VXAce - The N.E.X.U.S. Project (8.2.0)

lakeisgay · 2018-01-20T15:41:35+0900

(formerly Delta Origins - Rise of N.E.X.U.S.) Project is in slow development. Parallel post on itch.io: https://nightblade50.itch.io/the-nexus-project "Any planet is 'Earth' to those that live on it." - Isaac Asimov Click to expand... Announcement: I'm currently looking for voice actors. Click here for details if you're interested and PM me or comment on that thread! The N.E.X.U.S. Project is a sci-fi RPG that takes place in the year 3000, approximately a thousand years in the future. The human race has become highly advanced, and large portions of the universe have become charted. Yet there is still much out there to discover. Commander Eridanus sends three talented individuals out on a search for other planets. But while they are gone, a terrible event strikes. (spoiler free) Spoiler At the start of all, the beginning of everything that is, was, and will be, things were created. Not all of these creations are on Earth. Ever since man had thought, man had wondered about what the universe had hidden within its vast, cold expanse. What might be there, past the sea of shining stars. Desires like these have burned in the bellies of humankind, leading to discovery after discovery Man has uncovered more than could ever be counted. Finally, after so many turned to dust, burning away in the flames, chasing after the secrets of the universe, man’s dream has finally come true. Man has unlocked the door of the stars. It is the year 3000. Earth has placed their hopes in three brave explorers; hoping they can find and charter the mysteries of the universe. They are to find new planets, to explore them, to learn them, to charter them. This operation is known as "The Project for New Exploration of Unknown Systems" - Project N.E.X.U.S. Their names are Nova, Pandora, and Andromeda. Spoiler Fast-paced, action-filled sideview battle system of real difficulty that keeps you on your toes No RTP! (besides sound effects) Beautiful maps of a fiery alien world A dramatic storyline Hidden treasure! Custom menu system Gorgeous character busts And last but certainly not least... Squashable alien eggs! Spoiler Spoiler Every individual listed here was important to the game, but there are a few people who have encouraged me and/or generously have provided custom-made resources for my game specifically. Special thanks goes to... @SmashArtist , the artist behind the outstanding character busts and enemy graphics @Sauteed_Onion , who created music for my game and has supported me throughout @Jchurch9 , who did a whole lot of work on the dialogue for my game @Guiguimu , a great person who has motivated and supported me throughout development @Puruiro , who drew a fabulous battleback - appears in the fourth screenshot and in most of the game's battles @Starmage , who made some resources and has just been a huge supporter @BrandedTales , who helped write some of the dialogue too - specifically, the excellent first scene where they're told of their mission. (I only edited it very slightly.) @A-Moonless-Night , who wrote a script patch for me combining Neon Black and Galv's menu plugins - resulting in a completely unique menu And everyone else (in no particular order) Avery Hyde Sixth Dekita McTricky Dopan Neon Black ShinGamix Kevvviiinnn PandaMaru Allusion Apoc Usui TheBrogrammer OCS Yanfly Moghunter Nicke KilloZapit Galv TheTrueCyprien TheoAllen Maker Systems - RPG Maker Source Kadokawa/Enterbrain CoolText GaryCXJk Tsukihime Matseb2611 Celianna Sherman3D Soichi Jet Ms Littlefish Rabosion NoiseForFun.com (for a couple of sound effects) wanderer-arts (game icon) Firb Darren Curtis Lokif Guiguimu Victor Sant NeoFantasy DianteC JEIA_CORP Vlue Andy Chen Michael Galefire Joel Steudler Spoiler Nova Nova became a soldier almost as soon as he became an adult, but when he was discharged from the military, he became a mercenary. He left that life behind too, and now he's been recruited by the Commander as the "muscle" for the mission. Pandora Pandora is an outstanding pilot, one of the greatest on earth. She's flown numerous missions in the past, so she seemed the perfect candidate for the mission. Andromeda Andromeda is an expert mechanic and an overall tech whiz. She's coming on the mission in case any technical problems arise. Spoiler The N.E.X.U.S. Project by ts50 Epic sci-fi thriller made with RPG Maker. ts50.itch.io Proton Drive Securely store, share, and access your important files and photos. Anytime, anywhere. drive.protonmail.com Spoiler 1/19/2018 - Version 1.0.0 - Uploaded game. 1/21/2018 - Version 1.1.0 - Added option to squash alien eggs, expanded ship, added boss, made monsters tougher (slightly) 1/22/2018 - Version 1.2.0 - Changed one actor's skills, fixed one mistake, added some dialogue after boss 1/28/2018 - Version 2.0.0 - "Items" is now first option on menu, screen tint while in alien world, added more to the spaceship, fixed an accuracy issue. 1/28/2018 - Version 2.1.0 - Font color changed slightly, small glitch when leveling up, t…

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Started by lakeisgay Jan 20, 2018, 06:41 AM 186 posts Page 6 of 10 View original ↗

The Stranger

#101 Mar 20, 2018, 10:17 AM Source

I really like the character busts in your game. Did you draw them?
lakeisgay

#102 Mar 20, 2018, 05:09 PM Source

The Stranger said:
I really like the character busts in your game. Did you draw them?
Nope, but I wish I had :p
lakeisgay

#103 Mar 29, 2018, 11:03 PM Source

I know I haven't done anything here for a while. Just waiting for my writer to finish up the current scene, and then I'll release it!
Starmage

#104 Mar 30, 2018, 05:30 AM Source

Keep going, Thomas! ^_^ It's okay, we can wait, take your time ;)
lakeisgay

#105 Apr 3, 2018, 12:11 AM Source
New update!!!
Chapter 1 is finished!
Updates:
1. Added more content.
2. A new battleback by @Puruiro.
3. Changed all skill and item descriptions.
Also I added a poll, so players can choose whether they want me to make more content or improve what I have.
Starmage

#106 Apr 3, 2018, 05:12 AM Source

Awesome! I cannot wait to try this update, THomas!! ^_^ :)
lakeisgay

#107 Apr 3, 2018, 05:52 AM Source

Starmage said:
Awesome! I cannot wait to try this update, THomas!! ^_^ :)
Hope you like it!
Rabosion

#108 Apr 3, 2018, 10:00 AM Source

I've tried the demo and the project is looking good. Here are my thoughts on it so far: (you can take them with a pinch of salt ;) )

-Story/ writing:
The characters are well written. Watching the cutscenes play out was a delight. I'm interested in how the story will develop. I'm looking forward to the next update. :)
One thing I don't really understand is how the ...

silly spoiler
Alien hated me for killing all of his friends, yet I didn't squash any eggs at all. The monsters attacked me first though, it was self-defense :3

-Mapping: Giving feedback on my own maps would be silly, but it was nice to see them in action. Because of this, I'll give advice on the other maps.
I liked the introductory scene map, it was clean and simple. As for the dungeon-like area:

dungeon
There is a heavy contrast with the outside map. In the overworld map, it was pretty open whereas the dungeon feels cramped. While i like that contrast, upon entering I noticed that the placement of rocks/ lava was a bit odd. I get that the player needs to navigate correctly but, shouldn't there be a way to reach the end without taking floor damage? It feels like an artificial difficulty spike for such an early level (notice the yellow and green circles on the right). The yellow circle on the left is only there to indicate the placement of the two rocks on the same height. Rocks are rarely ever on the same line of height. To make it more natural I suggest putting the right rock 1 down and 1 left.
I've also indicated a few things/ suggestions to improve on the dungeon map: you can make it so the lava (notice the white circles) connects to other maps - at least for the top and bottom right circles (on the top circle I also noticed a graphical error). That way the lava would give a more natural feel to the environment.
The dungeon walls on the mid-left and bottom left also have long straight lines (notice the yellow dots). To have more of a cave feel, I'd suggest adding a curve or so to break the lines as to avoid giving off a building-feel.

As for the boss area I made:

Boss map advice / story spoiler
I could barely see the poor kidnapped girl next to the green alien. At first, I thought the two other characters were just talking to themselves. It was unfortunate, for there was so much more map left for the camera. There are multiple ways to improve it, for example you can bring the party closer to the alien and let the cutscene play as normal.

- Battle
The battle system was fun to mess around with. I like the fact you can choose which character you attack with each time. I think it would be quite the challenge balancing the game.

spoiler
In my opinion, Nova's definitely the strongest character of the demo. I can simply attack with her and use the blast ability (rinse and repeat) to win. I found the scan ability pretty useless in my opinion as I get no information on any enemy whatsoever. I did find the item searching skill from Andromeda quite neat to stock up on some healing items.

The green alien boss was also really tough, since it attacks 2-3 times per turn. That was a serious difficulty spike. Though again, I had no problem fighting it with the strategy above at lvl 2.

