Silver Town (Final Version)

Thanks this is mog script along with Dekita's help thread found here:  http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/27921-parallax-backgrounds/?hl=%2Bdekita+%2Bseamless#entry268077

Dekita pioneered the scripting and Andralexis disected the RTP paralaxes to form the movable background.

I heavily moded the mog script enabling a 2nd and 3rd back ground, extra commands linked to yanfly's options, and another magic circle to coincide with the first's rotation (here it is disabled on both).  It was a really good exercise to stretch my coding legs, and I nearly got all of it together but Mundy helped me with the minor errors I made.  

Thank you.  Mundy made it custom in Blender.  There is also a smaller version in the OP that can be attached to your signature for support.  I can alter the symbol to act as a link as well.  One moment.  

 



There.  Now it functions like a banner and you can attach it anywhere.  You can just highlight it and copy, as the link will still function where you paste it.

Source code for nerds:

Test



:o

awesome! : D

Late to the party! I finally got around to playing this game. Had quite a lot of fun, and this took up way more time than I expected until I had to stop around the three-hour mark (see below).

 

First of all, great work!

 

What I liked:

• Autodash enabled! Now I no longer have to hold down the ridiculous Shift key.
• Plenty of humour, but none I found over-the-top (favourites being Useless Guard #1, Half-elf, Insomnia Ring, mushroom sniffing). Hilarious references to Skyrim and probably other games.
• All balanced with the seriousness of an intriguing mystery (just what was Emmet's dad really up to?)
• Some nice maps - the ones who stand out for me are the mage's guild (tent), town square and the Inn (so far)
• Beautiful custom faces for Emmet, Willard and Shade - I really enjoy the emosets
• Very cool pendant and animation - this makes for a very arresting title screen
• Very likable main character - Seeing the discrimination Emmet faces (although at times a bit on-the-nose) it's easy to sympathize with him. 
• Nice variety of spells across the characters with upgrades that make leveling exciting. By Level 10, I'm starting to feel like a god with all these spells I'm toting.
• Interesting boss battles that kept me on my toes but never felt unbeatable
• I like that tongue-in-cheek line at the end of the intro (No skipping for me!)
• Best laugh-out-loud moment was when the ghost lady in the lighthouse well told me to go away.

 

Issues/Comments (in no particular order):

• I find the thin font a little hard to read, especially at the beginning when the the letters tend to blend with the background.
• When I pick up the letter from Emmet's bedroom floor:

 

• Wow, that Nidale is such a b***h (I love her!). Apparently she can also teleport too??

 

Minor mapping/alignment issues:

• Town Square - Why is the tiny amount of dirt in the town square able to stop your character from walking over it? Edit: I went back to check and realised it's probably meant to be a mountain of dirt. I just found it annoying in the three, four times I kept running into it ;D
• When I receive loot items from chests etc, I feel that the message fades out too fast for me to process it, especially when there's like three items at a time.
• I find myself checking the Journal often, if only to remind me what to do next. Others might like it, but I personally find it strange when I see quest objectives like 'Talk to Father Lucas' or 'Find the Staff of Light' that seem a bit spoiler-ish to me. I like exploring and being able to work things out by myself, but I guess you want to make sure players don't get lost! I just prefer if Emmet mentioned it in dialogue (eg "When I get to the church, I should look for Father Lucas blah blah) but that's just me.
• I found it a bit difficult to change the formation of my party at first, but I eventually got the hang of it.

• Lighthouse Caretaker's Residence - When you try to go down the cellar for the first time through the ladder, perhaps there could be a message with Emmet saying something like, "It's too dark to go down there"? At this point Willard could naturally chip in about finding his Staff of Light. I only mention it because I thought it odd that nothing happens when you step on the ladder.
• At first I was a bit annoyed at what I thought was hand-holding when the Journal told me to look for "the loose floorboard", but soon I found myself literally stopping at every tile of that floor in the hopes of looking for this mysterious loose floorboard! I felt a bit dense afterwards when I realised that the cellar ladder, which never gave a message before, turned out to be the solution to the problem!
• There are a few maps that seem a bit barren and out of place with your other maps. Those that come to mind are the ground floor of the Caretaker's house, and Emmet's house when the game starts. You were probably trying to convey what a slob Emmet is, but I dunno, I felt there was something missing about the map. I like the pile of laundry and the socks(?) peeking out of the drawers, however. Perhaps what I was looking for was some more colour to the place? In these maps, you have a lot of rich detail on the floors, but walls tend to be bare. Anyway this is just my opinion.
• I'm curious, what's the purpose of the save point if you can save anytime from your menu? I guess the save points are used as Warp points.

• Lighthouse - At first I thought it a bit strange that the spiral staircase in a lighthouse would be in a different location of the level each time you ascend. But after I thought about it, I figured that it's not impossible.
• After defeating Queen Lite II, I was teleported back to town where I realised my party now formed a caterpillar, something that didn't happen before! Was this intentional?
• At this point, I have to mention that I rarely get random encounters out in the world map. The distance between Silver Town and the lighthouse is so short that at first I didn't even know there were random encounters! This meant that by the time I went up the lighthouse and fought that boss in that level with all the webs (I forgot what her name is), I was under-powered. I spent some time grinding in the lower levels until I finally beat that boss.
• By the time I got to Queen Lite II, I'd already figured out a strategy so defeating this one was relatively easy. (First round Emmet casts Leonic Roar, then Smite. Williard first round Lesser Vigor, Shane first round Libra. Subsequent rounds: Obliterate, Lesser Vigor, Slow, Haste, Fire/Ice all)
• After that, I'd reached the point where I had little trouble with the battles in the Forest and that purple Corrupted Cave, meaning that that in a three hour playthrough I've only had to use Willard's staff once. Thanks to spamming Lesser Vigor (I love Willard), there were times I forgot he had the Staff. Battles were fun though and rarely boring.

• Unfortunately at the end(?) of the corrupted cave, I kept coming across the above issue where my game kept crashing before I could fight the boss. Each time I reloaded I had to fight those three battles. I crashed twice just before the boss battle, and twice during one of these 'three fights'. After the fifth try, I gave up ;D
• I can't figure out the reason for the crash other than I had Fraps running (I switched it off just in case)? Perhaps I was supposed to have a fourth party member?

 

 

Hi there, palladinthug. As discussed, I hope you don't mind that I point out spelling errors here: 


These are notes I just made from a casual playthrough, so I won't be pointing out things like sentence structure, missing commas (there are quite a number of them). Mostly spelling:

 

Introduction:

• The Humans established a mining colony, and soon stationed a castle fortifying thier (their) hold of the land from the elves and dwarves.
• A rebellion soon grew admist the mining colony.. (I think you mean amidst)
• The Emperor vowed revenge (not a mistake, but it sounds better if the Emperor vowed vengeance, especially since you again mention the word 'revenge' in the next sentence)

 

Item Descriptions:

• Lion's Pride - The user's atk/def base stats recieve a racial bonus. (receive)
• Gods of the Pantheon - Patron of the Law... he acts as judge, jury, and executioner of the injustice. (injustice = unjust)
• Raiment of the Sun - Clerics and Druids favor this garb for it's protective ringmail and fashionable cloth. (its protective ringmail)
• Dull Grey Ioun Stone - This stone encircles the head, though it's power has long since burned out. (its power)
• Noxious Life - Made by the faries, this concoction is not recomended for humanoid consumption. (fairies, recommended)
• Crystal Fragment - This fragment of the crystal shines with it's own dull light. (its own dull light)
• Ancient Mace - Whatever the folllowers of St Cuthburt see in this must be purely ceremonial. (followers)
• Inconsistency of terms - Beastmen, Beast Men. High Cleric, high cleric.
• The correct term is woodcutter, not wood cutter.

