From the creator of Jester's Hunt comes a game from the past, Slayer's Reign. Still being in production since 2001, Draygone has picked up production again.

I got some time to chat with Draygone a little bit about his upcoming title.

Kumo Shinagi:
What's Slayers' Reign about exactly

Draygone:
Prejudice.

KS:
Against the Dragons?

DG:
The prejudice against the dragons is the focus, but it goes both ways.


KS:
Ah, I see. I noticed this in gameas I was playing, why'd you keep the collision sound?

DG:
Heh. I know, it's annoying. At least it's not the default noise. I'll probably change it to something less noticeable, though.
Sure didn't sound as annoying when I first did it. Maybe I'll get rid of it entirely.

KS:
Collision sound is annoying to me in general. You will never see me use it in any of my games.
Unless I make a game for the blind

DG:
I mean, if you can't move on a space, it should be obvious enough without needing a sound effect.
Although for all I know, I had a puzzle idea that was supposed to make use of the sound effect.

KS:
So, what inspired you to pick this project up again after such a long time of idleness?

DG:
I dunno. I was probably daydreaming about it and got myself excited. And I was already getting tired of leaving it unreleased.

KS:
Now about the game's story, it starts out with us going into a flashback with the main character, Mick.
How much of the game takes place in Mick's past

DG:
I never really checked, but I think around 45 minutes.

KS:
How long is your game projected to be?

DG:
Looking at how long it takes me to play the demo, I'd say it could wind up being 20 hours.
And that's not just wishful thinking.

KS:
Wow That's a lot of gametime for RPG Maker 1. So far I'm at the forest, and I see you've taken
a liking to having enemies out and about instead of random battles. What encouraged this decision?

DG:
I mainly went with the non-random encounters so that I'd have more control over what enemies are encountered. If I had random battles and wanted a super-powerful monster that fought alone, RPGM1 by default would wind up at some point forcing more than one of those super-powered monsters at you at once, thus making the battle more difficult than I'd want it to be. Plus having no random battles meant I could have each battle take place on a separate battlefield, instead of RPGM1's default method of simply dimming the screen.

KS:
Ah I see! What gave you the idea of the Priority System?

DG:
If I remember right, I wanted to do something other than the basic standard leveling up. Now, I can't remember what gave me the idea in the first place, but the first thing I tried was having each battle slightly raise specific stats if won. That didn't turn out so geat. So I looked at RPGM's skill system, and figured that it should be put to better use. I wound up deciding to give the player a bit of choice with how each character gains their strength. And thus, I decided on the Priority System. Basic, but effective.

KS:
So you pick how a character develops when they first join your party? Can you re-direct their growth later on if you don't like a certain path?

DG:
Haven't decided, actually.

KS:
Well Draygone, from what you have here so far, it's a solid game. I will definetly looking forward to this when it is completed.

Well, I dusted off my old copy of RPG Maker 1 and put it into my laptop and played some of Draygone's game. Right from the start, you're told about what's going on in a very cinematic tone. You're then taken to the main character's past and you're given a choice of how he'll grow. After some cutscenes and dialogue, you get to explore and meet your first party member.

The first area of the game is a forest. As mentioned in the interview, the enemies are visable on screen. There's also little log puzzles inside too. The log graphics looked very good. The battles were pretty well balanced from what I've played. Look for Slayers' Reign sometime soon!