Memories of War (W.I.P)

[Seda]

Finally... I have something to show after many many years of working with the RPG Maker series, and changing ideas, and realizing other ideas were not the best choice. Well... here it goes, my first "Public" Demo!
(RTP Required) (RMXP)

Memories of War (Full Screen)

Spoiler

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GMI4I1V3

Memories of War (Small Screen)

Spoiler

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=APUDWAYE

Story

Spoiler

Memories of War (XP) (Demo)

Welcome to a world of war. Follow Seth, a 21 year old male who seems to have lost all memory of his past. Through
his adventures, Seth discovers many people, friend and foe alike, each with a unique personality and story to follow.

Chapter 1

The story begins with Seth traveling alone, for an unknown reason. His resources run low as he gets close to the town of
Weald. This is where his adventures truly begin after one of the most renowned groups of bandits ravages Weald,and leaves
only one survivor, Seth, but of course, not on purpose. Seth discovers that his most precious bracelet is missing, and begins
a search for the group of thieves to retrieve this valuable piece. The thing that drives him is a strange voice that disturbs his sleep
that keeps giving him ideas of where to go next.

Characters

Spoiler

Seth

Weapon: Swords
We have our main character, Seth. He has no memory of his past; because of this, Seth usually likes to keep his thoughts
to himself. As the story progresses, Seth begins to recover more of his past.

Ariel

Weapon: Staffs + Canes
A young priestess who is on a pilgramige to try and become more in touch with her holy side. Ariel is a very trusting
and peaceful person. She seems to also have an issue with trusting anyone she encounters. She is the healer of the group.

John

Weapon: Great Swords + Axes + Spears.
A strong and tough warrior. John is loyal soldier from the main kingdom. He was chosen by the king himself to follow
Ariel and protect her on her pilgrimage. He may seem similar to Ariel in looks, but is not related. his personality is quite
different as well. Because of his past, John has a really hard time trying to trust anyone he encounters. Everyone is a foe
in his eyes.

Felix

Weapons: All + Scythes.
A very mysterious one. Not much is know about him, except that he runs the Inn at Weald Village. He also seems to have
a lot of skill with a sword.

Mimi

Weapons: Katars + Daggers + Bows
A part of the renowned group of thieves. She is the one who is behind the theft of Seth's precious bracelet. (More to come)

Rosa

Weapons: Staffs + Canes
A mage that works for the kingdom. (More to come)

Hawk
Weapons: Fists + Gauntlets
(More to come)

Screen Shots

Spoiler

Gameplay/Credits:

This game is being created through the use of Tenketai's SBS and many Addons.
The menus are created though MOGHUNTER's scripts.
Text is made through the use of the UMS Script by Ccoa
Custom weapons and armor are made through the use of The Sleeping Leonhart's Equipment creator script.
The Music was created through Square Enix/Soft, Vgmusic.com.
Credit to all my friends and family who supported me in trying to make this game.
Credit to all others as well that I may have missed (Sorry if I did! Don't be afraid to let me know if I did!)
And of course all of this was made possible because of Enterbrain.

Please leave comments for and such for me! Anyone wanting to help with this project please do let me know!

 

[regi]

This looks like it has some potential. The story is a little cliche, but characters are decent and it could be executed well.

There are areas that need improvement, though, mainly mapping. I would definitely check out Tindy's mapping guidelines, and check out examples or post your own maps in the mapping and screenshot threads. Work on that and your shots should look much less bland.

 

[mawk]

so, I played it a little bit, and while it's a strong first effort, it could definitely benefit from some polish. I'm not getting really indepth with my assessment (even though it's pretty long,) but I hope it's handy. if you need me to elaborate on something I mentioned, just gimme the word.

Spoiler: it's very long

first off, I'm a little confused by the fact that you offer separate downloads for fullscreen and windowed versions; in most cases, if someone wants to play a game fullscreen, they'll just hit alt+enter to toggle. this works with most windowed applications, rpg maker games included. so don't stress about updating two different games each time you come out with a new version; you can easily just put out the "windowed" version, with a statement in the manual that "to toggle fullscreen, hit alt+enter."

anyway, onto the game.

first thing I note is the Moghunter title screen. I never really liked this; the random directionswitching and zooming just doesn't look very good. a static titlescreen can be just as effective, if not more so.

also, the menu sounds are partially from final fantasy 7. it's probably a bad idea to use any sound effects or music from most final fantasy games, since they'll be really easy to recognize. if you're at a loss, there's a cool program called "sfxr" by drpetter that can be used to generate unique sound effects for menus and stuff like that. give it a quick google; it's free, it's easy, and it's definitely worth the while.

music is a mix of RTP and rips from games like final fantasy. it's not a finished product, so I'm gonna assume that these are stand-ins until you find more appropriate pieces, but just remember that using music from really easily recognizable sources (i.e. the most famous rpg franchise in the world) is not a great idea.

opens up and the dialogue is a little strange. "A mix of deja vu, and nothingness at the same time."

oh, it was referring to amnesia. guess that makes sense. a hero with amnesia isn't the most original premise out there, but I'll wait and see what you can do with it.

your mapping is pretty sketchy. you make a lot of mistakes here and there, not the least of which is changing the size of the paths between maps; I walk down from the first math into a narrow path south, and on the next screen it's suddenly widened a great deal. also, the edges of your river autotile are far more saturated than the grass that connects with them. I'd see if I could get a tileset that would mesh a little better.

now the mapping starts to seem dull. repeating tall grass, one kind of tree, one kind of flower. try for a little more variety.

also, if a player can't move out of a map by walking against the edge, try to block the edge so that he can't actually get there. it's kind of an amateur mistake to use the map's edges themselves as invisible barriers. block the way with trees or something. you make this mistake a good deal, and it's not particularly pleasing to the eye.

anyway, I'm sure someone else can give you some more comprehensive mapping tips. I'm here to talk about the game itself.

wow, this town has one wide bridge. where did they find planks that long?

so, for some reason, I can't enter any buildings until I go to the inn like I'm told. not even the item shop. generally, people will want to explore when they first arrive at a new area. why make them follow the plot immediately, without taking time to look around?

okay, I know I said I'd leave mapping tips to other people, but remember that you can use the wall autotile to make smaller rooms. you waste a lot of space with your interior maps, and they don't need to be as large as the entire screen. take a look in the Screenshot and Mapping Improvement Threads to get a general look at how to best use the wall tiles.

also, if I talk to someone and then look at the list of names, it uses that person's face rather than Seth's. just thought I'd point it out.

this cave maze is pretty dull. if I were you, I'd make it a lot smaller, and use a puzzle rather than just "okay find the exit in this huge place."

I like that you're actually giving me the option to hear the battle tutorial or not. I know it seems like an obvious thing to do, but you wouldn't believe how many people just make you sit through it no matter what. the battle's impossible to lose, though; the kobolds are so weak that they'll always deal 0 damage to Seth, unless they totally fluke out and hit for 1 or 2. they can hit the stranger for more, although he has such HP that it's small peas.

alright, time to check if my name is down. aside from the screen tone, everything is exactly the way it was before night fell. the drunk wizard and the dude with the mustache are both still down in the lobby, saying the same things. shouldn't this have changed a little?

everything's also the same in the village. if I exit and come back in, the screen tone fades, too. whoops.

I take a rest, and it's night again. whoops.

I gotta run, so I'm gonna stop it here for now, but I hope this was at least a little helpful. I can guess that you're not really as pro with RMXP as you could be, so I'm gonna cut you some slack. it can be sort of a tall order going through again and revising what you have, but once you've figured everything out, it'll be worth it. I'll pick this up again later.

also, I couldn't ever seem to open my menu at any point up to where I stopped. is this supposed to happen?

basically, my advice is to practice. you seem to have your head on straight, but some experience would really help. try just messing around with the editor, making different things with events and mapping different areas, etc. the Mapping Improvement Thread will be a handy resource for your graphical stuff, and it could be useful to play through some other projects and think about how they work their event systems and things like that. good luck, etc.

 

[Seda]

I can't thank you guys enough for this feed back! So far I've only had some friends of mine test play and tell me "Oh it's great!", and seeing this really does help me! I do realize that the story is a little cliche, but the end result SHOULD be something new. The only reason I use MOGHUNTER's scripts is because it is way better than I can really do myself. I am not the BEST with Photoshop or Illustrator, so I need to use something visually appealing.

In all honesty, I believed my maps were alright. but after hearing this, I guess I have a lot of work to do!

Also, puzzles are not exactly my best suit, making them, or solving them. :smile:

Later, the Kobolds difficulty changes (Same enemy in the database, just a small difference in equipment, Hehe).

if I exit and come back in, the screen tone fades, too. whoops.

I take a rest, and it's night again. whoops.

thought I fixed that problem... :grin:

There is a reason for the menu not opening as well... If given the option to do so, the player can really screw things up BAD for the game.
The menu will become enabled later though!

also, if a player can't move out of a map by walking against the edge, try to block the edge so that he can't actually get there. it's kind of an amateur mistake to use the map's edges themselves as invisible barriers. block the way with trees or something. you make this mistake a good deal, and it's not particularly pleasing to the eye.

I... am a little confused by what you mean by this... ? I want to know so that I can improve!

Mawk, I love the in depth review you gave me.

and Regi, Thank you for the link to the mapping guidelines!

 

[Tindy]

also, if a player can't move out of a map by walking against the edge, try to block the edge so that he can't actually get there. it's kind of an amateur mistake to use the map's edges themselves as invisible barriers. block the way with trees or something. you make this mistake a good deal, and it's not particularly pleasing to the eye.

I... am a little confused by what you mean by this... ? I want to know so that I can improve!

What he means is, when you create an exterior map, it's best to use some sort of natural barrier to give the player boundaries. If you don't put something on the edges of the maps (mountains...trees....long grass -that the player can never walk on and thus knows not to try-....etc), then it's assumed that you can exit the map...anywhere. That would take a lot of events to accomplish and it would make the game lag. If you don't, it's kind of odd and breaks the immersion ("why can't i exit? it's an open field!")

 

[Seda]

Ohh.. I get it now. Yeah, in my later maps, it gets easier to define where one can exit. Its just in those first 3 maps that are set up like that.

PS: Tindy, I loved your mapping tutorial! I went back through and fixed my maps and lighting up after reading it.