VXAce - Dreadmurk

● ARCHIVED · READ-ONLY
Started by Matseb2611 20 posts View original ↗
  1. Matseb2611
    #1 Source
    Dreadmurktitlelogocut_zps1a827027.jpg

    Update! As of January 2024, the game has been updated to version 2.0!
    Hi everyone! Decided to revisit this really old game of mine which turns 11 years this month and to update it with quality of life improvements, better balancing, a few extra scenes, and so on. So I'm putting up version 2.0 on here, but will keep the links to the original version too. You can see more details on what's been updated in a notepad file in the game's folder.


    General features:

    - About 5-7 hours long
    - Journey through and explore the Underworld like never before
    - 6 playable characters, each with a variety of special moves and/or magic tricks (as well as tragic backstories!)
    - A single dynamic ending that changes slightly depending on player’s in-game decisions
    - A variety of locations to visit such as a haunted mansion, dark forest, rainy ghost town, garden maze, sky factory, desert wasteland, and everything in between.
    - A lot of fun bosses to encounter
    - A variety of puzzles, mini-games, and mini quests throughout the game


    Version 2.0 download links:
    Full file for those who don't have VX Ace RTP (329 Mb )
    Download Here

    Smaller file for those who already have VX Ace RTP (142 Mb )
    Download Here

    Version 1.0 download links in the spoiler below:
    Spoiler
    As of 10th of January 2013 the game is now complete.

    Download links:

    Full file for those who don’t have VX Ace RTP ~327 MB
    HERE (dropbox)

    Smaller file for those who already have VX Ace RTP ~141 MB
    HERE (dropbox)


    Trailer:
    [embedded media]


    Story synopsis:

    Spoiler
    Ever sympathized with the villains before?
    Shortly after being defeated in the Life Realm, Akuron and his allies find themselves in the Underworld to be eternally punished for failing their lord, Armageddon. Should they accept their fate or should they fight back and seize this chance to escape from this forsaken place?

    The Underworld is a complex place and is very different to the realm of the living. It’s floating in its entirety within dark void and contains numerous sectors and other locations, many of which are fake replicas of places from the Life Realm. All the inhabitants in the Underworld submit to powerful demon warlocks, and those who transgress get severely punished for it. And lastly, nobody can permanently die in the Underworld, souls and monsters alike, for they all are dead already.

    Now a small group of souls bands together in order to locate the exit from the Underworld. On their journey they must flee close encounters with demon warlocks and other guards, and to face not only the demons of the present, but also the demons of their past as well. This journey will break these former villains and turn them into heroes that they always deserved to be.


    Screenshots:

    Underworld Mainland
    Screenshot02_zpsf613e4c5.jpg

    Upper Underworld
    Screenshot11_zps29992b2f.jpg

    More Upper Underworld
    Screenshot06-1_zps0633123f.jpg

    Dominus sector - Haunted mansion
    Screenshot05c_zps442e6fc4.jpg

    Cinis sector - Abandoned village
    Screenshot4_zpsbfb14756.jpg

    Heremus sector - Mountainous wasteland
    Screenshot09_zpsafc4769d.jpg

    This church is a fake replica and is not what it appears to be...
    Screenshot10a_zps87aff281.jpg

    Portadaem sector - The Gateway
    Screenshot12-2_zpsd02cf093.jpg


    Characters:

    Spoiler
    Face-Akuron_zps78c6dd91.jpg
    Name: Akuron
    Class: Battlemage
    Preferred weapons: Swords
    Preferred attire: Light armor
    Bio:
    Akuron was one of the three most recent dark souls who was gifted with Armageddon’s power to wreck chaos in the world. By using the power of persuasion, he took control of the guards in his home city and killed the king. He was very close in aiding his lord Armageddon to enter the Life Realm but was stopped at the last moment by a group of heroes. Now he finds himself in the Underworld, having fallen out of Armageddon’s favour.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…

    Face-Fandas_zpscb02d02f.jpg
    Name: Fandas
    Class: Sorceror
    Preferred weapons: Combat Staves
    Preferred attire: Mage clothes
    Bio:
    Fandas was another of the three most recent servants of Armageddon, attempting to bring his lord into the Life Realm and create destruction. He raised many dead to torment the villages, but was eventually stopped before he could get very far.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…

    Face-Jericho_zpsc4d15709.jpg
    Name: Jericho
    Class: Rogue
    Preferred weapons: Spears
    Preferred attire: Light armor
    Bio:
    After getting gifted with ability to slow down time, Jericho was assisting Fandas and Akuron in bringing Armageddon into the world of the living. However, after being betrayed by one of his own and eventually stopped, he too now finds himself in the Underworld to be punished for failure.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…

    Face-Melania_zpse3acebc0.jpg
    Name: Melania
    Class: Champion
    Preferred weapons: Blunts, especially maces
    Preferred attire: Heavy armor
    Bio:
    Once used to lead her king’s army, but now Melania is cursed to wander the Underworld in a hope of salvation and absolution from her past deeds. Melania is always battle-ready and only few would be able to match her will and persistence.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…

    Face-Galbour_zps6e71e6e5.jpg
    Name: Galbour
    Class: Berserker
    Preferred weapons: Claws
    Preferred attire: Light armor
    Bio:
    Little is known about Galbour when the team first encounters him, but he seems to be all alone by himself in a remote location. He rarely speaks and prefers to fight hand-to-hand, using his strength, agility, and sharp claws.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…

    Face-Seline_zps903c9a18.jpg
    Name: Seline
    Class: Occultist
    Preferred weapons: Common Staves
    Preferred attire: Mage clothes
    Bio:
    Somewhat friendly and rather confident, Seline finds the team herself after hearing the rumours of what they were planning and promptly joins them, offering her remarkable abilities in return. Apart from having a handful of magic tricks up her sleeve, she also knows how to summon certain creatures in battle.
    More backstory is revealed in the game…
    Bonus content:

    - Game's title screen picture
    - Information on the Underworld setting
    - Story synopsis and Character info
    - Detailed Character skills list
    - Detailed Enemy and Boss list
    - Detailed Weapons list
    - Detailed Armors and Accessories list
    - Detailed Items list
    - Detailed States list




    Credits:

    Spoiler
    Software:
    - Enterbrain

    Art and sprites:
    - Enterbrain

    Music:
    - Enterbrain
    - Usagi
    - Theodoric
    - Kain Vinosec
    - Aaron Krogh
    - Hyde (RM Coalition)
    - Forever Burning
    - GaPeLo
    - Jank

    Sound Effects:
    - Enterbrain
    - Joel Steudler
    - JCBrickston

    Scripts:
    - YanPac Battle HUD version 0.3 by Pacman, Yanfly, and Yami
    - Battle Pop-ups version 1.2 by Neon Black
    - Party System Menu by Yanfly

    Playtesters:
    - Brett Preston
    - BrettUltimus

    Created by:
    - Matthew Ashworth/Matseb2611
  2. Epbi
    #2 Source
    Hey, took the game for a spin. Interesting concept you have here :)

    So things of note:

    Might want to work on your pathing with some of the tiles.

    bug3_zpse77470ec.png

    "I seem to have impaled myself with spears"

    bug2_zps2ec1bc86.png

    There are all these iron bars I can just step over...are you meant to do that?

    bug1_zpsff6d1206.png

    Oh, what's up here?

    I was able to climb up to the roof with that rope that was there...wasn't sure if that was intentional.

    Now, I wanted to bring up a couple of things with your mapping.

    mapping1_zps10f97de6.png

    See that box in the lower left hand corner? I would recommend moving it, and then putting a line of shadow in this spot. Right now, it's kind of ruining the dimension of the room :)

    mapping2_zps7de9c9fa.png

    You have a LOT of empty space in your houses. Just because it's the minimum map size, doesn't mean you have to use it all. Feel free to shrink the room, or add more content to enhance it.

    As far as spells are concerned, I was CONSTANTLY using Thunder since it was more powerful and the MP cost was the same. I'd recommend balancing that.

    Interesting idea though escaping the underworld. I wish you the best of luck with your project. :)
  3. Matseb2611
    #3 Source
    Many thanks for these, man. That's exactly what I feared, that there'd be some objects and such which can be walked over. I'll add all these changes to the final version then. Hope you enjoy the rest of the game.
  4. Matseb2611
    #4 Source
    Heads up everyone. I've made and uploaded a trailer for the game. It's on the main post. Enjoy!
  5. Matseb2611
    #5 Source
    OK, so the game is complete. I've uploaded both versions - one with RTP included and one without.

    Could one of the mods or admins transfer this thread to the Completed Games subforum? Thanks in advance. :)
  6. ArcaneEli
    #6 Source
    Oh, looks nice. I'm going to download it right now.
  7. Bgamer
    #7 Source
    I just downloaded this game and its interesting so far. My only issue is the amount of money given after fights, which for some fights equals zero. Is this going to improve later in the game? Also, there are six characters does it matter which four to pick as the main party, or should I level up all characters?
  8. Matseb2611
    #8 Source
    Hi. Sorry for late response. Thanks for checking out the game. Concerning money it is simply about that some enemies leave money behind and others don't, but a lot of the time you can find money by looting chests (I think that is the bigger source than from fights, and also selling older weapons and armor can get you a fair bit too). 

    Concerning the characters, there will be parts of the game where a certain character will be compulsory to have in the party, so it's a good idea to keep them all more or less reasonable on the lvl. Plus also each character has different strengths and weaknesses (for example, Seline is an excellent mage and has lots of spare MP, but she is very squishy when it comes to health, and so on), and hence for different situations and boss fights you might find some characters are better than others.  
  9. Lems
    #9 Source
    I'm not sure why this doesn't have more attention! I downloaded this a few days ago and have been hooked since, finally finishing it mere moments ago.

