Rosewood

[Paradoxic_Symphony]

Rosewood
- Have you ever found something so timeless, that despite the miseries and nightmares of this world,
the light that entranced you within your timeless object burns on?
- Have you ever stared out through your window, gazing at other skies and lands not your own, and
thought life was better on the other side, the one place you cannot go?
- Did you stumble upon something you weren't meant to see?
- Did your valiant intentions lead to strife, and madness?
- Did you hurt the one you care about most?

Story
- No war ravages the planet. Peace is abundant, but could a life ever be so easily lived? A disease
suddenly sweeps through the southern empire, known as the Encarnan Empire, debilitating most
of the empire's rural area, sparing only the highly populated cities. Medical staff speculate that
the urban population has less exposure to whatever plant or animal is causing the pandemic, and
advise people to remain indoors at all times, leaving only when necassary.
- But is that advice so easily observed by children? No, the empire's youth has been hit the hardest with the
disease. Especially in the town of Gamnaan, where two young children, both perfectly healthy, decide to
chase after a fairy-tale cure, residing in the nearby forest, the Rosewood.

Characters
-As of the Demo...

Name: Robin Belavera
Age: [During Demo:] 8 [After Demo:] 19
Class: [During:] None [After:] Swordsman
Background: Robin's older brother has come down with the disease, his drive
behind venturing into the Rosewood with Lyla. He's fairly straightforward about
what he thinks should be done, but he's a very introverted person. He trusts only
Lyla, and anyone she deems trustworthy.

Name: Lyla Rideout
Age: [During:] 8 [After:] 19
Class: [During:] None [After:] Magus
Background: While she may seem like just a little girl, Lyla is quite a helpful
accomidation on the battle-field. Her head is full of fairy-tales and legends
her Grandmother has passed on to her, and she's not shy when it comes to
sharing them. Her fantastical ideals often conflict with Robin's practical
approach to life, mostly seen after the demo.

[I assure you, there will be more later, but i'm trying to update this as I make the game]

Features
- "Enviornment" System: Use objects in the enviornment to aid you. Poisoned?
Roll in a batch of the white flowers. Running low on HP? Click on a root on the
ground to restore some HP. Scared of the Goblins? Light that canister in front
of you to scare them away! But watch out for those ferns on the ground! They're
poisonous, they'll lower your health!
- Custom Battle System: No Side-view, No default, No Tactical. It's sort of a
blend of styles found in Muraiko's Epitome of Anima, and my own Enviornment
System. For example, instead of hacking and slashing up Goblins, which you can't,
since you're a child throughout the demo, which will serve as the prolouge, you would
light a canister to keep them away so you can advance through the dungeon. To fight
bosses, which there is one in the Demo, you would follow hints dropped through dialogue
as to how to defeat them. Lighting all 4 canisters might set the harpy on fire, for example.
Maybe you should do it multiple times? But, if you've been hit twice, avoid stepping on the
violet flowers, or suffer the poison... -It's a very involved battle system, but not difficult to
get the hang of.
- At the moment alot of things are RTP, but i'm still working on it >.^

Screenshots

-Screenshot of dialogue before the Boss fight. You can clearly see some of the things
mentioned in the above sections about Features...

-Just a quick shot of the mapping.

-I know the tint is annoying, but I was trying to get a mid-battle shot.

-How about some nice Goblins to warm up your dreams at night?

-One of the mini-tutorials scattered throughout the demo.

Demo Link
-It's short, but it shows what most of the game will be like, with a few
exceptions. For one, you'll be able to hack away at enemies once
Robin and Lyla age, after the demo. So i'll update this occaisonally,
if interest remains that is.
Download
-Bugs i've fixed so far:
Eliminated RTP
Fixed Lyla Follow FAIL
Fixed a few flowers blocking pathways
Fixed Lyla being solid and blocking the way back glitches
Fixed probably 99% of the Lyla glitches... wow there were alot...

So what does everyone think?

[Rahl]

I like the story, and I think it has potentia. Justget rid of the RTP asap.

[Paradoxic_Symphony]

RTP has been removed, except for one piece of music that I liked too much to change. I added a boss theme, and new battle animations.

[Muraiko]

Played a bit of the demo, and the first thing that sorta bugged me is the way that Lyla follows the hero.

Right now, you have her movement type set to "Towards Hero", but that doesn't really work that well, since once she catches up with him, she'll still be moving around.

It's better to set her to "Custom Pattern" and then "Define Pattern" as "Move Toward Hero". It also helps if her speed is set to 8, so she'll be following right behind the hero.

[Paradoxic_Symphony]

Really, that works? Thanks! I always figured it would do the same thing. I'll fix that right now... If Megaupload feels like not being a douche...

So, yeah, that really does make it better! Thanks.

[Paradoxic_Symphony]

Alright, if there's a rule against double posting, I apologize.

But I have an update... Along with a sort of more in-depth look at my already confusing battle system. (not to mention very difficult).

So, here are some screenies of the next dungeon, which is also the first place you can explore as an adult.


-Okay, so here's the basic idea: The purple orbs are energy volleys that damage you upon contact. Avoid them.
The Golem in the middle of the screen will run up and down the middle path at a frightening speed, best to
avoid that path for now. The energy volleys move horizontally, just time your sprint correctly to burst through.

-See the blue triangle? It blocks your way of getting to Lyla, and it also damages the Golem to strike it. But, if
you click on it before you kill all of the dragon-lizard things, it won't work. Kill the reptiles first.

-After you've killed the lizards, and struck the triangle a few times, the Golem goes berserk and starts following
you around, attacking you with powerful fire magic.

-The entrance to the caves. The lizards are implimented here for the first time. Lyla can be used to block
energy volleys, ash she says.

-Oh no! A dead end! I wonder what those geometric shapes do?

As always, comments and criticism are appreciated. Updated demo will be up shortly.

[Rahl]

Doesn't look too bad.

[Red Giant]

The story looks intriguing. I am not sure about the mechanics of it, but you have piqued my curiosity.

I will definately give it a go when I have the time.

[Darkfox]

This looks pretty interesting. Kinda... polished-ish rather than rough and disorganized as many start out here. I'll give it a try when I have the time.

[Red Giant]

Caterpillar + impassable follower = NO

[Paradoxic_Symphony]

@Red Giant: Thank you! And I noticed the bug about Caterpillar as well, my updated demo (coming out in a few hours or so) will have that fixed.
@Darkfox: I've only been working on this for a week or so, so it's not really polished, i'm just OCD about many things in my games.
@Lucas: I've been reading Bluhman and Meiscool's tutorials, i'm implimenting that in the Aquaducts(dungeon leading up to the Golem boss), and the castle and town following that.

Here's a look on what the next demo will include: (since you may have noticed, i'm a freak about lists and organization)
-Towns: There will be a town immediatly following the second boss.
-Quests: Quests are handled by Factions, they gain you reputation with different interest groups. Kinda like politics
-Caterpillar Fix: Yes. I know it's a big problem.
-DEVELOPEMENT: The game actually developes a sense of purpose. Basically, Lyla climbed up the ladder to being Al Gore's puppy-dog, and went eco-nut, but it's understandable after a cut-scene in which she is visited by a dream of her Grandmother.
-Hack-n-slash?: I'm working on animations of Robin with his sword as we speak, and ones with Lyla's magic shield. You'll be able to lob off enemies heads in the Aquaducts, if you survive to get close enough.

Now, my questions: How can I set a key "A" to have Robin attack with his sword? And maybe set "S" to have Lyla cast a spell(pre-selected of course)? I've seen it done before, i'm just dumb when it comes to scripting. Making the boss for the Aquaducts took ALL DAY.

And I have two random screenies of the town for you:

-Seems almost like the sand is blocking out the sun...

-On second thought, that guard looks pretty buff. Best not to irk him.

[Muraiko]

Now, my questions: How can I set a key "A" to have Robin attack with his sword? And maybe set "S" to have Lyla cast a spell(pre-selected of course)? I've seen it done before, i'm just dumb when it comes to scripting. Making the boss for the Aquaducts took ALL DAY.

You can't use the "A" or "S" keys for key input processes. RPG Maker only allows certain ones to be used, such as arrow keys, number keys, and symbols, such as ".", "/", "+", "-" and "*".

I personally don't like [space] attack ABS. Alot of people who use that don't take the time to make it look nice. For example, when you talk to an NPC with the space bar, the character actually slashes him, but he talks to you as if nothing happened.