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Friday catblogging – Love & Order preview

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In the picture above, my cat Batman taking some time off! 😀

But I have no time to rest since this week lots happened! As you already know if you follow my twitter or read my forums, the Beta version 0.85 of my sci-fi RPG Planet Stronghold was released. So far seems people only found typos/grammar error which is good. The game has some problems running on some netbooks (I think those that have the Intel integrated videcard), so be sure to play the full demo before buying it. If you can play the game until the end of demo, you can be sure everything will work on your system.

I’ve also made a video below that highlight the new important changes of the new “aggro” system during battles:

But this week I also started testing heavily the otome/dating sim game Love & Order made in partnership with Christine Love (you might remember playing a famous game from her, Digital: A Love Story). The game puts you in the role of Dana Larose, a young secretary working for the Crown Attorney. The office setting means she’ll have several project to complete for each of the characters, that will build up the relationship with them. When things starts to go well, you might end up dating one of them and unlock one of the various endings. There’s also a mystery (a unsolved case that is not what it seems…) that the player can also personally pursue (though it’s optional).

Obviously being an alpha version it is still rough, many bugs are already squashed and this weekend I’m testing it even more. The game script is finished, and we should get new map art and the special CG scenes very soon (hopefully before end of the month), so I can say that in the end this game might even be released BEFORE Planet Stronghold! 🙂

As often happens, because something goes always wrong during game development (artists delaying, complex bug to solve, real-life problems) is almost impossible to set a fixed deadline for a game, so the solution I found is to start several games, so at least one of them gets finished! In the video below, I’m showing a short example of the kind of gameplay that you can expect in Love & Order:

That’s it for this friday. Have a nice weekend everyone: I know I will since I’ll be playing / testing this game! 8)

Friday catblogging – Planet Stronghold alpha 0.85 featuring “aggro”

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In the picture above, Othello and Grillo showing a good example of what is “aggro” 😀

If you look in Wikipedia the term “aggro”, you find the following definition:

Hate, aggro, or threat is a mechanism used in many MMORPGs as well as some RPGs by which non-playing characters (NPCs; such as mobs) prioritize which players to attack. Players who generate the most hate (gain the most aggro) on an NPC will be preferentially attacked by that NPC.

This is what I added to Planet Stronghold 0.85 BETA (yes I can finally start to call it Beta!) and it completely changed the game battles (in a good way). Already introducing different attack types made quite a difference in the past, but this change has a really MAJOR impact on gameplay. Before, enemies would just pick a random opponent, making battles a bit of a mess, since no real defensive plan could be made.

It was a simple gamedesign mistake, really. Even a seasoned game designer like me (well, 20+ games released… I think I can call me like that? hehe) sometimes make them. To be honest, is also because I was coding this damn battle engine since december 2009 and was eager to get the game out, so I didn’t pay too much attention to such “details” (which are etremely important though, the famed “polish”).

To make a game fun, you need to have a clear goal and have cause-effect game mechanics. The aggro does exactly that. Now, you can still use Harm psionic at maximum concentration and do even 90hp of damage the first turn of battle, but then your poor psionic aggro value will skyrocket and you bet that when it’s enemies turn, they’ll massacre him/her 😀

So, now you have to do like in many MMORPG (Everquest, WoW, etc), that is have a hero that is a “tank”. A tank is a party character that usually has very high HP and / or armor/resistances to damage. Use the Burst attack option, which now has the real purpose of catching enemy’s attention (sort of Taunt in normal fantasy RPGs), to raise your tank aggro, then use psionics to buff / heal him, and use scouts to silently “take out the enemies from distance”.

I think the battles now are very fun, especially when you fight with the full party, because even if what you have to do is clear, is NOT that easy. Sometimes your tank might be running out of HP, so another class with good HP like Guardian could try to get the aggro temporarily, while your psionic healers restore the tank full health, and so on. The possibilities are really many, but now knowing that the enemies will MOSTLY (not 100%, since some enemies have class-specific special attacks) attack a specific hero with the highest aggro value adds a completely new dimension to the gameplay.

Beside the aggro system I’ve been working on the romance subplots only, so no new main plot advancement in this version. Though I’ve added many hidden things, like Bellamy that can produce grenades (one-use items that hit all enemies!) and Rumi produces lifegivers (resurrects KO heroes). Medikit now will “scale” based on your character level (higher than 6 you’ll ged medikit and ultimate medikits that restore bigger amount of HP). More weapons including some energy based sniper rifles, and many bugfixes. Another big addition is the training screen:

You’ll access it by visiting Rebecca, and lets you train by 1 four skills of any character, but each training attempt consumes Colony Energy that refills only when you complete quests, to guarantee players won’t abuse it 😉 Also the attempts are shared by the party, so you can train max 5 times at time, not 5 times each hero. I think is particularly useful to train in non-combat skills that can be useful in many quests.

So you might ask, where are the download links?? Well, I was hoping to have the version ready by today, but have still a few romance subplot to finish, and I want to have them all done (not proofreaded though!) so people can already see the beautiful special CGs when you finish some of the endings (and perhaps report plot bugs!).

It should be out this weekend though, so keep following my twitter or game forums to know when the version 0.85 will be out! 8)

Friday catblogging – Romance in RPGs

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In the picture above, my cat Orpheus in front of my old home window.

This week I’ve been writing all the various romance/friendship subplots for my upcoming RPG game Planet Stronghold. I have finished 4 out of 10 possible subplots. The romanceable character are 6 in total, but the other 4 can still provide informations on their background and reward you with some powerful item/bonuses. Almost every subplot also triggers a quest, that will reward you with their permanent friendship and/or romance (if is the right gender/character combination).

I was dubious if to list the possible combinations, but since people will find out sooner or later and post them in forums anyway, here it is:

Playing as Lisa: Tom, Damien & Michelle (homo)
Playing as Joshua: Rebecca, Rumi & Prince Cliff (homo)

Yesterday wrote the Joshua/Cliff one and was fun, first time ever I write a yaoi romance subplot 😀

My plan is to finish writing all the subplots by next week (I currently do 1 a day also because there is an associated quest to do). So by the 15th I should have version 0.85 out, which would have all the romance subplot (unproofreaded though). By end of January I should have version 0.9 which would be the complete, finished game, with unproofreaded texts and some possible minor bugs. Then the final step would be a version 1.0 somewhere in February once I fix all the remaining bugs and get finished texts and missing voices.

I’m going to write a postmortem about the game once is finished, since took me so long! Is my biggest Ren’Py project to date 🙂 And now for something new, look the image below:

That charming girl is a part of a new project that will start this year, alongside many others. She is Joanne, 30 years old, very powerful magician and renowned thief! The game will feature three sisters that during the day work in a shop run by their father Sambo, but during the night they become thieves and steal stuff from the noblemen ! (reminds me of someone). Note that her left arm weird pose is because she can hold several different staves 😀

That’s all I can say for now. The game will be a mix of a RPG, strategy, simulation and otome game! Stay tuned for more info, even if the estimate release date is Christmas 2011 😉

Why making RPGs is so hard?

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Good RPGs are few. Probably are the kind of genre where there are less games available. Note that I’m not talking about hack’n’slash RPGs, or “simple” RPGs. But story-based RPGs with lots of gameplay rules and many dialog choices and ethical / moral decisions.
It’s hard to write interesting dialogues that aren’t banal (and for a non-english speaker like me, is even more difficult!). In the screenshot above, Rumi Kai poses a good question to the player: she struggles between her interest in medicine and healing, and her innate destructive powers. She asks herself what is more honorable: to harm, or to heal?

That is an example from the various romance subplot I’m currently writing right now for my sci-fi RPG game “Planet Stronghold” which should be out at end of this month (with another beta 0.9 release around mid-January).

Dialogues and story apart, another aspect why RPGs are so hard to come by is gameplay balancing. I tested this game more than any other game I’ve ever made. Partly because it’s fun (so that’s a good sign!) and partly because every update, I regularly unbalanced the game 🙁

How this can happen? Easily, I’ll make you an example. The Psionic Power “Harm” at high level can do a lot of damage. Like even 100hp of damage. This would mean that some monsters could be killed with one attempt! That was bad for gameplay balancing of course, so I raised the Psionic Points cost (think of it like if is Mana in fantasy RPGs). Problem is that a few weeks later, I realized that even with higher mana cost, if you had two Psionics you could still do 200hp of damage even to boss enemies! A boss that can be defeated so easily with just two hits would make the game a bit ridiculous 😀

So, my idea was to introduce enemy evasion bonus. Some enemy have a very high evasion value, that doesn’t apply only to avoiding weapon shots but also Psionic Powers. So before the Harm would always hit the target. Instead now you could miss the enemy, and since every attempt costs high amount of PP, that would balance the game well. The problem was that I forgot to lower the PP cost, making the game insanely difficult to play!

