Bugs in the Tower!

So in my project, The Girl and the Dragon, the point is that the first main character - Aethelinda - wants to destroy a set amount of towers in order to complete her contract with a dragon. Her dragon friend is quite a pesky chap, and becomes angry if she does not do what he wishes.

So onwards, to the first tower.

And it's taking me such a long time.

Firstly there are bugs; bugs everywhere! Some are easy to fix, some are very time consuming. For example...

If you look closely you can see a shadow to the right of the players. Yeah, this dude isn't meant to be able to do that - he's only meant to be sticking to the ground. (Though it does a look a wee bit more creepy.) I didn't realise that this tileset allows players to walk through the roof tile. (The tileset presumes you'll always want to add a wall tile between.) If I want to keep the design I need to make a black impassible tile all around these maps which will be very time consuming. I probably won't be fixing this for the first demo.

Throughout the tower there are many various events to interact with, which also causes bugs. I'm already running out of ideas for the first tower, so while I was keen on making 14 of these bad boys, I think I'll stick to 9, and possibly start playing more rpgs for ideas.

Still, there is a lot to explore right now, with 5 levels so far (only 2 more to go!) and about 4 hidden characters to find.

The inbuilt character creator is currently weeping from exhaustion.

I'm getting closer and closer to that demo, and I'm really excited to share it.

Girl and the Dragon - Releasing a Demo soon?

I hope to release a demo of my game "Girl and the Dragon" soon, but there are a lot of things I've still got to do. These include:

• Fix enough bugs to make the game playable.
• Complete all the maps for the first tower.
• Complete first boss.
• Create skills for characters.
• Improve combat.

Depending on my spare time, perhaps there could be a small demo by February or March.

The Girl and the Dragon progress

Recently I shared one of my rpg maker projects, The Girl and the Dragon. Here's a small update on what I've achieved so far.

• Completed designed first city. - With a huge 180 x 150 size. [In other words: Very large map. Never again!] The city has a simple design in line with the story. I look forward to making (much smaller) more attractive maps soon.
• Worked on the plot. So far, the player can play through half a day. (It took far too long to reach this...)
• Included voice acting - The dragon speaks!
• Officially 42 characters in the Database. 8 main ones.
• At least fourteen mini-stories can be found in the first city if the player wishes to find them.
• About fifteen minutes of game play if you're a "semi-curious gamer." - (My term for players who interact with some of the characters on the map but not all and don't explore very much/excessively.) Twenty for a curious gamer, and about thirty minutes if you try to interact with everyone.

Time for bed, I think.

The Girl and the Dragon

Recently I made a post about Little Cat which is a little game I have been working on for a while using a game designer program called RPG Maker VX. I quite enjoyed sharing my project on this blog, so I've decided to share another, this time made with the updated engine, RPG Maker VX Ace - which I have found much more efficient to use. This game is called The Girl and the Dragon and I've been working on this on/off since August, on average about eight/ten hours a month.

This is a character and decision driven RPG game with a firm story that has been pre-planned. The main character, "Aethelinda", is on a quest to free dragons from the 'forbidden realm' in return for gaining the powers and protection of a dragon. All she has to do is destroy fourteen towers that hold up 'heaven', and use her will to open a Timegate. Sounds simple right?

Only the dragon is evil, twisted and sinister, and there is a reason why the dragons are in the forbidden realm.

If they ever returned, all of humanity would be wiped out.

Surely then Aethelinda should not free the dragons then, you say? But if she doesn't, she will be dragged into the 'forbidden realm', lose any powers she once gained and return into Deaf-blindness. Alone. With a bunch of dragons.

Now before I go any further - This isn't in any way suggesting people in real life with Deaf-blindness are inferior. (Helen Keller anyone?) It''s just that everyone in Aethelinda's village suddenly vanished one day, leaving her alone. With no food or water, it was a matter of survival to promise to help the dragons.

This project is a challenge hoping to achieve the following.

• Create a badass main character.
• Include a multitude of major/minor characters with discoverable stories.
• Have a thorough main plot, with minor plots in the background - should the player wish to follow them.
• Include countless options/decisions the player can make, which in turn can change the ending of the game.
• Have cities, towns, countries identifiable by a unique culture. 
• Be a fun game to play.

I enjoy incorporating lots of 'mini-stories' into the game, but this has been very time consuming. I have had to make a 'maker's guide' with all the spoilers in only so I could keep up with all the minor characters and their names. If I ever release this game I'll probably include the guide too.

If you are not familiar with RPG Maker VX Ace, there is already a shop system and an expansive database where one can create items/armours/weapons (etc, etc!) for characters to use/equip in the game. I'm a big database fan, so it's been satisfying avoiding the pre-made data and make my own. I hope to make as much unique content as far as my skills allow. My next aim might be drawing and sharing concept art for my characters - of which I feel are the key stars in the game.

I hope to post about my both my rpgs in the near future.

Stay tuned!