Chronicles of Eldwyn
Posted: October 7th, 2015, 10:11 pm
Hi everyone!
Some of you may remember that I started working on a RPG of my own a couple of years ago, before my health deteriorated and I had to close up my shop.
My business is still closed, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I just can't take on the stress of running a business again with so much going on in my life right now.
However, my health has recovered to the point where feel like dabbling in game development again (just for fun). The RPG project I had started keeps calling to me, and I've felt compelled to resume working on it. I had to make a few changes though. First, I can't deal with any programming - my current full-time software job is almost more than I can handle. Second, I can't afford to pay for the art that my original isometric game design called for. So I abandoned the isometric engine I was working on and started looking at my options. In the end, I decided to use RPG Maker.
Yeah, I know. I wasn't a big fan of RPG Maker when I was writing my own game engines either. It's currently Windows-only, the screen resolution is pretty small, and the technology in it seemed very primitive (at least in the games I saw that were produced with it compared to other indie engines). But I did some research and played with it for a while, and discovered that with some freely available scripts and a little work, I can modify it to be fairly close to my original game design (except without the isometric view and a few other miscellaneous features). The big benefits for me are that 1) I don't need to do any programming, 2) there are tons of reasonably-priced graphic packs that I can buy to fit my needs, and 3) the artists on the RPG Maker forums have cost effective rates and can produce some custom art for me for key parts of the game without bankrupting me (like my main characters, certain enemies, and some scenery). And best of all, I'm able to focus on the fun parts of making a game - building the maps and writing the story/adventure.
The gameplay feels very much like a hybrid between the Eschalon games and Avernum, which is exactly the vibe I was going for in my original design. So I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far in RPG Maker, and I'm so excited about the project, I had to post here and share it with you (even though I'm just getting started on it).
I know some people don't like RPG Maker games at all, and that's ok. I'm not making this as a business venture. I'm making this first and foremost for me and my own fulfillment. But maybe someone here will enjoy it when it's done and have fun following its development along the way. If you enjoyed the add-ons I made for Eschalon, you'll probably enjoy the gameplay in my new project. (I think I may be able to deploy it on Mac and possibly Linux too when I'm done, so everyone will be able to play it.)
Anyway, here are few screen grabs of some of the early maps I've been building. As you can see from the third screenshot, there are lighting effects:
And I've got a development blog over on the RPG Maker forums, if you're interested in following my project at all:
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php ... -dev-blog/
I've recently posted a couple of videos there for the battle system I've been working on. Each video uses a different battle track, so you can hear some of the custom music I've commissioned for the game. (The soundtrack is pretty awesome! The musician I hired is doing an excellent job!) And you can see some of the different enemies, spells, and party characters I've created. There's also a brief synopsis of the game's story in my second post. And my first post goes into a bit more detail regarding my health history and why I closed my old business.
It will probably take me a couple of years to finish this, and I don't know what I'll do with it when I'm done (release it commercially or just give it away it for free). Right now I'm just doing this for fun. Thanks for reading!
Some of you may remember that I started working on a RPG of my own a couple of years ago, before my health deteriorated and I had to close up my shop.
My business is still closed, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I just can't take on the stress of running a business again with so much going on in my life right now.
However, my health has recovered to the point where feel like dabbling in game development again (just for fun). The RPG project I had started keeps calling to me, and I've felt compelled to resume working on it. I had to make a few changes though. First, I can't deal with any programming - my current full-time software job is almost more than I can handle. Second, I can't afford to pay for the art that my original isometric game design called for. So I abandoned the isometric engine I was working on and started looking at my options. In the end, I decided to use RPG Maker.
Yeah, I know. I wasn't a big fan of RPG Maker when I was writing my own game engines either. It's currently Windows-only, the screen resolution is pretty small, and the technology in it seemed very primitive (at least in the games I saw that were produced with it compared to other indie engines). But I did some research and played with it for a while, and discovered that with some freely available scripts and a little work, I can modify it to be fairly close to my original game design (except without the isometric view and a few other miscellaneous features). The big benefits for me are that 1) I don't need to do any programming, 2) there are tons of reasonably-priced graphic packs that I can buy to fit my needs, and 3) the artists on the RPG Maker forums have cost effective rates and can produce some custom art for me for key parts of the game without bankrupting me (like my main characters, certain enemies, and some scenery). And best of all, I'm able to focus on the fun parts of making a game - building the maps and writing the story/adventure.
The gameplay feels very much like a hybrid between the Eschalon games and Avernum, which is exactly the vibe I was going for in my original design. So I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far in RPG Maker, and I'm so excited about the project, I had to post here and share it with you (even though I'm just getting started on it).
I know some people don't like RPG Maker games at all, and that's ok. I'm not making this as a business venture. I'm making this first and foremost for me and my own fulfillment. But maybe someone here will enjoy it when it's done and have fun following its development along the way. If you enjoyed the add-ons I made for Eschalon, you'll probably enjoy the gameplay in my new project. (I think I may be able to deploy it on Mac and possibly Linux too when I'm done, so everyone will be able to play it.)
Anyway, here are few screen grabs of some of the early maps I've been building. As you can see from the third screenshot, there are lighting effects:
And I've got a development blog over on the RPG Maker forums, if you're interested in following my project at all:
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php ... -dev-blog/
I've recently posted a couple of videos there for the battle system I've been working on. Each video uses a different battle track, so you can hear some of the custom music I've commissioned for the game. (The soundtrack is pretty awesome! The musician I hired is doing an excellent job!) And you can see some of the different enemies, spells, and party characters I've created. There's also a brief synopsis of the game's story in my second post. And my first post goes into a bit more detail regarding my health history and why I closed my old business.
It will probably take me a couple of years to finish this, and I don't know what I'll do with it when I'm done (release it commercially or just give it away it for free). Right now I'm just doing this for fun. Thanks for reading!