Full Moon - Masked Slayer, A unique community-based game Options

[Midnight Assassi...]

The world moves in a flow,
This flow is vital to the survival of the human race,
Without the flow, we would live in turmoil and horror.

We are only a small part of the flow, but as significant as any other component,
The ants under our feet, the birds above,
They are as significant as we see ourselves to be,

Sometimes the flow can be a harsh thing,
If one is to die, they would simply rot into the ground. Their corpse would nurture the soil for plants to grow,
only for the plants to be eaten by another animal,
That animal would go on to be eaten by yet another animal,
That animal is then hunted as game and makes quite a nice stew for the night's dinner!
*ahem* No matter what we do, the flow continues.
We are a part of the flow, but a small part only.

This flow is vital to our lives,
Our lives are vital to this flow.

'Full Moon' is a community-based series that has been going since the Japanese release of RPG Maker VX, but has never once been finished. Heck, this installment has even just been revamped a while ago!

Storyline
The game begins when a new member to RPG Crisis asks Midnight Assassin about why certain people hold a grudge against him and why others are his greatest friends. He pulls out a scrapbook filled with photos, notes, and mementos. His story begins to unfold...

The game is based around the biggest events from RPG Crisis, RRR, RPGweb, and a few other communities, but is still centred on Midnight Assassin.
Instead of flowing like a regular storyline, it jumps from event to event in chapters.


Features

• Side-view battle system,
• Immersing community-based storyline,
• Online features - upgrade and add features with a few selections, download bug patches and fixes, and recieve the latest news - directly from in-game!
• Advanced systems, such as the unique "Skill Level" attribute.

The "Skill Level" System
In most RPGs, a character must gain EXP/XP to advance to a new level; and sometimes a high enough level will allow them to promote to a new class.
In the 'Full Moon' series, levels are replaced by "skill levels", which work like a fusion of EXP/XP and levels.
If a character reaches a certain EXP/XP amount. they will advance levels. If they reach a certain level and are possessing a certain item, their skill level will be moved up. There is a skill level limit of 3.
Advancing a Skill Level is much like advancing levels, except stats are upgraded dramatically, and new features/spells will be unlocked.
For example, Raian must reach Lv. 10 and possess 'Raian's Crest' to advance to Skill Lv. 2. His level will then be dropped back to 1. To advance to Skill Lv. 3, he must reach Lv. 10 again and possess 'Raian's Seal'.


Online Updates and Upgrades - How Does It Work?
One of Full Moon's most distinctive features would have to be the online updates. All you need to do to fix a known bug or to upgrade the database is go to the menu, choose to update, and after moving the downloaded file to it's respective place, your game will be updated.
But how does it work?

When a menu item is clicked, an RGSS2 script (created by the ever-so awesome Berka of RRR) downloads a file from a remote webserver. This file is a new encrypted game archive containing the eliminated bugs, the new database, and other doodads. Once the file is moved to replace the old archive, all the old bugs and the other outdated doohickeys are gone along with the deleted archive. The new archive is essentially a new build of the game modded to work with the old save files.
An MD5 Hash checksum is also downloaded for those who are paranoid about their download being corrupted.

Every month, the new archive is replaced with a newer one, so if you want to upgrade from Build 1.0 to Build 3.0, you don't need to go through the hassle of upgrading to Build 2.0 first.

The upgrade can be downloaded from the site via your browser, but in-game downloading makes things so much easier.


Characters

Midnight Assassin
Weapons: Knife (Skill Lv. 1); Knife, Sword (Skill Lv. 2 & 3)
Spells: Perseverance (Skill Lv. 1); Flamestorm (Skill Lv. 2); Call of the Wolf (Skill Lv. 3)


Ndrd
Weapons: Axe (Skill Lv. 1 & 2); Axe, Sword (Skill Lv. 3)
Spells: Lock (Skill Lv. 1); Revival (Skill Lv. 2); Flamestorm (Skill Lv. 3)


Lyricalias
Weapons: Tome (Skill Lv. 1 & 2); Tome, Axe (Skill Lv. 3)
Spells: Bolting (Skill Lv. 1); Fusion Strike (Skill Lv. 2); Perseverance (Skill Lv. 3)


Clone
Weapons: Staff (Skill Lv. 1); Axe, Staff (Skill Lv. 2); Axe, Staff, Knife (Skill Lv. 3)
Spells: Lock (Skill Lv. 1); Flamestorm (Skill Lv. 2); Zip (Skill Lv. 3)


