Destiny of End

[MetalRenard]

For issue A I like option 3 - that could be a cool system and make it seem like it was the plan all along.
Issue D - I like the idea of capping but you can make it so that XP given is a function of the level. Higher levels receive less XP from weaker enemies and vice versa. This can prevent grinding and reward those that push harder and faster through the game. This will help with pacing too.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

UPDATE TIME!!!

Okay, time for working on DoE has been very scarce lately. However, I have a few things to update!

1 - I am considering minor character redesigns. What I have now are nice battlers and such for some characters, but I've been considering redesigning things slightly. An earring, a signature bracelet, flags, insignia... I've been considering what to place, and where. Who has what. Ya know?
And some of the main characters have some things I figured I might add. If I figure out how to do it, I will. But I'm not so artistically inclined, so we'll see 

2 - I decided that the game, should it not have a good amount of animated battlers within the next year, will indeed be "still" battlers. That means that I can also add in a paperdoll system. Swords you swing will change by which you have equipped, etc.
I've also been considering using DerVVulfman's converter, to make MV battlers into XP battlers. Not a HUGE fan of MV battlers, but if I'm de-animating them, that makes things even easier to edit and make my own, eh?
Still deciding on if I want them to step up to attack like FF1, or to run up and whack an enemy with the sword. What do you guys think?

3 - Dragon lore is being placed into the game in a library in a set of volumes. It will be written as a book of information ought to be. I love me some writing, so why not, huh?
I don't know how many volumes there will be, but there will be quotes from dragon diaries as well.
Yeeeeah, dragons are kinda interesting.
I will also include portions of the volumes here. I don't want it ALL given away, but I do want you guys to have some before playing the game, ya know?
Rewriting it all to sound book-ish takes time. And so does googling synonyms-- I mean, using my big brain takes lots of energy. Yeah!
Anyway, gimme a month or something, and I should have it whipped up for ya. Too many appointments lately 

4 - HOLY EXPERIENCE, BATMAN!
So I encountered a problem when I playtested the first hour or so of my game.
I uhh... I spent an hour grinding to see something.
It was super easy to grind for a while and get overpowered for the first boss. Like, too easy.
Re-tuning some stats and exp made it easy, but I think I'm going to be using an exp script where I can set my own exp requirements for leveling. There's a script somewhere on save-point that does that, I'm pretty sure... 

5 - I need to redesign some screens so they look nicer. Or come up with my own versions. Looking at that kinda stuff.
these things are important to me. I want everything to look nice BEFORE release. BEFORE demo time. Not fixed later. A demo should, in my opinion, mostly reflect the final product. And unless you're going to be getting a professional makeover, it shouldn't change too much, in my opinion.
Which is why I'm hoping that when I release a demo, I hope it will have most of the systems implemented to be tried out. It'll have good and original menus. That kind of thing.
For example, I'm looking at some edits for the main menu screen. How about... when someone's hurt, they have a grimace in their face instead of their regular look?
Yeah, I gots lotsa ideas, both minor and major in scope. 

[kyonides]

I've been thinking about point three for my very own reasons and purposes, and I might plan to add some "default" book reader in mkxpplus. Since you're the only one around here talking about books, I thought you can send me any suggestions like interface design, custom features, etc. via pm or post them here or anywhere else. Just saying!

By the way, it would use static images instead of rending text in real time. I know, that would increase a game space requirements "slightly"

[DerVVulfman]

I've also been considering using DerVVulfman's converter, to make MV battlers into XP battlers. Not a HUGE fan of MV battlers, but if I'm de-animating them, that makes things even easier to edit and make my own, eh?

Well, you can use MV battlers under the stipulations that they are either non-RTP resources if you didn't pay for RMMV or you CAN use RMMV RTP battlers if you did.  Otherwise, you'll find a host of spriters out there.  But there's a good number that don't seem to get that they need to line up the sprites properly.  I've seen heads and limbs severed because the spriter botched his/her own battler.  Looks terrible in RMMV's engine too.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Okay, it's been about 8 or 9 months since the last update, so I figured I'd do one now.

Working alone has been a pain, and the thought of "Asking for money" with some sort of Patreon or crowdfunding project to pay artists and musicians and even potentially a coder has made me queasy... so alone I'd stayed. My very good friends constantly told me I'll work myself to death and a subpar game will be released in 10 years at this rate, so I should hire people. 
Indeed, at this rate... they're right. "A few more years" on a game I've worked on for 10+ years on and off already wasn't too painful a thought at first, but the more it's thought about and the more work is undone, the more painful the thought has gotten.

I started taking the creation of Destiny of End MUCH more seriously a few years ago, and I've made maps and the like to show it. I even have a couple secret maps I haven't shown yet because they're actually subject to change currently and I feel like I can do better. I've edited battlers I found online where the creator allowed editing to "make them my own", and it took an entire day for each to make them look halfway decent-- only for me to basically decide later that the animations during battle will be limited for the sake of an artist that I never hired and for the battle system that was decided on with the step-forward attack animations. That, and the fact a lot of battlers had to go because the "creator" LIED ABOUT THE ASSET BEING PUBLIC DOMAIN BECAUSE THEY RIPPED IT FROM A GAME. With that, the number of usable assets dwindled slowly but surely until I barely had enough for a small demo. It's nigh impossible to confirm if something is usable or not unless one is familiar with all classic RPGs, or you got it from Dollmage like so many got their battlers. Speaking of... Dollmage has secret "updated" versions of every battler that's publicly released with smoother animations and lines, but refuses to release them. So I'm using downgraded Dollmage assets. Great to know 

I'm afraid of doing crowdfunding for so many reasons. It opens me up to criticism from people who wouldn't understand the ideas in my head and have been put to paper and here. I'm afraid of what people will say when they see a battler that's been in a lot of other games, yet I promise it'll be different and better. What would people say when I tell them I'm using a publicly released battle system based on Final Fantasy X, and a menu system that is merely lightly edited from a public version? That in my first "demonstration" video, there was one copyrighted asset... or more! Where did the monsters come from? Are THEY custom or a ripped asset as well? Jeez... I just thought of that now. Do I have to look at every classic rpg's bats to make sure this one wasn't ripped from somewhere?   

My thought train got off track a bit there, but you see what I'm dealing with? My game is a mess right now.  
I know my story, I know the events work, and I know I've made custom faces for each character. I know I have the characters designed, I know I've made maps, and I know I have tilesets ready to make the maps. I know I have music and I know a musician that could make custom songs for the game. 
I know I need help now... 
But how do I ask?
How do I convince people that I'm not just begging for money that'll go down the drain because all I have are premade assets and edited assets which some might need to be removed at some point because they're ripped by some idiot and I didn't know it? How do I know the total amount that needs to be crowdfunded in the first place? How does one put monetary value on the works of artists if you've never worked with one before? How long does it take to get enough custom assets to make a demo that screams "This can go somewhere"?
I've talked with a GREAT independent musician, and I have estimates for songs already. It's quite reasonable, but still quite a bit. I won't get into it, but $5 won't cover a bit of even a single song, let alone the 7+ custom songs I'd like. And then there's the need for probably using RTP songs for a lot of towns or something, since having a custom soundtrack for the entire game would be WAY too much. Sure, there are "music packs" I could get for cheap if Humble Bundle does another bundle, but that costs money as well, and I well... I don't really have much at all. 99% of what I have goes to bills and necessities. So it's an issue of being completely helpless and needing others' help. And nobody wants to hear that.

I don't want to drop DoE. I need help. But asking for money is still a scary thought to me, and getting nothing to help after opening up like this would be even worse. But what else can I do? I don't have the artistic skills to make assets. I don't have skills to make music like I would want to. I'm a writer. I'm a developer. I'm an asset hunter. I'm a eventer. I can photoshop a mean edited battler or map asset, or even generate a few faces with assets. But when it comes to asking for help with what I'm bad at... I'm bad at that too, apparently.   

