Carpe Diem: The Living Flame

[Linkforce]

Lol that link hasn't worked in ages.  But I'm planning on a new updated demo sometime this week for those who haven't played it yet and those who never got a chance to play due to the broken link.

[Desimodontidae]

my only problem is with your screen shots, your maps look "astrewn", uneven, random clutter. they don't flow well. not that they're bad just keep that in mind.

[Linkforce]

Hmm...I guess you can say my maps aren't exactly "graceful," but I'd like to think it does the job.  It's always tough to reach a point where it's not too cluttered and not to open.  So I see what you mean by uneven but like I said, it's tough sometimes.

[Linkforce]

Hello everyone, Linkforce here with a demo update. 

I just finished all the scenes for the fourth chapter!!  Woohoo!!!  I'm currently going through the whole thing to fix bugs, spruce up some events, and make sure everything flows.  I'm also going to clock my playtime to let you all know how long it is approximately. 

If you have played the latest demo, the only thing you'll find here is one new chapter.  Now, that's not to say that's a bad thing, this chapter has hours of game-play in it.  The reason I'm releasing another demo so soon is because I want the people who never got a chance to play it, whether it be from them not knowing it was up, or not being able to DL it because it was taken off of fileshare, to be able to play it.  It's still going to be a new demo to everyone though.

Anywho, I'll try to get it done as quickly as I can.  I'm having someone test it while I test it too.  Just keep your eyes open for the demo to come out sometime next week.  Cya soon!

[Linkforce]

My fellow Charasians....Charalites........Charas members!!  I, Linkforce, have finally re-released the demo that many of you never got a chance to play!  With it, is a brand new chapter, full of story, gameplay, and annoying little things!  xD  Go to the first page, download it, and play it!  Thank you all for waiting and for being patient!  to all my loyal fans, the moment has arrived!!!!!

But in all seriousness, I've uploaded the new demo.  Check it out and have a blast.  The demo spans the length of 4 chapters and is around 8-10 hours depending on your level of exploration.

Enjoy!!  

[Rowan]

I have an edit of the GREENHILL midi used in the opening (when skylar is walking along the forest road) if you want. It sounds a little bit better on the ears.


Annoyance #1: Holding the SHIFT Key to run. Can you please reverse this? Have the main character run on default and hold SHIFT when you want to walk. I'm lazy and can't press 2 keys at the same time.
Annoyance #2: Slow text speed. I ended up pressing SHIFT alot to cut conversations. 

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Oddity #1: Why does the cave begin to collapse when you defeat the big bad? This is a very tired storytelling tactic. I'm not going to put too much fault in this though since you're kinda deep in production.
Oddity #2: Found a couple of bugs with the running key; particularly when you're going off/on a ladder. Sometimes skylar will be stuck walking in his forward animation, other times Skylar's ladder animation will be borked. When holding the SHIFT key, the movement speed will stay the same while on the ladder.
Oddity #3: The "shack" (or w/e) in the back of the mayor's house is a dungeon lol. It would make a little more sense if it was a small cavern or something.

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Will continue playing later.

[Linkforce]

Damn Rowan, you're a fast player!    But to answer your points:

Annoyance #1: Though I understand how you feel, I like the run system I use because I don't like it when the Hero is constantly zipping by everywhere.  Makes the gameplay seem......childish?  Idk, that's how I feel about it though.

Annoyance #2: Like the sprinting, I think the default text speed is just waaay too fast.  I think it speeds up the gameplay too much and if you've noticed anything about my game, it's slowed down a lot.  The pace is much slower then other games, because I want the player to just relax and play.  I don't want the player to zip past the game, I want them to slowly enjoy it.  Also, I hope you're not pressing SHIFT through scenes that don't require you to press anything!    They're like that for a reason, lol.

Oddity #1: Ya know, I think I put too much faith in the player haha.  I figured the player would realize the explosion that occurred when Skylar stepped on the button caused it, along with the fighting with the main boss.  I went back and put that in though, so when the cave begins to collapse, Skylar says, "I think the explosion from before is causing this."  Lol, so thanks I guess?  

Oddity #2: Those ladders will be the death of me!  x_x  I've tried going back and forth to fix those glitches but every time I think I've got them figured out, someone always finds a problem with them lol.  I'll go back and work on them again, thanks for the heads up!

Oddity #3: I'm too lazy to remake that cave area underneath the mayors house.  xD  If enough people mention it I'll change it lol

I hope you enjoy the rest of the demo!    Thanks for your input thus far.

Edit: Oh, and I'll take that midi if you think it sounds better.

[Linkforce]

Ok I updated the first page.  If you look above where the demo is, you'll see Nandez's Reviews.  That's right Nandez has been kind enough to review my game, chapter to chapter. Although the first on is kind of a walkthrough, it still serves as a review.  With that said, check it out and let him and I know what you think!

[zuhane]

Looks fantasmic. That's a blend neologism for fantastic and orgasmic, by the way.

I'll tell you whether it's f**king sh*t and awful, or whether it's really good!

[MissingName]

Downloaded.  I'll try it.

[Muraiko]

I loaded my file from before, and I must say that I find the game very difficult at the moment. The enemies in the Rowan Forest aren't hard, and I mean that as in the damage they deal to you is quite low physically. What makes up the difficulty is the fact that they constantly poison my characters, and the foes have alot of HP, making the battles drawn out, with the poison nibbling away at everyone's health. I've reached the point where I have no more items to restore character's conditions and the girl doesn't have any status clearing spells at the moment...

I would suggest making a traveling merchant in the forest or just give the player some sort of access to a items dealer at that point.

[Linkforce]

Looks fantasmic. That's a blend neologism for fantastic and orgasmic, by the way.

I'll tell you whether it's f**king sh*t and awful, or whether it's really good!

Haha sweet new word xP  And yes, let me know what you think!!

Downloaded.  I'll try it.

Enjoy it!

I loaded my file from before, and I must say that I find the game very difficult at the moment. The enemies in the Rowan Forest aren't hard, and I mean that as in the damage they deal to you is quite low physically. What makes up the difficulty is the fact that they constantly poison my characters, and the foes have alot of HP, making the battles drawn out, with the poison nibbling away at everyone's health. I've reached the point where I have no more items to restore character's conditions and the girl doesn't have any status clearing spells at the moment...

I would suggest making a traveling merchant in the forest or just give the player some sort of access to a items dealer at that point.

Hmm...I see what you mean.  Someone said I should've put a merchant or some way to get items in that forest and I guess I probably should.  Seeing as how long it is that would probably be a good idea.  Either that or I'll make Rayne learn her cure poison skill earlier, because she does learn that eventually.

Also, I'm surprised someone kept their old file!!  Haha, let me know what you think of chapter 4! 

[Linkforce]

Hello Charas nation! Linkforce here with an update on the game and all things relevant. I'll write this update in list form to make it more organized.

Game Progress: After I released the demo, I took a bit of a break. I worked on some things here and there, but nothing too major. As of last week I finally got back into the thick of it and am working now on Chapter 5. For those of you who played and finished the demo, you know that it ended at the end of Chapter 4, where Alkamar, Rayne, and Draight were crossing the border to continue on their journey to reach the World Alliance. Chapter 5 will pick up from the end of Chapter 3, where Skylar was taken away by the World Alliance soldiers, Haru was recruited to the A.Z.A.F. and Trance and Ledron were left on their own. A lot of main characters are now on their own in separate locations and Chapter 5 will jump start the main story of the game and the player will start to learn the core details of the plot.
Currently, I'm working on a scene in Chapter 5 that introduces the final main character in Episode 1, Zephyr. I won't give anything away about this scene but I will say this. It's a scene that I have played through my head over and over and over for years. I strongly believe that this scene will land my game a spot in amateur rpg making history. This isn't me trying to be cocky or anything, I just really think this scene will just be so awesome. At the very least, it'll have people talking about it long after they've seen it. But I suppose that's for the player to decide.  I want to keep it a secret as much as possible until it's released, but I will give you guys one screenshot to give you some idea of what kind of scene it will be.  You can find that screenshot below.

Anywho, I will continue to work on the game and will report on things as they happen.

Other important things:
I need some help in mapping. More specifically, I'm trying to make a "complicated" desert city map. I have the tileset, but for the life of me I can't make a half decent map. It needs to be a medium sized city and if you're interested you can just PM me and I will give you all the details. I would really appreciate the help and in return I'll help you with anything you need.

And that's basically it. If I remember anything else that needs updating I'll just edit this post. Thanks for reading!

Edit: I've also updated my story, making it less cliche and less cheesy. It's the same story just described better and a little more detail has been put into it. Ch-ch-check it out!

[zidane912]

Damn, i havent been on charas in a looong time. 

Oh snap you have a demo out!?  im downloading it right now!  this game is awesome i cant wait to play it!  ill let you know what i think when im done!

p.s.-that screen above is pretty sick.  looks like a hell of a battlefield!

[Linkforce]

Thanks man, enjoy it!  Let me know what you think!