Ikode: The World of Infinity, Complete 5-10 Hour RMXP Game Options

[LostSamurai]

Introduction:
"This is the secret lake of the water deity. This is my world. I was born as the owner of this world. I do not know why I was chosen to own this world, but I am special, because my world holds a deity. I must protect this place, to prevent the water deity from ever being reached by those who wish it harm."

Storyline:
Ikode: TWOI takes place in a universe where every human being is born with their soul contained in a necklace which they wear around their neck. In Alaro, the town the main character lives in, there is a cave which reacts to the soul necklaces by creating a unique world for every soul necklace upon entering the cave.
Naturally, one wouldn't want to part with their own soul. But the main character, Atrius, begins a collection of soul necklaces when his old friend passes away and leaves his soul necklace to him. What will happen when a person enters the world of someone else's soul will soon be found out...

Characters:
Atrius: Age 30: The Main character. His soul necklace contains the water deity. Atrius is a very introverted character, and has very few friends. He spends more time in the lake shrine (his soul world) than anywhere else, and most of the rest of his time in his house.
Odaru: Age 24: The front desk keeper in Atrius's apartment building. She is in love with Atrius, but he never pays her much attention.
Lerold: Age 125 (deceased): Atrius's old friend, who passes away in the beginning of the story. His soul necklace contains a fairy who helps crops grow.
Hamemy: Age ??: The fairy who lives in Lerold's world. Not much is known about her, since only Lerold has ever met her and now he is dead.
Areniss: Age ??: The priestess in Alaro. Areniss alone knows the contents of Atrius's soul, and she acts as an advisor to Atrius.
Burlend: Age 26: Alaro's town guard. Friendly with Atrius. He is mute.
Reymi: Age 8: The Alaro shopkeeper's son. He looks up to Atrius.
Tireon: Age 40: A wandering merchant who comes to Alaro in seek of Atrius's help.

Features:
Gameplay style is Traditional RPG, however world exploration is not required, since all the areas of the game are generated from the one cave in the town. Game focuses on customization aspects, with limited resources. You may purchase weapons, armor, accessories, items, stat-ups, spells, and extra soul necklaces all from the same limited pool of money.

Version 1.2 Updates:
Fixed more "deity" vs "diety" spelling errors
Modified sidequest slightly
Fixed storyline slightly to account for sequel
Removed all unused files for smaller file size

Credits:
Scripting by Blizzard and Sandgolem and Nechigawara Sanzenin(as of v1.1)
Original Music by Bjorn Lynne, Gregor Rozman, T.J. Moir, and Michael Fonos

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Game Length: 5-10 Hours

Screenshots:





Download Game (version 1.3):
Ikode: The World of Infinity v1.3

Website:
Ikode Website

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Oct 2 2012, 02:35 PM

[obsorber]

Whoa, this looks pretty good so I think I might try this out when I get a chance.

[Knot]

Hey, I just played your game and I have to say I'm impressed. I'm not sure what it was about it but everything seemed to flow really nicely and the story was awsome. I really like how simple you made the element system, no need to scan or anything, you just new what element to use if you had it which was a nice change xD. Also the skills seemed really well balanced, they seemed to come right when you needed them and none really felt useless except Demon Hunter. It might have been because I gave it to Hamemy (awsome name btw) but it never seemed to do over 1000 damage even once she reached like lvl 30. All in all it seemed to be one of those games that you keep on playing obsessivly but you can't exactly put your finger on why.

There were a few bits where the story went kind of crazy though:

[Show/Hide] Spoiler story elements within

When the world was destroyed it seemed to happen super fast and just came out of nowhere. Maybe some more talking before hand or a longer animation would smooth it out.

Then the bit where you find out that Atrius was the water diety all along also felt like it came out of nowhere and so didn't really feel that satisfying or that big of a revelation. Maybe a bit of foreshadowing would help =P.

And finally whenever the team had to kill someone (Tieron, Dark Diety) it seemed too relaxed, I didn't mind them fighting it's just when the Dark Diety asks them to kill it and Atrius says "Okay" it feels too familial as if he's going to the shops or something. And God saying "yeah" seemed out of place =P.

Apart from those issues I found the story to be one of the best I've played. At the start there was that mysterious "soul amulet" fact making you want to explore the world and kept you intruiged until you could get into the actual story. Also the characters were awsome, one of the biggest issues I find with games are bad characters but these were fun. They seemed natural and I didn't feel like strangling any of them xD.

Graphics wise the maps were alright but a little bland and were repeated in places. The main thing though is that I didn't really notice or care because I was so wrapped in the story and levelling my characters, I would have trudged through a map of plain grass if I had to xD.

Also, I'll admit I didn't do all the optional stuff (Although I plan on going back, I only bought the casino and then got snapped in the cathedral) but are there more weapons that do elemental damage or have status effects? All I found was the angel sword and the staffs I could buy from the ghosts in the castle.

And one last question, I've reached Glonawe and I'm not sure what to do, is there further to go or anything else to do?
Oh and in the castle with the last boss, you can leave through the door on the second floor that you came through on your second visit to the castle. Once there you go back to the cave and I'm not sure if you can get back to the castle after that?

Anyways, awsome game so keep it up! ^^

[LostSamurai]

Wow... Thank you very much! I never expected to get such a good review of my game

You happen to have pointed out the parts of the storyline where I most obviously floundered, so i'm not so surprised. It was EXTREMELY hard to keep the storyline flowing like I made it, and when the complexity goes that far, sometimes it's hard to tie in everything together... I did the best I could and hope it was satisfying.

The weapons and armors are pretty much everything that you see there. The bonus souls all have some bonus equipment (casino, etc. all have some equipment prizes), but there's no status or elemental weapons. If you feel lacking your ability to deal statuses, you can always buy more spells from the cameo girl in the spell shop

I'm not really sure about those bugs, I'll check when I get the chance...

And there's more to do in Glonawe and beyond, but it's not necessary. The game itself has already ended, but that area of the game has some storyline enders and if you travel the full world (it's relatively linear) you can fight one final boss who is probably harder than all the others combined. It's not necessary, as the future of the characters will be covered in the sequel, but that world gives you a different perspective that will not be revisited. (Kinda like the Evangeleon series, the ending was mad confusing so they released a movie which replaced the last 3 episodes as a new ending)

I'm so glad you enjoyed the game I'll let you know when my other games are done

[Knot]

About the weapons, it wasn't that I felt I wanted to deal more conditions it's just that it seemed like that feature would be there =P. Like whenever you go to the equip menu the weapons have "elemental attack" and "status attack" in green. And considering you said that there arn't any status/elemental weapons maybe you should go back and check Celestius because before you equip it it seems to suggest that it does light damage and inflicts blind. So that's kind of what I was going by when I asked about the status and elements, there's also a man in the church at the start who says something about infusing the diety's into weapon making but I suppose that could be read as merely spiritual and not a practical application :x.

Oh and what I forgot about in the last post is to ask about that puzzle in the Angel's Soul where it's black and you have to walk through in the right way or youll be teleported back out the door xD. I still have no idea how I got through it, I think it had something to do with the carpet on the floor, but I only managed to get through by sheer stubborness xD. So yeh, I don't know what you could do but maybe add the solution somewhere for those people who arn't as stubborn as me :x. But I did love the idea of the puzzle even if I still don't understand how I got through it (I can replicate my results aswell and the ammount of footsteps I took makes no sense to me.)

But yeh I'd love to hear when you get the next game out! Until then I'll try to figure out where to go from Glonawe xD.

P.S Cathedral music was awsome.

[LostSamurai]

Hmm... You have a point. I kinda forgot about putting the statuses in Celestius (and a couple of other hidden swords have status and elemental attacks too). The elemental wands also have elemental damage. It's kinda a careless error on my part. I explained it but never really implemented it that much, there's only a handful of weapons that have elemental or status attacks. If I release a editied version of the game I might put some more in.

I PMed you about the Angel dark puzzle.

My games are all relatively close to completion, but since I finished this one, I haven't been working on them. I plan on resuming soon:

Ikode 2 was made long before Ikode 1 for RM2k3. I am currently updating the game because a lot of character names and stories have changed. I have not decided if I'm going to actually update the game for 2k3 or remake it in XP. My biggest concern is the maps, because both 2 and 3 take place in the same world as 1, and I figure that will get very boring very quickly. The game will look much different in 2k3.

Ikode 3 was also made before Ikode 1, for XP, and is a complete game, taking place unrelated to the original story but in the same universe. However, the maps SUCKED. I'm updating them. The game itself is horror/mystery based, with an even more gripping storyline than 1 IMO. This will probably be released first.

