Working on Part 2 of my game

As the blog post states. :)

After a power outage a few days ago set me back about 2-3 man hours of work (by corrupting the game archive and forcing me to use an earlier backup to resume development), I've been hard at work making up the lost ground. I've got most of the enemies back online, as well as the game's second boss (which I hope will be as fun for you to face as I had fun creating them). In addition, I'm proud to say that I'm over halfway done with chapter 1 of Dryantia Part 2. Part 2 is going to have multiple chapters.

Each chapter will have at least one protagonist and may have several supporting characters. Supporting characters are only hitching a ride with the protagonist(s) until the chapter is done, at which time they'll go off to do their own thing. I expect the end-game party to have around 8 possible characters off of the top of my head.

In other news, I'm still working on minor details for the commercial release of Part 1 of Dryantia.

So, when will it be ready?
Whenever it's ready. :P

Seriously, a big part of making games for me is actually having fun and going at my own pace. I don't like to set deadlines because then I have to force myself to meet them. I prefer just to work at something until it's done and that's that. :D

In any case, that's about it from me for now. Hope you're all doing great! :D

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

Game Post 10 - Version 1.03e in the Forums and Other Things

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 *as written over at http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/blog/97/entry-542-game-post-10-version-103e-in-the-forums-and-other-things/ *

Long time no see, guys and girls! Hope you've all been great!

At my end, I've been busy at work doing lots of research for the commercial release of Part 1 of my game, Dryantia. I'm going to be taking the month of July to work all of the details out, whereupon I plan to release Version 1.04 as my first commercial release. I'm not really trying to set a certain date in stone since things happen. In any case, while I'm setting up shop, you can download version 1.03e for free in this very forum: http://forums.rpgmak...12467-dryantia/

Besides that, I've been tweaking Part 1 of Dryantia to make the mid-game less punishing, as noted by Matseb during his playthrough of the game. What happened was that, during one of my various test runs of the game, I decided that the exp curve was too flat (allowing players to cap with virtually no effort) and made it a little steeper. However, it turned out to be too steep while Lemnar was in his teens, making the Umbraloth fight nearly unbeatable at low levels (necessitating a ridiculous amount of grinding). So, I debuffed Umbraloth a bit and boosted the experience points that many of the monsters in the mid-game give. That should make that portion of the game more bearable (really, once you have your party members, many fights are much easier).

In addition, I've been fixing some minor bugs that have pretty much no effect on the game but were bugging (punny!) me (mainly word-wrapping issues in text boxes and stuff).

Part 2 of Dryantia is chugging along at a sloths pace since I want to concentrate on getting Part 1 out into the world proper before I really dig in to Part 2 (that and I'm in dire need of some custom graphics so I don't have like 7 placeholder battlers, which is starting to distract me to be honest. The good news here is that I have the first three dungeons completed as well as all of the creatures I have envisioned for said dungeons (with the sole exception of the third dungeon boss).

I don't have much more to add at this time, but feel free to ask questions in the comments section. :D

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

- Winterfate
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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

Fire Emblem: Awakening Unit Info Hubs Published at Hubpages!

Hello there! I realize I haven't posted in this blog in ages, but life sort of happened:

• Fire Emblem: Awakening was released in early February and I got myself a copy of the game, wrote up a review on it and have been writing hubs for each of the recruitable units, as well as one meta-hub for the child units.
• My oldest dog, a white with black spots chihuahua, passed away on February 20th, that is to say: three days before my birthday.
• Had to do my taxes.

Amidst all of that, I've been really busy getting these Fire Emblem: Awakening hubs out, and I really haven't had much energy to do much of anything else. In any case, I'm writing this up for those of you who follow this hub and are wondering whether I'm still alive (the answer being yes).

So, what else can I say?

• Almost done with Final Fantasy 4 DS. Bit peeved that a lot of the Augments require you to have given temporary party members Augments during their time in the party. Sounds counter-intuitive and punishes people that have pattern recognition as related to the FF franchise (stack most bonuses on the protagonist since the rest of the party can be variable).
• Pretty much stopped playing Pokemon Conquest. Can't be bothered to play it anymore as the gameplay is way too repetitive. A greater variety of missions and objectives would have greatly increased the game's replayability.
• Started playing Kingdom Hearts: ReCoded yesterday. For the small amount of time that I've been playing it, I have to say that I like it. We'll see if my opinion holds up during the next few days.
• Beat Path of Exile on Normal with a Tank Marauder build (you can see a fair amount of my tips for such a build by clicking on any part of this sentence). I have to say that I think Piety is a bit ridiculous in terms of overall DPS. I nearly died a few times and I have a lot of life, natural health regeneration through some passives, five health flasks, the healing totem (Rejuvenation?), and Enduring Cry to build up Endurance Charges. Of course, I'm sure some people would counter-argue that it is fine precisely because I didn't die, but it does make the game feel like it's more about clutch reflexes at times.

Not much else to say. I've done a lot gaming-wise, but I'm still not in the best mood, as you can probably imagine. No matter what some may say, dogs do become part of the family, and he will be sorely missed. Still, I'm still actively writing over at Hubpages, so feel free to drop by and leave some comments if you wish.

Thanks for reading.

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

-Winterfate

Pokemon Conquest Review up at Hubpages.com

Specifically, you can reach the review over at http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/Pokemon-Conquest-A-Review

To summarize the almost obscenely long review I wrote up over there, Pokemon Conquest is a spinoff title set in the region of Ransei, where Pokemon do not dwell in Poke Balls and there are no trainers either (they are Warriors). The game itself operates on an episodic nature where the protagonist of each separate episode has different objectives in mind (but most are usually: "conquer the other kingdoms").

You don't capture Pokemon: You Link with them. Each Warrior has a Perfect Link that represents the perfect Pokemon partner for that Warrior. In the tutorial protagonist's case, their PL is Eevee.

The combat is pretty simplistic for a strategy RPG, as all Pokemon only have one available move. Each move has its own attack radius. Some moves hit only one target. Others hit a tight clump of targets. Others yet hits a loose clump of targets.

In essence, if you're a strategy RPG fan or a Pokemon fan, this title is for you. Otherwise, you may want to get it a discount or give it a pass.

I'd write more, but my left thumb is killing me from all of the writing (space bar too strong). It's twitching on its own. :O

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

-Winterfate

New article up at Hubpages titled: Online Games: The Future of Gaming?

As the blog post title says, I have a new article up at Hubpages! Here's the link: http://winterfate.hubpages.com/_Winterfate/hub/Online-Games-The-Future-of-Gaming

Basically, I give my own personal reasons as to why online games are poised to become the future of video gaming (some would argue this is already the case!).

Also, I've been looking on the internet for ways to increase the traffic I get to this blog, to my Hubpages account and to my Twitter account. I'd like to say I've been getting positive results, but they've been mixed at best.

Also, since I can't help but mention it in every blog post: There's NINE DAYS left for the release of Fire Emblem: Awakening in North America (I'll be getting it in 10 days!). I think it goes without saying that you can expect me to write some articles about the game, given that I'm hyping so much about it. I also think it goes without saying that my priority is in actually playing the game and not writing about it. :P

So, I don't really have much else to report! Thanks for reading as usual!

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

-Winterfate

Path of Exile now in Open Beta!

For those of you in the crowd who haven't played a good action RPG in ages, Path of Exile may be for you. Developed by Grinding Gear Games (a New Zealand company), I feel PoE has the potential to dethrone Diablo 3 as the best ARPG of the world. Seriously, it has many features that Diablo 3 should have had, and people have been calling it a spiritual successor to Diablo 2 for quite a while. Here's some of the things that Path of Exile has that are unique among ARPGs:

• A passive skill tree with 1350 passive skills!
• A barter system for currency. You're not going to be grinding for gold. The items you grind for have inherent value since they can be used!
• Linked sockets and skill gems, meaning that your active skills are a function of the gems you have equipped, and support gems can modify said abilities. Contrast with nearly every other ARPG where classes get skills based on their job.
• Maps allow the player to create additional randomized dungeons with special enemies you won't be able to find in the main game.

I could go on, but you should check out my review at Hubpages: http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/Path-of-Exile-A-Review

If you're already playing Path of Exile, then perhaps you are better served by this link: http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/Path-of-Exile-Tips-and-Tricks-Helpful-Resources-for-the-Starting-Player

In any case, comments and feedback are appreciated!

In other news, 13 days until I can get Fire Emblem: Awakening! (12 days for the actual release; I'll be getting it a day late because of delivery/shipping date discrepancies in GameStop Puerto Rico...boo!)

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

-Winterfate

New article published at Hubpages: League of Legends (lol) - Tips and Tricks for Playing Vi

I wrote up a new hub related to League of Legends about a day ago. It is called League of Legends (lol) - Tips and Tricks for Playing Vi. As the name suggests, it talks about Vi and how you can use her to great effect. I haven't seen her get played as much as I expected (this in spite of the QoL buffs she got in the last patch to both her Q and her E), so I assumed it was because people didn't know what to expect with her. Hence, my new hub. http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/League-of-Legends-lol-Tips-and-Tricks-for-Playing-Vi

Besides that, I'm eagerly counting down the days until Fire Emblem: Awakening is released in North America. Ahh, the anxiety is killing me! If you haven't played the demo, go do so. It is so much better than Radiant Dawn that it is almost criminal. Although, to be fair, Radiant Dawn has gotten mixed reviews by many, so there is that as well. I'm still on the Endgame of the first arc of Radiant Dawn (there are four)...but Awakening had me hooked with just the demo! :o

So, that's about it from me for now. Go read that article I linked to if you're considering playing Vi and make sure to stay tuned! ;)

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

-Winterfate

Played the Fire Emblem: Awakening Demo!

Well, the demo technically came out on the 17th of January, but I hadn't had time to play it until yesterday. The demo contains the prologue and the first chapter of the full game, and you are forced to use the default avatar for your My Unit. In a curious choice, you are allowed to play on any of the game's three difficulties (Normal, Hard and Lunatic). I beat the demo on Normal, and then tried Lunatic for the sake of it. I'd just like to say that Lunatic is HARD. Brutally much so. The only saving grace is that you can play on Casual Mode (in fact, for the demo you have to), and there is no permadeath in Casual Mode. So, you can have certain units wall for your other units and get through the missions that way as well (even so, my best attempt on Lunaticwas me losing Chapter 1 on turn three). I'm predicting that the most hardcore players will have quite the monumental task ahead trying to do a Classic Lunatic run.

Besides that, I decided to write the first of (what I hope to be) many Fire Emblem: Awakening articles. You may be wondering what I could talk about when the game isn't even out in most of the world. Well, I can still give my own helpful tips and tricks on building your My Unit for the campaign that will await him/her next month. After all, Fire Emblem is a series with a relatively stable mechanics foundation, and a lot of them translate to this newest 3DS iteration.

So, please stop by at: http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/My-Unit-Tips-and-Tricks-for-Fire-Emblem-Awakening

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

-Winterfate

Free RPG Maker VX Ace e-book promotion done!

Well, let's see: 68 people grabbed my RPG Maker VX Ace e-book from Amazon.com and an assorted few from the other Amazon sites worldwide. It's not much in the grand scale of things, but it's a start.

Besides that, I cleared another episode of Pokemon Conquest! Only...28 more to go? O_o

OH GOD WHAT AM I DOING? :O

Seriously though, Pokemon Conquest becomes a trial of patience rather than skill if you take advantage of Ieyasu's episode to grind. Since his win objective is 100 obtained Pokemon, you can just grab all 17 kingdoms and grind. Grind as much as you like. Buy 5 (or more) of each Evolution item. Get a few Guardian Charms (oh yes, please, grab a few of those; I soloed a kingdom with a Samurott yesterday just because it had a Guardian Charm equipped).

I still have a hideous backlog of video games to get through and Fire Emblem: Awakening comes out on February 4th! AHH! :O

Anyway, thanks for reading, as usual.