 

Beginning:

• Emmet: I'll have to pass through the slums to get into the human's part of town. (Reads better if you say 'human part of town')
• Nidale - Get the hell out of here before I make you a quadraplegic (quadriplegic)
• Nidale: Emmet Lightmane. Your lumbering permit has been revoked by order of Nidale High Cleric of St. Cuthburt. (Should be 'lumber permit' because lumbering means slow, awkward)
• Nidale: I gease thee. (I think the word you're thinking of is geas? I've never seen it used as a verb before. Usually it's something like 'I invoke a geas on thee'. Unless you're just exercising creative license and creating a brand new word - in which case, kudos to you!)
• Emmet: So this was what all this is about? You all need a laugh so your gonna send me to get slaughtered? (ignoring the sentence structure, you're gonna send me...)
• Nidale - I gave Ivan permission to acomidate you. (accommodate)

 

• Mage Guild (tent) - Can you not interupt me? I'm trying to work. (interrupt)
• Mage Guild (tent) - Emmet: This is an orrey of the planes. Jura must have spend a lot of time.. (orrery, spent)
• Lord Jura - So Willard, your going to throw your lot in with Nidale? (you're going to...)

 

• Ulrika - Far to the north is the contient of Ursalia. Is it possible to punch an entire contient? (continent)
• Welcome to the church.. I am a Father Lucas. (I am Father Lucas)
• Father Lucas - Emmet there was nothing we could do for your father. The plague is a death sentance. (sentence)
• Emmet - Welcome to the club. Town's been one big disapointment after another. (disappointment)

 

Lighthouse:

• Willard - Remember: I need a holy symbol equiped to use "Turn Undead". I cannot preform it without a focus. (equipped, perform)
• Willard - The lighthouse was suppose to be a symbol of our prosperity and future. (supposed)
• Willard - Did you see the sign to the right? She probably wants to demolish the place to get it out sight, out of mind. (out of sight)
• Willard - I sometimes come here to pray to be away from my colleages. (colleagues)
• Emmet - Will, will, will. A double bed.. (Well, well, well.)
• Emmet - So their dead body just kinda bio degrades all on its own? (So their dead bodies just kinda biodegrades all on its own?)
• Emmet - We're not murders now, are we? (murderers)
• Willard - Looks like your ready to lead. Good. You're the one with armor on. (you're ready)
• Emmet - It is concerning when they do that. (Concerning means 'about'. I think you mean "It's disturbing when they do that". Other alternative words: sad, troubling, worrying)
• Lite Eater Spider - I'm so sick of those scrawny faries always in my webs anyway. (fairies)
• Queen Lite II - No matter. I've already absorbed it's power into my own. I have no further need of you three. (its power)
• Emmet - Thank you captain obvious. (Thank you, Captain Obvious.)
• World Map - Emmet: They'd recognize us as townies in a moment. We'd need something incogneto. (We need something incognito)

 

Forest:

• Shade - Lesse here. Strange. It says: Below in the posion pit go South of the stair... (poison pit)
• You now posses 2 of the fragments. The armor is looking more upkept. (You now possess 2 of the fragments. The armor is looking better kept. Alternatives: more stylish, better maintained)
• Quest - Find the Forrest Stone. (Forest)
• Sign - Enjoy wandering the forrest until you die. (forest. Another mushroom also says forrest)
• Willard - Said the talking lion in armor. (Says the talking lion)
• A single forlorn grave stands admist this ocean of leaves. (amidst)
• Emperor's Lackey - Feel my radience! (radiance)

 



 

I hope I didn't come off as harsh, palladinthug. This is an exemplary game and I look forward to playing more! (As soon as I figure out what's wrong with my playthrough)

@Alkorri:

Not at all, and first of all thank you for the extensive and very comprehensive feedback that went far beyond anything I expected.  Because of your thoroughness I'll be able to go back and make a lot of necessary corrections I overlooked myself with the grammar.  Thank you for all the compliments.  It makes me happy to know you enjoyed your experience.  

The thing that sticks out the most is that error with the Undead boss fight.  Are you using an XP based machine to play the game?  I learned from Indrah's play through that some scripts crash rm games and there is a script working in the background during those events to turn off the victory aftermath and then back on.  I'll see what I can do to help the situation, but you are the first person to list a crash in that situation unless I did something that isn't registering on my end and no one else has come forward since the quick fixes were made.  No fourth party member till after the dragon fight and you return to town, so that isn't it.  That's a shame things stopped for you here.

The light house was actually taken from a real design, where the spiral staircases were on opposite sites, because of a shaft  and the multilevel.  Had I kept it together on the same spiral player traffic would be too short for an actual dungeon.  As it is, I need to reexamine the design again due to recent feedback from other people as well.

