The messenger and the cursed one

[Nirwanda 323]

The messenger and the cursed one

 

Abstract: A messenger and a cursed woman team up to deliver a life or death message
Genre: Classic fantasy with dungeon crawling and a little twist here and there
Average Demo Time: an hour and a half

Game Progression: 40%


Story / Setting / Purpose:
Follow the story of Riev a wanted man carrying a message that could decide the destiny of the kingdom. He is joined by a misterious mercenary woman named Gia. Together they must make haste to the capital before it's too late.The story is mostly a tale of friendship I don't intend to make some grand epic, but to make you care about these people. Hopefully, I've succeded at least partially.

The game is a simple town-dungeon-town classic rpg and a little on the hardish side of things, I've worked pretty hard on this and I hope you enjoy it.
 
Character Bios:
Riev

A messenger commited to his cause, he may seems too obstinate and single minded at times and he struggles to understand that duty and honor don't trump common sense and good will. Still, his heart is in the right place.

During battle Riev is a jack of all trades, able to use magic and melee skills, he'll be there to support whatever other party members need of him.

Gia

A mercenary with a misterious past and a carefree attitude, she tries to get Riev to smile more, which will not always be appreciated.

In battles Gia is a stereotipical warrior, big and tough, but known to faint when a rabbit is pulled out of a hat in her nearby area, her curse actually bolsters this as she takes an extra 25% magic damage.

Soanna

An envoy of the mage's guild in the town of Levin, she joins the duo in their attempt to protect the town from orc attacks. Scatterbrained, yet extremely intelligent and a little ruthless Soanna will puzzle (and even entice a little) Riev.

As magic user, Soanna is exactly what you would expect: a glass cannon, nonetheless she's very powerful and her spells will be a necessity in order to explore the forests of Levin.

 

Credits:

Scripts:

Yanfly

Lone wolf

Victor Sant

Mezzolan

Mithran

Trihan

Yami

Doublex

Modern Algebra

Galv

Craze

Tsukihime

Mr Trivel

AdiktuzMiko

Fomar

Music:

AndersKlint

Asteroid Blues

Broove

BurnedVirus

Dammit Dude 2006

Frootza

Glaiel-Gamer

jaysummers759885

Kelpalots

ZuneInc

Graphics:

Rpg maker ds and ds+ pack by Archeia, Evil Eagles and Enterbrain

Sound effects:
Sound bible.com
Enterbrain
Idea and development:
Nirwanda

 

 
Screenshots:

 

He needs all the help he can get!

Ever played Luxaren Allure?

The city holds many misteries

Features:
-Blends action and humor!

-Hopefully charming characters!

-The ds tiles are beautiful!
 

Testimonial:

"I liked talking to the hermit's cat. It was cute" - Tenshi

Download:

Once you talk to Aldes after meeting the thieves guild PR guy the demo is officially over. But there is quite a bit of city for you to explore if you haven't done so already.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7n92ycolcn8tnjy/Messenger+and+Cursed+1.28.exe

 

 

Changelog:

 

 

- Rebalanced third boss battle so it'll be winnable by human beings .

- Fixed a major quest stoppping bug.

- Found a small bug that made a world of difference: I forgot to add the magic command to the hero!

- V 1.16 Powers up the character Soanna for an easier playtime, but sadly it needs a save prior to meeting her or a new game to take effect.

- V 1.17 Fixed some issues pointed out by hiddenone

- V 1.18 Big update!
 >Fixed some issues pointed by AgonyAiane.
 >Speed Snatch had the wrong element assigned to it.
 >One early cutscene explaining Gia's curse was not activating.
 >Shuffled some elemental weaknesses (specially made more stuff weak to water so Riev's Drown will see some use).
 >Fixed minor mapping errors.

- V 1.19
 >Now item drops are displayed more clearly in the victory screen
 >Powered up Jacob's skills to make them more competitive
 >The forest has its own music now!

 >Increased item drop rates
 >A few other minor fixes

- V 1.2 Certain enemy spells had drown's tiny chance to cause instadeath...oops!

- V 1.21 Added missing audio file.

- V 1.22 Major bugfix thanks to Shayoko!
 >Fixed several typos
 >Corrected a sequence breaking glitch
 >Now containers make a sound when checked so it's easier to know if you've done so
 >Hera flowers are shiny and easier to find
 >Extended demo playtime

- V 1.23 Rebalanced magic system!

- V 1.24 Rebalanced the magic system again! Some minor fixes. Extended demo playtime

- V 1.25 Slightly powered up some early enemies.

- V 1.26 Rebalanced regeneration to not make it as overpowered (now you regenerate only while in battle). Populated noble quarter. Added a new -unfinished- area.

- V 1.27 A myriad of fixes thanks to Eien Nanashi. Thanks!

- V 1.28 Fixed a map transfer event thanks to Eeve93.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by Nirwanda

[+ Crescent 474]

The maps are looking great, and the DS portraits as well! I'll give this a try soon. <3

[Nirwanda 323]

Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoy it!

Truth be told, I haven't tested throughly enough this new build with the magic rebalance, so I'll be very interested in what you have to say about it.

[Nirwanda 323]

I've updated the game's demo (I know you all were just so eager to try it) with a lengthier one that covers around half of the game (about 2 hours). New party members, new places to explore, more touching backstory to unlock, a lot to loot... What else could you ask for? I've also corrected and rebalanced several aspects of the game. I'm pretty sure things'll keep changing, but I'd like to believe the game is growing for the better.

The city of Risalia has MANY shops.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Nirwanda

[Rikifive 3,411]

A tale of friendship? That's nice! ^^ =P

 

Kinda simple story with simple objective - What mystery is hidden behind this? ^^ ~ JK! Good luck with development! (=

[Nirwanda 323]

Because friendship is magic right? (ok, that was like the most obvious joke in the history of ever)

Thanks, and yeah, that's a good description of my game, truth be told.

[Cleosetric 9]

I really like the maps, and the windowskin look nice too...

look nice story =D

[Nirwanda 323]

Thanks! The windowskin is part of the ds graphics pack I'm using.

[Cleosetric 9]

where i can get the similiar like that one?

[Nirwanda 323]

http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/a/pixel/ds-resource-pack (It's also available on steam)

You better wait until it's on sale though since it's quite pricey. I got mine for free on a christmas celebration event, but yeah, I got really lucky.

[Cleosetric 9]

yeah it's so quite pricey... i better use free resource

[Chadzter01 183]

Nice game! Simple yet elegant! I can sense some good story into it, i'll give this a try!

I really like the character face graphic! So good <3 Good work! =3

[Nirwanda 323]

Thanks, though, like I just said, the graphics aren't mine, they're from the rpg maker ds graphics pack.

[Chadzter01 183]

Thanks, though, like I just said, the graphics aren't mine, they're from the rpg maker ds graphics pack.

Atleast it's not from the default graphics set! Don't worry about the graphics, The story will bring out the most of the game.

A good game will not succeed without a good story to tell. =3 

And i know that you really put a lot of effort making this game so kudos to you! 

[Nirwanda 323]

Thanks for the vote of confidence inmy game. I really hope that if you try it, it won't dissapoint.

[Shi-an 39]

I tried out the demo, and all in all it was pretty good. The music was brilliant, the story was interesting enough, the pacing was good for most of the game (although not so much towards the end to be honest, I thought it went a bit too fast). I do like the direction you've taken of putting a stronger focus on the characters and getting to know them gradually, and also the characters questioning the morality of some of the things they do without giving a straight up solution of what is right or wrong. At times the little insights into the characters' pasts and personality were smooth and natural, other times not so much. This worked best when talking to the various NPCs and seeing how the characters reacted, whilst the "sit down and talk about ourselves" sessions felt forced and like a bit of a data dump.

 

The combat system was average, not bad but nothing to write home about.

 

I'm interested in finding out why exactly Riev is a wanted man and why and how Gia is cursed, so you have achieved what I believe is your primary objective, that is to create interesting and attractive characters. I will be keeping an eye on this game and wish you the best of luck! Some nitpicks below:

 

Bugs

 

- In the dialogue during the first fight you can see the attack, skills, defend etc. when the text window closes and opens

again. A workaround would be to have an image of black cover the bottom part until the battle actually starts.

- There's no indication of what you get when you search the first mine cart. And it seems you get a lot.

- Thick armour description should be "to boot"?

- Typos with Soldier Kohel by the mayor.

- Hime parameter bonuses line 190 nameerror when using ironclad scroll.
same with haste

- Loading from the data menu causes freeze.

- Radia in the noble quarter can be talked to but doesnt say anything,

 

 

Suggestions

 

- "data" is confusing as a way to save. Honestly I think Save/Load would work better.

- Is Soanna supposed to restore channeling after every fight? It makes battles way too easy with her.

- I ended up fighting the people in the smuggler's hideout before getting Aldes because it was in the first area in the

town. Maybe find a way to prevent that so people don't try to continue without him?

- I did have a bit of trouble getting my head around what was happening at Risalia, I feel like some of the dialogue there needs to be fleshed out a little.

 

 

Good stuff

 

- Music is great! Every song is brilliant! Where'd you get it?

- I liked the little disguise character change in risalia.

- I like that talking to people with and without Aldes has different dialogue

 

[Nirwanda 323]

Feedback and juicy one at that. Yay!

I tried out the demo, and all in all it was pretty good. The music was brilliant, the story was interesting enough, the pacing was good for most of the game (although not so much towards the end to be honest, I thought it went a bit too fast). I do like the direction you've taken of putting a stronger focus on the characters and getting to know them gradually, and also the characters questioning the morality of some of the things they do without giving a straight up solution of what is right or wrong. At times the little insights into the characters' pasts and personality were smooth and natural, other times not so much. This worked best when talking to the various NPCs and seeing how the characters reacted, whilst the "sit down and talk about ourselves" sessions felt forced and like a bit of a data dump.

 

The combat system was average, not bad but nothing to write home about.

 

I'm interested in finding out why exactly Riev is a wanted man and why and how Gia is cursed, so you have achieved what I believe is your primary objective, that is to create interesting and attractive characters. I will be keeping an eye on this game and wish you the best of luck! Some nitpicks below:

 

Bugs

 

- In the dialogue during the first fight you can see the attack, skills, defend etc. when the text window closes and opens

again. A workaround would be to have an image of black cover the bottom part until the battle actually starts.

- There's no indication of what you get when you search the first mine cart. And it seems you get a lot.

- Thick armour description should be "to boot"?

- Typos with Soldier Kohel by the mayor.

- Hime parameter bonuses line 190 nameerror when using ironclad scroll.
same with haste

- Loading from the data menu causes freeze.

- Radia in the noble quarter can be talked to but doesnt say anything,

 

 

Suggestions

 

- "data" is confusing as a way to save. Honestly I think Save/Load would work better.

- Is Soanna supposed to restore channeling after every fight? It makes battles way too easy with her.

- I ended up fighting the people in the smuggler's hideout before getting Aldes because it was in the first area in the

town. Maybe find a way to prevent that so people don't try to continue without him?

- I did have a bit of trouble getting my head around what was happening at Risalia, I feel like some of the dialogue there needs to be fleshed out a little.

 

 

Good stuff

 

- Music is great! Every song is brilliant! Where'd you get it?

- I liked the little disguise character change in risalia.

- I like that talking to people with and without Aldes has different dialogue

 

-Really the pacing felt rushed towards the end? Do you have any idea why you felt that? Maybe I should make the path leading to Risalia longer?

- The sit down and talk things were made as sort of relief points for the player, they're placed just after long exploration/battling segments. But I'll see if I can rewrite them to make them flow more naturally. Anything in particular you think needs pruning?

