Wednesday, November 17, 2010

LA2: Sentries

Sentries are a new type of enemy in Lucid Awakening 2. They serve one purpose in battle, and that is to protect the other enemies. Sentries can greatly weaken the strength of your attacks, put debuffs on your party, constantly drain your HP, and all other kinds of nasty things that can make winning the battle almost impossible. Obviously, the only real way to win a battle with a Sentry involved is to do everything you can to destroy it before even attempting to defeat any other enemies.

Sentries also protect themselves, but each Sentry has a weak point. Most will require a specific type of ability to destroy it, fortunately you will be able to see what Sentries weak points are outside of battle so that you can properly equip your party before the fight.

For example, a Sentry's weak point may be its back. The way to take it out would be to have Zeke change to the Acrobat class and use his Leap attack. Once the Sentry is destroyed you can continue the battle as you normally would.

Battles in Lucid Awakening 2 can sometimes be like puzzles. A lot of times you really have to think about the battle instead of the "Attack-Attack-Attack-Heal-Repeat" cycle you see in many RPGs. Sometimes there can even be multiple kinds of Sentries in one battle. You may have a Sentry that guards against back attacks, and a Sentry who is weak against back attacks; the only way to solve this battle would be to take out the first Sentry with its weakness first so that you can attack the second Sentry in the back.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Lucid Awakening 2 - My dream coming to life

I guess you could say that development of Lucid Awakening 2 has officially started. I have a very talented artist, who I've never met, doing work for me. He has been doing a lot of character concept art for the three main characters of my game, Zeke, Silas, and Terra.

This is concept art for the lead character in the game, Zeke. In Lucid Awakening he was the main character Damian's little brother who got sucked into the dream world with him. He had a bigger role in the game that you didn't really find out about until much later in the game near the end; I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't finished it yet. It is amazing to me to be able to see people from a world that I've created grow up and change; it's a feeling that can't be explained with words.

Maybe this is just poor story-telling technique, but when I make a game I tend to simply make it up as I go along but according to a basic outline in my mind. I think that I have a gift for writing and creating stories based on this: sometimes as I'm making a scene in my game, I am actually shocked at what happens. That happened to me several times throughout the creation of Lucid Awakening--I would be making a scene and be surprised at what I had just wrote. Whether that is a smart technique or not, I find it very interesting that even as the creator I cannot wait to find out what happens.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Omega Twilight, my abandoned RPG Maker VX game

Two heroes must take their stand against the rising evil that threatens to destroy the world. Kain, a boy from a small island village; and Maria, a priestess of the church of Reijin. Though they may never meet, they will become the strongest allies in all history.

That was the story synopsis for my first real project in Enterbrain's RPG Maker VX, Omega Twilight. I had created Lucid Awakening using a legal version of RPG Maker XP, the predecessor to VX. Even though fans, as well as my own passion for the world and mythology created in Lucid Awakening, demanded a sequel, I had other ideas brewing around in my head which is constantly bubbling with all kinds of nerdish delights. These ideas were too different from the groundwork set in Lucid Awakening to implement them in the inevitable sequel--not in terms of story, but from a gameplay perspective.

Lucid Awakening [Complete RPG Maker XP Project]

A world once whole, now torn apart.
A great evil now wishes to bring the worlds together once again.
If the worlds merge, both will fall to ruin, and all life will be turned to darkness.
Instructions:
  • Download both files provided above.
  • Install RTP package to computer.
  • Extract Lucid_Awakening_V1_2.zip.
  • Install font, BLACKCHA.TTF, included in Lucid Awakening zip file.
    • (Drag BLACKCHA.TTF to C:\\WINDOWS\Fonts.)
  • Play Lucid Awakening.
Here is a review for my game: CLICK HERE