War Guardian Chronicles: Origins and Plans

We haven’t written much about the world of the War Guardians, but this story was actually based on a series of fanfiction that I co-wrote with my Ragnarok Online guildmates. I couldn’t finish the fanfics because there were so many things I wanted to write about, but I got overwhelmed by the words. (I swear there’s a song about this dilemma by Gloria Estefan!) Some writers probably know this problem: that feeling when you want to tell a story but you get so caught up in describing things that you’d lose your train of thought and end up not completing the story. Becoming a game developer later in life solved this problem for me. I no longer have to describe people, places, and events because visual artists and musicians could help me build the world I envisioned without having to use so many words. A game designer like me could just assemble the pieces and then weave, weave, weave. Read More

Prologue: Secrets and Exploits

We’ve already posted a Strategy Guide that was a bit spoiler-free, but we’ve received some valuable feedback from female players who have become fans of Gen and Tauron. Apparently, some of them couldn’t continue playing Prologue: A Guardian Story for fear that they might miss something. So we came up with this secrets and exploits guide in order to make sure that you do not miss anything major.

Not all of the NPC quests are in this list, though. We concentrated on the ones that might be useful to optional boss battles and story routes. Here we go! Read More

Prologue’s Design Process

The funny thing about making games on your own and going indie is the ease with which you’d be planning your first game. Back when I was in my previous studios, we’d have a highly detailed game design document (GDD, that I only read in such a perfunctory manner) before even writing code for that first playable prototype.

As I mentioned in an earlier story, Prologue wasn’t supposed to be Senshi.Labs’ pilot game. It isn’t even supposed to be Senshi.Labs’ flagship title (and it’s still not). I had already written five game design documents last year, one of which was for an MMORPG fanfic I had co-written ten years ago. When I started experimenting with RPGMaker VX Ace (instead of our slow-to-develop home grown engine), I didn’t have the heart to use my original game design document. Prologue had to be my way of testing the waters of indie development. It’s like that first pancake you cook, or the dark slice.

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Prologue: Strategy Guide

Did you know that Prologue has two endings?

Here are some semi spoiler-free tips to help you make the most out of your gameplay.

 

NPCs with portraits.

This is pretty much an unwritten rule for most RPGamers, but for those who are new to the genre, it helps to take note of NPCs that have character portraits. It means that they either give great rewards or they are the keys to unlocking parts of the story branches. Revisit them from time to time or after every major milestone (like getting a new party member or when you feel that your group has become closer). Read More