-The music was good, I don't have a more elaborate opinion on that.

- I encountered a game breaking bug though, when you

spoiler
defeat the green alien boss
the game would freeze. I was unfortunately unable to continue from that point onward.

-----------------------
Overall, I liked the premise and the game (shame of the bug), and in the end I had fun. I'm glad I could help with some of the maps and I can't wait to see what comes next. :)
lakeisgay

#109 Apr 3, 2018, 05:30 PM Source

@Rabosion

Thanks so much for playing! I'll address your concerns now.

Rabosion said:
Alien hated me for killing all of his friends, yet I didn't squash any eggs at all. The monsters attacked me first though, it was self-defense :3
Yes, the idea was that he was incorrect/wrong when he said that. And anyway, you did technically attack his friends :guffaw: he just didn't think about why.

Rabosion said:
There is a heavy contrast with the outside map. In the overworld map, it was pretty open whereas the dungeon feels cramped. While i like that contrast, upon entering I noticed that the placement of rocks/ lava was a bit odd. I get that the player needs to navigate correctly but, shouldn't there be a way to reach the end without taking floor damage? It feels like an artificial difficulty spike for such an early level (notice the yellow and green circles on the right). The yellow circle on the left is only there to indicate the placement of the two rocks on the same height. Rocks are rarely ever on the same line of height. To make it more natural I suggest putting the right rock 1 down and 1 left.
I've also indicated a few things/ suggestions to improve on the dungeon map: you can make it so the lava (notice the white circles) connects to other maps - at least for the top and bottom right circles (on the top circle I also noticed a graphical error). That way the lava would give a more natural feel to the environment.
The dungeon walls on the mid-left and bottom left also have long straight lines (notice the yellow dots). To have more of a cave feel, I'd suggest adding a curve or so to break the lines as to avoid giving off a building-feel.
Okay, thanks for all of this. I am a terrible mapper in general :| So you think that I should remove some of the lava? I agree with that. I think I'll just merge those two maps into one. Thank you, in the next demo I'll address that.

Rabosion said:
I could barely see the poor kidnapped girl next to the green alien. At first, I thought the two other characters were just talking to themselves. It was unfortunate, for there was so much more map left for the camera. There are multiple ways to improve it, for example you can bring the party closer to the alien and let the cutscene play as normal.
Ah, there was? All right, in next demo I will bring the party closer :D

Rabosion said:
In my opinion, Nova's definitely the strongest character of the demo. I can simply attack with her and use the blast ability (rinse and repeat) to win. I found the scan ability pretty useless in my opinion as I get no information on any enemy whatsoever. I did find the item searching skill from Andromeda quite neat to stock up on some healing items.

The green alien boss was also really tough, since it attacks 2-3 times per turn. That was a serious difficulty spike. Though again, I had no problem fighting it with the strategy above at lvl 2.
Scan decreases defense. You knew that right? :)
Do you think I should decrease the strength of the boss?

Rabosion said:
the game would freeze. I was unfortunately unable to continue from that point onward.
I looked at it, and realized I had set up the movement route incorrectly x((
I'm so sorry about that.
I will fix it in next demo.
Chapter 1 ends just a bit after that though.

Anyway, thank you for playing, I'm glad you liked it, and I will fix those issues you addressed!!!
Starmage

#110 Apr 4, 2018, 03:31 AM Source

I played the updated demo and I noticed you used the free turn battle system! :D I love it, I used it as well and it's a really fun unique battle system. ^_^ the new background art is amazing too!
lakeisgay

#111 Apr 4, 2018, 03:43 AM Source

Starmage said:
I played the updated demo and I noticed you used the free turn battle system! :D I love it, I used it as well and it's a really fun unique battle system. ^_^ the new background art is amazing too!
Thank you!
Rabosion

#112 Apr 4, 2018, 08:04 PM Source

@Thomas Smith - A couple of things I wanted to note down:
- Going off the scan ability description ("Gather biometric data to reveal more about the enemy. If they have the same interests, try asking them out"), this gave me the impression it would reveal some monster stats (like Bravely Default's 'Scan' or the like). The fact it lowered the enemy's defence wasn't mentioned.
- I actually liked the seperated dungeon maps. (In my honest opinion,) It gave a sense of dread / foreboding. Having lava and rocks spread across is also totally fine. My suggestion is just that, for such an early level, the player might want to travel the dungeon unscathed as to not feel 'cheated'. (And on top of that, figuring your way across lava pathways to travel a correct path might even be a fun little puzzle on its own ;) )
-For the boss, that depends on how you want to balance it. Not knowing all settings you made I can't give you a definitive answer, but I think (based on my experience) that the stats are fine as is. Very maybe (at least for casual players) the boss uses his 'frenzy' attack a bit too frequently. I think the most you could change is the frequency at which the boss uses that skill by a miniscule bit. (But I'm not a balancing master though so what do I know haha - I think the true battle testers might give a better opinion than mine XD )

