I kinda abruptly left off playin' the demo, 'cuz my stamina points ran out
Go take a nap, eat something warm, feel better! Thanks for the encouragement.
MV - Vanguard Redemption
● ARCHIVED · READ-ONLY
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Roused from my deep slumber I have been.... and i spotted something.
Anyways i grinded till summoner now on the world map... gotta still grind a few more points for Imp. But well.... this dastardly thing reaer its head.
A black wind howls indeed....
yes I spent too much time grinding... again. lol
Spells seem godly expensive unless they are TP though. Except healing feels fine. xD Also my highest damage was 587 (crit with a normal move at level i think 5 or 6).... with a buffed warrior without even the axe. Just the hatched and without the accesory for +3 attack at the time lol
Feels like spells will get left behind later but hard to say for now. xD
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Thanks for letting me know - the current version will have no more problems with random-butt battlebacks. Sigh. Grind anyplace on the map you want to.yes I spent too much time grinding... again. lol
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that looks good, hope you manage to complete it.
SECTION A: SYNOPSIS
SpoilerThe kingdom of Terhys has a long and proud military history, spearheaded by its elite squads: the Vanguard.
When the chamberlain reveals his alliance with the dark goddess Ixasis, murdering the king and slaughtering the Vanguard, only a handful of those elite soldiers are able to flee the city.
You are tasked with gathering your strength by recruiting soldiers, honing your skills, and finding a way to strike back against the goddess' profane might in order to save your kingdom - and the world.
Vanguard Redemption is a fantasy JRPG drawing inspiration from titles such as Final Fantasy V and Suikoden. The focus is on tactical battles that encourage varied skill use in response to the enemies at hand; and on character building using skills purchased from a series of classes in a branching tree.
IMAGES/SCREENSHOTS
(These are optional)
SECTION B: CHARACTERS
SpoilerView attachment 284533
Ilnaris is an elf archer and an experienced member of the Vanguard. She serves as your advisor and second in command. She's coolheaded and precise, unless her prejudices get in the way. Also, totally blonde.
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Caltua is a priest of Aeyar and a valuable healer. Despite his time spent serving in the Vanguard, he tends to be somewhat squeamish when exposed to situations outside of his comfort zone.
View attachment 284543
Kearik is a stoic knight. While she's cool and unflappable in battle, she's not the most creative strategist. She is, however, happy to follow the main character and defend them with her life.
View attachment 284544
Blonun is jovial, aggressive, and fearless. He has a tendency to solve problems with his axe, but his fierce loyalty is boundless. Or his desire to exact vengeance...one or the other.
View attachment 284545
Hyuh is a monk, part of an order that expresses their devotion to Aeyar through physical perfection. He's somewhat less intense in his devotion than Caltua, but similarly his healing and support effectiveness is less powerful. Because he can also punch through walls.
View attachment 284546
Fahn is the youngest member of the Vanguard, but her magical abilities outstrip her years. Her youthful exuberance almost makes up for her inexperience, and she's dedicated to following the main character's example.
SECTION C: STORYLINE/PLOT
SpoilerYour character starts off in the middle of their training to become a commanding officer of the Vanguard of Terhys. Taking command of the investigation into a series of local bandit attacks serves as your final examination.
Upon routing the bandits and being confirmed in your office, you discover undead creations are spilling from the tombs of fallen Vanguard members and raiding the town. When you take the rest of your squad to determine the source, the chamberlain reveals his devotion to Ixasis and uses her bestowed powers and his undead minions to slay the king and his guard.
You take what surviving Vanguard members you can and flee to the neighboring kingdom of Bressea. From there, you begin to gather more allies, explore how to break Ixasis' power, and plan to take back the kingdom of Terhys.
SECTION D: DESIGN TENETS
SpoilerI'll tweak this section as necessary, but here's my initial attempt to organize my thoughts in terms of game goals.
- Building your character(s) should have interesting and varied choices. I want the branches within each class to have different play styles, and for it to be a thoughtful decision whether to stay in a class to learn the highest skills or progress to the next tier.
- Combat should be challenging and a meaningful length. However, the challenge should be mitigated (sometimes significantly) by choosing the appropriate skill to counter particular enemies/attacks.
- Resource management (MP/SP) should be thoughtful. Ideally, one should be able to fight through a dungeon long enough to level up and restore all resources if they are maximally efficient/strategic. Less efficient choices will result in needing to retreat to an inn and/or replenish consumables.
