Opus (Tech Demo v1.1 UP)

[Fisherson]

Sorry man! I'm still working out some kinks so it's not ready for release just yet anyway.

I understand. I'll attempt to be patient. ^_^ Actually, Zoltar, till he said that I didn't know of a way to balance EXP. I mean every player style is unique to their person even in story based RPGs we mold the main character to suit our playing style and vision of them if we're even a little bit able to, not to mention that's one of the things I would expect to manifest when forming a party and being able to keep them together. I always like to give the player that option with Dave cause how I'd run a Jedi is a little different than most. But the last time I played AoA i don't remember as much options to customize the character's battle styles or even stats much early on. Sampson was actually one of the hardest to customize much: Fighter. I think the most range of options I ever saw with a fighter was in FFT or FFTA and that was with the skills and some equip change outs...At least standardly speaking. One of the joys of FFT and FFTA was the fact you mix support skills like having a Monk be able to equip armor and helments of heavier classes and thus play around more and of course the secondary skill slot so you could give him magic, geomancery or what have you. Monks/Fighters are pretty bare bones and while I jhaven't seen Sampson in AGES I'm sure he hasn't changed too much from his debeaut eh, Dren?

[drenrin2120]

I've always been pretty poor at adding player customization options in my games. I don't think there will be much difference in this game, though it's something that's been on my mind. Adding customization options is incredibly difficult, so I'm trying to make it so each character can at least be given 'informal' different roles. There's no set job/class structure. Each character has set stats and what they're good or not good at, but they can all learn the same magic spells and have equipment skills. That's the newest things about this version. Equipment gives Combat skills which can only be used when equipped and require something other than MP to use.

[Zoltar]

I've always been pretty poor at adding player customization options in my games. I don't think there will be much difference in this game, though it's something that's been on my mind. Adding customization options is incredibly difficult, so I'm trying to make it so each character can at least be given 'informal' different roles. There's no set job/class structure. Each character has set stats and what they're good or not good at, but they can all learn the same magic spells and have equipment skills. That's the newest things about this version. Equipment gives Combat skills which can only be used when equipped and require something other than MP to use.

Oooh  so we pick their weapons? What about armor? Ahh I am excited to try this out!    Something other than MP? Oh don't tell me it's HP!  That's always so frustrating! Like Cecil's dark wave. Yeah it kills stuff by the dozens but quietly eats away your HP.  Then I wonder why I'm getting creamed  by low ranking monsters.

[drenrin2120]

No, you don't necessarily get to choose which weapons characters can use, but depending on the equipment you can change their moveset. Weapons, some shields, and some accessories give characters skills in battle.

Also... I submitted my demo for a contest on RMN. It's pretty inconsequential contest, I'm just hoping or some publicity. I posted a link to the download on the front of this page if you guys want to go and give it a try! It's almost certainly loaded with bugs. In fact, the readme file contains a list of some of the known bugs. Do me a favor and subscribe to the page if you're on RMN or tumblr, I suppose it helps me get views!

[Moosetroop11]

Is that rounded square 'download now' button the actual download button? I'm really paranoid about those dodgy advert fake things nowadays.

[drenrin2120]

Lol, yeah, it is. It's actually my fault the page kind of looks like crap.

EDIT: You can also find it here.

[Riderx40]

Nice!!,are you making this with VX?..cuz there is alot of customization.

[drenrin2120]

No, I'm using rm2k3. Thanks for playing. The 1.1 version fixed a TON of game breaking bugs.

[Fisherson]

No, I'm using rm2k3. Thanks for playing. The 1.1 version fixed a TON of game breaking bugs.

You also used Dyn RPG maker....and it shows!! Moving enemies, crafty Adreneline system AND those sneaky AI's!! I looooove this more, yes I said more, than AoA! A new poster shall be made for this to be hung in my ship and it shall say Opus!! Briliant!! But it's not just the combat but the storyline, even fro a demo, was brilliante' Moy Brilliante'! Bravismo!! It was funny, lght hearted but used elements of drama top keep things serious and honestly? Was just cool. I was a little annoyed that you dropped the nunchucku cause I thought: custom System with nunchucks? Awesome sauce- Oh he gave him a big knife....Yay...  that honors my spriting sensei *sarcastic*Buuut you kept most of the cloak set mostly close to what my sensei did plus added detail and the knife is a interesting weapon for a "main hero" xD It certainly suits Jake's woodsy , outdoorsy style so it's all good. ^_-  -b I also loved your sound effects and old school menu with the soft music. ^_^ Very cool that. Gotta say it was all in all one of the better games I've played this year and I am soooo a fan! Advertising for you on my next journal~ Keep up the good work!

