Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.
True open world adventure. · By
These are my thoughts and suggestions
1. think romance maybe marriage would be a great idea from companions and maybe a few outside
2. houses and businesses could be good too
3. skill upgrades with skill points
4. morality you can be good evil neutral
5. class advancement or ascension
6. maybe have more than one profession instead of just adventure like merchant blacksmith alchemist doctor priest whatever else maybe have a way to upgrade them to
Hey, thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions.
- I've thought about adding in a romance system, but it's not something I plan on adding in right now. I want to build out more of the world first and make sure there would be multiple ways to increase their affinity. I would probably need a plugin for a romance/friendship system to get it working in a good way, though I could probably get something decent working with what I got. Either way I'm not worrying about it right now.
- There IS currently a house that the player can get access to and upgrade in the game. You have to complete 3 guild quests and one of them needs to be Monster House. After words the receptionist will tell you to meet with the queen, the queen will give you the same house that Monster House took place at (minus the monsters) and a home steward will be sent there. Then talking to him you can spend gold to upgrade the visual look of the house. It's one of the earliest things I put in the game because I wanted to have upgradable player homes but I haven't done much with it yet. Currently the home can only be upgraded 2 times. Eventually, I'll add a farm and mine to it that will generate passive income somehow.
- Skill upgrades with skill points? Ain't that in the game? You mean like being able to further increase damage of already existing skills? I'm not really sure what you mean.
- I seriously debated whether or not I should add a morality system because it would really fit with the theme and gameplay. I thought about also having a notoriety system where you'd be able to attack anyone in the game and having that affect how a town treats you/guards being sent to try and apprehend you. It would be a lot of work though to implement this stuff. I'd still like to add it in, or at least something like it but I probably won't for awhile.
-Class advancements? I'd definitely add that in, but I need more battle animations to work with for it to make sense. Right now, skills are already re-using battle animations. But it would be nice to add different specialty class advancements, like sorcerers being able to choose fire, ice, or lightning as their main element and building around that, Or Knights being able to spec into a paladin or battle knight. Right now, there's already skills/skills unlock paths in the game that kinda fulfill this. To really take it to the next level though, I'd need at least a few more animations for each class that would feel unique.
- I probably won't be adding any alternative professions but I'll keep it in mind in case I think of something. And, TECHNICALLY, the player is also a blacksmith since you can craft upgraded weapons.
I gotta be careful with what type of systems and gameplay types I add to the game. I don't want it to feel bloated, like there's too much going on, or like the systems are really basic and uninteresting. The morality & notoriety system would be cool, but would it be fun or annoying? Romance would be cool, but how is it going to add to the experience? ...etc. I'm not saying they're bad ideas (cause I like them, I want to add them) I just need to make sure that they add to the gameplay and are implemented in a satisfying way.
I appreciate you letting me know your suggestions. I'm always open to hearing from everyone.
for the skills i meant something like like skill progressing like where you level up the your skills by using them over and over again and for those systems it depends on how you implement them maybe you could make the relationship thing be quest based and for the house thing could you put a house in every big city and maybe some small ones and another thing will you put in a a few more races like maybe some that are good at both and one that is not good at ether
I'm not sure I'll do something like that for the skills. There's still some things I want to change about the skills, like unlearning weaker versions of the same skill and having a visible skill tree, but I'll probably keep it all tied to requiring skill points to learn and upgrade.
For relationships, if/when it gets added, I'll have the increases tied to doing quests given by them, talking to them, and completing regular quests that are of interest to them.
I'm not going to add a player house to every big city, BUT, along with the upgradable house, I could add a small player owned house or room in some of the major city/s. They would just act as a place to go and heal and interact with some of the followers.
As far as adding new races goes, it aint as simple as you might think. Implementing them is easy, the problem is because each race and gender has to be it's own character in the entry, I have to account for each one whenever certain events happen. Honestly, if I'd known how much of a pain it was gonna be I probably would have just had one or two races, male and female. HOWEVER, I would be open to adding another race or two if they looked unique enough and were immediately recognizable. The reason there's 5 races is because that was all I could make with the generators so each of them had their own look. The only other race I could add right now would be a half animal half human race, they'd look human except with animal ears and tail. I purposefully didn't add them because I didn't think they'd be unique enough, I want whatever race that comes next to be something completely different like a monster race or something. I'll consider having them be good at everything or nothing if/when I do add them.
