Unicorn Quest Item Ideas

     What would an RPG be without some way to turn currency into a way to strategize when to heal yourself in combat. There is a quick access bar above the magic bar with 4 slots for your four favorite items. Players can assign what four items they are in the pause menu. There are 16 items in the game and each one can hold up to 99 of any given item.

     Some items can only be found in certain shops. Some are more expensive than others. Some cost certain gem types in one town and other gems in another. I'm trying to make each item special and interesting and the list of items changes frequently as I balance things so the item definitions are not final. The general theme is that tonics restore magic and cupcakes heal you.

Check out the list of all 16 items below the break.

The Gem System

     Gems are used in place of coins/rupees in this game. this was inspired by the colorful gems in Friendship is Magic. It seems to be a colorful alternative to regular bits/coins and by using different sizes I can give each a unique value. I can measure the currency in weight instead of having a separate wallet for each. 

     There's Topaz (1g), Beryl (5g), Garnet (20g), Sphene (35g), and Kunzite (50g). Details on how they work below the break.

Status Report #30

     It feels like only two days worth of work got done in a week. Dropping from 9 hours a day to 2 feels like torture. Homework is killing me when all I can think about is how I could be spending that time doing something that mattered infinitely more. I did get some interesting work-in-progress screenshots of the pause menu though, so catch those below the break.

     Here's what I managed to do in my little work time.

Scrapped: Overmap

     Sometimes removing features can feel just as good as adding them. Shrinking the game's scope to increase feasibility boosts morale and brings the game's release day closer. I was thinking hard bout the pickup and play feel I wanted the other day and felt that getting around the map needed to be faster. If some players are only playing in stretches of 5-10 minutes at a time, there needs to be a fast sort of warping system in place. It'll make dashing out of a dungeon or forest to stock up on items and warping back smooth and quick. Why waste time roaming a map when you can press a button?

     I also wanted to reduce the scope a little. Having a world map means making more sprites, spending time defining a good look for it, and working out how to control Clover on it. Cutting this feature probably saved me a couple weeks of development time. I think the world will feel better as a Zelda style connected whole in the end anyway.

Check below the break to see what I have in mind for the world map and it's varied regions.