I have returned... kinda.

I've been thinking about getting back to work on my sequel to "Raiders Of Lekunder".

The biggest problem I'm facing here is the scope of the game. I've got three towns here, two of which are massive, sprawling metroplises, and... honestly, it's all kind of daunting. I brought a truckload of ideas to the table when I started working on this. As I give it more thought, I kind of wish I could make it smaller in scope. That's not going to be possible because the story requires that there be some well populated areas here. Naturally, a medieval metropolis is going to be bustling with commerce. Here are some of the challenges I'm facing.

The Trading Post
This is like a pawn shop where you can sell your treasures for cash. One of this biggest road blocks here is naming the treasures, as I already used most of the obvious ones in ROL. For the 99% who haven't played ROL, they are Ornate Vase, Silver Chalice, Gold Candelabra, Tapestry, Emerald Necklace, Pearl Bracelet, Sapphire Pendant, Ruby Chain, Jade Figurine, Jewel Encrusted Egg, Amber Fruit, Valuable Painting, Bronze Helm, Gold Harp, Diamond Ring, and Silver Trophy Cup. I'll need at least 12 unique treasures for the sequel. For the final 4 (making a total of 16), I was thinking on having 4 non-unique treasures that you can collect and sell. They'd be emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds (or some sorta treasure-like stuff that some merchants use as currency). There are three towns, each with its own trading post, so each trading post would offer its own unique trade rate for the gems. For example, at one trading post, sapphires would be worth the most while diamonds are the least valued. In another town, diamonds would be the most valued. So, you could trade your gems (there'd be a guy who's interested in just trading them) and then sell them for cash.

In my personal opinion at the moment, this whole "trade items" idea sounds good, but I think it's going to end up being a monumental waste of time. I also think it's gonna drag the gameplay down. The potion brewing in the first game really dragged. My sister didn't like it at all. It's time consuming, a lot of doing the same thing over and over. It's understandable that someone would find it boring. There wasn't a way to get the game to recognize that you have, say, 4 ingredients that you'd like to get 4 potions from all at once. Instead, you gotta go through the routine 4 times. In similar fashion, I could easily envision a lot of time spent trading currency items so we end up with ones we can sell for the most gold.

An alternative idea is to have some merchants who are only interested in trading special items for a number of gems (much like the vending machine). So we wouldn't have to sell, say, 10 emeralds for gold. We'd just turn 'em in for a special item of some sort.

Regardless, I'm going to have to figure all this out before I begin filling up the dungeons with events and stuff, so I know what I'm putting into the dungeons. 12 unique treasures and 4 collectable currency items. Then I have to figure out how many of each currency item are found in each dungeon, and so forth. Yadda yadda. I wish I could just have 16 unique treasures like in the first game. You bring 'em to a guy, he offers to buy 'em off you, and we're done. Huzzah! Simplicity rules the day.

The Town Hall
This place handles all public affairs for the town, including the issuing of bounties on monsters (this actually fits in with the story). I'm not sure this is even going to work. For now, I'll operate under the blind assumption that it will. I'll confront this issue after all the dungeons are populated. If it doesn't work, I'll need something for the town hall to do, probably side quests.

Potion Brewers
This game will have fewer ingredients than the first one. The potion brewing really dragged. I completely understand why some players don't like it. Still, there will be a decent number of ingredients to collect and turn in for potions.

Vending Machines
There'll be two of 'em here. I think ROL's vending machine was one of its most successful features. It worked great, and it was a lot of fun. So I'll try to play it up as much as possible here. No problems here.

Marketplace
Another of ROL's successful features was Darron's Tavern, which sold pizzas and a couple other recovery items that can be used 5 times a piece. Unfortunately, most of our time is spent handling single-use recovery items, which really dragged on the inventory management. The marketplace district of town is composed of several shops that sell everything from fruits and veggies to seafood. Much of this stuff is of the multi-use persuasion, in the range of 5 to 10 uses a piece. This'll make inventory management much easier and more fun. The marketplace and its vast inventory have already been constructed. Kind of a no brainer. Just thought I'd mention it anyway.

I think that rounds out the list of expanded features in the sequel. The main road block at the moment is the treasures and trading post functions.

For the 1% who have played ROL, I'd ask: What are your thoughts about all this new stuff? What was ROL missing that could've possibly made it a better game? What kinds of new stuff would you like to see? (possibly something I haven't thought of?)

Thanks in advance. And I thank you for your time.

Balancing ideas is never easy.

I really want to make a tactical game on rpgm1, AND have it be the best game ever on rpgmaker. Not an easy task for anyone, really.

So what I've tried to do is spread out my resources. At the same time that I'm making a tactics game, I'm also making the sequel to Usuru and making a crazy humor game. So if tactics isn't my thing, I can go to another project. Or, say, I want to work on something easy. Go to a different game and make something easy.

With that in mind, though, I have to be honest and say that working on several games didn't work out last time I tried it. And from what I've seen, it doesn't work for other people either.

Just throwing that out there.

hey cry, glad youre kinda back! as im part of the 1% who have played RoL, (tho im not done... been real busy) i would have to say that the absolute one thing it's missing is maybe a few events on the field. I mean, the scenery is, like, some of the best RPGM3 can create, it just needs something in it. (A.K.A- random starving guy walks up to u and asks for food. give it to him and he gives you a spell, dont give and u have to fight him but as a werewolf.) everything else sounds AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Hey Link. Thanks for replying.

The outdoors maps are something I can't do much with because of the 20 event limit. I've got towns and dungeons on them, and some hidden items you can find (just like in ROL). The map in ROL is completely filled up with 20 events. I know, it doesn't look like there's much there, but each dungeon, town, and secret exit counts toward the event limit. Add in six items you can find on the map, and it's completely full. The sequel has two outdoors maps, both of which are close to full at this point. I'm gonna have to delete one of the objects to make room for a special feature I want to add to one of the maps.

I am, however, gonna put a few story events like you described into some of the dungeons to break up the dungeon crawling monotony.

Ice,

I'm not entirely comfortable with having several ongoing projects at the same time. Already given that some thought, and tried it out a little, and it wasn't really working.

cool. just remember, i'll be here for ideas if you need any help. (but with your gaming genious, you probably wont need it)