I appreciate the suggestions, I like hearing new ideas to consider adding in.
Yeah, demon could be one to be added. Demi-god I actually considered as a class (it's actually in the database for the game) but it would have to be a New Game + unlock so it doesn't ruin the balance. I'm not sure what the new races will be though, I'll be thinking about and see if I come across something.
I could add an adventurer rank based on guild quests you've completed. I'm not sure off the top of my head what the benefit would be. I don't want to lock quests behind rank, giving an item/gold doesn't really seem fulfilling. Maybe it could give access to a home at a certain rank or give store discounts (though I think I would need a plugin for this). I'll think about what the benefits could be.
the higher the rank the more stuff you unlock you could make some characters rank based so you dont just obtain every character from the start cause why would you just obtain characters when some characters and some people respect higher ranks more it can reduce the prices on some equipment and other items and you could make some items only available for ranks for the house
I'm hoping Guild Hunts will fill that role by giving lots of money and XP for completing them. You'll have to go to a certain area and fight much stronger versions of enemies. I'm thinking they'll be repeatable so you can get money and XP over and over again but I'm still deciding on that. Dimensional Dungeons sort of fill this role right now since you get more XP from the monsters. I might end up making these more difficult and more rewarding for going through them without leaving. There's also a chest in them with random loot but no equipment in the loot table. For special one time bosses I'll likely add some sort of equipment reward that can only be gotten from beating them.
Thanks for the suggestion.
A class that dual wields swords already exists, the swordsman. I don't think I'll add a class that can wield every weapon, at that point I would just add class switching so you could change your class whenever. I'm still working on other ways to be able to get gold and experience, for instance; adding a casino to earn gold and arena fights to earn experience. I don't plan on adding anymore races for quite awhile (if I even do) but I'll consider a divine /demonic race if I decide to add another.
I've had a lot of ideas for other classes because I may eventually add subclasses/class specializations down the road. Each class would have 3 classes to specialize into. Summoner and shadow knight were ideas that I also had for other classes. The problem with summoner is that it would be a bit difficult to implement it the way I'd want, most other classes wouldn't be too big a deal to add. Engineer could fit into the world (as in it would exist in-universe) I'm just not sure how it would work, I'd have to think about it more but I'll add it to the possible future classes.
For how long it will take to complete, I gave a best case scenario that it would take like 16 years or something if I continued to work on it by myself. I knew from the beginning that this would be a very long term project but now I don't know if it will ever be complete with how much I keep wanting to add and all the details that I want. I don't want this to be a game that is never finished so I'm reconsidering what the priorities should be and where I should focus.
I wouldn't say I prefer to make the game myself, I just don't know anyone else or trust anyone else enough to work on the game with. Plus, I don't think anyone is going to want to work on the game for free like I am. I'd love to have a small team to work on this with, it would make my job much easier and I wouldn't have to keep splitting my focus across the different aspects of the game. Maybe if the game gets popular enough or I start making money on it I can get a small team to help out. Until then, I'll try to focus on adding what's important to keep the updates coming.
Just let me know all the dirty details, I can take it. I do plan on changing it so that only certain classes have boost actions(or just removing it entirely) and the TP modes are going to be unlockable instead of them all being available from the start. Combat is a big part of an RPG like this so it's important to get it right. I'd love to know more about what did and didn't work for you. Also what platform are you playing on?
1. Romance system for sure, but not locked to one character. I WANT MY HAREMS DAMMIT! ...Or at least the option to build one with the characters I can recruit/NPCs I interact with. Something to think about for the future at least. HAREMS FOR LIFE!!!!
2. Along with the idea or morality, I think having multiple ways to handle some quests would be pretty cool. Like through dialogue checks, the possession or absences of a certain item, or whether or not you fought/met/interacted with someone related to that quest/quest chain.
3. Party banter/chat/quests. Especially if you can mix and match who ends up in your party. Like at campsites or in town bars/inns. Something to add some variety to the game loop.
4. Hunts/Bounties. Y'know, to give players a reason to fight/grind/explore, like for money/loot/ related quests.
5. Landmarks. Things you can find and note down to better flesh out the world as maybe part of a quest or just a random reward for the intrepid adventurer who likes going off the beaten path.
6. A day/night system? Maybe to influence what ppl might say or what enemies you can fight? Maybe even when some quests can be taken?
