#game of the month

May’s Featured Game: Verloren

DEVELOPER(S):Choko
ENGINE: RPG Maker VX Ace
GENRE: Horror, Adventure
WARNINGS: Flashing images, loud sounds, sudden sounds/images, full list (contains spoilers).
SUMMARY:Chris Winter, find himself alone and lost in a black void filled with nothing but coldness. The only warmth you feel comes from your breath. In this void the young boy sees a door filled with light, trying to reach the door only leads to the boy to fall deep into a world filled with nothing but nonsense.

Only when you find the key, then you’ll be able to leave.

Download the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself!
*Choko: Hello, I’m Choko! I’m the developer, artist, and writer for Verloren. I’ve been messing around with rpg maker since 2013 but finished my first finished game in 2016 which is Desolate Village. I’ve also made other games since then. Those being Demon Tea, Friend Hunt, and Star Detective. So Verloren isn’t my first rodeo in the whole game development stuff, but it is the biggest project I’ve ever work on so far.

Besides game dev stuff, I’m a huge rpg maker games, horror games, rhythm games, and just games with a interesting style to them.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially?
*Choko: Verloren is a horror adventure game that focuses on Chris Winter, a young boy who finds himself alone and far away from home because of this he won’t stop for anything to find a way home and learn why did he arrive here. During the course of the game Chris would meet others who have their own goals.

What inspired me to make Verloren is a bit hard to say from what I first started to work on it back in 2017, I was mostly trying to work on another project after finishing Desolate Village. It could have been something else but I really forgot.

But since I took a huge hiatus year break during 2018, I would personally say the time I actually initially started to work on Verloren was in February of 2019. Since everything was rework with a fresh outlook on everything, so the whole head space with Verloren is totally different from 2017-2018.

What inspired me when I went back to rebuild/fix the game was friends, since their support made me feel I could go back to work on the game. During 2018 I would say I wasn’t in the best mood while working on the game, so the support my friends gave me really helped a lot and encouraged me.

How long did you work on your project?
*Choko: I’ve been working on Verloren for three years now.
But will say 2019 to now is when actually development started/actually got going. 2018 I took the whole year off to cool down/chill. So the Verloren of 2017-2018 is very different from the Verloren of 2019 to now. If that makes sense….

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Choko: Oh boy, this section might be very long since there’s a lot of games and media which inspired/ influences Verloren, though for many different reasons.

Will say the two rpg maker games that inspire me a whole lot when it comes to everything they do is Mare and Akademia (I know it’s just a demo still at the time writing but it’s very good. Good demo, like the characters are great!! Everything is very nice!)
Other rpg maker games do inspire me, mainly friend stuff but Mare and Akademia are two games I really love and wish I can make Verloren a game which has characters which feel realistic in a way they do. Like please go play them.

Besides rpg maker games will say that NieR Automata, Okage: Shadow King, RE 1/RE 0, Deemo, Rule of Rose, Smile For Me, and the Kirby series are games that just really inspire me with Verloren, there’s just certain aspects of them which I hope I can capture in Verloren.

Other than video games, I do get a bunch of inspiration from artist I follow, comics/manga, and anime though if I mention all of them it would just lead me to ramble away, but will say Pandora Hearts and Death Parade are two series I really love and both. I just enjoy series that shows character interaction and bonds, because that’s a main part in Verloren.
I really just get inspire by character development if you couldn’t tell….. ^^;

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Choko: There’s been soooooo many changes to this game. The biggest change I would say is the characters, they had a lot of design changes and personality/motivation changes.

But other than that, I would say the mood of the game change a lot, also how scenes play it, originally it just felt like stuff happen to happen. Now it makes a lot more sense and isn’t just some random thing I added. Sadly I can’t list everything that change because that’s spoilers but trust me everything change for the better.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Choko: At the beginning there wasn’t a team, since I wanted to do everything solo. I mostly enjoy doing art, writing, and eventing the game.

Though currently now there is a team, mostly with people I know, it’s more so just a critique/feedback team + voice actors. Currently there are only two VAs since I didn’t want to focus on voice acting before I had most of the game done, in the far future I may make a post about it.

But so far the whole team is more so just a chilling area then anything else and I enjoy all the fun talk that happen there.

What is the best part of developing a game?
*Choko: The best part of creating a game is to see the characters you created come to life. I just really enjoy seeing everything come together. Idk I just find it cool that when making a game all starts out as concepts/ ideas and then after days/weeks/months of work it becomes a actually thing you can look at and show others. Most cutscenes in Verloren I get super happy when I finish them up, because I can see them as a real thing rather than a bunch of ideas of “this is what I’m going to do”.

Also the joke/shitpost memes….they are also the best part of making a game.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
*Choko: Yep!!!
I play a lot of rpg maker games, I really enjoy seeing what other people do.
I just find it cool that anyone can pick up the engine and learn how to use it.

Also it’s a fun way to find inspiration, just seeing other rpg maker games and being like “>:O I didn’t know you can do that!!!”.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*Choko: This question is very hard, mainly because I relate to because a lot of characters in the game I relate to in tiny levels.

For my favorite character it’s Vladimir….I do like every other character in game. Chris is my second favorite I have to say (kinda a lie since ties with another character) but Vladimir number one, he’s just soo much fun to write. He’s maybe the one character who has a lot of scenes which gets a huge smile from me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Choko: Not really, mainly since I was lucky to be able to take a huge hiatus which help me in 2019 to rework everything. So every problem I had with the game I fixed.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Choko: I would just leave the game alone after I finish Verloren, it’s a game that doesn’t need any follow ups because I feel it would just take away from the impact when you get to the end.

There really isn’t anything I would need to explore, since Verloren is meant to be a single game and that’s it.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game?
*Choko: I look forward seeing how people react to the full game, I am low key shock on how people are reacting towards the demo and all the tiny predictions/speculations. Also the warm positive feedback towards Vladimir is shocking, since I thought no one would like him because of all those jokes/puns.

I hope the final game has the same positive reaction, also that other characters get a warm positive feedback towards them.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?
*Choko: The only thing that worries me is that if I mess up and people can’t understand reasons why x character did that. Since one of the main things with Verloren is that characters have their own way if viewing stuff.

Like morality is pretty gray because I don’t want to write a black and white story.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Choko: Main advice I’ll give out is placeholders are your friend.
Don’t spend time making assets for a system you didn’t test and you test it and it doesn’t work. Just have a placeholder graphic which helps you test it and when it’s done you can always slap on the asset.

Following up with this, create a debug room. It would come in handy to test systems/ events than having to play through your game to test it and learn you need to fix it.

Question from last month’s featured dev @cheesesteak-horror: Do you have creative processes you practice before starting development?
*Choko: No, not really. I often just jump right into development and go from there.
Most of my practice come from when I work on small stuff or just when I’m bored I often just mess around with things.

We mods would like to thank Choko for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Verloren if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

April’s Featured Game: Nobody’s Home

DEVELOPER(S):oates
ENGINE: RPG Maker MV
GENRE: Survival Horror
SUMMARY:After a night of extreme drinking and partying, you wake up in stranger’s bed to discover… Nobody’s Home.

Buy the game here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself!
*oates: Hi, this is oates! I’m a pixel artist and game developer, I’ve started making games with rpgmaker in 2016 with VX Ace and now currently using MV for recent projects.