OH--Willard.  Such a strange character.  No play tester likes him.  This site adores him.  And his staff never sees the use it should.   It may be time to shift his skills around, or simply make a few changes to the way staffs behave.  I thought a charge system would do well in an RM game, and with 50 I'd figure people would be using it enough to want to recharge it.  It's definitely time to reexamine this idea.  He should be able to do more than just Vigor spells.

Those little mounds of dirt are actually piles of leaves.  I guess I didn't pixel art them well enough.  I'll have to fix that.

No Nidale cannot teleport, that's just her calling down from upstairs like Dalph said.  I'll try and make that a little more obvious.  I'm glad someone else likes her, maybe the following update she can get a little more support.  

Good idea about the journal.  I'll see what I can do.  I like it having a more personal touch.

For the Queen Lite battle, I had turn party formation back on, and enabled caterpillar.  I really should set a variable to read what formation the party is in and return them to that setting.  

Originally, before releasing on this website Emmet had some bachelor wall scrolls and bromides on his wall.  Perhaps it's time they made a return in some form.   

That was extremely extensive, thank you for that!

It was my pleasure :) Well, I am on a Windows XP laptop if that's what you mean? (Too poor to get a new one, and yeah, she's eight years old). Otherwise, no, I use only VX Ace. So is that the problem after all?

As for Willard, this is just a suggestion, perhaps you could transfer the super useful Lesser Vigor (and other related/upgraded) spells to the staff which has limited charges, which can only be recharged again with that girl in the Mage Guild? That way people use the staff (it's connected to him etc etc), are forced to be a bit more strategic and careful with the spell, and have more of a reason to Warp/Teleport back to town for magical recharging. And character-wise I like Willard a lot! 

Ahh, I suppose Nidale could call down after all. At the moment I felt like someone else could easily say the same dialogue, but this works too!

Sorry, didn't notice they were piles of leaves? They look like...dirt? I might not have looked very hard. Really, this is such a small thing. I only brought it up because I was irritated the few times they blocked my path on the road ;)

Just wanted to say it's always a pleasure to meet a developer so open to honest feedback and so gracious in accepting critique. Some people are thin skinned and I hope I can be as accepting when the time comes to develop my game. Good luck with your project!

Unfortunately yes.  Some scripts do cause XP to crash rm games, and I know vista win 7 and win 8 machines allow play through those events.  I know how that goes I recently had a vista lappy till someone swiped it.

I was just thinking something similar with the skill rotation.  Move the more used spells to staves to make them more valuable.  Also I think 50 as a max is good, but traditional DnD rules state that a staff is never found fully charged.  So I'd probably randomize the variable between 20~40.

It's okay.  It isn't the first time I've made a bad tile and it won't be the last.  I'll see about redoing the leaves to make them more obvious.

Thank you, and I know how it goes with some devs.  It's part of the experience.  Thankfully people have been good to me here, and I see a very generous time to feedback ratio.  It's encouraging to hear that.  I can't wait to see what you come up with for your own project. =3

Ahh, so it's my dear XP machine then. It's getting sad how the old bird is increasingly incompatible with many things. No fault to you of course!

Eep, very nice of you to say. I still am at that stage of the tutorials marked 'Conditionals' and 'Variables' :)  Nonetheless, I do have plans, yes!

if you want tutorials one suggestion is this Youtuber

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp1QDWzIx9kzT9D_T1CUAg

hes made many tutorials videos(among other random non related things)

and is quite active,you can pm him a question and he will most likely respond :3

but YT does not give main page notification for pms

better to post in videos :3

Edit-fixed grammar

Heya all, during my down time with no internet over the Holiday weekend I got to remapping some of the weaker areas like the Lighthouse and Cellar maps.  

Here is what I came up with:



I used Indrah's cave's tile set and some stalactite/mites from FSM that I recolored/edited/added the green and surface water line too.



I may end up changing the layout due to the height errors, but I was generally pleased with how it came together long with some water graphic eventing.  The tinted tiles still need feathering done on the darker edges and I need to add a water surface to the crystal's rock formation.  This will flesh out the cellar much more.  I even added a few trapped fairies in cocoons to rescue.  I'll be recoloring them again for use in the Dragon's cave in PA to the RTP white marble.

