What? I don't think I understand your question.
Why am I not sure how long would it take to beat it?
If it's that, I kind of lost track halfway
There was some things I needed to adjust quickly before going on, and I tried to subtract that time from the actual play time.

Progress(?)
I spent most of the day setting up a cut scene that would lead to the final part of the first scenario card.
Hours modifying events, and duplicating the town (I reached the max event limit, so I needed a town with less events) but I'm done with that bit.

Now I will take it down since I thought of a better way of doing it without the extra town. There goes my plan of finishing it before Christmas. Yay!

Progress: Ok, I noticed that must of what I do, I do it on impulse, and if something doesn't work out as I planned, I get horribly confused and lose direction.
I have sorted my mess out, and I think I'll finish the first scenario card before 2009.
This is a preview of the scenario card.

Chapter 1
Unaverage Bill

Desperate to find a birthday gift that will calm down her pyromaniac wife, Bill gets tangled in a trial that will change his life forever.

Chapter 2
Leafy Forest

Eager to put his newfound abilities at use, Bill decides to look for a girl at the Leafy Forest, taking his poor wife’s cat along with him. That cat will never be the same.

Chapter 3
Rincar

Bill’s misadventures lead his odd company to a Factory that was closed centuries ago… with all it’s employees inside. Will Bill be able to survive the angry undead workers?


Chapter 4
The truth?

Tension forms around the city, as each citizen sides with one of two groups with totally different goals. But which goal will truly be the one that saves them?


Now, I was thinking that I could release the game by Episodes (the first scenario card being the first episode) or simply release part of the first episode as an official demo.
Any thoughts on this?

I like this idea.

I've always played with the idea of episodic content.

I think that's precisely what I'll do.
I know I said I was confident I could release it before 2009, but I don't want to rush things out trying to make that deadline.
This doesn't mean it won't definitively be out before 2009, but I want to make sure that everything feels the way I want it to be.

Ok, Progress
While I started that first episode will have 4 chapters, there was no chapter indication in the game. It has now.
I finally started making progress with the story events AND I didn't delete them this time. This is good since I'm now on the Dungeon creation phase.
If I manage to finish the dungeon by tomorrow, that means that there is indeed a good chance Rincar Ep1 will be released before 2009.
Also, I'll be updating my other topics with new/updated information about the characters, features and places.

I played your demo a few months ago, liked the intro a lot! Can't wait for the finished product.

My two cents, I'm not a fan of episodic content. I mean, it can work if each "episode" is very separate from each other and you can get by with playing Episode 2 without having seen Episode 1, but if it's all part of one continuous story it really needs to be one full game.

After giving it some thought, and as much as it pains me, I won't release the game in Episodes.
Not for story reasons tho. I just thought that if I release it in Episodes that can be played individually, I'd have to have a system file for each one, and there's no way to transfer items or money collected that way. And I don't like that idea.
I'm still planning on finishing the first scenario before 2009, and I'll see if I can get a demo out of it.

Progress I've been working out in the last dungeon of scenario 1 and I'm liking how it's turning out.
After that I plan on reworking the battles. There won't be level ups, or exp gained in battles. That way the player can switch between characters without worrying. Stat bonus can still be gained by doing sidequests or beating bosses

Well, it wouldn't be like you'd have to start from scratch every time. Just rename the title "Episode 2", keep the system stuff that's in it, get rid of the system stuff that's not. Just like you would do for scenario data when you move to a new card.

Well, yeah, I figured that would work. But you wouldn't be able to carry anything you got from the first episode.
Anyway, I'll be reworking a few things (Again!) So I have time to think and decide what am I finally going to do.

Progress
The "last"dungeon is just taking me so long to finish! It has drained at least 2 blocks of memory. And it has drained most of my mental energy.
I need to take a break. Not a long term break. I'll keep working on it today, but I'll just keep myself busy with something else while I clear up my mind.

So, my overall status so far
3 dungeons created
6 playable characters (not switchable during this episode tho)
Working on 4th one

Scenario data: 13 blocks
System data: 6 blocks

Things to do
Finish last dungeon of this scenario card
Recheck the other possible 9 playable characters. (Who will be optional? Who will I drop in favor of another character?)
Rework the whole battle system
Rework characters abilities
Rework quest
Play test and be horribly nitpicky until I stop caring.
Debate if it's really reasonable to do all of this in 2 days, so I can release a demo on the 31th.

The progress you have made is so incredibly fast. It's really neat to see this game coming together.

I would recommend getting some people to playtest your game sometime. I found during Usuru that having someone else playtest your game can help point out a LOT of things you would have missed otherwise.

Yeah, I want to do that too.
While I'm almost done with the 4th dungeon, I'm not feeling entirely satisfied with. It's missing something. I won't definitively release it by the 31th

Progress
Not much of a progress, but I've been thinking about the battles in my game, and I was thinking on doing this:

Remove experience from game
Each playable character will have set stats, and 3-4 abilities they can use.

Special attacks
For example, the main character would start with only 5 SP, with his basic special attack consuming 1 SP. There would be a way of double the SP as the characters get their stronger attacks.

Remove 3 characters
I was planning on having all 15 playable characters, but I reduced them to 12.
8 regular characters
4 hidden/optional characters

Types of characters
I've already talked about the source (magic system)
Of the regular party there will be 2 of each one, and two special ones
The first "special class" would be the hero, which will be able to switch to any of the sources as he gets medallions. When changing sources, his specal attacks and stats will change accordingly (I'll manage this using the 3 remaining main character spots. That way the hero will "forget" his other abilities while using a different class.

I already have it figured out how to set up the monsters, so they can get harder considering there won't be level ups per se. But I was wondering what do you guys think about this

I like the idea of using the 3 remaining characters for different classes for the hero. You could change the stats and movset and even the main color of his outfit that way.

So there's no leveling up because there is no experience. That may work. One thing I usually like about RPGs is leveling up characters and making them stronger over the course of the game, so whether this will work or not, I don't know.

Progress
OMG! Long post. Sadly, it doesn't necessarily mean a huge update. But it could be if I make up my mind.
OK, I'll be honest, I'm not liking too much the direction that game has taken. Not that it's bad, but I noticed I haven't implemented much of what I wanted to put.
I want to rethink a little bit if I want to keep it that way or if I should tweak some stuff before keep going. In fact, that's what I've been doing for the past few days.


I've said that I want to get rid of leveling up. I think that's one of the things I'll definitively do, but I still plan on having a way of powering up he characters.
The stats
HP: I kinda wanted to make the HP as close to hearts as possible. So each heart will equal 10 HP. 50 HP will kinda be the average, but for some characters, it can go as low as 30 or as high as 70

SP: Or MP. Average SP is 5. Special Attacks usually cost 1 SP, but some of them costs more.

DEF: Will be almost non existent. So every character* has the same def (10 def) Enemies will usually hit for 10 HP**

* Some characters has as a special ability Def UP, which basically means they enough Def to negate 10 additional HP than the rest (And yes, I got it all figured out)

** I know that despite the damage formula, damage can range a few HP more or less than 10, but it'll do.

Ways of powering up:
Special Attacks With no level ups, special attacks will remain useful as the game progress, but each character can learn more special attacks doing certain quests or finding certain items.
While a character must visit gradually a weapon master, another one must find music books scattered or buy them from NPCs, or fight certain mini bosses or mini games(Kinda like Shadow Hearts)

Raising Stats
Raising stats won't happen to often, but it might happen after clearing special trials. Stats raised would be mainly SP, and HP. Currently debating if it should be separate trials for each character, or a shared trial.

Playable characters
There are 8 story characters, and 4 hidden/optional characters
Aditionally, the Hero can switch class, changing his stats and special attacks *via the other 3 character slots)
Here are the story characters

Name: Bill
Skill1: Vessel
Source: Normal
Ability: None
Attack: Slash
Support: None

At the beginning, Bill is a pretty average character, his main advantage is that he doesn’t draw his powers from any source, so his attacks will do full damage to anything it hits. His special attack, Slash, is pretty weak compared to other special attacks, but it can hit groups. He learns stronger Slash attacks from Zoke the swordsmaster.

Skill2: Beastmaster
Ability: None
Source: Fera
Attack: Tackle
Support: Sniff

With Fox’ medallion, Bill draws his powers from the Fera source, allowing him to talk to animals. He uses this ability to call forth different animals to attack for him. He doesn’t have a special ability, but his whip can damage groups of enemies. Also, he can raise speed while sniffing. How does this works out, the world might be better off not knowing.

Skill3: Spearmaster
Ability: Critical Hit UP
Source: Energeia
Attack: Thrust
Support: None

With Bowen’s medallion, Bill draws his powers from the Energeia source. During this mode, his critical hit rate raises. He can use a powerful Thrust that does massive damage but drains most of his SP, he can use HP instead if his SP is too low.

Skill4: Blizzard Wizard
Ability: Half SP
Source: Natura
Attack: Icicle
Support: Snoflakes

With Sorce’s medallion, Bill draws his powers from the Natura source. While his HP and attack drops quite a bit, he gets the ability to use Ice Attacks, and it’s the only of Bill’s skills that can heal.

Name: Mint
Skill: Singer
Ability: Double Strike
Source: Fera
Attack: Notes
Support: Healing Notes

Mint has very low health and power, but is among the fastest characters, and can hit twice in a row (Which is useful against enemies with no defense) She can learn notes from music books, which she can use to attack or heal.

Name Gina
Skill: Lil Amazon
Ability: Treasure Finf UP, Defense UP
Source: Energeia
Attack: Rock Throw
Support: Tantrums

Gina has high Power, is easily distracted (Her distraction makes he slower, but finds items after battle easier) and is such a cute little girl, that enemies try to go easier on her (Physical attacks deals 10 less HP than usual) Her special attacks consists on her using her supernatural strength to pick and throw a rock at her enemies, but at the cost of HP. Her tantrums tend to raise the power of physical attacks too.

Name: Larry
Skill: Werewolf
Ability: Drain HP
Source: Fera
Attack: Bite
Support: Howl

Larry is a somewhat average character statwise, which can drain HP while attacking. His Bites attacks can drain SP or inflict status ailments, while his Howls can raise defense.

Name: Jess
Skill: Cook
Ability: 2x magic damage
Source: Natura
Attack: Flames
Support: Food

Bill’s wife has a nice amount of SP (or MP) that she can use to burn groups of enemies with her Flame attacks. They do moderate amount of damage but can occasionally hit twice as hard. Jess is an excellent cook, but uses her failed recipes to lower an enemy’s speed (Can’t move to fast with an aching tummy, can they?)

Name: Phoen
Skill: Foreigner
Ability: Battle Heal
Source: Normal
Attack: Shots
Support: Ray

Phoen is equipped with a gun that can target and attack groups. While he can’t draw powers from any source, his gun can. His Shot attack comes in each source, and his Ray attacks can heal some damage to the group, making him a Jack-of-all-trades.

Vivi
Skill: Maid
Ability: 1st strike
Source: Energeia
Attack: None
Support: Potions

Vivi is the fastest character in the game, but also among the weakest. While she doesn’t have a special attack, her normal attack hits everything in sight. A weird mix of Ninja/Maid/Nurse, Vivi can uses her speed to cure her allies with Potions.

Name: Chicken
Skill: Chicken
Ability: Critical Hit UP
Source: Natura
Attack: Eggs
Support: Feather shield

The chicken has the highest SP in the game, and among the fastest, but is tied with Vivi in lowest HP and power. The chicken uses it’s powerful explosive Eggs to damage enemies, and can use its feather to halve the damage of special attacks, which it will need if it wants to survive.


Anyone still reading? Well, what do you think? Too confusing? Too simple? Interesting idea worth giving a shot to see if actually something good comes from it?

I say go for it, 'cause it really does sound interesting.

Fair warning, if you go through with HP-consuming special attacks. Make sure they're worth it. If you want me to use up my own HP to give the hurt to enemies, then the hurt must be really big to make up for the less health on myself.

Well, what I want of special attacks is to be way stronger than their normal attacks (or at least hit multiple targets) and Gina (1 of the two character whose attacks drain HP) is physically the strongets caracter already so... yeah, it WILL be pretty strong.

Progress I've been kind of stuck on how to continue the game, and I realized that there still so much I have to do (mainly system data related) so I'm focusing on that.
There's something that I really want to add (Kind of inspired from Abyss of Vinsaga and Suikoden 3)
I already stated that I'll go for chapters in the game, but the story really doesn't allow me from doing many things I'd like (LIke being able to switch characters ) So this is what I have planned:

More about Books
Books where supposed to be items that allowed you to view/play as other characters in a mini quest. Now they will be integral to the game.
You'll start the game in a special library with only one book, that contains the first chapter of the game. Once you beat the chapter, you'll get the book for the next chapter and be sent back to the Library.
Some books will still feature a different character.
The Chapters will be pretty linear, won't allow you to use anybody you want. You might not be able to explore freely the world.
For that, there's "Free Mode"

Free Mode
You can choose this option after finishing the first chapter. Here you don't have a specific objective. You can engage mini games here, get special abilities, or access bonus dungeons.
Initially, you are very limited in the places you can go, but as you complete chapters, you'll get characters book that will allow you to add said characters to your party, or summon the to clear obstacles, expanding the areas you can visit.

I'm not sure if this is TOO ambitious.
I was thinking I might even split the Library and Free mode in a single scenario, and the main story in another scenario card. That way I might fit the actual story in a single card.
I kind of wish the Free Mode card would be too big so I could fit it in the same card as the system data, but I have a feeling that might not be possible.

Yikes! I never it would come the day when I would say this, but the overall story of Rincar is finished. At least on paper. No longer will I say that I don't know where I want the story to go because it is DONE! (Yes I stayed the whole night working on it. I'm not sleepy!)
It seems all I needed was to take some time to REALLY think, and I'm quite satisfied with what I have.
With that out of the way, I know what dungeons I want too, so I'll be working on them next. But now I'm not entirely sure who will be playable characters (As most of the citizens can potentially be party members)