Darune, The Fate of War

[Xephyr 6]

Good lord, man. This project looks utterly brilliant. I know that this is essentially what everyone else has been saying, I just thought I would also reiterate. Seeing this project reach a completed state would be absolutely awesome.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings again everyone! The holidays are around the corner, and I've been working very hard on the progress of the game. I'm happy to say that the demo is coming along very well. Almost all of the games data work for the demo is complete, only waiting on a few script bug fixes and event polishing and testing before I'll release it for everyone. 

 

First to respond to some recent posts...

 

If you still need a writer on board for storyline purposes, let me know. You can see a small excerpt from a piece of mine in my work wanted thread:

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/9113-writer-looking-for-a-fun-project/

 

I would like to welcome Enshin to the project team. He's been tasked with going through the, in my opinion, bad dialog that I've placed in the game so far and update them. What I've seen him do so far I really enjoy. I think this guy will really help pull this project together.

 

Serious project spotted.

I will be delighted to help with the sub-quest's stories, backrounds, writing tips and any other form of storyline, big or small. I'm looking to build up some experience in a game project and to be part of a team. I hope I can help !

 

What's up K-no-K. As far as story line and side quests go, right now I'm standing at a decent place, but once this demo is pushed out, the rest of the game will be hammered out. If you are around by then I'd love to see some of the work you've done because I'll have more positions open in my team.

 

Good lord, man. This project looks utterly brilliant. I know that this is essentially what everyone else has been saying, I just thought I would also reiterate. Seeing this project reach a completed state would be absolutely awesome.

 

Hello Xephyr. Yes a lot of people seem to really enjoy what I've been working on, and I hope it stays that way. Seeing these comments, even if it is a simple one, does help me gain the motivation to keep pushing this massive project out for you guys. I love hearing the public point out specific sections they really like about the game, as well has any opinions, both good and bad. Where this is my game that I'm developing, I'm making this for you guys. Any input you have to this I'll gladly take into consideration.

 

 

 

Next I'd like to move to the updates that I've posted today. Most of these are minor updates, but updates none the less.

I'm placing the demo at roughly 35% completed, still waiting on a few things to be hammered out. Further information on this will be released.

 

I've placed new screenshots today on a lot of sections. You guys can see what I go through when updating and creating spells. All the math that is involved and how much I try to keep things in respect.

 

Some of the characters are having there class battle style redone. This is due to some new information and knowledge of the game I've acquired over the past few months. More to come on those.

 

I'm releasing an "Official Guide" to my game. Yes you heard it right. Not only am I making this awesome game for you all, I'm also taking extra time to keep an updated guide for you all to follow, if you choose to do so. I feel why should someone spend there own time away from my game to make a guide when I can do it myself as I create the game. To me this seems much easier, plus there is little room for error on monster stats, item locations etc. I can also include any secrets that one might miss in there FAQ as well as boss strategies. I'll post a poll on everyone's thought on it.

 

And last but not least...

I will be creating a web site after the demo is finished to allow easier access to updates and information to my game. When it's done I'll be posting that link at the top. (If anyone has any web design experience or free time and willing to help with this, please PM me.)

 

Thanks again everyone and I wish you all a happy and safe holidays. I'll be posting my next update after the holidays have passed so nobody will miss anything.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings everyone and happy new year! Yay 2013!!!

 

My first post this year for you all, and I've been working on a lot of stuff. This will be a quick post to update you all on everything.

 

I placed a poll of 3 questions, let me know what you guys think, and PLEASE be honest.

 

I've started to re-organize my page some, and I've done a lot of deep explanations of some of the game's mechanics. Let me know what you guys think about it.

 

I'll have more for you guys in the next upcoming days. 

 

Also... the demo is coming along very well. Progress is really starting to fly on this, and I hope I can deliver for you guys an awesome demo experience.

 

Thanks again everyone,

ChaoS

[Fated 13]

My 2 cents if you're interested.

 

I see a lot of WoW in the mechanics that you're developing. I don't have a problem with that or anything, but I just hope you realize MMORPG based concepts may not necessarily translate well into a standard RPG. Also, I would probably not reveal formulas to players. Your formulas make sense to you and you've seen them in action, but not to me. A general "STR is for weapon fighters" is good enough for me. I'll let the game show me the numbers once you release a demo.

