Blogs - reynardfrost

It has been a hectic week. Past few days have had me working an insane amount of hours at work. Fortunately, I've still managed to get some work done on my project! During the time since my last post I've worked on a handful of story scenes that have various ways of playing out. The results are ultimately the same, but the dialogue that takes place and how the characters react to the situation are determined by the player's choices and progress. It's been a lot of fun to explore the characters and see how they interact.

However, despite this, I still have a bit to go until I've completed the Beta Demo. Recoloring the assets used with the NES template, writing the scene for the Ogre boss encounter, writing out some more story oriented things (which I still want to keep somewhat secret until after the demo is released and you folks discover them for yourselves), and finally... Testing, testing, testing! I'm dealing with the most time consuming activities now (the story writing) and saving the quick parts (recolors) for last. Testing... well testing will either be really swift and painless or time consuming and frustrating. Some mix of the two are the most likely.

I'm so close to finishing, yet I've still got quite a handful to work on. Still, all of this work will pay off when it's in your guys hands and you let me know what you think (and how I can improve!)

Stay tuned.

I've found that the trick with designing an RPG is finding a nice balance between gameplay and storytelling. You want the player to experience a story instead of just being told what's going on. For a game a game like Rydos that can be difficult, as the storytelling is more text than visuals. Since I can't rely on fancy cutscenes with lots of bells and whistles, I focus more on character interaction as a form of storytelling, like with a stage play or television show. Having the story told through the perspective of the player and the characters they encounter makes the story more interesting and the flow feel more natural.

At some points, the player will be able to make certain dialogue choices that garner different reactions from the party. These choices don't affect the gameplay too much, more of a way to discover more about what's going on, or see how someone would react. A fun way to flesh out the world, so to speak. How I do mix gameplay with the narrative is in the hidden items the player can collect that offer information on the Tower and what's inside it. That way, someone who just wants to slaughter waves of enemies can rush through the entire game and have their kind of fun, and those who are curious can take their time and explore in order to find answers.

Today, I worked on one such event for the encounter with the boss on the 5th floor (those who have played the Alpha demo will know what that is). Depending on if the player has found a certain something before encountering the boss, the encounter will vary slightly with how the characters react and what they know at the time of the encounter. Writing out dialogue as the party discusses what they're dealing with, and what it means for them going forward, was a nice challenge (and will likely encounter more than one re-write as the game's development goes on). The tricky part is making sure the player cares just as much as everyone in the story about what's being discussed or a constant spam of the dialogue button will occur and the player will get frustrated. As of right now I'm not too worried about that, but we'll see once the next demo is released.

Tomorrow, I'll get to work on putting together a few more scenes including the boss encounter with the one on the 10th floor. The original encounter was very cryptic and will be more elaborate. With each encounter with a key character in the dungeon I hope to answer some questions while also creating new ones to be asked.

It's been yet again, a long time since I've last updated my blog. Life has been quite busy and I've been more focused on getting this demo put together. Granted, the lack of updates probably hasn't helped, as I'm sure regular posts about what I'm doing and then thinking about what to do next might expedite the process. (So regular updates should be forthcoming).

But I digress.

Currently the demo is complete gameplay-wise. I just have to write out the story part of the boss encounters as well as some additional story dialogue/content to include. After that, I'll be recoloring all of the assets with the NES color palette to give it a more unified appearance. Once that is complete, it'll just be test, test, and test some more! Once I've tested it thoroughly and gotten most if not all of the bugs fixed, I'll release the demo to you fine folks.

Once the demo is released, I'd like you guys to send any feedback you can my way so I can polish this demo just a tad further and release an updated version for Greenlight (as well as here, of course). I created a page but have it hidden as of right now because I want to make sure Rydos is as polished as possible before I show it off to the big, bad world out there.

The Beta Demo will cover the same content as the Alpha demo, but the intro has been redone, there is more story/dialogue throughout the demo, stats/encounters have been reworked, the dungeons have been redesigned (larger, traps, secret areas, collectible items), and new enemies will be included (as a common complaint was that the enemy variation was too little). I'm confident that these new changes will make the game a lot more fun to play.

That's all for now, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc. feel free to post them below. Thanks, and stay tuned!

It's been at least a week since my last entry, and I apologize for the lack of updates in the meantime. Fortunately the reason has been because I've been busy putting the game together to a point where I didn't have time to write anything for the blog.