Previous projects I’ve worked on were the FNaF-inspired Souls-like One Night at the Steeze, my first rpgmaker game and it’s prequel, the FNaF-inspired roguelike No Delivery. Other games I’ve worked on include the fangames Day Dreaming Derpy, made in VX Ace and Spike’s Day Off, made in MV and the latest in a series of previous fangames previously developed on Adobe Flash.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially?
*oates: Nobody’s Home is largely based on my experiments to find and apply horrific elements in modern situations or phenomena. The scenario being explored here in Nobody’s Home is the aftermath of some crazy party. Sound design is especially important when crafting a horror scenario, so I often look to music to draw inspiration. Much of the atmosphere and house design was inspired by music and imagery associated with ‘70s yacht rock (a sub-genre of soft rock).

Another important note is a lot of the general mood and 'weirdness’ was inspired by a band I listen a lot to, Dance Gavin Dance, specifically their “deathstar” album. However they have a tendency in all their albums to switch genres mid-song, often going from their post-hardcore sound to funk, pop, and even rap; aside from that, some of the subject matter covered can range from disturbing to unpleasant to nonsensical, but combined with the amazing music, it creates an experience that pulls the listener in all different directions.

It got to the point that I was naming events in the game after some their tracks so I had to be careful not to inadvertently make a fangame haha But there are some easter eggs in Nobody’s Home that were intentionally left in, and I’m fairly certain players have identified it already.

How long did you work on your project?
*oates: I used much of the same framework left over from my previous project No Delivery for this development cycle, so the hassle for setting up asset pipelines was very much mitigated. I started in earnest, making assets back in January this year so it took roughly 2+ months to finish development for this project.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*oates: Aside from the previous music inspirations, I was really intrigued with the way Resident Evil 7’s Beginning Hour demo was able to pick up where Konami’s cancelled PT left off in terms of survival horror games to look forward to back in 2017. Prior to later updates, the initial demo really only included a few set pieces, basic item interaction, and almost no puzzles from the full game. It was largely able to pull off scaring players from almost atmosphere alone (if you exclude the Jack Baker and ghost encounters). It was later in the full game that it was able to show off it’s metroidvania-esque design to its fullest.

After my previous project, I wanted to step away from roguelike design for a bit and focus a little more on an exploration-based experience, so I took a few notes from the way RE7 and RE2: Remake handled map design and progression.

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*oates: I’ve had the idea for Nobody’s Home as a concept for a while, but filling in those gaps with actual gameplay between centerpieces was a big variable. I went back and forth between the turn-based item combat from the previous project to cutting out combat entirely. While I didn’t implement it, I also brainstormed a few concepts for overworld action and combat ala Zelda, but it seemed too complex given the time frame I set for myself. Eventually I settled on a middle ground between full combat and separate encounters, with “enemies” acting as essentially a toll gate. The rest of the game followed suit with various tolls and “mouse traps” for the player to trigger at their own behest. This wasn’t necessarily the design I had in mind at first, but it helped to concisely fill a relatively small location with specifically “deadly” content.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*oates: I largely work solo for both development and art, but I do regularly work with a few musicians for an original soundtrack. I first started working with other composers for the fangame Day Dreaming Derpy, where after the initial demo was released, I received emails from a few musicians volunteering to contribute some tracks for the game. In all, the original soundtrack contained 9 tracks in total, with 3 tracks from each composer; each of them doing an amazing job and, in my opinion brought the project back then to a higher degree of quality. This was how I met some of the composers I still work with today and they all have some really great work!

TheNGVirus @NGVirusNG1
Kaminakat @thekaminakat
dRedder @HornyGremlin

What is the best part of developing a game?
*oates: It’s a toss up between the initial brainstorming/research and the first run-through when you have your desired maps linked together. For the brainstorming, it’s pretty fun to learn about subject matter you want to do justice to as well as stretching your creative muscles for the first time in service to a certain concept. However this obviously wears off when you devote too much time to a particular concept, but it’s still enjoyable nevertheless. For making that run-through, it doesn’t necessarily mean to have all the events implemented, but to experience your game the way players will experience it for the first time does give a sense of completion/cohesion to what you, as a developer, are trying to accomplish. It essentially puts what you’re working on into a different perspective for you.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
*oates: I do keep an eye out for what other rpgmaker projects are doing, and to see what others can do with the engine helps get the creative juices flowing; it’s also fun to try to mentally reverse engineer how certain mechanics or effects were made. And it’s always great to see fellow devs showcase what’s possible with the engine.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*oates: Nobody’s Home has a relatively small cast of characters, whom you do interact with but never see, this is largely to done to create a sense of “un-relatability”, but if I had to pick a character, it’d be “car guy”, the guy you find stuck in the car.

They have a good line, “ …there’d be a good reason for this, but there isn’t…”

Story of my life.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*oates: There were a few areas I would have liked to expand on or add, specifically- the attic + roof, the front lawn, behind the walls, and an entire second floor. Unfortunately that meant potentially adding more questlines and NPCs while the first set of questlines were pretty interwoven so it would have been way more complex, also again, given the time frame I set, it would have extended the development cycle way beyond what I had time for.

But if I had implemented those extra areas, the game’s length would also go way beyond the 30 min - 1 hr it takes to complete the game as it is now.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*oates: I’d like to do both really, each installment of the VCRPG line of games is definitely a stand-alone story, or an isolated incident, but I would love to explore the aftermath of the game’s events and how the passage of time ravages and twists the story into urban legend. I like to treat places and environments like characters as well, capable of making memories, being misunderstood, preserved, destroyed, and ultimately capable of change.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game?
*oates: Both the fan reaction and free time honestly speaking. Once the development cycle finishes and the game is published, your work isn’t really finished as there’s always a chance someone’s feedback can apply to immediate changes or patches you can implement, even during the release period. Marketing is also another large step to take into consideration after release, this includes tweeting, sending keys for lets plays, etc. Watching playthroughs is also a really good way to collect data on what parts of your design fall through and what fail to land.
But after all that is said and done, some free time really helps the brain recuperate.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?
*oates: Just whether or not I handled the game’s subject matter tastefully. Like horror cinema, everything done is in service the the themes and message of the piece as a whole.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*oates: The game engine is essentially a tool, and like any tool you can find plenty of creative ways to get the same result.

And don’t be afraid to research whatever it is you need help with, it also helps to be specific with what you want.

Question from last month’s featured dev @moca-pz: If you can collaborate with any game developer in the world, who would it be? What would be their role(s) and what would be your role(s)?
*oates: Game developer I’d like to work with: Hidetaka Miyazaki

His role: Story Lead and Director

My role: Drinking buddy

Game we’re working on: SciFi Souls

We mods would like to thank oates for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Nobody’s Home if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

May’s Featured Game: TRÄUMEREI

DEVELOPER(S): Veynn
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: Horror, Exploration
WARNINGS:  Suicide
SUMMARY: One day, a young boy wanders into the woods with only the twisted, mangled remnants of dreary branches obscuring the bleak horizon. As the sun starts to set beneath ruby-red clouds, the boy, Noël, happens upon a desolate cross-bridge atop a river of blood. Upon crossing over it, he finds himself standing by a gate wrought from stone.
Confronted by the fantasies his beloved grandmother read to him as a child, the boy finds himself lost in a dark ‘Wonderland.’ However, all is not that it seems.
While exploring, Noël must gather the memories of those forsaken souls who roam lest their hearts shatter.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Hiya everyone! I’m Veynn; the developer of Träumerei and Kinderszenen. I’ve been in the RPG Maker fandom for about two years now. I absolutely love the horror genre and wanted to try creating something immersive!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Veynn: Essentially, Träumerei is a horror game with dark fairytale elements that starts off with the protagonist, Noël, 'wandering’ off into the woods one dreary day. In-order to save himself, he must continues to explore the twisted world he stumbles upon….
I was inspired to create my game after my dreams and nightmares. I thought they were interesting so I felt like putting them to paper. Also, when I first started working on this game I wanted it to be much shorter and have a creepy, whimsical 'woodland’ atmosphere like that of Little Red Riding Hood. Though in the end it wound up much differently.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Veynn: I started working on this project around June 2015, but after the demo I ended up revamping everything. So, all-in-all I’ve been working on this for about a year and a half.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Veynn: Yes; I was influenced by Little Red Riding Hood, folklores, and myths in terms of atmosphere!

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Veynn: Progress has been going quite swell but I’d say my biggest challenges occurred right when I first started working on this project. Since I was new to RPG Maker it took me a bit of time to figure out how to use it and exactly what style I should use. I kept switching between pixel-based art and alternative styles before settling on a 'painted’ 2D sidescroller.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Veynn: Minus the style change, not much has changed over time. Though, I’d say it was originally going to be slightly shorter and less detailed in terms of character backstory.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Veynn: I’ve always been the only developer of the game, but I recruited voice actors for the primary characters.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Veynn: Could I say…everything? Hahahaha, it’s been such a fun experience. But if I had to choose I’d say I enjoy character and background designing the most!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Veynn: I regret making the demo so short, but as it’s not actually 'canon’ I don’t find this to be too big a problem. If anything, I wish I had settled on a particular style much sooner–there are a lot of old maps that I did like but I can’t quite use them in the game anymore due to the conflicting art styles.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Veynn: As for this game and its characters, I most likely will not do anything with them as I feel there would be no necessity. However, I am working on a small side game that take place in the same universe.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Veynn: I look forward on hopefully bettering my other projects after garnering experience from working on this one!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Veynn: Not really, no.

Question from last month’s featured dev: At what point in development do you start making the game? Do you write out the story/dialogue/events in its entirety before programming? Or do you just have general concepts planned and flesh things out as you go along?
*Veynn: I actually did write a very, very basic outline for a 90 chapter webcomic months before I decided to make Träumerei a game project. So, I’d say I started development a few months after drafting the first basic plot synopsis. After that, I started to work on both dialogue and eventing before saving programming for last.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Veynn: Make sure to plan ahead, but more importantly, have fun! If you want to make anything, go for it! Do whatever makes you happy. And, even if things may seem daunting at first it does get the easier as more time goes on. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice and help or to work alone or with a team–in the end just rely on your judgement and feelings.
It really does seem difficult at first, but it’s absolutely well worth it to try. All you need is patience and enthusiasm!

We mods would like to thank Veynn for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out TRÄUMEREI if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

April’s Featured Game: ARCADEA

DEVELOPER(S): Aishin
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: Fantasy, Adventure, Puzzle
WARNINGS:  N/A
SUMMARY: In the world of Arcadea, people can accomplish their dreams. How? Through video games of course! Everybody who lives in Arcadea has a special arcade machine they can visit in their dreams that lets them fulfill their strongest wishes. Whether it’s to go on an adventure, or make friends, or fall in love, or solve a mystery, or completely start a new life, there’s a game made just for them..
The game follows Maisie, a new arrival to Arcadea. She’s not very interested in all this gaming stuff; her only goal is to find an important person. But along the way, she can’t help but be roped into other people’s problems. She also can’t help that the arcade machines seem to glitch around her. A lot.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Hello everyone! My name is Aishin and I’m the developer of ARCADEA! I have been in the community for about 8 years. I started working with RPGMaker in 2014 and played around with some horror game concepts that never came to fruition. I realized that drawing dark or creepy things and trying to scare people wasn’t really up my alley. After failing to make a horror game, I attempted a more happy and relaxing concept and was much more satisfied with the results.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Aishin: ARCADEA is a fantasy story that mainly involves adventuring through different strange lands, solving puzzles, and doing quests. In between the adventuring segments, the player plays little mini-games on arcade machines that act as foreshadowing as well as introspective character explorations. It’s a game about the safety as well as the troubles of escapism. It’s also games within a game and that’s always fun right?
My initial inspiration was from seeing other RPG Maker games. Being in the community and seeing other games being developed made me strive to make one of my own!

How long have you been working on your project?
*Aishin: A little less than one year so far. The story and characters have been through many revisions and changes. I’m happy to say that I am fully satisfied at the final revision and I will be bringing the world to life as best as I can~

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Aishin: My game was influenced by fairy tales, mainly Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid. I also was heavily inspired by the MOTHER series and its quirky humor, as well as very meta games such as OneShot, Libretta, and Undertale. Also To the Moon, as it was the first RPG Maker game I have played that was not horror. Games that, after playing them, makes you kind of sit there… in wonder.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Aishin: The biggest challenge was actually finding time to sit down and work on the game. I’m about to finish my third year of pharmacy school and the workload leaves me too tired to even pick up my tablet pen sometimes. However, every moment I actually do spend on the game is very satisfying and I am getting faster and more efficient with everything: spriting, mapping, drawing, eventing, checking for bugs, etc. I’m just waiting for school to be over so I can start putting my all into this game!
Oh and also debugging. Oh man do I hate script conflicts.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Aishin: Many many MANY aspects. Originally, the game wasn’t even going to have arcade machines! Crazy stuff.
After the addition of the mini-games, everything just…happened. The characters all got fleshed out backstories, the main character actually became a CHARACTER rather than a player’s avatar, more games and puzzles were made, the world became more dense with ‘stuff’….
The story became simpler. But the actual themes and concepts around the story became more real.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Aishin: I’m the sole developer of the game. I have a couple of friends that act as my beta testers. They also help with edits, proofreading, and ideas. I am planning on finding a composer in the future for music compositions (the one thing I can’t do by myself :c).

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Aishin: For me, it’s seeing everything coming together in action! Seeing my character sprites moving around on a map I made, saying dialogue that I wrote is such a fulfilling feeling. And making the maps as beautiful as I can is pretty fun!
And then a bug happens and you just sit in a corner and cry.
loljk

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Aishin: I wish I learned Ruby before starting this project. I had to learn as I go but unfortunately that lead to random script issues. I had to request a friend’s help to solve them and luckily it was nothing too bad. The good news is, I am now able to resolve script conflicts on my own! (And with google)

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Aishin: This will probably be a stand-alone game. The story and characters have a definite beginning and end. I feel like there’s no need to expand on this world any further.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Aishin: I would like to see people play it. Whether they like it or not, I hope I get some critique on the game. It would be nice if people really enjoyed playing it c:
Of course, more sleep is another thing to look forward to.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Aishin: GAME BREAKING BUGS. Also I really hope there aren’t any weird story plot holes…

Question from last month’s featured dev: What are some practical tricks you’ve learned in RPG Maker that novice (or even advanced) developers might not know?
*Aishin: - If you want to make the screen pan, make your character transparent and have them walk where it’s needed (have a dummy sprite act as your character in the meantime).
- Take advantage of the addition and subtract effects of pictures when doing lighting for maps (especially parallax maps). Also you can have the light or shadows fade in and out by using the 'Move Picture’ event and adjusting opacity.
- USE THE ’\!’ BEFORE ANY DIALOGUE CHOICES THE PLAYER HAS TO MAKE. This prevents the player from accidentally clicking through too fast and picking an answer that they don’t want! I can’t tell you how many endings I messed up on getting because of this.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Aishin: Definitely try! I would start with a free program like RPGMaker Lite and play around with it. I think what turns most people away is feeling that the RPG Maker program is very complex. But it’s actually pretty easy to pick up on!
Also, starting small is very helpful. Making a ginormous, long game immediately is pretty daunting, especially if you’re inexperienced (although some people have managed to do it). I would at least know a little bit about events and scripts before jumping into a huge project.
And if in the end, you feel that making games isn’t for you, you at least get some experience and knowledge out of it. As well as a greater appreciation for games and the work/process that goes into game development!