Obsession
Weapons: Tome (Skill Lv. 1); Tome, Staff (Skill Lv. 2); Tome, Staff, Knife (Skill Lv. 3)
Spells: Heal (Skill Lv. 1); Mass Revive (Skill Lv. 2); Fusion Strike (Skill Lv. 3)


Raian
Weapons: Sword, Axe (Skill Lv. 1); Sword, Axe, Knife (Skill Lv. 2 & 3)
Spells: Bolting (Skill Lv. 1); Heal (Skill Lv. 2); Shade (Skill Lv. 3)


RKO
Weapons: Sword (Skill Lv. 1); Sword, Tome (Skill Lv. 2); Sword, Tome, Axe (Skill Lv. 3)
Spells: Fusion Strike (Skill Lv. 1); Shade (Skill Lv. 2); Mass Revive (Skill Lv. 3)

FAQs
Q: What's taking you so long?
A: I procrastinate. A lot.

Q: Why have you revamped the game so many times
A: I was never really satisfied with the outcome of my ideas.

Q: What does the poem at the top mean?
A: The poem is taken from the 'Assailant's Code'. This is explained later on in the series.

Q: When can I expect this to be playable?
A: A demo will be released in a few months, but the full game will probably be playable in a year or so.New Note 5

[RATED-RKOFRANKLI...]

I really like the poem. You should use it for every game in the series. The story is very good. I hope it has humor in it. Good Luck!

[Midnight Assassi...]

Oh, don't worry Frank - laughs will ensue!

The poem, as stated befire, was taken from The Assailant's Code, a major part of the series. It gets fully explained in the second installment "Full Moon - Vital Flow", though.

I've been working on the Full Moon series for a year now, but my first game "Ravages of the Moderator" was the brainchild that spawned Full Moon, and this was made back when RMVX was still in Japanese, back when I was known as N00Bmaster64. Ever since the first actual Full moon game, the storyline has remained a "biography sans the reading" except for the 'Full Moon Monogatari' series, but this is the only game that has actually followed a storyline written from scratch. The fact that Full Moon is so freaking old made it all the easier, as ideas have been circulating in my head for years.

[Midnight Assassi...]

Sorry, since Clone removed my server space, the images are gone. I'll get them up later.

[Midnight Assassi...]

Has anyone compressed a large game with VX while managing to keep it encrypted? I may need to borrow your skills.

[Midnight Assassi...]

Here's the title screen so far. I may change the color scheme and title image, but this is it so far.

[Rayzshea]

If you are going to change the title graphic, consider going bolder or more dynamic in the composition. Also, the shine effect on the text gets obnoxious after the word Full.

The premise of the game sounds interesting though.

[Midnight Assassi...]

Uhr, thanks Ray. I'll get to work on it later.

[clone1018]

Here's the title screen so far. I may change the color scheme and title image, but this is it so far.

I am assuming you made this?

[Midnight Assassi...]

Of course, otherwise I'd have credited the original maker.

Edit
Okay, I made the images, but not the script for the custom titlescreen. I never tried to take credit for the script , though. Credits go to Hanzo Kimura of RMVX.net.

[valkill100]

Will you be putting up any in-game screens soon?

[Midnight Assassi...]

Ahh, I'm not that far in yet, Valk.
My time will be kinda restricted, as I'm working on a separate FPS game.

[Midnight Assassi...]

Okay. The images are down - sorry for that. I'll be revamping the entire graphics set as well as switching a few character facesets and charasets.
I'm working on a gameplay trailer as well, so keep tuned!

[Midnight Assassi...]

Reviving with a well-deserved bump. Added a few more playable characters, took a few out and fix'd the images.

[RATED-RKOFRANKLI...]

When will you show us some screen shots? I am interested in seeing your work.

[SwordCake]

Looks pretty interesting.
Hope that it goes well.

P.S. LOL at the EC's banblade.

[Midnight Assassi...]

@SwordCake - Goes well? Ha. I've been working on this series ever since VX first came out in Japanese. I've stopped and started production for years now, and IGM is finally out. Heh, better speed up!

I even got an achievement for being a shitty RMer!

[Lyric Induced]

Whoa, how do you make those achievements? Is there some sort of achievement generator? *google*

[Midnight Assassi...]

No, I actually created them in Photoshop - like a proper artist.

On another note, I'll be putting more time into this project, now that my copy of Source has been stolen.

[Lyric Induced]

Well, being a proper artist isn't exactly taking someone else's art and changing it...

Wait a sec, how did your copy of Source get stolen? Is the "Source" content on a disk or something?