Plague, Title Might Change Options

[HeroOfHyla]

Plague
© 2008 Raezot Productions



Well, it's official:

I am restaring this game in Game Maker 7.

Game Maker is a better choice for a few reasons:

1. A CBS will be MUCH easier.

2. I have TOTAL control over pretty much every aspect of the game.

3. I can still apply my knowledge from 2k3, like on how to make custom menus (for the most part), but I have less limitations.

4. LOCAL VARIABLES! This means managing monster health will be MUCH easier.

5. If the game turns out well, I can legally sell it.

I've only one screenshot of the game in GM right now, and it's just of the custom top-bar:



Also, I need a new title screen with the larger resolution. I can't remember how I made the other one, so I made a whole new one.


Unless feedback in this topic changes my mind, the combat will run similarly to Final Fantasy XI. Melee combat is done automatically, but you manage items and skills on your own. It'll be a mouse/keyboard interface.
The world was a fairly peaceful place. There was no real strife. Everything was acceptable to all the people of all the lands. But then the plague came. No one has yet found a cure, and no one understands how it spreads even in areas of quarantine.

Todd, our hero, has a mission. He's dedicated to finding the cure, to save his father and his village. With the help of mistrustful doctor, he'll do whatever it takes to save these dear to him.


Characters

Todd

He's just a generic late-teens hero. He's wearing a read jacket over a white shirt, with bluejeans and brown boots. If anyone wants to sprite him, go ahead and give it a shot. I've been having trouble spriting lately.

DESCRIPTION:
A teen from a small village named Serverot. Nearly the entire village has caught the plague, but Todd seems to be highly resistant. He's quiet and thinks before he speaks.


The Doctor (Haven't thought of a name for him yet)

A grumpy and mistrustful doctor from Vetrion. He agrees to accompany Todd on his quest to find a cure for the plague. He won't fight, because of his injuries, but he can use items in battles to help Todd.

Zera

He's the villain. He views Todd as his rival, though Todd isn't quite sure why. Zera seems to be linked to the plague in some way. Once again, you can try to sprite them if you want.

DESCRIPTION:
A man shrouded in mystery. His posture and eyes reveal a man who has seen many a battle and would like to forget them. He seems to be slightly insane, and frequently talks to himself. I can't give out more information now without spoiling the second half of the plot.

Combat!

Combat works like Final Fantasy XI or like the melee units in an RTS. Regular attacks are done automatically at intervals, but you can select special abilities to use. The attack interval is determined by the weapon delay rating and your speed.

There are 5 combat stances you can use. You can change at any time, but changing will reset the weapon delay. The stances are as follows:

CODE

Neutral:
No benenfits, no penalties

Aggressive:
Strength up, Accuracy down

Careful:
Accuracy up, Strength down

Guarded:
Fortitude up, Evasion down

Evasive:
Evasion up, Fortitude down

Killing an enemy gives AP, Exp, and items. AP is used to learn Essences and Exp is used for levelling up.

Leveling up will increase your five stats (Fortitude, Strength, Evasion, Accuracy, and Speed). How much each is increased is based on what stance is most used.

Sometimes, enemies drop essences. Equipping an essence will give you its ability as long as you wear it. You can wear up to 2 essences at once. Gaining enough AP will make the essence permanent, and free the slot for another essence to be used.

Essences give abilities which are divided into 3 categories:

-Actions
These abilites are like spells or attacks. They can only be learned once. You must choose to use them from the menu each time you need them. They cost MP to use.
An example is "Fire Breath." It creates a blast of fire to damage enemies.

When selecting an action, you must designate a target. Different actions have different types of targets. These include:
Self
Close Burst
Blast
Ranged Single
Ranged Burst

-Upgrades
Increase stats. These are stackable.
An example is "Strength + 3" It increases your strength by 3 permanently.

-Passive Abilites
These give a special ability which is always on. They cost no MP to maintain. They are not stackable.
An example is "Adaptive coloring." Enemies will be unable to see you when you stand still outside of battle.

If you have no need for a certain essence (like if you already know the spell), you can try combining it with another essence to make a more powerful, unique one.

[Show/Hide] Old Stuff

Battle System

This game uses an ABS sort of like Zelda. You have 2 standard attack buttons, and there are combos you can use by hitting them in the correct sequence. You also have 9 slots you can assign skills to. These cost MP to use. MP recovers a little every time you kill a monster.

Notable (boss/miniboss/unique) monsters sometimes drop "essences" (might change name). You can equip up to three of these at a time. They give you skills or stat boosts while they're equiped. When you get experience after battles, it goes towards essences. After they recieve a certain amount of EXP, they are absorbed and the effect becomes permanent.

I've just barely started this project, but I do hope to finish it. Expect more to come in storyline, characters, etc. in a while.

I didn't post screenshots because right now I'm using the RTP, but eventually I'll switch to custom graphics.


What does /rrr/ think? If someone wants this in Developmental instead of Screens and Demos, they can move it, I don't care.

Script:

This is the handwritten script of the game. I've only scanned the first page in now, but I'll be updating periodically.

[Show/Hide] Script

[Aman234]

This looks good. Can't wait for updates

[neclords]

This is great. I can't wait for "PLAGUE"

[GoldenGriffon]

Yeah, moved to Game Design for now.

Hey, the town the main character in my game is from is being wiped out by a plague when he leaves! We could make our games correspond!

So far it looks pretty good, but I'd have to see more of the plot and characters to become really interested. The ABS sounds good, are you making it yourself?

The green titlescreen is good for the plague theme, but I think it looks more 'computer tech' than 'disease'.

[HeroOfHyla]

@GG
Lol at dual plagues

Yes, I'm making the battle system myself. The boring part will be monster sprites.

And I just made the title playing around with filters in GIMP. It might change.

[HeroOfHyla]

Character art!

Todd:

He's just a generic late-teens hero. He's wearing a read jacket over a white shirt, with bluejeans and brown boots. If anyone wants to sprite him, go ahead and give it a shot. I've been having trouble spriting lately.

Zera:

He's the villain. He views Todd as his rival, though Todd isn't quite sure why. Zera seems to be linked to the plague in some way. Once again, you can try to sprite them if you want.

The doctor coming soon, because he'll be a pain to draw - he's in a wheelchair.

[Darkblade]

I like the sound of it.
A doctor and a young man, trying to stop a plague from wiping out a village.

I also like the idea that both GoldenGriffin's game and your game could corrospond.
Perhaps it could be a small series of games.
PLAGUE, the series.

[HeroOfHyla]

I've been writing out the script of Plague by hand for a while. I'm on scene 12 right now, about 5 pages in. I thought I'd show you the first page, and you can all tell me what you think.

Sorry about my handwriting...

[Darkblade]

Sounds cool.
Your handwriting is much better than mine. XD


What are the symptons of the plague?

[HeroOfHyla]

Coughing fits, fever, in the later stages bleeding through orifices, skin rot, and eventually paralysis.

[ccoa]

I love the essenses system.

Which maker are you using and which template? I might take a stab at spriting him for you so long as we're not talking Half Kaizers.

[HeroOfHyla]

It's RPG 2003, in standard RTP style, or as close to as possible.

The battle system will probably be the last thing I implement, just because of how long it will take.

[ccoa]

Okay. Any colors picked out for him yet?

[HeroOfHyla]

Who, Todd?

He's wearing a red shortsleeved open shirt over a white longsleeve shirt. He has blue-jeans. He has blond hair and brown eyes.

Eventually, I'll need casting spell animations and using sword animations, but I've barely started the battle system (you can attack enemies, but they can't attack you, they're just probrammed to move based on "step toward hero," which I'll be changing eventually). I really want to get the story done, just to make sure I won't give up on this project, before I go into the CMS and CBS stuff.

I've tried to sprite Todd on my own several times, but he always came out too tall and thin for the RTP. Unfortunately, I'm not on my home computer, so I can't show you my results.

Also, I'll be updating the first post with all the new stuff I've posted (the character art and the first page of the script).

[HeroOfHyla]

A face set and 2 sprites.

Todd:




Zera:


Ccoa was nice enough to help out with spriting. These's aren't those sprites, they're just ones I made using the third character in chara1 as a template.

In case anyone's wondering, Zera is short for Zeragosa.

[Ankh]

Oooo... a Plague. I like plagues. Well, not really, but I like to see them used in stories. Mostly cause I like to study germs and like, though I suppose they rarely show up in RPGs... *sigh*
Anywho, it seems interesting, though I didn't really like the teenage hero idea, but I guess it really depends on what you plan for him. Perhaps you could explain why this particular teen goes out on the quest for the cure. I mean, I know his personal reason, but is he the only one? Shouldn't there be all kinds of other people doing the exact same thing (I guess Zera might be one)?
And, this is more just a personal question of mine, what sort of time period does it take place in? From the look of it, I'm thinking a typical fantasy setting, but Todd's outfit threw me off a bit.
But, all in all, it looks like it'll be an interesting game. I love ABS (Hooray! Zelda!), at least, if they're done right. I hope you don't have too much trouble with it.

[HeroOfHyla]

Well, I suppose I can post a bit of the story to help people understand things. But most of it isn't revealed until further into the game, so I'll put it in spoiler tags.

[Show/Hide] Secrets

To gods, the affairs of men are nearly meaningless. The gods have nearly unlimited power (as understood on our small scale). But what do gods do to resolve a conflict? They cannot engage in all out war, because the destruction would be unacceptable. So they play games. The rules are so intricate that no mortal could hope to understand. Recently, two gods, named Sharden and Gardesh, came into conflict. They agreed to a game, and chose their sides. Sharden chose Todd to be his champion, and Gardesh chose Zera. Each god was allowed to choose his own methods to achieve victory. Sharden chose to gently prod his hero along in the right direction via guides and abilities. Gardesh chose the heavy-handed route, which was faster, but more dangerous. When Gardesh touched Zera's mind, Zera was broken. He lost his sanity, and listens only to the whims of the voices in his head, only one of which is controlled by Gardesh.

As for the era, I don't really have a specific one. I like having modern-ish characters, but I don't like creating a modern world for modern times.

[GoldenGriffon]

[Show/Hide] About thy spoiler

Ah, yes! I love games involving gods! It gives the game a feeling that something bigger is happening than just what you see. The twist with Zera's mind being warped is interesting too. His god won't be able to influence him completely. =)

Okay, you said the ABS was going to be the last thing you implemented? I speak from experience - that doesn't work. Unless the battles are completely independent of the story, it's going to be really hard to add the base of your gameplay in after everything else. Plus, I think maps and such should be made to fit the battles system, for strategic purposes. Just a tip - for all I know, your battle system could work fine being added later. I just found that I like to make all the background systems first, and then go on with the story from there.

EDIT: Three cheers! 666th post!

[HeroOfHyla]

Well, battles occur on their own screen. They're atb, but they you can't fight on the map.

Though... the essences tie into the story a bit (maybe), so I'm not sure.

I started the battle system last week. So far, you can attack enemies, but they can't attack you yet.

[GoldenGriffon]

Sweet. I'd love to see how exactly you're coding it, since I'm working on one of my own and like to compare. Could I see a battle demo when you finish it?