 

That aside, good luck with everything. This project looks gargantuan and I can only imagine the demo will be a great experience.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

My 2 cents if you're interested.

 

I see a lot of WoW in the mechanics that you're developing. I don't have a problem with that or anything, but I just hope you realize MMORPG based concepts may not necessarily translate well into a standard RPG. Also, I would probably not reveal formulas to players. Your formulas make sense to you and you've seen them in action, but not to me. A general "STR is for weapon fighters" is good enough for me. I'll let the game show me the numbers once you release a demo.

 

That aside, good luck with everything. This project looks gargantuan and I can only imagine the demo will be a great experience.

 

 

Greetings Fated,

First I do appreciate your feedback. Amazingly I haven't played many classic RPG's, but I have played world of warcraft for a very long time. I do take some pointers from the game and they do reflect into Darune. However I am trying to keep that fine line from the "MMO" feel, to the classic "RPG" feel. I placed the poll to help give myself an idea of others opinions aside from "great game" and "wow look how massive this is (teehee)". Again I'm making this game for you all to enjoy. I gain pleasure in just making a game that you all will enjoy playing and not something that is a major disaster. I'm willing to make small changes here and there to help make this a better game, rather than just be stubborn and do what I feel is best all the time.

 

From my experience in playing some RPG's, is I see some stats that my characters have. But it never really made sense to me how a character can say have 50 strength and hit a monster for 700, but could then get 65 strength and hit for 1300. (These numbers are inflated of corse, but there here to make a point) I try to make my game suitable for all types of players. The more simplistic players who see the characters stats increase like the older RPG's will still enjoy the game and see a difference. While other players who try to play a game as perfect as possible will also benefit from the extra stats I provide for the player.

 

I was very hesitate to add an "achievement system" to the game, as they seem to be redundant at times in some games. For me, I felt this was a good opportunity to add some extra humor to the game with several ester eggs and such, and also for those seeking to "100%" a game, can also view their progress.

 

The recent post I made explaining how the stats work in the game is another idea I'm trying to perfect. I just recently started adding "extra information" to the items and gear, as you can see in one of the screenshots. Again, this will benefit all kinds of players. Those who wish to just equip the gear and go will be able to do so, but those interested in everything an item or piece of gear has to offer and what all it does, will be able to see this as well.

 

To mostly sum this post up, I do see where you are coming from, and to make this game "too complex and complicated" for some players is what I'm trying to avoid, but at the same time I do want to be able to provide those kinds of things to the players who like to get very involved in building there characters to the best they can. All of the abilities to upgrade your gear like gems and kits, I placed there as a bonus way to play the game. You can totally avoid these and beat the game. But again those who wish to take that extra step and polish there characters can take the time and effort and do so.

 

I do hope I can provide you all with a demo that leaves you wanting more. It grows closer and closer each day to being done, and now that my work is starting to pick up at my office the amount of work I can do on Darune is slowing down. And yes, I do work on this game at my work, just because I'm at a slow point right now lol.

 

Thanks again to you, and everyone else who gives some input,

ChaoS

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

 

The time is near! The demo is almost complete! BWAHAHAHA!

 

But seriously... Hey once again everyone! ChaoS here to give you all a much needed update. Please forgive me for the long periods between updates, as a lot has been going on at my end. But just because there haven't been updates, doesn't mean the game isn't being worked on, so ON WITH THE SHOW!

 

Recently I've brought some new people onto the development team, so Darune is still growing. The guys helping me on the project have really been putting in work. This project wouldn't be as awesome as it is without them. So hats of to you guys!

 

As for the demo, it's finally almost complete. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not only have I been working hard pulling resources and finalizing these events, the team created side quests and different areas to explore in the mean time, which is really polishing this demo. HOPEFULLY you guys will enjoy it. Fair warning though, this can be a lengthy demo. If you do all the side quests available to you and explore a little, this demo can possibly run you 30min to an hour.

 

As it stands today, the demo will have 2 side quests, and 2 main story quests. There will be a lot of dialog but that is to set the lore of the game. If all you care about is action and power leveling characters, then Darune probably won't be that much fun to you in the demo. Outside of the demo you can power grind your heart out. The side quests won't be very hard to find, but you will have to look around for them. They will reward you with bonus exp and money as well as items that will help make the story quests a little easier.

 

On the release of the demo I will have a sheet that if you would kindly fill out to give me some input. This will help me and my team make adjustments on the next version of the demo and later in the game.

 

 

 

Some minor changes:

-For the moment I've had to scrap the "3D world map" script. It is causing a lot of event movement errors and game crashes. Will look for a solutions, but for the time it's gone.

-Ayumi has a new graphic.

-Added some up to date screen shots.

 

 

 

Well that's all for now, hope you guys are excited to see what me and my team are creating for you. Take care for now,

Chaos

[Lordcrovax 0]

congratz for the hard work

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

As the new tile reads, I've started in house testing between some friends of mine today. Within the next few days I'll get betting any major bugs / errors out of the way, if any are found.

 

I still have a list of roughly 10 - 15 things that need to be fixed event wise. After this is done the only thing that will be holding me back will be the rest of the spell animations / sounds.

 

So yeah, I just wanted to drop a quick post for you all letting you know that the demo should be ready to go (baring no major errors that needs fixing) within a week or two tops. Right now it's looking to run anywhere between 1 - 3 hours, depending on how much you play / grind / explore. I personally did a play test, and obviously knowing where everything is and where to go exactly, took me right at an hour.

 

The demo will have a lot of dialog, and so will the entirety of this game. Yes you will have plenty of game time for puzzles and battles etc, but this game will have it's dialog / cut scene moments. If you are not a fan of reading dialog in games and like to skip through everything, then you will be lost, and not enjoy this game. The demo doesn't shy from this.

 

Some information about the demo for you guys real quick:

- Will run 1 - 3 hours.

- Will have 5 (maybe more) quests. Currently 2 main quests, and 3 side quests.

- Level cap for the demo will be 10 (To reach this level will take about 30 min - 1 hr extra grinding).

- Recommended level for the boss is 6. Can be done at 5 but will be a harder challenge.

- Will finish the demo with 3 characters.

- A basic, extreme tuned down version of the "Arena Challenges" will be available for testing functionally. This will only be accessible much later in the release of the game. 

- Crafting items and weapons will be available for testing purposes.

 

Currently version 0.0a is 283Mb WITH the RTP package. I still have some compressing to do so no worries. I will have two versions to download, one with and one without the RTP package.

 

Thanks to everyone who's been helping and helping motivate me to get this out for you all. I hope everyone enjoys it when it's finally released.

 

 

Chaos

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings everyone!

 

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! I've finally finished (hopefully) a working copy of my demo. My team and I have spent a lot of time working on it, moving things around, making minor changes and such to hopefully bring you a good fun demo.

 

Some information about it:

 

- With the RTP package, it is roughly 296 Mb. Without the package, it's roughly 113.5 Mb. Yes, this is big but no worries. There are still some compressing I can do in the future, but this is going to be a big game.

- Average playtime should net you roughly 1 to 3 hours, depending on how much you look around and explore.

- Attached is a word document. Feel free to fill it out and email it to the email listed and / or leave feedback on the forum.

- KNOWN ISSUE: The game will sometimes "stop working" as if windows "Stops responding". This issue I don't know how to fix just yet as I don't know what is causing it. So remember to save frequently.

 

PLEASE BE BRUTAL! If you find something you don't like, let me know! I wan't this to be a fun experience for everyone, and don't want anything over looked. I've personally spent about 100 hours play testing this to find issues, as well as my friends since the 14th. I'm sure we've all missed a few things, which is fine.

 

The link to download is:

 

Click here to download

 

Have fun, and I hope everything runs smoothly for you all.

 

Thanks again everyone for your support,

ChaoS

[Galv 1,387]

I'm not the only one who read "GOOD NEWS EVERYONE" using the voice of Professor Farnsworth, right?

 

I downloaded and have had a little go at this. I thought I would write some notes as I go:

- Love the music and the fun non-serious atmosphere and dialogue so far

- Love your windowskin and cursor sound effects you chose

- Story is definitely interesting to me

 

 

Suggestions:

 

1.  I suggest you used the shift click method to copy auto tiles to make the carpet look like it goes to the lower walls in rooms and under things like desks. The carpet looks like it is shaped to go around everything and stops a tile before it would get to the lower wall of the room. A dodgy Photoshop mockup of what I mean:

 

2. When you view Quest log, achievements, encyclopedia from the menu, and then close them down, you don't return to the menu as expected.

3. I'd like to see more Interactivity. I mean by this all the bookshelves, barrels, paper on desks, crates, etc. able to be investigated. Can throw in little hints or things to make the game interesting such as Zyn's thoughts on whatever you're looking at. I went to everything to check it out and nothing happened anywhere in the first map

4. In the training battle, Zyn is standing on the side of the pillar...

 

 

Anyway, haven't played much just yet and they are my brutal notes so far

[BOSSBERRY 28]

Way to go finally getting this out! I wish I could've helped more:) but it's pretty awesome to have my name in those credits!!!

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

I'm not the only one who read "GOOD NEWS EVERYONE" using the voice of Professor Farnsworth, right?

 

I downloaded and have had a little go at this. I thought I would write some notes as I go:

- Love the music and the fun non-serious atmosphere and dialogue so far

- Love your windowskin and cursor sound effects you chose

- Story is definitely interesting to me

 

 

Suggestions:

 

1.  I suggest you used the shift click method to copy auto tiles to make the carpet look like it goes to the lower walls in rooms and under things like desks. The carpet looks like it is shaped to go around everything and stops a tile before it would get to the lower wall of the room. A dodgy Photoshop mockup of what I mean:

 

2. When you view Quest log, achievements, encyclopedia from the menu, and then close them down, you don't return to the menu as expected.

3. I'd like to see more Interactivity. I mean by this all the bookshelves, barrels, paper on desks, crates, etc. able to be investigated. Can throw in little hints or things to make the game interesting such as Zyn's thoughts on whatever you're looking at. I went to everything to check it out and nothing happened anywhere in the first map

4. In the training battle, Zyn is standing on the side of the pillar...

 

 

Anyway, haven't played much just yet and they are my brutal notes so far

 

Hey Galv, glad to see your interested in playing. I'll defiantly look into your suggestions.

 

1 - I was wondering if there was a way to be able to work around that, I do hate how it "goes" around the furniture etc. I'll get this updated in the next release.

 

2 - The issue with this one was having to write common events to make the menu pull up the sub menus. I'll look into trying to get them to return to the menu. (Still a noob at scripting xD )

 

3 - This is something me and my team have been talking about. I too would like to have more little "things" in the game, it's just something I haven't placed in just yet. For the first release I wanted to make sure the game was stable enough without many issues before I do a lot extra eventing and such. But alas, those little things WILL be in the game.

 

4 - Yeah the battle backgrounds I decided today actually that I don't like. I'm going to start making my own (One of my team members already created one for a scene you'll see later in the demo). 

[Xephyr 6]

I don't usually do this, but you've spent so much time on this game so I figured you'd deserve it.

 

Notes I took as I went:

 

In the intro there's a spelling mistakes. "Jeapordize" is actually spelled "jeapardize".

"Supress" is spelled "suppress"

 

Didn't really like that intro, but I never like slow-moving all-text scenes in front of a picture anyway.

 

Loving the first scenes with Zyn. Also pretty humorous.

 

The attention to detail in the castle is fabulous. Love this map.

 

Also a big fan of the smaller things like the menu system and sound effects as you traverse said menus.

 

While I obviously didn't NEED to watch those tutorials, I really appreciated the work you put in making them very comprehensive and worthwhile to someone unfamiliar with this genre.

 

This may have been mentioned before, but the battle backgrounds are little eh. Zyn is standing on a vertical pillar, hah.

 

Aww, I wish I could've seen the outside of the castle when I left instead of appearing in the village.

 

I talked to Lew and there was a message where the /n[something] code was still there I think (I was flipping through the messages quickly). A little odd.

 

When you pick up a lot of items in rapid succession the little noise that plays is delayed heavily and just keeps going for a while

 

Heh, I kind of wondered what would happen if I didn't deliver the beer in those 5 minutes. Anyway, I liked that. Nice touch.

 

I will edit this post with more opinions when I have time to play longer.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Hey Xephyr,

 

I appreciate you taking your time to give input and findings.

 

 

In the intro there's a spelling mistakes. "Jeapordize" is actually spelled "jeapardize".
"Supress" is spelled "suppress"

 

Found and fixed. Spelling is my arch nemesis in life. I hope I can catch the rest of them from this point on.

 

 

 

This may have been mentioned before, but the battle backgrounds are little eh. Zyn is standing on a vertical pillar, hah.

 

Yeah I actually didn't catch this while I was playing. Probably too busy reading the text on the screen for spelling errors xD. But I've gone in and adjusted where the actors stand in battle and my team and I are working on making custom battle backgrounds. 

 

 

 

Aww, I wish I could've seen the outside of the castle when I left instead of appearing in the village.

 

This is something cool I'd like to put in the game, but I feel my mapping skills are not up to par to be able to do this kind of detail work. I might have to lean onto my team to help me with this one. I'll see if I can get it in the next few releases.

 

 

 

I talked to Lew and there was a message where the /n[something] code was still there I think (I was flipping through the messages quickly). A little odd.

 

Found and fixed ^.^. Was just a small error when redoing Lew's dialog the other day I overlooked. Good find though. =)

 

 

 

When you pick up a lot of items in rapid succession the little noise that plays is delayed heavily and just keeps going for a while 

 

Yeah this is something I'm having to look into. I just recently downloaded the script to do that and I'm still making adjustments to it. If I can't get it to calm down a bit on that issue I'll adjust the quests in the game to ensure items won't be picked up quickly to prevent that issue.

 

 

Heh, I kind of wondered what would happen if I didn't deliver the beer in those 5 minutes. Anyway, I liked that. Nice touch.

 

You'll just have to play through it and find out.

 

 

Thanks again for your thoughts on this. I look forward to the rest of it.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings everyone!

 

Fair warning, huge wall of text and information is about to be thrown at your face! Enjoy 

 

 

It's been over a month since the release of Darune's first demo. I received a lot of feedback on it from a lot of friends and some of you guys / gals on the forums. The demo still has a lot of bugs and issues which were found after release (which is to be expected) and I've been working on getting them fixed.

 

However...

 

As I've been working on updates and patches, I've noticed more scripts and events are starting to break as I make adjustments in the game. As most of you all know I've been putting a lot, and I mean a lot of time into Darune trying to get it stable and off the ground for you all to play test. Two weeks ago I decided to just take a short break. I wanted to step away from the game development and come back with a clear mind. I was beginning to become frustrated when opening the project and trying to fix and make changes, but it kept getting worse. I use to really enjoy opening up my project and getting work done, now it felt like I was always playing catch up and doctor to it. I've spent so much time working on what I already had started to destroy that I don't want to just give up and start over.

 

So moving forward...

 

I've decided after all the reviews I received from you, my friends, and playing it myself, that some changes are going to be made... major changes. I plan on moving in full direction with a lot of custom work (This will take time, as I have to now learn Ruby programming). I plan to have a unique looking UI to Darune. While the features will still be the same, I want my game to stand out, as we all do. 

 

The item system in Darune is getting overhauled and redesigned, as well as the stat system. I felt that it was good on paper, and with the current setup it was looking good, I feel that it is too limiting and doesn't give the player any room to experiment. Same with the classes. Currently I have a unique stat system build into the game, which I still find awesome! However, again I feel this area needs rework and redesign to make it work perfectly.

After stepping back and looking back into Darune, I had set it up for failure. What I really intended and wanted, wasn't there, and couldn't be there with how it currently is. I want you to be able to get to know your favorite character, build them how you choose, play them in your style, and still have it enjoyable for everyone. So taking notes, I've already started new ideas on how to fix these issues.

 

The battle system...

 

I'm currently using Yami's Battle Engine Symphony. And while it's an amazing system, I just keep running into more and more issues with it. I feel I have a love hate relationship with it. This is kinda up in the air for me at the moment as I like the system, but chances are I'm going to move on to another one unless the issues with it are fixed. With this move, I plan on designing some cool ideas and with the help of some excellent scripters here, hopefully we can make them come to life!

 

The new magic system...

 

I've tinkered with a lot of scripts on this site, and most of them don't work as I would want them to. Not saying these scripts are bad in any way don't get me wrong, there amazing and the people who write them are awesome, just they don't do just what I need them to do. So again, new ideas are coming down the pipeline and a new magic skill system will be put into Darune. Either with new scripts, or something I may design myself.

My idea is to have this as a main way to build your character outside of gear. This will derive how your character acts in battle. The spells you use, the stat bonuses you receive and how it reflects on your gear. See, currently players lack the need to level outside of just learning new skills, and receiving a minor increase in stats. Currently, the true strength of your character is in your gear. You can go through most of the game acquiring really good gear and can still survive and do well with lower level characters. I want this to change. I want the players to enjoy leveling, and feel the need to sometimes grind a little if they wish to really improve their characters. While I want gear to be a major part of the characters and how you build them, but not be "the go to" to strengthen your characters.

 

The storyline...

 

This is a tough area. Everyday I sit and talk with some co-workers and friends about the ideas I have in the game. Were really excited each day to come up with something new to be able to throw at the story and see how it pans out. While I have the last say in the matter, I do take these ideas into consideration. At the current state, the storyline thus far is pretty staple and strong. I still have room to explore and adjust some thoughts, but I have a good idea of what I want to happen. Here's the issue. I tend to when I come up with ideas and such, to think too much on reality, and not as much in the fantasy. This is a struggling issue I've always had, and that I can't seem to break or bend sometimes. Right now Darune to me feels very rigid, as if some of this could actually happen in real life. I want to break away from this, and free the game of that bond of "can that really happen?". Taking this short break and just letting my mind roam around, I feel comfortable with making changes now, and changes I feel will spark up the interest points of the game. The depth of the characters are going to expand and I'm going to really push how they are, think, what they do, how they feel, and how they react with each other. Currently I feel that I'm watching more of a movie rather bonding with the characters. Again everything feels to rigid and not elaborated and exaggerated enough. Another weak point of myself.

 

I don't know how many of you really care for this project personally. I know there are tons of really good games being made and already made on this small site, let alone the much bigger ones. I really do enjoy and appreciate the support I've received from you all thus far. I hope that you all and many more will really appreciate how I'm trying to really make this an awesome project, and not just another 30 min pick up and play through game. This is my first true project, and I've chosen a huge one to start with. But with you guys behind me giving me the support to finish this, I promise you you'll have a fun game you can talk about with your friends. Did you beat this secret boss? How fast did you do this dungeon? Did you find that awesome weapon in that corner that everyone else overlooked? Did your friends ask for your help to get past this hard puzzle? This is how I want my game to be. Something to remember and set the bar for others.

 

So now that everyone's eye's are bleeding from the massive brick wall of text I'll end this post. I'd really appreciate your feedback on this. Even if it's a small remark, both good or bad, both would be greatly appreciated. To those who do and everyone else who's been apart of Darune so far I think you all and hope you all will stick with me till the end.

 

Thanks again as always,

Chaos

 

 

 

 

[Radiant Arin 412]

Here's what your hard work has earned you:

 

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/13925-darune-the-fate-of-war-review-by-dante/

[estriole 326]

i lol'ed when reading mother hair is blond, father hair is white. son hair is blue. hmmm mother cheat on father? . overall good review and point out many things to improve the game.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

I appreciate the review Arin. While I'm happy to say a lot of the issues pointed out have already been fix or are currently being worked on, there are some that I did miss that you pointed out.

 

I am happy to say that the mapping is going to be even better on the next release of the demo. So for those who really enjoy my mapping style, there's more to come.

 

As far as the object interaction and NPC interaction goes, that's also being updated and implemented.