- The companions should be interesting. The plan is to have chapter-based conversation options à la BioWare games that progress storylines, unlock quests, and at high enough approval ratings can grant the player access to classes outside their class tree's progression. This will be necessary in order to unlock some classes that have requirements from two trees.
- Choosing which companions to include in your party should be an interesting decision, given the above with classes having different playstyles and their skills having different uses. I won't try to force the player to use specific characters in specific dungeons, but I envision it being a part of optimal play.
- The story should, at minimum, be coherent and not suck.
DOWNLOAD LINK
SpoilerHere's a sample of gameplay. It includes one town and dungeon, the starting selection of characters, and several unlocked specializations (jobs) for each.
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Just got to the end of the demo (or what I assume was the end--defeating the goblin chief at the top of the tower), and I really enjoyed your game!
One thing I noticed when the character name selection screen pops up--the capital letters here cause a bit of text smashing, but then in-game it looks more or less fine.
Also, I had a bit of trouble with the job system and understanding when those were supposed to level up independently of character level. They did not seem to be linked? Though, I have not played FFV, so that could be my issue in terms of understanding:) -
Thanks for pointing it out! The fonts are a new addition, I'll go check out the spacing on that screen.One thing I noticed when the character name selection screen pops up--the capital letters here cause a bit of text smashing, but then in-game it looks more or less fine.
Correct - jobs level up and provide access to higher tiers based on the amount of JP earned in them, no connection to character class. In the actual game there's tutorial text about it, but I didn't anticipate people would be fighting in this little sample enough for it to matter :smile:Also, I had a bit of trouble with the job system and understanding when those were supposed to level up independently of character level. They did not seem to be linked? Though, I have not played FFV, so that could be my issue in terms of understanding:)
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Never assume anything about the player. Plus, even in a demo, it's a good idea to tutorialize anything that likely needs it.In the actual game there's tutorial text about it, but I didn't anticipate people would be fighting in this little sample enough for it to matter :smile:
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@Sword_of_Dusk All valid points!
My next goal from here is to release more of an actual demo, which would include the beginning of the game with its tutorials. -
Make some kind of tutorial library too to review it later because I and probably others often drop games, pick them up again later, and need a refresher on the mechanics.
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This so much. I regularly drop games for a while and return to them later. Any way to reference tutorials is super helpful.Make some kind of tutorial library too to review it later because I and probably others often drop games, pick them up again later, and need a refresher on the mechanics.
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YES! You understood the assignment!
I don’t know what all is planned for the map, but I do think it is a touch big or a touch under decorated depending on what the answer is for “what is planned?” The tile selections are very good tho! -
@Ms Littlefish Yeah, I need to throw some more piles of coffins and stuff in the bottom room there.
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Yay, thanks for sharing this! Just downloaded it and got my intergluteal cleft whooped because I didn't take the "change classes before you go to fort" part seriously.
So I can only nitpick...
Small artifact on top of head when facing up.
Multi-phasic tree.
Is this intentional?
The amount of classes available is just... wow, so can't really comment on this yet. Will play some more tomorrow! -
@werzaque Thanks for the map tips! I do mean to push forward toward releasing a demo of this from the beginning, but game jam and all.
That stove I'm just gonna have to edit up half a tile, it doesn't look right to me entirely in front of the wall either. -
The (self-proclaimed) autism in me makes me want to do that with all shelves... how I wish placement of tiles was on a half-tile basis...That stove I'm just gonna have to edit up half a tile, it doesn't look right to me entirely in front of the wall either.
In any case, I played a little more! The battles are quite challenging indeed, but it's very nice to see that status abnormalities work very well on the baddies. Since the average enemy can absorb quite a number of punches, battles tend to be long. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact it's a good way to make sure your battles don't boil down to "attack is the best defense" and "defeat one enemy at a time". However, I could not help myself being mildly irritated by the motions resolving after each command selection (command, step-in, slash, step-back, command, special-skill-light-up, step-in, boom, step-back...).
If only there was a way to have the command prompt of the next character appear as soon as the command of the previous character has been confirmed... that the motion resolves "in the background" while you can select your next character's command.
Oh, I have yet to finish the demo... I suck at this game because I get my gluteus handed to me after three battles in the tower... -
So, took a look at the demo. Ambitious and interesting. It left me with a few questions, though...
