With the Party-Based RPG Fest going on, I felt like it was a good time to make a post about some of the new content we've been working on with Trope Tales.
To start: as I mentioned in our last post, game development has been very slow. Most days recently I can't boot RPG Maker MZ, and when I can it's for an hour at most.
I say "we" and "our" a lot, so I'd like to be a bit transparent about who I'm letting down with my constant inability to finish this game. As I've been talking about Trope Tales with my friends and family for the last 7 years, a number of friends have had creative input ("you should add this!" or "I tried your demo and didn't like that"). I've also put my wife in charge of nearly all marketing (she runs our Facebook ads and monitors the feedback form to tell me when we get a new entry). I also have several friends who have asked for voice acting positions in the game. You've already heard some of their talents with QuestGiver, Princess, and OCG. There are more voices planned, and I have lots of friends messaging me at least once a month to ask me when I'll have voice lines for them. My sister-in-law has also done some ad hoc art for us: giving us some custom map sprites, character sprites, and cards. On top of that there are the music and animation packs that were purchased from third party artists.
So I say "we" as a reminder to myself and others that few things in life are done entirely alone. Trope Tales may be "my" baby, but it's "our" project and we're all in it together.
To that end, there's one other very important person I would like to include in "we":
All of our wonderful fans who have submitted feedback about our game!
We really do value and read every single line of feedback. We also read every comment on our Facebook ads (and respond to nearly all of them!)
It's because this valuable feedback is what has kept us going that I wanted to take this moment to thank our fans.
Feedback Heard
We already made one post back in April about a handful of changes that were brought to the game as a direct result of feedback:
Kidnapper's Tower bugs fixed
Spell scroll bugs fixed
Bosses re-balanced
Mentor added for people just here for the story
Scan skill added
Starting accessories added
etc
After these changes the feedback has been largely positive. There have been a few suggestions which we're either planning to implement, have implemented already, or are seriously mulling over.
Unfortunately, we will not be changing Obligatory Cat Girl's gender. I'm sorry to disappoint.
New Content
While it's unlikely we'll be updating the demo before our final release, there is still new content being added behind the scenes! I just wanted to share a glimpse as what's coming next.
Following the defeat of the Second Villain, you can return to your castle where you'll find a new warp crystal waiting for you to take you to: Eternia, the lost land.
As you know, ancient technology is better than modern technology. This once great city fell to an unknown cataclysm many years ago. All that remains are the ruins of a lost city, still patrolled to this day by sentinel robots. Perhaps the Hero and his party can figure out what happened to this great land and unravel the mysteries of Storyland!
You will be joined in the next chapter by The Lancer, Hero's childhood friend and foil:
You may also discover a quirky little robot friend running around in the rubble. Or not. Maybe you were imagining things.