It's better than nothing at least! It's kinda crazy though, this means that their excuse about copyright or whatever was basically just a lie, I guess? Definitely feels like too little too late considering they've successfully ticked off basically the entire community, but at least we got ourselves a small win!

Hey everyone, I'm Sawyer!
Wow, it's been a long time since I hung out on a forum like this. I know that this forum exists in part as a substitute for the defunct RPG Maker Forums, which I used occasionally, but way back in the day I used to spend way too long on sites like this one. I've been kinda hoping the world could return to an era of forums, perhaps it's time to be the change we wanna see in the world. I imagine there aren't many folks here yet, but it's nice to see you guys!

@LumiTDog said in Happy to see a forum again:

@sawyerfriend One of the hardest parts about integrating into a forum (or any social platform really) is finding the threads where I actually feel like I have something to say, and I'm not just forcing myself to speak artificially. I think a smaller size will definitely help with that.

Oh yeah, I'm 100% the same way. I'm also thinking it'll help if I contribute a bit as well, honestly the old forums were so big and fast that I assumed anything I had to say had probably already been said before, but here I know whatever posts I make will be fresh, so I'm going to try to share some of the tips I've accumulated over the years.

Silver Daze

Silver Daze is a 2025 JRPG where you collect cards and battle monsters to save a fractured world. This is my third feature length video game, and I'm very proud of it!
Check it out here!

This title also has a Discord Server!

What is Silver Daze?​

Silver Daze is my third full-length RPG that follows the adventures of soon-to-be high school graduate Pinn and his friends as they navigate the remnants of their fractured world! The game is developed in a fusion of RPG Maker MV and MZ (referred to internally as MX!)

Along the way, you'll collect hundreds of cards to use in battle against monsters and fend off the mysterious masters of this world known as the Wardens as you explore different zones and uncover the mystery of what has happened to your world and who is behind it!

Those familiar with my work know that I like to create unique and strategic battle systems, and Silver Daze introduces a mix of familiar mechanics from Axial and my jam games, alongside brand new twists on classic RPG formulas.

In Silver Daze, each character is given a colour, and can equip any card in the game which enables the use of that skill. The kicker is that cards matching the user's colour cost half the MP to use!

This system can be compared to Final Fantasy VII's Materia system, if individual characters had "specialties" that they were especially proficient in: imagine if Yuffie were better at utilizing Yellow materia, while Cloud prefers Blue! This system enables a lot of depth in customization within the party, while ensuring each character's individual strengths and playstyles still shine through!

Alongside the card system, each character has an individual Special attack tailoured to their playstyle. This attack restores a bit of your EP, allowing you to regain resources and control your gauge, but there is also a secondary feature: every Special becomes stronger the closer your EP gauge is to the middle!

In other words, it is not through keeping your EP as high or low as possible, but rather by threading the needle and maintaining it in the middle, that you can truly get the most out of your skills!

Silver Daze is even Archipelago compatible! You can learn more about that here!

We worked super hard on this game, and I hope any new players enjoy it!

Watch Here!

A few months ago I participated in a program called The Artist's Way, which is a 12 week program meant to improve your mentality around art. During the first week I was asked to live out an "alternate dimension" version of myself, so I decided to play out a universe where I became a Youtube Video Essayist instead of a game designer. This is the result!

I have a lot of passion for game design and ecosystems and I feel I appreciate these things in a way others often overlook, so I'm really proud of this! I didn't want to get hung up about numbers and views and all of that, so I published it on my alt account where I've done very little substantial work, and it ended up getting a modest following.

If you have any interest in Kingdom Hearts or video game ecosystems, I think you'll really enjoy this!

@LumiTDog said in Happy to see a forum again:

I've never been particularly active on forums (bar one example) but that is a change I'm trying to make. Hopefully this can be one of the places I integrate into my efforts

Honestly I think the fact that we're here at the start when there are only like 20 guys will help a bit, since activity will be slow to begin with rather than a constant barrage of activity. I think as time as the forum grows we'll be able to slowly adapt and keep up with the new posts as they come in!

It's a pleasure seeing you here, Lumi! I can vouch for Vagrant Shifter, it's a very cool game and I eagerly await its full release!

@DecentTreatment said in Archipelago:

That list should be bigger tbh. I feel like people just don't know about it or how to use it! Was it relatively simple to set up?

Tragically, it was not simple to set up. Potentially the hardest thing I've ever done in RPG Maker, although to be fair a good chunk of that is due to it being RND, as you can see not many people have attempted it so I had to learn on my own.
The original plan was my dedicated programmer would figure it out, but he was completely baffled by it! Not his fault, he's a much better programmer than me but simply doesn't know Archipelago very well. However, I'm glad he gave up on it, since it forced me to hunker down and figure it out myself. It took about two months of dedicated work.

But the good news is that now that I know how it works, the process is much, much easier for future games, and I was able to get a working jam game made in about three days. It remains a lot of effort; no matter how good you are, there's no avoiding needing to register and index every single instance of an item pickup in your game, as well as the surrounding game logic (e.g. you need Surf to enter Cinnabar Island), but that's mostly tedious work as opposed to intellectually difficult, after you figure out how to get it compatible. Now that I've crossed the line, I hope more devs can benefit from all that work!