[drenrin2120]

Thanks fish! I felt like the nunchuck was just kind of not fitting jakes character and out if place in this universe. Also, Im curious, while I do use dynrpg, Im not using the DBS. Did you think I was? I ask because a couple people have said similar things and didnt noticed it was actually an event based battle system that mimics atb.

[Fisherson]

Thanks fish! I felt like the nunchuck was just kind of not fitting jakes character and out if place in this universe. Also, Im curious, while I do use dynrpg, Im not using the DBS. Did you think I was? I ask because a couple people have said similar things and didnt noticed it was actually an event based battle system that mimics atb.

No I could tell. I usually tell even whenever you don't have such a unique two "MP" bars, smooth custom menus that appear beside the portrait leaving the field visable, but moving monsters? That kinda gives it away. XD Also gotta be honest I was gonna crack the CBS open and copy as much as I could since I can never get one off the ground...But just the sheer amount of events made me open it and then drop my jaw! You must have seventy events and hundreds of common events....then I closed it and sat back a minute before I worked up the courage to open it again. @.@ Hooow do you debug without going insane? As for the Dyn parts.. That's how you are using VX sized sprites in the CBS, ja?

[drenrin2120]

^^

Since everything in rm2k3 works with conditionals and unwieldly variables, lots of events and common events are needed to streamline the system. Also, throughout development the system changed dramatically from my preliminary theory of how to put it together and because of this it's a bit unorganized. I try to leave as many notes everywhere as possible, but it can still be a mess to wade through. After putting it down for a year or so and trying to come back to it, I had to spend a week just skimming through all the events again before I could continue working on it.
There are actually only maybe 60 common events that work with the CBS starting at Common Event number 107 and ending at 163, with some non-related common events in between. There are also a few scattered Common Events above 200 because I ran out of space.

Debugging can be tricky, but there's a theory behind the system that makes it a lot simpler than it looks. Like I said, a lot of the sheer-size of it is simply due to the clunkiness of rm2k3. The most important event is what I call the "Queue Line Event". It controls almost everything. You can find it on the map at coords (2,0). Basically, this event receives Hero/Enemy IDs and places them on a metaphorical line made up of ten slots using ten variables, since there can only be a maximum of 6 enemies and 4 heroes. These IDs are associated with corresponding variables that also contain an ID which references some command(skill/attack/use item/etc.). The Queue Line event executes the command associated with the battle-actor ID in Queue Line Variable 1, since QLV1 is the first actor in line. It also checks for debilitating status effects before executing the command. Once the command is executed or nulled depending on circumstance, the event then 'organizes the line', so that whatever ID was in QLV2 is now in QLV1, and whatever was in QLV3 is now in QLV2, and so on, while also accounting for potentional gaps between IDs signified by a 0 value. This is all happening as a parallel process so the player can enter a command at any time and the hero ID will be placed in the first available slot. An enemy merely has to wait for their wait-time meter to fill up before its moveset prerequisites are processed and then a command is placed on the Queue Line. Which is also why it's important that the event deals with gaps so that enemy/hero IDs don't 'skip' ahead of other actors waiting to execute their command.

Sorry for rambling! I've just been spending so much time working on this thing and haven't had much of a chance to talk about how it all work. I'm not explaining it the best and there are a lot of other things going, such as events that only handle HUDs, animations, or wait-time calculations, but the Queue Line event is the backbone of the whole CBS.

Also, the DYNRPG plugins I use are mainly for a custom title screen, more pictures, ability to draw text anywhere on the screen so I don't have to use pics for everything, and yeah, larger sprites. There's also a quick patch someone came up with for me that reverses the display priority of pictures and battle animations. For a while a lot of the bigger animations were spilling over on to the HUD and it looked awful.

[Zoltar]

For a tech demo? I really enjoyed this! the system was not clunky or very buggy. Being a fan of sprite sized graphics I found the pics worked just as well as if they were just battlers and not just pictures. Also love how you made moving battlers!!  That is a worthy accomplishment! Tubular, dude!

Even though it's just a demo i give this game  Four Stars! 

But I give Timber  for cuteness 

[drenrin2120]

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I love Timber! She has a way of roping people in with her cuteness! haha

I'm super proud of this demo and can't wait to get back to work on it. I haven't had time to work on it the past month. I just made a huge move from Massachusetts to New Orleans and adjusting has been time-consuming. I'm still looking for a job so I'm in a sort of panic mode until I find some stability. When I get back to work I'll start posting progress reports again.

[Zoltar]

Thanks for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I love Timber! She has a way of roping people in with her cuteness! haha

I'm super proud of this demo and can't wait to get back to work on it. I haven't had time to work on it the past month. I just made a huge move from Massachusetts to New Orleans and adjusting has been time-consuming. I'm still looking for a job so I'm in a sort of panic mode until I find some stability. When I get back to work I'll start posting progress reports again.

So that explains it.  I wonder if Crackers does that for my fans?