Since my databasing binge, I had worked on revamping the intro area of the game with new maps, and an extended intro that explained more about why the player is there. Miles is now officially an NPC that you interact with only at camp while the new party member, Harvey, takes his place. I also began improving how the dungeons are handled (larger maps, some traps, monster encounters being random and more balanced) as well as redoing the party's stats and the skills they had at their disposal. Mixed in among all this was also some UI art and some environmental art as well as a few more characters in camp.

All that's left now is to continue revamping the rest of the first section with the new gameplay features and creating a couple more battlers (more enemies in the first section, yay!). By the end of the week the first dungeon section should be completely revamped which will leave the following week devoted completely to testing and polish (as well as some bonus dialogue from NPCs in camp if I have time for people to enjoy on the side). I'm glad to see that my beta demo is very much on track and the feedback I get from it should help further improve the final product. At the latest I'll release the beta demo by the first week of September (if further polish is needed).

In other news, there is also a contest for a Mystery Game that has begun! I'm intending on competing by creating a story that includes the world of Rydos and its people (as well as a cameo or two from the cast of RoR). While I put together the final touches for Rydos' demo this week, I'll be putting some design notes together for the mystery game so I can begin putting it together the following week. What about polish? Don't worry, I have a tester or two (I will also be testing) to help me find bugs and I'll devote most of my energy to getting those bugs fixed. That will leave the first week of September for final touches/polish for the mystery game.

It's a tight squeeze, and it'll require a lot of focus, but I feel such a quick and easy project will help spice up the work I'm doing for Rydos (plus the prizes I might win will help with future projects). As always, feel free to comment, question, etc. below!

So yesterday I spent a majority of the day creating new armor and weapons for each character (as the old amount wouldn't cut it for the full game). This entailed with creating new names, descriptions, prices, and stats for each individual item (about 5 of each per character). Needless to say it took many tries (mostly due to the math) until I got a formula that worked. However, I went to bed fulfilled knowing that there are now enough equipment upgrades to last the entire game (and to handle the powerful enemies the player will face). It was an interesting experience, figuring out a pattern to rise the prices in increments that fit a certain flow. Finding the pattern for the earlier prices and applying that same pattern to the later prices.

The day before that, I had completed the dungeon layout of one of the floors including some unmentioned challenges (which I'll keep a secret for now). With the layouts improved and a good example set, I can now go to subsequent floors and apply these changes much faster.

Today, I'll be working on completing the story events that lead up to the player entering the dungeon proper. They're looking pretty good thus far, a decent amount of choices so far, and writing the dialogue is ending up being a bit of fun. The different reactions that Gerald or Brenda make (depending on how you're playing) are interesting to make (and hopefully will be interesting to see while playing). While the concept of having one character with a gender swap available (a la Shepard) worked for NaGaDeMo, for the full game I really want to have the two options stand out on their own to encourage multiple playthroughs. How far apart the two choices will branch the story remains to be seen, but I'm confident in my ability to make it an entertaining experience. Once all that is complete I'll have the choice of adding additional story content to the intro area or just dive in and start fleshing out the dungeons. The latter is looking more likely, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or otherwise, feel free to comment below!

Dungeons. A key feature to most RPGs, and Rydos is no different! Today I took a break from putting the playable intro area together and jumped right into the meat of things. The rough dungeon layouts had already been laid out, and today I took the first floor and went over the details. I applied obstacles, damage (spikes) floors, some locked doors, and some chests with keys to open them. There's still a fair bit to do, but once it's complete I'll go over the rest of the first section and apply these features as well.

It's a lot of fun putting together dungeons. The challenge of guessing where a player might go, what ways to hinder their progress, how to make rewards worth the effort, etc. A lot of this will get fine tuned during playtesting, but the initial push is no less entertaining. From what I've been told, the demo had good pacing, the player had a momentum and kept going. My goal is to keep that same momentum while also offering side areas to explore in case someone doesn't want to just bulldoze through the floor.

While I put this together I keep in mind a few things. First, that there should be an "easy" path. A simple path (Although not always short) path that offers the least amount of challenge (in case someone is in a rush and just wants to get to the next floor). I also consider a moderate path, with a few more obstacles and some rewards along the way. I also come up with some challenge zones, completely optional side areas with difficult to navigate paths that make enemies likely to get the jump on the player if they're not careful. However, the rewards in these areas will be great (or at least that's the idea).

