New Rpg Gensoblazer version 0.09 out 10/19/12

[warpshadow]

I was thinking of creating a new Touhou rpg. It would have a cross between the Quintet games from the Snes era and Harvest moon with more tradition rpg combat. I guess I will call it Gensoblazer until I have a better name for it.The story so far is Tenshi and Nue meet up and troll Gensokyo into oblivion. You have to thus rebuild the entire land from scratch. The game will be build from the RPGmaker xp format since I have all the sprites for that. If anybody has any suggestions for the game I am more than willing to listen and if they wish to help I will accept that as well.

Update (10/17/12)
Version 10 of the game is now ready. You can download it herehttp://www.mediafire.com/?b87t4xp3bxzzkdy

[Koakkuri]

All I can say is that this sounds relevant to my interests.  :3 I'd love to help, but I doubt there's anything I can do beyond beta testing. However, I'd love to hear more about the concept and gameplay, this really piqued my interest.

[warpshadow]

Don't worry too much about helping, I have all the sprites I need plus I haven't run into any programming roadblocks just yet. I don't have one yet but give me a week or so and I can come up with a decent beta for the game.

[Spiderpig2398]

I might try the first beta if I get a chance. Best of luck!

[Hyouga Kazu]

Actually I'm pretty interested why you decided to drop your old project.

Nevertheless, once again I offer my mapping/eventing skills, as well as my slightly under-average programming skills.
That is, assuming you're using RPG Maker XP again.

[warpshadow]

As for the reason I decided to drop Gensokyo every day's story is that I ran out of plot ideas. You might have noticed that I fell into the trap of not adding more plot elements to the game and mostly adding even more characters. I felt that I wanted to create a game with a good Reimu route before I added the next unfinished scenario.

As for any help you can provide I am happy to have it.

[Spaztique]

As for the reason I decided to drop Gensokyo every day's story is that I ran out of plot ideas. You might have noticed that I fell into the trap of not adding more plot elements to the game and mostly adding even more characters. I felt that I wanted to create a game with a good Reimu route before I added the next unfinished scenario.

As for any help you can provide I am happy to have it.

One important storycrafting technique is to know your ending before you write the middle of a plot (some say you do this before you even write the beginning so you can come up with the best beginning possible, but if you have a solid start, you shouldn't worry as much). That way, you can fill in the gaps without the chance of getting lost. If you're worried "knowing the ending will spoil the discovery part of writing" or "it will inhibit my creative choices", don't be; by knowing how the story will end, you can come up with as many crazy ideas as you want if they are relevant to the plot (and even if they're not if you want to set up a red herring).

If you need any story ideas/advice, feel free to contact me.

[atoms2ashes]

So it's a game where you control either Tenshi or Nue and beat fairies and youkai for materials to rebuild everything?

Sounds good.

Also, what do you need help with in this game, exactly?

[warpshadow]

Okay I said about a week and after just a little more than that I have come out with the first beta for Gensoblazer. Although it is on a rpg maker xp format I think I have everything set so you don't need to download the program  to play it. Some of you have asked what I would like for you to do to help the game along. First and foremost I would like you to play the game (it shouldn't take long) and give feedback so I know what to do better in Gensoblazer version 2 which hopefully will be out in a few of weeks. I know there isn't much there to the game right now but I would like imput on what can be done to make your playing experience more enjoyable. That and since I am terrible as an artist I would please like someone to make a title screen for the game.

So without further chatter here is the game http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J3AYHEXP

[Koakkuri]

"RGSS104E.dll not found."

EDIT: I downloaded the RTP and got the game to work. Here's what I have so far:

- A spellcheck could do wonders. Even the .exe file's name is misspelled, and there are typos everywhere.
- This may be just a personal preference, but I'd like the action button to be Z rather than C/spacebar
- Any way to zoom the game in more?
- Good old RPG Maker default combat is sluggish and uninspiring, especially now that I only have one character. Any way to improve it?
- There's this graphical error: http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z457/Koakoa/wut-1.png

On the plus side, I'm really enjoying the music and interested in the story.

EDIT No. 2: Here are some other issues.

- A level-up message would be nice. Just noticed the message. Sorry, I'm a Yoshika-level derp. Still, the level-up could be more noticeable.
- So would info on item and skill effects.
- How about some teleporter items? Or maybe even maps?
- The amount of damage venom makes seems ludicrous.
- Marisa has tons of MP, yet starts with no skills? Seems like a waste.
- Returning to combat once more, since the options are so limited there's no real strategy when it comes to battle. A bunch of varying skills would help a lot.
- The difference between Reimu and Marisa's HP and MP at this point is rather noticeable.

Hope I'm not being too critical.  :ohdear:

EDIT 3: Could you make the encounter rates less...random? As in, you can take at least ten steps after a battle without risking bumping right into another monster.

EDIT 4:

- Agreeing with Blabla on the purple shadows, they are a pain to fight and a pain to run away from. (speaking of running away, how about a "failed to run away"-message?
- When I spoke to Kourin again, it showed Reimu's portrait during the whole discussion. Also, when I asked him about skill enchanting equipment (can't remember the exact wording?), the game borked and now I can't talk to Rinnosuke at all.

EDIT 5: The music sometimes plays for longer than it's supposed to (i.e. If I open a treasure chest and end up in combat afterwards, the fanfare still plays for a while.

Also, what's this The Flower Like the Fantasy-remix called? It's really pleasant.

EDIT 6: More sound effects, maybe?

Also, this is really minor, but the treasure chests have the same graphic whether opened or not.

EDIT 7 (and final): Well, can't figure out how to gather wood, so I'm stuck for now. Will continue if some kind soul informs me how it's done. Anyway, good luck with the project.

[blabla1994]

Ok in addition to what was already said above, if you continue going south past Kourindou you can enter the forest and get a scene with Marisa before you get her.

Id also like the Level Up indicator to be a bit more obvious.

Also getting the Marisa scene glitch makes the image stuck in the corner Reimu.

And could you consider making the Character walk a bit slower? It's, in my opinion way too fast and make it hard to do things at times.

Also whats up with the purple slimes? They do more damage then the boss.

Marisa's stats... what.

Also after talking with Rinnouske and choosing skill improving equipment, nothing happened and then I couldn't talk to him anymore

And For some reason Nothing I did used up any food or wood.

Also some of the houses where difficult to exit.

Ok I was able to free Star Sapphire from the Crystal twice somehow.

I'm agreeing with Koa on the venom holy crap...

Well I'm stuck, can't enter the village anymore and have a dead Reimu, going to load a earlier save...

It seams that entering the forest is what glitches the village, unless it's intentional in which case you'll need to dial the difficulty WAYYYYYYY back.

[Koakkuri]

And For some reason Nothing I did used up any food or wood.

Funny, the wood I got from Rinnosuke did vanish (as I assume it's supposed to) once I built the cabin.

Also, one more thing: There was this one enemy in the woods that supposedly missed every attack, yet actually made outrageous damage.

[blabla1994]

Now that I think About the wood Rinnosuke gave me did vanish, just non of the wood  I collected did.

[Koakkuri]

Ah, you're right, the food I collected and supposedly used didn't vanish either, only the initial wood did.

Speaking of which: I cleared the boulders, and yet there's nothing there? Aww. 

Edit once again: Where can you collect wood? I only seem to be able to find ways to gather food.

(Edit 2: sorry for the derp.)

[blabla1994]

You gather wood to the south past Kourindou at the tree stump.

[Koakkuri]

Thanks, you're a mate.

EDIT: Well, I finished building everything I could, got Star Sapphire to join, and can't enter the village anymore, nor does there there seem to be anything else to do. Guess that's it for now.

[warpshadow]

First of all I would like to thank everyone that commented. Since there was a lot of comments I will try to answer most of them here.

The village bug, the infinite wood bug, the graphics bug, Marisa's stats and skill- fixed, thanks for pointing that out to me.

Other bugs, I will get on it.

The boulders and the bridge- I haven't created the areas beyond them yet. I will work on it in version 0.02

About complexity of combat I am not that great of a programmer but I will see what I can do to improve combat for version 0.02

[Hyouga Kazu]

- A spellcheck could do wonders. Even the .exe file's name is misspelled, and there are typos everywhere.

I advise getting someone to proofread for you before you release a demo.

- This may be just a personal preference, but I'd like the action button to be Z rather than C/spacebar
- Any way to zoom the game in more?

Koakkuri, press F1 in-game and you can change controls. You can also toggle fullscreen mode.

- A level-up message would be nice. Just noticed the message. Sorry, I'm a Yoshika-level derp. Still, the level-up could be more noticeable.

I have some nice script lying around that gives a more extensive level up message. Though you can find it easily if you know where to look.

EDIT 3: Could you make the encounter rates less...random? As in, you can take at least ten steps after a battle without risking bumping right into another monster.

This would require messing with the original RPG Maker scripts, which I might give a try when I'm back from work.

- Agreeing with Blabla on the purple shadows, they are a pain to fight and a pain to run away from. (speaking of running away, how about a "failed to run away"-message?

Same as the above point, which I might try as well. It's good practice anyway.

[Koakkuri]

Koakkuri, press F1 in-game and you can change controls. You can also toggle fullscreen mode.

Ah, I'm not talking about fullscreen mode, but actually zooming the game in (making the resolution smaller, maybe?). Everything in the game is so small right now, it's not very immersive. Good to know the controls are changeable, though.

This would require messing with the original RPG Maker scripts, which I might give a try when I'm back from work.

I've actually seen a script that does this, but there's a chance it was for some later version of RPG Maker.

Edit: I'd still like to discuss the combat system. What changes have been made so far? Even the default system can be made interesting enough with a bunch of varying skills. (And c'mon, give us a early level healing spell, being completely dependent on items for healing when they never even seem to drop is no fun.)

[warpshadow]

I haven't really touched the combat system yet but I am open to some more suggestions. In version 0.02 Reimu and Marisa should have at least 3 skills apiece and mostly likely more.