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

Check out my first e-book for Kindle today!

As of the time of this post, I have no idea whether the promotion I lined up for my e-book will have started or not. What I do know is that, Monday, January 14 and Tuesday, January 15, you can get a free copy of my e-book "The RPG Maker VX Ace Help Guide for Beginners: Tips and Tricks You Can Use For Your Very Own RPG".

Just look at the left side of this blog to see the link!

Please feel free to grab a copy and let me know how I did! Knowing what you did right helps you build upon what you did for a second edition. Knowing what you did wrong will help you to fix said problems before you release a second edition!

In other news, I wrote up another article over at Hubpages. This one is about the top 5 champions for kill stealing in League of Legends. You might want to check it out even if that is not your inclination, as others around may be into KSing and you need to keep your guard up!

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

Learning How To Ruby for possible scripts in my game development

Well, hello there everyone! I got a book today in the mail called Beginning Ruby: From Novice to Professional. I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The information it contains is extremely concise and detailed, and is perfect even if you've never touched a programming language in your life. Of course, having a little previous knowledge never hurt anyone.

I'm currently looking over RPG Maker VX Ace's script database and seeing what kinds of things I'd like to add to my game. However, since the meat and bones of my game is already done, I don't anticipate adding too many scripted things. However, you never know. :)

Besides that, I started playing Pokemon Conquest a few days ago, and I have to say that it is pretty darn fun. It's like a lite-strategy RPG for those who don't want to risk the permadeath of Fire Emblem or don't want to spend a long time per quest like in Final Fantasy tactics.

Finally, I've launched my very own e-book for the Kindle related to RPG Maker VX Ace. It's for beginners who want to learn about ways to use RPG Maker VX Ace to do cool things without the use of scripting, so it's definitely not for everyone. However, if you're a beginner, I daresay it will help you out. I wish I knew most of the things I wrote in that e-book when I started!

Anyway, that's about it from me for now!

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

Games For Girls: A Video Game Debate

I recently wrote an article over at HubPages.com titled like the post. Basically, I wanted to touch upon the whole male/female imbalance when it comes to video games. Why do men discriminate against female gamers? Well, during the course of my article, I give my own point of view on the subject. Needless to say, that particular article has gotten a lot of traffic so far! It seems it is definitely a touchy, interesting, or annoying subject depending on who you ask.

Well, I'd like to hear your point of view on the whole situation. So, don't hesitate to visit http://winterfate.hubpages.com/hub/Games-For-Girls-A-Video-Game-Debate and comment today!

Feel free to comment here if you want to give me ideas for what articles I should write. What video games are you expecting for 2013? Let me know and maybe I'll write about them, ok?

Still alive, in case you cared...

So, it's been an awful long while since I've posted in this video game blog. How long, you may ask? Well, just look at the date of this post and then look at the date of the previous post.

To be fair, it's because life caught up with me. I was working at a job until recently and then I decided to quit. Wait, you may wonder, why would I quit a perfectly good job? Well, the job just wasn't doing it for me. I have numerous talents and my job wasn't allowing me to exploit any of them in a reasonable fashion. So, I left. To do what? Well, to do what I love to do: Write articles and continue developing my very own video game. I've kept mostly quiet about my game, as I want to have a nearly completed game before I start talking more about it. Also, I'm wondering whether to have a beta for the game or not.

Anyway, for those of you who have peeked in here every once in a while during 2012, you may have noticed that the little HubPages widget to the left and the one to the right have both been updating. Also, I've been trying to branch out into other categories of articles in an attempt to get more traffic for my writing. Results up to now have mostly been mixed.

What else can I say? Oh, I fell in love with Fire Emblem. Hadn't played any of them and decided to play Shadow Dragon a while ago. Pre-ordered Fire Emblem: Awakening, so you can look forward to some articles from me related to that game come February. Besides that, I've been playing Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, which is just as good as the original ever was.

That's about it from me for now. So, if you want me to actually maintain this blog for real, please give me comments. I feel like I'm talking to myself otherwise.

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