MV - Toil and Trouble (COMPLETE update)

The Moon rises high o'er the Wood on this night.
Where four Witches gather and cackle delight.
Toiling away at their spells and their brew.
Looking for Trouble? For it has found you.



Toil and Trouble is a smaller RPG that revolves around exploring and battling with a party of four Witches.

Each one is attuned to a different one of the four stats, and depending on how she is equipped, her spells change. With each Witch having access to several attunements, and each attunement excelling at a different strategy, there a lot of possible ways to approach exploring the enticing environment.

The game map has an open feel to it, appealing to the sense of exploring a forest in the middle of the night. But be wary; you never know where Fae may be hiding. The game has no random encounters, but do expect to be surprised from time to time...

The enemies, of course, are very diverse; I spent a lot of time making sure they provided a variety of unique challenges to fit the diversity of the Witch characters. The game is pretty loose with encounters (you have a 100% chance of escape most of the time) so you can approach it at your own pace. Miniboss Fae will level up the party, while standard enemies will drop resources used to make new equipment.

The Magic Circle is where new equipment and Rituals are created. Equipment will affect a Witch's stats as well as how she's attuned, meaning each new equip affects each witch very differently. Rituals are group attacks that the Witches perform together, and can be used to devestate opponents and bosses during longer battles. But watch out; many enemies are capable of using Rituals of their own.

The story unfolds as you defeat major bosses, the four "Vices". I certainly don't want to spoil the story, but I will say that Baba Yaga intends to use them to frighten our heroines away for good. Hopefully they'll be able to band together and tackle their Vices as a team. But probably not.

To summarize, the game is about looking around the mysterious space, exploring the possibilities with equipment and party setups, and taking on the unique enemies that dot the landscape and lurk within the game's Dungeons. That being said, it is not very long. I'll be working to finish the rest of it in the coming weeks, and trying to release an update each week, even if it's small.

Thank you so much for your time. I've been working on this for the worse part of two years; I've learned a lot and any feedback is appreciated!

Download on its Itch.io Page!
https://scientistwd.itch.io/toil-and-trouble

Many may say that the art is trash. IGNORE THEM! Reminds me of older games for like the Atari.

Sorry for the dupe post.

This actually means a lot to me, as I made it all myself! I'm very glad to hear that you appreciate it.

This Week in Witches (9/15)

Screenshots

Ah, a good tactic, the Banish Mischief Ritual.

Is it all forests to you, too!? What a maze.

• Buttercup's Maze is now open, complete with its own original soundtrack! A challenging dungeon against a mischievous fairy that ends with a pretty difficult battle. Includes its fair share of cutscenes as well. Can you escape Buttercup's forest?
• Decorated a few of the maps in the Forest that were looking exceptionally bland, though there is at least one left to finish.
• A few small problems fixed, like being able to skip the first scene and a few other technical bugs.
• See the first post for what's coming next week! As always, feedback is appreciated.
• Stay Wicked!

This looks unique and interesting. I'll keep an eye on this one.

This Week in Witches (9/22)

• I made a bunch of assets for the Lair and the Estate, and you can visit them now! That's two extra levels you can gain at the hands of two more minibosses, and a cool cutscene. It of course has its own soundtrack. There's lots of new enemies and stuff, too, to find here, and that means new weapons and trinkets to craft.
• Plus, the Witches' home base looks way nicer now, if I do say so myself. Purple looks good. I didn't take a screenshot of it for some reason, but if you play the game you'll see it right away.
• Made the overworld sprites that the Witches use look truer to their battler images.
• Added another cutscene to the begin the game with, right after the one with Baba Yaga. I hope it gives players more direction.
• This update feels like a big step to me, a whole new big area. It'll be awhile before something this big again, but there will definitely be an update next week, too!
• Stay Wicked!

I'm def feeling this project!

Are you ready to view the most terrifying, frightful, most evil and vile starter enemy to ever grace the RPG Maker World?


About 40m in so far - loving the art style. I think you did an excellent job with it as it's very different from any other game I've played. There isn't much story however, and that's really what draws me in to games.

Your battle system is really cool, but I feel like the UI is very clunky - it covers the enemies, and it isn't entirely clear how it all works when you first start the game. In addition, the witches are all clumped together which isn't very appealing to the eye. The battles are fun though, and I love your enemy sprites. The skills are useful and the chanting mechanic is on point.

I love love love the crafting system, easily my favorite part of this game so far. However, I feel like I'm going to be grinding. ALOT. I understand why this is the case, and I get the flow: Fight small monsters, craft rings, fight bigger monsters, craft cooler things, then fight even bigger monsters, etc. As I stated earlier, I like to have a story and a reason why I'm performing a mass extinction on the 2 newts hanging around my house (No matter what I do, they dont go away. They are a menace to society).

Another thing that I think is cool, but is a miss for me is the zooming in. I can be immersed in your game and be digging the art style from afar, but once it zooms in, it starts to hurt my eyes. Another thing that doesn't help that is a lot of the Flash Screen event command. Maybe it's just me, but it stops me from playing for a very long time, as I need to break often to rest my eyes.

