Game Post 5 - Dryantia Character Concepts and Other Things [spoilers]

Hello there again!

As promised in my previous blog entry, it's time to talk a bit about the character concepts of each of the four characters that make up your completed party in Dryantia. Below here be spoilers if you haven't played the beta, so please do that first.

(You can download the first beta build of Dryantia over at: https://www.dropbox....tia [BETA1].exe)

Well, then, ready to read up on character concepts and other things?

Protagonist - Lemnar
When I created Lemnar, I decided I wanted a young man in his early to mid 20's to be the protagonist. I'll humor the idea of having a minor as the protagonist some other time. :P

Lemnar would not be a spellcaster (Weaver as they are known in the world of Dryantia) but would have access to one or two spells (Sitvas) that would allow him to buff himself in his role as a Warrior. As a Warrior, he has access to every melee weapon type in the game (Swords, Spears and Axes) and gets special Weapon Skills starting at Level 10 for them. Being a martial class, Lemnar has access to heavy armor, which grants a large amount of DEF, but lesser amounts of SDF (Sitva Defense).

For his TP skills, I gave Lemnar a heal that also buffs ATK and DEF and a strong attack that heals for the damage it deals.

Old Companion - Morlar
If Lemnar is the brains of the party, then Morlar is the brawn. Unable to use any type of Sitva, Morlar's few skills revolve around forcing enemies to attack him and causing his TP bar to rise automatically. He's the voice of experience of the party and is in his mid to late 50's.

Suggestions would be much appreciated for what his TP skills should be. Two of his TP skills are just buffed attacks, while the third is a guaranteed 100 damage. Definitely useful against bosses and high Defense enemies.

Restless Weaver - Aralei
Aralei is the youngest member of the party, aged at her young 20's. She is the party's first spellcaster (and the only one for most of the game). She uses Water-based Sitvas to heal allies, buff ally Defense, debuff attack, and even resurrect dead allies. In addition, she can use offensive Water-based Sitvas as well. Ice Sitvas have a chance to chill (lasts 1 turn) or freeze (lasts 1-2 turns) their target.

Her first special skill is Clarity, which doubles her SAT for five turns. Her second skill is Respite, which restores half of Aralei's maximum SP over four turns (+13% Maximum SP regeneration per turn).

Suggestions for TP skills are much appreciated.

Mysterious Mystic - Elara

(Yes, she does join late-game, but she is actually optional for this game, given the binary branching of the last third of the quest).

Elara serves as a sort of middle-ground between Lemnar and Morlar. She has more adventuring experience and know-how than Lemnar, but less than Morlar. She is in her late 20's to early 30's (I'm thinking 26-28ish).

Mystics in Dryantia are Weavers that can use both Fire and Water Sitvas. Given that Fire and Water offer almost opposing benefits from a defensive standpoint, Elara has a great spread of things she can do. She can boost the attack (Fire) and defense (Water) of all allies, as well as debuff said stats on the enemy as well.

The one TP skill that I've figured out for Elara is Refresh, which recovers her SP dependant on how much TP she has before using it.

So, how can you help?

Well, it's pretty simple. Basically, I wanted each character to have 3 TP skills (one at start, a second earned at 10, and the last one gained at 20). As you can probably gleam from the concepts written above, I don't really have that for any of the characters. I've seriously considered scrapping the TP system for this game given how little I actually use it, but then where would Morlar be (since he doesn't have SP at all)?

While you think about that, here's one other thing that I could use suggestions on, related to the beta, and unrelated to the character concepts above:

• There's a pair of optional bosses that you can fight called Emberdawn and Duskflame. They tell the player that they will grant them their power if they can beat the twin flames in battle. The thing is, what are Emberdawn and Duskflame really? I don't want them to be swords, because there's way too many swords in the game as is. Having other weapons would be slightly random. Maybe it's a stat boost. But stat boosts are kind of generic for such a thing. I was thinking of them being a pair of offensive Fire Sitva, but that means that Elara gets to have all of the fun. If I can't come up with something, I'll just reword their conversation to something a little less...obligating, I suppose.

As thanks for reading through all of this, here's a screenshot:



This is a pic of the first floor of the first dungeon the player will be exploring in Dryantia Part 2. The game is still in the planning stage as I want to finish the first part before I do much else, but I've been taking some time to map out possible areas and plotlines for the second part. It is my hope and dream to make Dryantia Part 2 an awesome and filling adventure that people will be talking about for years to come. Of course, for that, I'll need custom assets and scripts and other such things. However, baby steps. ;)

Thanks again for reading!
Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)
-Winterfate

Beta version of my game now available for playtesting!

I wrote this up over at: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/blog/97/entry-487-game-post-4-dryantia-beta-1/

However, for the benefit of those of you who haven't signed up to that site, here it is in full.

Well, hello there guys and girls! It's time for me to release the first beta of my game, Dryantia (well, roughly 97% beta and 3% alpha if you want to get technical). This is the full game in a playable state (to the best of my knowledge, given that I've play-tested it a few times). As you may expect from a game in beta, things can change, so don't hesitate to recommend changes you believe would improve the game.

You can download the beta from Dropbox by clicking on any part of this sentence.

I estimate that the game will last you about six to seven hours if you do everything there is to do and about five hours if you speed run. In the spirit of old-school RPGs, there are a myriad of little things that you can discover by experimenting with certain items in certain areas. Also, talking to everyone and exploring all possible locations might make things easier in the long run as well.

On that note, you might not want to eat the first piece of Meat you find in the game (as it may serve a greater purpose if you give it to someone rather than eating it; that's my free tip of Dryantia for the day). ;)

For those of you who played the demo version of this game before the beta, here are the things that change from here to there in the first portion of the game available in the demo:

• There's now an invisible plot wall to the east of Verim. You can bypass it once you talk to the king in Clorant.
• Inner Tlafta Forest (the part after the maze) has been reworked to be somewhat more linear, a lot more lively looking, and have more chests.
• The introduction sequence ends with you warping into the library directly instead of having to walk there.

So, how can you help out?

• Play the beta.
• Let me know what things work and what things don't work so well.
• Definitely let me know if there are any critical bugs in the game (they cause the game to crash, hang, or otherwise freeze, or make the game unwinnable).
• Make particular note of the later areas. The balance there is almost assuredly off, but I need your help to figure out whether said deviation benefits the player or the enemy encounters.

Essentially, the more feedback you can give me, the more information I have to work with. Rest assured that I read all of the comments and such that you write and that I take them into consideration (whether I end up using them or not).

Thanks in advance for your time and help!

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate