Oracle of Tao, 5th time's the charm? Options

[bulmabriefs144]

Game Title and Platform - Oracle of Tao, Rpg2003
Story and or Introduction - The game is set on a post-apocalyptic version of Earth. Just a heads-up, there are heavy religious overtones but it's sorta non-traditional (the major religions of this New Earth are Taoism, Miroku Buddhism (Miroku was the end-times Buddha), and a strange merged religion called Aiken). Most of the other religions had their members mysteriously disappear one night. The being believed behind the disappearance was an escape demon named Belial. God (who in this game suspiciously resembles a floating Triforce) saved the world by splitting it into existence and nothingness, or the New Earth and the Void. He then used angels to seal away the demon in a puzzle box (yea kinda cliche, but it works) so the New Earth could continue on as before. (Why didn't he simply destroy evil? Well, as the game is heavily Taoist, it would destroy balance to allow angels to act against their own kind, even on a fallen member) Millennia later, a young beggar girl who can't remember her real parents, is chosen to be the Oracle of Tao. But as is explained in some history books, the First Oracle also completed his training, but went strangely missing before he could confront Belial the first time.

Character Details -
Ambrosia Brahmin, the main character, is a spunky, somewhat hot-tempered, blue-haired beggar who gets her big break when she becomes part of the prophecy of the Oracle. She can't remember her real parents, as she was adopted by a wealthy family then had an extremely bad run of luck when they died, and on her journey will doubtless find out some shocking things about herself and the world she lives in. Nevras Fitzembor (don't ask me to spell it, I alternated between Fitzxembor and Fitzembor), is a rather metrosexual (but still very much into women) and slightly indecisive prince who undertook military training and somehow came out of it less assertive than before. Aqorm Flowless is a half-elf thief who rebelled against her parents to be a street musician (her parents are pretty weird too, but that's largely GamePlus). Next is a Elias, a shaman who practically grew up in a library (and it shows). Then there's Anideshi, a druid, who has a strange reincarnation cycle joined to another character, Azrael, the party's resident exorcist. Also, there's Yazim Jianne, a formerly-evil wizard who was helping to unchain the demon Belial. The other characters are not fully fleshed-out (largely because I'm either not done with them, or their plots come in GamePlus), but their names and titles are Michael (THAT Michael), a demon named Michael, and our GamePlus only character, Tamashii (I won't tell you who she is, as it's a pretty big spoiler) who is the party's Soulfire, sort of psychic/healer/pyrokineticist rolled into one.

Screen Shots -






Features -
A Seasons, Day/Night, and Time System (complete with a calendar). A Weather system, Banks (with multiple accounts), and alot of other functions. A Party Change system. A pretty big cast (about 9+ characters), and a Love system for alot of them (not finished yet, but programmed for the protagonist). About three endings, a Game Plus, and a final ending for the GamePlus (not totally done yet).

Download - Ummm, I'm usually in the habit of deleting and renewing the link, so I'll link instead to the download page:

RPGRevolution Download Page

Progress estimate - The patch number says it (0.48 is roughly 48%)
Gameplay Time - It's pretty long (anywhere from 8+ hours I'd say, I couldn't do it in one sitting, because the game actually requires some grind)
Known Errors - There are some unfinished sections of the game, the Trigrams command may occasionally auto-cast (that one I'm not fixing, as it involves hundreds of monsters and I've tried fixing it four times, so I figured an out with the glitch, just cancel to the main menu and then go to the attack mode again), and there are crufty parts (both in the code and some of the facesets, as there are old and new parts). There are some facesets errors since I had old and new facesets, and in some areas forgot to update for awhile. Also, there's probably some lag, as there's alot of code. Oh yea, and status effects don't work the same way for your party as they do for enemies (the worst example of this is that apparently you can't have enemies with Reflect on them, because it causes a sharing error. But you also have instances where the game is over if none of your party can move, but these rules don't apply to enemies).


Credits - I mainly was the only one working on this, but I borrowed pictures from alot of sources, and two games. Lemme see...
Lotsa music from vgmusic.com, along with several theme midis from movies and TV shows from various sites. I got alot of graphics from Charas Project resources. I think I may have also taken some graphics from other games , when I couldn't find them elsewhere, but most of them I probably can't keep straight from the other stuff (Azrael's Final Fantasy monsters and Badluck's AraFell puzzle graphics are the only ones that spring to mind, and I'm currently writing them into credits). I also got a Zelda rtp by download which looks suspiciously the same as the one Xfixium used in Zelda: Links Awakening, although I didn't get it from him (unless he made the rtp, so I'll credit him too). Some of this stuff actually was my work, such as the realistic looking pictures in the background section (which were actually converted photos) but these were made using the program Fireworks. I think I covered almost everything I could think of.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 9 2011, 09:14 AM

[bulmabriefs144]

Currently playtesting the latest version, and fixing bug or balance issues as I go. At the 50% mark after this version is posted.

-Added a journal (so people who haven't played in awhile can get a refresher on what's going on)
-Made battles generally easier (provided you have plenty of MP) at the early stages of the game.
-Finished all endings but GamePlus ending
-Finished all towns in the first world (checking through them now on playtest for anything missing/weird)
-Oh yea, and I added a new font.

Btw, I found another glitch (leaving it because it's exploitable, and correcting all instances of it would likely be more trouble than it's worth, especially since it's at a point where out-of-party members need serious training). Because the party experience is based off numbers that are given in round 0, even enemies too tough that you run from give party experience. So if you wanna train party members without too much work, you leave them in areas where the party is constantly fleeing dragons or the like. Then again, if I find a way to do it easily, I'llget rid of it.

I could seriously use some playtesters, anyone interested can post here.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jan 29 2011, 08:20 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

Bump.

Updated to version 0.50. Pretty much half done then, finished first world, and all shops and characters there.

Playtesting it through (thanks alot guys ), but I can't tell how long the game takes, as it was hard to finish in one sitting while debugging.
It's got alot of them removed, and I've redone the shops and the monster drops to try to be closer to a normal progression. There also aren't the crazy random weapons getting dropped left and right. I'd like some help with testing the bosses at various levels for both one hit kills at lower levels and 0 damage at higher levels. Also, I need someone to test whether bosses as placed are even to the challenge progression (which is harder for me to test, because what seems easy to me may not to everyone else).

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jan 29 2011, 08:21 PM

[ranmaster]

Do you have Screen shots to put up?

[psychofreak]

three err.......... eight screen shots aren't enough?

This post has been edited by psychofreak: Jan 30 2011, 12:59 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

I could put up more...

I mean those ones are kinda dated and don't really show latest updates. For that matter, I colorswapped at least one of the characters in battle mode. Not to mention they don't really show enough of the dialogue. I'll use this post (no sense making a new one for non-updates) and update later today after I get back from work.

[ranmaster]

Lol when I checked I swear I didn't see any SS's. Maybe my browser playing games with me.

[psychofreak]

Lol when I checked I swear I didn't see any SS's. Maybe my browser playing games with me.

Right sorry

[bulmabriefs144]

Back. I'll elaborate on these pictures.



Binding is one of the game's many battle commands. It destroys ghosts and in some cases stops abilities like regeneration (switch based). Basically the way it works is if the exorcism skill level (which raises with repeated use or by reading special books), is higher than the number (0-8), the ghost is killed off.



Ambrosia has a bit of an existence crisis.



A bar conversation with some of the secondary characters.



This gathering is for the Anti-Government Council, a bit of an oxymoronic world government which enforces anarchy by limiting powers of ruling countries. Right now, though, it's in decline.



(Not my artwork, I downloaded this and other pictures from the internet)
A picture while fighting for your aerial vehicle.



One of the trippier scenes of the game. Currently you can't reach this scene, because it's part of one of the endings. I won't tell you exactly what's going on here, as it would give away alot, but suffice it to say, everything the lead character believes about herself and the world is suddenly shattered.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jan 31 2011, 10:36 AM

[ranmaster]

Oh that fonts ugly, would you like to use the font I made. I can give it to ya via PM. =D

EDIT: SS REMOVED---------
Preview

This post has been edited by ranmaster: Dec 7 2011, 09:59 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

Oh that fonts ugly, would you like to use the font I made. I can give it to ya via PM. =D


Preview

If you can get it to work through Mincho, sure. I wanna be able to switch between two custom fonts.

Btw, I just did an update to Michael (dunno how many of you've gotten that far), and his levelling system.
It's sorta like this but for one character, and I don't have weapon/magic skill levels. Mainly because of too many weapons, and too much in the way of spells.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Feb 16 2011, 05:24 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

Game Update.

I re-did the Party Experience, adding a switch that turns it on or off. This way, if you die in battle, no party experience. If you run away, or if enemies are too strong, and there is a forced flee, no party experience. (I think there's a glitch with initiative fleeing, but I dunno how to fix that one, so it's a "feature") I'm still debating whether or no to show a level up message outside battle or do it without calling attention to it.

I did alot of feature updates using Resource Hacker. I changed the extra fonts (just for the heck of it, I added them as a file that anyone can use), and changed the opening logo. It still has the EB! logo down near the bottom, but now it has my "company name" and a pretty picture. Not sure the legality of this, but I figure it's okay, so long as EnterBrain is recognized as the engine in the logo.



I also added a few status effects, and made healing largely by an attribute (robots can't heal with normal healing, because their resistance to healing is set to E). But healing is actually a double-edged sword now, because some attacks damage using the healing attribute.

Ummm, what else? Or yes, I fixed the bridges in the game. It used to be there was a simple teleport-past-the-bridge system. But lately, I changed this for most events. I even went a bit beyond the usual, making multiple layer screens with bridges crossing each other in two directions. It actually works, too.



(Under everything.)



(On top of the same bridge)



(On top of one bridge, but below another, at crossover)



(Above the crossover)

You can't get here yet though, as it's currently a town without people. Oh well.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Mar 3 2011, 07:44 AM

[bulmabriefs144]

Recent Updates:

-Made some more events, particularly a few character events.

-Made a custom ability for Nevras, the secondary character (you get it very late in the game). It's based on the enable combo, but I made it so each turn you combo produces a bigger combo, finished by a special attack.

-I also made a "custom menu" (really, just a choice menu, which I did instead for two reasons. There really weren't enough options to warrant a custom menu, and things like lag and teleport considerations when already in a tent or something made it somewhat impractical to do a full page menu).



-I also "made" (by converting several anime fanart pics into 256 color) character intro pictures for all the major characters.



(This is Ambrosia)



(And here's Aqorm, the party thief)

My latest update (not currently posted) has all the romance events done. It's a bit rushed, but it should work.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Apr 16 2011, 07:20 AM

[bulmabriefs144]

Latest update. Fixed some of the skills and other coding.

Mainly what makes this a notable update is a battle system update. Most of the characters (except two, who have a book-learning spell system that makes this difficult) now have a limit break system. It's pretty simple, the facesets change to make a meter whenever you use Attack, and when it fills up, Attack switches to Limit. Considering the game has slight balance issues in favor of magic, this sorta evens the scales.

Oh, in other news, I can't edit my submissions page, write game reviews, or post new tutorials. Some bug in my account, I type a certain amount, and suddenly I can't type anymore. (This is the second time it's done this)

[bulmabriefs144]

Game up!

I decided to split my game into its Game Plus version, and the main game. I've got a few new things working, as of this most recent update :

-Bank system. If you get equal/more than 999,999 in your main bank account, the bank automatically subtracts 999,999 from your account, putting it into a million variable placeholder. It doesn't do any complex math with this, but you can draw out million dollar bills which can be used as items to boost your current gold, or which themselves can be used as money (only in custom shop events where you buy an item).
-Game conversion system. If you try to just start up the Game Plus from the title screen, it'll tell you that you need to complete the main game first. For that matter, you need to complete it and actually qualify for GamePlus, which is tough enough but well the main game is still only at the 80% mark. If you really wanna play this game, move the set the starting party with Ambrosia and move the starting party location from Introduction to where it says Game Plus. It'll ask you to save, then transfer the file and it'll switch you to the new story.
-A cheat code system. This game has a number of special keys:

• Shift lets you jump with the Jump Boots equipped
• Numkeys activates world map (when you own one)
• Plus/Minus (seems to be numpad only) lets you turn right or left in place.
• Asterisk (numpad only, the *) is a cheatcode button, if you enter the appropriate password. Sorry, not telling.

I've got other stuff, but I just realized, the starting party position is all off on my download, so I have to reupload it.
I'm always doing this...

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jul 14 2011, 08:49 AM

[Magicbow]

Ok I played 10 minutes of this and became rather frustrated for the following reasons:
--> The Intro text about the old man scrolls through waaaaay too fast, change it so people click through once they've read it
--> The game font is horrible, letters and numbers arent fully formed so words become a blurred mess which makes all text difficult to read (some impossible) and just puts people off reading it all together
--> Everything happens way too quickly and because you cant reall read the text you end up have little idea what is happening especially as you jump to battle screens and out pretty quickly (when you interact with that random old woman at the start) . Also your character moves so fast that as soon as I ran out the castle I was pretty much instantly in the next town to the south of it which left be pretty confused.

Slow the pace of the game down a bit (including character movement speed) so it feels less rushed meaning people can understand what they're doing, otherwise people will just end up being frustrated like I was and will just stop playing. The stuff you've put up here looks promising and it would be a shame to ruin it with a few bad errors.

[bulmabriefs144]

I'll do a quick function fix.

-I'll make it wait until button press, since obviously some of you don't read alot of novels in ten minutes.
-First, look for the Font files. Follow the instructions given on the text file (Extras) on how to install these. If this doesn't work, open the RpgMaker, go to where it's got the titles and stuff, click on the system graphic thing, and make sure the fonts is set on Gothic rather than Mincho. For the most part, this will fix most of the font problems (I can't do this for you, as it's your computer, and files it does or doesn't have).
-The character does move fast. The world is also freaking huge. I'm not changing that, as it often helps to be able to outrun stuff. Also, since there are lag issues, no.

New update posted.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Jul 24 2011, 05:20 PM

[bulmabriefs144]

Game's winding down (still have a bonus game to go, though). Just one more town to finish, and treasure chests to place. I might be done by summer's end.

This post has been edited by bulmabriefs144: Aug 10 2011, 10:36 AM

[bulmabriefs144]

So much for summer's end.

I'm getting close, but keep picking up little side-projects. Stuff like redoing the experience (kinda fast), and making a bounty hunt system. I need to focus more.

[bulmabriefs144]

Done with bounty hunt system.

Working on item storage. I'm also trying to hire someone to finish a town that's really troublesome.