Mega Man RPG Prototype Game Development

I'm hoping that we'll be able to set up music for any battle while in-game in the final version. MM7 Boss Theme all around.

Buyable Fields? I wonder what this will do...though what purpose really does it serve to give away Field and Fusion Stars? If it's just for Screws...I think I'll hold onto the Stars I collected. For buying abilities, I take it players will finally be able to obtain the Experience, Recovery, and Damage Breakers this way?

@TailMK4
But it seems the stars go for a lot of money in the "Black" Market. If you're ever low on screws.......

@MegaBossMan

*points to the endless items that we can collect, and to his 99 of every item except for Yashichis that he never uses because of stats*

@TailMK4
*Points to the cores you need to eventually get, depending on how easy they are to get....."

Surely you don't need over 1000 stars? Perhaps Missiles can take a few sacrifices?

Anybody notice the mysterious two uncompleted fields in the field database?

Yea, they're in the shops. Crystal Catacombs and Gemstone Cavern.

Odd... the screenshot database seems to have 2 abilities less that the current database

Hey, what's that thing by Copy Shot?

EDIT: Looking at it, I think it might be like Mirror Move or something, letting you do the opponent's last attack.

@Reisrat
Only time will tell.....

@Shadownnico
I think it's only because the new sections just required some new formatting. The robots thread also seems smaller.

@MegaBossMan It's not that, the fields show how many there are of each. The other fields are still the same (124 robots, 20 types and 3 players) but the abilities are now 185 instead of the 187 there are currently.

" Hey!  
Yes, all the fields for "this update" are done.  The two fields you saw were "Crystal Catacombs" and "Gemstone Cavern".  They are not coming in this update but are planned to be released sometime in the (maybe far) future.  I have them entered into the database as placeholders for now in the same way that plenty of unfinished but planned robots appear in the robot database and the same for abilities.  They were initially going to be the "only" fields in the update along with the "Reflection Chamber" (for a total of three) because I thought a Crystal-themed update would be fun... but then I gave in and started doing ALL the MM3 robots instead, leaving  he other two will have to come in a future update.  Getting eight new stages is better then only three, right? :P  
On a related note, the existing "Crystal Cave" stage (Flash Man) has been renamed to "Photon Collider".  Because of the way fusion fields work, each area needs"two" unique words in their name yOuand Flash Man's had two words that (I think) were much better suited to other, crystalline robots (Crystal and Jewel).  I know the later two stages aren't released yet, but I'm trying to think ahead this time.  Naturally, the newly named "Photon Collider" got a"very slight" visual update to make it look more like a tube or tunnel or "collider "and the photon part is already represented by Flash Man himself.  Another stage that was renamed was the "Lightning Facility" which has been corrected to "Lighting Facility" because that makes fore more sense for the bulb-robot Bright Man.  All field and fusion stars will be automatically renamed, so no worries there. ^_^
As for the shop, I have no story-related reasons for them being there yet.  I just felt like they were the most natural choices for what they would be selling and buying from the player and then came up with (maybe temporary) reasons from there.  As I see it, Auto has made himself available in the prototype because he wants to help Light and has an eternal love of screws, Reggae is there because he wants to help Wily and he believes the elemental robot cores are a rare and potentially lucrative item, and Kalinka is there because she wants to help her father and wishes to study the effects of starforce energy and the relationship between battle fields and fusion stars.  The main thing to note is that these three characters are appearing in the prototype as avatars to help the players but are doing so remotely from the outside world.  Auto buys and sells screws and regular items (you can finally do something with your 99 energy capsules!), Reggae buys cores (with at starforce boosted prices!) and sells support abilities (no more battle point unlocks...), and Kalinka buys field/fusion stars (for a pretty penny) but sells new battle fields (MM3!).
Once this update is out, I'd like to crowdsource a better narrative with the community and maybe reframe the game's world a bit.  The characters and themes and battles are already decided by the structure of the prototype itself - we just need to connect those game events to creative and easily understandable plot events.  I don't know exactly how yet, but I'm willing to scrap the current "story" entirely and start fresh if it works with the existing gameplay and characters.  Maybe the "prototype" was actually a joint project between all three doctors instead of just Light and Cossack?  Maybe in this future that we're creating there is an era of (temporary) peace with Wily finally joining the good guys in the name of progressing science?  It would make sense, given that both Light and Wily would go on to create X and Zero who share many similarities in design and AI potential.  Sometime after the plot of this game, Light and Wily could part ways again and/or work on their new AI projects in secret using the knowledge and technology created with the prototype.  And who knows what Cossack ends up doing?  Did we ever find out who built Axl?  Maybe Slur crashes a public battle royal instead of a science convention where the doctors test the capabilities of the prototype by means of a battle competition?  It would explain why all three appear in the game and why Cossack eventually battles Light.  Anyway, I have so many ideas and so many different things that would work, but it's going to take some time before we start worrying about story stuff again.  :|
Gotta go eat now, bye!"

-Adrian

@Shadownnico

What's missing that you can see?

And another Email bites the dust!

" Ah!  I see you found my in-progress screenshots of the database and shops and everything.  :P  Please note that a lot of details were still being worked on and he final product is a bit different.  Here's a more up-to-date screenshot of what I'm working with:

I apologized for revealing the photos too soon and I got a response that reminds you on how nice Adrian is. It doesn't contain much vital information but the new users need to know how nice Adrian is.

" No it's totally fine.  I was actually going to send them to you myself but then I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up before things were finalized so I held off.  Now that things have changes, I hope people are okay with all eight MM3 fields instead of just those six in the screenshot.  But whatever, the updated one shows what I'm working with now so it's a lot more accurate.  The shops have had a few small changes too, but you'll all see when it's done.  :)  But yeah, totally not mad at all.  As long as you guys are okay with it, I think seeing the development process (good and bad) can be a fun experience for everyone involved.  Thanks again for all your support and for keeping me on my toes! ^_^"

Even when I screw up, he's not mad!

I call dibs on Trio Phi so I can make jokes about leg-mounted laser pointers.

There's Solo, Duo Alpha, Duo Omega, Trio Phi, Trio Chi, and Trio Psi it looks like.

Duo Alpha is probably the one we like, and Omega is the one that got blown up. Alpha beginning, Omega ending, yaknow?
For the Trios, Psi as a word is usually in reference to the mind, Chi as a concept is power from the soul, and Phi had a firefly-shark-werewolf guy who was named after it.

And here's another one of the newly starforce-boosted player battles. :)