And I'm also working on a joke RPG called the Two Moons based around 4th Wall breach. It's a remake of the very first full-length (30 minute) RPG I made when I was 13 (I'm 21 now), and it retains and references most of the gaping plot-holes from the original. You might enjoy it, it's really dumb and only about an hour long.

If you'd like, I'll PM you specifically when I finish one of them

The Cathedral music is a MIDI I made based on the song Cathedral by doom metal band Daylight Dies. I have a pretty decent chunk of original music in the game if you check the songs folder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8RcZvbYLgk 1:32 may seem very familiar

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 18 2010, 10:28 AM

[obsorber]

Hey it's obsorber. I just wanted to say I played your game by the way. And here are my thoughts about it although you might find them a bit harsh:

MAPPING: It terms of your maps, I wouldn't give it a high score because I felt that some of them had mistakes on them. They generally weren't very detailed either and some of them looked like they were rushed a bit. Although I did feel that many of your maps weren't so bad and quite decent to a certain extent. Your maps were good enough to keep the player playing. 5/10

PLOT AND STORY: Ok, your plot is quite different to most games I suppose. This is good because it doesn't follow the general rule of rpg plots making it different although I felt bored of your story in about 10 minutes of gameplay. For me, it didn't feel so enjoyable because it was as if the whole plot was explained practically straight away and the hero, atrius knew all about the cave and knecklaces which made it to plain. Maybe it may have been more interesting if the hero learnt about the cave and the knecklaces. I didn't play for more than 2 hours and the plot was very linear from what I've seen. It seems you need to do quests for people in the town you are in and return to cave every time. 5/10

GAMEPLAY: Ok, the gameplay wasn't crap but it wasn't good either. Like I said, you have to keep returning to the same cave although the cave changes when you put a different knecklace on for different quests. Battles weren't too boring but I was expecting more of a diversity in monsters seeing as the game is meant to be a good 5-10 hours not a demo. I liked that you could buy skills instead of just learning all of them. You couldn't leave town because there was a random sign there there which was a bit weird. Maybe you could make up that there is storm or something ahead blocking you from proceeding further but I hated that idea. What I really liked about your gameplay was the difficulty. Items and Equipments weren't so cheap and weren't incredibly expensive. You made monsters simple at the start which increased in difficulty due to progression which will make the game friendly to all rpg players and not just newbs or pros so Kudos. 6/10

MUSIC: This was the best part of the game. I liked the music althought I feel it could have been used better if you had interesting scenes and what not although you implemented them well in your maps. 7/10

OVERALL: From what I played, your game is quite a simple rpg game which doesn't leave much to be admired. I felt the story was quite dull or poorly introduced at the start. The gameplay wasn't good or bad but possibly too simple maybe you could try adding some extra scripts or other things you could do. Some of the mapping could be improved although I suppose it's not bad enough to completely put people off. And the music was quite well used in your maps. 5/10

I would reccomend playing this game to get some nice ideas. This game leaves a lot to be admired and could possibly be a lot better if it was revamped. That saying, I only managed to play 2 hours of this game before I got bored but I might continue it on a later time in the future and repost my review.

Anyways good job creating Ikode. I'm glad I played it and if gave me a few ideas, the game was much different to most game you find in rmxp.

[LostSamurai]

I appreciate your review, but I don't think it's very fair. I don't think a game can be accurately reviewed based solely on the introduction.

The biggest thing that stands out is your comment on how it's poorly introduced at the start, and that it has a dull beginning story. I'll keep that in mind, since obviously the first part of the game wasn't enticing enough if you gave up before you got to the real story.

I felt bored of your story in about 10 minutes of gameplay. For me, it didn't feel so enjoyable because it was as if the whole plot was explained practically straight away and the hero, atrius knew all about the cave and knecklaces which made it to plain

That's not even considered the plot. Atrius is just explaining the backstory.

I liked the music althought I feel it could have been used better if you had interesting scenes and what not

I thought I did have some interesting scenes once the "bad guys" show up...

It seems you need to do quests for people in the town you are in and return to cave every time.

This is not true at all. My storyline is far from being that generic. Just how far did you get in the game before you gave up?

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 26 2010, 12:20 PM

[obsorber]

Your right, maybe it isn't fair and your game shouldn't be judged fully for just the intro. But I found it a little bit boring as if I had no specific reason to continue the plot. Like I said, I only played for 2 hours so I didn't really get that far enough. From what I played, you had to return to the church to do quests for people. My review might be a bit harsh though. Even so, your game needs some improvement from what I've played so far but if I get any further and complete it in the future, like I said I will repost another review.