We mods would like to thank Aishin for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out ARCADEA if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

March’s Featured Game: Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass

DEVELOPER(S): Kasey
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: RPG, Exploration, Comedy
WARNINGS:  Blood
SUMMARY: Jimmy dreams of the most fantastic things. He dreams of big yellow fields of sunflowers. He dreams of living woodwinds and talking mice. He dreams of his mom. He dreams of his dad. He dreams of all the video games he’s played with his uncle. He dreams of his brother standing beside him like a ten-foot giant. Sometimes he has nightmares, too. Jimmy’s about to go on the adventure of his lifetime - and no one’s going to know about it but him.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Howdy! My name’s Kasey, and I’m the lone dude working on Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass. You might also know me as Housekeeping on rpgmaker.net. I’ve been working with RPG Maker seriously for about six/seven years now, I think. I was also the developer of A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky, The God of Crawling Eyes, and The Heart Pumps Clay; I was also one of the developers that worked on Born Under the Rain (I mainly did the script and the music on it). Before that I played with RPG Maker on and off for years; I even made a 5-10 hour game on the Playstation version of RPG Maker in high school, which is clear and indisputable proof that I was the most popular guy in school. I also have played guitar for fourteen years, have an MA in English with an emphasis on creative writing, and if you put a dog in front of me I will pet it until it gets tired of me.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Kasey: Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is about a lot of stuff, but I think that what it’s most about is depicting what it’s like to be a shy, introverted kid. It’s also about success and the pressure Americans put on themselves to be successful, the importance of empathy, imagination, video games, fear, family, etc. Basically, these are all things important in childhood, so I think that’s the umbrella theme that works best.
For Jimmy’s subject matter, I was inspired by several things, so it’s hard to pin it down. But, in a more practical sense, I’d been wanting to move forward and make a commercial project since I first started seriously working with RPG Maker, but I always thought that I would have to find a team. So, I think what inspired me the most to actually get on this path by myself was seeing in-development screenshots of Lisa. I said, “Hey, this guy’s doing everything by himself, and his art style might be simplistic, but it looks great, so why can’t you do that?”

How long have you been working on your project?
*Kasey: I’ve been working on Jimmy for about two-and-a-half years. Before that, I was working on a shorter version of this game for a half a year or so, so let’s call it an even three.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Kasey: Oh yeah! Earthbound is the first and most obvious influence; there’s some tonal similarities, but I mainly used it as visual inspiration. I was also inspired by Yume Nikki’s approach to using setting as a form of characterization; that opened up a whole new world of storytelling for me, which is pretty exciting. Jimmy essentially has a “class system” in that he can imagine different monsters and change his abilities; this was heavily influenced by Final Fantasy 5’s class system. The field actions are somewhere between Breath of Fire and Lufia 2/Wild Arms’s tools; they give Jimmy new ways to interact with the environment, including solving some basic puzzles, but the game isn’t puzzle-heavy like Lufia 2.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Kasey: Yeah; in a game this size, you run into all sorts of things. I think the biggest challenges for me tend to be with drawing. I’ve got a lot of experience writing, composing, and eventing, but I’m a middling-to-poor artist, so I’ve had a major learning curve there. There’s not much of a story towards overcoming my artistic deficiencies; I just keep at it. The cool thing is that I can see some clear progress from when I started, and that keeps me on task.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Kasey: Here’s a boring answer: basically, no, my initial concept is the same. Well, that’s not entirely true; like I mentioned earlier, Jimmy was originally a much shorter game that wasn’t going to be commercial (it was also drawn with crayons and looked like garbage), but, once I committed to making a full-length RPG, it’s been the same. This is probably because this isn’t my first rodeo, so I knew what I could do and planned within the boundaries of the engine.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Kasey: I am…utterly alone. Boohoohoohoohoo!

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Kasey: I like writing/eventing scenes the most, which sucks, because it’s a relatively short part of the process, and it’s one of the last things I do.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Kasey: There are things I learned–mainly about drawing–that I would have liked to know when I first started. Like, I wish that I would have known what saturation was; yeah, that’s how clueless I was. My early work was super saturated and is an eyesore; I had to go back and lower the saturation a bit. I would have liked to know I could hold ctrl when using the select tool in Graphics Gale and push the arrow keys to test to make sure that tiles looped correctly. I would have liked to know that you can create a picture file that’s the same size as the resolution of your game, place images on that, and use the x/y coordinates to determine where your pictures using the move/show picture commands will end up. That’s the kind of stuff I wish I knew–would have saved me so much time early on.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Kasey: It’s going to be a standalone game. I have a very rough idea for another game in the same universe, but I’ve got a lifetime of ideas, so I would need a very good reason (inspirationally) to pursue that.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Kasey: I just want to see people enjoying it!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Kasey: Yeah: I’m scared to death of marketing. That’s why I’ve been dragging my feet on getting a promotional video together (don’t worry, I’ll get to it this summer). I’m afraid I won’t be able to reach enough people and not many people will play it. I’m afraid that the coolest thing I’ve ever done will be overlooked.

Question from last month’s featured dev: Which character from your game do you relate to the most? Why?
*Kasey: This is an easy one: Jimmy. I’m still a fairly quiet adult when I’m with a large group of people, but when I was a kid, I was so, so shy. I remember when I was a kid at church camp (don’t laugh, I’m from Texas; this was inescapable), we were doing some exercise in compliments, and the camp counselor said that I was quiet, but he could tell that “the wheels were always turning,” and I think that was a pretty accurate description of me–now to a degree, but especially then–and that’s what I’m trying to depict with Jimmy–all those wheels.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Kasey: The best advice I can give you is to get into every aspect of game development. Make a short project–maybe an hour or so–and do EVERYTHING. Make all the graphics, make all the music, experiment with every single eventing command, make little puzzles, change the window skin–do it all. Some of it’s going to feel like cleaning the gutters, but you’re going to get so much perspective. Even if you end up working on a team later where all you do is draw character cut-ins, you’ll at least know to an extent what your other team members are going through, and that’s IMPORTANT. Also, play lots of games with a critical eye; think about why things are engaging and how they could be improved. Culture is built off of itself, so learn from the past and make it better.

We mods would like to thank Kasey for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

February’s Featured Game: Aria’s Story

DEVELOPER(S): Lydia
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: Horror, Puzzle, Exploration
WARNINGS:  Blood, minor jumpscares
SUMMARY: Aria is a bookworm who loves adventure stories and always spends her free time in the library. One day she falls asleep while reading a book and when she wakes up the library is closed. Believing that they forgot to wake her up, she tries to find a way out… In that moment she becomes the protagonist of her own story.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Hi! I’m Lydia, the developer and artist of Aria’s Story. This is my first time developing a game but I’ve been in the RPG Maker fandom for almost 4 years!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Lydia: Aria’s Story is a horror game about the adventures of a girl trapped in a library. She will interact with many books while trying to find a way out! One of the main characteristics of the game is the contrast between cute and creepy.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Lydia: Almost 2 years, I started working on this game on March 2015.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Lydia: Basically other horror games like Ib, The Witch’s House and Dreaming Mary. Also, many tales and books influenced maps of the game. Madoka Magica and Harry Potter also influenced some aspects of the game!

