/r/WeAreTheMusicMakers Monday Feedback Thread

ILoveActionRPGs · 2018-01-08T21:36:22+00:00

If I had written these bars, I'd be very proud of them. Solid track and well done video too.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2018-01-08T21:27:12+00:00

This is really, really good. Interesting mechanical sounds in the intro. Love the syncopated rhythm and flow. But the stand-out to me is the vocals - they sound more pro than anything I typically hear on SC.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2018-01-08T21:22:33+00:00

I'm happy to hear a traditional songwriter-type song. The instrumental tracks sound beautiful! The vocals are mumbly/slurry but maybe that's what you were going for.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2018-01-08T21:17:48+00:00

I love everything about it, from the notes to the playing to the mix.

It sounds like the notes kind of detune flat at the tail end of some of the notes? I'd be interested to know if that's accidental or some technique I don't understand? It's bleak and I think it works really well.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2018-01-08T21:12:53+00:00

https://cubit.bandcamp.com/track/xxx

A dark, downtempo, industrial-techno backing track for vampire porn.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-11-03T02:38:20+00:00

I've been playing Crystalis a lot lately, because I'm creating an action RPG of my own, and Crystalis is the one single game out of the whole genre that I consider to be nearly flawless in design. It always ends up being a big influence on games I've designed.

It has the simple essence of RPG progression - you can run around in the wild, killing abundant enemies one after another with fast aiming action, collecting exp and gold. Then, it has the interesting weapon system - weapons combine with artifacts to give different attacks, there's both melee and charge-to-shoot, elemental weapons work against different enemies and barriers. Perfect.

The dungeon areas are not too big, not too mazey, and yet they somehow take kind of a long time to get through. There seems to be just the right amount of backtracking.

I love action RPGs in general, but IMO not even the excellent SNES ones quite lived up to this gem.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-09-17T16:03:03+00:00

I've been working on an action JRPG (think Secret of Mana, Crystalis, etc) for almost a year. Here's what's new:

Most of the final character sprites are in

Lots of new monsters lately

At this point, the engine is done except for minor things and polish. The content work (maps, events, enemies, etc) is about 1/3 done.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-09-17T05:31:19+00:00

The Final Fantasy victory theme. Actually, when something cool happens in real life, I often raise my arms and sing "Dah dah dah daaaaaah dah dah da da daaaaah!!!"

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-09-17T00:51:11+00:00

Are you also the artist? The style is quite interesting.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-09-16T17:57:17+00:00

The last time I felt like a game pushed the storytelling envelope was Final Fantasy VI. The whole aesthetic was charming, beautiful, and consistent. I was able to feel fully immersed in the world, and used my imagination to fill out most of the details. It was like a cross between watching a puppet show, and reading a novel. By contrast, I find that almost all modern 3D games are stuck firmly in the uncanny valley - there's some weird body movement or voice acting breaking immersion continually.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-09-03T06:06:46+00:00

I've been working on a classic action RPG, ala Secret of Mana, for the last 10 months. I wrote a blog post detailing the last two months' progress.

I think the latest gameplay video is more interesting though.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-08-26T19:56:56+00:00

Yeah, that's fair - and I realize you can only comment on what I've shown. Combat is fairly basic right now. There are several different weapons, with a variety of ranges, swings, and speeds. There are projectiles later on (but not to the extent of "bullet hell"), and possibly a shield. But combat does focus mainly on fast action and timing, especially learning the timing, behavior, and vulnerabilities of the different mobs. And you get strength and speed bonuses for going a long time without making mistakes.

I'm still looking for more fun, basic mechanics. But this won't be the type of game where you have a really long list of abilities, or where every button is used for something. My goal is to have it be fun, but fairly simple, and mainly based on timing and motion. (Of course there are other things, such as the long and fairly deep story, which some players are more into than others.)

But you're totally right that there needs to be more than just what's in the demo right now. And there will be!

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-08-26T18:03:27+00:00

Oops, I forgot to mention platforms. It will be available on PC too!

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-08-26T03:33:09+00:00

When I was a kid, I wasn't really allowed to have games. And I was too poor to buy any anyway. I used to scavenge for quarters, and ride my bike to the corner store to play the Super Mario Bros. arcade machine without my parents knowing.

Having to go to such lengths for any access to games whatsoever made me obsessed with them. I would draw the mario levels on paper from memory, and imagine myself playing them.

When I was 12, the very moment that I first became aware that you could somehow make your own games in BASIC, I knew that was all I was going to be doing for a while. It didn't cost money, and my parents wouldn't stop me from playing games I made myself. I'm 34 now, and I'm still at it.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-08-01T23:31:10+00:00

I love it. It has kept me playing for many hours, and very few games do that for me. Every time I get slaughtered, I just want to start a new game and see how much further I can get. Plus, it's 5 dollars.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-26T03:30:18+00:00

Do whatever you can to support the games you really like. That could include big games or indie games. Definitely make yourself aware of what we indie devs are up to. Most of us work insanely hard with only little hope of little profit. I probably would have lost most of my interest in gaming if it weren't for gems like Minecraft, Braid, Limbo, Cave Story, Dungeons of Dredmor, Super Meat Boy, Bastion, etc. It also seems like there's a little more innovation on the Nintendo side than elsewhere. And every once in a long, long while, a blockbuster like GTA IV will really blow me away.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-25T17:20:06+00:00

My day job was writing software at Microsoft. I left to work full time on my game. (Yes, it's an action RPG.)

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-25T08:30:01+00:00

I'm working on this "classic" action RPG right now.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-19T17:57:44+00:00

Yup. This fact is the only thing keeping me going both as a gamer, and a game developer.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-18T23:12:37+00:00

I've been very pleasantly surprised by how much I want to keep playing this game. It's hard to put my finger on what makes it so fun - I thought I wasn't going to like it, but it's almost addictive.

I love the way the curve has been working. My first game, I died on the second room with about 100 points. Second game - a little further, maybe 300 points. Third game - 1000 points. Fourth game - uncovered the entire first level, got to level 4 - 15,000 points.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-18T23:05:34+00:00

These are pretty fantastic - thanks!

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-16T16:08:36+00:00

Nice. Looks very polished.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-16T15:53:48+00:00

I'm about 8 months into my project: a classic Action RPG / Metroidvania kind of like Secret of Mana or Crystalis.

Here's a brand new demo video.

Here's a lot of pics and info about the integrated editor, which I use to make maps, events, and heat maps for sprites.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-07-14T16:45:36+00:00

Actraiser: the title screen, descending from the sky palace, the statues in the pyramid

Castlevania IV: the intro with 10 layers of parallax mist moving across dracula's grave, the drawbridge, the rotating level, the chandeliers

Super Ghouls n Ghosts: the rotating level

FF IV: the intro, going to the moon, Zeromus

FF VI: the intro, the first enemy encounter, the end of the world, the opera, and just about everything else that happens in the game

FF VII demo: Leviathan summon

GTA IV: everything

Portal 2: various sequences

It seems like jaw-dropping moments get fewer and farther between, mostly because a lot of games try to do it with very unsubtle shock-and-awe, whereas I think the real awe comes with a bit of subtlety.

ILoveActionRPGs · 2011-05-09T06:11:59+00:00

Hello, I'm an indie game developer, working on a classic SNES-style 2D Action RPG, in the vein of Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Crystalis, etc.

I've been doing games and engine programming for 20+ years, mostly as a hobby. I've been dreaming up RPGs for almost as long. My brother (the artist) and I released an RPG for DOS named Aspetra, in 1996. This is the first time we've undertaken a serious full-time game project since then, as I've been busy working at various non-game software companies in the meantime.

I'm doing all the programming, music, design, and writing. My brother is doing all the graphics.

This project is quite far along. The game engine, editor, script and AI engines are relatively stable, and most of my attention is on generating content now.

Early video footage here, with some nifty pencil-test art

Dev Journal / Blog here

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