My Project: Reclamation 

Engine: RPG Maker MV

I picked up RPG Maker MV from Humble Bundle a couple days ago and saw the link to this jam so I decided to give it a shot. While I have done some writing and design for some tabletop RPGs, I've never actually tried my hand at making a video game, and I know squat about programming. So I'm making a game with RPG Maker, because after watching some tutorials and playing around with it a bit, it's really user-friendly and that's perfect for my first game jam.

 In the spirit of the competition I've got a bunch of ideas for how this could expand, but I'm going to focus on the beginning of the game. I am (for now) sticking to the assets in MV, but I've already added a few plugins so I can do some more interesting stuff with combat (I hope). I know that I want there to be some base-building aspects to the game, though I don't know exactly how to implement them yet. I've got some ideas but they'll probably go through several iterations before this is done, especially as I make events, test them, Google up how to make them better, and then end up changing them.

In fact that process has already resulted in some changes to one of my co-protagonists, who is the de facto leader of the party and who I intended to have use special actions called Orders to buff or otherwise impact her party. I'm not sure how to do that yet (beyond boring party buffs) but while fiddling around with the skills she ended up morphing from a "Commander" class to a "Gunslinger" class, which has actually given me some more insight into her character as well.

The other co-protagonist (and second party member who will for sure be appearing in the "final product") is an Alchemist, and while I have ideas for what I want her to do, namely create concoctions to throw at enemies or help her party members, I haven't settled on how to do that yet. I don't really want to rely on MP because it seems kind of boring, but I haven't yet figured out how to build an ingredient system where she has to have stuff and maybe combine it in combat to use it.

Anyway, the working title of the game is Reclamation, because it is nominally about a small military group (led by these protagonists) who are sent to rebuild an old fortress that was overrun during a recent and nearly catastrophic war. I have ideas for mysteries and weirdness and probably some convoluted anime/JRPG plot stuff because why not.

After not having much time to work on Reclamation and spending a fair amount of time thinking about systems and whatnot, I came to the realization that I wasn't going about this project in the most rational way. Plus I started reading Yanfly's excellent comics about making games in RPG Maker MV  (especially the first one) so I've decided to step back and refocus. I got caught up thinking about how to make combat interesting or unique and got really bogged down in how to make classes and such, which I could feel dragging me to a halt. So, refocusing!

I want to start with the structure. What kind of game do I want Reclamation to be? It'll be something of a JRPG, partly because I've got RPG Maker but also because I like those games, so that gives me a lot of stuff to work with right there, a lot of tropes that I can use or subvert, but that's still getting a little ahead of myself. That way lies distractions, like how I want to put a witch character in there because the new Netflix Sabrina is so good.

The example Yanfly uses, in order to nail down the basic structure of the game (from which he argues that the story should flow) is a basic dungeon crawler, which I don't want to do, but did get me thinking about the town-plot-dungeon-rinse-repeat model he proposes. I wanted to do something with base-building, because I enjoy having a place I can return to in a game, and a place that is mine. So I figure I can pretty much use that structure, except that instead of going from one town to the next for each plot hook, you'll be returning to the same town, which will get bigger and more interesting as the story unfolds.

I think it'll start with the party having to clear out the area where the town will be build, which allows them to build an "inn" so the party has a base of operations where they can at the very least rest and recover. From there plot events, dungeons and the like will allow them to build up the town with shops and other cool stuff. Maybe they get a blacksmith who can make weapons and armor, and eventually an enchanter, who can take those items and make them cool and magical. Maybe class trainers or the like. I think the idea of buying spells you see in Final Fantasy I (which is very reminiscent of D&D) seems like a neat idea, so I might put in something like that. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, so for now I'm going to work on that structure and figure out what maps, dungeons, and NPCs I'll need to flesh this out.

So I did some database stuff creating templates for skills and enemies, and I got the first map made up, which is going to be a mostly open area where the player will be building a town, instead of rebuilding a fort.

The gap in the mountain north of the old town square will be blocked off to begin with, but will lead into a dungeon which includes a mine that the player can reclaim in order to allow the smith to make better gear. The cabin to the far right is the home of the fourth character for the initial party, who the player will meet just before the first boss fight. She's a ranger with a mysterious past.

I think this map gives the village plenty of room to expand, even without making the map bigger. So far I've done the inside of the ranger's house as well, and I need to design the inn next, since that will be the first building that the player unlocks. I would like to let the player decide where to place the buildings, but I'm not sure how to do that. The second building unlock will be the blacksmith, which will unlock the dungeon for the player to explore.

I also wrote a very brief introduction scene which brings the party onto the map and hints at their purpose here, and calls out the ruined statue as something of importance. I've also written an event which allows the player to knock on the door of the ranger's house and, if they've fought enough monsters so far, she'll show up, they'll talk, and the first boss monster will attack them. I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's simple, but I've really only been tinkering with RPG Maker for like, two weeks at this point.

Next on my to-do list is get monsters made up for this map and then test the fights against them. I want them to be a challenge but, including the boss fight, not too deadly, since the party won't have access to the inn yet in order to restore HP or MP (or whatever system I go with in the long run).

I got quite a bit done since my last post! I've got the four (starting) characters pretty much figured out, they each have some class skills which set them apart, and have access to magic. I've run through the entirety of what I have so far, from start game through the boss fight, and I've got probably 15 minutes of game play so far.

I caught a few glaring errors in that run, like a skill which buffs the entire party instead targeting an enemy because I forgot to change an option. In a previous run, before I had fleshed out the skills some, I realized that as built, you pretty much couldn't get to the boss, but I've sorted that out. Resources are still kind of tight, which I think is pretty cool, but I've still got some tinkering and testing to do before I'm happy with it.

Figuring out the monsters was fun too. I ended up scratching a few that I had made because they didn't quite work out and it seemed like it was more work than it would be worth to fix them, when they probably won't be appearing after this initial section anyway.