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BESSTTSY’S CITY RPG
＊ By Lily (w/ a little from Zoë) ＊
(9/13/26 this is something of a preview of what we’re going to share soon for this game…we’ve done some more with it since we drafted this post…but we want to share what we have here with y'all right now…stay tuned though!! ^^ —zoë)
BACKGROUND
this game is a few different games tied together with placeholders and rpgmaker prefab assets. for a few months in 2022 i was determined to produce some dream game with both a large rambling map that would look good when posted in full, and grinding. i would just walk back and forth on the dauntingly abstract maps in hoshi wo miru hito for an hour every morning going through the motions and would come out with a powerful feeling. i wanted to make something that could channel this feeling- just holding down a button seeing more variations on the same patterns, landscapes of repeating beadwork. the experience of an insect crawling around on a large persian rug. a really stimulating buzz that you are totally lost. the landscape being made up of only several hieroglyphs it all starts to look the same. i made a few attempts over 2022 to make some new maps from this place, and this is one of them.
the intro is admittedly my favorite part, and was actually a totally different thing in 2020 which i then repurposed. it was a short thing i wanted to do for glorioustrainwrecks about the time my elementary school got black mold so for a week we had class in a side-room at a highschool. it was not going to have any combat and mostly just be frentic running around maps. in retrospect i think that approach may have been better. in 2022 however i had my grinding fixation- i wanted to jump right into drawing monsters guys and making dungeon.
PROCESS
V1
the first version i made had first-person dungeons using the plugin “FPLE” to render very basic 3d dungeons in rpgmaker-
unfortunately that plugin would crash the game regularly when entering in combat, and i had some other issues come up with the way i was doing it- a lot of the enemy graphics and tilesets are from this iteration.
if you open the project folder for this game in rpgmaker vx ace, you’ll see all the maps for the earlier version under “Backup”.
V2
i took a break for a week after htiting a point i just felt like i was grinding up against what i could do with rpgmaker vx ace-
after this, i started over again, with a top-down view and more emphasis on the large world map than what i’d already done, and hoped i’d find some way to make use of all the work i’d already done, again. i worked on it for over a month and i do feel good
at least wandering around the first section of the world map is still pretty nice. in a lot of ways i don’t feel like the game is super original but it has some fun ideas and i had a great time making all the little buildings in the city connect up. i have mixed feelings about the end result but actually working on this version was fun while it lasted and hopefully some of it’s still fun to mess around with for awhile.
there’s a lot of loose ends and unfinished bits but just try to imagine something’s there.
AFTERWARDS
after getting bored of working on this game, i moved onto “gilgamesh ii” which is a whole other story but was probably the happiest time i’d had making a game, and is something i do genuinely hope to do more on some day. to close off, here’s a post i made from the time i was working on it
TIPS & TRICKS
SKILLS WITH CLASS
when you exit the bus at the beginning check the main menu for the “class” section. under this, there is a “learn skills” option which opens another menu with a listing of skills you can’t normally get from levelling alone-
as you defeat enemies you get points, which can be spent at this menu to purchase skills.
this is probably one of the most under-utilized parts of what’s in the game but a few important skills are under here, the “erase” skill for artists is probably the best way to defeat the mirror.
to this end, i recommend playing with class
LIVING THE VENDING LIFE
incase you don’t notice it, there’s a vending machine out front that sells lots of items and gear, which is one of only 2 places you can buy things currently. a guy is standing out front who will resurrect and heal your party.
THE JANITOR DROPS REALLY SPARKLE
the janitors can drop the “jumpsuit” armor and “mop” weapon. if you get these most everything in the first dungeon is effortless. using “moldew spray” is also cartoonishly overpowered as-is.
SAVE YE
save regularly!!
P.S. A few words from Zoë
Hey folks. I just wanted to note a few things here.
One of them is that, this very night, I got the FPLE crashing issue Lily was talking about mostly solved.
(more to come later…)