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Anyone also share the dream of making a good, quality 2D MMO that captures the essence of the classic JRPG, in a massively multiplayer setting, with modern features and logic? I am good with creating worlds, lore, plots, characters, Sprites, and icons edits. I am a workhorse looking for a project where multiple people can combine their talents and efforts to produce something truly noteworthy. This is an evolving thread and I will be adding ideas and concepts over time in addition to what others bring to it.

An adventure puzzle game In Inherited Sins, you will play the role of Aryan, a simple traveling merchant who because of an innate ability he'll be involved in a rather dangerous situation. Aryan will have to escape some horrific ruins that have been the last abode of many unfortunates for more than two centuries. The only option for our protagonist will be to collaborate with a very peculiar fairy that apparently has also been trapped in that place. Inherited Sins is a game focused 100% on puzzle solving, there are no combats but there are enemies that will make your walk through the ruins something more dangerous. The game is mostly inspired by the titles of Team ICO and the The Legend of Zelda franchise. Travel between the physical and the astral plane to solve puzzles and continue advancing in your adventure, but be careful, because the creatures of the spiritual world are too dangerous... Thanks to the lighting script (Khas Ultra Lighting) it has been possible to provide the maps with a very interesting atmosphere without losing performance. Aryan: He is a simple merchant who has been locked in dangerous ruins. Apparently Aryan has done something very bad for what he has been sentenced to die. Fressia: A peculiar fairy that has been trapped in the dangerous ruins of Asendra. She must collaborate with Aryan to escape from there. Download from itch.io: https://kermex-games.itch.io/inherited-sins

This is a neat little idea that can make your typical boulder-pushing puzzle a little more interesting. It took me a while to figure out how to do this through events (although I'd like to learn, I currently have no ability to script), but I have it sorted now and hope it might help someone else. Hard mode: Multiple boulders and gaps. (<if this anchor doesn't work, just scroll down) Pushing a rock into a gap. First thing's first - create an event that will be the boulder, or whatever your character will be pushing. You also need an area of water or a hole or something of the sort, which the boulder can be pushed into. The gap must be one tile across, the the boulder can act a bridge when in the water. In this case, the player is pushing a boulder into the river in order to get to the island. I added a chest that can only be reached this way, for added incentive. The boulder event will eventually have several pages, but initially, just set up the first event page. The settings should look like this: 'Event Touch' means that the boulder will move when the player stands beside it and pushes a directional button. Other people may prefer setting the trigger to 'Action Button' so that the player must press the 'A' button to activate the movement. You will need to use a terrain tag to label the water tiles. Doesn't matter what number you use, but tag the water tiles you want the player to be able to push the block into. You need several variables for this. Two will store the boulder's current X and Y location on the map, two will store the X and Y location of the position the player is trying to push it to (when they walk up to it, or press 'A'), one will store the terrain tag of the new position. So, let's do some eventing! As soon as the event is triggered, we want the boulder to store its current position in the variables. We can then use conditional branches on which direction the player is facing to determine which direction the boulder is being pushed towards. With this information, we can store in variables the new position. We then get the terrain tag of the new position. If the player is just pushing the boulder over land, the boulder should just move normally as these tiles are passable. We check if the terrain tag is equal to the one you set up for the water. If so, the boulders move route includes setting it as 'Through' which means it can pass into impassable tiles (like water). Self Switch A is then turned on if the boulder has fallen into water. It's not mandatory, but I added an extra bit of eventing here so that the boulder wouldn't reset back to its original position if the player left the map. This only activates if the boulder is in the 'goal' position and the puzzle is solved. Use two conditional branches to check if the boulder's new position is equal to a designated goal location, and if so, turn on a switch. This isn't a self switch, as we need it to link to another event. More on this later - first, let's finish setting up the other event pages on this boulder. Here's what the first page looks like: Page 2 is relatively simple. Once the rock is in place, this page sees when the player is trying to cross over it. It takes note of which side the player is on. Because switch A turns on if the boulder falls into ANY water, we need to check if it is in a goal location first. Page 3 is triggered if the player touches the rock and is facing left. This page must be set to 'Autorun' and the priority 'Below Player'. This is important, because the 'Below Player' priority means that the player will walk on top of the rock, rather than appearing to walk behind or underneath it. The event autoruns and moves the player over the rock to the other side. The switch then turns off, so that if the player touches the rock again, Page 2 runs, which looks at which side the player is on and redirects to the corresponding event page. Page 4 looks exactly the same as this, but is for if the player approaches from the other side. The only difference is that the move route contains 'Move Right' and it's a different self switch. Of course, you can also make boulder bridges which are north-south. So that's it - for the most part. What about Page 5 though? Well, it's completely empty! Remember that part at the end of Page 1 where I said something about getting the boulder to stay put after it's solved? If you want to add this feature, create a second event using the same boulder graphic. Put it in the place where the boulder is 'supposed' to be when the puzzle is solved. The second event contains a copy of pages 2 to 4 of the first event, with an additional condition that the 'Solved' switch must be 'on'. This switch also removes the first event from view. Hopefully this was useful to somebody - it's the first tutorial I've written and I'm not particularly confident in my ability to explain things, hence the use of pictures. Here's a short demo of how this looks in-game. *** Hard Mode: Multiple boulders and gaps! (Uses more switches and variables, but the basic idea is the same). It's here that I must stress the importance of keeping your switches, variables and event names organised. Otherwise, you're gonna have a bad time. Depending on just how complex you want to go, here's the switches and variables you need to use: The good thing is though, that you can re-use some of these for other boulder puzzles you might wanna make in your game and it won't make any difference. Namely, you can re-use the variables in any number of puzzles. The switches must be set up individually for each puzzle though, as they recognise which puzzles have been solved and which rocks have been used, and allow the player to leave the map and the puzzle still be solved. I used 3 boulders when I was figuring this out. You can easily use more than that without it becoming more complex to set up, but you'll need the extra switches and variables. Variables Rock_X_Location - Stores X location of the boulder that the player is about to push. Rock_Y_Location - Stores Y location of the boulder that the player is about to push. Pushing_Towards_X - Stores X location that the boulder is currently being pushed to by the player. Pushing_Towards_Y - Stores Y location that the boulder is currently being pushed to by the player. Terrain_Tag - Stores terrain tag of the location it is being pushed to. Goal_X_Location - X location of first possible solution. Goal_Y_Location - Y location of first possible solution. Goal_2X_Location - - X location of second possible solution. Goal_2Y_Location - Y location of second possible solution. Goal_3X_Location- X location of third possible solution. Goal_3Y_Location - Y location of third possible solution. Switches Boulder1_Solved - Switches on if any boulder has been pushed into goal location 1. Boulder2_Solved - Switches on if any boulder has been pushed into goal location 2. Boulder3_Solved - Switches on if any boulder has been pushed into goal location 3. Boulder1_Used - Switches on if boulder 1 has been pushed into any goal location Boulder2_Used - Switches on if boulder 2 has been pushed into any goal location Boulder3_Used - Switches on if boulder 3 has been pushed into any goal location To give this a sense of meaning, here's the cave where I'm setting up this puzzle: You can see the three boulders. I've named them 'Boulder1', 'Boulder2', 'Boulder3' for convenience. The three 'empty' events are locations where the boulders can be pushed into to enable our hero to cross the water. These events are named 'Solved1', 'Solved2', 'Solved3'. You might notice that it's possible for either of the two boulders near where the hero is standing to be used for either of two goal locations. I have considered this. Let's look at the event pages. This is the first page of Boulder1. If you read the basic part of my tutorial first, you'll notice that the general structure is pretty similar. We check the rock's current position, which way the player is pushing it, it's new position, and the terrain tag of the new position. If the terrain tag is the one for water, it makes a 'splash' and falls in. Then comes the extra bit.... It gets the data for the variables 'Goal_X_Location', 'Goal_Y_Location' etc. from the positions of the events which are at the goal locations. We then need conditional branches to check whether the rock has been pushed into ANY of the possible goals in the area. This is done by using branches of the form: Conditional branch: Pushing_Towards_X = Goal_X_Location Pushing_Towards_Y = Goal_Y_Location Branch End Branch End Repeat this for each goal location. Within these conditional branches, we need to flick on the switches that indicate which boulder we have pushed into the water, and at which goal location. This is why I numbered my boulder events and goal events. If it's pushed into water (as recognised by the terrain tag), self switch A turns on, which is just a blank page. This is just so that the boulder is not able to move if it's in the water (eg. if the player stood at the waters edge and pushed). The reason I didn't use the A switch to allow the player to cross the boulder is because depending on where the boulder is placed, it might form either an East-West bridge or a North-South bridge. As such, this movement is tied to the 'goal' events which appear when the rock is moved into place. ((I used 'empty' comments for the sole purpose of spacing this out into sections so it looks neater and was easier for me to work on)) This event above is Boulder1. The other boulders look exactly the same, except that the switch turned on when they fall into place is 'Boulder2_Used' or 'Boulder3_Used', etc. etc. for however many boulders you have. ((My switches for this include the area name, in case I later want to use a similar puzzle on a different dungeon)) Okay, this has probably been slightly confusing. I'm trying hard to keep it as organised as I can and sometimes I have to look back and think things through again. Hopefully looking at the other pages of the events will help all these switches and variables make more sense. This is pages 2 and 3 of the boulder events: Page 2 is empty and is triggered whenever the boulder falls into water. It's just there so that it stays put and acts as an unmovable object. Page 3 is triggered when this particular boulder has been pushed into a goal location. It makes the original boulder event invisible. Now let's finally get to these 'goal' events... Page 1 is blank and has no image. Because having a crossing before a boulder has been pushed here would defeat the purpose. So, page 2... Looks rather familiar, huh? It's the same eventing as you may remember from the basic tutorial here, which triggers a self-switch when the player touches it and allows them to cross in a certain direction. This activates if the switch 'Boulder1_Solved' is on. Not to be confused with 'Boulder1_Used'. The 'solved' switches correspond to the goal or solution locations, and can be triggered by any boulder if it is pushed into the goal location. Then as you may guess, the B and C self-switch pages are exactly the same as before. .... done. Finally. Let's see it in action!(unfortunately without the pretty mapping this time)

Puzzles and Failing Something has been on my mind in the last couple of weeks, as I am laying down the basics for each of my dungeons. It was puzzles, and how they are implemented in RPG maker style engines. Short aside, this is the definition I am going to be using as a puzzle: an obstacle in a game that cannot be overcome through brute combat or manual dexterity. My biggest problem was with how much work they take if you want them to be Flexible, Resettable and Solvable Now for a little story time. I come from a heavy Tabletop RPG background, and have 18 years of experience as a Dungeon Master in D&D. My second favorite part ( apart from the actual face-to-face role playing) is handing my players a difficult puzzle and seeing them trying to solve it in a creative way. Now, could this be frustrating as all hell if your players are having one of their Duuuuuuuuh moments? Yes, but I solve this by having 2 things : 1. THE solution of the puzzle doesn't exist. Or more specifically, the puzzle doesn't have a definite solution. Now, this is exceedingly easy to do in a Tabletop game, where you are, as a DM, can actually hear them working it out, and when they actually start doing things that should work, I can say :"Sure, That works". I call it the room full of tools approach. Give them the obstacle and a lot of ways to interact with it. The player feels clever, their creativity feels rewarded, and I didn't have to sit there waiting untill they found my "one true answer." Now, while this is easy as pie in a tabletop RPG, this is by far the hardest to do in a digital RPG, as each possible solution has to be specifically put in the by the developer/deigner. But there is a middle of the road approach: While you can't have puzzles with no solutions, you can still implement the room full of tools approach (or the all ways lead to rome approach, whatever), and have multiple answers to your puzzle. My favourite puzzle to do this with is the push a block puzzle, or the scate along the ice into rocks puzzle, or the teleporter puzzle. Spatial puzzles, not dialogue puzzles is what I'm talking about here. I sprinkle the adequate blocks/teleporters around, and keep trying to solve it myself until I get A solution, and then start trimming the ones I did not use. If there are more possible solutions, great, but I am sure there is at least one. Cross the broad river is another one that works kind of well with this. Or as you might call it, the find 3 out of 5 keys approach. There are more interactables then are needed, with the spares either unlocking a bonus treasure, or some of them are locked behind additional obstacles. The key to make this the least bit workable is to have a lot of common events that do the things you want. I have a stockpile room, with a pile of interactable objects that just need 1 or 2 variables changed, and a boatload of common events. Now for the next Piece: 2. Allow the players to "Fail Forwards". This was especially relevant in tabletop, but our cRPG's can benefit from it too I believe. Imagine : the players are investigating a murder in a dwarven city, and they find Gunpowder on the crimescene. Instead of thinking "Gunfactory" and them going to the Industrial district, they interpret it as cannons, and go and look in the Harbour district. Do I let them waste their time and present them with a roadblock ? Off course not, you give them a hard encounter with no treasure, have them find a note specifically indicating the Gun Factory, and maybe a tighter timeline for the rest of their mission. The heroes are trying to climb a wall, and they fail their skill check, do I let them plummet to their death ? Off course not, have some damage, and you attract a simple encounter. Don't let failure be a roadblock, but just another obstacle. Now this is again easy to do face-to-face, and harder to do in a computer RPG, but there are lessons that can be drawn from this. a. withold extra reward Once again the example of a block pushing puzzle. Maybe the solution is really easy to just pass the puzzle, but off to the side is a treasure chest, and getting that one will be way more difficult. Maybe if he usus only 3 out of 4 keys, he might still have one for the bonus room The player can advance anyway, even if he fails, but that treasure chest is there; shiny, shimmering, splendid. b. give hints if stuck Another aspect of this is getting the player back on the right track if he is wrong or stuck. I'm not saying solve the puzzle for him, but maybe have an interactable object start blinking after the player is just standing there with his finger up his nose for 2 minutes. Maybe give a hint, or give him the first step of the puzzle , maybe have the hint be delivered by a partymember who would see such things. c.penalties, not roadblocks. A final aspect of failing forwards is to have failing the puzzle to just apply a penalty to a later event. Concrete example: Somewhere a third through my game I have a 7 Sins Themed Demonic Dungeon, with each sin being represented by a different permanent status effect. There are seven Bosses, each removing one sin from the party, until only one is left, then there is a final boss battle. Depending how you do it, the final boss, or any boss in between really, can be a breeze, or an absolute (but still winnable) nightmare. So even if the player just does the bosses in a random order, he could still possibly defeat the dungeon, it would just be insanely hard. Now, on to a totally different topic: Resetability and Robustness. Sometimes a player fails a puzzle. He pushes a block into an inescapable corner, he drinks the poisons in the wrong order, ... Basically he screwed up and cannot continue. Now, how much do we need to plan for this ? While there are certainly ways to foolproof a puzzle, and we should do this to as many puzzles as we can, doing this to each and every one would, in my opinion, be enormously laborious. I have found a simple way around this, but most of you are not going to like it : The player is going to have to sometimes reload. When a player has to do this, I feel not the player, but the designer has failed, but limitations on the engine are what they are. Now to soften the low : Use autosave. Have the game save at the beginning and end of small local puzzles. Having to redo just the puzzle stings a lot less. It almost mimics the table top puzzle solving in that you can try and interact with the object to find the right solution, instead of being stuck if you fail. Ah! You say, what about your promised big puzzles ? Your 5 skills required dungeons ? Those are actually also solved by very careful use of when to autosave. Here the autosaves are at the beginning of the dungeon and at each convergence point; the choke point in the dungeon each of the possible paths has to take, where you put your minibosses, Story Cutscenes,... Because you know that if they made it that far, they are not halfway a broken puzzle. Of course I still allow manual saves, but the autosave is there to say : you're allowed to experiment and fuck up, we've got your back. Is this an enormous Hack ? Yes, Yes it is, but so are most things in RPG Maker Because resetting a "shove the block into the right hole" puzzle might be easy, a "push te rock into the river, so you can cross, then freeze the river under the block, so it floats off, and blocks the river further downstream slowing it down so you can make a bridge out of ice so that you can melt the block free and push it into some other river" might be slightly more difficult. One final thought : there is no reason to have random encounters during a precision puzzle, unless the puzzle deals damage on failure and thus the encounters are part of the puzzle design. So, what are your favourite kind of puzzles ? Push a block Teleporter/Sliding around Riddle/coded message Sequence of levers. Entire minigames (Mastermind, ...)

I'm creating a horror game, and I want to be able to show emotion and give story through puzzles, without puzzles being easy or boring. I'm not sure how I can create engaging and creative puzzles, while still keeping horror atmosphere, story, and keeping the player engaged. I have a few ideas, but not enough to keep the puzzles interesting throughout the story. Any ideas?

The plugin that I would like to propose is that of an easier to access skill menu that pops up when a specific button is pressed, to be used for puzzles and interacting with the environment. Player presses (button) Windows pops up with a list of skills/spells the lead character has Player selects a skill which then executes on the map. No shuffling through multiple menus and drawing the player away from the action. This plugin could be beneficial to many different game types. Two prime examples of a similiar system would be Pokemon and Golden sun, Though Golden Sun is a quite a bit deeper. For instance, player has a spell called burn, that can burn bushes down. Or telekinesis to remove debris from a path.

Hi Everyone! Firstly i'm hoping this is on the right board (seemed most appropriate) and if not please let me know and i'll delete and repost there. I am attempting to make a game about three prisoners escaping a tower, my idea is to have each of them able to interact with the environment in different ways, i.e. the warrior exclusively being able to move heavy blocks and levers etc, rogue being able to pick locks and hook shot onto higher ground and the mage being able to interact with the magical devices strewn across the architecture, stereotypical i know but as a proof of concept I wanted something to be able to wrap my head around for more detailed use for later. I'm so far hitting a couple of snags with this idea; First- I cant find any way to switch the active member of the party (think breath of fire 3,4 and 5) aside from changing character graphic (which is not what I want as I intend to have followers on). Second- Having trouble with finding ways to lock events to occur when a specific actor interacts with it, (not even sure if this is possible). I was thinking of having most skills useable from the menu (e.g. pick lock, grapple hook, Magic Spells), but the idea of going into a menu to move an event one space per time would fast get tedious, my thought being if the warrior was selected he can just move the item by walking into it or pressing a button on it. Has anyone on this site tackled similar issues before? are there any tips, solutions or alternatives you guys have employed instead? Thank you for your time! CaoJin

Genre: Horror/Adventure/Story Progression: Story: 100% Maps: 40% Eventing/Scripting: 35% Artwork: 65% Music: 70% NEW, IMPROVED DEMO! (as of 1/26/2015) Quick Overview of Demo Changes: WITH RTP (260 mb): Here WITHOUT RTP* (70 mb): Here *This version is for those who already own RPG Maker VX Ace, and have the RTP resources. If you don't own the program, please download the 260mb RTP version, or you will not be able to play. DEMO ADVICE: This game is an adventure game, so make sure to explore your surroundings thoroughly. The solution to every puzzle can be found in your surroundings. Also, don't forget to ask Vincent for advice. Sometimes he even says useful things (but don't count on it 100% of the time). Feel free to provide feedback! --- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A teenager awakens to find himself trapped in a surreal dream world called the Daze.. Realizing his little brother needs his help to escape this nightmarish dimension, Liam delves deeper and deeper into the disjointed asylum of insane toys, mutated monsters and mazes. Along the way, he meets an unlikely ally--Vincent the Teddy Bear--and together they brave the bloody,deadly world in search of an escape. Not all is as it seems. Not everyone is who they think they are. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liam An introverted but devoted older brother, Liam is a teenager who wakes up in a horrific, nonsensical dream state called the Daze. Realizing his younger brother is also trapped there, he strikes out to rescue him against all odds. Vincent A green teddy bear who resides in the Daze. He helps Liam navigate the nightmare world. He may seem like a big, cantankerous downer, but he appears to be genuinely interested in the rescue mission. His interests are Vincent Van Gogh and pushing Liam's buttons. Sam Liam's ten-year-old brother. Sam is trapped in the Daze, presumably somewhere in its inner depths, and cannot escape without his older brother's help. Play "Play" is the name of a girl who speaks to Liam from somewhere inside the Daze. She wishes to escape with the two brothers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jam-packed with original artwork, sprites, and edits to create a dark, creepy atmosphere. ----- More custom-animated ways to die than you can flick a stick at. ----- Very story-driven, with a healthy balance of warm fuzzies,dramatic gravity, pure terror, and humour. ----- 5 different endings, ranging from Worst, Bad, Normal Good, and Best. Dialogue choices, optional scenes and puzzles will affect the grade of ending. ----- Tons of unique puzzles, some simple, and some challenging. ----- 99% detailed parallax maps. ----- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Animated parallax beach! A beach in a horror game!? A shot of the animated title screen. Very early game screenshot. Another early screenshot partially showcasing one of the game's longer puzzles. One more shot of a mostly finished room. A scene from Chapter 2. Don't let the pretty places fool you, now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visuals: JesseO (Some Modern Tiles) Celiana (Parallax resources and objects) Ayene (Parallax resources/objects) Scripts: MogHunter Khas Zeus81 Hime Yanfly modern algebra Tsukihime (hooray! Label Trigger Events! Follower Movement scripts!) Nicke IceDragon Music/FX: Aaron Krogh (Game Over music) FunSoundTube Other: Enterbrain (RTP resources and 'Ralph' base for Liam's faceset) All non-tileset artwork so far (Facesets, Game Over screen image, cutscene images, Title Screen, advertising, character artwork) is fully credited to me.** ** Exception: Liam's face graphic.That is Enterbrain's, and heavy edited. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Message: Inwards is a moderately scary game with a heartwarming story--one that can go in the right direction, or horribly, horribly wrong. It is entirely based on environment exploration and problem solving, so it is not a survival horror game (no combat). If you are particularly perturbed by all things related to creepy children and toys, then this is definitely recommended for you.