This is just an example of how two small changes would affect the whole game! So, if you make a RPG, everytime you introduce a game/ruleset change, think about all possible secondary effects otherwise you’ll start hear (rightful) complains from people in your forums 😉

Friday catblogging – Happy New Year

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Gilda in a basket in the bathroom of my old home. Because we have so many cats, we never had a decorated Christmas Tree, otherwise would be instantly destroyed… 🙂

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! I have released Planet Stronghold alpha 0.8, which features lot of new content! If you’re interested in trying the demo or buying the game please visit the game website.

Then, a quick update on what you can expect in the next months:

Role Playing Games

Beside Planet Stronghold, which will be finished at end of January 2011, I plan to start 2-3 more RPGs. I love RPGs and I always wanted to make them, but in the past I was lacking proper funds and/or technical knowledge to make decent ones. Now, using Planet Stronghold RPG framework I can expand it and create new RPGs. Most of them will be in fantasy setting though, since it’s the most common/popular one (unless Planet Stronghold is so successful that convinces me to make add-on/sequels). I have already a good collaborator of mine who is starting creating the main game plot, character sketches, and so on. Another one should start hopefully in next months, and I want to do another myself as well. So the 2011 will be surely full of RPGs!

Adventure Games

I am still in love with my character of Vera Blanc, despite the first two episodes not being really topsellers. As I posted several times if I make a third episode, it will be an adventure (first person) and not a visual novel, since the adventure style integrates better with that kind of game. I have already a plot for the story, but since it requires lot of money, it’s still a risky decision, so if I make it, won’t be before next summer, or even later during Fall/Winter of 2011.

Visual Novels / Dating Sims

Of course I’ll keep making them! Flower Shop 2 release is really close, is just a matter of few months. But since is tied to external factors (artists finishing some pieces) I won’t dare to name a date for it. Instead I can already say that very likely the otome game “Remember Me” will be ready around February/March 2011, since the plot is completely written and need only to code the “simulation part” of it and do testing/balancing. Depending how my other projects go, I could make more VN/Dating Sims, but they’ll be mixed with simulation games.

Strategy / Simulation Games

In 2011 perhaps I will finally release the sequel of Spirited Heart. I have yet to start coding it though, so is probably more accurate to say that in 2011 I’ll begin coding it, which is a bit different. It won’t be ready probably before 2012, also because I have in mind some online-features (probably optional) that could improve the gameplay a lot, so I am not sure yet I’ll use Ren’Py to code this one.
There will be for sure more strategy/simulation games coming in 2011 though. A remake of my game Universal Boxing Manager, this time with the fights completlely in 3d realtime, is under production! Is made in partnership with a good 3d coder who is going to use Unity3d to power the 3d simulation. It’s probably my biggest/most ambitious game to date and the 2011 will be mainly focused on it. I hope will do well since I’d like to port more of my old games into 3d or start new ones.
As I said I might also find the time to do a sort of light-strategy/time management game based on Heileen settings. In particular, Heileen 2 settings (pirates, the caribbean). The game could be played as normal strategy game or with visual novel cut-scenes (they’ll be optional). This will be a sort of experiment since I am not sure if/when I’ll finish it. Let’s say I’ll work on it on my spare time and when it’s done, is done 🙂

Online Games

Almost every year I say “next year I’ll make one”. So, this time I won’t say it! But, I would like to try making one, even if I am not sure I’ll find the time…or better, if I’ll find the right person, since I’m probably going to outsource the coding (will be most likely done in Flash or HTML5). Or if the new interesting BRL:monkey project from Mark Sibly (creator of Blitzmax) gets released, I might use that and do everything myself.

So in conclusion, looks like the 2011 will be a year full of new releases! Happy New Year again!!