The Musings Of The Consensus

I've been following the news of late that RPG Maker MZ will release this summer, and while I'm mostly happy, as I had a few projects in RPG Maker MV I backburnered due to issues with it I hope MZ will address, the news so far is generally good, here are the highlights. 1. Codebase is still Javascript, but apparently, they rewrote the backend code quite a bit. Given JS could drool on good computers due to bad optimization, hopefully, this will ameliorate that. 2. Ships with a crapload of resources and are generally compatible with MV stuff out of the box. I can live with that. 3. Includes a lot of features to make it easier on noobs and lots of shortcuts for things like pathfinding for cutscenes, Good stuff here. 4. LAYERS. As in XP style stuff so you don't have to do complicated hacks to do things like being able to walk under bridges. Definitely a good thing. 5. Now added Active Time Battle as a default battle engine. Good deal. 6. Effeskeer powered particle-ba...

I'm currently using Linux MInt 19.2 as the only OS on my laptop currently, and since I discovered a few weird quirks of RPG Maker VX Ace and earlier (MV has native Linux support), here's a few points to things that won't work well and some issues to work around. 1. If using Steam, even though Proton works just as well as non-Steam Wine to make RPG Maker work fine, some things to keep in mind. A. Due to some weird issue, if you don't create a folder to dump all Steam Workshop items into and redirect all VX Ace projects to it, good luck trying to access the folders outside of the program itself. While Windows does this just fine, Linux is bit dense on this topic and forces you to do the step I just mentioned if you want to add resources to the project in any way, thanks to the goofy way Linux handles the Windows file structure and how Steam Workshop saves VX Ace projects. B. The X window interface and DirectX can mostly play nice, but any scripts that dynamically re...

I have put my DQ1 Remake project on hold for now, or rather, I have given developer access to Jaimas of the Kiwi Farms to examine it and make any improvements he deems fit. Jaimas has proven to be an exemplary beta tester, having pointed out many flaws and imperfections that needed addressed, and since he has a copy of RPG Maker and the associated material needed to work on it when he has the time to devote himself to doing so, I have since provided him access to a developer build of the current project. This means any further progress will be on hold until he gets back to me, but I consider this important to do since he is someone whom I trust to do a good job shaping up the rough edges of this project, and it is my hope this collaboration results in an exemplary production.

Jaimas of the Kiwi Farms has been playtesting my game of late, and noted many issues with graphics, sound effects, music, game balance, and some other minor concerns that have necessitated a new game update, with will be 2.25, which will replace Beta 2.20. It has the following: 1. Redid translations of many items, weapons, armor, enemies, and so on to match later DQ game translations. 2. Lots more musical variety. 3. Additional sound effects. 4. Many enemy graphics redone and retouched for better fidelity. 5. Several balance changes to make bosses less a joke at some points. 6. Several minor bugs and a few crashes fixed. It can be downloaded here: https://mega.nz/#!ZQcTGQ4C!DDFiIrVXYwohZr4FCNSp3A4WTo5Mq8S67t0Otf7BPKY

I'm writing this post to give a progress report on Beta 2.30 of DQ1 Remake. Thankfully, this build won't force me to add too much more content, but it has presented a new problem that forced me to take my time. The main new area I have to complete is Charlock Castle, and while I generally made my own versions of DQ1 locations out of whole cloth while maybe taking some minor inspiration from the level design of the originals at best, I wanted to do a nigh perfect homage to the original level design of Charlock Castle since I plan to reuse this in any possible sequels, but I had an issue. The level design of this Castle between DQ 1, 2, and 3 was VERY inconsistent. DQ1 was the worst offender. On top of being oddly small and cramped, the bottom floor had a tileset that looked like it belonged on the surface, so I decided not to use that one. DQ2 was simply a slightly expanded version of the DQ1 version, and it wasn't much better. DQ3 had the best and most logical f...

I have finally released Beta 2.20 of DQ1 Remake on my MEGA account, after a long time in closed beta. Everything up to the Cave To Charlock Castle is finished (there is a monument that tells you you need to save for the next build, which will be removed in the next version). The Catilin area is fully fleshed out, as are any remaining overworld areas, save for one or two on the Charlock Castle landmass (these will be fleshed out in the next few builds). The next build will have the normal ending implemented, the build after will implement the bonus ending, and the build after is planned to be the final build. Unlike the original Dragon Quest, my game does not have a "bad ending" option, but it may be added in some manner by the final build. A few bugs have been fixed in this build, including a UI bug, and a lot of legacy code and crash issues were finally dealt with. Most of this is thanks to the extremely dedicated bugtesting done by Stagefright. And, for the follow...

I'm now almost done with getting DQ1 Remake Beta 2.20 out of closed beta and ready for stable release, but before I do that, some issues need to be fixed as mentioned in my previous blog post. Also, the following changes for balance will be done. 1. Many more spells will have accuracy fluctuations. The original Dragon Quest games had this to prevent them from being too OP for enemies or players, and the more powerful spells and skills will have lower accuracy than their initial versions, especially multi-hit skills and spells. 2. On top of redoing the scripting for my bonus dungeon quest, the cursed and uncursed items you can get doing this will be rebalanced. Also, they will have actual gold values assigned to them to make them sellable, should the player opt to do so. I also will eliminate some items that were cloned to normalize game balance, as I was unsure where to put a few of these items several times during development, and this will be corrected for the final time befo...

This is an update for those who are following my DQ1 Remake project. The 2.20 beta has been through about ten revisions now, and in each one tons of bugs have been fixed, as I want to leave all the engine issues behind me so they do not plague me in future builds, and I want to thank beta tester Stagefright in particular. His efforts to find and document all my numerous screwups so I could fix them have been nothing less than Herculean, and I just want to say, "Semper Fidelis" to him for all his fine work at unearthing all the fail in my project so I could fix it. Due to his tireless efforts, the following is now no longer an issue. 1. More legacy broken code is now removed. 2. The last remaining shards of my old dialogue code should be gone. 3. A longstanding UI glitch when displaying skill data is now fixed. 4. Skills in general have received numerous fixes to damage, calculation of effect, and other fixes. 5. Tons of game crashing issues now no longer a problem. ...

I'm taking a lot more time than usual to verify this DQ1 Remake build is ready for release before taking it out of closed beta, for three reasons: 1. This build will be the very last build where any scripting changes occur. The engine will be essentially complete after this build. 2. Per the first reason, this will allow the remain builds to proceed much more quickly, now that any remaining scripting work is over. 3. I now have a roadmap for eventual "Gold release per the first two reasons, as outlined here: Beta 2.20: Everything just shy of the final dungeon of the normal route done. Beta 2.30: Normal route finished, finished all the basics of the true route path. Beta 2.40: True route ending implemented. Gold Release: Assuming nothing goes horribly wrong. This version will receive any last minute polish, bug fixes, and will be the definitive build.

After getting some more bug reports about Garinheim, I had to fix a lot of buggy tile collision issues, including being able to walk through certain portions of houses, being able to hop stair well where you shouldn't, and other wall clipping weirdness. I should have fixed all of this. I also got a complaint about how it looks how some landings make it look like the character is walking on the landing railing, not the floor, and I tried to fix this the best I could, but the tile art and the fact I have a 2D engine make some of this perspective weirdness unavoidable, and since I had to pay for the assets I used for the Garenheim town art, I'd have to contact the artist or someone with the same DLC pack I paid for who would be willing to modify it, as my own art skills are not that good. I also made a few minor overworld map adjustments, nothing major, just shaved down the Hauksness and Rimuldar overworld areas a little bit. I'm still awaiting more bug reports, but wh...

Got some more feedback on my closed beta and it looks like I have some more bugs to fix: 1. Seems I still have some remnants of the old dialogue system in place, need to purge that. 2. Fixing a small frameskip bug in town when picking up vegetation and eggs. 3. Complaints some music and SFX are too loud, will fix by cutting their level by 50% across the board. 4. Fix the bank, has some old code that causes graphical issues. I plan to meticulously fix as many bugs before releasing this build, as I want the game as mechanically solid as possible before implementing the normal ending, final dungeon, and any content beyond that.

I've already gotten some feedback from beta testers, and I've already fixed a lot of issues regarding UI problems, including screwed up text and number displays. I reverted the player menu back to using the classic row format instead of the column view to fix a few more issues, but this is merely a cosmetic change. Fonts had to be resized in several places for optimal display, and aside from a harmless "flash of unstyled content" glitch (the first character in the menu will briefly have their name and the "level' marker turn bold, then normal text), the menu is now free of UI problems, and the glitch is quite harmless for now, so I'm leaving it as a low priority to be fixed in later builds. I have also begun experimenting with how to integrate content from DQ1 in any possible sequel, since I did have one planned, and I'm pleased to say my experiments with how to port content for us have proven quite successful, so any possible sequel, should I m...

I'm on the cusp of sending out the closed beta of Build 2.20 of DQ1 Remake to beta testers, and I have to admit this build stops shy of including a lot of content I wanted to add because, frankly, I have so many game balance concerns at this point I don't want to add a ton of new areas and content before I have that resolved. Several fixes over 2.10 include: 1. Scripting fixes for the minigames to resolve some crash issues. 2. Hopefully have removed all traces of the original crappy dialouge system code. 3. Code/resource bloat has been trimmed as much as possible, frame rate should be better overall, no more lag spikes. 4. Some further balance fixes to enemies and some random steal skill crashes should also be fixed. 5. Implemented some code meant for use in later builds, but only partially, most is dummied out for now because I don't want to totally enable some scripting code without finishing more content that would require it for stability reasons. 6. Have ...

I've had a bit of a snag as I have been hunting down custom resources for the bonus dungeon areas of my game. Since the assets required some custom editing and some mix and match optimal use in VX Ace (and it took a few tries to get it to look right), I've had a bit of a delay, but most of the graphical side is far behind me. The music is now my remaining concern. I wanted custom music for this section to emphasize how much difference there is between the bonus dungeon and the rest of the game, much like how the Culex bonus boss in Super Mario RPG just stood out due to is dramatic clash with the rest of the game. My biggest issue has been hunting down resources that were available for use that fit the theme, and I've finally found some worthy candidates, hope to have my music score picked out and ready to go soon.

One of my goals for DQ1 Remake Build 2.20 was to eliminate all the source of lag spiking noticed in earlier builds, and I discovered what caused most of it. The user interface code was loading a lot of external assets by default. It looked nice, but unfortunately the code was very inefficient, and the lag spikes were caused by how poorly all that extra information moved in and out of memory. To fix this, I tossed out the old interface for items/skills/equipment/shops and redid it using simpler code. I also removed some scripts that were loaded into memory but weren't doing anything. The results have been incredible, with framerate issues hammered down to nil, the improved scripting shows more tactically useful information, and a lot of load bloat is gone, meaning the game starts much faster. This does have a gameplay change in that only one accessory can be equipped, not two, but I consider this an improvement for game balance, as two accessories of certain types could be  ...

I'm still working out a lot of balance and scripting bugs in Catilin, and I've made the following changes because play balance was important to me. * Lora is a lot more squishy. Originally, I set her defense to rise about to the same heights as Sarah, which makes her nigh invincible at times, so now I've reset her defensive power to be not much more better than Mara. Keeping both in the back row and loading them up with defense boosting equipment will keep both alive for sure, but both are now around the same level scale of physical defense given they are magic class users. * In a future update, I'll switch out weapons to use a non MP costing version of the spells equipped items will let you cast, but for now I'm retaining it for further balance testing. * There are two bosses in the Catilin area, and I've set one to be the "easy" boss and one to be the "hard" boss. The easy boss is NOT immune to insta-death, nor most other status effec...

I currently have a lot of beta testing for Build 2.20 of DQ1 Remake I'm doing now, and while I don't have half s much unfinished content to worry about like I did before, I need to test the following: Play Balance: Catilin, much like in the original game and DQ3, is the shopping mall of my world, and you can get some excellent gear, some of which is but a step or two down from some of the best gear in the game, so I'm going to have to make sure play balance isn't set to make things too easy or hard regardless of your equipment. Scripting: I have a considerable amount of game events that revolve around scripts in this build, and I have to make sure none of them are broken. Next build preparations: In the next build, I plan to make the normal route of the game beatable as well as completely unlock the bonus dungeon and true ending route, Certain IRL events have made progress slow, but I hope to get on with it because I really want to finish this sooner or later. O...

Currently play-testing the Hauksness area, and after I get it all balanced and make sure everything up to the Lord Edward quest works, I'll release a Beta 2.10V2 to replace the first version, which is a hot mess of bugs, bad balance, and overall fail. In the meantime, incorporated the following fixes. * Healing spells have had their resistance modifier check removed. I had to do this or healing spells would eventually be useless due to magic defense nullifying it at a certain point. * Several enemies in the Hauksness region had a tone down, they were OP to an insane degree. They are still hard, but now they are much more bearable. * Several more dialogue bugs were fixed and some tileset edits were done to the Great Caravan for better realism, like being able to walk under most open air stalls. * In the 2.20 build, I'll refine the bonus dungeon balance a little, but I kept them somewhat harder than the regions around them since they all have some OP stuff (especially f...

I've finally gotten up to the Hauksness area for testing, and I've already fixed some more issues * Game balance has been further tweaked and polished. Lora gains levels slightly faster than everyone else, but I'm leaving this alone, since she can be recruited at a point where she'll need it. * Fixed odd scripting bug where a 'New Game+ tag would be added to save files, turned out to be a control switch issue, I have no NG+ features built in or planned for. * Several more remnants of the old dialogue system were removed. The game was effectively unwinnable past defeating the dragon guarding the princess, this has been fixed and Build 2.10V2 will be released when I'm done with the Hauksness region, will supplant my previous 2.10 build. * New art for the dragon's portrait has been added. * Noticed a very rare crash bug that occurs when changing through multiple different types of windows while changing scenes in quick succession. I haven't been a...

I discovered some major, gamebreaking crashes in the Cave To Rimuldar, remnants of my old dialogue system were to blame, and since this is plot critical, I will be releasing a bugfix version for this. A few other changes will be in this, another major bugfix and a change to getting Lora in your party. * I discovered, thanks to an oversight when implementing the battle rows code, I made all Club and spear type weapons unusable if your character was in the front row. Since there are few club or spear weapons, I did not notice this until I equipped an Iron Spear and noticed Roto and Sarah could not attack at all, though they could user magic/special attacks. This oversight has been corrected. * Lora will join the party at Level 13. I have redone all the game balance so it's ideal to be a certain levels, and believe this should be reasonable for her to join at. I tried to assign a variable condition to the Hero's current level so she'd join at the same level, but the game...