Dead Content [9MM][DEMO] Arias Lust

[Jstreet]

(Threading being repaired...)
Panda's project picks:
Memento Vivere
Ethereal Dreams
Quintessence: The Blighted Venom
Legend of Aetheria

http://www.gpp-9mm.com/althread/threadpic01.png[/img]
http://www.gpp-9mm.com/althread/threadpic02.png[/img]

Spoiler: Credits

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Writing and Directing:
Jeremy Brown
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Sprite Artists:
Jeremy Brown
Pickle
Nix
Rye
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Tile Set Artist:
Jeremy Brown
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Character Artists:
Jeremy Brown
Mac
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Composers:
Jeremy Brown
Danny Sanchez
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Programmers:
Jeremy Brown
Ccoa
Prexus
Trickster
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Special Thanks:
Anaryu
Raiju
Trickster
Rye
Eiji
Former GPP Members
UzumakiShade
Q-Man
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Spoiler: Misc. Game Information

Screen shot page.
Official Strategy Guide
Lo-Fi Version Thread @ Mactopia

 

[Afro Samurai]

I played it and beat it after looking at FAQ. Lol.

It keeps me wondering what will I see next.
Will we be able to fight that mysterious woman Malize?
Will we discover the dark past of Dox?(lol)

It makes me want to play more and more. It just proves that if you sold this, you'd become macmillionaire!

 

[That Guy]

downloading now... time to see if I like Blood Rose or this better. =)

WAIT! It's .rar... I don't know how to open those ='O

 

[Jstreet]

I changed it over to ZIP format. I didn't realize that I had uploaded as a rar to begin with.

Dark past? O.o I wonder if we will discover this past.

 

[DJ Jack]

Good to see you finally finished that Alpha Demo. Gonna take a quick play. =)

 

[That Guy]

I can't see any of the text...

 

[Volrath]

Check if there is a font in the game's folder. If so, you'll have to install it. To install it, drag and drop it into the: "C:\Windows\Fonts" folder.

I'll check this out before too long, but since it's Oscar night probably not until next week. I'll return with thoughts.

 

[Anaryu]

It was a pretty cool demo; the style seems heavily pillow-shaded, but after a few minutes I was used to the new style, and it's good that the sprites and tilesets match each other. Perhaps this will be one of the first non-RTP styled games to go far?

On the combat; I'm having the same problem I'm having in Blood Rose; the HP stat is pretty low, and enemies do a dangerous amount of damage, but you don't really provide enough items/skills to make up for the difference. Beating the two sentries required that I use my least efficient attack (the 4 Eng one) because otherwise all the guarding I had to do to get my Stamina back got me killed. I ended up with about 4 VIT and 3 ENG or so at the end; with enough items to get me through another fight with a single sentry, but not two again.

The system of bringing people right to the brink of death in each fight is a good one IF you provide a painless way for them to recover to nearly full after each fight. In Blood Rose I was having the same problem with the forest, I'm assuming it was designed not for me to level up on the fights, but instead for me to avoid them... with only about 5 healing items I can't get in more than a few fights before I literally WILL die in the next fight naturally... and that's with the extra powerful weapon.

The Stamina idea mixed with the weapon skills, etc, makes for a potentially really fun battle system, but having to guard to get that stamina back is pretty brutal. You might want to look into regening like 1 stamina naturally each turn to make the Guard feature useful but not a constant necessity.

Other than that it was very good and looks like it'd be a lot of fun to play on more than just the super short demo you have out now.

 

[Jstreet]

I noticed that battle system problem when Rye pointed out that she kept dying. So I asked her how she was fighting the soldiers and came to find out that it was basically impossible to beat them any other way. This demo will probably be the hardest version of the game. The battle system wasn't really designed around one character with that weak of stats and resources.

In the future release, you'll have more stamina points at your disposal, more health, more characters (of course), and more attack - defend resources. Now giving all these to the player does not warrant you drain your stamina to zero, because you'll still have to resort to defending in order to replenish your stamina, but I think I'll give a 2 point replenish rate, instead of rebuilding by one. Do you think that will help?

I hope to it goes far, I'm trying to stay a step ahead of myself, with the graphical work. Most of the graphic work for an hour long demo is done, but there still a lot of eventing and mapping that will need to go underway.

Thanks for the feedback! Outlaw City and Kinetic Phase were two of the major influences for the game, so another thank you for helping inspire me. ^^

 

[Anaryu]

I noticed that battle system problem when Rye pointed out that she kept dying. So I asked her how she was fighting the soldiers and came to find out that it was basically impossible to beat them any other way. This demo will probably be the hardest version of the game. The battle system wasn't really designed around one character with that weak of stats and resources.

In the future release, you'll have more stamina points at your disposal, more health, more characters (of course), and more attack - defend resources. Now giving all these to the player does not warrant you drain your stamina to zero, because you'll still have to resort to defending in order to replenish your stamina, but I think I'll give a 2 point replenish rate, instead of rebuilding by one. Do you think that will help?

