Controls
Z: Confirm
X: Cancel/Menu
Shift: Hold to run
Alt+Enter: Press for full screen.




Classika is set in a medieval, swords and sorcery time frame. While magic is known in the world, it is not a common ability. Those blessed with the capability to perform magic are usually offspring of previous magic users. There are two forms of magic; Sacred and Elemental. Sacred magic has the ability to heal allies as well as inflict punishment on enemies. Elemental magic is a bit more potent in the offensive area than Sacred is, but it also has the ability to effect weapons, armor, minds, and bodies to directly improve or impair abilities. There are 3 major kingdoms in the world of Classika, though Leah and Ethan's story take place in the Kingdom of Atalaria.

The game begins inside of Wollen, Leah and Ethan's home town, where they are requested to go into the field to retrieve some ingredients for the local alchemist.


























Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated. If you would like to make use of any of the artwork or sprites we have implemented, send us a PM and we will provide them directly to you. Just please credit us somewhere as we try to credit others for what we have used or edited.








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I'm playing Classika right now. I haven't finished 3 hours Demo yet, still, I will try to complete it as soon as I can. In my opinion, Classika is quite good. There is just one problem. Maps in Classika look very decent, doesn't have any special and I can say it looks boring to continue the game more. As you can see, there are lots of RPGVX projects outside there that have pretty maps. If you want to get some attention, you have to improve the quality of maps in the project. That will help a lot. You don't need to make your maps look beautiful as others, you just need some improvement, add some shiny effects like example.

I haven't found any errors or bugs yet. Well, the monsters are a bit strong for new comers- who are not good with RPG- games.

Finally, just only my thought, I think you need to change the font of Classika. Because the font you use now doesn't look any interesting, so I guess you should choose another "good-looking" font...

Thank you for the compliments. I'm very happy that you enjoyed your experience with the game and took the time to post your opinion of the game here.

Yes, the basic RTP Tileset does leave something to be desired. A lot of people look at the default tileset and find it ugly in favor of either Mack's or parallaxing. Personally, I believe the basic Tileset can be attractive when used correctly. As for the adding some shineyness to the maps I'll have to decline for now. The games setting and mood is a bit dark, and since all of my enemies are events that you can directly encounter I need to be careful with event management to avoid lag. Also, as opposed to the theme of adventure and discovery, Classika needs to have a feel of traveling for the sake of achieving a goal.

I am almost finished with the second demo which will dive head first into this aspect of Classika, and I do not want to ruin anything for those that wish to play.

As for the font, we tried out several other fonts but came to the same conclusion about the mood it set. I'm very sorry that you didn't find the look of it very appealing though. All I can hope is that the story telling and gameplay made it manageable.

Once again, thanks a lot for playing the game. Even if you do not continue to follow Classika it's very much appreciated to know that people are seeing and playing the project you worked so hard on.

Ok I tested this a few days ago but I'm commenting now.

So basically what happened (if the demo hasn't been updated yet) was I spammed the spell Fire Wall Test (sounds like it's not supposed to be there) and one hit killed every monster in one turn.

After 20 or so of those fights, I got sick of spamming the spell and gave up because I got lost.

All I'm saying is, that spell probably shouldn't be there or at least changed.

Oh, I'm sorry. I think I may have accidentally linked my backup of the game.

No, the firewall test is not meant to be in the game. I'll look into that now and make the necessary changes. I was using that spell and a few others to see how directional things worked from both a player and enemy perspective in the YANFLY Battle Engine.

I feel pretty awful for wasting your time like that.

Edit: No, I linked the correct version. I just missed that somehow. I'm in the process of uploading a version that does not include the broken spell of easy mode power leveling It should be updated within 10 minutes from the edit time on this post.

As for you getting lost, I'm very sorry to hear that. Hopefully you came across some treasures while you were inadvertently exploring. The mushroom grove is in the North-Eastern portion of the forest. There is an event that plays when you enter the correct map for the first time where Ethan will point out that you are nearby.

Even though it sounds like you did not have an optimal first impression, I still thank you for taking the time to download and try the game.

Edit #2: And the new download has been updated. Thanks for pointing this out to me.

Oh I didn't mean to make it sound like it was a waste of my time, I really enjoyed the game and all, it's just that I was making it easy by using that spell, I don't mind downloading it again and retrying it.

You're too kind. You were actually very polite and to the point. I never thought for a second that you felt you were wasting your time, it was more of a scenario where I felt that a good first impression was slightly tarnished because of my negligence. So, I apologized for not having my best foot forward.

As for whether or not you wish to download the updated version of Classika, I leave that ball in your court. I'll admit that the spell is broken, and will allow for easy progression through battles. However, Classika isn't about the battle system. It's about the story. It isn't a title that will leap off at a frantic pace either. So, this demo doesn't even fully step into the true story, but does lay a lot of the groundwork that will be necessary for me to build a great story on.

Thanks so much for playing. <3

Hallo Zortik!

I want to emphasize that I haven't yet finished the demo (more details below)

My overall impression of Classika is that it's a good game. To make this easier to read I'll dissect it into some parts:

Story & Setting

The first thing I noticed when I started was the fact that I got thrown right into the world of Classika. There was no direct setup or background story explained. Obviously a "setup" isn't required in the start of every game. The world can be explained by various events happening and or NPCs talking about the world. This would gradually let the player know what's so special about this planet/world/land.
I didn't get a sense of where I was (except for the town names) or what kind of state the world was in.

The actual plot itself is very down-to-earth and the writing feels solid. You did a good job of starting off with some simple task and then further raising the tension when the event in the mountains happened. The story so far feels original and creative.