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Lydia: I think the biggest challenge was the beginning. I didn’t know how to use RPG Maker so I spent a whole month trying to learn how to use it! Sometimes it was a bit frustrating because some events didn’t work how I wanted.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Lydia: It doesn’t differ much from the initial concept, I always wanted this to be a game about a girl trapped in a library. I think the biggest change was the true ending of the game, but this happened before the game was announced.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Lydia: It was just me and two friends (Kali and MerúM) that helped me with character designs and sprites. Before the release of the demo I recruited the voice actors (Rindre, HonorPress, Adox) and the composer (Adam). Rindre, Aria’s voice actress, also made the english translation of the demo!

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Lydia: Programming cutscenes and making maps! I love when I see what I had in mind turned into a part of the game and the characters interact with each other, I feel like all the effort was worth it. Also, another important part of developing a game is that it allowed me to meet wonderful people!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Lydia: When I was planning the game I decided that different actions and decisions would affect the ending the player would receive.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*This game doesn’t need a sequel or a prequel. If I decide to make another game, it will be something new.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Lydia: I hope people who aren’t very interested in books will find them more appealing after playing the game!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Yes! I hope the game doesn’t have bugs when I release it, or at least not a bug that will crash the game or something like that.

Question from last month’s featured dev: Is there anything you’ve added to your game for no other reason than because you’re hoping fans will get a kick out of it?
*Lydia: Yes, the game has a lot of jokes and interesting dialogues related to books that I hope the players will enjoy! I thought about making references to other games when the player interacts with some bookshelves, but I decided to discard the idea.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Lydia: Just do it, don’t be afraid!

We mods would like to thank Lydia for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Aria’s Story if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

January’s Featured Game: Wishbone

DEVELOPER(S): Skitty,Kwillow,Ellie,Natasha
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: Western, Drama, Farming Simulation
WARNINGS:  N/A
SUMMARY: Wishbone is a character drama-slash-farming sim game that takes place in a wild west-inspired setting. The player takes the role of a farmer, fresh off the wagon in a new town and tasked with building a successful ranch. Wishbone might seem sleepy and mundane at first, but there’s trouble brewing on the horizon: a fierce, prolonged standoff between the lawmen and the outlaws that will decide the fate of the town itself.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Skitty: Hello! I’m Skitty, a scruffy weirdo whose hobbies include drawing, programming, and cooking. I also happen to be the coder, project manager, and one of the main artists. In 2014, I released my first game, Theo’s Big Adventure, but actually haven’t really been involved in the community… I’m a bit of a hermit.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Skitty: It’s kind of a funny story. Several years ago, I used to be part of the Fallout: New Vegas roleplay community on tumblr. Just for fun, a few of my friends and I came up with an alternate universe where instead of living in the post-apocalyptic desert, all the characters lived in the wild west instead. We ended up having a lot of fun with the idea! My friend, Ellie (who is also working on this project as a writer), suggested the idea of an Animal Crossing-esque game based on that setting… and I, having coding knowledge and having made a game before, volunteered to make it. The struggle between the four central characters remains the same as the initial concept, but the project and the people of the town have evolved a lot since then.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Skitty: I started it around April 2015, so it’s a few months short of two years old. Progress has been slow because I’m also juggling a job and other obligations, but even during busy times, I typically manage to work on Wishbone every week. Every couple weeks, new features get done and updates are posted to the dev blog.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Skitty: The three biggest ones are Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Red Dead Redemption. From Animal Crossing, we have have befriending townspeople and decorating your house. From Harvest Moon, we have the farming mechanics and romance. From Red Dead Redemption, we have hunting, foraging, and outlaw bounties. And I suppose Fallout: New Vegas deserves a shoutout for kicking the whole project off, albeit indirectly.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Skitty: Honestly, we’ve been fighting against RPG Maker’s limitations since the beginning, since the game we’re making is quite unlike a top-down RPG.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Skitty: It actually hasn’t changed a whole lot. In the beginning, we had this core concept, basically just Animal Crossing plus Harvest Moon. But even back then we knew we wanted a big plot and minigames and sidequests and stuff… it was just a matter of figuring out if those were feasible to program.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Skitty: It’s pretty much the same as it always was–me as the programmer/project manager/spriter, Katie as the portrait artist and other spriter, Ellie, Dax, Jester, and Reuben as character/plot contributors. Oh! I guess the big difference now is that we are in the process of hiring a composer?

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Skitty: Seeing it all come together into something finished and cool. Sometimes I like to just lovingly look at the maps and videos and such I’m proudest of and think “wow, I did that! And it turned out almost exactly how I’d imagined!”

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Skitty: Man, I’d definitely be craftier about how I handled the code for the animals. I didn’t know a lot about scripting at first, MONTHS worth of headache could have been avoided if I’d known how to use script calls.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Skitty: We definitely have plans to use the characters again, but when they’re revisited, it’s going to be in different contexts. You won’t see the desert of Wishbone again, but the characters will absolutely be popping up in future projects.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Skitty: Gosh, it would be amazing if people liked the game enough to call themselves a fan! I’m definitely looking forward to people’s reactions to discovering plot twists and easter eggs and such. I hope people like the characters, too.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Skitty: I hope there aren’t too many bugs in it when I release it! I mean, I’m testing it as I go, but it’s a really big and complex game… there are going to be things I don’t catch. I’d be really disappointed if I released it with a glitch that broke people’s save files.

Question from last month’s featured dev: What’s the biggest turn off you can get on an RPG maker game?
*Skitty: Hmm… honestly, using the default sprites tends to be a pretty big turnoff. As an artist, it is very important to me that the game have an “aesthetic”, a sense of atmosphere, that the characters feel like individuals… that’s what really catches my eye and makes me want to learn more. I know not everybody is an artist, but like, a simple 8-bit sort of style, or even a “shitpunk” style like Space Funeral is more eye-catching than the default tiles.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Skitty: Try to set realistic goals for your first (or second, or third…) project. It’s so tempting to want to tell your magnum opus immediately, but that’s usually a recipe for ending up frustrated, disappointed, and quitting. My first project, Theo’s Big Adventure, was fairly short, used mostly ripped sprites from Mother 3 and ripped music from other video games, and still took a year and three months to complete.

We mods would like to thank SkittyandKatie for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Wishbone if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

September’s Featured Game: Akademia

DEVELOPER(S):Somni
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace  
GENRE: Horror, Exploration, Puzzle
SUMMARY: Akademia is a 2D horror RPG currently being developed in RPG Maker VX Ace. In the province of British Columbia, Canada, there exists a private school in the woods, Rayfair Academy, that is known for its wealth and ambition. The academy follows the motto, “Pearls are worthless in the pursuit of gold,” and it has a reputation for producing highly motivated and overachieving students. However, in a bout of curiosity late at night, six students uncover a secret, and the story of the school’s origin–and the being responsible for it–begins to unravel.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Hello! I’m Somni, and I like to draw and write stories! I’ve been interested in RPG Maker games since 2013, and I’m a big fan of horror ones! I recently dived into community and I love how encouraging and positive everyone is. It motivates me to work hard!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Somni: Akademia is a story-heavy horror game about six second-year students in a prestigious academy accidentally coming in contact with a strange and powerful being. As Margaret attempts to find her friends and lead them to safety, the story of the academy’s past comes to light, and the otherworldly hollow they’ve all found themselves in starts to pick apart at the threads that hold their friendship together and prey on their minds.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Somni: I’ve been working on Akademia for more than three years now! The first two years were spent solidifying concepts and doing research, and the third year was spent doing game development. I kept the project to myself until I had a good grasp on everything, so it’s only been public for a year.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Somni: The Witch’s House and Ib brought me into the RPG Maker engine, and they all have a very solid plot and cute character designs. Haunting Ground was also one of my favorite horror games because it delves into alchemy as well, and it lit a fire in me to work on my game.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Somni: The first thing I always groan about is the discovery of bugs. Sometimes, I get careless or tired and add in weird things that mess with my game, and I can never find them until I backtrack or one of my beta testers points it out. Always add comments in your events so your mistakes can be found more easily, and remember to thank your beta testers, especially if they pick out lots of errors!

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Somni: Akademia’s gotten a lot more sombre than it originally was. The first drafts I had were very campy, and the story didn’t glue well with character development. I guess time and experience allowed me to reconstruct everything and make the plot and character development a lot better. I can take the story seriously now, and I love it a lot!

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Somni: I like to work alone. I’m very picky about how things are made and written, and it would be a nightmare for everyone if I started micromanaging. A lot of things in my game are personal as well, and I’m hesitant to share them with others who can bend my experiences. In the future, I’ll think about voice actors, but that’s as far as I’ll go.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Somni: Writing dialogue and making cute sprites! My characters have pretty different personalities, so I have a lot of fun making them interact and switching between individuals. I also wanted to make expressive sprites, so having small things like Jude tapping his foot or Austin rubbing his eyes makes development more fun for me.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
*Somni: I like to explore things on my own. I have a better understanding of the engine if I experiment and play around with things and see it fit the image I have in my head. Besides, you can do pretty much anything in RPG Maker if you get creative. I think getting inspiration from other games is the best and a very solid way of learning, but it doesn’t work for me personally.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*Somni: This is a bit of a hard question for me because all of my protagonists have a part of me in them. I’d have to say Mai is the one I can relate to most, but I can’t say why because of spoilers. However, my favorite character is Austin because he’s genuinely sweet and supportive. He’s always there for his friends and wears his heart on his sleeve. There are other things I like about him, but they’re all secrets!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Somni: Not really. Sometimes, I wish I released my game earlier. I spent three years on it and only just released a demo, but I also don’t feel too badly about it. All that time I spent working on it allowed me to polish the story and characters, and if I released the game too soon, there could’ve been some huge oversights. Knowing this, I don’t regret anything I’ve done.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Somni: I think I’ll release some cute side stories in the future so the player can see how things are with the characters when Akademia’s done and over with! As for the plot, there won’t be anything else after the game.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Somni: Definitely fan reactions! A lot of players gave me their thoughts and plot predictions, and they also gave me very suspicious messages about a lot of carefully worded things in the game. The full game has a lot more stuff to analyze, and I can just sit back and rub my hands together in glee. I can also draw more indulgent stuff with the characters when the game’s finished, so it’ll be a wild ride!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Somni: Lack of time. I’ve had some health struggles all the way during development, and I’m going to be busy with work starting September. I’ll have to dedicate all my free time to game development, and I’m hoping I can balance those well and give updates on Akademia’s progress whenever I can.

Question from last month’s featured dev: If you had to change the main genre of your game, what would you change it to and why?
*Somni: I’d make Akademia a friendship simulator. Bonds between characters are an important part of the game, and if it can’t be horror, it might as well be a cute and adorable thing.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Somni: This might not work for everyone, but try not to write your characters’ dialogue as a long script before you put it into the game. What feels right in a word document might not sound natural in the game itself. If you can, stick to a skeleton of dialogue and flesh it out as you event it in the engine. That way, you can consider the environment and situation the characters are in while you write what they say.

We mods would like to thank Somni for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Akademia if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

August’s Featured Game: Land, Sea, Entropy

DEVELOPER(S):Rozel
ENGINE: RPGMaker MV  
GENRE: RPG, Fantasy, Adventure
SUMMARY: Land, Sea, Entropy, is a story-heavy action role-playing game with elements of mystery and horror. You live beneath the sea in a small village called Tidemoor. To the North is a labyrinth inhabited by strange monsters… and their numbers are only growing. So as one of Tidemoor’s warriors, your job is to thin the beast’s numbers and protect your town. But you get too greedy, go too far, and reach a point of no return.
You find yourself in a world far different from your own, but it isn’t all full of monsters. There are peaceful places too, areas that are completely safe and untouched by any beasts. As you come to meet the inhabitants of this new land, and seek to return to your own, strange phenomena begins to occur and a mystery surrounding the unknown world unfolds. 

Introduce yourself! 
Hello, I’m Rozel! I began playing around with RPGMaker back in 2014, starting with a trial of RPGMaker XP. This is when I started practicing pixel art more and learned some of the ins and outs of the engine itself.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Rozel: I’ve always enjoyed role-playing games. Although I had used RPGMaker XP awhile back, I didn’t do much with it. One day as I was looking at a pixel RPG, a sudden thought popped in my mind. “Hey, this is neat… I could make something too.” So I started planning out an RPG of my own, and later bought RPGMaker MV.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Rozel: I started forming ideas for the game around March, 2016. It was also around this time when I bought RPGMaker MV, so I was still learning how to use it.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Rozel: I was partly inspired by a manga called Pandora Hearts. In it, conflict occurs between the characters but they’re all still so likable at the same time. I also love how deeply connected the characters are to the story and each other, and how some of them have so much history together. LSE sort of adopted that interconnectivity, history, and hopefully I can achieve similar likability.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Rozel: Self-doubt. I’ve dealt with this in waves throughout development. I’ve gotten so much positive support about the visuals, but that’s just part of the game. Is playing it actually fun? Will people enjoy the story and characters, beyond the simple descriptions I’ve revealed? I won’t know for sure until I start sending the game to testers, but it isn’t quite ready for that yet.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Rozel: Yes! It’s evolved a lot. I was originally going to make something small and more simplistic, but I gradually got more and more ideas about the characters and the world. I’m at a point where I’m satisfied with what I have and the game is sort of shrinking again as I pick out the best ideas to use.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Rozel: I’m working alone right now, though I’ve gotten great feedback and advice from friends! I prefer working alone, it’s easier for me to make things closer to how I imagine them. I tend to have weird way of organizing and plotting stuff out, too, so it would probably be tough to keep others in the loop with my mess of ideas.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Rozel: I love seeing my ideas come to life, and it’s really satisfying to feel like I’ve finally figured something new out (even if I really haven’t)! There’s a lot involved in developing a game, so you sort of have to become a jack of all trades if you’re going to develop solo. I’ve been able to pick up new skills and improve on skills I already had, it’s been lots of fun.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*Rozel: Every character has pieces of me in them, and lots of big differences too, but the character which stands out as being the most similar is Vyn March. She’s introverted, keeps a positive attitude about things, and writing is her hobby. Much of her character is built on the experiences I’ve had in the past, but I won’t go into it further because I don’t want to spoil things!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Rozel: Maybe I could’ve spent more time preparing, maybe I could’ve set better rules of consistency to follow when designing the game. But I needed to mess up a few times in order to learn. I think everything I did helped lead me on the right path, even if I had a shaky start. Mistakes are all a part of the process, so I don’t have any regrets.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Rozel: There’s a really small chance I might make something that takes place in the same universe, with the same rules of magic and so on. As for the characters, their stories will have reached a conclusion at the end of the game. I don’t think I’ll have anything more to tell about them and will move on to new characters for the next project.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Rozel: I really hope that I can affect someone in a positive way, whether that be through the characters and writing or just by providing something fun to play.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Rozel: I think the worst thing would be releasing it with glaring bugs and plot-holes I somehow didn’t notice, but that’s what testers are for. Fingers crossed that nothing is missed!