Testing will begin next week with a few close testers who will help me out by going through and finding bugs and providing feedback while I focus on putting the game together. I'm excited to see what they find and hopefully this approach will allow me to get a high quality beta demo available by the end of August (if not sooner).

All in all, I'm feeling good with the progress I'm making and I hope to get this game done in a timely fashion. As always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or other feedback feel free to comment below or contact me through the usual channels.

As the days go on, I tend to tackle different aspects of the game's development depending on my mood. Today in particular I focused on writing the dialogue and choice branches for the playable introduction to the game. There were of course some minor graphical assets made at some point (some basic environmental touches, things to help with level design). However, the main focus was on storytelling and dialogue; establishing characters in particular.

During this intro, after the player has chosen which of the two siblings they will be (Gerald or Brenda, respectively) they will witness the events that occur from that sibling's perspective. In general, the sibling the player has chosen to play will be the one initiating dialogue in conversations (as in, that character will speak up first) while the other will chime in with some commentary. There is the odd moment where the non-played sibling will speak up first and the player will merely react. That's not all! Gerald and Brenda have their own unique personalities so although the player will be presented with the same choices, the dialogue and reactions that occur in those choices will vary depending on which character the player chose. Although it's significantly more work on my part, I feel it adds some replay value to the game, as well as a reason to select a character beyond a whim.

All that's left is to implement the written scenes into the game and move on to the next. I plan on having the entire demo areas playable with the new features and map layouts included by the weekend so I can begin testing with my testing team. That way, I don't have to worry about balancing combat and other gameplay details at the last minute. The rest of the month will include polish and bug fixes for the demo areas while also completing the rest of the game. The goal is to have a polished Beta demo by the end of August, and I'm quite confident I can meet this goal on time, if not early! Worry not, I won't rush.

As the title suggests, I've been making progress on Rydos addressing the non-visual or showy parts of the game (although some visual advances have been made). I've created rough layouts of all of the maps in the game using placeholder graphics in order to get the game fully functional first. I've also gone through the database and completed 90% of the content (just need to balance enemies via testing). My goal is to get the game fully playable by the end of August and then begin a final push to get all of the art created and placed properly. So far, the game is looking to be much better than the Alpha Demo and if I keep up my current progress I'll have a Beta demo in time for the launch of Steam Greenlight.

However, I haven't totally abandoned the 8-bit art. I've put together icons for skills, items, etc. as well as finished all of the vista scenes for the intro (as previewed in the last blog post). Some time was also spent putting together some new character sets for certain story related characters. I plan on having some updated screenshots fairly soon.

I admit I've lagged behind severely with the updates on the game's progress. Partially due to work, my laziness, and most of the work I've been doing isn't really that interesting to write about. I plan on continuing with the regular updates as of now, no matter how mundane the changes might be! I'll at least try to make a fun discussion out of what I've been working on for the day.

As always, if there are any questions, comments, concerns, etc. that you may have, please do not hesitate to post here or at the Rydos topic: Forums.rpgmakerweb.com/

I'm more than happy to discuss this project!

This weekend I've been working on re-vamping the introduction to the game. In particular, the "Scrolling text" portion. Yesterday I gave a showing of what I had in mind:

The old intro.

This worked, but there was still room for improvement. It didn't feel much like an intro, more like an encyclopedia entry. So, I figured I'd try something a bit more "cinematic". Like the introductions in the Mega Man series.

The new and improved intro.

Aside from the obvious improvements in the image itself, the letterbox view is a bit less jarring than the "menu text" look. Even if I were to improve the first image with the details I applied to the second, I feel that this letterbox format is a bit more fitting for an introduction than the previous attempt. Let me know what you think!

So last night and today, I'm working on an improved introduction to the game. In the demo, there was one still image and some scrolling text. It was definitely rough, but it got the job done; or so I thought.

Many folks voiced that the text scrolled too fast. This was something I was worried about as even during playtests I had to stay focused and read quickly in order to get all of the scrolling text. So, to change that, I'll be using still images with static text and some neat backgrounds around the text. One such example being:

It's not pretty, but I feel it's fairly 8-bit and gets the point across. There will be at least 5 cards, including this one. This will lead to a more visual intro and should be on screen long enough for most people to read and comprehend it.

Now the kicker is figuring out how to skip it. Oh well, one thing at a time.