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I was originally writing this for the rpgmakermv.co resource staff, but seeing as I'm no longer participating with that group I figured I'd post this here. Hopefully you guys will find some use in this. Evil and Agony Part 1: The Evildoer Antagonists; we love to hate ‘em. From Donkey Kong all the way up to Fallout 4, we have been fighting villains in one form or another since the inception of gaming; Bowser, Doctor Wily, Slender Man, and more! These baddies have kept us coming back again and again to beat their sorry behind for decades. But I feel like we often forget that there are two different types of antagonist. Not all of them are fire breathing Turtle-Dragons bent on domination, nor are they all completely insane monsters with no face and the ability to make all of your VCR tapes look like crap (Am I the only one who remembers VCRs?) and turn you into some unspeakable horror. Some are just… people. People with wants and desires like you and me, but they may just follow a different path, it may be the wrong path, filled with anger, death and violence, but to them it may seem like the ONLY path that they can take. Either because of something they’ve done in the past that keeps them from believing that they can walk the same path as us, or they may believe that the other way is the best way of doing things. So, I want to talk about antagonist. Mainly; the difference between two types of what I call “The Agony†and “The Evildoerâ€. Let’s start with The Evildoer. What is it? Well, if you’ve ever seen a movie with the Joker in it, or read the Hobbit and got to the part with Smaug, or played a game with Bowser in it then you’ve already seen it. The Evildoer type of antagonist is one I’ve gone over before in another article that I wrote before joining the RT, but I’ll go back over it here. The Evildoer is sometimes referred to as a “Force of Nature Villainâ€. It is either mindless and does what it does for little to no reason, or single minded in a goal to the point where nothing else matters to it. These are the Black Lanterns, the Darkness’s, and the Zombies, something powerful, or overwhelming and, generally, completely evil. Not all Evildoers are just representations of evil. They can be representations of something else, a thought, a hope, a fear, an element, an object, an emotion, etc. These types of Evildoers most commonly show up in horror stories. Example are: The A.I that goes berserk and destroys a hopeful future, the creeping shadowy figure that engulfs everything in darkness, an unstoppable red hulk of a creature that destroys everything in fits of inarticulate rage, that kind of thing. One last note on Evildoers: They often are not humanoid, or if they are then they are disfigured, or strange in some way. You can make them normal looking, there are advantages to both ways, but the main thing to remember is that the normal looking Evildoer should still have something off about them, something that makes them seem unreal and real at the same time. A normal looking detective who you thought was your friend, but turned out to be the demon you’ve been hunting and taunts you with this fact as his eyes turn pure black and a strange sickly glow starts radiating from his chest. Those type of things are pretty effective and memorable. Basically, the Evildoer who looks like a normal person is most effective as a sort of “Gotcha!†twist. And if you do go that route, and then make sure to have some subtle hints to the true nature of the character. The traditional Evildoer should not be a normal person, because by their very nature they lack any real personality. They are embodiments of something, which normal humans are not. There are other types of antagonist like the Evildoer that can be normal people, but that’s for the next part. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 2: The Agony The Agony on the other hand is something different, The Agony is a normal human; think a friend, colleague, or family member, who has had something just bad happen to them or someone they love. The Middle class father whose daughter has been diagnosed with an untreatable cancer, the former police officer who held their partner as they bled death, the king whose entire family was slaughtered right in front of him, the soldier who went off to war young and optimistic, but came back old and nihilistic. These kinds of characters are the tragic antagonists, they are people who could very well be me and you if one thing had changed in our lives, and now they stand across from us on the other side of a line. I would like to emphasis the ‘tragic antagonist’ part. While there are