A Caliross Analysis: Early Attempts And Mistakes (Patreon)

We are back with another look at Caliross and its development! After settling on a general idea, it was time to work on it... Or rather, to practice RPG Maker. There was a brief period of time where I had to familiarize myself with the engine and so I was building prototypes, to see how map making worked, what kind of mechanics I could and couldn't implement... I remember trying a mechanic where during combat you could be hypnotized, so you'd leave the party. I remember that swapping party members mid-fight required more work than I thought, especially as I made it a gradual system (you'd need to be hypnotized multiple times). Still, everything worked as intended. The map, characters and code lived for several years in the game, actually (although not really accessible through normal means). The map was going to be recycled for an island to the west of the continent, but I never added it in the end.

Anyway, I then finally started working on Caliross proper. Those who have been around since the first demo will remember the game didn't have a "fancy" title screen as it does now, the protagonist looked slightly different (it used the default version of one of the characters from a DLC, which actually provides the visuals for several other important NPCs, like Sonya) and there were a lot of missing QoL features (as well as some odd design choices).

I believe the weirdest thing (and an element which stuck around for actually a long time) was the hybrid movement/spellcasting system tied to the mouse. Unlike how it currently works, I wanted players to be able to move and aim spells simultaneously, so the mouse was used to aim spell (and it also allowed you to move). Long story short, it was clunky (although I think it was faster), and it took a while and a decent amount of experimentation to get to the current version. I don't think the current version is perfect, mind you, but it's very straightforward, at least, and it requires a bit more "commitment" so players are disincentivized from spamming most spells looking for interactions.

A regret I have is how I designed the "Detect Magic" spell, though: Later on I got ideas on how to improve it, like maybe making it a toggle so you could go around with it active, or at least the spell should have given you audio cues and a count of the important magical points of interest in the map, so even if you used the spell in the "wrong" spot, you'd still learn there if there was something nearby, reducing the frustration of using it blindly. The spellcasting was (and still is) the backbone for most of the gameplay in Caliross, though, so it was always there since the very beginning.

When the game first launched, it was very bare-bones, visually: I didn't really have money to throw around, and in fact part of the reason to go to Patreon was to make some money to pay for university. Things here went much better than I ever dreamed, however, and while it ended up changing my career quite a bit, the first thing it impacted was how Erica looks: with a budget, I could get her to look unique. I didn't mind the default look of the DLC character I used (in fact, the final version is still based on her), but I wanted something more unique.

I had an idea in mind and I did find a good artist (I think the final result was great), however that period was a complete mess, looking back at it: I had no idea of what I was doing, how much these things costed, and how to handle finding and contacting artists. If I remember right, the original artist stopped replying to me, and I think it was because I had too many requests for the budget (while now I did have a budget, I wasn't immediately making bank, so I was excessively stingy, I think). Well, that was my assumption at the time, at least (I don't know since... Well, she never replied to me XD).

She (I THINK it was a female artist) also didn't speak english very well (and no italian either, so I vaguely remember communication being a little awkward). Anyway, I liked the sprite and the original look, so those were the basis, and I think I added an image for how I wanted the outfit to look and asked her to reimagine the character using her style (I can't remember, but I probably used one of her works on DeviantArt to indicate what style I had in mind). I really liked her work, so I was bummed out I couldn't commission her anything else. Plus, looking for an artist before and after her was no fun (it can be so hard to even get a timely reply, at times). This however did lead me to meet Redjet, who was my first stable artist for a few years and who later introduced me to Shinsaku (and to the joys of not having linguistic barriers XD) who's working with me to this day, so there is that.

As for why I wanted Erica to look that way, part of it was the limitation I had around sprites (not every sprite looked good or unique enough to be used for the protagonist, and at the time I didn't even consider commissioning one from scratch), but generally speaking, I liked the contrast between the purple-ish hair and the green eyes. I wanted her to have nice lips as well and to be pretty without being too outlandish. I also liked the little orange-pinkish dot in the eyes of the sprite, and I even wanted to make it a "hidden trait" of all the shapeshifters in the game (although I don't think I actually edited the sprites, in the end). I guess you could say that look spoke to me.

Anyway, this post is probably too long already, so I'll cut it short for now. Next I'll pick up from here, and discuss in more detail some of the mechanics and level design decisions, and we'll move on from talking about the early days in particular, and perhaps discuss how things evolved in general, when it's relevant. See you guys soon! ^_^