Are storyboards, character bios, character face and turn graphics, demonstrating events, and showing off in-game maps and world maps made in photoshop with big plans for the future enough?
I wonder... and so I ask.
Should an indie game dev be expected to be self-sufficient and be able to do it all and pay it all themselves already? I see comments say "You shouldn't have started making the game if you didn't have the money to finish it" on other unfinished indie projects that are in early access. I see it all the time, so it's really kept me from asking until now. So please be honest, I can take it. Nobody likes a poor dev, right? I should just give up? Not even bother asking for anything? 
Or do I buck up and just start crowdfunding and see what happens? And what would I include? What site would I use? There are so many! Do I need a proper estimate, or do I need to go above an estimate to ensure nothing suddenly pops up during development?
I've never done this before, so I wouldn't know what would be best, even what I'm doing. But I am open to doing it now. I just need to know what I'm doing beforehand, since I feel so alone in asking for help and needing help in the first place.  

Any help or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated, whether here or in messages. Thanks. 

[kyonides]

You noticed you never mentioned scripts at all? Then you can't really say your game isn't customized enough. Yeah, it might need n amount if effort and resources of all kinds, but everybody faces such issues without worrying too much about it. At least not every time you look at your game project. To be successful at asking for money you gotta have a small number of finished games. I say that because it's hard to convince people of stuff if there's no evidence of what kind of skills and determination you've got. The problem might be that you wanna show off your dream game as your very first creation. That might be a good idea AFTER you have published shorter games. The indie game developer's life might be hard indeed but you don't do that because you expect to be rich in a couple of months, you do that as a way to demonstrate how much you love game making. As long as you love DoE without getting desperate to finish it right away, you'll end up taking care of every single detail even if it's one at a time. Will it take like 10 years or even more? So what? You're indie not a pro that focuses on living from its sales so don't let those lame thoughts get the best of you! Quality and love should be placed above anything else! I know, you would love to get the best looking resources or the best music you can afford, still, why do you underestimate the story and all of its plots and subplots and complots?

By the way, have you taken a look at opengameart website? Plus some people there use FL Studio to compose their music for it includes previously recorded trumpet or violin effects and such stuff. At least it would be easier to convince other people of getting some help once you add some simple but nice temporary soundtracks to your game.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Thanks for the feedback! 

Finished projects...
I got rid of my old short finished projects that I made   . They had tons of copyrighted junk, and I didn't think I'd need them for the future so in the trash bin they all went. They weren't particularly long-- an hour or two each at the most. Just two of them. One was about a kid whose master betrays him as they go for training in the forest, and the master nearly kills him but you survived somehow. You level up super quickly in comedic fashion with battles against slimes and weak final fantasy monsters that give tons of exp to get to a higher level than he was (He was level 50) and go through towns with maxed out speed, buying out the entire store with 1 Gold. That way, you get all of their weapons and items so you can beat the tar out of the next short dungeon's weak monsters. You go against your master in the end and if you got the strongest sword and hit level 99, you could oneshot him AND the slime he turns into if you had the weapon. 
The other was a hunter who nearly drowns, but is saved by a robot who becomes his best bud. They travel to other towns in search of the robot's wife, but you find out eventually that the robot's wife is actually an evil witch and BOOM, FINAL BOSS. 
Can't say they were anywhere near as inspired as Destiny of End is. They were... something, though.

But is there hope in that finished project idea?

I had an idea for a while now... side stories to introduce a couple of characters for Destiny of End. Or rather, backstories? A side story of a character's backstory. Yeah, that's it.   
I could probably do a 1-2 hour demo of that, but I don't have the sprites necessary for it at the moment. It was going to be one of the first things I did with Destiny of End as a playable demo to what the full game would be similar to. I could stickman battler it as a temporary stand-in for the real character, and it'd take a few months, but would that work? I don't know if people would like that very much, and I wouldn't feel good doing it myself.   

As for Scripts, the game is decked out in all kinds of scripts and other things. There are gimmicked boss battles, vehicles, different poison damages, menu scripts, bgm scripts, music loop scripts, exp scripts... It's all taken a ton of time to implement, and I haven't even gotten Vehicles down yet, and I'm still looping songs properly at the correct millisecond. It's a lot.   

