Game & Map Screenshots 11

Hi, I just wanted to get some opinions on these descriptions for the core stats in my game, especially the phrasing and clarity. E.g.: Should I say "Critical Hit" or "Crit"? Also, should I even include icons in front of stuff like Hit & Crit, or should I omit them entirely since not all terms (pale-blue words) have icons?



Edit: I'm debating whether to make Dexterity also increase Spell Crit as well, instead of having it gained via Intellect. Would that make sense for immersion purposes though? Like maybe spells are cast using one's hands, thus it'd make sense for Dexterity to have an effect. Thoughts?

Edit2: Nvm, I'm actually leaning against the idea now...idk lol.

When it comes to icons, go all or nothing. If most words have icons but some don't, it'll be confusing for the player. Like I see that Magical Critical Hit has no icon, but Crit doesn't.
I would also try to make terms cohesive as well, so if you are going with Magical Critical Hit, go with Physical Critical Hit, or just combine them into Critical Hit.

my deuteragonists parked outside your home in an unmarked black van and up to no good

haven't done one of these in a LONG ass time (and believe it or not this is my first time EVER releasing an animated one, which is insane when you think about how long I've been at this)z

hot DAMN @FarOutFighter that is a SERIOUSLY huge mountain

I think the descriptions and icons are good. As for Critical Hit vs Crit, I say go with Crit. Less text is usually better, as long as the meaning is clear.

@Frostorm, yo descriptions look good mostly! Imma side with "Critical Hit" instead of "Crit", just because sometimes you might have a player who's either a newbie or jus' dense like me. :kaoswt: If ya gonna stick to icons for hits and crits tho, how about making the icon for crits red? 'Coz red feels MOAR DANGEROUS. :biggrin::biggrin:

Also, how about that Dex description? I mean, everything else seems very to the point and like, "Okay, so that's what it does!" But Dex is like, quite vague in its first sentence. Soo... maybe figure out what Dex is mainly for and put that out, clear and concise like? Altho, I know yo Dex might not have a clear focus like Str, so you might wanna go with something general like: "Dex broadly increases combat ability. Each point increases Focus Regen, Hit, Crit and Counter chance by 0,1%."

Oh, and is Int really s'posed to increase mana costs? If so, why?

Overall tho, I really like yo presentation and how everything laid out and stuff! Really clear, a pleasure to read, stuff is really understandable. :kaoluv:

Heh, counterintuitive at first, I know lol. Basically, I have it so MDF (Willpower) increases Mana Pool, while MAT (Intellect) mainly increases magic dmg. Even tho INT makes spells more expensive, your dmg/MP will always improve overall. So the player has to balance between stacking more Intellect or Willpower or maybe a middle ground between the two. Or specialize as a pure caster by dumping all other stats besides INT & WIL, thus gaining both high spell dmg and a large mana pool.

My thinking was that higher INT = a caster that can mentally manage a larger/stronger spell or have the mental aptitude to focus more Mana into the spell being cast. Think of an athletic sprinter.

Willpower, on the other hand, feels like "magical endurance" in a sense. Basically, it's the opposite playstyle of an INT-focused unit, or in other words, akin to a marathon runner.

Btw, thanks a bunch for the tip regarding the DEX description! :kaophew:

@Frostorm, okay, I see! I thought it might've been sumthing like that! I got a feeling ya gonna have players take issue with that tho. "WAAAT, I maxed my INT, now my spells suck? Yer game is bollocks!"
:biggrin::biggrin: Buut... maybe that not the type of player ya got in mind?

Oh right, I forgot the other main reason why I made INT increase MP Costs. Namely, I don't use skill/spell ranks in my game. Nor do I have multiple copies of spells of varying strength (e.g. Fira, Firaga, Firaja, etc.).

So if we take a basic Lightning Bolt spell for example... Let's say for simplicity's sake, Lightning Bolt deals INT*3 dmg and costs 40MP. Its damage clearly scales w/ the player as they grow, but what felt well-balanced early game later can feel unbalanced come late game. By end-game, the player might have enough total MP and/or regen to cast infinitely many Lightning Bolts lol.

Thus, I made it so INT also increases MP costs. XD

A forest I'm working on

@PLUEVNR Are you parallax mapping? Or are those just lighting effects you've added on top of the FSM tileset? I really like the side UI for the actors btw!

Thank you :)
Yep it's parallax mapping!
The lighting is donne with a layer

So I was playing Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark and noticed that they're just as inconsistent as me when it comes to skill descriptions! Notice how they use an icon for "CRIT" but not for "Critical Hit". And, they use both terms as well. Thoughts?

That almost looks like the second sentence is an explanation of the "CRIT" part of the first. Funny! :biggrin: Soo... can't really say what going on in Fell Seal there. But, if somebody bungling, I'd say don't try to copy them!

Just getting back into RPG Maker after a long absence. Since I'm effectively a beginner again, I'm doing a starter project just for the sake of familiarising myself with the engine and producing something finished even if it isn't top-quality. Even so, I'm happy with how this turned out.

Scarred Stars: Traumatic Edition

Looks great -- the only thing I'm not sure about is the three notes pinned on the back wall. Whoever pinned them there would have had to awkwardly reach around the gown in order to pin them to a stone wall, when it would be much easier to use the wardrobe door. Also, the small portrait is too low -- for an observer standing on the floor, it would be hidden behind the gown.

Prologue area, The Brothers, (c) System Masters 2021

Another obvious solution would be to simply not gain additional MP as you level. I've played other games that did this, and TP already functions like this.

It might feel more sensible to the player for the system to scale that way, rather than saying "This skill you have costs more resources and it's beyond your control."

I think the map generally looks good. The thing I would point out is that your wall heights vary between 2 and 3 squares, which makes things look wonky.

If you have walls of different heights, you should have other elements making it obvious why - like the right half of your north wall, you have tall walls but at one point you have a ledge halfway up. We can see that's a tall cliff with other stuff coming out.

But if you start at the entrance in the middle of your west wall, that height is 2 squares, then following it north the outcroppings are 3 squares tall. That looks stretchy and weird because we don't see anything else in that area indicating the wall is going up a hill or anything.

And then a lot of the rest of the map along the south side has 3-height walls. To me, seeing a taller cliff stretching off the north of the screen makes sense, but if we don't have any way to be on top of the southern shapes and seeing difference in terrain heights, there's no point in making those walls taller - I'd suggest sticking with your 2-height.

Thank you. I've had a go at fixing this map:


And here is a later map from the same project, Goblin Town:

I'd have been tempted just to raise the wall I've highlighted here by one block :LZSsmile: