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Chronoboy Adventures staging demo available for download

 
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chronoboy
Into the past with a splash




Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Posts: 162
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 9:47 am    Post subject: Chronoboy Adventures staging demo available for download Reply with quote

Ready to give Chronoboy Adventures a try? In this staging demo, no story elements are disclosed and is safe to play for anybody who wants to play a demo but does not want the story ruined by it. Here is the text from the actual game itself about the demo and what you can do in it:

Staging demo info wrote:

Welcome to the Chronoboy Adventures Demo! This demo does not disclose any story elements, so it is very much safe to play if you don't want to ruin the game.

This demo takes place in my staging area of the game. Maps which I have devoted to testing various game machanics.

Please note that this area is not meant to be pefect in any shape or form.

Welcome to the staging area for Chronoboy Adventures!
These two areas will not appear in the final game are meant for beta purposes.

Interesting things to do in this demo:
Play the demo both during the day and night, take note of the differences.
Press -H- to try the interactive item.

Try out the portals in the demo.
Best part about the staging area is that you can control elements you normally cannot in the real game. Press the letter -P- to open a portal.

You can close a previously opened portal by pressing -C-.
Use -X- to attack NPCs on the map and see the blood splat they leave.

Press -G- to open green portal.

About the staging battles:
They are not complete and very BASIC!
Battles only exist here to test out the animal generation system. Only wolfs will chase and attack.

Enjoy playing the staging demo! Please leave any comments in the forum.


Download link from Cloud files:
http://c0018321.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/chronoboy.rpg.zip

Announcement on my project website:
http://www.chronoboy.com/projects/rpg-development/chronoboy-adventures/chronoboyadventuresstagingdemo
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Current project: Chronoboy Adventures

Website: http://www.chronoboy.com/
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chronoboy
Into the past with a splash




Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Posts: 162
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hope to soon release a playable demo of the first few scenes before the Heart of OHR contest is due. Although, since the game is fairly open world for the most part, it may be difficult to limit things in the demo release. I'll most likely add those awesome invisible walls for these areas which are still under development to deter the player from wandering too far from the demo maps.

If you had a chance to try out the staging demo yet, you may have noticed that there are two maps which are connected in a very interesting way. The entire world is made of 32x22 map chunks, and there is no "world map", as other RPGs have. I dislike the "world map" way of doing things, it very sloppy and undetailed. When I play an RPG game, I look for a game with as much detail as possible, it makes the world that much more believable. Sure it's more work on the developer, but in the end it makes a quality game which as much detail as possible for the player.

This first game will not feature any player controlled vehicles, this will be part of the sequel, if it happens. There will be locations where there is a dock, and the player can pay a sum of money to travel to different areas of the world via the water.

Since there is no "world map" and it is fairly open world, it is up to the player to discover where to go next for their specific quest that they are on. I would recommend as a player, to use a piece of paper near by to draw out your own "world map", so that you don't get lost. The world will be very vast when the game reaches completion. Expansion packs may add new cities and people to the game, along with quests from them. The erection of cities will have a back story with them, so that they fit into the game world. An example would be, during the game without expansion packs, a new city is being built somewhere, due to a gold rush in the area. When an expansion is released, this city will be completed along with a nearby mine which the townsfolk go to. This also means, townsfolk from other towns will change their location in some expansions, as people in real-life do move from city to city to find work.

From this description, you can already see that this game is going to be fairly unique and is hopefully going to keep player coming back for more when an expansion is released to see what happens to such such character during the story arc. Yes, there is an entire story behind the world and why each expansion changes the world in the ways they do. The way I wrote the storyline, it needs to be expressed in such a way of expansion packs, in order for it to work nicely. Although, a player can jump in during any expansion pack and not know the wiser, but having played the previous expansions and the original makes the story to them that much more richer.

Overall, in the end, I hope to make this one of the longest running OHR.R.P.G.CE games, with a whole lot of hours of play and plenty of things to do besides the main storyline. The best part of making an open world game, is that the player will never really get bored as quickly, as there is always something new to do and discover.

