Tarq

Hey, welcome to the forums buddy :)

Good luck with the project. Never been a better time than now to work on one.

Welcome Echo. Lovely to have you here, I'm sure.

The AI is now seven cards smarter and finally has a full deck of 30 to play with so I thought it worthwhile to provide a new build. I doubt I'll provide another now until I've given every NPC a personalised deck (which could take a while).

In other news, free card Wednesdays is now a thing. Just pop along to the shop on that day for a booster of your choice.

And then, just to flesh out this post a bit, here's the title screen and trailer I made recently

Title:

Trailer:

If you want to give it a go then here's the new link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jrzc6tjjwhxe63b/Sovereignty V5.2.2.exe?dl=0

Time for another update by my reckoning. (Its a touch slimmer this time around as I was a little unwell for a couple of weeks.)

First things first. Here's the new link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk34qrdvdmfsrvl/Sovereignty V5.2.1.exe?dl=0

So, my favourite thing with this update is the basic time/day system I put together. It gives the player a slight suggestion of progression and allows me to make a few time-based events like weekly tournaments and card giveaways. You can see the first system in place actually; that card with a name next to it is a targetted skirmish and you get double moneys for winning in time

The enemy AI can play three more cards; Two Counter cards and a Battlefield card. I'll probably start work on customizing the enemy decks/AIs for the next updateso it should be actually fun to play pretty soon.
There's also that new shop I linked a vid for a while back:

 

There's a few new cards ofc:

 

Its a particularly bad update for card art

And, finally, the usual polishing and bugfixes.

As ever, thoughts, feedback, a savoury biscuit on a brisk Tuesday afternoon, all these things (and many more besides) are appreciated.

There's a bit more to this update in this second spoiler. I've wrote it a few times now and for some reason the unspoiler after the YT link just...isn't working?

I wanted to make the game a little more UX-friendly this time around so here's a list of some of the changes in that regard:

There's new cards ofc. Not just those Battlefield cards above but also Counter cards. Counter cards work like Command cards but can only be played in response to something your opponent plays (dw, the game prompts you when its okay to play them). All the new cards are available for free by going to the card shop (...the, uh, person(?) whose face is a card on the overworld).

The really big news though is that the game is now BUG FREE!!!

Okay, not quite. But all the problems that caused it to crash or sieze up during skirmishes have been solved thanks to some rejigging of the base systems while I was implementing the Counter cards. There's still some minor stuff with certain cards but I'd be surprised if anyone ran into anything serious this time.

What's that? A link, you say? Well. Alright. Just this once: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7kvn01eui6bcqe/Sovereignty V.5.1.exe?dl=0

Just dropping by to say Sovereignty now has over 100 cards! (read: 101)

I'm not providing a new build today as the new cards need more work done but I will show the new card type I mentioned in the last update. Battlefield cards!

...yes.Trow cards. Can't count to trow yet? GitGud.

  (I dont have a background for this one yet)

Each of these cards make some slight changes how the game is played and can have a significant impact on playstyle/deckbuilding. The change in background image was just for funsies .

I also have plans for another new card type that is going to do way more to up the strategy and dynamics but that is going to require some big changes to the base systems which I'm not willing to mess around with for, jeez, at least another week :3

Man, how far this has come since the first prototype.

Three weeks already huh? No wonder I have so much stuff to show off here.

Art:

Gameplay:

Hmm, I know there's been other stuff but I can't remember it. Well, you'll see if you play I guess. As ever, thoughts, feedback,bug reports all hugely appreciated.

Here's the new link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mzv8r5s6rlyfwfv/Sovereignty V5.exe?dl=0

A world map image. Just add locations.

Unlike the other stuff you must credit me for use of this as its an entirely original piece. Its still free to use however a pm would be appreciated so that I can see it in your game.

@SaeryenA lot of discussion is aimed (for lack of a better word) at you because you represent the other side. It would be pretty nonsensical, never mind quite difficult, to debate with the people we agree with, no?

That being said, again, I've seen absolutely nothing mean-spirited in this discussion. Even @ShinNessTen behaved himself :3

Nothing has been said specifically about your game, only games that show symptoms of being bad games. if you're concerned that you're seeing those symptoms in your game then your choices are:

1) Keep doing what you're doing because its your game. No-one has any business telling you not to because its your time and money.

2) Consider what changes would be necessary to make the game better in the eyes of the majority.