antagonists that are closer to being more of a rival, or the just the guy who happens to be on, say, the police task force that has been formed to stop your party’s crime spree, this is not the absolutely normal person antagonist. It is someone who has suffered something that has affected them deeply, to the point where they obsess over it. This is the antagonist closest to being an Evildoer without actually being one. They aren’t as pure evil as that type of antagonist, but they are the ones who are on the edge of becoming one, mostly due to their obsession. The Agony tends to be an ally to an Evildoer in the story. When they are allies with Evildoers it is almost never because they like the Evildoer, or even want what he wants, but they want something he can give: Magic that can cure the sickness of a loved one, the power to let the character get away with murdering someone out of revenge, or the information that can lead the character to their long lost family. As such, Agonies under the command of an Evildoer will often be apprehensive towards certain commands the Evildoer gives them, like beating up an old man, but will eventually acquiesce, or find some way out of performing the command without the Evildoer killing them. They may secretly help the hero, warn those in danger that the Evildoer is coming, or even join the hero at some point. The Agony is a great type of antagonist for a sort of dark reflection theme, where they share a similar past to one of the heroes, but one event led them to a darker path than the hero. This can result in the hero and the Agony having a unique relationship, maybe they are able to anticipate what the other will do, perhaps they share a friendship with a supporting character and are forced to set aside any differences to help said character, or perhaps as a reminder to each other of what they could have been. LS: Excluding this section. I’ll be using it for another article. I realized that this more fits in with another antagonist type. (The unknown quantity Agony is the mercenary who will do anything for the right price, the paladin who walks the line between light and dark, the spy who has split loyalties, ect. They work well as hirable party members in games, or as temporary party members that show up once in awhile. And if they do decide to help the Evildoer, then consider having them be friendly with the party before hand, help them out, save them once or twice. This can lead to a memorable scene of betrayal when the Agony finally draws his sword on the heroes.) Now this isn’t the only type of non-Evildoer antagonist, and I know that I’ll probably be doing another article on those some other time, but I just felt that this made a good article for the site. Now, let’s have a quick overview before we sign off: The Evildoer: 1. Often mindless or single minded in its goal. 2. Usually strange, or monstrous in appearance. 3. Destructive, or embodying something. 4. Lack any real personality, other than what they embody. 5. Often have no morals. 6. Tend to cackle and rub their hands together in glee after destroying villages if they are dark wizards. The Agony: 1. Usually a normal person who has had something terrible happen to themselves or a loved one. 2. Often an ally of an Evildoer, or an un-aligned character who may help either side. 3. If they are allies to and Evildoer, they are often apprehensive to carry out orders that go against their morality. 4. They have morals and ethics, unlike the Evildoer. 5. They may betray the Evildoer at some point, or they may stay with them until the end. 6. They tend to look good in leather. I hope this helped many of you, and if you have questions, leave a comment and I will be happy to answer to the best of my abilities. And now; a brief dialogue exchange between an Evildoer, and Agony. Agony: You murdered all those people! Evildoer: And what of it? Agony: They had nothing to do with any of this! Evildoer: Didn’t they? They refused to hand over the crystal. Agony: You didn’t need to kill all of them! Evildoer: And you would have done any differently? Agony: Yes! I- Evildoer: You have killed people before. Agony: Never like that! Evildoer: Truly? What of those farmers? Agony: That was different. Evildoer: Was it now? I distinctly remember you slaughtering them all for what happened to your sister. Agony: … Evildoer: Hahaha! You are pathetic. Agony: No matter what she did… They deserved to die. It was justice. Evildoer: Ever the arch hypocrite of the land! Agony: ...Shut up. - A game idea I once had, but I lacked the resources to make it. Viel Glück und auf Wiedersehen! (Good luck and goodbye. (Hope I got that right)) -C.D. Cerda (LordSquirrel).

So I've been having trouble making my game's story. I have almost everything else figured out and ready, but the story is holding me up. I was considering the villains be styled sort of like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but sort of different. Maybe four that fall under things like: fear, pain, death, conquest. Thoughts on that? Also, for the actual story, would it be a good or bad idea for the story to (not getting into to much spoilers) include the bad guys hoping to break the seal between two worlds? Let me know what you think about both of those questions down below

(Richter Belmont arrives in Dracula's chamber) Richter Belmont: Die monster! You don't belong in this world! Dracula: It was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was called here by humans who wish to pay me tribute. Richter Belmont: Tribute!?! You steal men's souls and make them your slaves! Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions... Richter Belmont: Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill needs a savior such as you! Dracula: What is a man? (flings his wine glass aside) A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk... Have at you! - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Since the beginning of gaming we have had evildoers. From Donkey Kong in his titular game, to Dracula in Castlevania, to The Didact from Halo 4. Villains have always given us a clear objective and reason to continue forward and complete our favorite games, and while our villains tend to be a bit more ambiguous in their evilness, today we will be taking a look at making pure evil villains. Those forces of malevolence that exist only to destroy and kill. Welcome everyone, to the first installment of Characters and Whatnot. A series where we will take a look at different types of characters and coming up with ways of writing them. Today's subject: The Evildoer. So, how do we go about making an Evildoer? Well, first we need some solid examples of what an Evildoer is. This is sort of my own term for it. I've been told that Extra Credits refers to it as the Force of Nature villain. I haven't watched the episode where they talked about it, and I like Evildoer better, so I'm just going to use Evildoer instead. One example of an Evildoer is The Darkness from the Fable series. Kind of spoilery for the second half of Fable 3 and then for most of Fable the Journey, but The Darkness (sometimes called "The Crawler") is basically what it sounds like; darkness and death incarnate. It is a single minded creature of destruction that believes that it has a right to everything in the world of Fable. It has no sympathy, no guilt over the massive amounts of deaths it causes, no goals outside of destroying the people of Albion and claiming the world for itself. Another example would be Bowser, the dragon-turtle-thing main boss of most of the main Mario games. Bowser's only real goal throughout most of the games is to take over the Mushroom Kingdom and beat Mario... And sometimes he just wants to beat everyone in go-karts, but that's beside the point. He is just as single minded and straight forward of a villain as The Darkness, if less intimidating. Now that we have those two examples (and don't link the game theory thing on Bowser, I saw it already.) we can see that the one thing that connects these Evildoers is that they are straight forward, have little to no real personality other than being power mad, and are bent on destruction. That is basically what an Evildoer, a character that exist solely to destroy and give the player a reason to continue forward. This type of Evildoer is almost insultingly easy to write, so I won't spend to much time on it, but one important thing to remember is if you are planning to make this villain still memorable, then you will have to put some extra work in. Evildoers are a dime a dozen and are everywhere, so if you want to make them stand out, then there are some unique ways you can make them stand out. One way is to give them a unique looks, although that may not be an option depending on the resources available to you, the big demon with flaming wings and a skull face is kinda played out, not saying you can't do it, but you'll want to add something else to it. Maybe a unique design of armor, or some different colored flames. One way that i always find is a good way to give them unique looks is by making them look like something normal, but with an odd twist to them. A trench coat wearing detective with pure black eyes and a burning fire in his chest is usually a bit more memorable than the before mentioned demon with a skull face. Another way is to give them some memorable quotes, sometimes the quotes can be something very simple, but said at the right time, or they can be something over the top and dramatic like with the example given at the beginning of this post. For those of you who can't remember or can't be bothered to look at the quote: "What is a man? (flings his wine glass aside) A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk... Have at you!" See? Over the top, dramatic, and kind of silly, but it is one of the most memorable lines in all of gaming. Most of the reason is because it's silliness, but taken out of the context of the scene that it was original said in, it is a legitimately good line that let's the player know exactly what kind of enemy they are dealing with. And the final way of making these types of villains stand out is by actually having them score a clear win against the player at some point. Think about it, how many times have you played a game where you were fighting the demon king of hell, or equivalent, and won every single time you met him or his minions? I mean in a story sense and not just in gameovers. I'm willing to bet that almost all, if not all, of your experiences with this scenario play out this way. The demon king boasts about how he will, "End this pitiful world and you along with it!" and then proceeded to fail in every single encounter, but still keeps his certainty throughout the entire game. It just makes the villain a joke. Maybe have the Evildoer capture one of the heroes, or have them actual achieve one of their goals, or maybe even have them kill the main character, that can give an Evildoer a massive amount of credibility as a threat. There is also another type of Evildoer villain. The Evildoer who represents something. An emotion, an instinct, and idea, a fear, a hope. These Evildoers usually are more memorable than the pure evil villain. They are still usually hellbent on destroying, or ruling everything, but also require a lot more thought when it comes to making them. They usually work better for horror stories, or for games that pose a question to the player throughout the whole game. Let's take a look at two particular Evildoers of this type that I'm sure all of you have at least heard of: Slender Man and The Rake. Yes, yes, yes. I know people don't really take either of these seriously because of the massive over exposure both of them have gotten over the past few years, but let's just ignore that for a moment. The true thing that makes these two so effective, and so terrifying to a degree is that they represent something. They both represent the unknown, or the strange. They are have humanoid features, but also have distinctly inhuman features. A head of pure white with no facial features or hair, long animalistic claws and an alien-like head attached to a small humanoid body. This is sort of like the Uncanny Valley effect. It looks so similar, but also so alien, so out of the norm from what we expect. They could also be considered representations of fate since there is no way to ever escape either of these creatures. No matter how fast, how intelligent, how clever you are, you will die, or be captured. There is no escape at all. You may run and run for years, but they will find you. Another example is something I remembered reading about. It was for some kind of tabletop RPG that seemed to me to be a kind of mix of Dead Space and the Lawnmower Man. I can't remember the name of the game, and a google search has yielded no results, but I remember the main villain of the entire setting to be a rather effective Evildoer. In the story of the setting, mankind finally reaches a point of technological prowess where we reach the theoretical phenomenon known as the Singularity (look it up) and were able to make a true A.I. It was capable of making it's own decisions, and expand it's knowledge infinitely... But then something went horribly wrong. The A.I went insane for lack of a better word. Just out of nowhere is began making really demonic kinds of stuff for seemingly no reason. It begins making cybernetic demons, swarming storms of robotic bugs that scour the planet in search of anything organic, and spouting out demonic language and apocalyptic prophecies until it eventually drove mankind from the surface of earth. This A.I represent a fear, or a twisting of a hope. It represents the fear of the possible repercussions that this sort of technology could bring about, and twists the hope of making a better future that such technology could make. It also represents the fear of man overstepping his boundaries, the fear that we might destroy ourselves with our own technology, and so on. Ultimately, the Evildoer, no matter what kind you want to make, is a common and some would say boring villain. But if you do it right, you can make a truly memorable enemy for your players to face off against. I hope this helped you guys in some way. I know this was mostly just an explanation of what kind of character an Evildoer is, but honestly, this is a villain you have to make yourself since a different one is needed for every game. Have a good day everyone. See you next time with something with a bit more pointers. -LS Want tips on how to make a character in general? Check out this link. T he 5 Ws of Character Building