I hope to it goes far, I'm trying to stay a step ahead of myself, with the graphical work. Most of the graphic work for an hour long demo is done, but there still a lot of eventing and mapping that will need to go underway.

Thanks for the feedback! Outlaw City and Kinetic Phase were two of the major influences for the game, so another thank you for helping inspire me. ^^

Increasing the Stamina regen would certainly help; but if you want to make Defend a staple command you might want consider having another pro to using it, maybe like a small health regen; otherwise you're giving your turn just to take less damage to fight back.

Also, what happens when you have multiple characters and they defend? Will any character defending regain stamina? Is stamina a per-person thing? Those are going to have a huge influence on combat, especially Stamina if stamina is a pool value or a single-person value.

Another function to keep in mind is your Eng. value; is it really worth keeping? Or should you turn Eng into Stamina and and come up with a different way to determine a cost to using more powerful skills; higher stamina cost, limited uses, etc.

It's got some serious potential, and it was a fight that I had to figure out, which means there's at least a certain level of "thought" that has to go into solving it, so you're already a few steps ahead on combat. Just be careful not to make it TOO hard; and also remember that hard isn't the same as challenging or fun, all three are seperate things to solve, and sadly none are easy.

But I look forward to seeing the system in full-swing! It's definitely a cool start; hence of course the Alpha stage and Development thread!

 

[Jstreet]

I'll trial and error my way to figuring out how to make a defend +hp type thing. I really like that idea.

Hmm, with multiple characters, the strategy of fighting chances a bit, because the stamina points are shared amongst the group, so one person could use them all or you could divide them up however.

Hmm, I think I'll work on a battle demo, to show the capabilities of the system in several different situations. I'll try to add more on to the script before I release it. Thanks for bringing up all those points. I'll look into all of that right away. I hope the battle demo will be able to answer some of your questions.

 

[Delmaschio]

Very good demo, I like it.
The game seems to be very well planned, it is very promissing, I believe it can sell good, if is your objective to release it commercially.

The Graphics Style really doesn't please me, but that's only me, I guess.
I also presume that the Battlers aren't done yet, because their animations doesn't please me as well.

As I said, very good demo, I really wish that you can finish this game, I know you do finish your games, but this one is full original, what makes it harder.
Good luck.

 

[Lust Dragon]

I played and i like it so far :D but im stuck when i defeat second guard, where i should go after defeat it?

 

[Jstreet]

@Del
Thanks ^^
The graphic style is something that can't really be helped. I know getting pixel artists (or any reliable help for that matter) is almost impossible on these boards, so I do the graphics myself. I'm not very good, but I get by.

The battlers are going to change. I'm just figuring out how I'm going to work my system for them. Plus, I have to get around to spriting them. They'll be done with the release of the official demo.

Having almost a completely original game is very hard work, and it will take longer then it would to pop out another Absence of Vagaries, but I confident I will finish this.

@Lust
You should go north. Then there's a fork in the road. Going left will lead you to the V.Cell, but going right will lead you closer to your goal. You've probably already figured that out by now though. :P

UPDATE:
Anyway, I've went against doing a battle demo, because it just seems rather pointless at the moment. When I release the full demo you'll have plenty of time to grasp the full capabilities of the battle demo. Anaryu, after taking your advice, I got a little help from Trickster and he implemented the regan on defense thing and it's quite the charm. :D

As for front page updates, I've done a bit of adding to the Character Bio section. I used sprite poses instead of full sprite sheets. I added information for Dox, and Magar.

Once I finish some tilesets, I'll be on my way to posting some new screenshots.

Thanks for your support everyone!

 

[Delmaschio]

I see, you're right. But you're a good Spriter, it's not the quality of the sprites that doesn't please me, but the style of it, but that's only me I guess.

Keep working hard, I trust that you will finish this, and I'll be sure to play this, even if I have to pay for it.

 

[Jstreet]

@Del
I'll definitely try to finish this, but I don't think I'll be going commercial with it. I don't really have an efficient way of advertising the game, in order for it to get enough publicity to sell, and even though pretty much any would be a profit (as I've only spent 20$ to have my battle system made) it might be a bit of a hassle.

Anyway, I added two new screenshots. They aren't much. One shows the second part of the slum area of the town, the other shows the inside of a bar. Have fun peeking at them. Stay tuned for more updates.

 

[Lust Dragon]

I figured it after i see this post :D, i hope i can play more J-street

 

[Jason]

Hey can you give me a link to the Font you use, I can't see any of the text in-game, because I don't have the Font installed.
Thanks.

 

[Jstreet]

It's in the game folder.

 

[Jstreet]

I hate that this is a bump, but:

To all that were helping me with drawing, spriting, etc, you are relieve of any job that you volunteered to do. I've decided to keep everything in one style, so I'll be doing everything myself.

This has nothing to do with you guys, it's not a result of being impatient or anything. I'm just going to start making a schedule for things, and I don't want to pull anyone in my time restraints. Have fun doing whatever. ^.^

~J-Street