    I can honestly say this was really, really well done! I was interested in the characters and their backstories. The writing was very good overall.

    Even though the game is finished, I do have a few suggestions for the future if you'd like to hear them. Game ending spoilers below.

    Spoiler
    Armageddon was a little easy considering how difficult Chopsun was. I had a hard time defeating Chopsun and ended up having to retry, yet I beat Armageddon my first attempt.

    I would have liked to see a bit more on the whole "traitor Fandas" thing as even though he is actually not one, it's not mentioned again outside of a few conversations with Chopsun.
    Overall, the game was superb. You did an excellent job with it and I hope to see more from you in the future.
  10. Matseb2611
    #10 Source
    Hey, thanks very much for checking out the game and I am glad you've enjoyed it. :) Those are really good points you've raised. I have been thinking the same about the difficulty of two last bosses and it's something I'll definitely spend more time fine-tuning in the current game I'm working on.

    Thanks again for the support, and in case you're interested, here's the page for the game I'm currently working on. It's still in development, but nearing its end soon. 

    http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/12229-incitement-a-sci-fi-thriller/

    (Also, if you have any games coming up too, feel free to let me know and I'll check them out).  
  11. Casia
    #11 Source
    Very nice game! I loved the way we found out about everyone's backstory eventually. I finished it and was left with a pleasant playing experience.
  12. Matseb2611
    #12 Source
    Thank you. That is really awesome that the game left you with a good feeling. :)  
  13. Matseb2611
    #13 Source
    A bit of a heads up: I'm going to take down the game's download page that's in the forum Download Centre at the end of this month (since I want to free up some space for my next game). After that the only download links will be from the Dropbox.     
  14. itokengroup
    #14 Source
    Where did you get those tiles?
  15. Matseb2611
    #15 Source
    Heya. Which ones? From which picture? If I remember correctly, all the tiles used in this game were from default RTP.  
  16. CTRaichu
    #16 Source
    I very much enjoyed this game. I went into it blind rather than read much in advance before playing and thus was pleasantly surprised by the concept. Everything about the game was relatively simple, but done well, making it easy to get into and be immersed in as well as fun to play. Pacing and balance were good. I did have to do some grinding, but it never dragged on too long as to become boring and drag the pace of the story down. Kind of brought me back to a nostalgic older era were grinding wasn't a pain and the payoff was satisfying. I also liked the work you did on some of the custom enemy graphics.

    If I had anything resembling a complaint, it would be some confusion as to why you set up the party changing the way you did. VX Ace has a simpler system already built in. That said, given how some events go, I think I can see why you made that choice. As far as issues go, it's not really a flaw so much as it is a design choice I would say.

    All in all, excellent job! Congrats to you!
  17. Matseb2611
    #17 Source
    Oh wow, thank you. It's been a while since anyone commented on this game and it's certainly great to hear that you've enjoyed it for the most part. I do agree that there is a bit too much combat in this game and perhaps some areas had encounter rate set too high. Though having said that, I am glad it wasn't too grind-heavy.

    Which enemy graphics do you mean? I don't think I did any custom ones for this game. I think they might either have been done by someone else on the forums or maybe even from RPG maker XP (I remember I used a few from that).

    In regard to the party changing system, truth be told (and this is a rather embarrassing truth), back when I made this game, I didn't actually realise Ace allowed for more than 4 party members in a team (kind of like XP). By the time I did realise it, it was already too late. Another thing is that I didn't want the party leader to be replaceable (there are some scripts that lock the party leader in place, but back then I didn't know of those). But hopefully the party changing system I made in this game wasn't too much of a drawback.

    Once again, thank you for checking out this game. It's one of my older games, but it's nice to know someone still plays it. :D
  18. CTRaichu
    #18 Source
    At worst, the party changing setup made it a bit inefficient and I did accidentally select the wrong characters on occasion when moving too quickly through the menus, but that was my fault really.

    I don't remember too many of the enemies by now, but I distinctly remember the ghosts with wings attached to them to create fallen angels.
  19. Matseb2611
    #19 Source
    Oh, yes yes. I did edit together those fallen angels and some other enemies in the last level. I completely forgot about them. Glad you liked them.
  20. ShinGamix
    #20 Source
    Wish you had went back and retouched the mapping up a little.

    Other than that the game looks pretty good. I really like the story and the scenes are kinda nice too.

    Good job on the puzzles but I can't stand the default battle system.

    Positives: +7

    Very Unique Storyline

    Challenging Puzzles

    Underworld Armies!!

    Negatives: -3

    Lackluster/dull Mapping (Lots of empty Space and no overlays)

    Default Battle System

    So I would rate this game a 7/10. A little more polishing and you would have a real contender here.