Ars Mechanicum Novel Update

Progress on the novel is going at full steam, but progress on the game is virtually at a stop. I'd like to get at least the first novel written before developing the game further, since the two will be a natural progression of one another and will tie up some loose ends.

In the beginning, when I first started writing the novella, it was meant to be a tie-in with the game anyway, with the game literally starting right where the story left off, but as the plot developed it became increasingly more complex. It was apparent that some additional background into the storyline was needed because without it, there were more questions than answers, even with the information being released in the game. So the starting point for the novella was a brief introduction to the characters and how they came to be at the tavern at the very beginning of the game.

As the novella developed, however, it started expanding rapidly. Further plot and story ideas gushed out, new characters and their histories entered into the picture, and the mythos behind the novella was further elaborated upon.

Thus, the novella has developed into a full novel. Depending on how the story evolves, it may become a trilogy. The working titles for the Ars Mechanicum trilogy would be:

Edit: 3 Sep, 2011

• Genesis Legacy - Where it all begins. The prequel to the game.
• Legacy Genesis - The after-shocks of Genesis. The game is loosely based on this one.
• Endgame - The culmination of events and loose ends tie-up.

There is no fixed release date on Genesis, as I'm still writing it. It's about a quarter of the way completed, so we'll probably be looking at sometime next year before anything concrete happens.

That said, I may be releasing a sample chapter earlier than that, depending on the results from RPG Maker Times. If interested in viewing the sample chapter, make your vote count (no closing date yet).

RPG Maker Web RMVX Tutorials

In case you're not aware already - and you should be - the "official" RPG Maker makers are on Facebook or Twitter. I would highly recommend following them there if you have accounts at one or both of these places, as you'll get first dibs on their newest products and add-ons, such as the "critically acclaimed" Samurai add-on pack.

Anyway, I digress. They've been creating a comprehensive list of very useful tutorials for RMVX on their official site, RPG Maker Web (link leads directly to the tutorials page).

So far they have 18 tutorials. I probably won't update this as they'll be "be continuing this series with a new tutorial every Friday". Note: None in the list are linked; this'll just give you a better idea on what tutorials they have (on the website itself all tutorials are in PDF format, including pictures with a step-by-step guide for each).

• Level 1 - Creating a Story Line
• Step 1: Creating a Story Line.
• Level 2 - Drawing Maps
• Step 2: Setting Up a New Project.
• Step 3: Preparing to Draw Maps.
• Step 4: Drawing Maps.
• Step 5: Testing Maps.
• Level 3 - Creating a Castle
• Step 6: Creating the Good King's Castle.
• Step 7: Using Quick Event Creation (Transfer).
• Level 4 - Talking with the King
• Step 8: Talking with the King.
• Step 9: Organize Events with Switches.
• Step 10: Enhancing Events with Event Page.
• Level 5 - Creating a Main Character
• Step 11: Creating an Original Main Character.
• Step 12: Bringing your Initial Party Together.
• Level 6 - Creating a Village
• Step 13: Creating Minato Port.
• Step 14: Using the Map Tree.
• Step 15: Creating Doors with Quick Events.
• Level 7 - Creating Shops
• Step 16: Creating Villagers.
• Step 17: Creating the Inn.
• Step 18: Creating the Weapon Shop.
• Step 19: Creating the Item Shop.
• Level 8 - Recruiting a Team
• Step 20: Creating Villagers.
• Step 21: Recruiting Teammates.
• Level 9 - Getting a Boat
• Step 22: Considering the Flow of Events.
• Step 23: Linking the Boat Event.
• Level 10 - Creating a Dungeon
• Step 24: Using the Terrain to Guide Player Movement
• Step 25: Using the Generate Dungeon Function.
• Level 11 - Placing Treasure Chests
• Step 26: Quick Event Creation - Treasure Chest
• Step 27: Understanding Self Switches
• Level 12 - Creating a Locked Door
• Step 28: Preparing the Locked Door
• Step 29: Creating the Locked Door Event
• Step 30: Placing a Key in a Treasure Chest
• Level 13 - Creating Yes/No Player Options
• Step 31: Constructing the Airship Event
• Step 32: Creating a Yes/No Player Option
• Level 14 - Creating a Dungeon 2
• Step 33: Planning the Lair
• Step 34: Drawing the Dungeon Map
• Step 35: Setting Traps
• Level 15 - Creating a Puzzle
• Step 36: Outlining the Puzzle
• Step 37: Using Variables
• Level 16 - Useful Functions to Remember
• Step 38: Playtest Functions
• Step 39: Using Control Characters
• Level 17 - Creating a Puzzle Part 2
• Step 40: Outlining the Puzzle Part 2
• Step 41: Variables in Use
• Level 18 - Creating Monsters
• Step 42: Monster Settings (Parameter Curve)
• Step 43: Monster Settings (Actions Patterns)

Resource Sites for RPG Maker

I've been using RPG Maker for awhile, as regular visitors will know, so it would be inevitable that I'd have some graphical resource sites at hand. In fact, my collection of bookmarks is huge! Sadly, however, some of the sites have faded into obscurity. These are some of the best resource sites that I know of, and I'll be adding more some time as well.

• Etorie Material (RMXP/VX) - A Japanese resource site with the slant on anime. All resources here are good quality. Windowskins are for RMXP for the most part. — English version (Google Translated)
• Mutation Genes Similation T.D. Lab (RM2K3/XP/VX) - A Japanese site with some stunning graphics for all RPG Maker platforms, from Title/Game Over screens to transitions to message backgrounds. — English version (Google Translated)
• Neo RTP (RMVX) - This Japanese site has very few resources on it, but it's mentioned because it's the only one I know of with "school" themed resources, from characters to windowskins.
• Onirology (RPG-Maker) (RM2K3/XP/VX) - A French site with a few resources, but they are quite good, including Windowskins. The site does not appear to have been updated for a while.
• Zanyzora's RMXP Resources RMXP - Contains a comparatively small amount of resources, but good ones nevertheless. Some are matching sets and some are add-ons too, including ships. It does not appear that the site has been updated for a while.

