Dragonfaith (Safari 9.0)

This milestone has been looming on the horizon for a while now (I recall teasing it for Memorial Day last year, even if that was an optimistic projection), so I think I'm a little bit in disbelief that it's actually here. Anyway, there's always time to patch holes and make adjustments going forward (especially for proper balancing, once I start testing combat). The main addition to this new release - the "Safari Edition" of my game - is the implementation of enemy encounters (both of the random and scripted boss varieties). Granted, there's not any combat yet - each battle is aborted as soon as it begins. But you can at least get a look at the enemies (featuring a pool of over 150, including palette swaps). There is a full complement of what usually comes out to 8 "troops" (weighted for common, uncommon, rare, and ultra rare encounters) for each of nearly 64 regions spread throughout the game - overworld and dungeon maps combined.

Naturally, I've also implemented functionality for some things related to encounter behavior. In a similar way as to how the Backtrack and Retrace skills supplement exploration of the maps, I have now also made available the Hunt and Bait skills. The former forces a random encounter (to let the player take control and gain a leg up in battle, or else to facilitate the process of grinding - if the player feels it necessary), and the latter is a gem I coded which reverses the weights of troops so as to coax rare enemies out of hiding. I love the idea of having super rare enemies (often with special drops), but I hate not giving the player a tool (even if they have to earn it) to offset the soul-destroying tedium of relying on the excruciatingly dull mechanic of luck. Take the Pink Puffs (or Flan Princesses, depending on the translation) from Final Fantasy IV. It's bad enough that you have a 1 in 64 chance of encountering them (some versions of the game have a Siren item, which works very much like my Bait skill), but then you also have a 1 in 64 chance of pulling a rare drop. Instead of forcing the player to waste hours on repetition, I put in a fun little side quest where the player will be rewarded this ability to force rare encounters, by exercising their critical thinking skills in tracking down a special enemy that wanders my game world.

Additionally, I've restored an updated version of a feature that has under-pinned the concept for this game for a very long time. It's a sort of "monster radar", or what I call Hunting Instinct, in the form of an unobtrusive graphical indicator in the corner of the screen which gives the player a rough (which is to say, inexact) idea of when the next random encounter is going to occur. I thought it would be a nice way to soften the blow of random encounters - which can be a frustratingly jarring experience - without having to get rid of them (because, for what it's worth, they're an integral element of these kinds of games). I've agonized for years over how best to integrate this feature, or whether I should bother with it at all, but I've ultimately decided to make it an option the player can toggle on or off (in case they don't like it) at any point while playing. Also, while teaching myself how to manipulate the Options menu (by consolidating the disparate volume options into a single slider), I decided to add the X-Ray Scope I described in my last update as a "Show Hidden Paths" option, so the player will have free reign to decide how much they want to cheat in that respect. :-p

Alright! We've come a long way from Solipsism 2.0. The next step in getting the combat working will probably be to fill out the database with regard to items and equipment, as well as skills and states, and to populate the shops. (Numbers and animations will come after that). I'm thinking that I might spend some time fleshing out the ending, though. Because even though it seems appropriate to do that last, I was thinking that I should probably get it roughed out at least, while I still have time to mull it over and make changes. (And anyway, I should get it done before it comes to testing combat, after all). Stay tuned. In the meantime, there's still a lot left to do. But... though there are still some big holes left to fill, this project is beginning to feel like a real game!

Dragonfaith (Safari 9.0)
Download (440 MB): Windows

Dragonfaith (Pacifism 8.5) Distant Shores

It's been about two months since my last update. You can probably imagine why the final segment of the game - the run-up to the final battle - would require some special work. I had to make sure everything was being tied together, and the narrative was sufficiently driving the player toward the climax I wanted (although without being too heavy-handed). Most of the groundwork had been done, but there was some dialogue that needed to be polished. And one of the difficulties was a result of my decision to give the player more freedom in this final portion of the game, to choose who among the playable characters to recruit (including any combination from all seven of them to none but the main protagonist) for the final challenge.

On top of that, I also spent a good bit of time developing a little further one early section of the final dungeon - adding in as many as six new maps - to make it a little more complex and less straightforward. I think it will be a lot more fun to explore now. Anyway, it's more in line with my original concept, which was loosely inspired by the archetypal Death Mountain sequence from early Zelda games. Additionally, while procrastinating on doing some of the above, I've already started some preliminary work for the next phase of my game, and also spent a lot of time implementing an optional device that will allow the player to see hidden passages (a classic mechanic for this style of game, which I have not over-used, but am happy to include as part of the overall experience). I'm undecided yet as to whether to provide it to the player as a sort of handicap, or else to withhold it until such time as the player has earned it as a reward. But either way, it works like a charm. (I just wish RPG Maker had better functionality of this kind for equippable items)...

Finally, I've begun the very early stages of working on the ending (it kind of flows organically from fleshing out the dramatic elements of the final battle), but that's definitely something that's going to require a LOT of work. I think what makes the most sense is for me to continue chipping away at it even as I move on to the next phase - which is getting battle encounters to work. Ultimately, that will culminate in a game with working combat (and between that and the ending, that's really all that's left for me to do - but both of those are huge undertakings). But the first step will be the superficial skeleton of having encounters with actual enemies, even if you can't truly fight them properly. Who knows, I might even reach that milestone by this Memorial Day! No promises - sometimes things just take more time than you expect them to; and besides, life is still happening all the while. But as time keeps on slipping into the future, mortality has a way of impressing itself upon you with ever greater urgency, as you get older and more and more people you know head for the great beyond. I've worked too hard and too long not to have something to show for it (whatever that amounts to in the end), and I'm as committed as ever to reaching the finishing line. Hopefully sooner rather than later (whatever that means, 12+ years into this journey).

Dragonfaith (Pacifism 8.5) - Distant Shores
Download (433 MB): Windows [see sidebar for latest release]