I do hope to release a playable version with at least 30 minutes to an hour of main quest gameplay before the Hear of OHR is due.

Also, after the initial version of the game, if any skills graphics artists would like to help me spruce up the battle graphics, the Hero, Enemy, Attacks, Weapon, and backdrop graphics, I would devote an in game character to them, which they can draw and choose their alignment and possibly even a quest they could give the player. I believe the tiles and walkabouts are fine for now, but the battle graphics can definitely use an improvement.

Link: http://www.chronoboy.com/projects/rpg-development/chronoboy-adventures/developmentcontinues
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Website: http://www.chronoboy.com/
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Pepsi Ranger
Reality TV Host




Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 493
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As a fan of exploration in games, I must admit that I'm interested to see what becomes of this. Once you get that first demo out, though, you may want to limit your future releases to content-heavy additions. Games with too many releases (or too many releases with minimal additions) eventually lose excitement in players (unless you consistently deliver a great experience each time).

If you like games that forgo world maps, you may want to give Okedoke a try. It's one of the better OHR games released in the last few years (if you can get past some of the slurs). You may also like The Adventures of Mikey T, Genesis, and of course, Vikings of Midgard. Also, all of my games use the map-to-map travel system. The difference with mine, though, is that the single-area maps are still huge. It's easy to become overwhelmed if you don't treat the details with as much care as you would the NPCs. My repreive to players is that I saturate my maps with "things to see," so you never get too lost (unless you're playing Tightfloss Maiden and don't know how to use the accessories).

Anyway, I say all of this to say that this sounds like a reasonable plan.
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Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2
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chronoboy
Into the past with a splash




Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Posts: 162
Location: Canada

PostPosted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for your input Pepsi Ranger.

The game is going to feature a lot of exploration, and lots to do besides the main quest. The game will also have a replay value attached it. Depending on player decisions, the main story can branch off in several directions. I know what some will say or think about this, it may lead to story consistency issues. I tell you this, considering how many global variables I am using to keep track of such things, I am very confident that the story will be very consistent regardless which choice you make. Although, this may make the time very interesting to review, as each player will more than likely make different choices to alter the storyline. The first demo for beta testers will display a few of these to test out such issues.

On a side note, I am managing my plotscripts in multiple files, separating each section into what I like to call "game modules". Perhaps this could be a good debate or article for the next HamsterSpeak Magazine issue.

chronoboy.com wrote:

Overall, my source file in total has reached whooping 119KB. That's a lot of code. I split each section of code into it's own file, to make it easier to manage in the long run. Especially if I plan on releasing expansion packs in the future, code management is key. I have a few utility libraries which I have developed especially for this game.

I have an EFFECTS module, which contains various visual effects for the game and scenario.
I have a PORTALS module, which contains various functions to manage portals in the game.
I have a WILDLIFE module, which contains functions to create and manage wildlife AI.
I have a DEBUG module, which is used during development to test out various features.
I have a HARP module, which is used to control the interactive Harp item in the game.
I have a UTIL module, which is has many functions used throughout.
I have an INTRO module, which is dedicated to just the games title and credits sequence.
I have a DOORS module, which manages the door system in the game(play the demo to see).
I have a TESTS module, which contains functions for the staging area of the game.
I have a TITLESCREEN module, which manages loading saved games.
I have a DEMOMODE module, which is used to display the intro to the staging demo.
And I have modules devoted for each area/map of the game world. One module per town for example.

Having my source files separate like this makes is much easier to find what I am looking for when I need to either refer to something or edit something. This is definitely good to have if you plan on adding expansions to your game. Expansions could just be an additional module, so that you know what was added for that expansion for example.

Also when compiling the source to byte-code, it tells you exactly which file and which function in that file that your compile error is in. This makes correcting the problem much easier in the end.

Original article: http://www.chronoboy.com/projects/rpg-development/chronoboy-adventures/afewhick-upswiththeenginesscriptimport
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Current project: Chronoboy Adventures

Website: http://www.chronoboy.com/
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