- Hahaha, you're right about the combat. Since this was originally a game for the rm birthday bash event I took the executive decision of leaving combat in the backburner and sort of never picked it up again, aside from basic balancing of battles.

- I'm kinda thorn about your interest in the characters, because in one hand nothing makes me happier as I wanted to write these characters and the world is just an excuse for them to exist. But on the other hand...well uhhmmm I thought that the reason why Riev was wanted was heavily implied in the first sit down and talk session. Also, I never thought about it as a point of interest for him, so I really need to reexamine how it is woven into the story and maybe even spice it up a little.

- Sorry about the bugs. Some I already noticed, while others are new to me.

 

 

- About the battle dialogue thing, that happens in every battle there's more than one line of dialogue. Like when meeting the orcs for the first time and there the background isn't black, so it can't be covered up easily. I see it as a minor issue and hope players are forgiving of it.

- The first mine cart gives you nothing. Maybe you didn't check the menu before. You just start the game with a lot of items.

- I'm not having the loading problem you do. It works just fine: could it be a problem on your end?

 

 

 

- Suggestions:

 

 

- That sounds ok, I'll use the save/load name for the next version

- Yeah, Soanna's basically a newbie crutch I set up (also my favourite character...Shhhh!). But I've been considering making her only regenerate ch in battles to make her a little more balanced. What do you think?

- The smugglers hideout is a completely optional place that only exists to provide a modest challenge for getting that sweet, sweet criticalizer (and later on a reward from the thieves guild pr guy). While the dialogue changes (and it's obviously easier) when Aldes is around, there's no reason for me to stop the player from exploring on their own.

- Well, it was kind of the point to get the player a little confused about what was going on in Risalia. So that the talk with the thieves guild Pr guy who explains everything should be relevant. Did you talk to him? Was his explanation still confusing? What should I make more clear?

 

 

 

- Good stuff

 

 

-The music was taken from random artists in newgrounds.com who posted their music as free for use in non commercial. If you open the audio/bgm folder you'll see that the tunes are labeled with the artist's name so you can look them up if you like their work.

- Hahaha the disguise was actually a last minute thing. After having written dialogue for all the guards, I realized that Riev, being a wanted man, shouldn't be even talking to them and I complained about it in an status update both over here and at rmw. In both sites I got the suggestion: "just get him a disguise"

- About dialogue changes. Thanks, I find it hard, but I actually enjoy writing dialogue. Too bad I forgot to add Radia's dialogue she REALLY doesn't like Aldes. Maybe I should upload a new version with the fixes to the stuff you mentioned and a properly populated noble's quarter.

 

 

 

A million thanks for taking the time to play my game and writing all of this, I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I hope you play it once again once I release a final version.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Nirwanda

[Shi-an 39]

- Actually it's more Risalia itself that has rushed pacing. This could just be because it's still in development.

- The problem is that the sit down sessions are a data dump and feel forced. It's BAM! A bunch of talking and information and when it's your first time playing it can be hard to digest it all. It needs to be broken up in one way or another, whether it be moving the characters (e.g. character walks a few steps away before saying something important for dramatic effect) changing sprites or faces, bubbles, descriptions or statements like "pass me the salt", sound effects, just something to make it so it's not just reading a wall of text. Actually this is something I have to be careful of too and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to realise this with your game.

 

Oh, is the secret package the reason why Riev is wanted? I thought he was wanted before and the package was different. Again I would blame it on the aforementioned point of it being hard to understand and remember everything said in those sessions.

 

 

- You could still use an image same as the background to fix the text box problem in battles. Having such a blatant bug just makes the game all of a sudden look unprofessional, especially so early in the game too. Up to you.

 

- So long as Soanna doesn't recover as much ch it's good.

 

- It could just be me with the loading problem. I get an error buzzer then can't do anything else. Maybe see if someone else gets the same error.