Those are just some of the things I thought of... mostly because they are things I'd like to see in my own project.... But still things I'd like to se in more games like this more generally too. Anyway, best of luck and i'll definitely keep an eye on this project.
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to write something. I'll do my best to address the ideas you've given.
1. "Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well." In all seriousness, I would like to have some sort of relationship system in the game. I'd want it to affect your relationships with the different party members when you do something for them/talk with them/ or make choices that they approve off during quests. I don't plan on having anything like it in the game for a long while though.
2. I'm trying to do more stuff with quests that give different outcomes depending on what the player does. Really the only quest that has a drastic change in outcome in the game right now is failing to beat/giving up the staff to the boss during the Haunted House quest. But the other quests also change and give different dialogue and outcomes depending on certain criteria like; who's in the party/ meeting stat requirements, having met or talked to someone else. I'm going to keep adding stuff like this because I really like having different outcomes for quests that players might not even realize are there or finding out that a quest could have been completed another way.
3. There's not really much party banter now outside of having certain members when doing quests or when you unlock the player home. I'm not sure how much more I'll do outside of that, I don't want them to stop you in the middle of exploring to say something but I know there's a plugin that adds banter to the side of the screen without interrupting. I'm thinking about whether or not to limit party member switching to certain areas, on one hand it would make more sense that they aren't all with you all the time (especially since only active members get XP during combat) but I also don't want it to be too annoying to have to keep switching between who you want to take with you (though you probably won't be switching much anyway once you find party members you want).
4. I want to add guild hunts that would require you to go to certain areas and fight bosses for large Gold rewards, and I already implemented a test version of it to make sure I could do it, I just haven't actually fully implemented it yet. I want to have some more areas first that bosses could spawn in before I fully add it. This will probably be added maybe after this next update I'm working on.
5. Yeah, I should have more stuff in the world that you can interact with to learn more about the world. I'll have to start adding more stuff like that.
6. Ever since I started working on the game I've wanted a day/night cycle. I haven't added it yet though because for one, I'd rather get a plugin that can add it in better than I could, and two it adds more work needing to account for time of day with quests/ events/ NPC's. I'll definitely have one eventually, but I can't say when for sure.
I appreciate you telling me that. Right now, I am just focusing on my vision for the game. I can only do so much on my own, so my main goal is just getting done what I want to be done. Of course I do enjoy receiving feedback to see what other people would want to see in my game, but I don't make it a priority unless it seems necessary. I want to focus on getting the core idea of my game down first before I start implementing anything extra. First and foremost is to make it an open world adventure, and if someone suggests something that can enhance that then I keep a note of it for a possible addition in the future. I really do appreciate you saying that though because it can sometimes feel like a lot when others always ask for more unique features. So it's refreshing to see a comment like yours.
Yeah, sorry it's been taking so long for the next update. For awhile I was working on a different area that was requiring me to have to edit and create several new tilesheets. Then when it was taking too long I decided to put it on hold and work on something else but then that required editing tilesheets. So it's been a lot of running in place with this update before I actually got something going. I should have it out by the end of the week. I'm gonna try to get into updating at least once a month. Don't be afraid to get on my ass about it and hold me to it. I've been slackin'.
Hmm, the Spellblade should only be hitting twice per attack. When I test it out that's the case. The way that being able to attack multiple times with the same character is balanced is that special attacks and magic prevent that character from acting again. I know you could just basic attack 3 times and finish with a skill to get around it. I think I'll look into limiting the amount of times someone can basic attack to 2, but I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to implement it. The point really of the Free Turn Battle system is to allow you to choose who attacks first or at all and to give freedom for how you play the combat. Also, who goes first in battle is based on the combined agility of each party, the higher one goes first.
Ngl. Cephe being an utter pervert, pyromaniac, hot, and kinda batshit crazy was honestly hilarious!
I'm actually more a fan of the 'silent protagonist' style of MC myself so seeing digital me react so negatively to her kinda annoyed me tbh, but meh. Minor gripe.
Also, she makes clearing out mobs really easy early on, which is great!
I have mixed feelings about some characters just inserting themselves into your party but... i guess that's what save scumming is for.
The thing I do like is 'filling in the blanks' and creating character stories myself, so having a wide cast to recruit from is nice. Kinda wish there was a feature to write in character notes like what you can do in Srive 4 Power, but I feel like a lot of lazy ass, modern gamers wouldn't have the patience for that, though I guess that's less a 'modern gamer' problem and just a 'general gamer' problem... Ugh. Nobody can appreciate genuine roleplaying nowadays....
