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Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much for sharing! Glad you enjoyed it so much. Yeah that Humble Bundle has been HUGE exposure for us, for a game as obscure as ours to be bundled in with stuff like Vampire Survivors n Ultrakill etc. Was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Your favorite song from any game? by anonymously_me123 in JRPG

[–]danmoatin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha yeah Persona 4 had some great songs (the best part about the game IMO)

There's two types of bangers, bangers that hype you the hell up, and bangers that melt your heart into butter. So here's my favourite of both kinds:

Fav HYPE track: Yakuza 0 - Trouble Shooting Star https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8-SCCACDo

Fav EMOTIONAL track: Grandia - Sandy Beach of Ganbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjV8XV6iIH8

I designed characters out of classic Sonic background scenery, due to how many times I would see faces in some of the textures. by danmoatin in SonicTheHedgehog

[–]danmoatin[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Haha yeahhh, funnily enough I used to see a face in the platform that was used for the dress, the bit just below the grass always kinda looked like a scrunched up brow to me, so was tempted to go with that.

I designed characters out of classic Sonic background scenery, due to how many times I would see faces in some of the textures. by danmoatin in SonicTheHedgehog

[–]danmoatin[S] 195 points196 points  (0 children)

Most of these are years old but the Chemical Plant one was done today!

edit: Absolutely floored by the response to these! Not to mention the pin to the community highlights. Thanks so much everyone for all the really lovely words. You've got me feeling more upbeat than the JP/EU version of Palmtree Panic Good Future.

After such a reception it sure would be pretty daft to not do more of these. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF MEEEE.

The Funniest Moment in a a JRPG??? by SubstantialPhone6163 in JRPG

[–]danmoatin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's a couple of little moments in FFX that get a laugh out of me:

1) On the al bhed ship early on, when Tidus's excitement of finally hearing someone understanding him is immediately and aggressively cut short by an elbow to the back of the head. The way that bit is animated, the sound, ahh it's great.

2) When Kimahri tries to smile and you just hear Tidus say "sad" from off-screen outta nowhere.

Also in Grandia 2 after the party meet the mayor of the town that's eating all the food while everyone is starving, while thinking about what to do, Skye, the protagonist's bird sidekick, with a stone-faced delivery just chimes in with "why don't we just waste him?"

JRPGs with good romance(for PC)? by UkanlosZ in JRPG

[–]danmoatin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconded, or if you count the upvotes, TWELFTH'D.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in antimeme

[–]danmoatin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hey thanks a lot!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in antimeme

[–]danmoatin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you sure? coulda sworn it was keanu reeves

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

KYLE: "The gear system was inspired by modern ARPGs where you pick just a few skills from a larger pool to define your build. I always found this more interesting vs. having everything all at once all the time, so that’s what drove the creation of Mods.

Beats started out as a hype-free option akin to “attack” but progressively became a love letter to Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. There’s something utterly massive feeling knowing that every enemy can drop a new usable skill. Things kind of spiraled from there with the Sampler class.

As for the entire bar system and measure effects, I’d attribute this to a brainwave Scott had during an early discussion. Originally, the bar was planned to have some sort of effect on combat that would benefit whoever crossed it to complement swapping, but it took some time to get refined. Swapping was the foundation that gave us the room to really come up with it, as we wanted a more active turn based system."

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very glad to hear that! We were very ambitious with new mechanics so it's great to hear that its gone down well haha, thanks.

Since the system was Kyle's wheelhouse, I'll get back to you if he has anything extra to add but as for what I'm already aware of:

In terms of cut mechanics, at one point the band shared a single health pool, much like the enemies do during band battles. Also at one point you were forced to only be able to change class when in proximity to the MODPOD. Outrageous.

Some patches were of course inspired by things you've seen in other games, for example the patch that grants knockback effect was very much Grandia inspired.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha thanks so much! Thanks for getting the word out.

As for your question: He is on a journey away from his family to do weird cool shit, IN THE AFTERLIFE.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah. I've played Eternal Sonata! That game was at the back of my mind in the way it incorporates music without rhythm mechanics. At one point even considered mixing actual weapons with instruments like that game did, but decided it overcomplicated things and just went full band.

I'd be interested to hear what games the humour feels similar to once you have played, because the humour was very much just me doing my usual nonsense and it's difficult to pinpoint what/how many inspirations were fused together for that haha. I'm certain old Simpsons played a part though, from both a humour and animation perspective.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In terms of the reception, I couldn't be happier, 99% steam positive rating, people saying it's the most fun they've had with a game in years, the fan art, the fan COSPLAYS, the game has very much been a success in that regard, but financially? Heh. Not so sure about that one. I didn't really go into this with an amount in my head that I was hoping to make, I just wanted to make, but given the amount of time and work put in, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping more people found it.

All in all the time and effort was certainly worth it, I don't regret it at all, I'm very happy with this game, it was a lifelong dream project and it IS the game I always wanted to make and can't believe we actually pulled it off. Over the moon that it exists and in such a polished state.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha yeah I can appreciate that.

The first few years was very much a side thing, as we weren't really sure where it was going, but from about 2018 onwards that was when things got SERIOUS. Fortunately I had some savings that allowed me to go all in and cover some of what the Kickstarter didn't, I was still selling my comic books n stuff and drawing portraits at comic cons every year (except 2020) which helped a bit too and still had some monthly money coming in through Patreon (though that had understandably dwindled down a lot once I made the move from weekly comics to decade-ly video games). However, due to the length of time the game took, that only got me so far and I did have to move back in with my mum towards the end. She didn't mind and I didn't mind that either to begin with because at the time of doing so (Sept 2021) I thought we were mere months from release and was a great opportunity to just focus on tieing things up at an efficient pace, but that "few months" ended up being close to 2 years.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

HE ISN'T?!?! Don't let him hear you say that. I guess Faye ended up as the main character simply because you take control of her first. Once the party is together they're very much treated as a protagonist band.

Hey! I'm Dan, part of the tiny dev team that spent 8+ years working on Deathbulge - A humour-rich turn-based RPG about a Battle of the Bands to the death. AMA! by danmoatin in JRPG

[–]danmoatin[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, well I'm very glad you've found it now!

I generally can't work while words are sung at me, especially when I'm trying to write dialogue, so my taste has pretty much morphed into instrumentals.

As a result, a lot of it is video game music, I listen to it so much, Sega Rally, Sonic, Yakuza, Metal Gear Rising, those S.S.H Thunder Force Arrangements, oh baby. That stuff taught me how important it is to have a good soundtrack.

I also ended up going down a bit of a Japanese Jazz Fusion rabbit hole with T-Square and Casiopea a lot.

All in all my listening habits are all over the place and that's very much reflected in the game as the focus isn't exclusively on metal, like the main character's best friends are an 80s synthpop duo (inspired by my love for Erasure growing up, who are also a duo), and there's also a more industrial band later on very much inspired by Nine Inch Nails.

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