Haunted Mansion

[DarkClaymore]

A game which I am working on right now
I usually try to add many things to my projects and in the end I get tired of it and leave the project, so in this project I am using only the scripts and PTR which the program has (well, I added some music from Final Fantasy).

I hope that this will be the first project I'll complete, right now it is around 45%.
I hope you'll like it.

Engilsh isn't my mother tongue so there are probably many mistakes  :huh:



Plot

Spoiler

After finishing their mission, Kain and Leon planned to return home, but then, the weather decided to become stormy and rainy.
Being long way away from their town, they decided to find a place to stay till the weather calms down.
They found an old mansion and decided to enter.

Very soon they are finding themselves trapped in a different dimension.
With the help of some other people, they are fight in order to destroy dimensions and return back to reality, which isn't a simple mission.

While visiting different dimensions, they discover the dark sides of the general term "Dimension" and many other things expect their combat ability is been put on test.

Screenshots

Spoiler

http://www.planetnana.co.il/maxbor/rpg.JPG[/img]

Credits

Spoiler

Music

SquareEnix (Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XII)


Storyline

DarkClaymore

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CEWD8O8Q

 

[Joy]

Please....PLEASE go to the mapping improvement thread, your maps need LOTS of work.

Also the story is extremely vague.

 

[Nachos]

Run into the mapping imporvement thread.

As for the story, kinda clichè. I don't think it's a bad thing, but you'll have to work a LOT on it.

good luck,
Work out the story.. it's toooooooo vague

 

[gboichris]

Map improvement needed badly dude.

 

[seven]

The second screenshot is just wierd. You have an underground mailbox where no houses exist. Also, the story: "Not a regular mansion" is telling me nothing about the plot. nothing.
  -KRoP

 

[Dark_Cover]

wow, im kinda getting tired of these "awsome stories" that some random person thought of and edited for hours...
Seriously though, I would like to know how much time you put into planning. I know you might be one of these people who have had some awsome ideas for a game your whole life and one day you stumbled upon RMXP and you got all exited that your finaly going to be able to make your own game. Well bad news, Games are not "hard" to make, and with RMXP its alot easier to make a game, so yes you can make the game you always wanted to...But to be honest, unless you put alot of hard work into it your "awsome game" will be the next biggest hit between you and your best freind who also is making his "awsome game"...

NOW it wouldnt be fair to sayall this and not help you out...There are many places on this website that will help you out. If you take some of the tutorials and be honest in admitting you need help, you will find plenty of people to help you...

im sorry but what im about to say is going to be realy mean.
As i can clearly see you are new to this i can only wonder if your using the free trial, If not, then you better get learning or you just wasted some money, OR alternativly you are using the postility knights version of RMXP and that is a crime...

 

[Crystalgate]

When I read about a haunted mansion or mysterious mansion or almost anything mansion, it makes me expect a good mystery and a scary or creepy atmosphere. It starts out good enough with a crapload of people being there for who knows what reason, but the owner seem to be nowhere. Once you finished talking to all the people though, the game seems to be reduced to a gauntlet of battles. The creepy atmosphere is gone and while there still is a mystery, the mystery don't excite me.

I suspect that I'm not the only one who'd associate the title "Haunted Mansion" with mystery and scary/creepy atmosphere. If you don't plan on emphasizing on those two elements you may have a problem as there's a good chance you set an expectation that won't be realized.

If you want to throw a lot of battles at the player, the battles better be good. Hitting attack over and over won't really do it. Nor will "use magic on physical immune enemies" as that is the equivalent of in a platformer game barring the path with a wall and then put a ladder in front of it so that the player has to press up instead of right. Asking the player to climb a ladder in a platformer is fine, but obviously that can't be all there is to it. Likewise, battles where the sole strategy is to a certain type of offensive spell won't really do it either.

I'm not sure what you tried to do really. Did you intend to have a mansion full of mystery and atmosphere or was the mansion only intended as a device to get the characters into the action? Either way, you need to think it through better on how to emphasize on what you're trying to do.

 

[DarkClaymore]

I guess that I really must to improve the maps, but I was thinking to do it after I finish most of the game, till now I was mainly working on the plot and the events.

I know that the plot is kind of vague, that is because I didn't wanted to reveal too much about it


Crystalgate, I know how the name sounds, but I was just searching for a nice name, this mansion isn't actually "Haunted", there is something else about it which I can't reveal.
It isn't has a scary/creepy atmosphere and it is not supposed to.
About battles, actually the game not has many battles and I don't think that 3 battles which can be over in two turns are such a big deal.
I made them in order to let people to get used to the battle system if they aren't already.



I guess I'll add some information about the plot, but I don't want to make spoilers, so it will be little hard.

 

[DarkClaymore]

I improved the maps a little bit, thought as I already said, this isn't something I am really work hard on right now, I worked more on the plot and the events.

I added some information about the plot, but it is probably still very vague  :lol:

 

[Nachos]

Don't doublepost

 

[seven]

Don't doublepost

The owner of a topic can double post if:
1. It contains new content
2. It wasn't too close to the post before it.
Something like that.
  -KRoP

 

[waves of the lagoon]

One thing I like about your game is how you play with the RTP colors to achieve an "otherworldly" feel. I also like the music that you used.

I have jsut a couple suggestions (I'm no RMXP genius, so this is all I can provide):
1. I would include a save point before a boss battle.
2. A lot of people are saying that this is a cliche story. I think the initial idea sounds promising, but I think you need to be more detailed. For example, none of the characters in the mansion give any information as to why they are at the mansion. Perhaps a little background for them would be a good idea, unless it's a plot spoiler. Secondly, we don't have any background on the main characters. I know English isn't your first langauge, but you could only benefit by adding more to the prologue.

That being said, I like the mysterious sensation of your game. Although it may seem vague to some, I think if you tie it all together at the end, your story will be great. That wya ou've set it up though will create expectations for a fanastic ending, so you'll have to live up to that. Other than that, keep it up!

 

[DarkClaymore]

Thank you very much for your post.

Well about what you said:

1. "Save point before a boss battle" You mean that I'll should say to the player to save before fighting a boss? If yes, it may be a good idea (Since the bosses are a little bit hard in my opinion) but my only problem with this is: if you lose to the boss, then you should train more, but if you already saved, then you can't train anymore

Do you have any suggestions?


2. Most of them haven't a complicated reason, most of the reasons are something like hearing rumors and wanting to investigate, or just getting lost.
Only those who have a special reason are mentioned.
Probably when I'll add information about the characters to the main post, then I'll explain about the reasons

About background, only some characters have important background (like Leon, not seen in the demo), others have only a little bit information since you play a little bit with every one.
Kain just haven't something special in his past, so there is nothing important to mention.
The thing that I worked more on is the characters personality.



By the way, what do you think about the difficulty of the game?
Is it too hard/hard/normal/easy/too easy?

 

[waves of the lagoon]

1. I replayed your demo, so I realized you can sae at any point. I don't know why, but I assumed it would be in a format where you could only save at designated spots. So diregard the first comment.

2. When making the game, you can't assume someone will have read the story/character info that you posted, so it would be agood diea just to make small notes here and there about the plot even if it's just something simple. For example, in your plot synopsis, you sya that Leon and Kain are tired from their last mission. Perhaps in the intro, when Kain asks if enteirng the mansion is a good idea, Leon can reply, "Do you have a better idea? We can't make it home in this weather, and I am exhausted from our mission." You could mention the rumors too in the beginning where Kain is talking to everyone. Instead of the gunner just being silent (unless that's an important component his personality), he could tell Kain one of the rumors he heard.

I think the difficulty is normal. The bosses are challenging, but if the player fights all of the "training" enemies ahead of time, they're easy enough. However, I noticed there were A LOT of enemies after the grand magius, which might be viewed as too time consuming for one area. Other than that though, I think that the difficulty is just fine.

 

[DarkClaymore]

I added more talking at the beginning as you suggested, that was a great idea


I made the reasons a little better and not all of them are similar.
I added a scene where most of the reasons are revealed , but this is only somewhere in the 60% of the game, since most of the interesting things are revealed near the end.


If there is something else that I should add/improve/correct, I'll glad to hear

 

[seven]

If there is something else that I should add/improve/correct, I'll glad to hear

Three things:
Your mapping
Your mapping
and your mapping.

 

[waves of the lagoon]

I think it will be just fine placing the new information later in the game; like you said the most interesting things are revealed at the end.