In the end, all my babblings are mere suggestions. What matters most is that the game presents your vision, and that you have fun making it. If you think something needs to be that way in your game, then go ahead and make it that way. ;)
lakeisgay

#113 Apr 4, 2018, 08:18 PM Source

Rabosion said:
@Thomas Smith - A couple of things I wanted to note down:
- Going off the scan ability description ("Gather biometric data to reveal more about the enemy. If they have the same interests, try asking them out"), this gave me the impression it would reveal some monster stats (like Bravely Default's 'Scan' or the like). The fact it lowered the enemy's defence wasn't mentioned.
- I actually liked the seperated dungeon maps. (In my honest opinion,) It gave a sense of dread / foreboding. Having lava and rocks spread across is also totally fine. My suggestion is just that, for such an early level, the player might want to travel the dungeon unscathed as to not feel 'cheated'. (And on top of that, figuring your way across lava pathways to travel a correct path might even be a fun little puzzle on its own ;) )
-For the boss, that depends on how you want to balance it. Not knowing all settings you made I can't give you a definitive answer, but I think (based on my experience) that the stats are fine as is. Very maybe (at least for casual players) the boss uses his 'frenzy' attack a bit too frequently. I think the most you could change is the frequency at which the boss uses that skill by a miniscule bit. (But I'm not a balancing master though so what do I know haha - I think the true battle testers might give a better opinion than mine XD )

In the end, all my babblings are mere suggestions. What matters most is that the game presents your vision, and that you have fun making it. If you think something needs to be that way in your game, then go ahead and make it that way. ;)
Okay, thank you.
I'll change Scan to reveal enemy data, I think.
Rabosion

#114 Apr 5, 2018, 06:09 AM Source

If your intent for the scan ability was to be an enemy defense debuff, that would also be ok. Just let the description reflect what the skill does. The easiest solution would be to change the description to something like: "Gather biometric data of the enemy to decrease its defence."
lakeisgay

#115 Apr 5, 2018, 06:53 AM Source

Rabosion said:
If your intent for the scan ability was to be an enemy defense debuff, that would also be ok. Just let the description reflect what the skill does. The easiest solution would be to change the description to something like: "Gather biometric data of the enemy to decrease its defence."
Good idea!
I can't get the Scan skill to work the other way...:|
lakeisgay

#116 Apr 8, 2018, 04:16 AM Source
New update!!!!
Here is what it entails.
1. Changed title screen.
2. Changed intro cut scene.
3. Changed battle music.
4. Changed boss music.
5. Fixed fatal bug that froze the game.
6. Changed description for "scan"
7. Changed the cave map
8. Bosses do two to three hits less often.
Spotlights:
1. The new title screen. The background is from Sci-fi battlebacks. It doesn't scroll anymore, rather it has a waving effect. Which I like more. But I may change it back if it receives negative feedback.
2. The new battle music(s). These are from @DesperateMeasurez, and sound amazing!
3. New cave map. It still looks almost the same, but I combined the maps into one, made the walls more interesting, and removed a bunch of lava.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new update!!!
Cheers!
Starmage

#117 Apr 8, 2018, 04:19 AM Source

OMG!! Those are some big updates, Thomas! ^_^ :) I love 'em!! :o Can't wait to try it out!
lakeisgay

#118 Apr 8, 2018, 04:22 AM Source

Starmage said:
OMG!! Those are some big updates, Thomas! ^_^ :) I love 'em!! :o Can't wait to try it out!
Title screen:
https://kek.gg/i/5hhnyw.png
It looks way better in game, because it is animated.
Starmage

#119 Apr 8, 2018, 04:33 AM Source

Awesome!! It fits the game more now!! ^_^ XDD
lakeisgay

#120 Apr 8, 2018, 04:34 AM Source

Starmage said:
Awesome!! It fits the game more now!! ^_^ XDD
So glad you think so! ^^