Mell Melange, Full Game Options

[lsam]

Mell Melange
Made with: RPGMaker VX

Foreword
It might seem like I'm springing a complete game from nowhere but I've been working on it for a while with support at another forum. The credits at the bottom say lkoh, which is my name over there.

This is my first project so I decided to do something light that that wasn't too complicated. I didn't want to jam every cool script I saw into the game so the battles are done using the default system. There's a bit of puzzle-ish qualities to the game, such as picking up items to use elsewhere. The atmosphere of the game also isn't very serious.

(Finally) put out a v1.21 that mainly fixed a few minor issues. v1.21 only has the with music one so hope you like Japanese music.

Extract to the folder of your choice.
v1.21
With RTP
http://www.mediafire.com/?anywzzyyloz

Without RTP
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzhjnj1tmhr

Please let me know what you think.

Story

[Show/Hide] Story

A young girl from a small fishing village wants to leave and see the rural place and go to the big city. In order to do so however, she needs money. It just so happens that nearby, there is a region troubled by criminals, each with a large reward for their capture. So far, no one has been able to bring any of them down so she decides she'll be the one to do so.

And why will she succeed when others have failed? Because she's the main character! Seriously, that's the justification. It won't be as easy as running up to the criminals and attacking them however. You'll need to plan and get the help of others to bring each of them down.

In total, there are 8 bosses and the goal is to take down all of them. They range from the playfully mischievous to masters of magic, summoning fearsome creatures from the dark. In the end though, will she be able to defeat all 8 of them? That depends on the player of course.

Characters

[Show/Hide] Characters

Playable

Platine
The heroine of the game. She comes from a simple fishing village and is unhappy with the life there. But in order to move to the bigger cities, a lot of G is needed so she finds work as a bounty hunter. This suits her really well since she is really tough and likes fighting. But it won't be as easy as just going up to the bounties and attacking them so she needs help your help to figure out the best method to win.

Yes, that's right, throughout 90% of the game, this is the only playable character. There will be guest members from time to time but they won't stay long.

Black Level Bounties

"Spider" Gilleray - 8000 G for capture
He's very interested in spiders and takes offense whenever people don't see the true benefit of the arachnids. Gilleray is also very good at mixing together different kinds of poisons to create his own brand. One of this concoctions act as an acid while at the same time poisoning the target.

Normally, this isn't really illegal but he tests out his poisons on regular people, because that's the best way to know the effects on intended targets.

He travels from place to place with a book of arachnids to see the various kinds of spiders in the world.


Ebine "from the Winds" - 9000 G for capture
A playful individual, she is a master of both illusion magic and wind magic. This makes it extremely difficult to pin her down.

She also likes to use her magic to play with others but her playmates usually end up in misery or despair. Her brand of playing is more along the lines of, watch the other people stumble around in her illusions since they don't know enough magic to break out. And if they should starve to death, who cares?


Calira "the Huntress" - 12000 G for capture
Her main goal is to capture the thrill of the hunt. When animals were no longer enough, she turned to people. People were targets that had all the same skills and intelligence that she had, an ultimate challenge.


"Red Claw" Tal Tal - 12500 G for capture
An escaped gladiator that knows only how to fight. Her claws have been stained red from all the blood she had shed (Hey, they rhymed!)


"Walk in the Night" Horo - 14000 G for capture
No information available but sources say not to walk alone during the night time, otherwise you might meet a strange figure on the road. This bounty sounds more like a folktale than a real person…


"Dark Wave" Seso - 15000 G for capture
A local to the Okra County, she is a powerful magic user who is obsessed with dark wave energy. A mystical force considered to be dangerous so it was outlawed. Despite that, she continues her research and the local area is suffering from corruption. Strange monsters are starting to turn up as well.


"Lightning Strike" (Real Name Unknown) - 16000 G for capture
No information available


??? - 20000 G for capture
No information available

Note: Some screenshots are from an older version

Screenshots

[Show/Hide] Screenshots

The jail's pretty empty. For now.


Who's that?


He's just lying over there, let's get him.


First bounty, Spider Gilleray!


We're under attack!


Let's go see what it is...


ESCAPE!


This is looking bad.


Ooh, it's night time. Spooky.


He's running away!


One of them is Walk in the Night Horo, but which one?


Just a house


Just another house


Robots!


The first boss

Features
-Old style system
-8+ unique and challenging bosses
-Quirky tone
-Puzzlelicious
-Nonstandard Hero
-One person party (most of the time)


Download

Extract to the folder of your choice.
I have included a version with RTP and without RTP. Please choose the one that's more convienient for you.

v1.21
With RTP
http://www.mediafire.com/?anywzzyyloz

Without RTP
http://www.mediafire.com/?yzhjnj1tmhr

[Show/Hide] Old Version

v1.2
Without random anime songs for boss battles
Version 1.2 No RTP No Music
Version 1.2 Yes RTP No Music

With random anime songs for boss battles
Version 1.2 No RTP Yes Music
Version 1.2 Yes RTP Yes Music

Let me know of any errors you happen to find.


Random hints
Buy items and use them! Platine only learns 6 skills so items are very important.

While buying items, don't be too frivolous. Enemies don't drop G so the only source of income is the rewards from the bounties. And while it may seem like a lot, some of that G will be used in plot based purchases.

On the 6 skills note, there's no need to level up too much. The last skill is learned at level 10 and the difference between stats at level 1 and 99 is only about 15-20 points, except for HP which is 600 point difference. It only takes 100 exp per level though.

Finally, there is a bit of puzzle element to this game though, so explore. If a battle seems unwinnable, you most likely need to do something first. The boss battle music will usually change when they become beatable.

Since I probably could have designed the random stuff fetching better, here are the locations for those that don't want to talk to everyone
-Dandy Lion, Third floor of Academy, the headmistress
-Dandy Lion, Second floor of Academy, right classroom, the box on the table
-Dandy Lion, Second floor of Pub, the waitress
-Honey Clover, Mayor's House, the secretary
-Honey Clover, Inn, the receptionist


Credits
Graphics
Enterbrain
Abyss Driver
Battlers from http://lud.sakura.ne.jp/vxrtp.html

Music
Enterbrain
Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
(Below is with Music Version Only)
Suppin Rock - Ogawa Mana
Pray - Tommy heavenly 6
Hero's Come Back!! - nobodyknows+
ALONES - Aqua Timez
Through the Night - Masahiko Arimachi
Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis - ALI PROJECT
Sketch Switch - Asumi Kana & Mizuhashi Kaori
& Shintani Ryoko & Yuko Goto
resonance - T.M. Revoluton
What's Up, People! - Maximum The Hormone
Kuusou Rumba Rap - Ootsuki Kenji
Katayoku no Icarus - Sakakibara Yui

Horo Puzzle
http://www.mensus.net/brain/logic.shtml

Scripts Used
Continue BGM - KCG
Battle Backgrounds - Synthesize (slightly editted by me)
Change Equip - Mithran
State Parameter Plus - Mithran
Custom Message System - Yanfly
Counter - KGC
Map Credit - Woratana

Everything Else
lkoh

This post has been edited by lsam: Jun 8 2010, 06:13 PM

[Brent Murray]

Looks like the standard, good ol' romp, VX game to me! Nothing really special that stands out to me on the outside of things, but maybe...it might be on the inside! I don't really use VX, so do I need to the default package to run it? Because I would like to give this a try! Sure, I'm busy with other things, but a quick hour, or two, might be great! ^^

[lsam]

Yeah, if you don't have the RTP for VX installed, you should get the version that includes the default package.

[Rob_Riv]

While buying items, don't be too frivolous. Enemies don't drop G so the only source of income is the rewards from the bounties. And while it may seem like a lot, some of that G will be used in plot based purchases.

On the 6 skills note, there's no need to level up too much. The last skill is learned at level 10 and the difference between stats at level 1 and 99 is only about 15-20 points, except for HP which is 600 point difference. It only takes 100 exp per level though.

Finally, there is a bit of puzzle element to this game though, so explore. If a battle seems unwinnable, you most likely need to do something first. The boss battle music will usually change when they become beatable.

Firstly, the mapping isn't that great to be honest. I feel that it needs a lot of work.

As for these three points, these seem to show poor game design. The first paragraph means that if you spend too much gold (the player doesn't know how much gold not to spend, and as you've given us the hint here, there's probably nothing in the game to suggest it either) the game becomes unwinnable.

Secondly, why have you made levelling up so irrelevant? It seems like not much effort has gone into balancing levelling up, and you've opted to make them worthless (and yet still occur after every 100 experience points).

Finally, it sounds like the player will have to restart the game a lot, as you expect them to get into multiple unwinnable battles that cannot be beaten until something else is done first.

If someone skimmed over these points and decided to play the game straight away, well, they would encounter all these faults. I hope there's some in-game mention, at least. In summary, as well as the poor mapping, being able to get into an unwinnable situation, pointless levelling up and multiple restarts is enough to deter me from trying out this game.

[lsam]

I've already made it so that if you don't have enough gold, you simply go into debt and it comes out of the reward later. In fact, one of the plot based purchases is done without enough gold just to introduce this point. Also, all unwinnable battles are escapable except for the last boss but it's pretty obvious for that one when you should go fight. I would guess the players would try to run away if they're losing badly and the option isn't greyed out. So there should never be a case where you can't continue, well, minus you running out of money to buy enough items for bosses but I feel there's enough gold to go around.

As for the levelling part, It's mainly to prevent the need to grind as well as keep bosses challenging.

This post has been edited by lsam: Dec 27 2009, 08:38 PM

[Rob_Riv]

You can keep bosses challenging whilst having levelling up. It just seems like poor design.

[Scriptless]

I like the old default RTP, it reminds me when I first had gotten RMVX. (and im still using basic RTP for one of my projects)
i'll be testing the game now.

Okay I had gotten through 40 mins of the game and I have reviewed the good and bad sides of your game.

Good sides)
Funny unique RPG, I must say it's definitely funny, and it also has a good story line.
I like the cut scenes when hunting someone.
I like the unique items you thought about.
I like the puzzles ^^

Bad sides)
Random.. stuff..? Honestly.. O.o maybe you should have a more specific item, because everyone has junk.
Mapping could use improving.
Battles are a little boring.

[Brent Murray]

Yeah, if you don't have the RTP for VX installed, you should get the version that includes the default package.

Damn, I'm too lazy to get the VX RTP for this...

[lsam]

@Brent Murray
Actually I was saying the With RTP version contains all the files needed and you won't need to get the RPGmaker VX RTP. It would be a larger download though.

@Scriptless
Thanks for your comments. Yeah, back then I was still doing things without much planning. I'd like to think of it as encouraging people to explore everywhere at least once.

Later bosses should be more engaging to beat though random encounters are pretty much always going to be easy.

@Rob Riv
I feel the current state of the bosses work fine. If you don't, I'm not going to try and change that opinion.

[johnnydangerous6...]

This game is a ton of fun. I like your ideas and simple implementation. I have to agree that the random junk fetching was very annoying, and the mapping could have been more detailed (though the latest version improves upon the last, so you are getting better!). I don't think the leveling/money/boss things are poor design choices at all... in fact, it's more like you took the time to make your battles as strategic as you could. Please continue to make games!

This post has been edited by johnnydangerous66: Jan 4 2010, 05:59 AM

[lsam]

Hey, thanks for the comments!

A lot of people have talked the mapping so it's definitely something I'll work on. Looking at some other games and tutorials has given me some ideas.

[LockeZ]

Don't listen to these clowns. Making levelling up be either very hard to do or very minimally useful is almost always a good design. It helps discourage people from grinding - which, let's face it, is not fun at all. Not to mention that the ability to grind levels and become very powerful ruins your game, because a player can substitute time instead of strategy. RPGs should require strategy, not just time.

[Rob_Riv]

@Rob Riv
I feel the current state of the bosses work fine. If you don't, I'm not going to try and change that opinion.

I didn't comment on the "current state of the bosses".

Don't listen to these clowns. Making levelling up be either very hard to do or very minimally useful is almost always a good design. It helps discourage people from grinding - which, let's face it, is not fun at all. Not to mention that the ability to grind levels and become very powerful ruins your game, because a player can substitute time instead of strategy. RPGs should require strategy, not just time.

It also makes them pointless, why include levelling when they occur every 100 exp and don't do anything. The number becomes arbitrary. As I have previously stated, you can keep bosses challenging whilst still having levelling up.

[lsam]

Well, think of it as an adventure game that just happens to contain some RPG elements. Character growth in terms of stats and abilities isn't really a large focus.

Anyway, I have nothing more to say about it but thanks for taking an interest though.

This post has been edited by lsam: Feb 5 2010, 10:56 PM