The stoneheart [1st DEMO]

[craybest]

I've been toying a bit with RMVX, and after a few short stuff, I decided to make a game (a short one but a full game after all)
This is the first demo of it, I think it's around 1 hour long or so. So far I have 2 playable characters, 4 dungeons and 3 towns.

Story:
I'm really not a good storyteller, but I'll try to resume the beginning of the game.
The kingdoms of Silverado and Dalmenia, have been in a long war for over 10 years, you play the role of the prince of Silverado who is just back from Dalmenia in a diplomatic mission, to be able to set up a truce between the 2 nations. The game picks up just after you're back to your kingdom. After a new mission, you discover there is something wrong in your hometown castle, people claim you have assassinated the king, and your brother takes charge of the kingdom, suspecting he's behind the king's death, you decide to find out the truth.

Playable characters:
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7065/hero1th4.jpg[/img]
Seyren: The young and educated prince of Silverado.
His diplomatic skills have made of him the king's favorite
heir to the throne. He is training to become as good
with his sword as with his words.

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/9291/hero2ij4.jpg[/img]
Howard: The strong but calm head of the royal Guards of
Silverado, childhood friends with the prince.
It's the prince's most trusted individual in the whole
kingdom. He's training the art of Rune fighting.

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/6443/hero3ba1.jpg[/img]
-Not aviable in demo-

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1285/hero4qn9.jpg[/img]
-Not aviable in demo-

Screens:

Spoiler

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/8780/screen1gl2.jpg[/img]
http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/1710/screen6yo2.jpg[/img]
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/144/screen3mz8.jpg[/img]
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/9018/screen5rr9.jpg[/img]
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/6715/screen2du3.jpg[/img]

Note: Some of these screens are a bit outdated, I've edited the graphics from the RTP, to have some more original content.

Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/129972658/Game1.exe.html (You need to have the VX RTP installed) if too many people complain about not having it installed, I will upload another version with the RTP included).

I hope there aren't any nasty bugs, I haven't tried the full demo in a while so I might have changed something and messed up things, although I doubt it. Anyway, if you have any problems, just reply here, and I can reupload it.
PD: English isn't my native language, so there might be some grammatical errors here and there, hopefully it won't prevent you from enjoying the game.

 

[nick5674398]

I'm surprized no one replied yet. It's a pretty good game, good intro to the story and characters. And I really like your tileset and sprite edits, I find the world map a little too dark, but that's just my opinion.

The forest had a really good atmosphere, but the encounter rate was horrible, when I first entered the forest it was okay, but after a few battles it seemed like every five steps I took I was plunged into a battle, it was okay everywhere else though. And the dual and double attack doesn't work for the enemies.

I'm looking forward to your next demo. And by the way, are those tileset edits for public use? I really just want to use the cliffs, I'm just really bad at editing stuff so I just thought I'd ask. :straightthumb:

 

[Perihelion]

I'd play, but I don't have VX installed. Alas.

 

[craybest]

I will release the tilesets when I finish the game (it's a short one, so it shouldn't take too long)
I will work on the forest encounter rate, for some reason it varies a lot from one time to another, I'll see what I can do.
the dual attack doesn't work because of the script, but I think it can be fixed by now.
Thanx for the comments, I'll try to have another demo or the full game in some more time.

 

[dadevvtsvre]

Just a suggestion, you might want to put the screenies in a spoiler. Also, the mapping looks impressive, considering it's VX.

 

[Twirly]

Looks very good keep up the good work :thumb:
Just a little question: How did you use those backgrounds?

 

[craybest]

If you mean for the battles, it's just a battle background script, I made them using pieces of the RTP mixed with a bit of photoshop.

 

[Retlaf]

I played some of this a couple days ago and never had time to post. I only got past the cave, so I can only comment on the intro.

Your mapping and presentation are great. It seems like you have built a world that I would actually have fun exploring. Your RTP edits give your game a very unique look, so keep that up!

Otherwise, in terms of storytelling, it seems a bit rushed. There are always better ways to do an intro than scrolling text, but it wasn't very long, so it was bearable. Of course, it's always better to show than tell, so you should really consider bringing it to the next level. It might even be better to skip that background information all together, and drop subtle hints about it in dialog to achieve a better effect (the player will still understand, and it will seem a lot more fluid). For example, rather than explaining there was a war through scrolling text, have a couple NPCs simply say things along the lines of "I'm glad we finally get a break from that war."

You should spend a little more time fleshing out the main characters and their base personalities. Let us get to know them a little better before they begin to develop (ie, before Seyren starts to talk about how he doubts his ability to live up to his father's expectations). When the game starts, you are talking to the king very formally, he gives you an assignment, and you embark immediately. Maybe throw in a return party, farewells, a night's rest, etc, just to give the player a chance to get to know the characters and get used to the world. As I said before, the beginning of the adventure seems rushed.

The dialog was a tad bland (although I understand English isn't your native language). To make it more interesting, you can use that bit about getting to know the characters to add a touch of personality/uniqueness to how they each speak (because right now, they don't have much opportunity to speak casually). You can (and should) also add such instances of dialog to other places in the story, such as upon entering the cave.

It's probably best to polish up the story related issues since the gameplay doesn't have anything particularly special to offer (from what I understand). That being said, even as it is now, the quality of this game is well above average here. But aim higher! If you bring it to the next level, I can see it being fantastic.

Good luck!

 

[craybest]

Thank you Retlaf, that was really useful c&c, I think you're right in all of your points, I'll see how I can fix it.

 

[mudducky]

From what I can see in the screens your mapping look fantastic. I haven't had a chance to play the game yet, but I'll post more feedback once I do. It does looks really fun to explore which is hard to find in a VX game at the moment. Nice work.