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First, I'd just like to say that I originally started this project because I realized that there actually aren't that many dungeon RPGs out there from RPG Maker, unfortunately. I know the genre itself has never been that popular, even back during the days of Wizardry and Sirtech, but I do enjoy DRPGs, even today, so I'm attempting to make one of my own. Now, I'm not going to promise you that this will be the best game you'll ever play or anything like that, but I'm going to try and put forth as much effort as I can to make it enjoyable. I've already lost a bit of sleep since I started the project about a week ago, so hopefully that will let you know I'm serious, haha. Anyway, let's get down to the details then! Game Title: Project Excellus (this title is still pending, but I am leaning towards just calling it Excellus) Abstract: An old school dungeon crawler. Genre: Fantasy/Modern/Sci-Fi/RPG/DRPG (I include Modern and Sci-Fi here for story related elements later on) Average Demo Time: Less than an hour since it's just one floor to basically give people a feel of what to expect. Consider it a tutorial, basically. The floors will be bigger after this. Game Progression: Too early to say since only this has been finished. It's far too soon to begin talking about release dates. Recruitment: N/A Story / Setting / Purpose: I haven't hashed out all of the details yet since I've been focusing on the battle system and such first, but I'm thinking something along these lines... The world you currently live in, Excellus, is on its third cycle. During each cycle, the world becomes reborn I guess you could say. During this time, "ancient" technology can still be found scattered across the world from during its previous cycle and so on. So, take Earth for example. It's currently 2015. What would happen if our world became reborn and started over once it reached the year 3000? Later on, the Middle Ages would occur again, but the remnants of our past would remain, so it wouldn't be surprising for someone during the Middle Ages to find a gun, computer, or something else from our time. I guess it's hard to describe, but it explains why there will be modern/sci-fi elements in the game in one way or another, despite it being fantasy based. There is someone who wishes to control this cycle though in order to win a war... The war will continue long after he's gone, so in order to change history, he must prematurely start the next cycle, so it's up to you to decide the fate of the world. Character Bios: There aren't any characters from your party that actually tie in with the story since I'm giving the player the option to create their own. Credits: MGC Nicke Kread-EX Trihan Hime Works modern algebra California Macky a.k.a. Neil Fomar0153 Bigbadke12 De Mack Galv Mr. Bubble Neon Black V.M of D.T Jeneeus Guruman Venka KilloZapit CLOSET (also goes by F) Presence of Music RMN Music Pack (Jasprelao, Jeremiah "McTricky" George, Jude, Gamesfreak13563, Tarranon, Cornflake, Xcalnarok, Lana42, Kunsel, Subaru, NathanGDay, Snowy Fox, ReclaimedGlory, Apoc, hyde9318 and 800 M.P.H.) Screenshots: Features: - Alchemy system. The Alchemy system was introduced to give me an excuse to include an Alchemist Technomancer as a class. However, despite the Alchemist Technomancer being able to create a multitude of items, please don't feel forced to have one in your party. The game will still be playable without one. - Despite being in a fantasy setting, there is a gun type weapon for this game. I originally decided against it, but I couldn't figure out what to have the Alchemist Technomancer use as a weapon, so I assigned them a gun. Chalk it up to "ancient" technology and Alchemy as to why they can even use it. There will also be poison bullet, fire bullets, etc. that you can get later on as well. As of now, guns are specifically locked to this class. - Combo system. When using specific skills/spells, you will be able to activate a combo depending on which skills/spells you have combined. Only two characters can combo though, so please keep this in mind when you see that one skill/spell combos with two other ones. - Auto/Rush system. I know we all get tired of having to select 'fight' repeatedly during battles, especially when it's against trash that we've been killing for the past hour anyway, heh. With the implementation of the Auto/Rush system, the player will be able to skip the needless command picking and make the battle go faster. When selecting Auto, each player will be controlled automatically and may use skills or spells if they have the TP/MP to spend. When choosing Rush, every character will simply attack without wasting TP or MP. - Switch system. The game will allow you to have 6 characters in your party at all times, but only 4 will ever be out in battle at any given time. Now, the game is already set up to distribute exp so your reserves get a fraction of it, so don't feel obligated to use the switch feature unless you want to since they will level up (albeit at a slower pace) regardless. When choosing the Switch option from the party menu, you will be allowed to immediately swap out with a reserve member and they will be able to take an action during that turn. However, if you choose the Switch option in your character menu (when each character chooses their own action such as fight, special, guard, etc.), the character will not be allowed to take an action until the next turn. This is to allow the player to plan ahead and decide how they wish to use the Switch feature. From the party menu, the Switch feature can only be used once per turn while from the character menu, you will be able to switch with each individual character however many times you want... You just won't be granted the immediate action like you would if you used Switch from the party menu, so they both have their ups and downs. - 160 faces to choose from. Since this is a DRPG, I've decided to remove the sprite aspect from the game altogether since you won't be able to see them anyway. Instead, I spent a few days creating transparent facesets to use for the game. Some of the faces still need some touching up, so I'll go back and work on those when I can, but most of them are presentable, I think. - Over 10 classes to choose from. On top of the default classes, I've also added Alchemist Technomancer and Ninja. Both of these classes will have a steeper exp curve due to their potential. Ninjas have always been powerful in games like Wizardry and D&D, so I want to make sure the player has to work for it. So, it will take longer to level the Ninja, but once you get over that hump and you've managed to stick with it for a long time, the reward will be worth it. I've also got a document filled with over 20 classes I could implement to the game, but I'll probably just narrow it down to 20 if I can. - No treasure chests in dungeons. Due to the nature of the engine, I have been unable to find a way to actually incorporate these into the dungeons since it's in first-person. The graphic I used from VX Ace was very tiny and floating in the air when I tried using it, so I knew this was out of the question, haha. Instead, I've decided to reward players that explore. Since the floors won't actually be that big (maybe 30x30 or so), you will be rewarded with loot when stepping on random tiles. Sometimes it will just be an item sound effect followed by a display message, but maybe other times there might actually be a little backstory before you obtain the item, so please be sure to check every tile of that room, even if the room looks empty! - Busts for NPCs. A lot of DRPGs use portraits as a staple for NPCs, so I wanted to do the same in my game. While I do like the faces since they show different emotions, I believe the busts are better for this type of presentation and will help with dialogue since they are more lifelike. - Custom battlers and BGM. While I will be using stuff supplied in the RTP, no doubt, I have also gone out of my way to find over 200 battlers I can use (but I probably won't even get to use all of them, lol) and over 100 new songs for a multitude of scenarios. I believe these artists have made some really great stuff here and I think you'll like it too when you see it or hear it. - Storage system. If you're a packrat like me, you're probably going to need a place to store all of that stuff you don't know what to do with. Well, thanks to a helpful script, you'll be able to do just that. I'm not entirely sure how many items it can actually hold, but I will say this... I haven't found a limit, heh. However, there isn't actually a storage system in the demo since I have it implemented for use in a town, not inside of a dungeon, so it's not included in this demo. Storage system is in the demo. - Bestiary system. It's going to be a lot of work, but I've included a bestiary system so you can keep track of all the enemies you encounter. After killing a certain amount, you will unlock new information about them, such as their stats, their weaknesses, so forth and so on. On top of this, their description will also change as you kill more of them. - Appraisal system. The current appraisal system can be accessed through a shop (set up in the church) or out on the field. You can either have a class which has learned the identify skill in your party or find a magnifying glass. Either of these will help you appraise the unknown item. Normally, there would be a service fee, but because I can only restrict this by item and not the shop itself, I've decided to keep it free all around (in other words, if I set the item to cost 200 gold to appraise, it would work for the shop, but it would be pretty silly to have to pay that when you do it yourself on the field, right? I mean... Who are you giving the money to anyway?) - Quest system. Quests in a DRPG are a little more complicated to manage, but they're doable. I've got the general idea of them anyway, so I'll be including them in my project. Please just don't expect a whole lot of them (there might be 100 or so, I guess, maybe more if they're a bunch of easy ones to write up, lol). - Trait system. Every now and then, your character will level up and receive a trait (also known as passive). Depending on your class, you will see an increase in the character's Max HP/MP, AGI, ATK, DEF, etc. As you progress, the effect of the passives will begin to increase (maybe 3% early on, but around 10% when level 20? something like that). - There may also be additional systems implemented in the future that I haven't thought of yet or there may be changes to the current systems in place. Please bear this in mind when playing the demo. Download: This is the latest version of the project so far. Project Excellus v1.02 demo (272MB) Project Excellus v1.02 demo (non-RTP) (272MB) Project Excellus survey (something you can take after you've completed the demo in order to submit feedback if you'd like) Known Issues: - Sometimes when opening a door to a new floor, you may still see brown/orange in the hallway for a second or two. I haven't determined what exactly causes this graphical error, but it's random and usually happens maybe once out of every five playtests I run and it doesn't last for long. There's a similar experience when you leave the town and re-enter the dungeon. You may see the bricks of a wall on the screen (usually transparent) for a second or two, then they go away (again, pretty random occurrence though). I've done everything I can think of to help alleviate problems and/or bugs in my project, but naturally... I'm only one person, so something may have very well slipped through the cracks. If you encounter a bug of any kind (even if it's a spelling error), let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.