RPG Unknown/Hiatus Malise and the Machine - Public Demo Available Now!

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Sent out what I believe to be the final test version to the team members tonight! Tackling of the remainder of the PDF will commence later today.

I did not now you were here Eromancer! i am a fan of your artwork and i am looking forward to the game as well, looking forward to the chance to play it.

well i guess ill see you here and on patreon.

Thanks! I try to (unsuccessfully) be everywhere. If you know of somewhere that I am not, give me a heads up, hah.

 

[Torgent]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Sent out what I believe to be the final test version to the team members tonight! Tackling of the remainder of the PDF will commence later today.



Thanks! I try to (unsuccessfully) be everywhere. If you know of somewhere that I am not, give me a heads up, hah.

Twitter

 

[DarkMist67]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Currently the enemies have a probability ratio used to select an H attack (if it is available to them to use for a specific target) or combat skill from their skill table. Balancing that and the likely addition down the road of some more advanced AI to change their behavior as the enemy count lessens is definitely going to be taken into consideration since, as you say, you get a distinctly different situation when the enemy count is above the number of actors.

It's also worthwhile to mention the targeting algorithm is really basic at the moment, and mainly covers the basics of making the H system functional (for example, not beginning an H attack cast on a character that can't receive said H attack based on conditions or being 'busy'). That will get improved as well.

So yeah, right now you can probabilistically get into a situation that feels like you're just getting pinned down with H attacks, but that's something that will definitely get smoothed out as the AI gets built up, character skills are added, and systems are refined.

Oh, I have no problems with getting pinned down with H attacks so long as there are meaningful impacts to struggling/not struggling. If there were no consequences and it just plays through the animations, then, at least for me, it quickly becomes a chore to get through and get on with the battle/game. It is akin to a battle system where there is no point to battles, it just feels like it is slowing you down and you want to skip past as much as possible. Essentially, as long as the player is invested and motivated in the battle mechanics it makes every battle and every decision and every success/failure meaningful.

I am really just talking about game design and mechanics in general, I am perfectly happy with what you have (even upped my pledge to 15 dollars for the extra PDF prints). I do feel like so many games lose a lot of potential because they skimp or add things just to have them but not make them meaningful to the game itself (and this extends to every genre of game not just H ones).

In a nutshell, you are doing it right! (in my opinion anyway).
- Every battle mechanic, including H attacks matter, so it doesnt matter what the enemies decide to do because it is going to negatively impact me if i suck or make bad decisions. So H away!

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Just a reminder that today (the 28th) is the last day to pledge for the first release! I'll be making the release post sometime on the 29th, so all pledges have to be in before then. Check out the first page of this thread for the necessary links.

Oh, I have no problems with getting pinned down with H attacks so long as there are meaningful impacts to struggling/not struggling. If there were no consequences and it just plays through the animations, then, at least for me, it quickly becomes a chore to get through and get on with the battle/game. It is akin to a battle system where there is no point to battles, it just feels like it is slowing you down and you want to skip past as much as possible. Essentially, as long as the player is invested and motivated in the battle mechanics it makes every battle and every decision and every success/failure meaningful.

I am really just talking about game design and mechanics in general, I am perfectly happy with what you have (even upped my pledge to 15 dollars for the extra PDF prints). I do feel like so many games lose a lot of potential because they skimp or add things just to have them but not make them meaningful to the game itself (and this extends to every genre of game not just H ones).

In a nutshell, you are doing it right! (in my opinion anyway).
- Every battle mechanic, including H attacks matter, so it doesnt matter what the enemies decide to do because it is going to negatively impact me if i suck or make bad decisions. So H away!

Thanks! I think as development progresses the H and battle mechanics will grow into a fairly unique and complex system, and hopefully something worth developing further with an engine that isn't RPG Maker on projects down the road.

 

[ulmf987]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Eromancer, how far do you think you are into development? (talking about the whole project)
Do you believe it's more or less than 25 % completed overall?

Also do you already have a certain target playtime in mind? For example this game would take 5 hours, if you just rushed through it or 10 hours, if you wanted to do and get everything.