Welcome to the official page of the game: BETA Version 1.0 already available! BETA VERSION 1.0 FEATURES: * 2h~3h of gameplay; * 1 Full Side-Quest ready to complete; * Fight Club available; * Open World with many areas ready to explore! DOWNLOAD LINKS: - Dropbox (Click here...) RTP OF RPG MAKER VX ACE REQUIRED! To play this game you will need to have the Run-Time Package of RPG Maker VX Ace installed in your pc. Click here to download the RTP for free... In Unholy Sword, you will play a quest where your objective will be saving the world. However, you won't save the world from some heinous boss or an evil creature. You are that evil creature! You are Balbino, the half-orc half-human destined to take part in an adventure against the forces of goodness. And who would be threatening our evil and nasty world? The boring RTP heros. Of course! (Adam, Leticia, Clark, Lilian and Adrien) But don't despair! The game creator will help you with an evil group... each of this guys has a motivation (or not). It's up to you to join forces and work out the forces of evil. So, we have... Prince Lulu, the son of the Great White Dragon (GWD). But I wouldn't trust in his strength. There is a great problem with this guy... not even the Great White Dragon has yet managed to solve... his son is addicted to social networks. This will include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram... sometimes he will take a snapshot during the adventure and post it on his social profiles. See, he doesn't care for his evil blood, as long as he reaches the 5000 Friends on his Facebook Page. Can you help him? Can you end his addiction? (It's a retoric question, don't answer it, no one believes in your skills...!) Then we have Merlin, a very dangerous and crazy sorcerer. He is a cool guy, though. This is not Harry Potter where you have a magic wand and your spell jumps out of it! Merlin uses a very special guitar to unlock his tremendous power! He helps the group because his evil brother was killed by the heros of the game. He obviously seeks revenge for his loss. And finally, we have Irina, a sexy succubus who will join the group in order to conquer Lulu's heart. She has a thing for power and wants to forge a promising destiny. Being in the family of the Great White Dragon would be a big deal for her! Can she win the prince's heart? (Who knows... not me... I never lose control.) And this is your main adventure... then we have... SIDE QUESTS! The Side-Quests are a fun way to explore the world map, visit many new locations and keep the player interested in the adventure! I don't want to create a huge game with lots of side-quests. I'm plan to include three side-quests, each of them lasting at least 1 hr of gameplay. Why only three? Well, I'm just one guy and I have a trauma with big projects. I can never finish them. So, let's keep it simple but fun, shall we? #1 ~ AHOY, BRING ME AN ALE! HIC... The first side-quest is already included in the beta version 1.0. A quest for a lost treasure in Yürn's Island. It features a new island with new locations: a forest, a pirate village, several dungeons a lost temple with hidden treasures and one oasis area where you can fight many thieves... To start this quest, talk to the barman in the tavern of the Bloody Hecatomb. He then will tell you to talk with the Cabin Boy! Don't forget to bring some dybriks, the coin of the game... you will need some to start your adventure! TITLE SCREEN: EXPLORABLE AREAS: DIALOGUES: IN BATTLE: FIGHT CLUB: SIDE QUESTS: WORLD MAP: 1. Battle. Battle a lot. (To win EXP & Dybriks) There is a golden rule I created for every RPG I play: battle. Battle a lot. Never run away from a battle you know you can win! It's never a waste of time. Specially in Unholy Sword you won't have an hard time with enemies! The battle only begins when an enemy's sprite catches you in the map. So, you can always run from him (actually, not always). If you kill the nemy, he will disappear temporarily from the map. If you return to it later, he will be there again. This way you can always battle foes to win more EXP and Dybriks! 2. Complete the Fight Club! (You will receive amazing items...!) It's a fun place to dwell for a while. You will meet funny characters, battle in a fun way (if you enjoy Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, you will love this!), and you will unlock rooms with awesome treasures like huge amounts of dybriks, vital potions, dusts to increase your ATK and DEF points, and you will find a variety of weapons and armours! And the good thing about battling in the Fight Club. Even if you lose, the game doesn't punishes you! 3. Buy Snake's Teeth! (Some enemies are a drag... don't get poisoned!) Snake's Teeth prevents your character from a poisoned death. Buy this item whenever you can! It's not expensive, and you will need to use it sometimes... 4. Explore your map! Touch everything... (You never know until you click...!) From hidden treasures to talkative plaques. Press Z everywhere. Maybe you will find a cave with treasures or a chest hidden in the trees! 