Music... 
I don't think any of the stuff will come close to Dibur quality, but I'll check it out. Wouldn't hurt. But I have quite a few tracks for battle (of which I'll get an updated version soon) and I can use RTP town stuff until the custom stuff comes in. Sound effects might also be worth looking into though! Could use a few non-RTP, eh?   

Patience... 
DoE has been worked on for so long. I can make side stories and the like, but this is the game series and this is the world I want to work on. It's what's been put in my brain. The history and lore, the characters, the everything... so at this point, I'd perhaps work on a side story for this series, but that's about it. So if I stickman a demo or I find a battler that's NOT RIPPED FROM A DANG COPYRIGHTED GAME... then we'll see what happens in regards to a finished project. Or perhaps... oooh, I have an idea... Yeeeeah... Just gotta make sure of a few things, and...  I'm onto something. 

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

I suppose it's been a while since I've had any real tangible updates on Destiny of End and the progress made thereof. 
Let's begin.

Point 1: REDESIGNS!

Redesigning some of the characters with variations of what they are, or scrapping it and starting over has been an interesting internal discussion with Me, Myself, Other Me, and even I have gotten involved!
Jokes aside, I've redesigned Sheena so far. I'm brainstorming ideas for Ikuno currently. I have nothing to show, but when the design is finalized, I'll probably have each redesigned character drawn out and sprited before posting it here. It's still premature, but the characters are indeed having designs changed.


Point 2: STORY!

Story time!
Nooo, I'm not telling you a story! Well... yes I am. There once was a lone pirate named--
I'M KIDDING!!!

I've been solidifying the story, fixing some quirks, eventing lots of stuff... but I've been taking my time with it and making sure it all works properly before moving on to the next portions. And the story is gettin' really good. Is it weird to enjoy my own game that doesn't even have a demo or solidified character designs?  

Point 3: THIEVERY!!!

Okay, I'm not aware of anyone stealing my ideas, and I'm not worried about my assets being rips anymore. (Though I'll triple-check AGAIN, just in case)
What I mean by Thievery is... the Steal command. Yup. It was that simple. Hope you weren't worried   
So, Thievery... what do I want to do? A more "realistic" approach where enemies might have healing herbs or potions on them? Or the more fantastical approach where you can steal a sword from a tiny bat?
I uh... I kinda decided on the fantastical approach. Classic RPG style, ya know?
So yeah. That's about it for that point. Just figured I'd mention you're gonna get an iron helmet from a Karula Sergeant.   

Point 4: EXPERIENCE!

I considered a system where the experience given from defeating monsters of a lower internal level than yours would give you less experience, with a maximum experience drop of 25% less than normal. However, I decided to instead go with standard experience. The EXP requirements for the next level should already be enough of a deterrent for grinding levels in the same spot and becoming overpowered. However, I've also implemented a "B-version" of some bosses so they're not super easy if you trained to 10 levels higher than what you're supposed to be. Yeah, it sounds excessive, but BatBat Boss doesn't like when you're stronger than it. Give it a break and let it be stronger!   
At least... that's the current plan. You're way overleveled, Mr. or Mrs. Boss will be a bit higher leveled. Better stats, more HP, a new skill or spell to bop you with... I've already tested a few, and if you for some reason decided to train for 5 hours on BatBats and CatCats, BatBat Boss will be jealous and will get magically stronger!  
There are also optional bosses that do this as well. Don't wait until you're level 50 to fight CatCat Boss. CatCat Boss will be CatCat STRONGER!!!
Or rather... just a little stronger. A level 50 could do away with it in one hit   


That's about it! 
I'll have some screenies and pictures in the next update! Or... I hope. And hopefully it's sooner than 3 months again. I wasn't sleeping well, and it really stifled the creativity department. Imagine running on 5-6 hours of sleep a night for months/almost a year, then trying to be creative. Yeah, it was not good.   
Well anyway, we're back to business, folks!
Once I get a price point on art and music, there may also be a GoFundMe or the like set up sometime! Or maybe a Patreon. Or something. Yeah, I gotta fund the game's art and music, so I gotta be "That person" again. I hate it too, but game development costs cash if you don't have the skills yourself. 