Furthermore, do you have any thoughts on a new game+ mechanic? Or perhaps you are free to roam around the world after finishing the main story and wrap up side quests etc.?

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Eromancer, how far do you think you are into development? (talking about the whole project)
Do you believe it's more or less than 25 % completed overall?

Also do you already have a certain target playtime in mind? For example this game would take 5 hours, if you just rushed through it or 10 hours, if you wanted to do and get everything.

Furthermore, do you have any thoughts on a new game+ mechanic? Or perhaps you are free to roam around the world after finishing the main story and wrap up side quests etc.?

If you take into account design then it's definitely greater than 25% complete. The current playtime doesn't reflect that however. Since there's a learning curve for creating content (and it can be expected that more developers will be added), future content will come faster to a point than it has with this release. While that curve has leveled out significantly on the art side of things, there are still a lot of systems left to be designed and implemented. I'm making it a goal with future releases to try to balance new mechanics/systems with playable content / new enemies / H content, etc.

I don't really have a target playtime. I think to fulfill the ideas I have for the story and make it fun mechanically it will be pretty reasonable however. For example, I'm not planning on adding mechanics for a gear upgrade system so that you can upgrade stuff once and beat the game.

I'm definitely into the idea of a New Game + mechanic, though I'd want to add additional H content and make it interesting as opposed to going through the same thing again. This will definitely be something for down the road, as I expect the story content of the game to take some time to develop.

 

[PM21]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Just got the notification from Patreon that the payment was processed. Can't wait.

 

[Allsop2604]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

I just recently changed the email address linked to my Patreon account and believe I missed the email regarding the payment being processed. I've never used Patreon before so I'm concerned there may be something I need to confirm? Or is it just a notification that requires no authorization? Freaking out here - really don't want to miss the demo.

 

[Potato]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

look under payment settings
as for now I only see "total amount to be collected" this means, I guess my payment didn't go trough yet

on the FAQ they said it take a full 72 hour to go trough all pledges on it might take some time before receiving the game

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Alright, time for some feedback.

The characters are beautifully crafted, and while I was on the fence about the map view from the first pictures, it works well enough in motion.

The battles can get pretty hectic, almost uncomfortably so. Main reason for that is that the enemy doesn't slow down when your bar is full, making it really difficult to properly interrupt a grapple attempt. Does lead to plenty of H though. The notes on struggling could be a bit clearer. Am I correct in guessing that you can't escape a grapple when your lust is high enough or the enemy is in the finisher state? Because that's what's been happening to me.

Also, can't find the control panel for the keycard. Any hints?

 

[PM21]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

You have to go back for the panel. You'll also need something else for later.

And for the battle system I'll just say here what I said on Patreon.

We don't know how Lust can be prevented or have its increase slowed, 'cured', how often it can be cured, and what will cure it besides what the game says in the tutorial about stations.
Going up against a group of enemies with high Lust should be seen as a bad idea anyway because it takes around 3 turns to break free from an attack. By the time you break free, another enemy is ready to go. Obviously, this is a problem in the demo because you can't cure Lust, at least not that I'm aware of, but I don't believe it will be such a problem in the full game or even later releases.

I do agree that it should be slowed just a little but that is so people can have a little more time to use healing items or something. I know I got screwed in one battle because i went to use a healing item, but by the time I selected it to use it, the character took a final hit and it was then wasted on the other character or I had to back out, then re-select 'Attack' all while taking damage. But only a little slower and I'd agree that the ATB should stop if both characters are grappled, but only so the player can fully appreciate the images Eromancer spent so much time on (love the little details).

Only real issues I had were navigating the maps as in, just getting stuck on seemingly nothing or it being finicky on where I had to be to walk up or down stairs. Maybe some additional shading to better tell levels of ground apart. Also, shiny objects on the ground could be a little more noticeable, especially when the weather effects are on. It took me a while to find the key item and I had walked past it several times.
I also cannot full screen the window without it flickering, even with 'reduce flickering' on. Same happened when I full screen "Princess Running" and that game is really simplistic so maybe I have an outdated version of the RTP or something. This and 'Running' are the only two games I've experienced that with.

I know this is only .01 and is a fragment of what will become of the project so maybe some of these details are already taken into consideration.
Still very optimistic and excited for the future of this one. I've been following this thread and the Patreon from the beginning and I was not let down. Can't wait to see armor attacks and other variations of attacks by the current enemies, let alone future enemies. Makes me wonder what you haven been hiding from us.

And that final scene with Malise was like you knew exactly what I wanted to see.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Oh, absolutely. Even in this early version, I can see that this game has insane potential.

Thanks for the hint, PM21. Have a rep.

 

[AltairPL]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Damn you both for teasing us non-patreons like this .

@PM21
I probably have the same flickering issue as you, but in every RPGMaker VX/VX Ace game. I have theory what could cause it, but I need to test it first (sadly, my theory was wrong...). In the meantime, you could use soft like this or this to stretch game window (without additional performance hit) - I'm using first one now and not counting one flaw, I'm pretty happy with it. Didn't try second app, so don't know anything about it.

 

[PM21]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Oh, absolutely. Even in this early version, I can see that this game has insane potential.

Thanks for the hint, PM21. Have a rep.

Hope you found everything. I didn't want to ruin it for you but I hope my small gripes helped, too.

I forgot to thank you Altair, I'll have to try those out.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Alright, time for some feedback.

The characters are beautifully crafted, and while I was on the fence about the map view from the first pictures, it works well enough in motion.

The battles can get pretty hectic, almost uncomfortably so. Main reason for that is that the enemy doesn't slow down when your bar is full, making it really difficult to properly interrupt a grapple attempt. Does lead to plenty of H though. The notes on struggling could be a bit clearer. Am I correct in guessing that you can't escape a grapple when your lust is high enough or the enemy is in the finisher state? Because that's what's been happening to me.

Also, can't find the control panel for the keycard. Any hints?

The struggle problem is a known bug, I heavily bug tested the game and pretty much 95% of what's being said in this thread are known bugs that Eromancer's gonna fix for the next release, etc.

The control panel for the keycard, can be found by going down one screen from the starting screen, then exiting on the bottom right of that screen.

 

[Jackson16]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

what do you do at the panels labelled 1-7...unless its the end of the demo?

 

[mayaktheunholy]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Damn you both for teasing us non-patreons like this .

Yeah, some of us can't use Patreon because it randomly rejects certain people's credit cards for no apparent reason.

On that note, when will/is there going to be a public demo?

 

[HentaiWriter]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

what do you do at the panels labelled 1-7...unless its the end of the demo?

It's not the end; it's a bit hidden, but if you go back to the bridge screen where you were ambushed, and check around the dumpsters, you might get a clue

 

[BlockHead]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Yeah, some of us can't use Patreon because it randomly rejects certain people's credit cards for no apparent reason.

I had this problem, kinda, luckily I checked before any payment deadlines. I don't know if I have a solution but this is what I did.

I called my bank and asked if there was any weird activity on my card and they said they had blocked something on it because they thought it was suspicious. Turns out it was Patreon. So I said it was fine and to not block anything with "PATREON RECUR." which I think is what Patreon bill your account as, I can't remember, it's on their website.

Worth a shot. If not write an email to the Patreon guys and call them buttholes.

 

[mayaktheunholy]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

I had this problem, kinda, luckily I checked before any payment deadlines. I don't know if I have a solution but this is what I did.

I called my bank and asked if there was any weird activity on my card and they said they had blocked something on it because they thought it was suspicious. Turns out it was Patreon. So I said it was fine and to not block anything with "PATREON RECUR." which I think is what Patreon bill your account as, I can't remember, it's on their website.

Worth a shot. If not write an email to the Patreon guys and call them buttholes.

Nah, with me it isn't the bank declining payment, Patreon won't accept the card in the first place. I've tried like 5 times with two different cards.
My bank calls for verification if it detects a suspicious charge so I don't think that is the issue.
Supposedly they use Stripe for card processing, which I'm 99% sure I've gone through before without issue, so I have no idea why this happens. Don't have trouble with any other sites.