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Vapourware Waiting for Grimoire - A codexian simulator - 14354 bugs left

taxalot

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Hi.

I have been pondering making small games for a while now. I've been struggling in hesitation between two projects on which I have done a lot of "preproduction" (if you can call that way the clueless effort of one guy doing that in his spare time), but then came a third idea which turned out to be so stupid, so pointless, and so bad not to turn into a third game.

It's going to use RPGMaker VX Ace although it's going to be pretty light on the RPG elements. Of course, this shit is going to be free.

1. The story

The year is 1997. Charles Godot is your typical shut-in gamer. It doesn't get much more hardcore than young RPG-Lover Charles. He pretty much has finished everything that is worth playing and as the game begins, he has just finished ironman-ing Wizardry IV.

Charles' life suddenly gets very empty. But ! Wait ! What is this ? Who is this handsome man appearing on his computer screen ? His name appears to be Cleve Blakemore. He mentions a new game. Apparently, it's going to be named "Grimoire - Heralds of the winged exemplar". The feature list he starts enouncing sounds incredible. Oh boy, this game is going to rock ! And , what ? What ? The game is coming out any minute now.

Better not leave the room anymore then !

Charles locks himself in his room and decides to pass time until the fabulous game comes out.

He will wait 17 years.

2. The Gameplay

Although done in RPGMaker, Waiting for Grimoire (hereforth called WfG for shortness sake) is pretty much not a RPG. There are no planned battle sequences insofar but I am not totally excludiung these since I am pretty much designing as I go along.
The goal of the game is to survive. You are leaving on welfare. Inside your room. Waiting for a game that is "99% done" but somehow fails to come out month after month.

The game is divided in 18 years, from 1997 to 2014 (that's actually 18 years length if you count right). Each year is divided in 4 quarters. Locked in his room, Charles will have the choice of various actions : play video games, surf the internet, eat something, sleep, get a shower, dress up as a girl or into something else which for some reason Charles find very entertaining. This will affect two variables.

Health : If Health drops to 0, Charles pretty much dies. You can starve in the game or get exhausted, although you'd pretty much need to suck at it, because the game is not designed to be hard.
Hope : As time passes, SURPRISINGLY, Charles will start to have his doubts about Grimoire coming out. It is very important he gets his mind off things playing good games (more on that later), enjoying adequate company (more on that later), and other stuff. If Hope falls too low, Charles will buy an XBOX and you will lose the game.

3. The world

Very reluctantly (because Grimoire can come out at any minute), Charles will be needed to leave his room once a year.

His whole environment, besides his room, is limited to the Hallway of his apartment (Charles has two neighbours, one of them being a very familiar figure to people who hang out on this forum), the street (Charles will never venture far), and two shops.
The two shops are Dorito-sama's Doritos, Charles only source of food, and Gamestop. Charles is pretty much screwed at life, yes.
Each year, Charles will be allowed to spend his welfare on Doritos and games.

This is where we reach another goal of the game : to survive, each year Charles will be able to buy a game. In 1997, for example, those games are Fallout, Ultima Online, and Dungeon Keeper. Some are better than the other. This is not much of a fair gameplay mechanic but I'm hoping I can find something to give good clues to the player upon which game Charles is likely to love more than the others. As he looks on the shelves, Charles will comment on every game. He will also comment as he plays the game. Depending on the result, his Sanity gauge is going to get higher. Part of the point of the game is to have Charles witness the golden years of RPG and fall into deep depression as the Decline starts happening when the Xbox comes out.

How he handles this depression is up to you.

4. The characters

Charles is obviously the main character. M.Blakemore will make a few apparitions, but most of your interactions will be with
Your Girl Neighbour and Your Guy Neighbour whom some people on this forum might know . Can you smell romance ? Yes you can ! This is a codexian game, of course there are going to be romances.

The way you handle those romances might make Charles more depressed or more happy at life. His chance of seeing Grimoire actually depends slightly on his lovelife. Oh boy, you guys are going to love this. I am aiming for David Gaider quality relationships here. Choices and consequences and all that shit.

But that would be slightly boring if we left it at that. This is why Charles will quickly be introduced by a very likely to be recognized here character to a place called RPGCodex.

In RPGCodex, Charles will be the witness to many things, some gaming related or not. Will he be a quality contributor in General RPG ? Will he fall to the vices of General Discussion ? Will he he stay stuck in the starting mysterious place of The Shoutbox or will he be condemned to haunt his cell of Retardo ? Will this virtual world survive DarkUnderlord's regular fuckeries ? Time will tell. Also choices and consequences and shit.

5. What this game aims to be

I'm not going to bullshit you. It's not going to be the best game ever. It's very unlikely to have deep gameplay at this point. The whole point for me is to try a design a small-scope uncodexian game about RPGCodex and RPGs. I will have completed this mission if you had a fun time going through it once. Although it will have multiple endings. I want the player to laugh and to relive the years from 1997 to 2014 from the scope of a hardcore gamer and how fucking hard it was after some point to find decent things. It's also about the irony of a place and people waiting for a game that will never come.

In short, it's a bullshit game about bullshit. Let's hope this is entertaining enough when it is completed ! Estimated play time is going to be around 1 or 2 hours.

Here are some screenshots from a very outdated build.

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taxalot

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Holy shit. Creating interactions in the shop for all these games took way much more time than it should have !

YsEwHC6.jpg
di07NwG.jpg


Now to create reactions for when you actually play the game. I actually look forward to that.
 

Abelian

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The game is divided in 18 years, from 1997 to 2014 (that's actually 18 years length if you count right)
Not quite. It's the 18th year of development, but not 18 whole years. Think of a baby's first year: it's the interval during which he is between 0 days old and 365 days old. Even if we assume the start date to be 1 Jan 1997, it won't actually be 18 whole years old until 1 Jan 2015.[/pedantry]
taxalot said:
Horse Armor DLC
:lol:
Minor typo: you misspelled "Eve Online".

Also, nice "Waiting for Godot" allusion with title and main character.
 

taxalot

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Reinstalled RPGMaker and checked if the sources were fine. They were.
Crowdfunding campaign imminent. Aside to finish building the damn game, only 14354 bugs left. I might fix one today, if you are nice enough to me.
 

Gord

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"Defining RPG" should be a high, possibly epic level ability for poor Charles.
Only available if sanity doesn't exceed the low single-digit numbers.
 

shihonage

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Ok now someone make a game about a Codex member who decides to satirize slow development of an ambitious RPG by the means of making a simplistic RPG about it, fails to finish it, and commits seppuku.

Proposed name: "Waiting for "Waiting For Grimoire".
 

gaussgunner

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"Defining RPG" should be a high, possibly epic level ability for poor Charles.
Only available if sanity doesn't exceed the low single-digit numbers.

As another prerequisite he would have to discover pearls of wisdom like "role-playing faggotry does not belong in an rpg" and "it's not supposed to be fun". Finally he has an epiphany: "the only way to make a true rpg is not to make one at all". After this, it's impossible to win. (As if it were ever possible.)
 
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Holy shit. Creating interactions in the shop for all these games took way much more time than it should have !

YsEwHC6.jpg
di07NwG.jpg


Now to create reactions for when you actually play the game. I actually look forward to that.
I'm so immersed I clicked on the listbox. Good OP.
 

taxalot

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Spent part of the weekend rewriting the main design document. I now have a vague idea of what I am doing. This will get released as soon as Steam approves it.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

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You must re-write the ending, so that Charles Godot has his expectations fulfilled when Grimoire does in fact release after a mere 20-year wait.

kA3m1cp.png
 

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