Also, compared to many people I'm quite lenient when it comes to reviewing peoples games so to some people you may get worse critisims.

I thought I'd just give you some feedback so you could improve it and fix a few map errors or possibly remake some of the scenes and whatever needs doing...

[LostSamurai]

But I found it a little bit boring as if I had no specific reason to continue the plot. Like I said, I only played for 2 hours so I didn't really get that far enough. From what I played, you had to return to the church to do quests for people.

So in other words, you went to the dead man's forest, came back, talked to the wandering merchant and got his wife's soul necklace, and had to rid her world of the undead, and that's when you gave up. Is that about right?

You only return to the church to do a quest for someone ONCE. At that point you haven't even GOTTEN to the actual plot yet. If you finished the undead quest, you would have gotten to the first big mystery, and at that point you would have a reason to continue the story.

You really shouldn't be giving my game a full game review if you have no idea what's going on in the story. I highly doubt that you got 2 hours of game time, considering the testers got to that point in about 20-30 minutes. I pride my games in having very deep, intricate PLOTS over anything else. The storyline is supposed to be so gripping that you don't want to put down the game, despite the fact that the gameplay is very basic. You've very much offended me by playing to the point you did and telling me that the game is boring because there's no depth to the plot.

Also, compared to many people I'm quite lenient when it comes to reviewing peoples games so to some people you may get worse critisims.

If they made their review at the same point in the game that you did, I would dismiss them just as much. Playing the intro to a full-length game and writing a bad review is a really shitty thing to do to someone. How would you like it if someone did that to your game?

If you finished my game and then told me it was the worst game you've ever played for the following reasons, I'd thank you for your opinion and say that I was sorry you didn't enjoy it.

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 27 2010, 09:18 AM

[obsorber]

Ok now you are seriously starting to piss me off. How old are you because you sound about 5 years old. I definately will not come back to re-reviewing the game. Didn't you hear me the first time that I said I only played game for about 2 hours and got bored. I even stated that when I come back to it and play more that I would do another review. The reason it took me 2 hours to get undead skeleton defeated was because I wandered the other place leveling up because I felt I wasn't strong enough and needed to be stronger before proceeding further. That said after I beat the skeleton I didn't know what to do anymore to get any further so I got a little bit fed up. I saved the game so I could return to it at a later time.

I'm the type of person who likes to take his time while playing through games. Plus it also takes me a while to figure things out if the narrator doesn't properly explain where I have to head next etz so if your testers did it so quick then give them a platinum medal for it kiddo but it still isn't gonna change my way and style of playing rpp games.

You've seriously offended me because I spent my personal time playing someone elses game to give some feedback so he could make improvements. Now if you don't want to take some of the critisms I made to hand, that is your problem not mine. The truth is, your game needs a lot of work, it's not rubbish but it's still far from perfect. I reccomend playing some rpg maker games such as, Prophecy of the Demon Kingdom, Legionwood, Midnight, Vacant Sky, Beloved Rapture and Mana Conquest. By playing these games, you will see how well polished they are because these are games which I would give a high score in a review.

Also, I'm not putting down your game, I stated that your game could be alot better if it was revamped. I'm not the best when it comes to making rpgmaker games either. I'm not the best at mapping either but yours needs improvements because of mistakes and possibly less time on detailing them. Some of your maps were ok though. Like I said, you didn't make the introduction so interesting at the start which puts many people like myself off completely. I didn't liike the frontal battlesystem either and it could have been better if you used scripts.

I will not continue to play your game because so far I'm not enjoying it anyway and I believe you have way too much high expectations of it. Plus, you have also offended me, a person who took personal time to play your game and give feedback. You are also getting annoyed like a child because I didn't enjoy it and stating negetave points I already pointed out in the review such as not playing the whole game.

Lastly, I've been given a harsh review once but I would take the critisims if they were good ones. Just because so far everyone who has tried your game and liked it up until now doesn't mean everyone else will continue to.

[LostSamurai]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the game enough to continue it. I assure you that if you did play through further, your opinion would have changed about its quality.

All I was trying to say was that I didn't think you should be giving any game a full review if you've only played a small part of it. It isn't fair to the game.

If you gave the game a bad review after playing the whole game, I would have been happy.

Or if you commented on how you lost interest and couldn't make it through the game, I would have been slightly less happy.