Instead, you are attempting to demand a third option where others play what they consider bad games, which is unreasonable because then you're making demands on other's time and money (see option 1). Its comparable to demanding that someone who dislikes pop music must listen to the radio since, eventually, they will find one or two songs tolerable amongst hours of dissatisfaction when they knew, beforehand, that this would be the case.

This didn't really start out as a discussion about social ideology but since you are determined to 'view the effects on other people' then lets try approaching that third scenario in the way Shin said earlier:

For the purposes of making your game more viable (and therefore make you happy) you want others to lower their standards and spend gruelling hours playing through games they know, from past experiences, that they will not enjoy (which makes them unhappy). It just isn't going to happen. Nor should it.

So, again, no-one has said to stop making your game (so far as I can see no-one has even criticised it). Frankly, my own opinion is that you should be making your game because you enjoy the very act of game creation, not for whatever happens afterwards. However, if you get agitated because you merely suspect someone is criticising your game then perhaps it is best to stop because some people think the Venus DeMilo looks like rubble (by the by,you don't get to decide whether someone else's criteria of a good game is 'superficial'; the subjectivity card cuts both ways).

3 hours ago, Semolous said:

I'll admit, I do use some rtp graphics  and a couple of Yanfly script. But, every script I've chose for my game has apurpose. It's meant to be there. Personally, I don't give a **** if a game uses rtp. If it has a good story that's written well, and the maps look nice, that's enough for me. And, yes, I know I'm in the minority by saying that.

And you have every right to do so; That's why the rtp exists and why people publically release scripts.

   Just don't be surprised when you struggle to get downloads, even if you release the game for free, because others don't think you're bringing enough to the table; heck, you'll struggle to distinguish yourself within the community never mind outside it where there are even more games to compete with.

   But no-one here is telling you how to make your game or how to best spend your time; you asked others for their opinions about whether they feel the RM stigma in the marketplace is justified and, so far, the answer is a resounding yes. Maybe you were expecting reassurance and validation from the community about your (lets be objective here) 'basic and standard rpgmaker stuff' game, maybe you'll get more of the kind of responses it turns out you were angling for over the next few days, I can only speculate, but no-one here has said ~'pack it in, son', ~'give up and go home', we've just said that, realistically, such games have little commercial viability and, really, were kind of the cause of the stigma in the first place.

@Saeryen From everyone's responses, nothing leads me to believe they dont understand the OP. And we've wrote what we have because it is possible to form a fairly accurate opinion about things without fully undergoing the experience. And you do it yourself every day. When you go to the shops do you open the cereal box to confirm the correct cereal is inside?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think any of us are hating on RM as an engine (we all use this forum after all); We use it because we recognise good quality games are as possible in it as any other engine. However, blindly assuming everything is good and great until proven otherwise through personal experience? You'd poison yourself within hours if you took up foraging with that attitude.

@Saeryen Hey, I'm all for youngsters (and anyone else) improving themselves and I think, with all the skills that can be developed, making games is a great way to do that.  But if someones made a bad game its precisely because they haven't developed those skills, or covered for their lack of ability in other ways (by minmaxxing their design, or requesting commissions,for example). And then they've tried to charge everyone twenty bucks so they can pursue a dream which seems to consist of continuing to make bad games.

   Using age as a reason for a bad product being bad isn't sufficient; Everyone has an excuse. Some just don't let it get in the way. And, honestly, age just isn't particularly relevant to an inability to make games adequately; there's not a lot of transferable 'real world' skills that you wont have already picked up from your schooling.

   As for malicious remarks... Everyone here has been pretty reasonable, even the quotes used in the OP. They aren't being malicious by valuing their time or by having standards to inform their decisions. Saying something negative and saying something offensive are very different things.

Well, this is far from a new attitude towards the engine; I've been in the scene for six or seven years now and that has always been the case.