 

The storyline in the demo is getting some polish and a lot is being re-designed and organized, so hopefully the player will have a clear path where to go, but some subtle hints from the NPC's will be there finally.

 

As far some of the NPC's themselves, those are getting updated. Some of them currently are just placeholder graphics till my team and I find some to suit what I want.

 

The overall story is getting some slight adjustments to help make the game flow a little better, so those who played the first demo will have a slightly different feel to the game if they play the second release.

 

The entire itemization and stat system is being overhauled with a new design I've been making the past few days. While what I have now seems to work well, I do feel it's too "MMO"ish in the sense that the classes are too limited to what gear they can use. I want the player to feel more open as to what they can use and if they choose to design a character to be different (example, Zyn actually being a caster rather than melee).

 

All of this is still being worked on, and I'll have my front page updated with all the new information and such as soon as I'm done and have some screenshots for you all.

 

Thanks again Arin and anyone else who played the demo for your thoughts and suggestions.

-ChaoS

[RoseGuardian 42]

I'm sorry if this counts as a necro but this game sounds very interesting.  I like how you plan to lay everything out.  You are working very hard I can see that. I will try your game when I get a chance.  Keep working hard and good luck.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

I'm sorry if this counts as a necro but this game sounds very interesting.  I like how you plan to lay everything out.  You are working very hard I can see that. I will try your game when I get a chance.  Keep working hard and good luck.

 

Hey Rose, I wouldn't consider this really a necro post. The reason why I haven't done a lot of updating just yet is because I'm having to write a few scripts I need myself. Once those are finished then a lot of updates will start coming back in again. I do appreciate your post and interest in the game.

 

I'll try to have some little hints of what's changing within the next few days, just haven't had a lot of free time at home and work to really do much.

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings everyone!

 

Be forewarned, a brick wall of text is about to randomly appear... 

 

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on my project and I don't want you all to think I've given up on this. While my lack of posts looks that way, I can assure you all that I have not dropped this project, just redesigning a lot of it.

 

I learned a lot about the game, and how poorly I was designing the game from my last demo. I didn't really have a good direction of where the game was going, and didn't have the full story finished. Most of it was changing as I designed the game, and while I was able to keep up with it early on, it became a pain to have to make a lot of changes. If I were to blame anyone for how this started, it would be myself, and I look at it as a "rookie mistake". However I've learned from this and now I'm taking a different design path for the project. While this project is near 1 year old since the idea came about, you all showed major interest in it, and it really gave me motivation to work hard on it. Unfortunately it was being executed in a bad fashion.

 

So the past 2 or so months I've looked back at the project with what I have done, and what needed to change. The first thing I'm fixing is the story. All other design of the game is going to be put on hold till this is finished. I'm happy today to be able to tell everyone that the story is coming along very well and I have a group of friends who are hard at work helping me make sure everything looks good. I plan to have the full story done hopefully soon and I can have a good synopsis for everyone.

 

While I do not have a lot to show for updates on the form page, that will be changing soon as more of the game is designed. Screenshots and features will be updated accordingly.

 

All in all, I just want the community to know that I'm still here, the project is still here, and I'm hard at work trying to make it as good as I can for everyone. A lot has changed since the start, and that's expected, and now that I have a much better design plan this project will start taking off again! Thanks to the community for being there in the beginning and here's hoping you all stick with me yet again as I design this project.

 

 

TL;DR

 

The game is being redesigned, things are changing, stay tuned for updates. Thanks for being with me at the start, and hoping you stick with me still.

 

 

Thanks again,

HellKiteChaoS and the Chaos Studio Productions Team

[+ morewordsfaster 28]

First of all, congrats on not giving up! It takes a lot to not scrap a project after realizing it will take a herculean effort to get it back on track and I applaud you for being dedicated enough to not let anyone's negativity deter you. Best of luck in completing your project. If you need/want anyone else's eyes on the story to help you out, I'd be happy to help! Everything I've seen in your main post looks really cool, and I have to admit, I couldn't make it through all 3 pages of the comments so if I repeat someone else, sorry!

