The Book of Metal RPG

For the last four years (on and off) and with over 600 hours put into the RPG Maker VX Ace software I’ve finally finished my first ever game – The Book of Metal.  Firstly here’s a video of the first 15 minutes of the game:

 

In a world where metal binds the people of The Peanus Isles, life is simple, and life is good.

Kept strong by the whisper of a legend, metal has grown strong over time and its influence is ever expanding.

All have heard of this legend.

The legend of a book, which has maintained the ethos of this world for many centuries.

But today…

It will be stolen.  It will be taken.

By evil.

Join Alan, Pete, Aiden and more on their quest to bring metal music back from the clutches of evil, stolen by the egomaniac Stubbs after a series of poor album reviews drives him to the brink of insanity.

Take a journey through a world drenched in brutality, taking on corrupted souls, fiends, demons and bad jokes along the way.

Can you save metal as we know it?

Features

• 4+ hours of gameplay
• A unique 40+ song soundtrack featuring metal/rock fused with old-school chiptunes
• A Triple Triad card game
• Collectables to be discovered

You can download it and play it yourself here.

 

RPG Maker Music Side Project

For the past few years I’ve been putting together a game called The Book of Metal using the RPG Maker VX Ace Software – for those who don’t know what that is it’s a… erm, RPG Maker, allowing the user to create retro-style video games in the style of SNES-era classic games like Final Fantasy I – VI and Chrono Trigger to name a few.

As you can guess my game is heavily musically-themed, and after not finding the built-in fantasy jingles to be quite what I’m looking for in a metal-themed video game I decided to make my own using a program called Music Maker Jam, which is perfect for those of us without an ounce of musical ability whatsoever.  Some of the earlier efforts are appalling but I think I’ve now got a reasonably decent soundtrack to compliment the game I’m working on; a combination of syth-style 16-bit era music fused with metal and rock.  With that in mind I’d love to hear your feedback on what I’ve put together so far.

 

RPG Maker VX Ace: The Book of Metal with Commentary

Alan finally gets the chance to play Pete’s game in progress made using RPG Maker VX Ace, The Book of Metal.  We start out in the quaint town of Soddington as metal is soon stolen by evil mastermind Stubbs and his minions.

Watch footage of an earlier build – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdo0yBxKlW8

We have outtakes too – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tTGif0yqvA

RPG Maker VX Ace – The Book of Metal Outtakes

Watch as Alan repeatedly cocks up the intro for our upcoming video where we play Pete’s RPG Maker VC Ace game The Book of Metal.

The Book of Metal Spotify Playlist

The Book of Metal is a video game in progress made using RPG Maker VX Ace, and it now has a playlist on Spotify for anyone interested.

Stardew Valley Review

Available on: PC (Steam, GoG, Humble Store)

Release Date: February 26th 2016

Genre: Farming Simulation, RPG

A few weeks ago I posted about Stardew Valley and how excited I was for it, and now the game has been out for a little over 36 hours as of writing.  In that time I’ve put 13 hours into the game, which is an early indication for how much I’m enjoying it.  Here’s my review of the early parts of the game.

Stardew Valley sees a welcome return to the farming simulator/RPG hybrid gameplay dominated by Harvest Moon over the past twenty years or more, and shares a lot of similarities with that franchise as well as forging its own path in the genre.  The core story will be a familiar one to fans – your Grandfather leaves you a farm in his will, and years later you decide to take it over and transform it from a dilapidated pile of overgrowth and rubble into a thriving money making venture.  Along the way you’ll meet the local Pelican Town community and attend various events and play through various randomly generated scenarios, and follow various sub-plots crucial to the over-arching story.  There is absolutely loads to do in this game taking all that into account, as forming and maintaining relationships, progressing through the story and maintaining the day-to-day running of your farm allows for a varied and enjoyable experience each time you play.

Now I Feel Silly Wanting Turn Based Battles Back In RPG’s

I’ve mentioned Final Fantasy a few times over the last few months, either about the incredible news of a Final Fantasy VII remake or my cautious optimism concerning Final Fantasy XV.  One opinion I had was, as it turns out, a rather silly one – I believed a return to a turn based battle system in both games would be for the best.

I now appreciate that I’m wrong.

In my defence I didn’t mean a direct cut and paste of most 90’s RPGs with prettier graphics; more like turn based with a few added features thrown in – a little like Final Fantasy XIII’s battle mode, which was about the only thing that game did right.  After watching gameplay footage of Final Fantasy VII recently I was starting to think maybe a more action-oriented approach was the right decision (especially armed with the knowledge that the game is a ‘re-imagining’ rather than a straight up remake), but after seeing the following footage from Final Fantasy XV I now appreciate that this way of fighting is the only way forward.

This just looks incredible, and we’re hopefully approaching a release date too – rumours are rampant for a Summer 2016 release, with the announcement hopefully being made at the end of March.

Stardew Valley – What Harvest Moon Fans Need

*UPDATE* You can read our Stardew Valley Review here.

I’ve been a fan of Harvest Moon since it first came to the Super Nintendo console in 1998.  Since then I’ve owned and played several of the sequels spanning across almost every console Nintendo has made, and put hundreds of hours into the series overall.

One of my favourites and one I probably put the most time into was Animal Parade on the Wii.  Unfortunately that was the last of the Harvest Moon titles to see a release on home consoles in 2008, with everything else since being made exclusively for handhelds – and handheld gaming is something I’ve never quite been invested in, not for want of trying.

So, eight years later and with a Wii U release of a new Harvest Moon game (or Story of Seasons as it’s now known) looking increasingly unlikely, ‘ConcernedApe,’ a one man developer, has created Stardew Valley and it looks impressive.

Scheduled for release on February 26th 2016, it boasts a handful of familiar features essential to the farming simulation / RPG genre.  There are a ton of customisation options for both your house and character, and an interesting leveling mechanic that pulls the game more towards an RPG style than a straight up farming simulator by way of improving five different key skills – farming, mining, combat, fishing, and foraging.  Add to that a thriving local community, places to explore and creating the ultimate farm, this game is looking like the game PC and Harvest Moon fans have been waiting for.