Excalistia is a game that I started working on years ago, an RPG concept that evolved and went through several changes and platforms. Excalistia is the game I always wanted to make.
Excalistia is no more.
I've done quite a lot of progress on the latest RPG Maker XP version, enough for the game to materialize and be playable. I played it, and I didn't like it.
At its core, Excalistia tried to be a good
RPG Maker game. That's not a bad thing, there is nothing inherently wrong with RPG Maker itself. It's just that many of its games strive for low standards, and they share the same 'RM Game' feeling. Take
Exit Fate, a polished RPG Maker XP game (and yet another Suikoden rip-off). It's a very good game, but you can easily tell it's an RPG Maker game. It's little things like the way sprites move or how collision is handled, the limitations of the platform are not always visible but they are there. With RMXP you could virtually rewrite everything, something I was working on, but it makes you wonder why you're using RPG Maker in the first place.
I don't mind making RPG Maker games, I've done it for years. Recently however, I've had very little free time. Between work, school, and other things to keep me busy, the time I have to work on Excalistia has greatly diminished. It has become a task, something you do not when you want to, but when you can.
Excalistia was a really big and ambitious project. At my pace, it would have taking a lot of time to be ready. I have little free time now, and I don't want to spend it making another RPG Maker game for the next few years. I don't even want to spend it making RPGs. I didn't like Excalistia, not because it was a bad game, but because it didn't seem worth the effort. If I am going to spend my 'precious' time working on something, I want it to be something better, something different, and something that wouldn't take as much time.
In the end, Excalistia is the RPG Maker 2000 game I wanted to make in 2001. It has changed a lot over the years, but it was still the same concept viewed differently. The focus gradually shifted from being a traditional RPG to having less focus on statistics and more focus on exploration and puzzles. I make games that I would like to play, and I don't really like RPGs anymore (ironic, Mr. RPG). I'm sure many people would have liked the current Excalistia if I did release it, but I wouldn't.
Excalistia is no more. I am working on something new.
I've never been so excited working on a game since I first started working on the old Excalistia. I'm writing down ideas, making a world, sketching concepts. I really love this new game, and I really want to release it.
The new game shares a lot with Excalistia. It will look mostly the same as the screenshots you've seen, it'll use the same resources, and it might even keep the same name (still not sure about that, I'm bad at names). The new Excalistia is a natural progression of old Excalistia's evolution. Make no mistake; the new game is very different.
I will tell you everything about it in future posts, but here are some brief facts about the new game:
- Will use a new open source multiplatform OpenGL 2D engine written in C++ and Ruby, I will still reuse a lot of the Ruby code I wrote for the RMXP version. Once that engine is ready, others can use it to make their own games.
- Excalistia is now an adventure/puzzle/platform game with some role-playing elements (compare to the old Excalistia, an RPG with some adventure/puzzle elements).
- The game stars a zombie that is falling apart, and a sleazy scammer trying to make a living in a post apocalyptic world ruled by trolls from outer space.
- The focus is on gameplay instead of story. I still want to make a realistic world with deep characters and interesting twists, but making a fun game comes first.
- The game will be short; it will also be small in scope. I know this is not a feature, but it means that there is a higher chance of it being released.
What will set this game apart is the gameplay, I could tell you all about it, but there's so much to discuss and it would need another post to explain in detail.
The new Excalistia is still in the planning stage. I want to plan and design the entire game before I start developing. I also want to make sure that I have the skill to realize the vision I have for the game. You might think that this will push the game's release date farther, but I believe that it might be the only way to ensure that it will be released at all. This is a serious project, and I really want to do it right this time. I will not give any release estimation or promises. I do hope to have something solid and presentable next year, but nothing is certain.
Excalistia was never my project alone, and I'd like to thank everyone who contributed over the years. I know I wasn't very good with getting things done, and I apologize for that. In particular, I'd like to thank
Robert Aaron Eason (Willow) and
Shannon Mason (Pongball), two great composers who worked on the game from the very start. There's also
Cesar Rendon (Ocean's Dream) who did the incredible job of producing all the game's tilesets and some sprites as well. Finally there's
that guy who made faces and was working on the intro cutscene, he's a jerk so I won't mention his name here. Like I said, the majority of the old resources will be used in the new game. The gameplay and some story parts might have changed, but the game's spirit is the same. I'm hoping to continue working with these guys, and perhaps some new people as well. This time however, I'll do my share of the project first, and only then ask others for help... I've learned from my mistakes!
This blog will be regularly updated, and by regularly I don't mean the way the old Excalistia blog was updated. As you might have noticed, the old site is down; a blog is more manageable and I can expand the posts into a full site later. If you linked to anything on the old site (including the blog), make sure to update your links. You can still access the old site
here.
*cue comparisons with Duke Nukem forever*
Labels: News
