(Taken from http://www.wiztower.com)

I’m back to blogging after an absurdly long hiatus! I’m excited to announce the release of my old-school cyberpunk role-playing game (RPG), The Prototype. This game is the product of curiosity and an unexpected burst of creativity. I built it using a tool called RPG Maker, which I’ve owned—an older version of—for many years. It’s a fantastic tool because it provides a complete game template, including built-in graphics, sounds, monsters, spells, and more.

However, this abundance of content and the ease of getting started come with a downside. Because the barriers to entry are so low, many mediocre games have been made using RPG Maker’s default assets, creating a bit of a stigma around games built with the tool. I wanted to challenge myself to break away from the default fantasy theme and create something entirely original. Inspired by my recent deep dive into Cyberpunk 2077, I decided to go all-in on the cyberpunk genre.

Bringing my vision to life, though, took time. I initially dabbled with RPG Maker’s latest version, which was quite different from the one I was used to. Without getting too deep into the technical details, doing anything truly impressive in RPG Maker often requires third-party plugins. I had never used them before, so there was a learning curve. While RPG Maker makes game development more accessible by reducing the need for coding, it also imposes constraints on how things can be built. You can’t always just write custom code—you have to work within the RPG Maker “ecosystem.”

After many hours, I managed to implement most of my original vision for the game. Is the story a groundbreaking work of cyberpunk fiction? Definitely not. It’s a game first and foremost, and I took a minimalist approach to storytelling, leaning on the player’s familiarity with the genre’s tropes. That said, the game does offer choices—and multiple endings!

One topic that interests me is the use of generative AI in game development. For better or worse, I relied on AI to generate much of the artwork in The Prototype. The game also features a lot of licensed artwork from some incredibly talented human creators (see the Credits page). As someone with limited artistic ability, I find generative AI to be an invaluable accelerator for creative projects—especially in game development. Given my use of AI, making the game free felt like the obvious choice.

I hope players enjoy The Prototype as much as I enjoyed making it. Thanks for reading!