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Well, it's been more than 3 months, but here I am with a new update! 

Let's break the updates into segments again, because that's usually easier. 



Part 1: REDESIGNS!

I got nothin' for ya right now in this department. I burnt myself out working on art all on my own, eventing scenes, writing things out, being asked almost daily by different people about things I have to do, and it eventually just got to me. I know, I know. I said I'd take my time with things, but I felt rushed and overdid it. I'll get back to the redesigning soon. Apologies, but updates will be given once I have them. 
I simply ask that you please be patient. I'm one person who takes care of their mother daily. It's one of the most stressful jobs in the entire world. I have enough to do during the day, and finding time is hard, even during quarantine times. I do have time to solo develop the game, but burning myself out is not the way to do it. Time's the only fix for it. So again, please be patient. I've mostly recovered from the burnout, so I'm working now, but sheesh. Not fun.   


Part 2: THE FUNDING!

I will likely make a Patreon for Destiny of End, if I or my friend can figure out how to do it.
It may be under said friend's name, and the game is now planned to be commercial. I will update earlier posts when I have time. I've said before the game is planned to be non-commercial, but I'll likely have the game on itch.io and possible other platforms.
It won't be expensive, and I will provide free access to any who support via Patreon when demos and the full game release. The game will probably cost $1 or $2, or possibly "Free with donations", since that's also an option on itch.io. 

DoE will be a full-length RPG experience. As I may or may not have said before, the game is planned to be YUUUGE. Multiple story arcs spanning over multiple continents, with hours of sidequests and other content. Clothes changing for main characters at story points and other TBD ways will also be a thing, so when the funding grows, the game's resources will take shape and you'll see more art released shortly after I do. In fact, maybe all obtainable characters will have costume changes. It's a plan, but sometimes plans don't always work out. We'll see. 

I plan on keeping constant updates when I have artists and such working on DoE. Just... gotta have funding first, so I hope people will support. I'm still self-conscious, I hate asking. I haven't changed on that.   

So to reiterate: The funding for Destiny of End will be done via Patreon. I have a trusted friend who has helped with DoE in the past, and even has volunteered to do some work on DoE for the future as well. Will give updates on all of the info as it gets done, but it's super exciting that things might finally be falling into place!  
Updates on DoE will be posted on Patreon for donors first when all of that is set up, then updates will be posted here afterwards. Perhaps there will even be a Destiny of End Twitter account you can keep up with if you have Twitter! And there WILL be a Wiki at some point in the future. I need a title screen to use first. But I dunno when that'll be, so don't quote me on that quite yet. 

The Progress Report Google Doc will be updated as work is done. Yeah, I actually forgot I had it, so it hasn't been updated in a while. Oops. My bad.  

DoE will be constantly updated with better-made maps, tilesets, face graphics, and other things.
In the next section, I'll reveal how YOU will be kept updated on details, completely free of charge, so you know I'm not lazing around and have no characters or details at all! 



Part 3: THE STORY!

Yes, I have story updates for you all! And I'll have some more on that starting TODAY! 
No, it's not the Dragons lore yet; However, that's coming sometime in the future. As I said above, I got a bit of burnout that I've mostly recovered from. I'll take it easy from now on. 

Things will be revealed RIGHT HERE! In this thread, at least...  
Whether what's posted interests you or not, well... that's up to you.

See, here's how I'll do it: 

I'll try to keep details on DoE as non-spoilerish as possible. I've revealed some things already, like base descriptions on things, planned things, etc. That's nice and all, but I want to give more than I have while not giving too much away about the game itself.

