Some time ago, there was a thread that...well, to be honest, I forget a lot of details! However, it involved asking how to go about doing a science fiction game. I definitely recall adding a comment to the thread, and pointing to this game. My memory continues to be fuzzy, but, the portion of response that I remember most is a comment about "religious overtones" in this game.

Which made me quirk an eyebrow then, wondering what the hell the guy was even talking about. It's slowly occurring to me that term "God Nakaishi" might be what he was talking about, which... well, it's not intended to be a reference to religion at all! It's more the term is a delineation of the difference between, like, say, a Gear versus an Omnigear in Xenogears, or a mobile suit make out of a Gundanium (or alloy thereof) versus one that isn't in Gundam.

Maybe this is merely an additional instance of me being worried about nothing, but, the thought has occurred to me to change the term. A few ideas have started floating in my head, which I will now share with you.

• Omninakaiashi

This idea takes it's queues from the Xenogears "upgrade" from Gear to Omnigear. On closer inspection, this term... might be a bit much!

• Galax

This idea takes it's queue from Gundam, in which the metal the nakaishi is made out of is what sepreates it from the rest. Though, wait, aren't all nakaishi made out of this stuff, or an alloy thereof? So, maybe it's a matter of what the galaxium-to-steel ratio of the alloy used?

• Galax-Nakaishi

This term could either be considered a combination of the previous two ideas, or as an extension of the second idea.

• ????

I'm absolutely open for suggestions/comments in this regard, even if it's "Marrend, you worry to much". Let me know what you think!

So, this game. One of the reasons I set it aside is because I have space in the database for 18 more Programs that the party can acquire (and the skills associated with them), but, the data for them is essentially empty. This blog seeks to rack my brain for ideas, and maybe even get feedback on them.


What about an ability that creates a drone? This creates a myriad of questions onto itself. From what I can tell, I cannot spawn something in the Troop tab to be player-controlled, or even be on the same side of the player characters. Wouldn't that mean drones would have to be a separate Actor/Class tabs? Can there be duplicates of the same actor in battle? Would they be considered separate objects? Would they be more literal duplicates, and essentially share Health? Would the game just plain crash if I even try to make a duplicate?

"Resurrection" might not be an appropriate term, but, let me consider the concept as it could relate to this game. When a unit is defeated, it is removed from the map/battle. As far as party members are concerned, the character/unit is still removed, but, can be deployed in another battle. So, it probably could work, I just need a term for it that makes sense, given the nature of the units, and the game.

This might be among the higher-tier programs, but the idea of abilities that use up all of a unit's energy for immense power, probably in the from of an attack, appeals to me. I'd have to refer to The Blue Hood, my entry in RMN's 9th birthday event, to refresh my memory as to how that works.

So far, I've avoided area-of-effect abilities. However, there is a Fireball spell in Might be Magic, and it pretty much works they way I thought it would. If they exist in this game at all, I figure they would be higher-tier abilities.

Status or debuff removal? Well, there could be one ability that does one, a different ability that does the other, and another that does both. Or... something?

Speaking of statuses and debuffs, I could probably use more of those. I suppose there could be an "Energy Leak" status that boils down to "MP Poison". There's already a "Def Down" that reduces both Melee Defense and Beam Defense. So, an "Atk Down" status to reduce the attack stats seems appropriate.


That's all I have for now. Which is still more than I thought I'd come up with!

What, exactly, can I do, or for, to this game? I'm not sure I can do a heck of a lot in regards to the AI doing hit-and-run tactics. That's been a fairly consistent point against this game, and the only answer I can think of is to reduce the enemy's movement by one? I'm aware that GubiD's script does allow for some customization of AI behavior, and I'm almost sure I played around with it during various tests. I might need to re-visit this possibility. My initial tweaks/tests might not have been enough to make a difference, which might be why I chose not to bother with customizing the AI.

As for making abilities interesting, my hands are tied there as well. I've never seen enemies target themselves with ally-targeting abilities and what self-only abilities I've attempted to make for them have never been seen either. This propensity was mentioned in my first blog, and I've done my best to plan around it. However, it's still exceptionally frustrating when I see an Engineer, or Scout, use an armor-restoration skill on something else, when that Engineer, or Scout, is at critical damage. It's not that the unit that it's targeting might not need it, but, the logic of "never target self ever" just... URRRRRRRGGGGGH!



Anyway, this is the only game I've got on my palette now. I'm not sure what the second mission will consist of, or what kinds of things I should give players in regards to a set of programs that would unlock after the first mission succeeds. Those two factors will be the bare minimum for a new release to come out. The other factors I mentioned here? I've done some pretty crazy things, and some solutions I enjoyed doing/implementing less than others. Maybe whatever I come up will fall into the "solutions I dislike" category. Maybe it won't. I suppose we'll just see, when a solution comes, even if whatever I come up with boils down to "Welp, I guess I'll just have to work around this pile of jank!"

You'll have to excuse the stream of consciousness here, but, I seem to think better/clearer this way.

So, during RMN's down-time, I tried to piece together the first mission. Now, for reference purposes, there is a a bit of a story-skip, but, suffice to say, the Kamiyama is in orbit of the fifth planet of the Lintis system. Which is absolutely a reference to the protagonist of a certain other sci-fi game on RMN.

Anyway, the mission details that I've written say that there's an excavation site nearby an enemy outpost, and the party is to avoid a fight. Of course, that's not going to happen. In fact, I'm sorta planning on having two fights here. One involves the outpost being altered to the away team's presence, and another after they try to leave.

It's an okay plan, but, I just need to get off my lazy butt make all the maps involved. The thing that hangs me up the most is how to handle the first fight. Where is it going to be located? If it's an interior fight, that probably means that they are fighting in the outpost itself. I would need to figure out what a D-Enemy base looks like, and to keep in mind that it would be drawn to nakaishi scale. If it's exterior, that probably means reinforcements from the outpost, and whatever terrain features this planet has. I suppose one could argue that I do both (ie: the first fight is inside the base while the second fight occurs outside) and just be done with it already.


Though, I sometimes think I'd enjoy being more of a support person (such as tester, or what-not) than gammak. It's a thought that has occurred to me on several occasions, despite developing games with varying degrees of success (not to mention quality) since my Commodore 64 days. So, like, since I was 7. I figure I should at least finish the two games I've got floating, then I can seriously consider that thought.

As I mentioned on my status, this release still doesn't include much story. It's still very much a tech-demo.

Maybe I'm being silly, but, I really like how Lenneth's call for reinforcements is working. Also, I don't recall if it was done last release, but, the ripped music has been tossed in favor of pieces by Kevin MacLeod from incompetech. Though, I must admit that the old music still has a place in my heart this game as far as concept is concerned.

Of particular concern is game-balance, as always. Again, the majority of my playtesting has been in the fight against Lenneth, and there was certainly at least one test-play where one of my mechs was downed. It was a strange feeling of both accomplishment (as a developer) and annoyance/failure (as a player).

I'm not really sure what I'll do for the mech graphics. Probably nothing, as I'll totally admit that they were made on the cheap, and I'm embarrassingly proud of how they turned out.


Anywho, give this humble release a go, let me know what you think, and all that good stuffs!