Question from last month’s featured dev: Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
*Rozel: I do play RPGMaker games occasionally. Getting familiar with what other devs come up with in the engine is a good way to gain inspiration.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Rozel: Critique is a useful tool, but I want to add to that. If someone is rude in their critique, it doesn’t necessarily invalidate their opinion. It definitely doesn’t mean they’re right, but there’s still a chance you can find useful information.

We mods would like to thank Rozel for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Land, Sea, Entropy if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

July’s Featured Game: SLARPG

DEVELOPER(S):Bobby “ponett” Schroeder
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace 
GENRE: RPG, Fantasy
SUMMARY: SLARPG is a short, turn-based RPG following the story of Melody Amaranth, a kindhearted but meek transgender fox who’s decided to learn healing magic and become a paladin. She’s joined by her adventurous girlfriend Allison, as well as their friends Claire (a sarcastic, rule-bending witch)(she is also trans) and Jodie (a dependable, somewhat motherly knight). Over the course of the story, our inexperienced heroes will meddle with forces beyond their control and find themselves responsible for the fate of their quaint little hometown. They’ll also fight some spherical frogs, travel to a forgotten land in the sky, befriend a robot or two, and anger the local librarian. But that should go without saying. 

Introduce yourself! 
Hi! My name’s Bobby “ponett” Schroeder. I have a background mainly in visual art and writing, and I’ve been working in RPG Maker VX Ace since 2013 after being inspired to try making my own game by Splendidland’s masterpiece Megaman Sprite Game. I’d always wanted to go into game development, but this was the first time it felt like it was actually feasible for me to make something fun on my own. By the end of that year I released a much rougher freeware version of SLARPG, originally known as Super Lesbian Horse RPG.

I do most of the work myself, but I have several people helping me with some NPC and enemy design work including my boyfriend Anthony Field (@exclamationpointman on Tumblr) and my friends Thomas Landon (@schloogywoog), Gee (@fattoads), and Thom (@sidewalkwitch). My lead composer is the incredibly talented BEATR!X @neutralnewt) with more music contributed by other friends such as internet pop icon blacksquares (@blacksquares).

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Bobby: Super Lesbian Animal RPG is primarily about a timid transgender fox named Melody. At age 22 she’s sort of coasting along on autopilot with no clear idea of what she wants to do with her life. One day, she and her girlfriend Allison get roped into a new adventuring guild founded by their friends Claire and Jodie. Melody sees this as an opportunity to impress Allison and to make herself useful by becoming a paladin and learning healing magic.

At its heart, the game is about the relationships between four girls in their early 20s. They’re all trying to define themselves as people, they all have their own personal baggage, and they all have their own motives for seeing this dinky little adventurer’s guild as a life-changing opportunity. And now, thanks to the trouble they get themselves into, they also have to figure out how to be heroes. It’s also a game where you can have an anthropomorphic rabbit with a mohawk kiss her girlfriend and then swing a sword made of zircon at a magic tumbleweed

As I said, the game was originally released in a much rougher form under the title Super Lesbian Horse RPG. It started out as a cute, goofy little game where Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic were dating (of course) and went on a bizarre adventure, but it soon turned into a genuine RPG with a more sincere story. It also got much, much more attention than I ever expected. My use of copyrighted characters made the game difficult to distribute, though, and in hindsight I was holding myself back by presenting it as a fangame. So in 2015, I decided to radically overhaul and flesh out the game with a new, expanded cast that I have full creative control over. And now here we are today, with a game that’s probably got more new material in it than old, but still hopefully has the same charm if you enjoyed the original.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Bobby: Work on the original project lasted the entirety of 2013, with me foolishly releasing the 1.0 version on Christmas 2013 (my 20th birthday—I spent most of the day frantically squashing bugs). I returned to the project in 2015 and have been working on the new version on and off for about two years now.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Bobby: The humor is definitely inspired in part by Mother and Paper Mario, although my talkative protagonists might make it closer to something like a point-and-click adventure game. I’ve also always loved really casual comedy that skews towards normal conversation in stuff like Home Movies or Homestuck. Adventure Time has undoubtedly been a big influence, too, as one of my favorite shows, with its “anything goes” fantasy world and colorful cast of characters—but also because of its focus on grounded, introspective character moments in a surreal, fantastical setting

Gameplay-wise, early Final Fantasy titles are a big influence for sure, and I’m trying to take a page out of Zelda’s book when it comes to exploration and level design. But tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons are also having an impact on the way I design encounters. I think tabletop games are still the gold standard for RPG battles, because they’re often less about stats and repetition and doing what the designer wants you to do and more about improvising a fun story. Of course, an RPG Maker game can’t compete with having an actual DM there to run an encounter, but I’m trying to give players lots of fun little “hey, what if I tried this?” moments with unexpected consequences.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Bobby: Honestly, the big thing for me is always time management. As development continues and my skills improve, I often find myself polishing areas and assets I’d already worked on before. If I didn’t force myself to work on new stuff too I’d probably spend three years just polishing Greenridge to a mirror shine.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Bobby: Developing the protagonists further has really broadened my horizons writing-wise. I always wanted the game to have a nice emotional arc on top of all the jokes and surreal dungeons, but over time I’ve fleshed out Melody, Allison, Claire, and Jodie more and more, making everyone feel less like charicatures and more like real people with relatable motivations. The graphics have also gotten a lot better after several years of pixel art practice, and the level design has gotten less linear.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Bobby: It started out as just me. Friends on Tumblr quickly showed interest in contributing designs and music to the game just because they liked the project, and before long a lot of different people were putting their own little mark on the game. Some of my favorite characters in the game have been designed by friends, and I don’t know where I’d be without the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Bobby: I love designing characters, and writing in all these little details to make them feel real, and figuring out how they talk to each other, and seeing my audience pick out their favorites. It’s a very rewarding process for me. The second best part is getting to listen to the soundtrack and realize “Wow… this is gonna be in a game that I’m making. And it’s gonna be SICK.”

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*Bobby: Without a doubt, Melody. She differs from myself in a lot of major ways, so I wouldn’t call her a self-insert, but she was created to give myself the relatable fat bisexual trans girl protagonist with anxiety that no other piece media was ever going to give me. A lot of her insecurities in the game are even loosely inspired by stuff I’ve been through in real life.

