Profit Motive is a modern day, corporate themed RPG. Players assume the role of Myron Meckler, a one-time executive of a major corporation who has been betrayed by his former supervisor and expelled from the company in dishonor. The game follows Myron as he strives to regain his power and position in the business world.
Players will start out as a small business owner surviving the wiles of unruly and unethical competition and grow into a mega conglomerate vying for power against rival companies in intense corporate warfare.
Key Game Features
Over the top battles featuring a unique Turn-Based Combat System.
The ability to hire key staff and gain the support of NPCs in the world who can be "Summoned"to your aid in battle.
4 Stages of Business Development including: Lv.1) Small Business, Lv.2) Franchise, Lv.3) International Corporation, Lv.4) Mega Conglomeration.
Each level introduces new gameplay mechanics and player abilities that add depth and strategy to the battles.
Corporate themed story world with lots of interesting character side stories and open-world missions that explore multiple aspects of running a business.
High quality background and sprite art.
Screen Shots:(Some tiles and sprites shown below are early WIP and will be replaced eventually)
See More Screen Shots
Playtest Questionnaire:
If you have a few free moments to fill out the following questionnaire after plaything the game, we'd really appreciate it. We're looking to do whatever we have to in order to improve the quality of the design and the overall gameplay experience:
Special Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback so far! All your thoughtful comments and suggestions for improving the game are being taken to heart and acted upon
Version 4.0 Updates (August 14th, 2012) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what's new in this latest version:
All player suit graphics are in and now show up in battles.
Key Staff also now have different outfits that get unlocked based on leveling them up.
All placeholder character and NPC sprites have been replaced
The Profit Meter, Capital, and PP HUD visuals have been added (Yay! No more number boxes!)
A first pass has been done on all the tileart for Market Town's exterior (still not many interiors done yet...)
The dialogue for the first 3 missions of the game has been revised and edited so there are a lot less spelling errors now and better writing
A first pass of most sound effects are in.
Massive amount of Bug Fixes both graphical and technical.
And finally, a new side-quest and Key Staff character and abilities has been added. Introducing the accountant Esper!:
There are still issues with the passage settings and some areas, but nothing that should block game progression (save often!).
The next big update will come in December. We should have the location map and new interface for the battle HUD working as well as the revised intro and endings.
Bugs
Please report any bugs you find in the demo and I'll work on getting them fixed.
That's it really. The more feedback we can get at this stage the better.
Known Issues
There are quite a few bugs and polish issues that I'm aware of and will be addressing in the next few iterations of the demo. They are:
Passage settings are not set for a few swapped tilesets (i.e. Abandoned Market Town).
Some of the text in battles is placeholder and the AI is always showing you what they are thinking (which is just in there so that the battles are easier to debug during the development phase, they will eventually be removed).
Incoming Features
The Metagame
All NPCs will have Item Gifting or metagame interaction features.
Proper menu and interface will be developed so that players can track their progress across various aspects of their business.
The Openworld
More and interesting openworld events will be hooked up.
Current side missions will be completed and polished up.
The NPC Metagame will be expanded and finalized so almost every NPC has varied and interesting interactions.
Gameplay
Random and Infinite Battles will be added soon
The map will be fixed so that it works properly throughout the whole game.
All Battles will be gaining context and all of the placeholder "Attack #1", etc. will be removed. The AI will also no longer show you what they are thinking as you play, this is simply in there for debug purposes.
All of your choices in the dialogue branch will start to matter more and change the outcome of the story. You will also have better choices to make than what's currently been put in the demo.
2-Player vs mode will be added to the final version of the demo.
The Visuals
More background tiles for Market Town and all the interiors will be coming soon
More 2D character art, sprites, and animations are on the way
The whole interface will be visual and all the debug boxes will be removed.
Additional Story, Character, and World Info
Story Info
Story Development
Players start as a small business owner seeking to survive in a sea of rival business and grow to the most successful corporation in the world. They must overcome a myriad of business challenges including things like hiring staff, selling to customers, dealing with externalities, and toppling rival corporations in order to reach their revenue targets. In the end, the player will succeed at becoming the #1 mega conglomerate corporation, but at what cost....?
The story is broken up into 4 major chapters, each corresponding to one of the four business levels.
The Game World
There are 3 thematic spheres across which the player will encounter different types of challenges. The 3 spheres are: Economic, Social, and Political.
Political = Scenarios involving the larger world, governments, and political cost of Big Business.
Social = Scenarios involving people, protesters, human rights organizations, environmentalist, and the social costs of Big Business.
Economic = Scenarios concerned mainly with being the top dog on Wall Street and corp vs corp espionage, buyouts, take-overs, and mergers. These scenarios focus on the insane war for power and higher profit to ensure a glamorous lifestyle for the few.
Character Info
--Coming Soon--
Credits
Credits
I will be adding the list of people currently working on the project here along with any scripts or sprite characters used in the demo. I just need to gather all of that info together.
Story and Design
Kaz Bryce Diamond
2D Art
Awagiku (Character Portraits) Kora (Battle Background Paintings)
Animation
Aubry Mendoza
Writing and Dialogue
Mariana Sabino Kasan Wright Maia Rixis
Greyblock Background
Kasan Wright Bryce
Scripting and Eventing
Kasan Wright Rixis
Scripts
Some_Person (various script fixes and custom scripts) Modern Algebra's ATS2.0, Book Reader, and Quest Journal Soja Bird's HUD Var More credits on the way...
Sprites and Tiles
Jose Antonio Jan Halfer Mack and [Chiaki] NZ Nathan Jalen Zachy qtpi0121 Zanyzora (tilesets) Dinnerman Sprites Kaz (a few sprite edits) http://www.court-records.net PrimeOp Antifarea TSR Shiaoran gabrielusa911
I have hard time to beat that "punk" right outside of the store. Even Hire Staff sign didn't help as the attack boost is capped.
Edit: The game became bit easier once I had more moves to use.
Good to hear it managed to get easier for you. BTW, which attack boost are you referring to? The battle items or the ChargeATK move?
-Sage
I found that shop which sold Sign which I consumed to get one time bonus for my "Hire Staff" ability. However my character's maximum possible power was too weak to benefit from it during the battle.
About the game itself.
- This game seems to be almost typo free (so far what I have played.) - While AI opponents makes sometimes intentionally stupid moves, it feels that it is not totally random, which makes the enemy harder to beat. - Uppity DM battle was surprisingly easy, due the many business options on the both sides. - Periodical but rather short freezes outside of the business battles. - Interface packed his goods and left, then again it might be toggle able. To say it more clearly... It just disappeared because of the side-quest, involving Kon.
This post has been edited by Clord: Oct 24 2012, 11:23 PM
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Profit Motive: A Business Adventure (PD), Version 4.0 of the game is out!
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Feb 27 2012, 03:57 PM