I'm working on my own project solo, and want to make it have various puzzles. One such puzzle I want to replicate is from Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals from SNES. I want to recreate the colored block puzzle where if you press three or more together that they vanish by each color. I was wondering if there's a script out there someone's made for it, or I need help figuring out how to event it. If anyone on here can help, it'd be much appreciated. I've included the puzzle page here so you can see what I mean. http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/snes/lufia2/puzzles/alunze2.shtml

Puzzle Party Genre: Puzzler / Minigames Average Game Time: For full completion, about 2 hours. For a single puzzle, a few minutes. Purpose: This game contains various puzzles (35 levels total) and minigames (5 in total) for you to play! By completing a level, you'll gain Prize Tickets which you can exchange for Picto's (collectible pictures), a saying from an old (crazy) wise man or a performance at the theatre. This game is meant to be light-hearted and fun game when you've got a few minutes to kill and doesn't have a specific goal for the player to reach. You'll play as Skelly, the puzzle-solving skeleton. Screenshots: Features: -Contains the following puzzles (each has 5 levels with increasing difficulty): Arrows, Chicken Chase, Find the Fire, Ice Slide, Maze, Rock Pushing and Switches & Bridges. -Contains the following minigames: Calculations, Light or Dark, Monster Quiz, Prize Maze and Storytelling. -Collect up to 45 different Picto's in your Picto Album. -Collect up to 20 collectibles in the Prize Maze minigame. -Listen to 30 different wise sayings from the old wise man. -Watch 7 different performances at the theatre. Download: If you don't have the RPG Maker VX Ace RTP installed, please choose the download with RTP included. Download without RTP (about 12 MB): [LINK] Download with RTP (about 200 MB): [LINK] Credits: Graphics: Enterbrain, Division Heaven and Mack. Music: Enterbrain (includes music from the RPG Maker XP RTP) Scripts: -Picture Gallery by Moghunter -Multiple Choices and Text Input by Tsukihime -Dynamic Sound Emitting Events by modern algebra -Forced Movement and Slippery Tiles by Yanfly Known Issues: English is not my native language, so there could be errors in spelling and/or grammar. Don't hesitate to point them out to me, so I can learn! All puzzles have been tested and should be solveable, if you still run into a problem please let me know!

Puzzles and minigames have become a staple trademark of RPGs ever since they grew out of being mainly grindfests. There are fun distractions, tricky and/or logic-involving puzzles, and those extremely-annoying-for-no-reason minigames (cough, lightning dodging in Thunder Plains). And then there are those puzzles that you really just can't figure out without a walk-through/guide or hours of experimenting. I think everyone should be able to complete a game regardless of any potential barriers (such as language). In a puzzle-like minigame, unless it was specifically stated, players shouldn't be punished for making a mistake, should they? How should we, as developers, create a balance between work and worth to make sure players don't throw down a game just because of that one puzzle? I'd like to hear input. I'll start us off. One thing to avoid in the creation of puzzles is slow action and unnecessary gimmicks. What I'm referring to is Final Fantasy X--one of my favourites--which has nice thought-involving puzzles, but has terrible execution of them. Picking up a sphere or pushing a pedestal would initiate a show of graphics, with an elegant movement of the hand to swipe a sphere out of the socket. This wasn't bad in the earlier puzzles that are fairly obvious, but later on, became a huge nuisance when you're left to experiment with the function of certain pieces of the puzzle (try Bevelle without a walkthrough and you tell me) and you end up spending 60% of the time watching your character flail his arms as he picks up items and pushes the pillar. And then you get something right, which triggers a little cutscene where a block of ice forms, or lightning surges out of some wall. After watching that for 30 seconds, you realize that you did it in the wrong order, and have to undo it, which makes you watch the scene again. *rant* Anyway, my point is to make puzzles flow. Make them quick, so to avoid frustrating the player. Or allow the player to move around while the animation plays.

