0.10 Plans (Patreon)

Now that 0.9 is done, I want to take a few moments to discuss plans for 0.10. 0.10 is all about giving the project a much better base to build on in the future. It will have very little new content, but it should have a short release cycle. I don't want to fully commit to a timeframe at this point, but I'm hoping around two months.

I want to accomplish 3 things in 0.10:

1. Port the game from RPG Maker MV to RPG Maker MZ

2. Revamp the combat system (and create an arena to test it in)

3.  Create an H-scene

I've already written at length about the first two in previous posts, but I'll recap the reasons here:

The MZ Port

The Proteus Effect is built using RPG Maker MV. Unlike previous versions of RPG Maker, MV is based on web technologies. This had advantages over previous versions, chiefly the ability to easily deploy games to multiple platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, even mobile.) The big downside of RPG Maker MV was performance. The game is janky, slows down at odd times, has weird graphical and audio stutters, that sort of thing. I develop the game on a fairly decent machine and I still get that; I'm sure it's the same for many of you. That's not necessarily a show-stopper for a game that's mostly about displaying text and turn based battles, but if your game has a lot of reaction-based minigames (like this one) it becomes more of a problem.

A few months ago RPG Maker MZ, the next version of RPG Maker, was released. It's more of an evolution of MV; it has some nice features, but the best thing about it from my perspective is that it offers much better performance than MV. The data structures MZ uses are very similar to the ones MV does, which makes it relatively easy to transfer a project from one to the other. Porting The Proteus Effect over to MZ will address many of the shortcomings of the game (on a technical level) and I think it's very important for the project that I do so.

Now, it's not going to be super easy to port over, mostly because TPE uses a lot of plugins and custom scripts. Basically, I'm going to have to write something that remaps existing plugin commands to new ones, as well as fixing a few other things. I've been working on this over the past week, and I've gotten a lot done on this front already. There's still a lot of work left to do, but it's more tedious than conceptually challenging at this point.

There will still be several things left to do once I complete the conversion tool - I'll need to change animations (MZ uses a different system), might have to change combat action sequences (they're handled a little differently) and then, of course, I'll have to make a save conversion tool. Don't worry, I'm not going to make you start over - though you might want to anyway just for fun!

Combat

Now, about the combat. One problem I have with making this game is that it's very text heavy. It's almost like a visual novel. This is a challenge because it means that I have to do a very large amount of writing and character movement to get a release out, and that can be slow going sometimes. This game will continue to have a VN-like quality, but I'd like to have other sources of gameplay to help extend playtime and take some writing pressure off so I can get releases out in a more timely manner.

This game has minigames, of course, but they're not really a solution. They often require a lot of script work and testing, and they're a perennial source of bugs. The Proteus Effect will continue to have minigames, but they're not really the answer I'm looking for. That leaves combat.

The combat system is a little boring right now, and if I'm going to lean on it a bit more, I'll need to make it more interesting. I took a few steps in this direction in 0.9; it introduced action sequences for combat (the characters move around while using abilities) and the expanded number of equipment slots will allow me to give more combat-focused rewards. But the system itself needs an overhaul.

I'm still thinking about exactly what form this will take, but I would like to do the following:

1. Introduce threat/aggro to make tanking more meaningful

2. Give each character a unique feel in combat

3. Make combat more strategic

4. Make it more visually interesting

I'm trying to tread carefully here; I've always billed this game as "not combat-heavy", and I don't plan on having you fight random mobs all the time. I'm leaning more toward interesting boss/miniboss encounters, with a minigame element for some important fights (like with the Flame Spirit and Stone King.) 

I'll likely put up some test builds to get your feedback on once I move to this phase of the work.

The H-Scene

0.9 was very text-heavy and very long; I didn't realize exactly how long it would be until I started testing. While I think of this as more "game, with porn" than "porn game", 0.9 probably moved a little too far from the porn side of things. Adding another scene would help move it back in the other direction, and I think I already know what I'm going to do for this one :)

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Porting the game is my first priority, and I'm making good progress on that. Next week I'll probably write a retrospective on 0.9. I hope you enjoyed the release, and thank you for your support!