- I don't know who the Thieves guild PR guy even is. Is it the boss guy in the underground tunnel? The problem is I don't quite know who the relevant parties are, or who is in which party. I think the situation is that the thieves had one of their members killed and so now they're killing everyone and the nobles and guards have placed a lockdown, but it was kind of hard getting to that conclusion. I don't really know how to make it better now that I know what it is, I'd recommend getting more feedback from other people.

[Nirwanda 323]

- Actually it's more Risalia itself that has rushed pacing. This could just be because it's still in development.

- The problem is that the sit down sessions are a data dump and feel forced. It's BAM! A bunch of talking and information and when it's your first time playing it can be hard to digest it all. It needs to be broken up in one way or another, whether it be moving the characters (e.g. character walks a few steps away before saying something important for dramatic effect) changing sprites or faces, bubbles, descriptions or statements like "pass me the salt", sound effects, just something to make it so it's not just reading a wall of text. Actually this is something I have to be careful of too and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to realise this with your game.

 

Oh, is the secret package the reason why Riev is wanted? I thought he was wanted before and the package was different. Again I would blame it on the aforementioned point of it being hard to understand and remember everything said in those sessions.

 

 

 

- You could still use an image same as the background to fix the text box problem in battles. Having such a blatant bug just makes the game all of a sudden look unprofessional, especially so early in the game too. Up to you.

 

- So long as Soanna doesn't recover as much ch it's good.

 

- It could just be me with the loading problem. I get an error buzzer then can't do anything else. Maybe see if someone else gets the same error.

- I don't know who the Thieves guild PR guy even is. Is it the boss guy in the underground tunnel? The problem is I don't quite know who the relevant parties are, or who is in which party. I think the situation is that the thieves had one of their members killed and so now they're killing everyone and the nobles and guards have placed a lockdown, but it was kind of hard getting to that conclusion. I don't really know how to make it better now that I know what it is, I'd recommend getting more feedback from other people.

- It probably is due to its unfinished nature, then. Risalia features several mandatory dungeons in order to solve its quest.

- Maybe I could shorten the sessions and add more data in between scenes. I'll think about how to improve them. You're the first one to mention having a problem with them, though. I do agree that they're on the longish side.

 

Yeah. He's wanted by the traitorous elements within the kingdom. Sorry to disappoint.

 

- hmmm I'm not sure how would I cover it. The background is after all a swirling image.

- I'll note the loading thing as a known bug when I get my desktop comp repaired tomorrow. (I'm on the cellphone)

- You kind of got the gist of it. Except that the killing is out of their hands, it's an overzealous faction looking for the culprit very messily. After Aldes joins he tells you to go to the thieves' guild building, the biggest building in the poor quarter. You must've missed it among the info dump. There you'll meet the pr guy and he explains the whole situation.

BTW It's not so much you have to solve the whole problem as much as it is that you have to gain the thieves favor in order to escape the lockdown. Of course things have a way of working themselves out when you work hard.

Maybe I should set the guild's door to be half open like the other enterable areas once you're told to go there so it's more obvious.

 

Thanks again for the feedback and sorry about the bittersweet experience.

[Shi-an 39]

I guess I should just add a disclaimer that I am by no means a pro game-tester, and I played the game over-critically because that's how I'd want people on this forum to play any games I post, as I believe it's more helpful at the cost of being a bit nitpicky. That doesn't mean anything I say is right, only that it's how I felt at the time and you might want to take it into account. Looking forward to the next demo/final version.

[Nirwanda 323]

I guess I should just add a disclaimer that I am by no means a pro game-tester, and I played the game over-critically because that's how I'd want people on this forum to play any games I post, as I believe it's more helpful at the cost of being a bit nitpicky. That doesn't mean anything I say is right, only that it's how I felt at the time and you might want to take it into account. Looking forward to the next demo/final version.

It's alright, I'm very thankful for your feedback and I'll seriously consider it, while I understand your voice shouldn't be the only one I listen to. Hope the final version doesn't let you down.

Thanks a lot.