Another "Still Here" Update

I just realised today that the Flash menu was horrendously out of date, so I'll get a more up to date menu up tomorrow.

The Ars Mechanicum (pseudo-) domain name has gone. Apparently there weren't enough monthly "hits" so it got suspended. Oh well, at this point it doesn't matter. I've not been promoting it actively because the focus right now is still on The Gladiator Project.

As far as Ars Mechanicum itself, it hasn't been abandoned, just placed on the back burner for now. Not completely, however, since I'm also busy writing (rewriting to second draft) the novellas and expanding them, fleshing them out. A few hours a night, except when my head fills up with imagery, then I have to write it all down before my head explodes. Next update, I think I'll try and get some windowskins/resources up. We'll see how it goes though.

Start Menu Screenshot - TGP

This is the start menu for TGP. Click on the image for a larger view (opens in a new window/tab).

A translation of the Latinesque on this menu can be viewed on the Glossary page, under "In-Game Menu".

Game Reviews Coming Soon

I must confess that I should have been working on my own projects, but instead I've been playing a few RPG Maker games over the past few months so now it's time to finally start reviewing them. I did mention a while back about doing this. Now is the time, I guess, so over the next few weeks I'll try and get some reviews up.

Among the games that will be reviewed (in no particular order) are:

• Intelligence by Bizarre Monkey
• Spellbinder by OriginalWij
• The Cartographer by Avadan
• The Lore of Lorewyn by Hard Triangle (Christian Clinton)

To keep things simple, the reviews will contain the following categories:

• Storyline: The actual plot, including story and character development.
• Graphics: The use of graphics and graphical effects.
• Music/Sound: The music used throughout the game and effective use of sound effects (including speech).
• Gameplay: How well the game plays and general ease of use.
• Overall: The final score, based on the overall feel of the gaming experience.

I haven't decided whether to score using percentages or a simple star system - most likely the latter - but that will probably come after the first review has been written. It may mean that I'll have to replay the games as a reminder of what's what, but that doesn't matter too much.

I'll try to get the first review up within the week.

The Gladiator Project - Redux Update #2

Some good news and bad news!

The good news is that TGP has finally found a new host. You can access it still by using its domain name. I'll be balancing between the two versions, RMXP and RMVX, as they will be synchronously developed, not so much the scripts yet, just the maps and storyline.

The bad news is that no thanks to Heliohost, I lost the previous (latest) updates - no time to backup, since I could never access the site! That means that I'll have to redo and redesign it. Not necessarily a bad thing, just annoyingly time-consuming!

Second (or third) time around usually works out better in the end, so I'll be modifying it bit by bit over the next few weeks - time permitting - to get it back on track.

TGP: Good News, Bad News

Unfortunately, I was forced to terminate my account at Heliohost, the "company" hosting The Gladiator Project. They proved to be so unreliable I thought, Enough really is enough. (They say "bad luck" comes in threes...Well, this is now the third strike! So now things can get back on track!)

What this means is that I'll have to find another much better, more reliable webhost and, while the project itself is still being developed, updates will have to continue on Blogger for a while. Not a bad thing, right?

Bearing in mind that I don't have much time to work almost exclusively on the projects any more due to work and certain limitations imposed on computer/internet use, eventually there will be two versions of TGP: one for RMXP and one for RMVX, each one will have different features and scripts, but the storyline will be approximately the same.

There will be in-game movies after all, if I can get around to creating them, but they will be playing full screen, which is the only way I can get them to work efficaciously.

And finally, I had uploaded a playable demo for TGP at last, but it was taken off again as soon as Heliohost did its stoopid. I'll have to redo it and re-upload it as soon as I have time.

I'm Back Kinda

I'm back and half-running. After a string of bad luck, including not having the internet for 3 intolerable weeks and a serious bout of sinusitis for a week and a half (for which I finally relented and went to the doctor's for some antibiotics) - things should get back on track.

Another serious problem is Heliohost. That's where I hosted The Gladiator Project and co-hosted the RPG Maker Times Windowskins. The trouble is that it's proven itself as reliable as a chocolate fireguard. So I'll be terminating my account there and looking for somewhere else.

What I'm hoping for is to find somewhere reliable where I can host all of my projects and subsites. I've been using Wordpress for the majority of these side-blogs because of the additional versatility. However, RPG Maker Times will remain on Blogger, as I've been using it practically since its inception and it's still my favorite.

While I was "away", I did create a few more scripts - primarily while experimenting with a few things - which I'm hoping to put on another subsite along with the other scripts.

I'd like to put a load of tutorials online as well, but we'll have to see how that goes.

Extended Hiatus

I'll be taking off for a while - an undetermined amount of time, in fact. Fate can be a fickle mistress at the best of times, sometimes more so; she can be gracious and forgiving, rewarding greatly, or she can be cruel and unforgiving, taking things away. She has delivered the latter, so I'm taking a "timeout".

This means that, for a while at least, all projects and blogs, all RPG Maker updates, has had to be put on hold. At least until I've sorted through these vicissitudes.

Thanks go to all visitors, and thanks to all whose unswerving support and encouragement has meant that the following (and the other RPG Maker projects) can continue:

• The Gladiator Project
• Ars Mechanicum Genesis
• RPG Maker Times Windowskins
• RPG Maker Times FAQs

Be back soon.