Courier (PS), Construct 2 RPG Options

[C-7]

Courier is an RPG made with Construct 2 that lets you explore and interact with a large fantasy world. But you're not the sword-swinging hero, and you're not the mystic sorcerer. You're the peaceful Courier, making deliveries and helping all in the land. You'll traverse many towns, locales, landscapes, dungeons, caves, and much more delivering items for the characters in the game world. Along the way, you'll help them in their daily lives, influence their decisions, and unravel a plot to bind the Kingdom and cripple its outreach. This all takes place in a dynamic, ever-changing, ever-expanding world that always has new things to discover and new places to go.

There are two main modes of play in Courier. The first is Story Mode, where you'll deliver items, visit places around the world, solve environmental puzzles, traverse dungeons, and unlock the secrets of a sinister plot hidden within. Your decisions, along with the passing of time, will change the world and what its inhabitants do. Secrets hidden in dungeons will open new paths in the outside world, solving environmental puzzles can gain you access to whole new areas, and the main quest deliveries will help you delve deeper into a secret evil binding the Kingdom.

The second mode of play is Route Mode, where you'll try to beat your best time making deliveries to everyone in a town. You'll have to find your best route through these large environments to reach every mailbox with the most efficiency and the best time. But don't miss anyone--there are steep time penalties for missing a delivery! Compete against others' times and climb the leaderboards, or share your times with your friends to see if they can beat you. There will be a delivery route available in every major town so you'll always be gaining access to even more levels while you're playing the Story Mode.

By the way, you can play as either a male or a female.

You start the game making your deliveries in a forest town, but the entrance to the town has been blocked off by a rockslide. Once it is cleared and you can get out to explore the rest of the world, you'll discover many similar events all around. Bridges have been knocked out, town entrances have been blocked, lifts have been shut down, and travel routes have been disrupted. Someone or something wants to hold back communication throughout the Kingdom, and it can't be for a good reason. Uncovering these paths lets you gain access to more deliveries to build up your career, and open communication can slowly be restored. But there still must be a sinister plot underlying these events, and that is your task to uncover.

Courier's entire design is based around the type of gameplay possible in a browser with HTML5. Two big issues exist with standalone applications: downloading and installing is a barrier to players, and players may not always be playing the must up-to-date version. HTML5 browser games can fix this, and in a far more efficient way than Flash could before it. You can log in anywhere and pick up where you left off (save data is stored off-site with your account), but you'll always be playing the most up-to-date version every time you log on. This means that the world can constantly change and be updated, and everyone will be able to share that experience. So events in-game could be independent of in-game triggers. NPCs can pack up shop and move elsewhere. Construction crews can build new bridges. New discoveries can constantly be made, and NPCs just might not be tied to the same boring dialogue every time you speak to them.

I plan on all in-game changes being reflected in the game world. For instance, before a new path opens up, you can see crews working on clearing a rockslide. NPCs or signs might mention new things to come or rumors they've heard. And then, you'll log in one day to find new content or places to explore. This also means that the game world can be ever-growing. At the start, the first town will be available to play--no need to wait. Once the surrounding areas are developed, the game world can open up and change around you, and this process can constantly continue. It doesn't have to get stale, and you can avoid the barrier created by client-based MMOs.

Being web-based means you can share your scores, findings, or even screenshots of things you've found with your friends and the world. Your single-player experience doesn't have to be a solitary one. A game about communication ought to encourage it! There will also be in-app purchases available for people who want to enhance their play experience, expand their abilities, or, in the future, change costumes. I also fully intend to have user-submitted costumes available for purchase so the users could make a benefit from the game, too. There is no need for greedy begging for money, and the entire story can be played out for free. That means no obnoxious flashing screens begging you to buy something. Treating your players with respect goes a long way. But bonus content and add-ons are available for people who want to boost their abilities.

Being web-based allows for some good opportunities for other games and teams. In-game billboards in non-annoying locations (but highly visible!) will allow a greater link with the community around. It can also be a very effective way for other games to reach discoverability with a targeted audience. Billboards will not rotate. So you can rent it for a month, and EVERY user will see your ad there, and can click on it to see your site. But, since they're built into the game world and not filled with flashing banners about unrelated content, users will be more likely to be interested in what is presented. Treating your players with respect goes a long way. And this can be a very helpful opportunity for other game developers as well as for the progress of the game.

I plan on fully supporting touch-based input, mouse+keyboard controls, and gamepad controls so everyone can play how they'd like, where they'd like. This is all wrapped up in an efficiently-built, visually-appealing world with high-level professional music.

Look for more news in the coming weeks!
All resources are created from scratch by me.

This post has been edited by C-7: Jan 25 2013, 09:34 PM

[udivision]

This sounds incredibly ambitious. I've used Construct, and I can't imagine the work you've put into your game for those kind of features, so it's really impressive. I hope it all works out.

[Dark Kyu]

This is actually a unique concept for a game, especially taking place in a fantasy world. I never thought something like this. Ambitious, but good.

[C-7]

Thank you for the comments! I've been working with Construct for quite some time, so it moves along quicker for me than it did a few years ago :-P I'm also building everything out of a lot of reusable resources, so it'll get faster and faster the further into development it goes. That entire town is built, and it has four medium-medium large maps with multiple buildings, etc and all of the graphics come to something like 2.7 MB thus far. That also includes all UI elements and the sprite work for the main character.

But the beauty of a modular design like this is that I don't need to have the entire game completed from start to finish before people can start enjoying it. Really, the first town needs to be fully completed with all features. That would give enough play for build enough of the overworld and the next town, then repeat the process. Adding content to previous segments will also help players out a lot and give them something fresh. How often do starting towns become boring and you never go back? Why?

[Dark Kyu]

I guess not, as long as there's a good replay value.

Question, are you planning to make unlockables in this game?

[C-7]

I guess not, as long as there's a good replay value.

Question, are you planning to make unlockables in this game?

Along with unlockable areas, you can unlock additional storage spaces for deliveries (up to four at a time, you start with one), boots to make you run faster, an increased range for you blink ability (used to traverse the overworld faster, but has a long cooldown), and shortcuts. Eventually, you'll also be able to unlock costumes or buy user-made ones (later, players will be able to sell costumes they've created).

Some of this stuff is more long-term and will help keep the game fresh in the longer-term, and some of it works right now. Building the world, its inhabitants, and their quests are the big focus right now. Once the first town is complete, the game will be available to start playing while I build the next town and overworld area (which will be full-size--no chibi-style overworld).

Thank you for the comments and question!

[udivision]

How are you dealing with sprite's having different Z values?
In RPG Maker, a sprite's Z depends on their Y coordinate, but Construct 2 doesn't have a way to set an objects Z other than Move to Top or Move to Bottom. Do your sprites not overlap (like VX/Ace) or are they like XP/2k/3?

[C-7]

How are you dealing with sprite's having different Z values?
In RPG Maker, a sprite's Z depends on their Y coordinate, but Construct 2 doesn't have a way to set an objects Z other than Move to Top or Move to Bottom. Do your sprites not overlap (like VX/Ace) or are they like XP/2k/3?

Someone made a plugin for C2 that does just that: it does Z ordering by Y position. You can do a bit more with it than that, but it solves that issue. You can also do it with a for each loop, but that method would use families--and you can't mix sprites and tiled backgrounds in a family.

[udivision]

How are you dealing with sprite's having different Z values?
In RPG Maker, a sprite's Z depends on their Y coordinate, but Construct 2 doesn't have a way to set an objects Z other than Move to Top or Move to Bottom. Do your sprites not overlap (like VX/Ace) or are they like XP/2k/3?

Someone made a plugin for C2 that does just that: it does Z ordering by Y position. You can do a bit more with it than that, but it solves that issue. You can also do it with a for each loop, but that method would use families--and you can't mix sprites and tiled backgrounds in a family.

Oh neat, could you point me in the direction of such a plugin?
I'm guessing there's some sort of multiplayer plugin too...

Anyhoo, the constant expansion sounds really cool. Is it just you working on the game?

[C-7]

How are you dealing with sprite's having different Z values?
In RPG Maker, a sprite's Z depends on their Y coordinate, but Construct 2 doesn't have a way to set an objects Z other than Move to Top or Move to Bottom. Do your sprites not overlap (like VX/Ace) or are they like XP/2k/3?

Someone made a plugin for C2 that does just that: it does Z ordering by Y position. You can do a bit more with it than that, but it solves that issue. You can also do it with a for each loop, but that method would use families--and you can't mix sprites and tiled backgrounds in a family.

Oh neat, could you point me in the direction of such a plugin?
I'm guessing there's some sort of multiplayer plugin too...

Anyhoo, the constant expansion sounds really cool. Is it just you working on the game?

Sure! You can find it here: http://cloud.github.com/downloads/rexrainb.../rex_zSorter.7z (from this thread where rexrainbow modified the op's: http://www.scirra.com/forum/plugin-isometr...6247_page1.html )

It's mostly me. A friend of mine is drawing a few of the objects around--mostly interior items, but mostly me.

Speaking of which, here's a look at inside one of the houses. Everything is constantly being updated, so it will only look better, but it gives a good idea!

Walls fade out when you walk behind them, btw.

This post has been edited by C-7: Feb 17 2013, 08:55 PM

[Scriptless]

This is an awesome project. You're going somewhere where most games on this forum haven't.
A nice calm atmosphere is present, and the idea of playing as a courier, is appealing somehow. I like the idea of things changing, It reminds me of games like Harvest Moon & Animal Crossing, in my personal opinion: Gems. Great games, and this project reminds me of them. I'm looking forward to further development, awesome job.

I'm also impressed with the organization in terms of this project, I think this is the first time I've seen a RPG game on this forum, on github.

This post has been edited by Scriptless: Feb 18 2013, 06:40 AM

[C-7]

Here's a screenshot from the newly-created title screen:



And, of course, it's all fully animated.

[Dark Kyu]

Wow... Just, wow. The title screen looks really neat and it fits nicely with the game's theme.
Good job

[Clord]

It is hard to tell if the style is fitting. As of, if actual characters will make it look bad etc. Aesthetics like that. Then again there is no rule to make every character anime like is there?

This post has been edited by Clord: Mar 13 2013, 12:58 PM

[C-7]

It is hard to tell if the style is fitting. As of, if actual characters will make it look bad etc. Aesthetics like that. Then again there is no rule to make every character anime like is there?

If you mean RPGmaker or 16-bit-like characters, I wouldn't dream of it. Nothing else in the game is visually design that way, the characters are following suit. They'll be a little bit anime-like, but not anime-like how most people make RPG characters. They're not superdeformed (though still deformed a little), and they're of the same semi-pale with increased vibrancy color palette. This week's big task is to get all of the music and sound effects ready to go. Characters and NPC's will start appearing next week. Their coding is done, just adding their visuals.

[C-7]

Here's a quick status update showing NPC's in-game:





I have about 25 in so far, all are fully animated and unique.

[C-7]

Here's the inside of the Inn (first floor). I'll populate it with some NPC's, but I'm just showing the map for now.

[Dark Kyu]

Wow, I have to say, the screenshots look awesome. Really nice, I must say.

I really hope to see more screenshots soon. Out of curiosity, are you planning to release a demo for this game?

[C-7]

Wow, I have to say, the screenshots look awesome. Really nice, I must say.

I really hope to see more screenshots soon. Out of curiosity, are you planning to release a demo for this game?

You won't need a demo, the game is free. There are optional microtransactions if you so choose, but the game is free--and will be from start to finish. In-game purchases and advertising are how I plan to support the game.


Also, on a side note, I got posting screenshots to facebook and twitter working tonight!

[Dark Kyu]

Oh, I see. That's great to hear.

Keep up the good work!