Game Engine and Scripts

The game engine for Slasher is RPG Maker VX. Don't get me wrong, there's some pretty bad games that've been made and put up on KickStarter. This is from "developers" putting in as little effort as possible, using the default graphics, and using 'retro' a lot. I'm using all of my own graphics. There won't be any default sprites or tiles used.

The scripts I'm using are Requiem ABS (Advanced Battle System) 12 and Modern Algebra's Composite Characters.

Requiem ABS allows RPG Maker games to be action RPGs, similar to Zelda. In other words, it lets you and enemies run around hitting each other, without that whole turn-based thing.

Composite Characters lets characters be extremely customizable, by layering sprite sheets on top of each other. This way you only need to make one sprite sheet for each piece, such as eyes, hair, weapons, clothing, etc, and they get put together. This is how your Slasher character is so customizable.

"But you're just using other peoples' engine and scripts! You're making money off of other peoples' work!" says no one, because there's maybe 2 people visiting this blog per week. Well, hypothetical, imaginary reader, I have 2 counters for that:

I have permission to use the scripts.
and...
Plenty of big games have been built off of preexisting game engines.

At heart I'm an artist. I can only learn so much coding and scripting and there's already free-to-use resources that exist. I do have to still modify Requiem slightly to fit the game. As stated earlier, I'm doing the graphics, among pretty much everything else (level design, item and armor databasing, etc.)

I'm working on this game solo because the more people you need to work on an indie game, the less likely it is to make progress. Some times your lead programmer drops off of the face of the Earth along with all of the code. I'm also a glory hog (not really.) It's really tough to keep wrangling people together while working on your own stuff, especially when they have their own stuff going on.

Here's a generic male character, just to get a rough idea of what the characters are going to look like.

I'm going to be working on a whole ton of options. It's going to be setup a little different than I've seen other games do it. Even though characters are constrained to a 32 x 64 size, I still want everyone to have a lot of control of how they want their character to look, even if it's only a couple of pixels.

Some Game Mechanics

I should probably go into some depth about how you can customize your Slasher character.

First of all, you have a choice of race:

Human

Undead

Spirit
Demon

Werewolf

Vampire
Hybrid

Each race has it's own perks and disadvantages. Next you have a class to choose from:

Prowler

Much like a rouge, the prowler relies on stealth and speed to get the job done.

Brute

The brute class is a generalist class, a Jack-of-all-trades type.

Trapper

Relying less on brawn, the Trapper class is a master of tricks, traps, and ambushes.

Dominator

The dominator class uses less physical means, such as minions, possession, or manipulation of forces.

Rampager
What the rampager class lacks in stealth and subtly, they make up with raw physical power.

When choosing equipment, you have the choice of one iconic item, such as certain masks, weapons, and clothing. An iconic item would have higher stat bonuses than normal items.