[Koakkuri]

Well, I would like to share some ideas if that's alright.  :3

- First of all, maybe some buffs and debuffs? Ones that are effective and vital for boss fights (compensated by being somewhat expensive and unnecessary against random encounters.)
-  Status effect attacks. Again, mostly pointless against mooks, yet if effective, great against bosses. (if there was a whole plethora of status effects and every boss was weak against one or two, that would be fantastic, yet challenging enough.)
- Maybe an elemental magic system, with elemental weaknesses and resistances etc.? Those usually add a lot of depth into any combat system.
- And most importantly, some healing spells. Not just HP recovery, but an ailment healing spell too. For example, I didn't notice a single way to cure venom, and with it being as ridiculously potent as it is, it was a real problem.

The difficulty of random encounters is passable as they are now for the most part, but if you add some or all of these skills you can make some really tough and engaging boss fights.

Also, the level-up requirements aren't too bad, but could you up the exp rewards just a tiny bit?

[warpshadow]

Excellent advice. I will go about implementing it in the next version of the game. One other question I have for people out there, If I could add two new playable characters in the next version who would you like me to add?

[Koakkuri]

MIMA *shot*

Ahem, how about Sanae and Youmu, and have the whole playable cast of TD?  :] Or maybe some lower-level characters, like Team Nineball characters?

Also, feel free to contact me if you need ideas, I'll do my best to assist this project.

[blabla1994]

I'd say Yukari as she's my Favorite Character and doesn't appear as playable in enough games (which annoys me greatly) but that seems kinda unlikely with the plot heading in the way I think it is, so I vote for Alice and Youmu.

[warpshadow]

If anybody is wondering what I am doing with the game, all I can say is that the next version will take a bit more time to be released. Namely because I am planning a much bigger version of the game and progress has been a bit slow as I have only now finished the outlines for the new dungeons with a lot more work still to do.

[warpshadow]

Good news everyone There is a new version of GensoBlazer out for all of you to play. It has several improvements including
More than a dozen bug fixes
Two new levels to explore
More character skills
More characters to interact with

You can download the game at http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OE0LXN2I

I look forward to any feedback as well and suggestions on how I can improve the game for version 3.

[Koakkuri]

Going to sleep now, but downloading and trying it out later tomorrow.

Edit: Except that the link doesn't seem to work. Hmm.

[warpshadow]

Maybe a mediafire link will work

http://www.mediafire.com/?uy04c4d8ddy7bu9

[blabla1994]

I'll give it a try, aint goin to bed for a while because apparently my neighbors have decided to use Dynamite instead of fireworks this year or something . >_>

Alright first thing I noticed is the exe is still GenosBlazer. -_-;

Ah, I might be remembering incorrectly but I think you changed the appearance of the Slimes.

Hmm did you make the slimes weaker? I seem to recall the blue slimes having about 100 hp.

Encounter rate is still utterly random, but the enemies seem a bit weaker so eh...

Purple Slimes are still kicking my ass around though, but they do seem significantly weaker so its cool.

Oh, I don't think Reimu had a title before now.

Oh the early Marisa scene glitch is gone, yay. ^_^

Hmm the volume of the music seems to vary kinda wildly.

Well the level up icon is still kinda easy to miss if your not looking at the characters portraits after the battle, though IIRC it seems a bit bigger, ah well it seems fine as is, been playing to much Fire Emblem were the level up is quite literally thrust into your face.

Ok you really weakened Purple Slimes, I can one shot them sometimes at level 3, awesome.

Err, at the really long wall on the bottom of the second floor of Kourindo, are you supposed to be able to walk on the tiles right above it? It sorta seems like I'm walking on the top of the wall.

Oh woops I think I get it, I think it show that you are on a higher level from there, sorry.

Oh what. Suddenly lots and lots of new skills.

Hmm some of the skills don't have a description.

Wait Hakurei Remedy heals poison? Phew that's helpful.

Hmm maybe you could put some chests in the first dungeon to make exploring the it worthwhile?

Although Marisa's stats still start at 55 and raise by 5 every level, (so far) is that intentional?

Annnnnnd the stuck picture glitch is still there -_-' yay...

Ok the stuck picture vanished Marisa talked about her house.

Oh a copper axe and hoe, awesome.

...I talked to Marisa and sent her to gather some food... it said Star Sapphire gathered one food, I don't even have her yet.

Wait what? Marisa randomly deleveled back to 1 at some point after exiting the dungeon.

Oh you put a limit on venom, nice.

And crud, after upgrading the item shop you cant exit it. -_-

I'll get back to this at a later date.

Ok turns out my other save wasn't as far behind as I thought, anyways I told Marisa to work in the Item Shop she said she would... annnnd then nothing, no one there.

Dimensional Rift is pretty darn cool.

Ok this is really annoying Marisa reset to level 1 again.

Wriggle has mysteriously vanished from the village...

[warpshadow]

Can you tell me more about the Marisa deleveling? I am having trouble figuring that bug out.