I also have a ton of fun writing the villains, but they’re spoilers.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Bobby: I wish I’d been more consistent about my work ethic in the past. I worked EXTREMELY inconsistently on SLARPG throughout 2015, and I probably could’ve gotten a lot more done back then. But hey, live and learn.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Bobby: Oh, I’m absolutely hoping to revisit this world! Part of the reason I’m putting so much effort into revamping a game I already released is so that I can work with this new cast and setting again in the future. I’m not planning too far ahead right now, but I do have some vague ideas for more games I’d like to make in this world, possibly through the eyes of characters other than Melody.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Bobby: I’m looking forward to being able to play some longer games in my backlog without feeling guilty about it, haha. I’ve been dying to play stuff like The Witcher 3, NieR: Automata, and Final Fantasy XV, but I’m always worried it’ll just take time away from my work. It’s a wonder I managed to finish Breath of the Wild this year.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Bobby: This answer is gonna be a bummer, but I’m worried about is the harassment I’ll have to deal with for putting out a game about LGBT characters. I’ve already dealt with this on several occasions, although thankfully it hasn’t progressed past slur-filled anonymous messages. This toxic state of the gaming community is why I’m currently planning to release the game exclusively on itch.io, rather than exposing myself to Steam’s hostile userbase. But it’s a story that I think is worth telling, and for every piece of hate mail I get 20 messages from people telling me how excited they are, which is why I haven’t given up.

Question from last month’s featured dev: Is there any portion of your development that’s gotten you outside your comfort zone?
*Bobby: I think it’s easy to say that most of it has been outside my comfort zone, actually. Working on SLARPG has really pushed the boundaries of what I previously thought I was capable of as an artist. When I first started I literally made a dungeon that was just a straight line with one 90 degree turn because I had no idea what else to do with the canvas. Now I can make dungeons that are actually slightly fun!

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Bobby: Study the games and stories you love, and find out what really makes them tick. Don’t just mimic surface level things, but study the mechanical, structural, and thematic elements that make them so memorable. Oh, and don’t put too much effort into a fangame if there’s even the slightest chance it’ll get taken down, haha. Make something original loosely inspired by the things you love instead.

We mods would like to thank Bobby for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out SLARPG if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum 

June’s Featured Game: Living Playground: The Witch’s Puppets

DEVELOPER(S):Meaka
ENGINE: RPGMaker XP 
GENRE: Supernatural, Puzzle
WARNINGS:   Both implied and shown violence to the children, Emotional abuse, Blood
SUMMARY: With what starts as a simple day at the park, siblings Tony, Pablo, and Octavio are once again caught up in a series of strange circumstances such as strange pocket dimensions, coordinated monsters, and more geese than anyone could ever want to see in their lives. Stranded with them are Haze and Seal, two witches who seem to be connected with whatever nonsense is going down. As witches tend to be.In the simplest of terms, this game is about friendship and relating to others, both the good and the bad. With an unfortunate focus on the bad. It will be mostly straightforward with only one ending. 

Download the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! 
*Hi hello I’m Meaka. I’ve been kicking around the RPG Maker scene since like 2012 with my first game release in 2014. Whether that makes me but a wee RPGM baby or a seasoned veteran is probably dependent on how “long” you’d consider that h-haha. I’m an animator and illustrator, so visual development is my strong suit.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Meaka: The Witch’s Puppets is best summed up as “a game about friendship.” Part of my motivation for creating it was simply personal catharsis: it deals heavily with circumstances that impacted my own life greatly and affects how I interact with people to this very day. Beyond real-life experiences, a big inspiration is Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star in terms of how emotionally raw and powerful it is while also carrying on its sense of humor.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Meaka: Far too long oh man. As a reference, my first game took me maybe six to eight months on and off to complete. I’m. almost 3 years into The Witch’s Puppets and while I can probably hope for the best in terms of my completion rate, it’s been a wild ride. (Did you know I thought it’d only take a year? 2014 me, how innocent you were…)

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Meaka: I say this like everywhere and I’m sorry if I’m repeating myself, but a huge inspiration for my art in general is the Kirby series. It has such a flawless blend of cute-to-macabre that I absolutely love and hope to capture that same feeling in my own work!
Living Playground was inspired by the usual “RPG Maker/ Wolf RPG Editor” games (mostly Ib and Alice_mare) which led to it’s “kind of horror but not really” flavor.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?  
*Meaka: In all honesty, just staying motivated three years into a project is difficult. I’m absolutely ecstatic to be making this game and bring it to people for them to play, but it’s so easy to be excited about the cool parts and hit a wall production-wise when it comes to the mundane and tedious parts, particularly programming events that tend to be made up of a ton of conditional branches, variables, and occasionally will crash RMXP. So I give myself breaks on occasion and try to switch it up between whether I work on visual assets or RPG Maker programming, and sometimes I flip over to side projects (be it jam games or just other art).

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Meaka: From my initial concept, beyond certain themes and characters, they’re two entirely different storylines. I actually gutted the entire script and started over at least twice during the course of production because of things not flowing well, weird writing choices by me, or just ideas that I slowly realized weren’t that good.
In particular, a very big part of some rewriting came from having some friends look over my script + game doc and pointing out some flaws that were from too much personal investment. If you’re ever in a tight spot and not sure if stuff reads right, get some friends to beta read for you!

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Meaka: In my first game it was just me until I threw it at some people to beta test. That was an interesting experience.
For the Witch’s Puppets, I commissioned music from the absolutely amazing ProjectTrinity and needing to consolidate my ideas and express them in a way for someone to create music for it helped me commit to my ideas and also helped me put into words what I couldn’t really describe well beforehand.
I haven’t really had the chance to work fully on a team. I’d sure love to, but I fear my hectic life schedule would hold back whatever team I would want to join.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Meaka: I may be an animator and used to this by now, but there’s something really magical about making your characters and putting them into a thing and then they move around. It just feels really nice.
Also for me, I love telling stories and entertaining people, so I hope that my games allow me to do that! Whenever someone offhand mentions they enjoy something I make, it fills me with the warm fuzzies. (And don’t even get me started on fanart. I literally cry.)

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Meaka: I absolutely want to 100% go back and remake Living Playground one day. It was the best I could do at the time, but now that I know so much more about what RPG Maker can and can’t do, I want to go back and fix all those little things and make it more of what I wanted it to be.
… Also cut back on the ham-fisted attempts to be scary, maybe.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Meaka: I’ve already kind of done that! The Witch’s Puppets is a sequel-but-not-really. And also Retail Hell, my Horror Funhouse jam project, is set in the same universe. As for the future, I can’t say for sure that I’ll make another game with the same characters, but I love the playground kids so I would never rule out the possibility of making something containing them again. Whether it’s a game or not, that’s a problem for Future Meaka to figure out.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Meaka: It might be conceited of me, but I hope to see it give some sort of positive impact on people, even if just a little! I’d like to hope my little Friendship Game helps someone out if they’re in a rough patch and at least makes them smile for a bit.
Also I cannot wait to shitpost with wild abandon. Bad memes, here I come.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? 
*Meaka: I always low-key fear my files corrupting and losing everything, but since I am paranoid and keep a ton of back-up copies, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.
There’s also a small part of me that is worried about people completely missing the point, but at that point I guess it would fall on my writing…!

Question from last month’s featured dev: Which of your characters do you feel like you’d get along with the most?
*Meaka: Strong Pickle. There is no other answer.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Meaka: Google Drive, Dropbox, and Mediafire are good friends and back up your stuff!
Also, there will be days when making your game will not be fun. You will open your version of RPG Maker and look at it with dread. Keep going. Even if it’s just one event a day, one spriteset at a time, keep on poking at that game. It just seems daunting because you know what you want it to be and you’re looking at the beginning of the beginning. You can do it!!!

We mods would like to thank Meaka for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved! 

Remember to check out Living Playground: The Witch’s Puppets if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum