Well, as expected of a visual novel or a story-heavy game, the results are pretty... acceptable.
And regarding certain critiques, I've indeed addressed them for the next version, version 1.0, which I've just completed and submitted for Game Jam Plus. The link is the same, so enjoy the full story and its epic conclusion!
https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/occhiolism
Until next year, folks.
And yes, I will participate, because I plan to finish one game I'm making for NaNoRenO 2024, and the finale will depend on the chosen theme for LD 55.
With the theme now out, I can finally determine the epic ending to the story I've started in NaNoRenO 2024. The theme of summoning, the cog, and the background of the title screen will all have in-story significances. Plus, I've come up with the final title.
As per usual MO, I'm writing the story first before acquiring the necessary assets and coding them all in. The Gundam Astray Red Frame that's sitting below my monitor is my entry to a local model kit contest.
That's because it's nighttime here in Manila as of this writing, and I need to recharge after a hot and sweaty day of development.
And to serve as bookends, the "THE END" screen is basically the title screen of Bittersweet Harvest, my LD52 entry.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/project-missionary-the-reckoning-of-hizzokahpolis
Please take note of two things: 1. The game's main heroine, Marie Claire, is silhouetted at first, because her actual appearance is heralded by a huge spoiler. 2. There isn't any sprite for Joseph Craig, the MC, yet, because I was pressed for time. But a future update will correct this and many more corners I had to cut to make it into the deadline.
Well, what can I say? Even though I've cut some corners, it seems people are warming up to my game more. Well, what else do you expect from the intended grand finale to a saga? And yes, I don't mind the rankings, since it's a natural consequence of having more entrants than before.
And as for how I've fared in the LDs I've participated so far...
(via https://nusan.fr/ldstats/)
I knew I would be getting better and better, and my skills definitely didn't rust at all, if the overall reception to my games is anything to go by.
So, you're most likely asking what will be the direction for Project Missionary. Now that LD55 is over, I can now feel free to make an enhanced edition, with all the stuff I've had to leave out, including Joseph Craig's sprites and extras such as author's notes and a music room, reintegrated. And in the near future, I will compile all five games in The Hizzokahpolis Chronicles (Bittersweet Harvest, Occhiolism, Project Missionary, Sunday at the Memories, and The Classiest Act) into one game, with additional plots, reworked sprites, and voice acting. I just have to pitch the idea to someone who can fund all of these, of course.
Until next time.
It's been a while since LD55, huh?
And now, I'm currently putting on the finishing touches to the current game I'm making, which is the first episode for a planned anthology of WLW (women loving women) RPGs titled Lily Adventuresses!
So how does LD56 factor in there?
Of course! Episode 2 -- more specifically, the prologue (because making a full-blown RPG in 5 months for another game jam is no easy task) -- will be released for this season of Ludum Dare! Therefore, the chosen theme will have a great influence on what Episode 2 will be about, as each episode of Lily Adventuresses! will be self-contained stories set in the same world.
So while waiting for Episode 1's full release, I'll get my hands dirty one more.
So, the theme's out, and it caught me a bit off-guard.
But as always, I worked out the theme and integrated it to the original idea for Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2, which involves a military woman forming a bond with a sentient being in order to wield a sacred weapon. This is mainly due to the influence of Ultraman Arc, which I'm watching every week.
And here's the title screen of the game I'm making.
Now to explain the title. "Arcritter" is the combination of "arc" and "Ritter" (the German word for "knight"). It also contains the word "critter", which is analogous to "tiny creatures". The four main characters in this game are pacted to sentient beings called Arcreatures, which usually take the form of ordinary animals such as cats and dogs. These Arcreatures can then transform into sentient weapons to aid the Arcritters in combat.
And now I'm gonna write the story on this lovely morning.
Because Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2 has the premise of four playable characters who are able to greatly enhance their weapons by inserting tiny creatures that willingly turn themselves into cubes into the weapons' slots, I've been browsing relevant posts about them.
Since there's no way to implement positive status effects in RPG Maker 2000 (2003 onwards did so), the usual way of one character transforming into a more powerful form is to implement switches or parallel events where the base character is switched out for the transformed character, with higher stats and stuff.
But for this game, I'm doing things the old-fashioned way. In the Items tab of the Database menu, I just have to duplicate a weapon, and infuse additional stats into the duplicate. And when times call for transformations (e.g. boss battles), I just have to use the following event commands in sequence: Change Items (add transformed weapon), Change Equipment (equip transformed weapon), proceed with the rest of the battle, and win the battle itself. And by battle's end, Change Equipment (unequip transformed weapon), then Change Items (remove transformed weapon).
The full game will have a boss battle at the end of each chapter, and the characters will be mandated to upgrade their weapons at the beginning of each chapter, so the possibility of one character not upgrading their weapon will be moot.
And of course, I'll start updating stuff on the game's itch.io page once the Jam phase formally ends.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters-prologue
it's simple. I used a late build of Lily Adventuresses! Episode 1 as a basis for this game, the prologue of Episode 2. Personally, I didn't mind some unused data, graphics, and music in the game, as long as this method increased efficiency and cut down on development time.
And regarding the names I used for the characters? Well, I'm gonna tell a short anecdote. For my future games, I have a stock of names I gathered from various sources, from receipts to internet posts to even spam email. But I noticed that the number of female names outnumbered the male ones by a huge margin, and thus I came up with the concept of a series of WLW RPGs, just so those female names will be used for the all-female main casts of all five episodes in the RPG anthology, as well as some NPCs.
Now then. Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2 Prologue needs six more votes in order to be qualified for scoring, so play and vote away!
The first episode for Lily Adventuresses! is now fully out; and while it has an entirely different cast and story, it has some call-forwards to the second episode, not to mention both being set in the same world. It's an entry to another game jam, Safe in Our World Mental Health Game Dev Champions 2024.
https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/lily-adventuresses-episode-1-she-who-lost-everything-but-her-name
And Episode 2 Prologue is just one vote shy of being fully eligible for scoring (in the Humor category, since I snuck in a few jokes in the game). Play it and vote away.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters-prologue
Well, as it turns out, not as hot as I expected. In terms of scores, Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2 Prologue did a bit worse than my previous LD game, Project Missionary. Well, this has something to do with the story and overall length. Project Missionary has a pretty much complete story (spanning around an hour at most), while Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2 Prologue is, yeah, just a prologue to a much lengthier game.
But in terms of rankings, this had performed a bit better, so at least there's an improvement, perhaps?
Regardless, I really love the comments left on my game, which all have something to do with the old-school RPG feel. Well, what else do you expect from me using one of the oldest RPG Makers in existence?
Going forward, I'll definitely continue working on the entirety of Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2. Chapter 1 will be made for the upcoming GameJamPlus 2024/25, which will happen next month, while I'll continue working on the rest next year.
This time around, I won't participate in the theme "slaughter" much because I'm still in the middle of developing the full version of Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2. (The prologue can be found here.)
And yes, as you guys might expect, I'm gonna make the prologue of Lily Adventuresses! Episode 3 for LD57. Whatever the theme will be, the story will revolve around a pair of "explorer sisters". It's because each episode of Lily Adventuresses! will have their own set of female protagonists.
And thus, the stage is set for Lily Adventuresses! Episode 3: The Explorer Sisters and the Deepest Depths.
The "explorer sisters" idea meshed well with "depths", but that doesn't mean I'll be going safe with the theme.
While this prologue won't have any nasty surprises, this will instead have pleasant ones.
Yeah, I had to submit this in the final minutes of the deadline due to technical difficulties the volunteer composer suffered, but it all works out in the end.
Enjoy this little tale about, yeah, two girls who are as close as sisters exploring the depths of a ruin.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/lily-adventuresses-episode-3-the-explorer-sisters-and-the-deepest-depths-pr
Now that my game has achieved the minimum required amount of votes, it's time for me to discuss what went on in developing it.
Of course, before the jam started, I already had the "explorer sisters" concept in mind. And the character inspirations for the "sisters" Zinnia and Azalea came from four sets of twin sisters I know and like: Fuwawa and Mococo Abyssgard from hololive English Advent, Kei and Chihiro Shindou from ef: a fairy tale of the two., Ram and Rom from the Neptunia series, and Asa and Yoru Kazato from If My Heart Had Wings. These pairs of polar opposite twin sisters have their own sets of appealing qualities that I applied to Zinnia and Azalea.
Regarding the naming conventions, in terms of places and dramatis personae, I draw names from various sources, making sure they are appropriate to the setting. Since Baihaerun, the world where the entire Lily Adventuresses! series takes place in, is a typical Western fantasy setting with strong influences of Filipino mythology and culture, and also draws from many other different cultures, I implement names when I feel like it, with rhyme and reason put into it, of course.
Now onto Episode 3 itself. Since "depths" was chosen as LD57's theme, I set out to draw inspiration from Mega Man Legends, since both games deal with exploring ruins full of lost technology -- for instance, the refractive crystal Zinnia and Azalea find near the end of the prologue is a reference to the refractors from MML. The game also has strong elements of mystery that unfold upon exploration of more ruins, and this kind of storytelling is what I'll implement in the full game.
Of course, being a trademark of mine, I never fail to inject a reference or two to other media. For instance, the prologue's title, "This Ain't Made in the Abyss", is an overt reference to the manga and anime Made in Abyss. And did you know that in the entire Lily Adventuresses! series, I implemented messages you can read when you inspect already-opened chests? Yeah, they're a huge shout-out to the Trails in the Sky trilogy.
So there. Look forward to the entire Lily Adventuresses! series. Episode 1, She Who Lost Everything but Her Name is already out, Episode 2, Rise of the Arcritters, is around 75-80% complete, and expect Episode 3, The Explorer Sisters and the Deepest Depths, to be out before 2025 ends.
Episode 1: https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/lily-adventuresses-episode-1-she-who-lost-everything-but-her-name (FULL)
Episode 2: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters-prologue (LD56; PROLOGUE)
Episode 3: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/lily-adventuresses-episode-3-the-explorer-sisters-and-the-deepest-depths-pr (LD57; PROLOGUE)
Have a blessed Good Friday.
With an improved score and ranking, I surmise that players generally liked the prologue's more comprehensible premise, plot, and characters. But like in the case of the prologue to Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2, this prologue to Episode 3 is just the beginning of something more grand.
And as of this post, I've just finished writing the penultimate chapter to Episode 2, which should clear the way for a full release next month! Stay tuned.
Episode 1: https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/lily-adventuresses-episode-1-she-who-lost-everything-but-her-name (FULL)
Episode 2: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters-prologue (LD56; PROLOGUE)
Episode 3: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/lily-adventuresses-episode-3-the-explorer-sisters-and-the-deepest-depths-pr (LD57; PROLOGUE)
After what seems to be an eternity, the full version of Lily Adventuresses! Episode 2: Rise of the Arcritters is now deployed and ready to play. Experience this tale I originally made for LD56 to its fullest.
itch.io page: https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters
LD page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/lily-adventuresses-episode-2-rise-of-the-arcritters-prologue
Furthermore, the first two episodes of LA! will be part of the Indie Game Stars showcase at the Philippine Game Dev Expo. If you're in the Philippines (or just happen to be in the country near the end of July), go try them out.