Though, this is why I do hope we get a party banter system, if for no other reason than to see how our party reacts to being blindly led around by our dumbasses. Like, Cephe... I just wanna hear her say more off the wall stuff that can be easily misunderstood.
Oh well, not a high priority, but yeah. I do plan to add in something like that myself for my own projects, but I have yet to find a kind of 'notepad' plugin to let players write in notes/character bios though.
Yeah, Cephe is great, I want to add more interactions between followers but I've just been wanting to add more things to do before doing it. Other than some interactions during some quests and everyone hanging out when you get the monster house property, there's not much in terms of the followers saying or acknowledging anything. The player speaking was something I wanted to add because when in other RPGs that have the PC never talk or react to anything, it feels more, I don't know, lifeless? Like when a NPC is talking to you for several minutes and the PC never says or acknowledges anything and the NPC never acts like it's weird that the person they are talking to isn't saying anything, to me is just odd. I definitely get where you're coming from though, if the PC doesn't ever interject or say anything then it allows you to fill in the blanks with how you would want them to have reacted. Maybe I'll try to have a middle ground and have dialogue options that affect the outcome of a chat. I'll have to have a poll or something later when the game is more popular to see what others would want to see. Believe me, if I didn't have to worry about how the player reacted and what they say it would be easier on me, so I'm all for it if that's what the audience wants.
I can change party members just inserting themselves into your party, I just left it so that some do because from a gameplay perspective there's no downside to having them, it's really just for roleplay. I was wanting to add a yandere character at some point, so they'll definitely just add themselves but that'll make it more impactful if it's the only time a follower does that. The next update is gonna have level requirements for most to have the option to recruit them. Some that also have starting classes will be obtainable from the start, but those that already have vocations, like Cephe being a Pyromancer, will require you to be level 10 before having the option to recruit them.
I'm sure you are among the minority of wanting to have a way to make notes in game, but a quick search did give a plugin that can be used for taking notes on an in game note pad. I don't know if there's a way to add a note to a characters bio directly with other plugins though, I feel like it could be done with VisuStella plugins but I don't know. There would need to be some way to bring up the text entry without it being for a characters name or entering a code.
Dialogue options would be a good midfle ground.
And I do understand ppl thinking silent MCs feeling 'lifeless', but I never personally felt that way bc they're supposed to be digital me, so I'm the one reacting... if that makes sense.
So, I actually like the more 'voiced' personality an MC has less compared to a silent MC.
SMT/Persona games have great examples of what I like most in MC expression myself
And yeah, take your time laying down your foundations before adding extras.
A yandere inserting herself would be great.... and hilarious if she banters with Cephe over the MC! I can see it now.
This game has a lot of potential. I genuinely mean that. It is incredibly early in it's development in terms of actual content. I'd say only the first peninsula is fleshed out in any meaningful way, but what's there is good.
It lays out the world building in a somewhat okay manner. I'd personally scrap the 'virtus' singular good and evil entity idea, and go for a more broad, generalized 'natural elements' style of description. Either that, or lean wholely into the Religion aspect, the way FF did with Altana the Goddess of Light, and her guardian Carbuncles. Things like that. It would probably be a better idea from a writing standpoint. It also takes the burden of showing us this Virtus, or placing a 'final boss', being the epitome of evil on the board away.
Ok, that's all I'll say on the story side, it's rough but it works... Now onto the combat.
While the class systems are good, and I can see a lot of room for growth, it does look fun, and I'm glad you added a class tree like this, I want to say the balance aspect is a problem. A swordsman character can learn Quadruple Slash, allowing them to deal 3000 or more damage in one turn, while a character who is the same level of another class can only dish out 500 if they're lucky. It's a scaling difference that comes with having two attacks, then multiplying that. I don't mind Quadruple Slash staying in the game, I love it, but I'd make it take 100 TP or something. There are other issues as well. My character was a Cryomancer, but all 3 of the cryo spells are...well, to put it bluntly, garbage. They do not do anything different from each other, they are not very powerful, and they don't seem to have a reason to exist when Unaligned Energy or whatever the second Unkindled spell is does better than them.
I'd rework how you approach spells in general, I thing it's fine for now, but a better way to structure this system is when you unlock a spell, it leads to other spells in that class tree.
A list, or page depicting this for each class would also be welcome, so players can browse each class' spell list and make an informed decision. Not just for their main character, but allies that join them. SO they don't need to make a save file 3 hours back, and reload, if they made a choice they disliked. A way to just see which classes are healers, which have spells they'd enjoy, that would solve the issue, and then the player that makes a bad decision, or regrets it can only be upset at themselves, and not the developer when the tools they needed existed.
Hm
Ok, that's enough about the combat...
My final issue is the quests...which I guess are fine. Having the person who gives you hints at the bar is a good thing. I'd add exclaamtion points to NPCs that have a quest, similar to how you did it in the Adventurer Guild. This would make it a little less tedious to talk to every npc to find hints on where to go. However, if you want the player to not be so jaded and blunt, or direct, then every NPC would need to have something interesting, or unique to say. Something that'd point them in a direction, and make the player feel callous or dumb for skipping talking to every npc.
I am the type of person who talks to every npc in a game, because i want to, but their existence should be meaningful to help suck the player in via immersion. Even if just for a moment.
Oh, also, the Tragedy in the well quest does not seem completeable. Not sure if that's intentional or just an oversight. There doesn't seem to be a way to scale up the walls to kill the last zombies. Also, while wandering around i discovered not only are the Cryomancer's skills broken, but so are the Heretics. His 'no encounter' spells do not work. The enemies still ambush you every 5 steps. Personally, I am a fan of the new age rpg system, where random encounters do not exist, and instead enemies appear as sprites you can bump into. This makes it the players' issue whether they want to grind or not. It also renders the no encounter spells non essential, unless you want to use them to make enemies not run at you anymore, which is also a valid tactic. I am talking about this here and not in the Combat paragraph, because walking from one end of a map to another with 3 encounters feels like a bit much, but without the ability to grind, it could also make leveling harder. Which goes to the question of Balance. Again, having the player be in charge of what they run into solves that issue, and lays the question of power scaling entirely at the player's feet. So if they enter a region and the enemy is too strong, they can avoid it to hunt for treasure, or grind earlier sections to get stronger, leaving you, the dev, free to think about other things.
I hope this game is actively receiving some love, I think it'll become great given enough attention and love. God bless you.
Well first off, Thanks you for taking the time to write such a long and detailed review. I appreciate it.
The story and idea is pretty bare right now since I'm trying to focus on adding areas and refining that content. I want to have more areas for story moments to take place in. I'll think about making the story sort of more religion focused, or at least having religious aspects. One thing I want in the story is for either good or evil to not be so black and white. Like not just the embodiment of good and evil but characters that are more mixed.
The Class balance is totally unbalanced, but I didn't have much time to test it out before releasing it either. Even while making the damage calculations I knew I'd need to go back and fix some things. I've already lowered the basic attack damage for almost every class since they just seemed too strong generally. The Cryomancer is supposed to be the weakest of the Diviners in terms of damage but yeah the skills could use some work in terms of variety or progression. I think in some cases I made some of the basic spells for the starting classes a bit strong, I'll look into making them feel more like a stepping stone into the real spells/skills.
The spells/skills are already structured so that once you fully learn a spell it unlocks a new stronger spell. I wanted to add a visual skill tree so you could see that but I couldn't find any plugin that worked the way I wanted. I might have to add an image showing the progression or something. But I agree, having a visual skill tree would be very helpful.
I can add a exclamation mark to quest important NPC's, though I don't know if there are that many. 'Quests' that Vic in the bar gives hints for aren't meant to be obvious or well known so stuff like that would still be unmarked but I should mark him. Followers should probably also be marked but I don't want it to be so obvious with an exclamation mark above them. I'll have to think about that.
The well quest I had to check because I forgot but you're supposed to stand on the water bubbles that blast water upwards. There should be a lightbulb icon over the bubbles that disappears when it forms the geyser and returns when it goes back to the bubbles. This is in the lowest level with all the lava by the way. So if that doesn't work then let me know, it used to at least.
I'll look into the no encounter/half encounter spells not working.
I'm also a fan of not having random encounters and instead encounters you can see. I do use encounters you can see in several areas but I think I should make it more consistent like dungeons and forest hideaways being where you can see the encounters but overworld type areas having random encounters. I'm not really sure what the percentage of people who like one over the other is. Maybe if I can't get the no/half encounter spells to work I'll just make it a toggle in the settings.
Thanks again for the suggestions and trying out the game, it gave me some things to think about, look into, and fix.