5. Report bugs and language mistakes! (To improve the game's quality...) It's not really a trick or an hint. You know, I'm one guy only on this... so, there's a big chance you will find a bug or two... or three... or four... I don't know. And I'm portuguese, which means I may spell a word wrong or write a weird sentence. If you don't understand something, please contact me! In the game you will find my e-mail and I will always be ready to solve any bugs/errors that you may find in the game. I would really appreciate this. Thanks! (ABOUT THE GAME) 1. When will you finish this junk? I want to have it ready before halloween's eve! Who knows. It depends on my will and also from the feedback I receive from you. Yes, you! Comment the game! Don't just read the topic and leave. Don't do that... oh well, if you really have to! 2. When did you started this project? When schools was out for summer! Yeah. According to the date that the game folder was created, I would say around 8th of July. But I started a draft of the game in September 2012. At the time I was using Rm2k3. Good thing I lost the project... Local switches save a lot of time, I tell you that! 3. Why choosing an evil dude for protagonist? Because evil characters are always fun! Think about it... heros are dull, with an overrated sense of justice. They are dumb. The evil guy is always smarter. Also, how would I have a story otherwise? And I don't have to worry with the moral laws and lessons the player will get in the end... but, should I worry with that? Hehe. 4. Can Balbino's condition be considered a racist topic in the game? Absolutely! It conditions his life in several ways. He will never be considered totally evil because he has a human side. That's bad for him. He wants it so bad, you know, to prove the world his evilness, that he will end up doing crazy things. Racism is, sadly, still a big social problem today. If you are black and live in a country where most people are white, you might face some really bad situations. Mostly because people are mean. The same thing will happen to a white person if he travels to Jamaica. Some people may not trust you at first! That's a result of a racist mind. But let's not discuss this here. It's just a topic in the game to make you think about it! 5. Is this game free? Free as the air you breed! Unless the government has been selling that too...!(ABOUT ME) 1. Are you portuguese? I'm a portuguese from Portugal! Many makers that are portuguese are brazilian. That's not the case. However, I take part in almost every brazilian community... we have amazing game creators and very kind people ready to help you! Also, there are loads of good games and resources from brazilian makers. Not portuguese. There are not many portuguese people in the RPG Maker area. (Sad... sniff, sniff...) 2. Since when do you mess with RPG Maker? I found out about it when I was 12. I started my participation in RPG Maker communities around 14. Good times! I started my campaign in the deceased RPG Maker Brasil. I hold good memories from this place... where I met loads of brazilian friends... and never completed a game! Hehe. 3. Do you have more games besides Unholy Sword? Well, I do have two projects that were never finished: Alex and the Lost Temple [RM2k3] ("Alex e o Templo Perdido" in portuguese), a comedy game where you played with Alex. It was a tribute to this hero who was forgotten by the maker community once RPG Maker VX came out! Cacildes and The Cursed Curse [RMVX Ace] ("Cacildes e a Maldição do Mal" in portuguese), a comedy-sandbox-adventure game where you played with a fat dude named Cacildes along with a stroller philosopher named Sidónio, a kind king of Hell who is doomed to live in a human exile for being to good for people and a half-orc half-human being named Balbino! Haha, that's right. Balbino has his roots on this old project of mine. I never finished it because it became too big... but I still love this project. It's wonderfully big. The land is full of life. The history and the mythos of a place named Skalya are for me one of my best creations in my Game Developing journey. Google the projects to find out more! They are both in portuguese, so you better be fond of the lusitanic language! 4. Which are your favorite RPG Maker games? I love the games of a brazilian guy named JPA. He created this comedy trilogy where you play a fat guy named Rhygar. It's just insane. And I think the third game has 30 hours of gameplay. Then he created Drunkmaster 1 and 2. They became my RPG Maker inspirational works! From RPG Maker.net, I only played one game to the end: Epic Elf. I just loved it. It was produced by Spirit_Young and tells the story of Dagree in a land called Vitality Island. Now there is an Epic version, man. Need to take some time to replay it all! Click here to see the full "Special Thanks" list... If you are not on the credits but still you have helped me somehow, please contact me so I can edit this section! And forgive me for forgotten you! Known Issues: * No critical bugs were known to the date. * However, the beta tester has reported that some characters and items are still in portuguese and therefore, not yet translated! This will be fixed in future versions. And that's all! Download the game. Have a great time, and come back to tell me what you thought of it... even if you are in a bad mood and need to load your negative energies on someone! Thank you for wasting your time reading my game. I hope you have a fun time! Good games! Bye. Last update: 7/August/2013