People of the Bible: Genesis ABSTRACT: This game combines educating with elements of gaming (Subject:Genesis people in Bible). GENRE: Education (RPG, Puzzler) GAME PROGRESS: 30% RECRUITMENT: Possible Artists, Map Exporters, Composers PURPOSE: Educate using positive reinforcement merged with mini-games, puzzles, and mazes. CHARACTERS: The Player (Uses their own name, gender specific character and face sets.) Melchizedek (Guide) Adam Eve Noah Joseph, etc. (Genesis characters/Other NPCs) CREDITS: Title Artist: Dreamer Game Over Artist: Dreamer Game Over Music: Scythuz Music Bible research: MinisterJay Designer: MinisterJay Graphics: Enterbrain Xail System and XS Menu Deluxe: Nicke JABHA Creativity Logo: Cirucat Screenshots: Title Scene: Meeting the Guide: One way of quizzing what taught: Find the Spotless Sheep Game: FEATURES: Testing using multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, using battlers as multiple choice selections, multiple mini-games, mini-quests, timed mini-games.

I apologize if this idea should be within my Thread for DDC:PS, I choose to write this separately because IF no one likes it, I don't want to mislead people to think I'll add it to my game. Ok, I've been thinking of ways to intergret lore into the game in a way that players will make a effort to actually study up on it. My solution is by using puzzles. But not in the traditional way, instead I came up with the idea to put puzzles by Save Crystals. Why Save Crystals? Simply because they are a necessity, players will need them. So I figure to aim their attention to lore, I thought hey put puzzles by the Save Crystals. For their efforts, they gained access to items and can save their files.

I haven't seen a thread that specifically asks this question, so I just wanted to know what people thought, as I'm interested in making a fairly puzzle-based game. (Also, I'm a huge fan of the genre in general.) In your opinion, what are the most overused, boring, and/or least intuitive puzzles that you see regularly in games? Why don't you like them? I myself hate the "go to a room, find a key, open another door, find another key, repeat ad nauseum" puzzles. I just find them very repetitive and boring, and I just don't feel like they require you to solve anything, just click a lot. Also, unless it's given a reason, I always feel it's really weird to have that many locked doors. If you're inside a house (for example), who the heck locks all their inside doors? It puts a crack in my suspension of disbelief. So what about you guys?

Hello RMVXAce Community! This is One Cut Studio. I usually hang around the Resource forums, but I thought it would be nice to post a completed game that I made recently. When I introduced myself to the community I spoke of a game called Angry Birds: Maze Madness. I am pleased to offer that gave for your entertainment now. One Cut Studio Presents: Why this game was made: Game Information: Genre: Maze/puzzle level-based RPG. Average Game Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour. Number of levels: 11 (including the training level). RTP-dependent?: Yes. Story: Characters: Gameplay: Keys/Buttons: Arrow keys to move and the space bar is your interaction key (made to be simple). There is a training level and 10 game levels. In each level Red has to get a key to unlock his friend's cage, and then set that bird free. At the end of a level, you get that level's score. Your total score at the end of the game will be the combined score from all 10 levels. Scoring: Credits: Screenshots: From Level 3: "Da' Bomb!" From Level 4: "Birdcatraz" From Level 7: "Water World" Download Links: Download with the RTP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/f9bzsaiwfiqrpvy/Angry_Birds_Maze_Madness_with_RTP.exe Download without the RTP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/jjdqb4rb40iritw/Angry_Birds_Maze_Madness_without_RTP.exe Known Issues: Final Comments: Thank you, -One Cut Studio

