Just a quicky post here since I’m absolutely shattered! Have re-released Chapter One Demo (v1.7.1 – ABS) with the new ABS features as mentioned in a previous post. I’ve also updated the video and screenies sections, and will still be using the previous “known issues” page for the ABS demos problems and bugs, if anyone finds any bugs.
Hope you enjoy it! 😀
http://arcthunder.site40.net/en-sapphire-action-system-iv/
I’ve taken up Khas’ Sapphire ABS script and have gone back and am now retroactively converting DotI into an ABS game instead of encounters.
I’ve thrown up some quick shots on the Screeny page as well, and will be remaking the video once I’m finished converting chapter one into ABS.
“Why?” you ask, with such interest and enthusiasm like I’d hope you do.
Well, I’d be toiling with the idea from the beginning, but pushed it away because I had virtually no understanding of scripts or even VXA as a whole, and why I tried to do this on 2k3 years ago, it made me want to die. I’ve come back to the idea because I’m increasingly understanding the software, but also heavily because the quality of the finished product is paramount over my schedule. I don’t know when I’ll get it finished anyways, so if it takes a bit longer for me to redo some stuff, I’m okay with that if it improves the game.
So, why ABS for the game? Well, because being based off of a story that had all the characters separate and meeting up here and there, it was hard to create a party system for the game, I was having to create other characters that would be relevant and interesting enough to play, but be able to write them off as soon as the main character moves on. That’s fine for one or two situations, but for every single section of the game I feel it would become blatantly obvious that the story was not designed with the intention of big groups travelling around the world together. This way it allows the character to run around and do exactly as intended within the constraints of the story, without having to imagine up various other people to follow you around and act important for an hour.
The ABS also opens up some doors in terms of puzzles and dynamic/interesting dungeons that aren’t as readily available with encounters combat, and being a story-driven game I want sections of non-combat involved as well to allow the player to explore and treasure hunt. This is also a bonus by removing the tiresome transition between encounters and field and lets the player move more seamlessly between events and cutscenes, getting a better feel of the progression. Or at least I find it so.
As for the bosses, it allows me to make bosses that are hard without making them “the biggest badass in town” because teh story already has a set hierarchy of who is hardcore and who is flimsy, which falls to pieces when you have to make a boss hard just to keep up with the combat. ABS allows difficulty in the boss battle without ever specifically stating that the boss character themselves are actually stronger than you are.
There’s a number of reasons I feel this is the right path to go down, and after playtesting the first two areas (the Wildness and the Tunnels) I feel it’s drastically improved the game. The Chasm escape scene is now much more fun and challenging without becoming an issue of being transition-locked between constant battles. I was going to avoid it at first and maybe worry about it on a remake or split the game up into parts and ABS one of them, and any number of other avoidance plans, but I just couldn’t let it go once I started thinkin’ about what a benefit it could be. Luckily, the more I work on it, the more convinced I am that it’s an improvement on the game and that it definitely was the right choice; not to mention it’s oodles of fun to playtest!
I am so, completely, utterly looking forward to making up the Grimaldus battlefield scene again, as with ABS it’s going play/feel amazing, I do believe!
Exciting stuff! Have been trying to get a video put together now ever since I built up the Battlefield level with Grimaldus, but Fraps never accepted the _RT as a game to record. Fired away with Bandicam now and finally managed to get it running, and got a decent FPS rate with it too, so have picked out some of the more exciting scenes from Chapter One and even a clip from Chapter Two and thrown it all together in a sorta ad/trailer type video, just for anyone wanting a look at what’s involved without playing.
Unfortunately due to the want to keep the video succinct and fast-paced, I feel that the video’s slightly lost out on the story-driven aspect of the project, but I’m hoping it’s still just as good anyways. Truth be told, it was exciting enough to make just because it’s based around the cool battlefield level (which was just great fun to make) and Cloud_525’s absolutely rad BGM for it. Great fun!
Anyhoo! Go check it out!
Now! 😀
I’ll be leaving this post to cover any and all discovered bugs and issues with the ABS Re-release as I don’t plan on releasing and patched versions unless a severe, game breaking bug is discovered, and after going through several dry runs today, I’m fairly confident there should be none of that. This will just be covering other issues so you can look through and see what bugs you may encounter, or add to the list if you find one. Will also help me keep up to date on what I need to fix. Hopefully this list will be fairly small by the time Chapter Two is out 🙂
I’ll mention if each issue has been fixed or not, but these fixes won’t be patched into the current version unless there’s something massive. Assuming the issues remain superficial I’ll just fix them now and they’ll be sorted by the time the next Demo is released
Download the Demo via Mediafire here and play now! 🙂 (link for known issues post at the bottom)
http://www.mediafire.com/?3m05nrxskgs2ycn
Chapter One Demo is now out, after spending the whole day going over it with a fine-tooth to clear out as many bugs as possible and add in as much polish as I could manage before I KO’d! 😀
Chapter One includes:
As for Chapter Two, it’ll be the same theme but the intention is to free the reigns a bit. Chapter one has been heavily story driven with a lot of compulsory cutscenes, but chapter two will finally open up the open-world view a bit more, giving you access for a choice of quests and missions and a bit of “you time” before blasting back into the thick of the story. Although what happens in chapter two may appear as a break from the intense War story, it’s actually more relevant than any of the characters might have guessed at first! Dum dum dummmm!
There will also be more of Khas’ cool lighting script and a bit more focus on puzzle dungeons rather than just mob-fests, as well as a bigger, happier hub area. So far, I’m pretty excited about it!
Finally, if there’s any bugs, discrepancies, problems or even just “it’s crap”nesses about the Chapter One demo, do let me know so I can get around to fixing it! I’ve made a separate post for Known Issues to list out such problems. Anyhoo, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Context changes a lot of things, I believe. It’s a heavy basis of how the story of DotI came around, knowing that something that comes across as irrefutably evil and wrong can be seen in a completely different light, given the right circumstances. The story is about people who change their stories, hidden figures, deceit, disguise and mystery, all the things that cloud judgement and cloak context, making the true nature of any one event hard to read. To add onto that, the characters all have ambiguous natures and goals; it’s never exactly certain what they’re thinking or why they’re doing this, and I’m trying to bleed that into the story from the start; giving a very one-sided, flat concept, then throwing some ambiguity at it to create that speckle of doubt about it.
It’s the “Dance” of Immortals because nothing is just a straight line, no one is just a mug shot, nothing’s that simple. Everything is in constant motion, the characters are all moving around and changing their minds and having secret agendas… it’s more like a dance: looking at it in pieces and short segments looks like people just falling around aimlessly, but from my side, when you know what’s happening with everything at once, it’s more of a dance, more flowing than that. Everyone’s going to where they’re supposed to be, but they’re not just walking there in a fashion that makes it simple to uncover from just looking at a step at a time. Question really is; which one of them is who they appear to be? Which one of them is actually evil? Any at all? Everyone
As an example, Chapter One introduces the Imperials fairly strongly. They’re our bad guys, they’re destroying an innocent archipelago full of innocent folk. Take that one piece of information and we have a typically “evil empire” scenario. But that’s too boring, too cliche, no? So we throw in a few curve balls at their story. There’s a few cutscenes on the island as you run around as Kata, each tossing out some other viewpoints. Then at the end of the chapter they’re brought up again and once more you get a different question about their motives.
I believe that context can change the world; had my fair share of being judged and abused based on one snippet of information taken out of context and it happens a lot. People have a habit of seeing one side of things and accepting that as the raw truth, forgetting that everything is three dimensional and has different viewpoints. I’m trying, I’m hoping, that I can bring that sense of context into this game, and really encourage the idea that you need to focus on more than just what you see at first.
So far the Demos have been just smaller updates of the previous ones. I’ve only got the three important ones listed within the version history as they have the greatest changes; from the 2k3 alpha, to the VXA transfer, then the update with various scripts and style changes, that basically changed the whole flow of the game. For the fourth demo I’ve been waiting for a more significant milestone, and the end of Chapter one seems like the way to go. Some notes on what to expect in the Demo are at the bottom. I plan on taking a bit longer to really polish up the first chapter and make sure it has as few bugs and problems as possible so it’s the top of its game, allowing me to leave a fair time till the next demo.
I’ve focussed on balancing much of the enemies, making them easier within the Hideout so that they don’t tear you apart as soon as you start, but progress smoothly from therein. Skills have been balanced slightly and much more have been added in, now giving every character two sub-skill types and access to skills therein at different levels, keeping the classes varied and different from each other. This as well as parameter changes and stat balances I think I have the two classes nice and equal, for all intents and purposes. I’ve also been going over and polishing up odds and ends, fixing bugs and trying to make everything look cleaner, as well as bringing in random chats for NPCs and making the areas feel a bit “fuller”. Also added in lots more items and weapons.
The rest of chapter one also includes a mini stealth level that has no combat and is mainly about timing to dodge the guards watch, and a heated battlefield area with a much higher level character. The story advances a fair amount as well, and introducing plenty more questions about what’s going down in later chapters and preparing for the stage of the game where you get a bit more freedom.
Chapter Two will start off with more freedom in the game, giving you some open-choices and versatility rather than locking you down into a linear path, although it has to be kept in mind that the game is reliant on the story being played out, so freedom does come with some restrictions.
By the end of the Demo, you’ll receive a code that will unlock some more character costumes and another class to playtest the game again with, giving you some replay value for the first chapter, although this won’t much affect the sections where you don’t play as your main character. There’s also some other character costumes that can be unlocked and discovered; the unlockables are all logic based and can be guessed, and the hidden ones just take a bit of exploration. There will be more and more costumes being added to the selection as I advance the game, as well as classes.
What’s in the upcoming Chapter One Demo, you ask?
So, I first had my project listed only on one forum, hoping for some critique, inspiration, suggestions, advice etc (and aye, just that wee bit of gratification, who doesnae?) but upon realising the forum was relatively dead compared to when I first joined some years ago, I moved up, listed the game and my thread across a couple of other forums. Then realised that updating it in even the slightest was a total hassle, having to do it three times and taking so, so much longer.
So! I’m bringing everything together into a central hub, where I can make all the updates, blether and everything I’d like without having to triple up or spam posts and feel like I’m double/triple postin’ out the ass.
I’ve put all the main details stuff in the Game Details link at the top, including the blurb, a wee “about me” section, features of the game and then another area to cover screenies, links to demos (with version history) and videos when I can get one made. The rest of the posts will just be my blether about the project, and/or updates and monologues! 🙂
Dance of the Immortals 