Despite not commenting as frequently over the past few years, I've managed to make it to 40,000 posts on TL
I might as well couple this milestone with a blog post about a passion project I've been working on for the past year: I've been developing my own video game!
An early trailer for my game, Mango Mischief
It's been an incredibly fun and creative endeavor, so far! Here's an excerpt from my game's Kickstarter that elaborates on my game, called Mango Mischief:
Mango Mischief is a throwback to a simpler time - the 16-bit era of video gaming - when JRPGs used (and abused) cliché storylines as vehicles for showing off interesting battle mechanics, difficult dungeons and monsters, complex puzzles, character leveling systems, and customizability through skills, upgrades, and gear.
Is it time to go on a magic quest to save the world - a quest that only YOU can complete (with the help of three other party members who have different skill sets, of course)?
Do you need to collect several inanimate objects that serve no purpose other than to accidentally help the antagonist at the end of the game?
Is the antagonist merely a puppet of the true final boss (who has multiple forms)?
Eh, maybe. Or maybe not.
The four protagonists: Sprig, Marion, Merrow, and Arach
Mango Mischief attempts to straddle the line between paying homage to the tried-and-true tropes of JRPGs, while also parodying the memes of role-playing games with plot twists and comedy.
Self-referential humor and fourth wall breaks augment the narrative and interactions in this game, without detracting from the core gameplay:
- Open exploration of a huge, diverse world, full of quests and monsters and loot - Flexibility in leveling up desired classes and gaining new abilities along the way - The freedom to optimize character builds and complete dungeons in any order - Tons of weapons, armor, accessories, and items that allow for a variety of playstyles - A turn-based battle system involving elemental strengths and weaknesses, an assortment of buffs, debuffs, and status ailments, and monsters that scale with your progress, to keep battles fresh, interesting, and challenging - Just enough random encounters to annoy players who prefer visible encounters, and just enough visible encounters to annoy players who prefer random encounters - At least a few interesting NPCs who aren't merely mindless drones created for the sole purpose of furthering the plot of your special story
The expected playtime will be at least 30 hours, but likely around 50-60 hours of gameplay.
It will be available exclusively for PC.
Here's my game's website, if you want to check it out in more detail: www.mangomischief.com
Here are a bunch of additional video clips and pictures of my game
The map at the beginning of Mango Mischief, showing off the early areas of the game
The Kingdom of Hargoth (1 of 2)
The Kingdom of Hargoth (2 of 2)
The wealthy and modern town of East Haversine (1 of 2)
The wealthy and modern town of East Haversine (2 of 2)
It wouldn't be a true JRPG without a rainbow of colored slimes as enemies, right?
A battle with a serious number of buffs, debuffs, and status ailments
The most convenient trope in the history of gaming
Nothing like a good old-fashioned fourth wall break
The many rhyming signs, scattered throughout the world of Mango Mischief
I'm very pleased and proud of the work I've done so far, and I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of 2022. If you have any additional questions or comments or words of wisdom, please feel free to comment or PM me
This is awesome! I'm a huge fan of JRPGs(the best out there tbh). Played all the final fantasies etc. This is right up my alley. Looks good so far. Are you planning on a steam release or direct sales through the website?
On June 28 2021 03:08 ReachTheSky wrote: This is awesome! I'm a huge fan of JRPGs(the best out there tbh). Played all the final fantasies etc. This is right up my alley. Looks good so far. Are you planning on a steam release or direct sales through the website?
Thanks! I still have a lot to do! I'm exploring multiple ways of releasing the game online, including Steam and other online sites/stores
On June 28 2021 15:42 ChynaWE wrote: 10 sentences, 100 embedded videos. gj
I figured that a balance of paragraphs, pictures, and videos would be a more informative and digestible post than just a giant wall of text Five short video clips didn't seem like overkill to me
On June 28 2021 23:46 DeNikSSB wrote: What are you using to make this if you don't mind me asking?
I'm using the RPG Maker MV game engine. It's very user-friendly, especially for people who aren't computer programmers. https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/downloads
On July 05 2021 15:24 Uldridge wrote: How do you think out a puzzle section? I think to make these not straightforward but also intuitive must not be very easy, no?
You're right that it's really hard to find that balance, especially because different people solve problems differently and some are better at solving puzzles than others. If it's too hard, then it'll be frustrating for too many people; if it's too easy, then there's no feeling of accomplishment.
As a math teacher, I have a good amount of experience with posing problems for my students to approach and critically think about, and being receptive to feedback that I observe (or that they offer me). Having other people playtest my game, especially the battles and puzzles, is the best way to learn what works and what doesn't. Obviously, as Mango Mischief's creator, I already know the answers to all the puzzles, and what my intentions are, and my personal approaches to RPGs and problem solving, but it's far more useful to me when someone else experiences these things for the first time and I get to watch/hear how they productively struggle through a problem - what did they try, what made them frustrated, what helped them out, what was the difficulty level, etc.
A few other strategies that I'm learning along the way include:
-Start with easier puzzles at the beginning of the game, so that the player can get a feel for how puzzles ought to be approached, and then scaffold the player into a willingness to try more advanced, complex ones.
-In the Pause Menu, the player has a Journal / Quest Log where some basic information is documented, so that the player isn't completely aimless/lost when trying to figure out an objective (but I quickly reduce the amount of hand-holding in the game, especially because I feel that too many new games completely spell out every action and decision that the player needs to make). I want the player to explore and discover things, and realize that they're encountering useful information.
-I'm not overdoing it with the puzzles; I'm trying to spread them out and not force them too much, in the same way that the encounter rate for battles shouldn't be every few steps. Puzzles should be intentional and make sense within the story/location.
-I don't want too many puzzles to explicitly prevent progress in the game. I would rather have a solved puzzle provide an additional reward (or an unsolved puzzle provide a small punishment) than a puzzle literally decide whether or not you can move on to the next area. Lower-risk puzzles that are still challenging can still provide a sense of accomplishment when analyzed/solved, and rewards like gold, gear, or an easier boss fight (e.g., maybe the solved puzzle somehow dealt damage to the boss ahead of time, like in LoZ: BotW with Calamity Ganon being hit by the restored Divine Beasts).
I'm learning more and more every day though; addressing these kinds of challenges is part of the process, and part of the puzzle that I need to solve, as a game designer!
My Kickstarter for this game just got fully funded, which I'm super excited about! It turns out that a bunch of people are interested in copies of my game, beta testing, art books with dev content, and creating NPCs and monsters
EPT
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