So, I'm making a game.

[Kopikatsu]

I hate to keep pointing to it, but I would recommend that you read the post I made at the end of the second page. Strictly speaking, you will be playing the bad guys despite their motive being to help people. I mean, Mira's motivation and goals will be more than just what relates to the war, but...yeah.

Ah, I missed that (clearly). Apologies if my post wasn't more helpful.

It's fine. I do need more feedback about specifics though, like the map design and such. On all of the games that I've been a collaborator on, I mostly did conceptual design, writing, and proof reading the LUA scripting. (I can't code to save my life, but I'm really good at finding errors and the cause of them for some reason)

So, story I think I have a good handle on. The rest of it? Not so much.

Anywho, (This part isn't directed at anyone in particular), I've spent most of my free time mucking around with coding as opposed to doing anything worthwhile, so this is where it's at at the moment:


I've decided to do something a bit different for the initial bit with the Heroes, and so the dialogue during the fight will change. Instead, I'm going to have Varkus' mind be corrupted by what'll happen, and has a mini-boss fight against an Undead with a funky background. Then when the battle ends, it's revealed that the 'monster' was actually the village elder that he'd struck down during his delusion. That turns the Heroes and villagers against him because they don't understand what happened, at which point the Demon that tricked him into killing the Elder offers him power to survive the encounter if he surrenders his body to it.

But, it'll still take a whole lot more coding and updating to even get to that point. I know it doesn't seem like too much has changed since the last video, but that's because most of what I've done is behind the scenes work. Like, now you can run diagonally and use WSAD to move instead of the arrow keys. And other stuff. I've also coded in a few custom states to use for various scenes, like now I can do a Galuf-type thing where the character withstands insane amounts of punishment without dying. Dunno if I will, though. I thought about doing it for Varkus vs the Heroes to instill the feeling of desperation into the player, but I don't think it would work very well. I mean, it's super early in the game. There's no time to really 'get to know' Varkus, or show his limits, so it wouldn't have the kind of effect that I'd like.

Shit's hard, I tell you what. 'Course, spending all my time making videoes instead of coding probably isn't helping. Ha! Well, the next video will be opening + initial cutscene + miniboss + cutscene + Hero boss + cutscene. So basically from the beginning to razing your hometown. Then I'll not make one for a long while after that, probably.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Here is my reccomendation. Start the game focusing on the Mira's point of view, the harshness of the war, so the player feels compelled to end it, but leave hints of the justifications here and there. A bit before you plan to kill off Mira, hit her and the player with a ton of the nessicities of the war. This will cause Mira and the player question the reason for the war. Obviously, from what you say of Mira, she will decide in the end that she is right. Her death should come shortly after that.

Also, make sure her death is not entirely expected and reflects something of her character.

That is essentially what I was thinking of doing. It's kind of hard to talk about it, because I want to keep the second protagonist a secret. Like I've said earlier, I think it's actually something that's pretty unique and I really like how it plays out in my head. I just hope it goes as well on paper (well, whatever notepad is called. Digital paper?)

I'm still not entirely sure how I want Mira's death to play out, though. I do know that I want either one of two people to kill her. I'm leaning towards one much more than the other, though. Her older sister is one of the two, and is the one that I'm not feeling too strongly about. I could twist it in any number of ways to support the narrative- like the guilt over having to kill her sister to maintain the status quo drives her to take up Mira's cause. But I don't think I want to take the story in that direction. I'd like to think that after Mira dies, some do view her as a martyr and take up arms with one of her former companions leading the rebels. But the rest of them split up and do their own thing, only to be forced back into action later. Or maybe they join Central because they realize that the status quo must be preserved at any cost. Maybe some have secluded themselves away to preform research to try and improve agricultural methods in order to reduce the impact the army will have if the war is ended, and other things to strengthen the infrastructure to allow for the war's end.

I feel like there's a lot that could be done. But, I'm probably thinking too far into the future for this. After all, I'm still working on Varkus' game. Spoilers:

Spoiler

Varkus will be the one commanding the demon/monster army in Mira's game. Woo, continuity.

Varkus' game won't be very long, though. At least, I don't plan for it to be. It's mostly just for me to relearn how to do LUA coding and such, as well as build the foundation for Mira's game. Like the lifebars and such.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to code a script that causes someone's skills to change at a certain point in a battle. Sorta hard.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Weeeeeeell, double posting is a sin.

Oh well. I learned that I can't do creepy. (Ignore Varkus' dialogue. It's meant to be fairly campy, and there's a typo in there anyway)


I want the graveyard thing to be unsettling. Not scary persey, just unsettling. I want people to feel uncomfortable simply by being there. So...the enemies. I didn't show all of them, but there was enough to get the point across.

So! What's more unsettling? Something like a giant pile of bones on legs saying things like 'Come closer...' 'No, don't run...' 'Come back...please...' while relentlessly attacking you, having enemies damage/kill themselves with skills named 'So Cold...' 'No More...' 'X harmed itself!', or a combination of both?

 

[Kopikatsu]

Do the game for yourself not the players. I liked the idea, though if it's a game, you should probably focus more on the gameplay.

You have my sword.

Battle systems are haaaaard.

To be honest, doing it in ARPG format would be easier (It would be harder to set up, but it would be much easier and save a looooot of time in the long run), but it wouldn't have nearly as much flexibility as the current FTB system.

'Upgrading' the icons would also allow me to improve on the battle system, but I don't really want to do that either. Not because I don't want the gameplay to be fun, but...I really, really love sprites and sprite-based games. I won't give them up for nobody. GO NIPPON ICHI.

 

[John Connor M]

If you are going to go the whole killing off the main character that you've been trying to get your audience to invest in and like then you have to handle it carefully. Take for e.g. a certain event in FF7 (you know what I'm talking about) which was quite well done, drove the story and created an emotional moment yet quite a few people still rage about it "why couldn't I use a phoenix down?" etc.

Obviously don't compromise your vision, but I'd advise getting someone with writing experience to once over your 'script' or even just general plot. Also don't worry about people stealing your ideas, ideas are worthless, people who want to make games usually want to make their idea so they won't steal yours.

Atmosphere is very hard to create, with the aesthetic of the game I'd say it'll be pretty hard to create and may even feel like a jarring shift of tone if you've established it as most jrpgs are. Music is important, take for e.g. SH2, that manages atmosphere through an unreliable narrator, skewed perspective, amazing enemy design and most importatly music.

That's a lot of writing and I could honestly give more constructive criticism, but I feel like most of it goes without saying, watching extra credits (certain episodes) will help with regard to pacing/character development/general dos and donts.

EDIT : Forgot to mention that from the videos it actually looks promising, the retro feel will allow you to deliver a great narrative without needing a lot of visuals, kind of reminds me of the Golden Sun series (not the battle system) in a good way.

 

[Mike the Bard]

Be very careful when you treat characters like how your planing to do, killing main characters can be a great way of telling the player that things have hit the fan. But, it must be done perfectly to work. the death needs to have meaning, not in the "noble sacrifice" kind of way, but in both literary meaning and having a purpose within your universe. lets say for example, the government is actually hiding the fact that they need the war to maintain economic stability. Your main characters find out about this and are executed to keep them quiet. Their death was needed in order to keep the conspiracy going and to add impact to a major plot twist. This is a pretty cliched example a would't suggest using it, but it gets my point across.

on a side note, don't make you're main characters your going to kill off one-dimensional. If you really want their deaths to hit home, you gotta make the player care about their deaths. Do you think Mordin Solus' death would have mean't half as much if he was just another red shirt?