 

My only criticism would be that the character faces look way younger than the ages you have lists. I wouldn't guess any of those faces were over 16 years old, maybe 17 in the case of Barongel or Jun. Maybe those are just place holder graphics, but I would definitely suggest trying to make them look more age-accurate before release. Just my two cents

 

I love your world map, it looks like you took a lot of care and it actually looks reasonably realistic. There are the two islands/continents in lower-right quadrant that look like a turtle and a seahorse, but maybe that's intentional? 

 

I can't wait to see some more info about the story and what's happening with this project!

Edited July 17, 2013 by morewordsfaster

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Greetings everyone!

 

It's the day before the 1 year mark that Darune has been alive (somewhat xD) on the forms! Yay!

 

I hope the community is excited as I am to be almost at the 1 year mark. I've seen a lot of projects come and go, some finish, some fall apart, and I'm happy to say Darune is far from falling apart. More like putting itself back together right now xD. I'm eager to see who's ready for more information to be released about the game as well as the new maps I've been putting together on my live stream! (more info on this in the home page)

 

As promised, I've been doing what I can to work on the game in my spare time, and thus far I've finally decided on how the ability system will be used. Using Galv's shard system along with some ideas I've had brings it all together.

In the "Features" section of the main page explains everything in detail as well as the screenshot... but to be nice I'll post it all here so nobody has to go hunting for it. Let me know your thoughts on this!

 

I'm also happy to report that the story is coming along well for those of you who are interested. Also, one of the characters are having a major overhaul in story and style... who will it be... you'll have to stay tuned to find out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shard Ability System

 

   Using Galv's magic shard script, I've created a system for the game to drive the characters abilities and spells. How it works is each character will have 3 "limit break" style shards. These will be acquired by doing specific section of the game. Some will be from boss fights, others from side dungeons etc. With these 3 "limit break" shards come 9 basic shards. The script that Glav designed has it where if two shards are placed side by side, an ability or spell is learned while they are placed together. Placing different shards together will create different abilities. The 9 basic shards will grant spells that anyone can use while matching one of the 9 basic shards with the characters "limit break" shard will grant abilities that's unique to that character. Since discovering which runes go together and which abilities each character can learn through combinations is part of the fun, I will not be releasing they design key for this until after the game has been released. However I will place a "sneek peek" at the design idea below and a screenshot of part of my key. I've removed most of the table to not give too much away, but hopefully it'll give you the idea of how it's organized. =)

 

For example: Zyn has a "Fire" shard and a "Water" shard. When placed together Zyn will learn "Steam". Because these are basic shards, anyone can use these two together and learn "Steam".

However...

If Zyn has his first limit break shard "Brawn" and places it next to the "Fire" shard, Zyn will learn "Thirst for blood", which is unique to Zyn only due to his unique limit shard. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And before I forget, to answer the question above, the ages of the characters are being changed in the updated storyline. =)

 

Thanks again as always,

HellKiteChaoS

[BOSSBERRY 28]

Are you going to have a unique skill for every single matchup or do you intend to have more black squares? If you're going all out this brings you to 72 skills and the player skills will add an easy 40. I hope your up for a lot of databasing...

[HellKiteChaoS 36]

Are you going to have a unique skill for every single matchup or do you intend to have more black squares? If you're going all out this brings you to 72 skills and the player skills will add an easy 40. I hope your up for a lot of databasing...

 

The black squares that you see mark that there is no combination for "fire + fire" and "water + water".

 

No there will not be a spell for every possible combination. I wanted to do that at first but realized how many spells there would be. Some would honestly be the same thing as another with just different graphics, and more than half of the spells would end up not being used. So I went ahead and came up with some generic spells to use for the common runes and some unique spells for the players.

 

Each player so far will have around 10-15 unique spells to combo with, and having 3 shards, thats a total of 6 active spells depending on the combination as well as several other generic ones that can be used. (I use generic not in the sense that the spells are bad, just that any character can use them.)

 

This however is still yet to be tested in game, and is just theory on paper. I'm open to suggestions on this as I feel this is an important aspect of this game. I'll try to put together some screenshots with examples to give a better representation.

Edited September 19, 2013 by HellKiteChaoS