For the future, every once in a while, I'll be keeping you updated on character traits and quirks! Likes and dislikes! Lore behind monsters! History of the worlds! Names of areas! New character reveals!
These are things that inform you on who a character really is; A bit of a description so you can better understand things and the world a bit better! 
Again, whether or not what is revealed interests you is completely up to you. You can comment on things if you want, positively or negatively. As long as it's constructive and not just "I HATE EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING YOU STINK LOL GIT GUD LOLOLOLOL GO TAKE WRITING CLASSES YOU ARE MUCH STINKER LOL"  

The reveals are just as much for me as for you. I gotta keep myself motivated and invested in working on DoE somehow. 


So let's start our new sharing trend with a character quirk: 
Tina hates swearing. She will literally leave a conversation if it's too vulgar for her. It makes her uncomfortable. 

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Here are some lore tidbits about Summons and Summoners themselves, straight from my chaotic notes:


Only a powerful enough Mage can become a Summoner. Summoners throughout history have been highly regarded as the top of the top when it comes to magics and magic potential. Different Mages may master different elements, which locks them to that element of Summon. A Fire Mage becomes a Fire Summoner, where they can only Summon a fire-elemental Summon. However, a Light Mage attempts to master all elements except Dark Element. A Light Summoner can summon any elemental Summon except Dark, though because mastering multiple elements is harder than only a single element, Light Mages rarely make it to the Summoner stage. In like fashion, a Dark Mage also attempts to master all elements, and a Dark Summoner is in like fashion, able to Summon any element but Light.

A Summon is tamed through battle and some other means, such as being given gifts they may like, or the Karula Science Bureau's super-weird experimental methods of messing with a crystallized... I mean what? I didn't say anything. Gifts are nice. Yes, gifts are nice indeed. Very nice. Hmm.  

A Summon battle is different than most, where if one were to fight it, they need to "Challenge" it. Else, they simply kill it instead of forcing it into Crystallized form. Only 4 people at a time may "Challenge" a Summon. The battle is a fight to the death, and only upon a Summon's defeat does it return to crystallized form, where it is considered "Tamed" and a powerful enough Mage can absorb its essence for future use as a proper Summon.
HOWEVER, if a Summon is "Tamed" by warriors through battle, but a mage powerful enough to control it is not present, after some time, it may enter a "Rampaging" ( Get it? Green for Hulk? Haha   )  state, releasing itself from its Crystallized form. A "Rampaging" Summon will seek out battle from anything and everything near, and will never return to a crystallized state. When it is weakened, its essence can be absorbed by a powerful enough Mage or be turned into small Summon Jewel with a spell taught to mages in the Hagane Investigatory Hunting Partisans Guild (The HI HP Guild). Otherwise, it will simply die and be gone forever. 

A small Summon Jewel contains the essence of the Summon, but it cannot be used in this form. A powerful enough Mage or Summoner must absorb the essence of the summon. Or, they can use it simply as jewelry if... they wanted to?   

When a Summoner dies, Summon Jewels are scattered about that contain the essences of their tamed Summons. A Summon can pass down through families and armies in this way. A Mage with lineage of Summoners is highly in demand of armies, though whether their ancestry has anything to do with their potential as a mage is fairly undetermined.

Dragons, a humanoid race, are often Summoners due to their high natural affinity for magics. However, that's for another time. Just forget I said anything.

People in the past have not only been Summoners, but have also become Summons! However, the means to make a Summon has been long hidden. The method was banned after the War 400 years ago, and the book containing such knowledge is in an unknown location. Really stinks, huh? If only we knew where it was! For uhh, knowledge purposes, of course. Nothing nefarious going on here! Nopenope. I'm not gonna turn you into a Summon to do my laundry for me while I sit at home sipping tea and watching Youtube all day. Why would I do that?

A Summon Person is the same as any other Summon. It is at the whim of the Summoner just like any other Summon, and it has an element like any other Summon. Thus, even Summon People can be locked to elemental Summoners. Summon People were usually warriors to fight in the war that can die and recover to fight again thanks to the Summoner having their essence within to recover. They are bonded in a symbiotic relationship, and a Summon only listens to its master. 

That's all the lore I'm gonna put out for today! Thanks for reading! 

Oh. Did I say a "tidbit" of lore? I meant A WHOLE LOT. Oops. Misspoke.