Characters & Dialogue

Your characters are portrayed pretty well and they definately felt believeable. Personally I prefer older main characters, but that's just my personal preference. The dialogues are well written and I don't think I found a single spelling- or grammar mistake. To me that's a very good thing as it didn't distract the attention from what was being said because I was looking for errors. I definately liked the quirky humour and the discussion about the green hornet had me laughing.

Something I found interesting was the fact that you seemed to focus more of the spotlight on Ethan rather than Leah.

Some examples:
- You explained about Ethan's past and about his late parents.
- Ethan had these moments of inner dialogue. We got to read about what was on his mind more often than Leah.

This almost made it feel like Ethan was the main character, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.


Combat

I really, really liked the way your combat system worked and looked. Enemies on-screen felt so much nicer than random encounters. The fact that I could explore freely without having to worry about taking too many steps felt like a relief. The interface in the Battle-sequence looked very stylish and clean.

The actual difficulty on the encounters was pretty easy. To me, the cost on heal spells felt a bit high. Most of the time I found myself just using normal attacks and saving the SP for heals. The fact that characters got fully restored upon leveling up helped a lot, but this also meant that I never had to use any potions or salves.

I must've done something wrong though, because I was slaying monsters like a breeze and then I met the Chimaera and got my ass handed to me and I couldn't beat it (this is where I'm currently at in the demo).

Environments & Ambience

There were some parts where I thought the mapping could be improved (see examples in misc), but overall you're using the RTP pretty good. I do like your style of mapping it's not too simple but not too clutter-ish. I got the impression that the world of Classika was a pretty peaceful place. I guess if you were to add something, It'd be some different tints and some fogs very opaque fog somewhere, but that's if I'm gonna nitpicky.

It's hard to comment on the music itself as it's only RTP music (I think), but you used it well and the music didn't feel out of place anywhere.

Miscellaneous

In this spoilered image there's a few misc things that isn't super important but I thought I could bring them up anyways.


Some random stats:
I'm currently at the Chimaera.
I've taken 8200 steps.
I have 1528 Gold
Playtime: 2:51:10
Leah is level 10
Ethan is level 10
Vance is level 9



TL;DR - Classika is a game that is far above average, it's very enjoyable and has some quirky humour. It has a few minor flaws though.

I'll be following the development of your project and also adding your support bar in my signature.

/Regards,
st3rn

Thanks for the very in depth and constructive review, St3rnb0rn!

I've taken a lot of your suggestions to heart and have begun the overhaul of the mapping process. I will be revamping all of my cities to drop the tiles from 3 down to 2. I will also replace the grass tile I had used throughout the game with the correct one. These changes will take a significant amount of time (I have nearly 200 maps to correct ^^), however I hope to have them taken care of as soon as possible.

Your screen shots in particular were very helpful. Thanks to them I was able to quickly and efficiently locate the problems and fix them without much trouble.

Leah most certainly is the main character though. Ethan is just playing a very significant role at this point in time, You'll notice as the game progresses that every character that joins your party is very important to the game.

As for the Chimera, yeah he is rather tough. I have lowered his SPI a few points to accommodate situations where he may use his wind spell twice in one turn. I encourage you to make use of Vance's stat lowering abilities though. They drastically cut down on the damage taken each turn and each debuff will last for 3 turns when effectively applied. I wanted all the normal battles to be fairly simple, With the exception of the rarer encounters that might come along once in a while where you'll have a fight on your hands. The bosses though, I want them to be a challenge. So that when you do beat them, because of careful SP rationing and skill use, you feel triumphant.

Lastly, I have begun writing out a proper introduction to Classika that will be incorporated at a later date. This will showcase some of Classika's history and touch on a few key details. This introduction will be based off of the Introduction to the story spoiler you can find in this topic.

As for an update to the games status. I have finished all of the story and eventing that lead from the Mountain Path to Wollen, and then returning to Morriston. All of the maps are finished as well that lead to the Port Town of Phendra. I have the new monsters created, most of the new weapons and armor, and all of the transportation events connecting the maps done as well.

What is holding me up currently:
The story line eventing for Phendra ( 10% done )
Calibrating the database for the new weapons, armor, and enemies ( 85% done )
Adding in treasure to the new area's for those that like to explore ( 0% done )

Optional updates that are not critical to release:
Remaking the maps so they make the best use of the available tiles ( 5% done)
Remaking the skills so they are all completely custom made. In addition making them exclusive to either players or enemies so I can further configure them to scale appropriately ( 0% done )
Adding in the Bounty system to allow you to look for monsters or people that have a reward set for their death. ( 80% done)

I want to present the next phase in the story, however I would prefer to remake all of the maps (at the least) before I put up a new demo. As things currently stand I could have the newest installment of the demo ready to go within 2 weeks (Provided I have enough time to work on it). If I choose to fix the maps before releasing the demo, then a new demo will not be available until the end of next month at the earliest.

Update:
The story line eventing for Phendra ( 45% done )
Calibrating the database for the new weapons, armor, and enemies ( 90% done )
Adding in treasure to the new area's for those that like to explore ( 70% done )

Optional updates that are not critical to release:
Remaking the maps so they make the best use of the available tiles ( 100% done)
Remaking the skills so they are all completely custom made. In addition making them exclusive to either players or enemies so I can further configure them to scale appropriately ( 0% done )
Adding in the Bounty system to allow you to look for monsters or people that have a reward set for their death. ( 80% done)


If this pace continues I should have the next installment ready to go within two weeks. I just finished completely overhauling all of the maps. So, when it is released, if you notice something out of place please let me know. After spending almost 20 hours of steady work on revamping the maps I can't imagine I got every little thing. (Even though I tried)

This next demo will place the game at a minimum of 3 hours to go from start to finish. That's if you do nothing but go directly from point A to B and ignore looking for treasure, exploring alternate area's, and/or trying to kill the optional bosses. If you try to do everything you're looking at approximately 5+ hours of game time.

The new demo will also include a generic save file for those who have played the first demo. This new demo will start you in Morriston, shortly after Vance joins your party and you have received the Morriston Keystone. If you still have your save file, you are welcome to copy that over and use it in this game. I am fairly certain that the changes I have made have not included the addition of any switches . I am not completely sure of this, but I'll leave the decision in your hands. Gamble with your old save or start just in Morriston and go from there.

Loving it so far. Is that the default menu system? Even if it is it's nice, clean and usable.

The mapping is above par too and looks nice considering it's VX.

Thanks so very much for the compliment. I'm really happy to know that you're enjoying the content thus far! ^^

The Menu system you're looking at is actually the YERD_SceneMenuReDux script. I wanted to keep it very simple and basic though. So I spent a few hours and cut out a lot of the stuff I felt cluttered it up or was unnecessary for Classika.

The mapping, actually, just got overhauled a bit further. St3rnB0rn and a few members of the IRC (Robin and Sailerius I believe) offered me some tips for improving them even further.

Playing right now... so far its good!

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying yourself. If you find the time, please let me know if there were any parts of the story or game that stood out for you in particular. Whether it's good or bad, I appreciate any and all feedback.

Also, this is a request for some assistance. I'll soon be reaching a point where the next installment of Classika will be ready to be released. However, no matter how much I test play there will be things that I'll miss or not realize needs to be explained in further detail.
So, I'm asking for your time to help me. If you would be willing to test the next installment and provide feedback for any broken events, over or underpowered enemies, map errors, etc. Just respond here and let me know if you'd care to take an hour or two out of your day to help out.

The only thing I request is that you have played through the current demo. You don't need to go see all the extra's, just get through the storyline up to the point where you defeat the Chimera in the Mountain Path. Also, that you don't ruin any plot developments that you will get to see before everyone else. I will be trying very hard to have no errors present, so in the best case scenario for myself I'll just get a load of responses back stating that you couldn't really find anything.

I don't know if you remember, but you helped me find a "scan" skill thread for my game. In return, I thought I could play through your demo and offer some feedback.

First, let me say I think your game has a lot of potential. I like the way that the different character classes are set up and I feel like the plot is progressing smoothly. You have a really nice way of keeping the story interesting without any revealing anything. There's enough different elements (Ethan's necklace, the King's Key thing in the cave, Vance's captain, etc) to make it feel like every individual element is part of something greater that I haven't uncovered yet. And I have to admit that the "secret cow level" is the best thing I have seen in any RM game, including my own. I applaud you good sir.

Now the obnoxious, nitpickey things that I'm going to complain about. Just so you know, I always give the "what would I do" thing after each negative comment, but it's just as much for my own sake as yours. Forcing myself to think of a solution helps me grow as a developer, and you should feel free to ignore my suggestions if they don't work for you. It's your game, and I don't want you to feel like I'm imposing my ideas on you.



And just a few bugs I noticed:
1) In the second dungeon/cave thing the yellow flowers can be walked over, so when they are placed on the walls of the dungeon, you can walk into inaccessible areas.
2) Right before going into the cave Vance warns you if you're going the wrong way, but it forces you to take one step further rather than forcing you to turn around. I don't know if that's a bug or a choice, but it confused me.

I think this game is exactly where it needs to be at this point in development. The core of the game is strong, and as playtesting continues the difficulty curve and minor issues will be ironed out into something really enjoyable. Congratulations on a great start! I look forward to the finished version.

I most certainly do remember you. I'm thrilled that the thread I found for you ultimately led to you finding the script you needed. However, I never expected you to in turn try out my demo and offer some much appreciated feedback! Thanks so much for that!

I'm also really happy and relieved that you are enjoying the way the story is unfolding. This really isn't going to be a story where you have a 100 different ways to do everything and there are tons of mini endings to potentially unlock. It's simply a story about Leah and Ethan and what happens to them in Classika.
As for the cow level... You're the first person to say anything about it! So, you get bragging rights (If you want them) ^^ I had a lot of fun writing out that little bit, and if you didn't check every teet you pick has a different conversation with it.



I had no idea about the flowers causing that problem. I went ahead and combed through my maps and fixed those right up.

I noticed that little bug when I was overhauling the maps. A completely idiotic move on my part, I made the change so that it works correctly now. (Though I am at the point right now where I'll be deleting those events very soon. I'll have the next installment ready to be beta tested by the (well 1 at this point in time) people that offered to go through an initial quick test of the new content.)

I'm at a pretty hectic point right now with stuff going on, so I can't say when it'll happen, but I will gladly try my best to return the favor to you and go through your game. Thanks again for all the feedback and suggestions you provided. It really helps with the motivation to keep on going!

-Cheers!

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. Had a whole lot on my plate with getting used to a new job (3rd shift) while also getting Married this past Saturday

However, I have found some time to work on Classika. I have more or less finished the direct storyline portion for the next installment. I just need to do some heavy editing before I open this up to anyone that is interested in assisting me with a quick beta test. What I have left to finish up is to add in shop keepers, NPC's, flesh out the bounty system and implement that (As of right now you cannot turn in the Chimera Paw), and finish the mapping and other such silly things for an optional area that opens up just South of Morriston. The optional area will feature some fun and engaging puzzles as well as a hefty reward for getting through it all. However, it will be incredibly difficult (But not impossible) to complete right off the bat.

For those who have played before and would like to continue roughly where they left off, I will also be making a generic save file starting in Morriston after you get the keystone for Morriston and are ready to head towards the mountains. If it has been a while since you first played then I encourage you to play from the beginning to see the many tweaks and changes that have been made as this game has come along.

Also, I am thinking of removing the system that lets you spend ability points when you level up. However, I am torn about whether or not I should do this. So, what do you think? Do you feel that the items I have included in the game to increase Str, Def, HP, etc. are enough? Or do you think that missing out on the 1 point per level system would make the characters slightly less interesting since you lose that marginal amount of customization?

Defualt lighting and tiles are bad. Your indoor mapping is gross.

Explanation:

You have used lighting around windows and your windows and other illuminant objects which is fine how ever make the room realistic in those terms. For example with how bright the interior looks you don't need lighting, dim it down and make it look like its a bit darker so the effects of the light take on the room and make it look realistic.

Out side use fogs, sun light and clouds, also dim the maps out side a bit to take on some of these other effects.

Your mapping out side is bland and gross. Add more detail and make it look more realistic. In door if your going with the over view with the ceiling ripped off like you seem to be doing add the out side elements to the out side of your indoor. so if there is a tree beside the house add he tree beside the house inside. or just paint the world black inside.

You can still get your classic look with a touch more detail and realism in lighting.

Okay, so I've played approximately two hours into this and had to stop. I won't say the mapping is terrible, because it's not, but I definite agree with other posters that it needs to be livened up a bit. A few details, for sure, but I recommend to stay away from the dungeon generator, as the cave and the prison cell appear to have been designed with.

My problem is that there seems to be no sense of direction, nor any real rewards. You begin the game on a quest for a special mushroom. The first dungeon alone could take over an hour to uncover all the secrets. Way too much for an initial dungeon, when you don't know where you are going. Prices for everyday items are too costly, enemies don't drop gold, and the few things they do drop that you can sell aren't worth a dime. So basically it's back and forth in an already long forest dungeon as you fight to build levels and then run back to town to sleep and restore, all because you can't afford to use any heal items.

After that, it sort of becomes one dungeon after another, one battle after another. The game just became very boring. There hasn't been much for story so far: you find a mushroom, then you try to find your dad, something about keys, then you are in jail, and somebody tries to break you out... and in between all of this battle after boring battle.

If this was akin to a dungeon crawler, I could see going this route. I'm not one for dungeon crawlers, but there are lots of people that enjoy them. But as this game appears to be aiming for a more traditional rpg, it needs some work: perhaps a little more on the story angle and less of constant battling.

Adrien,
I can appreciate the fact that many people are sick and tired of anything remotely default in an editor. After all, the vast majority of games you may try do use these tiles (regardless if they are used in the best possible manner or not) and I'm sure you're just sick and tired of seeing the same thing over and over. However, this does not mean that they are 'gross'. I will fully welcome any comments on how to improve my mapping if a person takes the time to explain how I can improve it.
For instance, your recommendations to change the default lighting and use fogs. I actually tried to use fogs in my game already, but it caused a severe amount of lags because of the battle system I am using where you see the events and they move when you move. It caused the movement to be 'choppy'. So I decided that even though this would add a wonderful amount of atmosphere, it was more or less game breaking because of the lag.
The one thing I can definitely try to change though would be the brightness of the rooms for when you are indoors. Would you happen to know of a good setting to represent an interior? Otherwise, I'll just have to play around with it until I can find a suitable level.
As for adding more detail, I did have a lot more detail on my maps. Considerably more actually, but it caused my computer as well as all of my friends computers to lag as they were exiting combat and moving around and/or moving from map to map. So, I worked pretty hard on lightening up the details in order to prevent this problem.
I also tried the keeping everything black route with maps. This might sounds stupid, but the only reason I did not like it was because it bothered me that it was completely black outside and light was coming through the windows and such. I have also tried adding in additional details around the homes that represented the details outside of it. If you are basing your comments solely off of the screen shots, then I can understand that you would not have known this.


Amerk,
Thanks for playing as well as the comments. This is my first game I've ever made and it's been a steady learning process about what works and what does not. Please, skim over my reply to Adrien in concerns to the mapping If you have any direct suggestions for changes I'd appreciate the assistance/guidance if you could take the time to help me improve.
I actually made the cave and prison by hand, I did not realize they represented the dungeon generator. I don't know how I would change them to make them less like that. I don't necessarily want to make them very wide as neither of those maps were ever meant or designed to have wide pathways. I do not know whether or not you intend to play any further so I am hesitant to explain what the cave connects to. If you do intend to continue please do not read the spoiler, even though I will not spoil any direct storyline information.

I want to completely revamp the database actually. In the long run I want random battles to not last as long, skills to be cheaper and for item prices to be more balanced. I have actually done some tweaking of the HP of enemies and the SP cost of various skills, but it's only brushing the top of a problem that needs to be completely worked over. I have actually added in additional reward for the player to explore these area's as well as some additional direction for the first dungeon to help with where to go.
As for the monsters dropping sellable items instead of Gold, that's a preference that I strongly desire to stick with. Anything smart enough to carry Gold, Items, Weapons, ETC. Will drop those, however critters and monsters will not have that on them and so you sell the items you collect from them after a battle in order to get your spending cash. I will also note, that it's only the first town where the shopkeepers heckle you about who will buy from you and who won't. It was meant to add flavor to the merchants since it is your hometown. Every other city (Unless it's because of a special circumstance) will both buy and sell to you indiscriminately.
I want to debate with you that their is actually ample story present, that in fact the problem lays in my database management and that because of the length and repetitiveness of the random battles and exploration you felt that the story was not enough to justify the amount of 'work' you have spent on the game. I do not want to make the players to become bogged down with story that could be experienced from playing the game. As I progress with making Classika I know that it's a work in progress and will need to constantly be updated in order to reach its full potential. It might be that my method of doing this isn't the best way, where I first try to iron out the straight line of the story and then add in layers of buffer and/or depth around it to further develop the world and characters within.

Thank you both for your comments and suggestions, I hope that you will continue to encourage myself and others in the future to become better developers. It's always a wonderful feeling when you check your game topic and you can see that someone enjoyed your game, even if it was only aspects of it, and they were interested enough to take the time and write up a comment about it to help it become better.

I like the idea of monsters dropping items, but maybe they should drop them at a higher rate, and make them more worthwhile to go after and grind for.

I think if monsters are a bit easier to fight (less HP more return damage), and items easier to purchase, that would definitely help a lot. Your first dungeon is enormous, so maybe some sort of direction would help, however just by making monster combat worthwhile and a little easier since there are so many monsters to battle with would make traversing the forest area much more exciting. In turn, easier combat, more return for the monster droppings, would help to eliminate the need for running back and forth into town, except for when you want to sell all your monster droppings to purchase upgrades.

As for mapping suggestions, I really didn't have much problems with the mapping other than the cave and jail dungeons. Could the outside and interiors be better? Probably? Are they terribly needed? Not unless you are trying to improve the look of the game. They get the job done, which is all anybody can really ask. There are a lot of tutorials available that can definitely help, and I recommend looking at them as well as other people's games to get ideas.

http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=2470

The above link has a huge section on mapping, but you have to register to view the postings (it's free, of course). This site focuses primarily on using rpg maker vx. Most of the tutorials here use Mack tilesets though, but several also use the original RTP:

http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=23331
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=31365
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=28381
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=33159 (excellent tut on detail and even tinting)
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=33471
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=22070
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/?showtopic=2314
http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=34054

The default tileset does not offer a lot of options when it comes to mapping, but with practice it can still get the job done. Just think about what a normal layout of a house would look like, and what types of furniture and decorations it would include. Also, you can always use events to add to the map as well, especially when you want to overlap and add layers (but too many events causes lag, so you may also need an anti-lag script).

Zortik, I love the avatar.

Dance magic dance!

I'll see if I love the game as much.

Amerk,
I really appreciate you taking the time to go through and link me to numerous direct links that will help me to improve my mapping. You could have just provided a link to the master list and that alone would have been supremely helpful! I am going to particularly look into the tinting portion and see if I can't find any good starting points to create a smoother atmosphere.
I've also taken the battles into consideration and while I don't have a solution for it yet, I am trying to write out an equation that I can use in Excel. I'm currently thinking along the lines that it should take 10 monsters (on average) that need to be killed before you can afford a new weapon, 8 for armor, and 16 for an accessory. This would set the bar for both the cost of items and the value of the loot dropped from monsters. So, if you're lucky you could get enough loot from monsters in only 6 or 7 battles and you can afford that new weapon. On the flip side your luck might be sour for the moment and it'll take you 12-13 battles. In order to pull this off I will be continuing with my current method of having each creature have more than 1 piece of loot it can drop. Basically, there will be a common item with the highest chance of dropping that sells for a meager amount. But there is also the chance of a more expensive bit of loot dropping at a smaller chance.

Right now, the Snapdragons for instance now have the following drop rate:
Broken Plant Stem 40% drop rate (Sells for 4G)
Torn Vine 15% drop rate (Sells for 7G)

But the Long Knife cost 120g to buy. Which means at a 1:1 cheap drop rate it would still take 30 monsters to be slain before you could afford this. In an effort to offset this grind, I placed numerous treasure chests all throughout the maps with Gold in them. (Everything I'm explaining is available in the demo you played)

So, I believe the correct solution for what needs to be done here is that I need to raise the value of the drops by a small amount and possibly filter out some of the filler chests (There are ample treasure chests scattered throughout the majority of the maps, but about 35% of them contain Gold. Another 35% are various healing items, and the remaining 30% consist of equipment of varying value/strength)

bulmabriiefs144,
Thanks for the love! I try to encourage as many people as possible to watch this classic gem!

I don't think I'm NEARLY as good as a designer to make you love Classika as much as the avatar though!
However, I will certainly hope that when you do find the opportunity to play through the game that you'll take the time to get back to me on your thoughts of it. Naturally my fingers will be crossed (This might make it hard to type...) that you'll return with some positive feedback about how much fun you had and/or what you liked about it. Since I'll be hoping for that response it should come as no surprise that I'll be expecting a less than stellar review. In which case all I can ask is that if one thing or another bothered you, please take the time and explain how you would like to see this corrected. Admittedly, not everything can be remade in the manner each player wants. But in many situations when people take the time to show me an alternative method (Or, as Stern did and showed me a side by side screen shot for comparison on how to improve something) It helps me expand the way I think and/or do things.

The first link in that post was to the master list, however since you were using the RTP I didn't know if tutorials using the mack tilesets would help or not, which is why I had indicated the others. But that's not to say the other tutorials are no help at all, because they are.

In any case, your equation does sound reasonable. I think the area of concern came in how high simple restoratives can be. If monsters were to drop these more often, that would also help. In addition, by the time you wind up in the cave dungeon, it's such a long track back, and there aren't any upcoming merchants for the time being, at least not until you've escaped the jail area.

So an idea to help this would be to encourage people to stalk up before they get captured. One such option is near the cave, maybe the next screen over to the left or right, add a hermit-like merchant that lives in a tent. He doesn't like people, which is why he moved way out here, but still needs to make a living, so he's willing to sell some items and even let our party stay the night in the tent for a fee.

This way, the player can still level grind around the cave and not worry having to try and go all the way back to town (which I can't remember if they can do since they snuck out to the cave against the town's will).

It's been a little while since I've last posted an update about how Classika is coming along. I'll try and keep it short and to the point.

I've been trying to learn how to write my own battle melodies so that I can further customize my own skills. I've managed to create about 10 skills from scratch along with their own unique animations. This will be an ongoing project that I'll be working on here and there until I reach a point where I can replace all of the skills currently in use by enemies and characters alike. At which point in time there will be a complete skill overhaul. Some skills will be removed, others redone. I am working on these intermittently and doubt they'll be finished anytime in the near future.

In an effort to encourage players to make use of their skills more often I've incorporated a new skill called 'Rest' which will allow the player to sacrifice a turn in battle to regenerate SP. The SP recovered is Spirit based.

There is now a small hut just near the cave outside of Wollen. You can purchase some simple supplies here or pay to take a rest there as well.

I've cut out a portion of the Wollen forest to reduce it's scale and remove the paths that double back on one another. This was done in order to assist with navigation. The only way to get to the eastern portion of the forest where the mushroom grove is located is by taking the eastern path outside of Wollen. Likewise for reaching the western portion of the forest can only be reached by taking the western path just outside of town.

Adjusted the movement ratio for monsters that pursue you to engage a battle from a 1:1 ration to a 1:2 ratio. So it takes 2 of your steps for them to take a single one.
Most enemies who moved at random and were at a 1:2 ratio are now at a 1:1 ratio.
The enemies who moved opposite have had no changes made to them.

Increased the value of monster dropped loot so the player does not have to farm nearly as much in order to afford equipment and items.

Adjusted the database values on enemies in various area's including reduced HP, increased Atk, and adjustment to skills.

The game as a whole is currently at a stage where it can accommodate Alpha testers for the most current chapter. There are still several area's that are optional and not yet finished, but the core story is present and ready to go. Of the optional things I am working on the following:

A mage tower that is located south of Morriston. This is sitting at 65% completion. I am currently working on the final 3 floors of the tower and figuring out the reward for reaching the top of the tower.

The bounty shop in Phendra is there and populated but I have not yet done the event work for turning in the Chimera Paw and them opening up the ability to find and kill other wanted creatures/people for base rewards. As this will be an ongoing project throughout the game I will only be providing a percentage for completion that is relevant to this point in the demo. 80%

The latest version of Classika is now available and ready to play! I've updated the main thread for the links to the new downloads, but will also provide them here.









There is approximately 2 hours worth of additional story and gameplay added with this demo. Enjoy!

Included is a generic save file that will start you off in Morriston shortly after you acquire Vance. This is for those whom have played Classika before and either no longer have their own save file to copy over, or have tried the demo at other points in time and wish to skip some of the beginning story.
I would like to point out that there was some work done on the beginning of the game as well. Nothing critical to the storyline, so if you really don't want to get through the Wollen Forest again by all means use the save file.

I was going to download but I don't see any links. Am I somehow missing them?

@Logan110: Click the blue images where it says: "Click here to download"

Also, keep up the good work Zortik!

Thanks for the assist, Stern.

Let me know if you have any other problems, Logan110. But if you click the image of whichever download you want, it'll take you directly to the mediafire page where the file is hosted.

Yea for some reason I don't see the image. Im assuming they would be below the bolded text of RTP Inluded / Excluded

Thats a ss of what I see.
http://imageshack.us/f/832/posta.png/


*Edit*
I went into the pages source and pulled out the link myself. Not sure why it won't load on my browser...

*Edit 2*
The game freezes when you make it back to town. It's during the scene when you go back into Cathy's house the 2nd time.

Just updated the new downloads with a hot fixed game that corrected the game breaking error for when you returned to Wollen.

The error came about after recently making some mapping changes to all of the indoor maps. I had missed one of the events where an event was walking out of the house, but there was no longer enough grass tile for them to complete the action.

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please copy over your save file to the new demo and you should encounter no further issues.

Remapped the first forest for a smoother/easier to navigate layout. Currently updating the various events to line up with these changes.

I've also begun the tremendous task of overhauling the skills and battle system. I've got the core of what I want down, right now I just need to properly expand upon it all and test it completely.

I'm thrilled to also announce that there is a wonderful new feature present in Classika. You can now use 'Flash Pellets' on the map by pressing the 'W' key. You'll need to have some in your inventory, naturally, but you can throw them up to 5 spots away. If it hits an object it'll be stopped, but if it hits an enemy it'll completely stun that enemy on the map for 4 seconds. Allowing you to safely pass by without the risk of starting a battle!

For the Wollen Forest and Underpass, those who have played Classika will also be happy to note that I made the rat sprites larger. No more hiding in tall grass and ambushing you. ^^

These features are not currently present in the available demo. They have not yet reached a point where they are fully functional, and it'll be a few weeks before there is even a chance of that.

In the meanwhile though, I am still hoping for some feedback from the most recently released demo. In addition to the flow of the story I've tried something new with the Konami Tower that is south of Morriston. Puzzles! No worries though, there will not be any random encounters hindering your progress as you try to solve them. Though there will be some battles, especially if you answer something wrong. ^_~

Uber-Big-Hello!

So I've played the next part of the demo. I've spoilered everything because I talk about parts that are massive spoilers. If you're a potential player of Classika I will advice you not to read my entire post.

Statistics:


General Feedback


TL;DR - The latest version of Classika shows that it has some nice potential story-wise and it improves on the combat that was already good.

EDIT: Added the link to the PSD under Environment & Atmosphere. I also tried the Flash Pellets (another sneak peak). They are glorious and they practically render this comment useless:




/Regards,
Stern

While Stern poses a few suggestions that may otherwise be a matter of opinion, I have to say I like his idea about creating landmarks in dungeon areas to easily identify where you are and enemy NPCs after reaching a certain level.

I haven't gotten around to playing the revised demo yet, but it seems that the combat is for the better now, while spell casting should probably have the cost lowered.

Most of my assistance has been provided via msn, so I figured it was about time to post in your topic ^-^

Stern has gone and covered a vast majority of things I would have (and did) bring up, and has also provided some excellent suggestions to get around potential problems (hats off to you sir).

I really like the story as you're setting it up, the only major problem leering at me - from a writers' perspective - is the direct play through from one plot point to another. I'd like to see some more life in your towns, especially Wollen. I agree with Stern, I didn't see that coming, and I think you could really create a larger impact on the player by getting them more attached to Wollen in the beginning.

I really like the conversations, they're much more lively than I've seen in some commercial games. People actually talk. I also loved the limerick told by the one npc in Morriston - add more of this to npc's and it'll make the villagers feel more life like.

Also, I really enjoy the changes, ideas and concepts you've been discussing with me and I think Classika is going to develop into a very interesting game with the amount of work you're putting into it.
I'd suggest possibly adding some more interactivity to your maps, and definitely shrinking them down a touch. Personally, I very rarely make maps larger than 30 x 30.

Keep up the hard work, and you know where to find me if you need suggestions/feedback ^-^

Hallo (again!)

I played through the Konami tower sidequest, although not being able to beat the last boss, but I'd say I saw enough to give some feedback.

I liked pretty much all of the puzzles, although the absolute first one is like an age barrier. I did grow up during the NES/SNES era, but at that time I was quite young and I never cheated! ( ). However, due to being very interested in gaming and gaming history I knew about the konami code from earlier. I'm not sure a lot of people will though, which is why it's great that there seems to be another way of acquiring the answer. One more last thing... I think it'd be easier if you placed the "directional portals" more like the arrows on the numpad because the tricky part of the puzzle wasn't knowing the konami code, but knowing which color was which direction ;D

For the 2nd puzzle, I failed the first time because I got hit a few times trying to make overambitious runs. Second time I just finished it with 8 seconds left, but I did get hit a few times. I suppose I'm kind of clumsy.

The third puzzle was the riddles, if I remember correctly. I managed to complete them all without violence with some assistance on the fragile riddle. Though I have to admit that I got it right by purely guessing in the 10,15 cent riddle.

4th puzzle was a bit confusing at the start but after 3 resets I manage to push the boulder the right way. Pretty balanced difficulty.

5th one I just purely guessed two random switched and got it right on the first try. I was a bit puzzled at the poetic riddles

All in all, it's a nice little sidequest, but I do feel like it should be closer to the third town (the name escapes me) as it's balanced for a full party.

Good job as always, keep it up!

Regards,
Stern

Thanks for all of the feedback! I will be taking all of the suggestions under careful consideration and also working hard to fix and bugs or errors that were pointed out!

I'll be making a post later (Or just editing this one if it's still the most recent) with my replies back to you all.

Right now I wanted to take some time to brain storm, so to speak, about how I will be changing Classika's battle system and how this will in turn affect the opening portion of the game.

As a battle system offers more options for strategy beyond the very basic commands (attack, spells, guard, run), It's a pretty good idea to put the player through the ropes somehow. Whether it's through a text explanation, an event battle that is littered with forced actions and dialogue, etc.. For what I will be trying, I've decided to remake the beginning of Classika by adding additional story and explaining several new features that will be implemented in the game.

For the actual battle system. The previous menu was incredibly straight forward and beyond the renaming of spells to skills, didn't have any unique flavor of its own. So, in an effort to breathe some life into the battle system, I went into the script for Melody and began playing around. After a while of just reading and exploring, I managed to make it so I could change the basic attack menu. It now looks like this:
Fast
Normal
Fierce
Skill
Guard
Item
Equip
Escape

Fast: Fast Attack. Allows the player to attack quicker than normal, accuracy is also increased but power is reduced. (Fast Attacks also removes the buff 'Swift' which enhances the targets Agility and Evasion while it's active.) Fast attack has 120% accuracy and hits for 80% of your attack power.
Normal: Normal Attack. No buffs or deductions. The player attacks with base accuracy and attack power.
Fierce: Fierce Attack. The player sacrifices speed to hit harder, attacking slower than normal. Accuracy is also reduced for the increase to raw attack power. (Fierce attack also removes the buff 'Sturdy' which enhances the targets Attack and Defense while it's active.) Fierce attack has 80% accuracy and hits for 120% of your attack power.

In addition to these base attack I am overhauling all of the skills. I'll be adding a significant amount of new skills while simultaneously reworking them to better fit the new system. With these new states, skills, and attack options I'll be able to add in some more strategy to boss fights. As opposed to just making them have more HP, atk power, etc.

I'd love for any input on all of this as well as any suggestions for other states or ways to make use of them in a new/creative manner. I'm not so conceited as to think I know all of the tricks right away.

In addition to the huge battle system overhaul I've also redid all of the stats for all of the characters. I manually entered each and every stat in so I could better control how they develop naturally through leveling.

Stern also touched on the flash pellets which I am working on. These nifty little items will be available from the beginning of the game and allow you to stun enemies on the map for 4 seconds, allowing you to run right by them without them moving or starting a battle.

This sounds like it will make the battle system quite interesting. It will definitely allow for more creative combinations, especially when certain skills are applied (ie., using the Fast attack when a skill that makes a person stronger has been applied).

Classika has been previewed.

See the topic here!

Thanks so much for this. My one biggest regret is that you didn't have the chance to see some of the changes I've made. Many of which were to directly impact some of your grievances. But, you know what, I'm still pleased with the honest opinion and synopsis you provided for the title.

Thank you.

I'll post an additional comment on that thread to address a few things.

Freezing enemies will definitely help, especially in that mountain area goin back to Wollen.

I bring you the awe inspiring (to maybe 1.5 people) news that Classika is not a dead project.

I am, however, going to be bringing down the download links in about an hour.

This project was more or less on hiatus for the past year. Primarily because of adjusting to married life, and starting a career (with oodles of overtime) at a large corporation. Working pretty much solo on this large of a project had utterly burnt me out, and the lack of feedback/support from friends and family certainly didn't help any with motivating me to get to work on it.
However, that's really not a good excuse for anyone who might have been anticipating the completion of this title.

So, let's get away from my personal life and instead focus on this title a bit.

Classika went under yet another heavy dose of remaking. Let's make a list on what has been accomplished, and then what's ongoing currently.

Accomplished:

• Redid all of the maps to better accommodate a new function for the game that will allow players to freeze enemies on the map for a short time. Also, this new method of flagging entry/exit points allows me as a designer more freedom in creating "open" ended maps. Before I was forced to include barricades of some kind to imply the player cannot initiate a transport event there.
• Created an additional story event at the beginning of the game to allow players more time in Wollen.
• Created and applied to all maps the trigger events to track individual monster sprites and a collision based set up for a thrown item. This is the function that will be used to allow players to avoid battles.
• Redid the players base stats up to level 40. (Game play is currently designed for a level 16 player party)
• Resolved a few errors that were left untouched from the last update (Inn event in the hut by the cave, a few mapping hiccups, etc.)
• Worked in some new dynamics to battles to make "boss" battles more engaging.

In Progress:

• Balancing the new enemy stats, equipment, skills to accommodate the changed player stats.
• Adding in additional NPC dialogue during the new event in Wollen.
• Test playing through the new scenes to ensure they are working as intended.

I don't want to stamp a completion date onto this, however I am going to reach out to the community for some support. I currently do not have anyone local to test play, and with me knowing the ins and outs of the game there will certainly be some issues that I will have missed. What I'm asking is whether or not there will be any members willing to step up and offer to help me out.

While I would benefit most from a full demo review, in this particular situation I would be looking at the first hour of the game, before you get to Morriston. Just to make sure there isn't any glaring issues, the gameplay is going along smoothly, and there aren't any mistakes I missed.

I want to have this demo back online within 2 weeks time. So, if you're willing to lend me a hand and help out then go ahead and post here. I'll send you a PM the moment I have the download back up so that you don't need to baby sit the thread, waiting to see when you can download the game.

=o, I love how you invested so much time in game options and the menu's. So in 2 weeks it'll be back up?

Thank you very much for the compliment. Yes, I'm hoping to have it up within the next 4 days. However, I'm concerned that if I stuck to that as my deadline... I wouldn't get in enough test playing and I would end up wasting some of the members time. Additionally, I don't want to rush trying to balance out the database with monsters/equipment/skills.

So, I figure that within the next 2 weeks I should be able to produce a functional demo once again. I'm sure there will be some issues, however I am really hoping that the complaints will be minor and that the gameplay/story will be enjoyable

Hmm, from what I can gather...time seems a tad irrelevant; in the sense that the developer/team creating the product/game should be comfortable with releasing it whenever they believe it is stable enough to be tested on.

So there really is no rush. I apologize for bringing up the "in 2 weeks" confirmation, in-truth; I'm not expecting you to have it by then if you believe it isn't ready.

Take your time with it =d! I'll be here waiting when you're ready, and so will everyone else.

It's true that a rushed title (Especially an indie one) is usually a bad thing. However, having landmarks / deadlines can also work as a motivation too And no need to apologize, I'm happy that you're interested and even if you spun it as "The game had better be back up in 2 weeks or else I am NOT test playing" I still would have been happy :3

To me that's a compliment.

Also, (And this is mostly to Amerk if he still checks out this thread) I'm revamping the mapping in the area outside of Morriston. Including adding a few new quirks/places to visit. It's not a total overhaul, but there will be more flowers, bushes, stumps, tree's, a few landmarks, etc. So there will be a lot less 'empty'.

Well, since I'm the mod for this part of the forum, I had better be checking out the threads. Good to see this is still in action, though.

It's true, but there is always the off chance that due to activity and/or your own personal time you might have missed that.

Download links have been added to the main page. I'll also be posting them here for the sake of convenience.

http://www.mediafire.com/?lmges7l0wubznmp
RTP Included

http://www.mediafire.com/?70af57j9v6itasg
RTP Not Included

Those screen shots are really harsh dude. The "busts" you have added to the default RTP char faces really clashes bad, the battle system seems kinda weird, the screen of it shows them fighting in mid air above the ground/world?

Feel free to elaborate on how the screen shots are harsh. The busts are there purely for the fun of it, love it or hate it but they're only here in the topic thread. Not used in game.

The battle system is a part of the YANFLY battle melody engine. It's the blurred battleback feature. I didn't enjoy many of the battlebacks I came across and settled on this script. It merely adds a zoom and blur effect to an instantly taken snapshot of where you get into a battle.
Many of these choices could be resolved if I wanted to spend the time hunting for support and/or paying for the resources. However, this is just a hobby game and I'm not that invested in this particular project.

The only thing I truly want to accomplish with this title is completing a 8 hours (minimum) RPG utilizing the various resources I have acquired up until now. Chasing what I feel would perfect this title would do nothing more than lock it into a permanent state of hiatus. If I had a team, more money, and definitely more time. I'm sure all that I'm using would sync up and look much better .

Thanks for asking to know a bit more about the game. If you have more questions, feel free to ask them as well. I'm sure there will be one, two, or who knows how many more people that'll come along and might be wondering the same thing as you.