So far, I'm impressed by what you have made, and I'm hoping the story/gameplay evolves more as I play. I'll be posting with any further thoughts as I continue to play though. Interested to see where you take this! :)

This Week in Witches (9/29)

• The Ooze Lab is here! It's hidden somewhere in the estate. Inside, a variety of strange gooey enemies to test your strength. There's a boss inside, and maybe a few clues to new Magic Circle recipes...
• The Masquerade is open to those with the correct attire! The Dancers would love to show you around. They're unlike most enemies you've ever seen in any RPG, I'd wager. Best to practice first, definitely!
• Both dungeons, of course, have original music tracks to go with them. I'm really getting the hang of composing music!
• And also, a new Vice, including a few cutscenes. I'll leave it up to you to find him. He's in one of the two dungeons.
• There was also a bit of a bug in the lair where you couldn't look at a lot of the magic circle recipes. That's fixed now.
• Whew! I almost didn't finish on time. Next week will be a bit easier for me, since it's only one dungeon, but I'll take the extra time to fix a few other things that have been bugging me. I appreciate other criticisms or bugs along the way!

And @GoodSelf... I just have to say...
This made me laugh out loud for like a minute. I hope they weren't TOO too troublesome, but they are little scamps, aren't they?
I appreciate your feedback as well; you're not the first person to mention the zooming and UI to me, so I might try to take a look at them for next time.
That being said, I fixed that bug so there might be some more useful, less-grindy recipes for you to try out. Sorry the game isn't story-heavy towards your tastes so much, but I promise the Vices add quite a bit to the Witches' characters.
I'm glad to hear that you mostly had a good time. Feel free to play on!
Thanks for playing!

I'm sure the story is there, as I've only played the beginning of the game. I will certainly be playing this game more, and I can't wait to see what lies beyond my tiny neck of the woods. :)
Oh, and one thing I didn't mention - music is awesome. Love the original soundtrack!
P.S. Following this thread for more incredible updates.

I enjoy your playful art and think you should continue with it. It's what makes me interested to play because I'll get to see it.
I'll be downloading it soon to see the crafting system mentioned, which sounds interesting.
More updates please!:kaoluv:

This Week in Witches (10/06)

• Travel to the top of Gibbous Peak. It's probably the absolute hardest part of the game, from a practical perspective, anyway. The Moon is present for every battle, which makes combat much more exciting! It especially emphasizes what Toil and Trouble has to offer over any other RPG game. Be sure to be careful, though!
  • There's a Vice at the very top, of course, so you can level up twice more.
  • It has its own soundtrack! It's like, the coolest song I've ever made.
• Now, in addition, there's a plethora of other small changes that have occurred.
  • Enhanced the tutorial just a bit; it's hard to say how much you need when you've been playing your own game for two years!
  • Added music for when you get Game Over. Definitely needed it while testing Gibbous Peak.
  • Adjusted the map that contains the Lair as well as the map where the Rose Mandrake lives.
  • I've put in YEP_X_ExtMesPack1, and now each Witch has a "voice"! Each one is different and automatically activates when they talk. I might release a plugin for other people to use in the future (especially if you ask nicely).
  • A big number of other small tweaks to animations, sound effects, and art assets.
• Oh, by the way, there is only one update left. But it will probably take me more than one week. When it does, I think I might move to Itch.io in addition to posting things here. I want it to be done in time for Halloween!
• And to everyone who's followed me for the past two months, thanks for having me around! I kinda wish I'd come here like a year ago instead of 2 months before I'd finished. But thank you so much for playing!

This Week in Witches (10/21)
That's right!! I told you I'd be back!!

• The Final Dungeon is here! It has its own Soundtrack and a bunch of cutscenes! The end of the game, and everything. This update, though, is spoiler-free.
• I also added the Credits, which also has its own song, you're welcome.
• I revamped and re-looked at all of the Magic Circle recipes and the item descriptions, and fixed all those typos up. There was actually a recipe I had forgotten to add!
• I added special Game Over and Now Loading screens that weren't there before.
• The font is new! It's called "Too Much Ink" by K Guillory.
• I rebalanced some of the skills and boons.
• I added an "Assist Mode" for players who want an easier time playing.
• I added a big bundle of new database animations for the Spells and enemy skills.
• More stuff that I probably just forgot.

Soon, the game will be on Itch.io as well. That's because for all intents and purposes, the game is complete!
That's right! It's all done, basically!

I anticipate that it has more problems and bugs.

Please let me know immediately of bugs you find. And also, if the game is too easy, I worry sometimes that it's too easy you know, I test it myself and of course I know what I'm doing but to everyone else? I'm not so sure.

Anyway. Thanks for your support!
Stay Wicked!

@ScientistWD Hey~! you updated!
Thank you for working on this and completing it, Congrats! :D I can't wait to play through it!

I was excited before but decided to wait for the update so I can binge play when I get free time. I'll give you feedback on the gameplay and overall... well everything when I beat it.

:kaohi: