Children of Alchemy Devlog #01 – Passion and standing out

Hello fine folks of itch.io! Wanna play yet another turn-based RPG with a Japanese theme, preferably with an alchemy system? Look no further than Children of Alchemy!

 So for the past few months I've been working on the demo for an RPG Maker game called Children of Alchemy – a melancholic, story-rich experience with turn-based combat and an easy-to-use crafting system. The story follows the fictional country of Izumu, inspired by feudal Japan, as it undergoes major sociopolitical and religious reform. Alchemists, men born with the ability to create powerful elixirs, have always been feared, but respected members of Izumu society. Everything changed when the emperor suddenly banned alchemy in all its forms… Take control of Ryuuji, a mysterious man running from his past, as his paths cross with a child named Akira – an alchemist with unimaginable potential. Together, they will witness the world around them adapting to the sudden changes, meet a cast of colorful characters and, most importantly, run from the law until running isn't an option anymore.  

 I can say with confidence that the demo, which is roughly 30 minutes of gameplay, is going to release this month. So… Yay! I have roughly 20 days to put everything together! I'm totally not going to die!

Why this game exists (or is going to exist)

 On a purely pragmatic level, well… I needed something for my portfolio. End of story. 

 Wait, no, there's much more to it than that, I promise!

 A thing about me is that I'm primarily a writer/narrative designer. That is what I have experience doing, that's what I'm most confident in. So the initial plan for this game was to just create something for people to have a sample of my storytelling and writing abilities, not a complete and polished game experience. However, somewhere along the way, everything changed. Bit by bit, I started getting more and more invested in this game, until I found myself… well, writing a devlog entry for it, and calling what I have right now "a demo". 

 Yep, this game is getting a full version, baby. 

 The idea itself went through many mediums before I finally settled on making it a game. I have most experience with writing prose, so that's what I tried to do at first – but it just didn't fit. Then, I tried a script, mainly to test my screenwriting abilities. Then I forgot about it, until one day, I decided my portfolio needed some oomph… And the rest is history (I wish). 

 What I'm trying to say with this unmoderated yapping is I put more heart into this game than I had initially planned, and I couldn't be happier about it. 

Making it stand out

One of the problems every RPG Maker developer has is "how the hell do I make this game stand out?". It's true – many games made with the engine look and feel exactly the same, especially if the person making them is not much of an artist (I most definitely am not). At first, I didn't mind it too much. It was, after all, going to be a writing sample, so who cared if the UI or combat was cookie cutter RPG Maker? But, as we've established, that has since changed. So how does one go about creating an RPG Maker game that looks like actual thought and effort was put into it? 

 Thankfully, the community has come out with some amazing plugins that make customization not easy, but easier than it would have been if I had to script everything myself. The first thing I decided to take care of was the battle HUD, armed with plugins made by Moghunter who sadly did not translate the instructions into English – you need to operate on Google translations and common sense to actually figure out how the plugins work. Nevertheless, I was able to achieve a satisfactory look for my battles, making them feel much more lively and dynamic. 

Here's a before pic (using Yanfly's battle status):

Aaand here's how it looks now:

 In both cases, ignore the default face on the left – the main character's portrait is not done yet, so I'm using placeholders right now. My sister, who's doing the faces, should be done soon. I can't wait to update you guys when she is!

 Next, I took a look at my in-game menu. Sure, I had used a plugin to make it a bit less default, but it still was very much an RPG Maker menu. Here's how it looked:

 Pretty default, right? To combat this, I decided to disable access to the in-engine menu and event my own one using pictures, some scripting and a few days' worth of work. Here's what the in-game menu looks like now:

Is it perfect? Hell no, but it's mine and that's what matters most to me. The key to standing out is making things your way, even the ones that take a mind-numbing amount of work. That's just gamedev, baby. It's the only way. 

What I'm working on right now

Right now, I'm making background for all sorts of windows in the game, trying to give them all a bit of a spin. I'm done with the items menu, so here's a preview of what I'm going for:

 The thing is, to keep good quality, I need to make the background asset for every single window resolution my game is using, and there are a lot of windows. So I'm doing that, slowly but surely. 

 Secondly, I've been messing around with filters and other aesthetic effects, and I'm considering adding particles of some kind to make the maps more dynamic. Sadly, the plugin I'd intended to use turned out to have a compatibility issue with another plugin (because I'm using so many plugins holy-), so I need to find another way if I want particle effects in this game. I already have them on the title screen, and they're literally so pretty??? Having them in-game would make a huge difference I think. But that is still one giant WiP. 

 Thirdly, I'm fiddling with the options menu to make it a bit more powerful, but also sleek and readable. That's the goal, at least. I might leave it as is if I come to the conclusion that there's nothing more I can do to it without heavy scripting, but I'm willing to do my best! 

 And lastly, I'm waiting for my sister to do the portraits for two more characters. There's nothing I can really do to speed it up, so I'm just working hard on other things in the meantime. It's very possible that her assets will be the very last thing I add before I release the demo. I'm very happy with the first portrait she's done, and I have nothing but faith that her other ones will not disappoint me! So stay tuned!

If you're still reading, thank you so much! Please stay tuned for the Children of Alchemy demo, releasing this month!