But you went through not even 10% of the game and then gave a review with a score and everything. That's not just giving constructive criticism. I do appreciate the criticism! Good and bad have all been noted and if I ever get back into RPG making, I will enhance the game. But I don't appreciate my whole game being rated based on the first 10%. If you planned on continuing the game and re-reviewing it, why did you post the first review?

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 27 2010, 02:48 PM

[obsorber]

I understand what you mean. One of the reasons why I posted a review without playing the whole game is because sometimes I forget to play the whole game once I save. I like to play many new rpg maker games and give them feedback at same time with making my own project. I was planning to finish your game and then re-review it. Thats one of the reasons why I stated I would re-review it and that my review covers only the first 2 hours of play or rather 30mins according to you.

I apologise if I offended you because I didn't review the whole game but one thing you know that is clear is the fact that I still think the introduction could have been introduced better. Intro's to games are important because many players give up or get bored of amateurr games if it isn't giving them that buzz of excitment.

And before you get offended agan, by "amateur" I mean games made by people who aren't proffesional developers using programs and tools and utilities like rpg maker.

[LostSamurai]

I'm sorry that I snapped at you.

I have taken it into heavy consideration that the intro to a game needs to be very exciting. If not for this game, then at least for future games that I make.

The reason why I was frustrated is that a lot of the other things you mentioned in the review only apply to the beginning, and so it doesn't accurately portray the rest of the game. Like seriously five more minutes difference. When you complete the undead quest, the game really begins lol.

And yeah, I'm an amateur at it I know. I'm just some college kid who makes these games in class and at home instead of doing my homework lol. I've been making shitty games since I was in 8th grade because it's fun for me. Is this whole community made of amateur game creators, or are there actually professionals among us?

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 28 2010, 08:12 AM

[Rob_Riv]

Try and keep it calm and friendly.

Although you seem to have worked it out between you, I would remind obsorber, that he was essentially flaming, which he has been warned for before.

LostSamurai, so it takes around 30 minutes for the game to kick in? I hope to try it out soon.

[LostSamurai]

I have had several opinions about the "interest level" of the beginning of the game.

Obsorber was the most to the point about how the intro is not very interesting, and one of my anonymous testers said it "gets better later on in the game." So yes, you could say it kicks in in about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your speed. (time is relative though. Let's say it kicks in after the second mini-quest)

However Knot said:

"At the start there was that mysterious "soul amulet" fact making you want to explore the world and kept you intruiged until you could get into the actual story."

Most of my testers shared similar enthusiasm. If you enjoy the idea of a new system of creating worlds, exploring the backstory, which is essentially what the beginning is about, should be very enticing. Just when you start getting used to it, the plot of the game hits you full force.

After that, ironically, I've had more comments about how the game's story moves too FAST haha. And either way, I assure you that the game is at the very least worth trying.

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 28 2010, 09:21 AM

[obsorber]

LostSamurai, I think you've gotten the idea that I think your game is rubbish. I don't think such a thing otherwise I wouldn't have spent time playing it. I only feel that there are many improvements which need to be made to make your game one of the very best. One improvement would be trying to make the introduction more exciting. I enjoyed your game and as I stated before, one of the reasons I liked it was because it was very different compared to many games I've played in rpg maker so kudos on that part.

[Rob_Riv]

The game wouldn't load for me, I went into game.ini and changed "Library=RGSS100J.dll" to "Library=RGSS102e.dll", seems to work now.

A few things I've noticed so far...In the shadow of the top left building, you can walk over the stacks of logs. I noticed things like, where you live, the doors you can see all have names next to them, but the doors you can't see have no names, which doesn't make much sense. Sayenth's (in the weapon shop) text is cut off. The word 'deity' is often spelt incorrectly. I viewed the cutscene with the carriage from below, and so I seemed to just appear at the top, it made no sense.

[wildwind]

Hi,
first of all - I like your game. But I stuck at the Angel dark puzzle. I've tried a lot of things, to solve this puzzle, but I'm to stupid for this

[LostSamurai]

To Obsorber:
Yeah, I was pretty much under that impression. I figured you were trying to put it nicely. I'm glad to know that you think otherwise.

To Rob_Riv:
As it's pretty obvious, I'm kinda careless. I'm making note of all the small glitches and they will all be fixed eventually. The new version also won't requre the RGSS library change. I was using a different version when I uploaded the game.

To Wildwind:
PM me with what you're having trouble with and I'll help you

This post has been edited by LostSamurai: Mar 29 2010, 10:51 AM