I do think its somewhat justified. The various iterations of RM are where a lot of people start devving, rather than something people migrate to, so fledgling devs are commonplace. And, y'know, new devs are all big dreams and bad work ethic (sorry!); they buy those crappy dlc packs (which would be better spent on private commissions supporting other devs in the community), they use the same scripts from YF and hime (if any at all), and they validate the generic visuals and mechanics by saying ~'its all about the story'. We've all seen that guy. Heck, most of us have been that guy, myself included. So whoever you're quoting there is far from inaccurate in saying a lot of released content is 'basic and standard rpgmaker stuff'. Some people stay and improve ofc and I know a handful of people who pride themselves on doing things that 'cant be done in RM' so, sure, its a tool like any other, but then weirdly you can get stick within the community for not migrating to another engine :3

So, for a long time, the negativity surrounding the engine hasn't really bothered me; its like playing low-tier :3

My problem has often been seeing mediocre games being praised ~'despite being made in RM', games like Skyborn or Always, Sometimes, Monsters that, when you're familiar with RM, you can see are actually quite poorly made; to me, people thinking this is the best the engine has to offer is way more detrimental.

What people do with their finished content is a seperate issue, I think,since its largely irrelevant what engine was used; if its a bad game then its a bad game, and vice versa. Should a bad game be released? Probably. Should it be monetised? Probably not. But no-ones forcing anyone to buy bad games either.

Okay, I'll see what I can do

Yeah, a lot of those things were fixed/adjusted; text speed, cutscenes, and the big two problems where you were able to destroy cards stronger than you and attack the enemy directly when enemy troops were on the field. Those last two basically meant that whether things worked or not was pretty much random which must have made the game incredibly confusing for you

It was useful to me to see some of the erratic behaviour of some of the cards like Erupt! and whatever is going on with the coin randomly appearing (thats what the giant silver 'H' was btw) although I'm sure it must have been a drag for you. I really appreciate you sticking with it, I probably would have given myself a concussion from facepalming by the end.

The game autosaves when you quit, I guess I should communicate that and how the card shop works; maybe add a map/menu section to the tutorial.

You mentioned the card UI could be improved but I'm not really good at that stuff. Other than what you said above,is there much else that you think might improve that side of things?

(Oh, and 'Words' are what I put for cutscenes I didn't get 'round to making yet xD)

Thanks again though, really.

Never got 'round to fixing this until just now. So here's the link for working (hopefully!) build: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7fx1x0tyf3e6g5/Sovereignty V.Chibs.exe?dl=0

Tbh, I'd been feeling so terrible about stopping working on it when it was in such a state that I kind of tried to distance myself even further. Not great logic, obviously. But now that everything's a-ok I'll probably get to work on it again.

Edit: Okay. Scrabbled around. Fixed one of the two major issues and,  while I haven't had a chance to test, I suspect it may have been the cause of the other major issue too. Guess I'll see from your LP :3

Do you stream them live as well? I'd hate to miss it if you do. 

Here's the latest link  https://www.dropbox.com/s/c7fx1x0tyf3e6g5/Sovereignty V.Chibs.exe?dl=0

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Hey, just saw your message on discord.

So, here's a slightly less buggy version for you <removed>

But, idk, its still kinda broken and might not be much fun to play :/

Moved to Recruitment.

Hey Chadzter.

Your account hasn't been banned and Idk why you seem to think it is (it should also go without saying that probably no-one in the history of the internet has been banned for the reason you're suggesting).

If you're having trouble logging into your old account just try the usual stuff like resetting your password and send us a screeny via this account & thread if you're getting any weird error message.

@Thomas Smith So, here's one which has been darkened and upped the contrast which makes the grass stand out a bit more.

This ones a little different in case your dark forest is for spoopy purposes. I changed the hue of the sky and added some fog.

Let me know if they need some tweaks to be fit for purpose

Mkay will look into both. The meadow will be easy Tom Smith so I'll do it after work today.

Yours is kinda vague Roninator but I'll give it a go. Also just want to make it clear since you're asking for a formatting from a later engine that I would be editing an XP sprite and so to use that, legally, you would require a copy of XP for the license.

Thanks. Tbh, I got quite a bit better at the graphical side of things over last year and since I'm not serious about any projects right now I wouldn't mind taking on some requests for folks.

Hey, welcome to the forums. Always nice to see a new face in the maker scene

In terms of performance, I think Source (the user, not the engine) has the best in the biz when it comes to anti-lags. Gotta pay though.

Second best, and free, is TheoAllen's.

But, better design is ultimately the winner in reducing lag; Don't give conflicting commands, erase stuff when its no longer needed and do more with less!

I'm not familiar with the plugin but I don't really get the request either. Surely using intervals of 10 for this is the same as using 1-10 (...10x10=100).

Edit:

Or to phrase it another way. If your outcomes are 10, 20, 30....100 then its the same as 1, 2, 3....10.