 Shade's new introduction and cut scene were added. 

The Lighthouse staircase now functions properly and has one altered graphic:



I'll be filling things in to dress it up, though it's gone back to a minimally spaced environment as it was meant to be.  

As a special treat I started work on making DS versions of the characters as a thank you for support:  

Heya.  More custom tiles and revamped maps.  This time Pax Anthor gets a make over with maps under the spoiler.

Here is the new version, with the layout in progress:



To make the gate fit it needed to be edited.  This is an RTP resource and was only moved over, so there is no need to credit me if you use it with the Tokkuri tile set:



Here is the entryway to the throne room without NPC ghosts:




I am considering changing the first dungeon to be the caverns below the light house since the mapping is much more interesting and involved than a tightly cramped tower.  The mini bosses will move as will Shade's joining mid battle event, but the boss's location and tile set for the lighthouse will remain as is. 

Icons are being added as necessary.  Next will be gems, and a few enemy unique states.

Cut scenes are being sketched.  Monsters are undergoing more mechanics added to their events and behaviors.  An introduction to the undead castle was added.

I'll be off the week of August 4th for a much needed vacation.  I would not expect any updates during that time.

I don't want palladinthug to triple post so I'll drop a message here, ahah.

@palladinthug:

As I already told you in that PM I like the changes so far, the layout of Pax looks really a lot better than before.

Also, that behavior talking pose of Shade is really awesome...lmao

Thank you, the populated elements are underway.

  

I've also got a great deal of eventing, but those claw marks are the most notable item.  Healthcliff literally tore the castle down with his bare hands.  I wanted to show it.  Not tell it.

Edit:  A small update to the previous map to give it a much better look:

Heyos guys.  Some more mapping:

Subterranean Undead Castle 



Throne Room one is huge, so it goes under a cut.

Enemies will be getting more upgrades and I need to move to the database soon in order to get the icons to items so things aren't so sparse in the inventory.  

We'll be getting to the virtues soon enough.  

That made me laugh so hard ;D

Maps are looking good! Some odd issues with the carpets but I'm guess you'll fix that. I like the touch of the fallen pillar.

Well the problem with the map exporter is it doesn't show below same as or above events, so those areas are taken as events over the tile set.  They are there, sadly I cannot get them without a screen shot of each area and patching them together.

Thanks =3  I like to think the ending will be just as entertaining as the journey itself.  Hopefully you'll also enjoy the tie ins.

C++.and scripting=headaces galore!!!

still a better deal the the anime im currently on

you'd think depressing events should have a limit but noooo :3

My apologies for letting you go this long without an update.

 

Portrait work has resumed:  



Wolf is nearly done.  Some minor adjustments and fixes to do.

 

Briefly for mapping, I've added a great amount of detailing.  Here is the latest screen shot:



Lots of Clean up has been done to Pax Anthor.  A chest reward has been planned for the flame puzzle, and the events leading to Emmet's big reveal have been sorted out

and clarified.  Now when Nidale has her confession it will allow the player to properly trigger the good ending.  Returning to Nidale without revisiting the grave site will

trigger the bad ending.

 

Cutscenes soon to follow along with the overdue intro art.  I'll have a stream later tonight to work on some art with you all if my connection holds during the storm.

 

I am working on the cutscenes for when you sleep at the INN a certain number of times.

 

Thank you very much for all your encouragement and support.  Having the project viewed 8k times is really a landmark, as most of the projects I see rarely get that much attention.

It means a great deal that you are enjoying the game's progress.

O.O Wolfy looks like a rapist!

he has evil plans in mind! dont trust him!

I hope not ><  He will have rescued someone important in the past which the mace will show.  I'd be more worried about Willard.  I showed it to a few other people and I may have gone overboard on those faces.  We'll see if those two need a redo.

Thanks to Dekita, the issue with the logo restarting each time when options or continue were to return you to the menu scene has been solved.  This was the biggest obstacle of the next build and solved in 30 seconds by an experienced scripter who was generous enough to share his time.  I'll be crediting him for his work in the main post shortly.