It feels like it has been a lot longer than two months since the last post... Which might be because it has been almost three, now that I think about it. So what have I been up to?
I wrote some play aids for BCG (GM screen, random tables, interactive character sheets) but they feel half done and unpolished. They've been put on the backburner though, because they're a lot less interesting to work on than the things below.
I got RPGmaker (version MV, from 2015) as a gift and have been tinkering with it in trying to adapt BCG's mechanics and storytelling style to a JRPG format. This objective was met with varying degrees of success and at times it seems just plain impossible. I've not given up though, I'm going to keep at it. I do really like the way how much the engine has grown over the years (I used to tinker a lot with RPGMaker 2000 in my early teens) and it seems decently robust. Makes me wish there was a Tactics Maker, I would be all over that.
I've also written the skeleton of another tabletop RPG! This one is about making pacts with monsters and going to battle alongside them, with each player controlling multiple units at once. Think Drakengard meets Shin Megami Tensei. Its a very different game from... Pretty much any other tabletop RPG I've played before. I find myself questioning my usual design methodology fairly often and that makes it a very fun project.
They're very early projects and I can't promise I'll have anything to show soon, but I do want to write about their design process so I'll be updating here regularly about them. Relatively regularly, at least.
Oh yeah and I have to do the BCZ retrospective at some point. That'll happen sometime soon(ish?) too.
Gimmick Out.
Pretty cool that you're doing a video game for BCG. I actually toyed with the idea myself (mostly for trying out builds) but never got around to it. I agree, there should totally be a Tactics Maker.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these ideas sound awesome (those play aids sound cool, too).
ReplyDeleteI've spent quite a bit of time trying to decide how I would want to go about an Shin Megami Tensei tabletop, but without a clear choice that really fits better than the general functionality of something like FATE. I am very interested in where this project goes!
Those new projects sound pretty awesome, but we'd still like those BCG play aids. I'd, personally, especially like some kind of custom weapon guideline.
ReplyDeletePlease don't abandon them!
Right now, play aids are the project I'm least interested in.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I plan to write about all the three projects. After I've done so and explained a little more about them, I could be convinced to make play aids a priority again if people show interest in the idea.
I'm certainly for them when you have the time.
DeleteMonster summoning AND Tactics games? Sign me right the heck up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for the tactics thing, I'm pretty sure someone made some code to do that on VX Ace so probably someone must've made it for MV too.
The last time I looked (around the end of the year) the plugins for that in VX Ace were super buggy while MV didn't have anything yet.
DeleteMind, maybe I just didn't look hard enough. I'll have another go.
It's a shame that Tactics Maker never caught on the way RPG Maker did. The only version that ever came out is super outdated even if you manage to get it to work with a modern OS.