks rather bland to me.

To be honest so far I'm not tempted to see any more. Now I hate the VX graphics pretty much completely however your first map shows you can do some interesting things with it. Try messing with your tile-sets more and improve the storyline just slightly. (maybe information on any other allies/enemies)

 

[Avadan]

Crap!
Those things really look like they are floating XD

 

[Avadan]

New non rtp version If you started playing the old rtp version and aren´t so far in... I sujest you change to this version
There where a few mapping errors... you could still play the game but it whould be a little confusing

 

[Diedrupo]

playing it now, i think it has some pretty good mapping.

 

[Avadan]

Final Version posted and added some more info to the thread.
The current download holds a spellchecked/bug free and unencrypted version
If you are already playing this change your save to this version or start all over again so you don´t miss all of the stuff that has been added

Peace

 

[Tinusss]

Hm, I think I'm nearly finished with this game but there are a couple of things which confuse me a bit.

I'll put the information in a spoiler since it does contain a few spoilers (How logical):

Spoiler

I have my ship repaired and I've gained acces to Kay Kay's Lair. Now, I got beaten up pretty badly, but I took a look and once I've beaten Kay Kay... There is nothing else to do?
Or does a path open somewhere so the game continues? Because there are unfinished maps and storyline so I don't think the game ends with Kay Kay. Am I missing something?

Gotta say it's really addicting though, love the old RPG Play! Simple, effective and a nice touch!

My compliments for that! I will be writing an in-depth review about this game once I've killed "The OMGZORS Beast" and somewhat finished this game

Edit: I see now I didn't notice the South Exit of BornStad... My bad!
With that, I finally finished this game! Only one thing left to do XD @ Spoiler.

 

[Avadan]

Its always nice to hear of someone finished the game XD
Congrats on killing Kay Kay
I´ll be waiting for that Review : )

 

[Calibre]

Looks pretty slick Avadan. You have yourself a good track record of getting things completed so comgrats for that.

 

[Diedrupo]

yeah this game is pretty freakin badass

 

[Avadan]

Uploaded a final/final version XD
Took care of a few bugs that got passed the testing...

The Cartographer Unencrypted

The Cartographer for Non VX users

 

[gRaViJa]

that's some of the best vx mapping i've ever seen. good job

 

[coyotecraft]

This is the first traditional rpg made with VX that I've played. It has a strong beginning and way better then most games I see here.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

If I wasn't so lazy I'd play this, it looks much better than the majority of VX games. If I have time I'll play through this on the weekend and give it a proper review. These are the kind of games we need to see more of.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Copy and pasting my old comment~

I didn't get the chance to play the game for long but I did manage to play the introduction. If my comments seem a little nitpicky then sorry, but I actually had a hard time trying to think of stuff to suggest about the game (which is a good thing!)

One of the things that struck me most about the game was the lengthy introduction. While very well done, the events in it didn't seem to have any connection, and it lacked consistency and flow. It jumped straight from a (hilarious, mind you) scene involving a witch to a discussion with a journalist, to the death of Reuben's father, with no real breaks in between. The whole thing seemed kind of disconnected and while I enjoyed it (I smiled and chuckled at many parts) I felt it could've been improved with some breaks in between. Try this: Have some gameplay in the introduction. Start with the witch, then a bit of gameplay, then the journalist, then more gameplay, etc. This could help improve the introduction a lot and make the game "ease in" a bit more rather than being so disconnected and from a writer's standpoint choppy. It's also a great opportunity to introduce the characters to the player like the chef and the maid in distinct and fun ways and get the player to know Reuben and some of the gameplay a bit more. (One other thing, some parts felt kind of "empty" with no music, especially when you have lots of music playing, then a second later there's no music at all. It's not a huge deal or anything but it was noticeable)

A couple smaller things:

-I wasn't really sure about what the "Dragon Slayer" was and didn't feel like I got a sense of what Reuben's father really did or who he was. Perhaps a bit of elaboration would help?
-There was no real explanation why I was going to the castle either, unless I missed which in that case sorry 'bout that. But I was confused and didn't know why I had to go.
-The dialogue was fairly well done for the most part. It didn't make me writhe in agony like 99% of RPG Maker games so kudos to you on that! I did catch quite a few spelling errors, mostly involving missing commas and periods.

I enjoyed playing it though, and I have to say, subtle things like that Smooth Scrolling script really make a big difference. I'd like to get the chance to play a bit more.

 

[Soupnazi]

This game is so fun and cute! I think it would be awesome if you made another game just about the inn and your adventures at it.

 

[Yin]

Love this game! Everytime I went to another inn, I expected him to comment on it.

Spoiler

And that damn Arcturus, how dare he use that poor little fat man and that cleric, he seemed kind of disfunctional in the scene where he takes off that thing on his head.

In the military base, when they said they had physical requirements had me cracking up. I didn't get to play the whole thing, but I just had to let you know what I think so far. This is the first VX game that I've played so if the rest are not as good as this then you have no competition.

 

[Soupnazi]

Oh, and, of course, my critique.
First of all, please clean up the grammar, in WAY to many cases there is punctuation missing and in some areas there are spelling mistakes.