More Freethinking on the Mini-RPG Maker Games

I've done some more freethinking. Some of the games have a few more notes than others, but this should help get an idea of story/mechanics. This isn't exactly how I normally approach design, but I figure it is better organized this way than with my normal flowcharts/random doodles if I want other people to be able to follow it. The other problem is I then have to go in and prune out spoilers for the ones that are more plot heavy [namely, The Case of the Well Done Butler, First and Recursive Contact and The Dame, The Debt and The Devil are all very story heavy, and a bad spoiler could ruin the whole point of the game!]

Very Basic Mechanics for the Six Plots

You can see the six plots here. Below will be a very, very basic over view of the major mechanics I see for the games.

Possible Short RPG Maker Titles

Below you'll find six different short RPG Maker stories. I need to pick one so I can try making it in RPG Maker VX Ace and then re-make it in the new RPG Maker tool to see which I like better. I'm opening up the "which is coolest" to anyone who reads this, because I like them all for different reasons and cannot decide.

The Review Effects Tab

See below for some new screenshots and updates to Arthur's skills.

RPG Maker Game: Inventory, Random Encounters, Money and XP

I've been thinking about the RPG Maker Game more, and I've decided to do some things that will make JRPG purists hate the game. First, I'm shifting to an episodic system. Every other change follows from that decision.

Meet Jenny, Volunteer Sword Using Hero

Jenny is another damage dealer. She's an eager volunteer into Emerald Squadron, and her background includes lessons in fencing and as a medical student under Dr. Pras. Her background is probably the weakest of the characters, but she makes up for that in style. Whereas everyone else uses high technology in combat, her trick is just being that damn good. She starts the game as a random pharmacist selling you things, until she decides to step up and help save the city. And no one says no to a woman who is so good with a sword she can do as much, if not more, damage than people with automatic weapons and explosives.

Officer Posey is here. Kiley is here. Dr. Pras is here. Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron. Victoria is a heavy weapons specialist. George is a tank with power armor.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Meet Officer Regina Posey

Officer Regina Posey is a single target damage dealer who focuses on two major "mechanics." First is the idea of one big turn. The second is the concept of a high tech blaster that attaches to her pistols and revolvers to augment their power with "Add-Ons." When you use her, she brings Truth, Justice and one very large gun to the table. She's competes with Jenny to be your most competent single target damage dealer, and I think should consistently out perform there.

Kiley is here. Dr. Pras is here. Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron. Victoria is a heavy weapons specialist. George is a tank with power armor.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Call of Cathulhu Introduction

“Grandma, tell us a story,” came a chorus of high-pitched, mewling voices. Grandma looked over the kittens, each struggling for a prime spot in the basket on the library table. Winter in Vermont is cold, even inside, and none of the little ones wanted whisker or tail outside their warm bubble.

Grandma, a long-haired, graying calico, paced around the basket, looking over the stacks of books, fading forever into the darkness. “You’re not old enough, yet, for my stories.”

“We are, we are!” The kitten chorus echoed through the empty walls, bouncing around.

“You’re too young,” Grandma said again, primly sitting in front of the basket, licking a paw until they quieted down. “You will all be asleep before I start.”

“We won’t, we won’t!” They waited for her to finish smoothing her whiskers.

“You haven’t seen enough of the world out there,” she flicked her tail out the window. “In the darkness, beyond where we have you safely kept.”

“Tell us a story!” Grandma paced, leaping across to another table, where she turned again. She arched her back, stretching, before jumping back to the kittens.

“What do you know of the world? Any story is going to be meaningless to you.”

“We know about the humans,” said one of the kittens.

“And we know that there are things outside,” said another.

“Like other cats! And birds! And more humans,” said a third. “And… other things.”

“Do those other humans keep other cats,” asked the fourth. Here Grandma snorted, then sighed heavily.

“See? You are too young; the humans do not keep us. We keep them,” Grandma said, turning to the window again. “We keep them from the other things in your dreams. But, still. You are too young to understand. You won’t listen. A story would be wasted on you.”

“Tell us a story. We promise to listen!” The meows turned into a roar, until Grandma sighed and settled in front of the basket.

“It seems I’ll have no peace until I give you a story,” Grandma said. “So, listen now. Listen to how we keep them; how we watch them.”

---

Curl down, young kittens, and listen
A tale of wild cats gone missing.

They came to their clowder,
Under oak and spoke together.

First came Tumble, swift and fine,
Quick to act, and the first in line.

Next bright Bumble, sweet and gold,
Always brave and always bold.

Next came Rumble, stubborn and proud,
Un-catlike and very loud.

Next is, Mumble, first to speak,
Eyes blue as a spring creek.

Last is Jumble, who always dared,
Despite being small and scared…
---

A Call of Cathulhu adventure for 3-5 investicators.

Meet Kiley Shoust, Empath

Kiley is a young woman who was abandoned by her family and who found herself a home in an orphanage at the outskirts of Carmichael City. There, she's learned to come to terms with her Empath abilities, which allow her to channel psychic energy, allowing her to both lash out mentally at enemies and to sooth the minds of her allies. Beyond the somewhat understood psychic energy manipulation that Empaths have, she also is an expert at healing by taking other's injuries onto herself.

Dr. Pras is here. Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron. Victoria is a heavy weapons specialist. George is a tank with power armor.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Pallington Manor, An Adventure Using the Call of Cthulhu Rule Set

Fifteen years ago, they became your best friends, together in the rain, confused, but together.

You met after school on the first day of your senior year, like something out of a 1980s teenage escapist movie. The principal calling out delinquents’ names, reading out your offenses, threatening that “Adams High School doesn’t graduate hooligans.”

Meet Dr. Bob Pras, Genetic Researcher

I lied when I said the damage dealers were next. I had a really good handle on what abilities Dr. Pras brings to the table, in part because he is somewhat of a mirror to Silas. Like George, Dr. Pras doesn't really want to fight. He's one of the founders of Carmichael City, and is one of the city's staunchest defenders. He starts on Emerald Squadron, and he will continue to be an important member of the team. For the most part, I'm happy with Dr. Pras and his story, his mana costs though are probably a bit low by end game. I'm worried that you'll end up just spamming his heal all; to remedy that, I may end up weakening the Heal All and strengthening his single target healing. We'll see.

Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron. Victoria is a heavy weapons specialist. George is a tank with power armor.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Meet George Evers, Armored Infantry

George is a reluctant fighter, a bit morose and no longer interested in fighting the good fight. He's probably the hardest character for me to write, and I feel like that's because he started as a sort of goofy big brother character until I realized that Wes/Chris already had that dynamic down. So, I decided to focus more on his background, and I came to decide he'd probably be kind of a moody guy for SPOILERS reasons. Either or, I feel like he, Regina and Alicia are going to be the hardest to write since they don't fit into the core group as easily.

Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron. Victoria is a heavy weapons specialist.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Meet Victoria Sampson, Heavy Weapons Enthusiast

Victoria is a fun character to write, and kind of a nice character to design too.

Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group. Wes, tech genius for Emerald Squadron.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

This Book of Essays Was A Bad Purchase

I regret buying this set of essays by Herbert Kohl called "Should We Burn Babar."  Kohl has, in his introduction, reached the following conclusions:

1. Taking a bunch of books and burying them in a dump because he thought they were offensive was a reasonable, laudable act.

2. That, unless under the wise and careful care of an elder, wise progressive like himself, certain books (like Babar!) just should not be available in libraries because they are Dangerous.

That's possibly the most paternalistic thing I've read, and Kohl is an alleged progressive!

The worst part is that he probably doesn't even REALIZE how patronizing it is. Near the end of his introduction, he goes on about how noble and right it was to bury books about Columbus. Yet, despite deciding "Some books are so offensive to me, I should bury them," he feels, despite a South African teacher discussing how offensive Babar is to him and his students, Kohl's belief in his ability to "properly" teach the book trumps the teacher's dislike of the book.

And I'm only on the introduction! I don't know how I'll make it through this sneering mess of a book. I was ready for an imperialist reading of children's stories, and how the Rich Lady is really a colonial take over of indigenous elephants. I was PREPARED FOR THAT SILLINESS. I was mentally prepared for something like "Power Dynamics and Gender Politics in the Boxcar Children," which is not a real essay, but I bet some one could get a PhD writing it. I was not ready for "Some books are dangerous without Smart People to Talk to You About What They Really Mean."

I plan to see the rest of the book through, but it did not have an auspicious start.

Meet Wes, Tech Genius

Wes is one of the first people to join up with Chris.

Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here. Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas. You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on! The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here. The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Meet Chris, Security Chief and Martial Artist

Here's the first character you'll meet in the real world, Chris Anderson, Security Chief at the Carmichael Group.

The Dream World's last two characters (Lydia and Muriel) can be viewed here.

Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas.

You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on!

The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here.

The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Dream World: Final Two Characters

The last two characters we're going to look at are our second tank and a unique damage dealer.

Click here to see the party's healers, Nybal and Silas.

You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here. You can note that some people's class names have changed as development went on!

The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here.

The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Dream World Healer Skills

After making our primary tank's skillset and the two main damage dealers, I thought the next set of skills we should put together are our healers. The two healers for the Dream World team are Nybal, who also brings solid single target damage and durability, and Silas, who helps empower his allies attacks while also healing more as allies get weaker. Click through below to read more!

You can click here to see the first three characters' skills (Arthur, Perry and Sherwood).

You can also find all the images here.

The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here.

The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

World of Warcraft's Trade Chat Has a Problem

This public-facing part of the WoW community is ugly and not something I want people to associate with me when they think "WoW Gamer." When I tell people I'm a level 100 Protection Warrior, who dabbles in Monk Mistweaving, I don't want them to think, "Is he one of the people joking about anally raping children? Because that's what they do in WoW."

First Three Sets of Skills

The first three characters have had their first official draft of skills completed! You can click more to see them.

You can also find all the images here.

The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here.

The Real World characters can be found on this blog here.

Characters for the Real World -- RPG Maker

You can also find all the images here.

The Dream World characters can be found on this blog here.

Characters for the Dream World -- RPG Maker

You can also find all the images here.

Compromising and Moving Forward on the RPG Maker Game

Tonight is a night of utter nerdom: I am going to make spreadsheets for ALL the weapons/armors for ALL the characters in the RPG Maker game and define a power curve and itemization for them. I've realized if I want to make this project happen, I need a more systematic approach to it. I spent a lot of time [nearly a year and a half!] on just getting Chapter 1 and 2 how I want it to flow.

UPDATE appears below as well!

Asking the Right Questions to Improve

Come, I will conceal nothing from you. On Heroes of the Storm and League of Legends, my in game name is Lucentile. You will see that this means in LoL that I am B5, with a 43~% win rate. I am what you would call "Terrible" at League of Legends.

Toxicity in Games

I've been playing more MOBAs and MMOs lately. One problem in both of these genres is the other people I play with. Not the people I personally know; the random people. If you're a non-toxic player, then, you can probably stop reading here. If you ARE a toxic player, then please keep reading. The "you" from here on in is to be understood to be toxic players. This is my attempt to explain why I want them to stop being toxic. So, if you aren't part of the intended audience, this isn't for you.

Zone of Caring

I made this for a friend I was talking to on Facebook, but I realized it is a perfect example of Matt Philosophy.

Behold, the one tool you need to help you manage schedules and make decisions. I call it: The Zone of Caring.

Quick Thoughts on MOBA Team Fighting

Matt's thoughts in response to a Reddit post on team fighting in Heroes of the Storm.

Making an Empath

One more plot room, then a four-room bonus dungeon, and Ch.2's first draft should be done. In the two side scene rooms, the officer attends a debriefing and the doctor returns home to an NPC that he's mentioned in his text through most of the game so far.
The bonus dungeon explains the Green Knight's ghost companion and builds up some of the background NPCs. Before I start building that dungeon, I need to:

1. Build all four characters the player will use for the dungeon.
2. Make sure their gear is locked so people can't steal their stuff.
3. Refine the exact story arc I want the dungeon to have. I have a very vague outline, but as with everything I do, there are probably still four or five re-writes before I'm happy with it.

The first real challenge in making the first four characters was the Empath. I wanted her to be able to transfer buffs and debuffs around, but there's no good way to do that (the .erase and .remove only work on states, not buffs/debuffs). So, I was stuck on finding a way to make a skill that:

A. Removed Debuffs on an Empath
B. Transfers that Debuff to an enemy, but only if the ability succeeded.

What I had to do is make a special state where an Empath is flagged as having a state that does two things. First, this special state lowers the Empath's stats, but teaches them an attack skill. This skill clears the state on the user [losing the attack], but inflicts damage and a status ailment on a target. It can also let me allow the empath to do different things. For example, right now the Empath gets four skills:

1. A basic Health Transfer that hurts the Empath to heal an ally. This allows for the use Health Funnel.
2. Health Funnel: A damage dealing attack that drains HP and removes the debuff from Health Transfer.
3. Defense Bond: Boosts an ally's DEF, but lowers the user's defense. This allows for the use of Defense Transfer.
4. Defense Transfer: Clears the lowered defense, lowers the enemy's defense and deals damaged based on the Empath's Defense.

I'll get some other nifty Empath stuff for higher levels, but I feel like this is a fairly solid starter skill set.

RPG Maker Thoughts and Regrets

I'm breaking down and working more on my RPG Maker game now. I've put a lot of thought into what I did wrong, and what I've done right. This all appears below.