XP - BoxxyQuest: The Gathering Storm

Just a couple of things which you might want to consider if you ever have to do an update or for future projects.

Your inn scene. The first time the player has to go through the whole palavar of going upstairs, walking to the room, then the walk into the bed might be interesting the first time but, for me at any rate, it quickly palls and by the 3rd time has become tiresome and after that an irritating waste of my time. I think that there are many things that a dev can do to give some atmosphere, but usually after the first time the normal abbreviated version is fine.

A number of your transfers need tidying up. e.g. the stairs from the beach into the cavern. If the player walks down the right side of the stairs nothing happens because you have only put the transfer event on the left hand tile. There, and elsewhere, I see the sprite fade out and am left looking at empty stairs (or door, or whatever). It looks odd.

Maybe I have missed something crucial, but I got to the cavern with only Catie. I am faced with troops of 3 including a rat which inflicts poison twice before I can succeed in killing it. With a poison rate of -11% that's a high rate of attrition, given the high cost of your items in comparison to the karma drop of the enemies. Oh, and I have to traipse all the way back into town to get a save point, so if I get a game over it's a long trek back to the cavern. Why no save point outside a dungeon? This (like the inn scene) seems like time padding to me. I'm not surprised this game takes 30 hours, but how much of that is taken up with uninteresting/unproductive walking around?

Sorry if this comes across as unduly negative, but not every potential player has hours to spend tootling around.

Thanks for the advice and criticism! It always helps to get a new view on things. Maybe I can try to explain myself, though?

You seem like someone who prefers speedy, snappy games, and that’s fine, but I’ll admit it’s not really how I designed this one. BoxxyQuest is made with some level of “tootling around” in mind. Take the inns, for example. Seeing each of your party members walk into their beds is cute, and helps immerse you a bit more than just a black screen would. (Plus, things sometimes happen during the night). I don’t see that kind of thing as padding, personally. (That being said, there’s plenty of fast-paced action too, so fret not). All I’m saying is, try not to rush things in the meantime – you’ll miss out on quite a lot if you do.

On the other hand, you may be right about Digg needing an extra save point. It’s a very short dungeon, and half the rooms don’t even have enemy encounters, but it’s still inconvenient having to walk all the way back to town. (Besides, every other dungeon has a statue at the entrance, so why not this one)?

Oh, and you haven’t missed anything! You get your second party member inside the cave, and he should make fighting the R.A.T.s much easier. Until then, it’s okay to flee sometimes. (And karma isn’t really gonna be a problem either. In a few hours you’ll have more than you know what do with).

Again, thanks, and I hope you keep playing. I’d love to hear your thoughts when all is said and done. :LZSproud:

P.S. - Why is it odd for Catie to fade out when she enters a doorway/goes up stairs? That’s just part of the map transition. Do you mean the effect is glitchy in some way? Can you explain in more detail, please? :LZSskeptic:

The fade out approach seems glitchy to me because of the way it is done - and it's not like this in every transfer.
The sprite is standing on the stairs or whatever. She fades out on one tile away from the visual 'entry' point, we don't see her descend/ascend/enter as it were, so she just becomes ghost-like. I think it is a timing issue with your fade out where sometimes it does not quite sinc. The stairs going down from the first map of the caverns is a clear example. She's standing still at the top of the stairs and turns ghostlike from there.

How I've managed to conceal that sort of thing in my own more recent projects is to have the 'entry/exit' tile as a B-E tile set to star passability, and the transfer event to be on that tile, not one or two tiles away from it, and set to Below Characters and Player Touch. That way the sprite walks out of sight and the transfer takes place. I use this for doors out of interior maps (so the ceiling tile is done that way), stairs (ceiling or floor tile as appropriate), caves (ceiling tile) and so on. Obviously not on transferring from one external map to another. I see that you have done something like that on some of your transfers, though that might just be where you've got the fadeout sinc spot on. I think part of the issue for me is that there is such a mix of transfer styles.

EDIT
And on escaping encounters - tried that with a troop consisting of just one rat, selected escape, rat had a turn anyway which inflicted poison, had to select escape a second time (I've never been a fan of delayed escape, if I want to escape it's probably because I need to, as I am a player who normally fights everything that crosses my path). So I've got to use an item, but got no money. Knowing that money will be plentiful later on is no consolation now when money is scare. I don't get credit at the item shop!

Those are some good transfer tips. It's not an urgent issue for now, but I'll keep them in mind if I need to release another patch.

Believe me, I'm no fan of delayed escapes either, but it's an issue with RMXP. If you can tell me how to change the script, I'm all ears. :stickytongue:

I think I know someone who might have the answer to the XP escape problem, so if I can get hold of them and they know, I'll pass on the info.

EDIT
I have found a place in Deviantart and there is a bit where it says that there is something wrong with the wall. I can't seem to do anything with it. Nor do I know what the ambiant creativity setting is supposed to do. Do I find out now, or do I have to come back, or what? Colour me confused.

Ah, you found... that room. Nice job! I wonder how many more secrets you'll uncover? :wink:

There's an item that can fix that glitched wall, so keep it in mind for later.

I know this thread has been inactive for a while, but I wanted to share some big news. BoxxyQuest is now available for free on Steam! You can find its store page here, if you're interested! (Also, check out that spiffy new game trailer in the OP)! :LZSrasp:

Right now, the Steam version has several fixes and features you can't find here, but that won't be the case for long. I plan to keep every version of the game patched and updated, so no worries if you prefer not to use Steam.

By the way, BoxxyQuest also has a Discord now! I'd love to see you there!
https://discord.gg/BcfyDSV