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Click me!
- I chose to start as an enchanter, didn't exchange the companions, and as advised changed them all to an advanced specialization and purchased some new skills for them. (I assume the constant "Equipment optimized" notifications refer to an eventual point in development where the different classes will also have class-specific equipment.) When I arrived at the ruined fortress, I was ambushed by two goblins. In this battle, for whatever reason, the only participant doing any damage was my enchanter with his spells. Everybody else just missed, no matter whether with basic attacks or with skills, regardless of states, buffs and debuffs. Dirt toss hits, but doesn't hurt. After about a dozen rounds of zero damage to anybody, I alt-tabbed out of the game and reloaded. Changed specifications, used different skills, same effect. I am aware you want battles to go longer, but I assume that this is not how it's supposed to go - so what was going on there?
- As I didn't get anywhere with the game, I took a further look at the introductory post instead, specifically the class system. I understand that characters don't just progress through class stages inevitably, but instead the player has to make the conscious decision to advance the character, which may also mean giving up possible skill development of an earlier stage. This sounds like an amazingly deep system if it works; I'm just curious how you want to make 36 class stages play distinctly different from each other, while at the same time not making specific classes essential for specific game situations? (I could not answer this question in a satisfying way and eventually ended up with 10 standard and 5 prestige classes. Still enough balancing work.)
- Are the class names following some kind of Final Fantasy standard? Just wondering because the Hierophant, for instance, is usually the advancement for Druids, by D&D convention. Depends on the target audience, I assume.
- Finally, are you going to make letter sounds, the flickering pointing square and combat animations optional? :wink:
This is honest curiosity. I found most games in development postings to go on and on about the character background stories. These are rarely really special, so I'm all the more interested in those games which are more sophisticated on the mechanical side. -
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Thanks for trying it out and leaving feedback. To answer as best I can:
I have absolutely no idea. No one else has reported anything like this, and I've never experienced it myself.In this battle, for whatever reason, the only participant doing any damage was my enchanter with his spells. Everybody else just missed...Changed specifications, used different skills, same effect...what was going on there?
I'm not going to attempt to make 36 classes play distinctly from each other. All of the progressions along a given branch are going to play the same, you're just "evolving" the class to get better parameter progression and access to new skills.I'm just curious how you want to make 36 class stages play distinctly different from each other, while at the same time not making specific classes essential for specific game situations?
So Mage, Wizard and Archmage will all play the same way, but Mage (and its successors) will play differently from Conjurer and its successors.
No, all class names are English words or made up by myself. The possible exception is Bladeweaver - some form of it (one or two words) has existed in a ton of stuff, so it's possible I was influenced. But I can't point to a direct example of anything I've played with it.Are the class names following some kind of Final Fantasy standard?
It's also an actual word and religious rank. It dates back to ancient Greece, and is one of the tarot cards.Just wondering because the Hierophant, for instance, is usually the advancement for Druids, by D&D convention.
Yes, no, and probably not. I'm not sure what "the flickering pointing square" is - are you talking about the cursor? I'm not sure how you'd know which menu item you're looking at without one.Finally, are you going to make letter sounds, the flickering pointing square and combat animations optional? -
Interesting. I half-expected something like "that happens when you forget to use item X as told by NPC Y, duh". Just to check, I started a new game with the exact same characters, skills and equipment and didn't experience the phenomenon. With the old party, however, it's still the same, every time. Apparently, I managed to create a corner case that somehow throws the RNG engine off the rails. Funny.I have absolutely no idea. No one else has reported anything like this, and I've never experienced it myself.
OK, makes sense.I'm not going to attempt to make 36 classes play distinctly from each other. All of the progressions along a given branch are going to play the same, you're just "evolving" the class to get better parameter progression and access to new skills.
I'm aware of the term's origins. I was more interested in possibly conflicting conventions (e.g. D&D vs FF), as I never played the games the RPG Maker franchise actually tries to emulate. I've learned that people really like their conventions - make a red dragon breathe ice instead of fire and they will go on in reviews about how your game "lacks realism". Similarly, I've found following established tropes to be quite helpful for easing players into complex systems or deep worldbuilding. Hence my inquiry on these, as you've put just such a complex system on display.It's also an actual word and religious rank.
Good luck with your project, may your ambitions be fulfilled.