Undeniably Sexy: A Thief's Tale

[Chad Sexington]

I've been farting around this entire winter break long enough.  It's time to get back to work and put the game aside again.

The current version is about 55% complete and should last you about 10-12 hours.

Things that I still need to work on:
-Still not satisfied with the beginning map.  I've fixed up the town to the point that I'm happy.  But the beginning still... is just wrong.
-Still some passability bugs.  Especially in the early maps.
-The first dungeon at the beginning of Act II still needs a lot of work. After that, I think the rest of Act II is some of the best stuff in the game.

What I've worked on since the last bump:
-The game now takes you past the half-way mark of the game in the middle of Act II.  (The game is broken into 3 Acts.)
-In the past week or so all I've been working is editing sprites and adding battle animations.

Self-admitted Cons of the game:
-Mostly RTP character sprites.
-Lack of complex scripts.  (In fact, the only scripts I have in the game is a basic side-view battle script, level-up & hp/sp/exp bars script, and the AMS.)

Common Complaints:
-The mixing of two different styles of tilesets.
-In some areas it seems like I'm trying too hard to be funny.
-The game should not be rated "M."
-"What's Ultima Online?"


So far the response has been mostly positive.  I can't really go on any single person's feedback.  I can say that in the beginning some of the negative responses said that the game was "unplayable."  I haven't gotten one of those in a while, so I s'pose I'm making progress.

Also, keep in mind that this is my first RPG Maker game.  The beginning shows this and (imo) it gets better and more complex as you go along.

I'll still be working on more sprite edits and animations here and there, but all major work will be on hold until summer.  Please let me know if there are any game breaking bugs.


Here are the links again:
Download
Player's Guide
Credits

-Chad

 

[Falloutfan]

Hi

Played the game a while back. - got stuck in the swamp with the passability issues.
(Moving log problems that someone else pointed out) If you've resolved those, I'd love
to fire it up again. I found the game very enjoyable.

Respectfully.

Falloutfan

 

[Chad Sexington]

Yeah.

The swamp has the most bug-ridden set of maps as far as passability bugs (and a few logs).  But it should still be beatable.  That's weird.  If anything you should be able to take unintended short cuts by passing on the trees.

I'll try to see if I can find anything.

(That's not even 1/4 of the current demo right now.)

 

[Crazetex]

Hmm. You're an excellent mapper but your chipsets make me sad. Either go all UO or all RTP (or don't change at all... your game after all, just repeating everybody else here). The charsets are really nice edits... I wish they blended in better. I personally think it'd be best if you did go all UO; the charser contrast would be stylin' then, instead of matching the cliffs. :<

I really just wanted to say that the title is great. There's no way you couldn't click on something called "Undeniably Sexy." I mean, seriously. Good job with that. =D

 

[Falloutfan]

Yeah.

The swamp has the most bug-ridden set of maps as far as passability bugs (and a few logs).  But it should still be beatable.  That's weird.  If anything you should be able to take unintended short cuts by passing on the trees.

I'll try to see if I can find anything.

(That's not even 1/4 of the current demo right now.)

I've not wanted to finish many games here on the boards. Yours is a notable exception.
I'm delighted you're going to continue to work on the project. Keep up the good
work.

So far it's been good silly fun.

Respectfully

Falloutfan

 

[Chad Sexington]

Bump, just to let people know that this project is still on my radar.

Major work hasn't been done since my last update, but I have been busying fixing a lot of bugs and adding more and more animations.  Game is still only 55% complete.  If I could work on this 24 hours a day, I would.  But I can't.  I'd like to say more work would be done this summer but it's going to be real busy for me with other RL things.

I don't see this game being finish for at least another year and a half.

 

[Chad Sexington]

Just posting to let people know this project is still alive.  I'm coming up on the 2 year anniversary of the project start (June 21, 2006).  Here are a pair of unfinished screens of the area I'm working on now.

Spoiler: Screenshots May 8, 2008

Pretty much all of Act I is the final version -- except for the very beginning.  The entire first act has gone through numerous overhauls and revisions... but the very beginning still isn't where I want it.  Act II is basically the 'first draft'.  Some parts are a little choppy, but the game moves along just the same.

 

[Desruprot]

Not Bad, I only hope you complete this game more then 55%

 

[Chad Sexington]

Thanks.

I'm hoping to finish Act II by the end of this Summer (70-75%).  After that, I have no idea when I'll have time to finish the rest, but Act III should be the shortest Act.

 

[Automaton]

could i get all the tiles for the bones you have, theyre really cool
EDIT: sorry, noticed it was a necropost
EDIT: i dont know how to delete this post


Yeah um next time pay attention to the date that's why we have that nice tip in the corner next to the reply box. ~Raven

 

[Chad Sexington]

Bump.

I've Begun work on the project again. I just completed the next section of the game. I count the game at 60%. Most of the major mapping is done for the next area, hopefully I'll be able to finish Act II shortly... at least before I take another break from it all.

The entire story of the game is complete, I know what character, where, and when. I just have to finish it all. I guess that's the hard part.

 

[Chad Sexington]

Oh, thank god. I've been working on this day and night for the past couple weeks because I was so close to finishing Act II.

I finished it.

I now count the game as 75% complete, the first 2 of the 3 Acts are done, and the 3rd Act was always going to be the shortest.

If you wanted to play the game before, I think now's the time. I'm not going to begin Act III until I add in all the little details, more specials, more NPCs, more animations, more side-quests, more balancing... all that stuff. But everything to get you to the end is there.

I also haven't played through the entire thing since the latest upload, so it would be a big help if anyone spots any game ending bugs.

Thanks.



(This is my first game. I've stuck with it and I'm glad I did, but I'm never doing this again. It takes way too much time.)

 

[friend]

I wonder why the first posts are empty dittos..

Anyway to your project.

Never played UO, but I played Ultima 6 and 7, and I LOVE IT! Sadly no one continues the series, or it might be able to battle Final Fantasy...

Oh wait, im not talking about your project.

Anyway to your project.
( Deja Vu! )

Why don't you add stealing? And also, how do you make the Chivalry skill function? How does it work?

My personal stuff:
Maybe you can add a censored version, I really feel very uncomfortable when I see the F word, dunno why, I'm just plain weird, *beep* is cooler.

 

[Chad Sexington]

I wonder why the first posts are empty dittos..

Anyway to your project.

Never played UO, but I played Ultima 6 and 7, and I LOVE IT! Sadly no one continues the series, or it might be able to battle Final Fantasy...

Oh wait, im not talking about your project.

Anyway to your project.
( Deja Vu! )

Why don't you add stealing? And also, how do you make the Chivalry skill function? How does it work?

My personal stuff:
Maybe you can add a censored version, I really feel very uncomfortable when I see the F word, dunno why, I'm just plain weird, *beep* is cooler.

First of all, thanks for playing.

Stealing
Well, there is stealing, if you count the stealing you do outside of battle with events. "Stealing" used to be one of the skills, but I couldn't figure out how to make it worth while to stick a number amount to it. So you have to have a certain level of stealing to take items from certain NPCs? And if you don't, you have to sit there and just steal meaningless things over and over?

I couldn't figure out how to make enough skill gain checks through normal game play without having it be obnoxious. Remember, each skill is out of 1000. There's no way you're going to have 1000 opportunities to steal. And still, that would only max out your skill if you gained every single time, so I chucked it. (I might do the same for Hiding, but I have some ideas I'll put in later.)

Chivalry
I'm not really sure what you're asking. If you're asking "how" it works... just like almost everything else in the game, it's all events. There are barely any scripts in the game. (Literally, the only ones are a level-up script, HP/SP bar script, side-view, and AMS). Basically, each spell calls a common event and counts up certain things, checks if you have the right stuff, if you don't then swaps your skills with unusable ones. If you do, it consumes what's required, performs a skill gain check and checks to see if you have enough Chivalry for the next spell.

(Magery is a lot more complicated than Chivalry, but works the same way.)

Language
I don't have any plans on making a censored version. And it's not like it's gratuitous swearing. I drop the F-bomb maybe 3-4 times and sh*t probably the same amount (during 15 hours of play). I throw in a few others just to add color and emphasize moments... Isn't the English language beautiful? ^^

 

[friend]

Err.. I haven't played it yet, I'll play now :P

Maybe you can let me make a censored version of my own? :P

 

[Chad Sexington]

I've given in to a couple of the "Common Complaints" that I had listed on the initial post.

I removed all of in-game screenshots of Ultima Online that I used. These screenshots were used in the opening narration and on the Game Over screen. I think a lot of people not familiar with Ultima Online or my website kind of saw them and went "huh?" Originally, this was supposed to be a semi-sequel to my episodes on my website -- for the fans of my site -- and nothing more. But I think it's turned into something else (something much bigger).

edit: Screw it. I updated the title screen and removed the "M" rating. It will be fixed during the next update. (I don't feel like uploading it again just for that.)


(I've also added a few more screenshots to some of the later areas I've been working on.)

 

[Chad Sexington]

Recent additions:

1) Stealing during battle added. All done with events. You can steal normally, which will get you a random item from an enemy or you can Disarm them and steal whatever weapon they're holding. Each enemy holds roughly 4-8 items. You can only steal once from each enemy. (If they are holding a weapon, you can also steal that too.) And like all skills: the more you Steal, the more you gain, the more often you'll successfully steal.

2) Recently re-balanced the entire game. I reduced the stats on enemies, weapons, skills, armor and items. The game is much harder now, but you gain levels at a much faster rate. I removed many of the items in dungeons and reduced the amount of gold you get from monsters. I removed all normal monster drops. Most of the items you'll be getting will be from Stealing or from Shops.

3) Added a Beastiary skill that is tied to Inscription.

4) You can now check your character's skills from the menu screen. I never was able to get that simple script that displays a 2nd status screen. I've gone to three people (and paid one) and still, nothing. Instead, someone posted a simple edit that allows Commen Events as menu options. I used it. You can check the skills from the menu, but it'll display all the information in text boxes.


It's funny that it took me this long to figure out how to make Stealing work in battle with events for a game whose main character is a thief. Disarming works just as well.

The re-balance is what's been keeping me up lately. In the old version, mid-way through the game, the strong characters got too strong and the weak characters got too weak. Some guys took little to no damage from some attacks and others got 1-hit killed with other attacks. The disparity of stats between all characters is now much closer making for tighter game-play.

This version still only takes you to the end of Act II, but the game feels much different now.

 

[Chad Sexington]

Does anyone speak/read Italian?

Translation needed, please.

I was bored and started googling a couple of my projects and websites. I discovered that an Italian RPG maker site (rpg2s.net) reviewed my game in their online magazine. I wanted to put up some quotes, some links, on my site.

Babelfish wasn't cutting it.

Here's the text:

Spoiler: Italian Review

Undeniably Sexy: A Thief's Tale
Scritto da zero

Nome gioco: Undeniably Sexy: A Thief's Tale
Autore: Chad Sexington
Tool: Rpg Maker XP
Anno d'uscita: 2008



I MMORPG, si sa, alla lunga possono creare dipendenza.
Ma cosa succede quando un drogato di gdr online prova a creare un gioco tutto suo?



Benvenuti a... Sosaria?!

La risposta alla domanda di prima è contenuta in questo interessante progetto, dichiaratamente ispirato a Ultima Online. Chi ha provato almeno una volta questo popolare MMORPG, infatti, si sentirà subito a casa: stessa grafica, stessa musica, stesse ambientazioni, e maghi che urlano "KAL VAS FLAM!" per tirare palle di fuoco.
Il gameplay oltretutto scopiazza dichiaratamente molte caratteristiche da UO, tutte ben implementate, anche spesso utilizzare le varie skills rivela un po' macchinoso, dato che gran parte delle varie opzioni è realizzata tramite tanti messaggi e mostra scelta.
Il programmatore, evidentemente a digiuno di scripting, si è arrangiato come meglio poteva, ma occorre comunque ammettere che, nonostante i vari menù siano molto spartani, tutto funziona bene dopo averci fatto l'abitudine. Sarà dunque possibile avvelenare armi, rubare alla gente, scrivere pergamene, tosare le pecore, divenire minatori, forgiare armi, pescare, filare la stoffa... tutte attività marginali, ma essenziali se vorrete scoprire ogni segreto del gioco.

1

2


Un mondo grande e straaaaaaaaano....

Il gioco è pieno zeppo di segreti: ogni barile può contenere un tesoro, ogni passante può avere qualcosa di interessante da rubacchiare, ogni pezzo di carta può essere una mappa del tesoro. La ricerca di oggetti preziosi e segretucci diverrà presto l'unico motivo che vi spingerà ad esplorare le varie mappe del gioco... mappe rappresentate con uno stile grafico assai bizzarro: il creatore del progetto ha mischiato omini RTP a rip di UO senza farsi troppi problemi, e nonostante molti inorridiranno all'idea di un simile incrocio, il risultato finale non è malaccio, anche per via delle mappe ben strutturate e ricche di particolari. Per quel che riguarda la musica, invece, durante le vostre peregrinazioni, sarete accompagnati da una colonna sonora più che decente, che sfrutta più che altro musiche RTP, ma quantomeno riesce a piazzare (quasi) sempre la melodia giusta al momento giusto.

3


Orchi Mangia-bambini alla riscossa!

Chi non ha mai giocato a UO non deve comunque preoccuparsi, la trama è perfettamente comprensibile a tutti, nonostante i tanti riferimenti a questo MMORPG. Nel gioco sarete chiamati ad impersonare Chad Sexington, un ladruncolo qualunque che, dopo essere stato incarcerato ingiustamente, finirà ovviamente in un mucchio di guai. Non sarà solo, però. Potrà contare sull'aiuto di fidati compagni, come un potente mago vestito di rosso, un valoroso paladino, e... un orco mangia bambini?!
Il tono del gioco, come avrete capito, è assai scanzonato. Difficile trattenere un sorriso di fronte agli innumerevoli dialoghi di rara stupidità che leggerete giocando.
Riderete un po' meno, invece, durante le battaglie, sia perchè sono abbastanza toste, sia perchè forse ci si poteva aspettare qualcosa di più dal bs: un semplice battle system laterale, senza infamia e senza lode. L'autore si comunque è sforzato di creare battaglie poco noiose, e ci è in parte riuscito: i tanti personaggi molto diversi tra loro, e la gran varietà di oggetti, armi strane e skills utilizzabili rendono i vari scontri poco monotoni, e spesso la classica strategia "attacca e cura" non basterà a sconfiggere i nemici più tosti. Ad un certo punto del gioco guadagnerete inoltre l'opzione di evitare gli incontri casuali, notizia che sicuramente rallegrerà chi è stufo di incontrare mostri ogni due passi.

CONCLUSIONI

In definitiva, dunque, questo è un gioco che val la pena di provare.
E' un gioco dichiaratamente amatoriale, con i suoi difetti ed i suoi pregi, ma realizzato con tanta, tanta passione.
Qualità e varietà non gli mancano, ed è anche piuttosto lungo... la demo dura 6-7 ore, e copre circa metà gioco. Non lasciatevi intimorire dall'introduzione un poco confusionaria, provate a dar fiducia a questo progetto, non vi annoierà.


E ora i numeri!

Mapping e Grafica: 8 (belle mappe e scelte grafiche bizzarre, ma gradevoli)
Musica: 7 (si poteva fare di più...)
Gameplay: 9 (tantissime cose da fare, tanti segreti e poca monotonia.)
Longevità: 8,5 (La demo dura circa 6-7 ore…)

VOTO FINALE: 8,5

Link

(The review was featured in their September 2008 issue. I've actually done a ton of work since then.)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chad Sexington]

Bump. I know. No replies for 4 posts now (in a 6 month time period), but I'm bumping anyway.

I've begun work on the game again. Less extending of the story and polishing of existing material. But more importantly... RPG RPG Revolution's Official Review is in the books!

"The dialogue, characters, and story in the game are all pretty great. For that alone, I would definitely recommend playing this title." says RPG RPG Revolution's Official Review in July of 2009. "8.0" Source

Horray!

 

[Chad Sexington]

Alrighty, except for a few minor updates to fix a problem here or there, I think that does it for this game.

I've been making it on and off for over 5 years and have completed the first 2 of 3 planned "acts." There are clear endings to each act. And as of right now, it looks like Act 3 won't be completed for at least a few more years (RL stuff, meh). Because of this, I've added a spoiler thread for Act 3 on my project forum (on my site) that details all my plans and the ending of the game. Keep in mind that this was my first, last, and only RMXP game. And other than the very beginning, I'm satisfied how it turned out.

HBGames considers an "episode" as a completed game, correct? This qualifies for the completed games thread?

Thanks for playing. <3