Silver Town (Final Version)

Some very good points here.  I realize in comparison to the other characters Emmet's list is rather trimmed.  I removed some old spells like Holy Word and Consecrate which did not fit his character, but I am willing to substitute something else to fills that gaps.  Thank you for that observation.  I sometimes loose track of the character's abilities jumping around fixing all the 'leaks'.

--For the moment I can brainstorm a bit.  Physical holy fighter, I could give him a "Lay on Paws" ability to help out with healing that is TP based, and something that would grow with his passive like "Human Spirit" that would work like a morale effect enforcing that leadership quality. (Though the other may be a give away about his mother).  I basically made smite the "I don't want to auto attack" button.  But I didn't replace the attack button since you can haste Emmet and give him +2,+3,+4 more attacks per swing depending on level.  He quickly outgrows it by level 8 or so.

Liche was deemed the easiest of all bosses (Shade has reflect and it's now instant) by Dalph.  If you choose not to use reflect or you simply can't get the TP/TP Regen ability up I recommend using "Turn Undead" with both of those bosses as it's like a free nuke.  "Awe" which will be added in the next version will work on some bosses and slow them down to give your party a better stance for more strategy.

Shade doesn't hold back anything on her mind.  She's unfiltered ><

I unfortunately have a nasty habit of clicking "Add to dictionary" which is right next to auto correct.  You can imagine what words I've added in haste.

Ah thank you!  They were part of the renovation and I am glad people enjoyed them.  Hearing just a little comment like that makes all that reworking and mapping well worth the time spent.

Yes I do understand.  I thought I nixed that.  I'll be sure to give it another go and try not to overlook it in time for September's update.  

Much appreciated, and I'd be happy to take a look at Chapter 2 of your project this weekend if you are still looking for feedback.  I should be free.

Yeah I bet. It can be hard to decide from the very start all the skills the characters will have. A lot of the time we end up removing some of their skills during development or adding new ones, and so the skill learning progression gets messed up.

I didn't know it was possible for haste to give 3x or 4x the attack. I thought it was only up to 2x. So then it stacks?

Ah, I didn't think of using reflect. Not sure if I have it actually. Might need to check through the skills again. 'Turn Undead' has been very useful, though I don't always get a chance to use it because a lot of the time I need Willard to do the healing. He's got loads of good abilities. Sometimes I wish I could use him more than once a turn. Haha.

Lol. Your dictionary must be full of fantasy names and terms by now. Ah, so the caves were redesigned? They do look good. I like the custom-made edits you've done there.

Cool, thanks man. Would you like me to send you the download link now or closer to the weekend?

A quick update as I have been getting adjusted to the new job.

I've finished the ending cut scene and the final boss battle (which is very event heavy due to the all the virtues the boss has), and have started to go over the dialogue grammar corrections again.  

I'm working to get the .3 update to you guys by September 15th if I can, but my priority was to make a good impression at the new job which I've been successful with.

Remember the Update will be pretty sizable and include a new title screen, along with a massive change to battles.

Ivan's Portraits underwent a bit of a rehash as I didn't like the very scribbled way the stripes showed up in his default colored face:



He's more difficult due to the stripes, and I'll be hashing him out more this holiday weekend.  I thankfully get national holidays off now at the new job.

I'm also seeing if I can get something done in time for the Restaff.  I want to have at least DS Emmet, which will soon have custom non DS resource armor for unrestricted use.  I can possibly make a few edits to him too and get a mask going for character hub.

I also need to get back to Project Atonement and finish up Magi Chronicles as well for more feedback.

The new job is forcing me to stay on first shift another week, so I will not have the new artwork finished and implemented.  All other changes should be present.  I am not able to work on as much as I'd like due to 4am - 4pm scheduling.  

I'll be putting all restaff material into next month's submission.

Quick update:

Emmet will be gaining two healing abilities based of his max and current hp and grant a buff called "resurgence" which will add a small regen buff to the recipient.  New Skills will be Lay on Paws, and Lick Wounds.

The portraits are in and look great =3  I am back tracking through all the dialogue to make sure I haven't missed any for Wolfe or Shade in replacing their dummy sets.



Gale has been fixed up and stream lined, as well as Pax Anthor.  Everything will be available up till the final battle along with the ending and credits.  

I'd really love to have more artwork done to put into the cut scenes, but that will have to wait considering the new job is taking so much time away from me right now.

Willard's final sprite is minimally done, but needs clothes.

Here is a rather large spoiler for you:

I have a new save ready for XP users which will resume the game after the dragon/Liche fight that will be made available on the 15th as well.  

I also have designs in the works for the next idea, and depending how well Silver Town is received I am currently not planning to follow with a sequel unless people feel strongly enough about the story

continuing.  

Here are a few tidbits from the next idea I am kicking around for concepts:

Great stuff!  

Question: How DO you tell age difference in nonhuman characters like Emmit and Ivan? :)

It's 5 am and my internet is constantly disconnecting.  Perfect time for a quick art lesson.



Telling the age difference is easy as observing it in humans.  The cheeks, the chin, and the hairline.  The shape of the head can vary as well.  I decided to draw a few rushed examples as I am on my way out the door to work.

Emmet will have a thinning mane, and it will become more blocky as his head looses shape.  When his hormones decrease it has a physical effect on his body.  The same goes for a human.  You can see from the quick sketches I did here

that younger characters will have larger eyes and checks and smaller chins.  Little cubs will be like fluff balls.

My apologies for not having a more engrossing example, but I am off for my third week at 1st shift for a job 1 hour away.

EDIT: Since Ivan has no mane, other factors like those mentioned also come into play.  You can also disrupt his stripes or give him a more dirty fur color in places.  You can also fudge it and give them facial hair like I did with Emmet.

Have some silliness:






Still working out the kinks.



 

There are a couple things preventing me from putting some polish on the cut scenes such as drawn pictures and beefing up the introduction like I wanted.  When it rains it pours.

It certainly has been and adventurous couple of weeks, I'll say that much.  Good news is I am now on second shift with the new job, so once the issues 

here are dealt with I'll have another update for you all.  The game can be played beginning to end now, hopefully to satisfaction. 

 

I truly hope you enjoy the new title screen, redone Pax Anthor, new cut scenes(Including Shade's Intro and new INN night stays), features, mechanics, improvements to battle, and other various little

tidbits added.

 

To further help those with XP machines, a save with the new class mechanics and other materials is provided immediately following the battle with the lich

and freeing the druids to allow you to play from about where the last version left off.

 

http://goo.gl/LZTewY Is the new premade save you will need if you are using an XP machine or don't wish to revist the previous content with the new changes.

 

There are now 5 save slots.

 

Using a previous save will not be advisable as "magic" and "skill" categories no longer exist.  Rather than reinstate the old events which reintiallized the characters I've saved time

with just giving you a generic save after freeing the Druids.

 

Mithril staff now enables "Eternal Vigor, Excaliburn, and Holy Nova" on Willard.  The staff consumes no charges and can be used infinitely.

 

Blacksmith Vulcan will now give 4 items in exchange for the mithril instead of a choice of just 1.

 

There is a short cut scene at the end of the credits.

 

The final battle is extremely difficult, more so than old Lackey and Chuckles.  Thankfully Emmet has a new trick up his sleeve called "Virtue" which the ghost of the old Avatar can explain, 

if you can find where he is buried.

 

A new set battle of the Arche Liche has been placed in the throne room.

 

Monsters have a wider variety of skills, and the first dungeon monster's attacks have been reduced dramatically based on feedback.  Monsters at Pax Anthor are on par with the player

characters skills, and can counter player unique skills now.  EX. Rebuke undead will undo Turn Undead's effects.

 

***

Ivan's Updated Emo Sheet:



Still a work in progress due to all personal issues.

 

Willard's Alternative Emo Sheet for the Final battle:



NYI along with his not yet complete second sprite.

Let me Libra that for you:
 

That's pretty much all, I think that in some areas the random encounters are still a bit too frequent but it's nothing too tedious.

I liked also Nidale's plot-twist and the ending, I wonder if you will create a sequel one day, I would like to know what will happen to Willard. Shade is always my favourite, nothing changed...ahahahah.

Thanks again for adding me in the game (and in the credits), I appreciated it a lot! I can confirm that you are pretty much bang on with my personality, ahahah.

Again great job palladinthug! Silver Town is an awesome game.

Thanks Dalph.  The old Avatar is part of the optional content, after you get the tabard return to Cassandra.  She will instruct you to go to your father's grave.  Emmet says he wants to check out the clock where Willard was in the INN as well.  Visiting the grave will reveal you father isn't buried there, or you can also visit Gale and talk to Meldyrs.  She will tell you that they never could find the old Avatar's body or effects, so Nidale must have taken it with her.  She is hiding it in plain sight.  After a short cut scene you get Emmet's last ability.

3 hours as intended!  Thank you.  Along with the bugs, I'll be doing a few more pieces of art namely for the intro and a few scenes.  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Makes all the work that more worth it.

I'm glad it was funny, as I needed to lighten the mood with so many serious aspects going on.  Jura's related boss was something that wasn't planned, it just came out while discussing with Mundy what to do for the undead castle.  It became hilarious because I was expecting Meldyrs to fight them directly with summoned monsters, but she really doesn't wanna stop Emmet, so she throws this curve ball at him to see if he has what it takes.

A sequel is not out of the question, in fact I've begun outlining a possibility.  Though we'll see what other people think and if a sequel is worth doing.  Right now since it is just bugs and physical art, I wanna take a break and distance myself from Silver Town.  I've been working on it for nearly a year here and I need a fresh project, which is why I am play testing and giving feedback to others hoping it all rubs off on my work. If there is a Sequel I would likely parody the RM universe.  I wouldn't be an official ARUM game, but I'd be making fun of the elements and characters.

Haha. That can't be true. No way Shade is unlikeable.

I'll be giving the new update a go from the very start and will get back to you with my thoughts.

It's... finished? Tutti? :o

I'm seriously gonna have to check it out!

@palladinthug:

I'm an idiot...it's all written in the Journal, and the Rune of Humility is obviously a must have.

It was time well spent tbh, I played it countless times and I'm never tired to play it again, this clearly means that you know how to make a good and addictive game. Again congrats for finishing the game palladinthug, I'm looking forward to see more work from you in future.

That's a big compliment, thank you.  I'd still like to put a bit more polish on it, but I've already moved on to outlining the next project.  I just need to do something else while I get the remaining pictures fixed up, after a bit of a break.

EDIT: No Biggie, I tried to make the journal more flashy and necessary before but people found it cumbersome.  It's just there as a background guide.

The story is finished yes, but the remainder of the bugs and some spaces I need to finish a sprite or art for is still there.  It's negligible in early concept forums.

Thank you, that is very generous of you considering the time invested into your own project.  There is no rush, as I am brainstorming elsewhere now and play testing around.  

 while in Early Concept forums though.  I don't think I'll get many people complaining when they can play the actual game to judge aside from a few gimmicks.

Got some feedback as I've just gotten to the end of the lighthouse bit.

I really like the changes you've made to these locations. The sewers look fantastic with all those little tile edits, as well as animated sprites such as floating buckets and stuff. The lighthouse looks pretty nice too with its new layout.

The battles seem to be perfectly balanced now (I didn't struggle with any of them, but they weren't a cakewalk either), and the levelling goes up at a decent pace. I'm now at lvl 6. Going to continue to the druid part soon. I wonder what sort of changes to expect there and how I'll find the dragon/liche boss combo this time. I'm already finding the new skills to be good. It was a great idea to give Emmet a healing skill too.

Just a few minor issues I've come across:

 - There seems to be a random impassable tile in Emmet's house at the start. It's pretty much in the middle of the right-hand carpet, not far from the house exit.

 - Another random impassable tile in Nidale's room on upper floor of the church. It's on the far right, just below the cabinet.

 - Ivan's face seems to be missing in the very last text box in the first dialogue he has with Emmet, just after his shop gets set on fire.

 - In the sewer there is a small section with 3 chests close to each other. The left-most chest doesn't seem to open but the others do.

 - I noticed there are still typos and spelling errors, but you probably just hadn't had the chance yet to fix them. They're pretty much the same ones I found before.

Hmmm.  That's odd.  I've gone over the grammar with a fine tooth comb along with Aklorri's as well.  I'll look at it again, sorry about that.  I don't like leaving the same issue between builds.

OH thank goodness!  That is what I was waiting to hear.  At last ^^; some solace for the battles.  That was your idea to give him a healing skill, and yes it was a great idea you had =3

I'm so happy I got something right with the battles.  The thing that kept over killing people was the huge change in variance, and I thankfully had some sense to remove it.  Hopefully the

balance will continue on throughout the rest.

Oh? The healing skill was my idea? I completely forgot.

That makes sense about the variance. I did notice in the previous version the attacks would sometimes deal very little damage and other times a lot. I am glad the variance in numbers has been sorted. I noticed that from the section I've just done. Finally managed to beat the dragon/liche boss combo. The difficulty felt just right for them, since I had to use many of my skills and even had some of my characters KOed at times, but eventually beaten them both. The big ogre though felt a bit easy and it seemed that maybe he had a tad too much HP. The thing with dragon and liche bosses, the team already has a plenty of skills by that stage and the bosses too use a variety of skills, but with ogre I found myself casting the same skills every turn.

Oh, I also noticed right after the ogre battle, the followers suddenly came on. I could've sworn they were switched off prior to this, though I could be wrong.

Thought I had nabbed the followers command at the end of the light house, looks like I missed it with the "Ogre".  No you are right.

Big Belly Orc did way too much damage, as he was killing play testers left and right, so I may have nerfed him too hard this time around.  I'll take another look at him.  Since he had scripted damage on top of attacks it made it a bit harder to balance.

I'm glad you got past the Lich and Dragon.  I gave a restore point in the dungeon just in case people wanted an extra level or two to deal with the bosses.  Hopefully as you continue there will be no more snags.

Some News:

RMN has accepted Silver Town.  I'm going to need to work on a nice splash page for presentation, get the page in order, and address the current bug list before updating the demo and posting it there.



There I am underneath the two Final Fantasy Rip offs.  

 

Man, some cutscenes in the game are hilarious. What was up with that cutscene where Willard is telling his backstory and his and Emmet's sprites look like they're kissing? Haha. That was well random. And also that cutscene with the disguises was funny too. When Shade turned Wolfe into the "least used RTP actor" and commented on it, it made me chuckle.

And OMG! Deus Ex music in the prison cell! That was rather sudden and unexpected. XD

Just a few minor things that I came across in this section of the game:

- When I was done with the druids' place, prior to teleporting away I accidentally used warp, which just kept me on the same map, but the music was gone.

- In the cutscene where your team is talking to Nidale after meeting with Wolfe, she seems to be facing the wall. I am not sure if it's intended or not.

- In the ruined house in Gale (the one with a map on the wall), it is possible to walk onto the wall if you go straight at it from where that blue puddle is.

- As Dalph pointed out, Shade's old faceset still comes up in a few places. There was one when you talk to the watery slime in Gale, another one at the starting cutscene in the cell. There was also one at the druids' place, but Dalph already pointed it out.

Uh oh, Dues Ex?  I'll have to replace that then.  I wasn't aware it was from somewhere else due to the artist not marking it being a remix.  I do so find that annoying with the younger music artists.  Thank you for letting me know.  I had thought I had musicians identify all the remixes the first go around.

That specific house was looked at so much I thought I put in an event same as characters to prevent that.  I'll need to look again.

Ah, she isn't suppose to be facing the liquor cabinet for that conversation no.  I'll have to add in a turn down for the event.

Odd, that wasn't something I or anyone else tried yet.  I have the after dragon save, so it will be easy to duplicate it.

I am glad you found them amusing.  That particular one with Emmet and Willard was suppose to be comforting, but I'll take humor.  That beats the last few comments on that scene for dragging.  

It looks like you are one dungeon short of the ending.

Yeah. It's this track from Deus Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBzDv24IOYQ

I like the puzzle with coloured buttons being scattered all around the sewer. Though the encounters were a tad too frequent. At some points whilst I was looking for the buttons I ended up simply escaping some of the fights (thank God for Wolfe's super high Agi). On topic of Wolfe, I have mixed feelings about his special abilities. Some of them I don't find myself using at all, but on the other hand Crippling Strike is like uber powerful. It does ~700-800 dmg each hit and 3 hits in total, plus it debuffs Atk and Agi. It doesn't allow you to choose the target, which is its only drawback, but I think it's still way more powerful than Assassin's Edge (which costs more to use) and possibly even better than Valiant Edge. I would personally either make those two cheaper or make Crippling Strike slightly more costly (or to just deal slightly less dmg).

The Octopus boss fight was a bit unexpected and didn't give the player any warnings, though at least it's not too hard or anything, so maybe that's all right.

The word 'manufacturing' is misspelled in button guardian's dialogue.

The undead fortress looks pretty great. I like those edits you made to make the place look really worn down and semi-destroyed.

At the moment I'm stuck on the Liche boss fight. Darn, that guy is powerful. I keep getting killed off by some attack that doesn't have an animation and it inflicts poison and possibly other status ailments on the whole team. Not sure what causes it to be honest and how to avoid it. I'll give this fight a try again later.

Oh, I've also found some special crown. It seems to be sidequest related or something. One thing that I've got to say is that this game knows how to surprise. I like this unconventional 4th-wall-breaking humour that it uses. Curious to see how this story ends.