Ego vs. The King of Dreams « Fan Games and Programs « Forum

thisisnotaustin

Ego vs. The King of Dreams is a world I’ve been developing in my head for a few months. It’s in very early development. Very, very early. But I think what I have is pretty good. I’m making it by myself in Lua using the Love2D engine.

Currently, the story is about a kingdom where all dreams take place. The king of this world has become corrupt and allowed evil and chaos to run amok. In the midst of the hysteria, one citizen, Ego, decides to overthrow the King of Dreams. Because he can’t go it alone, the game focuses on Ego as he traverses the land in search of comrades to help him stage his coup.

I plan to use a sort of Chrono-Trigger-esque party member system, where you have many party members that can be swapped out. We’ll see how effectively I can integrate dialogue for that many people. I may end up changing it.

I have ideas for a grid-based battle system. Nothing too complicated, though. Simply, instead of attacking enemies directly, you attack grid spaces. This allows for area-of-effect attacks and more creative boss-fights.

Ego’s Bedroom, and his landlord, Shirley

Battle Screenshots

I don’t know what I’m going to do with the battle backgrounds yet. I thought about having specific backgrounds depending on the setting, like in most RPG’s, but I don’t think that’d work out too well. Maybe I’ll just end up using Earthbound-like backgrounds.

Another thing to note about the battle screen is the rainbow effect. It’s not super obvious in the screenshots, but parts of every battle sprite constantly fade different colors. I will demonstrate here, in a crappy gif.

If this thread gains traction, I’ll share more details, but if not I’ll just update it whenever I feel like I’ve made some good progress.

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG

Brazil M3 Guy

Neat! This looks pretty cool for being in early development.

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ClayPot

Very nice, dude! The designs, style, and concept remind me of Little Nemo (in a good way). I love the look of it, most games that go for the same “8-bit” art style end up not really representing a genuine 8-bit game, but this really looks like a late NES game! The combat sounds pretty neat too. Looking forward to future updates on this!

I have a dream that one day, I’ll get off my lazy behind and actually do something.

thisisnotaustin

Thank you for the compliments!

On that note, I think I may have figured what to do with the background.

Example : Ego’s bedroom

Example : Random crosswalk

This is what it looks like when I simply take the room the encounter was in, bring it down to two colors specific to the room itself, and apply a curvy effect. I like it! It’s simple and easy to apply the color palette to.

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG

101239brohomiez

Wow, that’s a really good idea! What platform are you planning to release this on?

Punkkitt

Brilliant!

Topaz Light

Whoa, this looks really nice!

Lovin’ the retraux aesthetic and the battle backgrounds~

Also, looking at Shirley’s dialogue, is that a Paper Mario-esque wavy text effect I spy?

In regards to the party, it’s worth keeping in mind both who makes sense to get on your party from a story perspective and what each character will actually contribute to the team from a gameplay perspective. It’s important to make sure each character brings something worthwhile and non-redundant to the table as a party member, but it’s also really frustrating to run into characters in the story who really seem like they should end up in your party, but inexplicably don’t. So, it’s a bit of a balancing act… or it can be, depending on how you go about making characters for your stories.

Who has lost his tail?
The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos.

thisisnotaustin

Topaz Light:
Also, looking at Shirley’s dialogue, is that a Paper Mario-esque wavy text effect I spy?

I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never played Paper Mario. This effect was actually inspired by Shovel Knight, which I have played and enjoyed very much.

In regards to the party, it’s worth keeping in mind both who makes sense to get on your party from a story perspective and what each character will actually contribute to the team from a gameplay perspective. It’s important to make sure each character brings something worthwhile and non-redundant to the table as a party member, but it’s also really frustrating to run into characters in the story who really seem like they should end up in your party, but inexplicably don’t. So, it’s a bit of a balancing act… or it can be, depending on how you go about making characters for your stories.

One the note of party members, I plan to have 21 playable party members not including Ego; three for each major location in the game barring two. I have a list of characters and a very basic idea of what their gameplay would be like. The list looks something like this;

Ego : Mediator, removes status effects
Rascal : Distractor, keeps foes from attacking
Jason : Elemental, attacks deal elemental damage
etc…

But that’s an outline for now. Depending on how the story advances, characters could be added, removed, or switched around. Speaking of characters, I may post character designs here at some point in the future!

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG

thisisnotaustin

101239brohomiez:
Wow, that’s a really good idea! What platform are you planning to release this on?

The game is being programmed with the Love2D engine on a Windows computer. Because of this, the game will definitely be released for Windows. The Love2D website says that the engine also works for Mac and Linux, so it’ll likely be released for those too!

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG

thisisnotaustin

After spending a good few hours trying to learn how to exploit the code that I wrote, I was finally able to put together a more complex battle action!

This is Dream Journal, one of Ego’s talents. It allows you to analyze the enemies’ stats and bios at the cost of a whopping 0 SP.

Punkkitt

Goodness, I love this art. It really blends together excellently.

thisisnotaustin

I wanted to show off the finished battle engine next. Unfortunately, it’s not quite presentable yet, so here’s something completely different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_6DE7gybIo

Myzma
Totes a Spy~

Those transitions look really nice!
What screen capture do you use? I’ve got some good recommendations if you want.

Hey everyone, I hope all of y’all are doing good :)

thisisnotaustin

Myzma:
Those transitions look really nice!
What screen capture do you use? I’ve got some good recommendations if you want.

I used eLecta Live Screen Recorder. It meets my low expectations of being free and watermark-less. I’m open to suggestions, if you have any.

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG

thisisnotaustin

The battle engine is nearly finished, but I’m afraid to say that my computer hasn’t connected to the internet in days. Things like this happen when you live in a basement.

Consequently, you’ll all have to take my word that the following things have been completed;

Numbers pop out of enemies to show damage
Numbers float up to show that health has been restored
Little animations for victories and losses
Enemies have slightly animated deaths as well
Appropriate restrictions on dead party members (can’t attack, can’t be healed, etc.)
Item menu shows the party’s items, but they can’t be used yet…

Probably some other things, too, but until I can get a proper demo up, just close your eyes and imagine what it looks like…
…
…Oh yeah, that’s nice…

Ego vs. The King of Dreams ~ A Dreamy RPG