Genre: Fantasy RPG Progression: Story: 90% Maps: 10% Dialogue: 5% Cutscenes: 1% Database: 50% Recruitment: I wouldn't say no if anyone were to donate sprite assets, pixel art, or music. This is purely a passion project, not something I'm hoping will make me rich and famous, so my budget for such things is precisely nil. If you would like to support The Shard of Urth, please feel free to slap this banner in you signature, on your blog, on your forehead; you know, places it might get noticed. Thanks. (I am not responsible if anyone actually does put this banner on their forehead.) The Demo In which you try out the game and tell me incredible it is. Or is not. Most likely the latter, at this point. A demo is available, though it's more of a walkabout than anything. Random encounters are implemented, but are most likely not balanced. You can also chat with numerous NPCs, and explore the Haunted House (If you can find your way inside), but except for skills, not much else is implemented yet. Also, many script driven menu options may not function properly, or at all, as most of the scripts have yet to be fully integrated. The demo requires the VX ACE RTP, which you can find here if you don't already have it, or RPG Maker VX ACE, installed. Of course, feedback is desired, and will be very much appreciated. The demo can be downloaded here (Mediafire). Now, on to the important bits. The Story Characters Screenshots Credits In which I list people more talented than I. Credits: Game engine: Enterbrain Music: DJMasque, No Place (Haunted House theme) Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata Pathetique Enterbrain Art: Soramani Kagome Kagome (å¿ è—¤ã„ã¥ã‚‹ @ http://soramani.kagome-kagome.com/) : * Character portraits (Leo, Mia, Rachel, Succubus #1, Succubus #2, Goddess) * Character sprites (Leo, Mia, Rachel, Succubus #1, Succubus #2, Goddess, Misc extras) * Battler Sprites (Rachel, Goddess, Misc extras) Thalzon, Battler sprites Mack: http://www.tekepon.net/fsm, Tilesets Indrah, Tilesets Scinaya, Misc tiles Liberty, Misc tiles Reverie, Misc tiles Canas, Misc tiles Crazy Leen, Misc tiles Palsa: http://metalraptor.deviantart.com/, Misc tiles Enterbrain Sound Effects: Pinkyfinger, Piano notes Enterbrain Scripting: Yanfly: Yanfly Engine Ace and various plugins Yami: ATB Battle System JV Master: 8 Direction Movement Lemony: Follower's commands Galv: Move route extras, ACE Save Engine Confirmation Add-on, Substitute Functionality, Map Postitons Jet10985 : Cache Optimization Ru/ã‚€ã£ãRu, Elemental Crisis: Volume Control Tsukihime: Map Screenshot Enterbrain Fonts: Robert E. Leuschke, Great Vibes artmaker, Banana Brick Philippe Cochy, Pecita LatinoType Limitada, Sophia Enterbrain Special Thanks: To my boss, for putting up with my antics. To Mama Rosa, for the mini pizzas that prevent my starvation wile I attempt to bash this ugly pile of scripts, art, and music into something that might be, one day, mistaken for a game. To my significant other, for buying the pizzas, and for always believing I can do anything. Except maybe take out the trash. To Enterbrain, for many obvious reasons, the least of which is that they released a pretty good game engine and gave me the privilege of trying to make an RPG. Of course, the most important reason is for all those wonderful assets. To you, gentle passer by, for taking a moment or three to stop and read the nonsense I just spent all day typing.

The title propably doesn't say much to most people so I'm gonna explain what I mean by "chair puzzle". In some rpg maker horror games there are items that can be collected from tall drowers and in order in get them you need to push a chair beside them and stand on it I know how to make pushable events but I don't know how to make a chair that after pushing it to a sertain place it then can be jumped on to activate another event. P.S. If "Random Nobody" answers all of my questions or at least most of them, I will put him in the credits under "Huge help with problem solving".

Topic says my main concern, and an interesting thing to note. Sometimes, i come across games where both battles and puzzle will be obstacles for the player. I played through many puzzles to know they can be fun additions to the game, or downright unnecessay. When i meet a puzzle, I get two reactions of it based on situation. "YAY! A PUZZLE! Alright, brain, do your stuff." (if puzzles are enjoyable) "Oh no...Not another puzzle..." (Opposite effect) Many games have done puzzles right. Some others just make you want to get the puzzle done as quickly as possible. I plan to add puzzles as a way to give players a rest from all the battles against monsters and such (as in, the room where the puzzle is has no enemy encounters), but as a test for the mind. And so, comes my questions. What makes puzzles enjoyable, or annoying? Is it their complexity, or their simpleness? What puzzles fustrate you the most, and which ones make you enjoy the game more? I personally find riddle-like puzzles to be the thorn of my life, but be free to mention your favorite or not-so-favorite puzzles. I want to know!

Is there a way to set up block pushing puzzles? The conditional branch option doesn't offer to check a event's location (coordinates) to activate a switch.

The first dungeon of my upcoming project (which I hope to post a demo of soon!) is set in a forest, and I need opinions from this awesome community on the type of puzzles I should employ. I had a few in mind, but let me set the stage (slight spoilers for an unnamed project below): Anyways, now Ruth and Lynessa are basically lost in a dark forest and the goal is to get out (to the world map). This is literally 10 minutes after the intro, so the party is level one with default equipment. I don't want to make it just a standard dungeon crawl, but forest puzzles? Not forest TEMPLE puzzles, just forest puzzles... it's hard to think of any. Here are my attempts: It is night, so the party needs to find a lantern to navigate and keep it fueled. Small evil plants have grown large, impassible vines over the paths - the player needs to find the "head" (flower) of the plant and use Lynessa's special skill (as outlined in the spoiler tags) to get through. Jumping from trees? How do you guys feel about these gimmicks, either alone or in a combination? Would they annoy you, or would you enjoy them? Even better: can you suggest any BETTER ones?