HI everybody,

I know I haven't been on in a while. A LONG while. And I apologize about that. I've been hitting a few rough patches in life lately and, unfortunately, they've all demanded a lot of time from me. For those who don't know, I'm currently a First Lieutenant in the Army and it's just fucking stressful and seldom rewarding. And to top it all off, I have women troubles. And bills. SO MANY BILLS.

What I'm trying to say is that my life is a mess.

ANYWAYS, what I want to throw out there is that while my dream has been, and still is, to make games for a living, the truth of the matter is it's going to have to wait till - at the very least - I'm done playing soldier. I just don't have enough time. That being said, I just wanted to thank everybody that's been a fan of mine over the past few years and know that it because of you that I want to return to this profession one day. THANK YOU ALL. You've been great at keeping me motivated and helping me develop as a game designer. Maybe one day, if I can ever assemble a team of dedicated professionals, we're going to create the best FRIGGIN RPG ever made. PROMISE.

Thank you all, everybody. It's been my pleasure =D
- Allen "Chamber" Royston

P.S. - If you ever see me on the street, say hi! That's me ;)

FINALLY! WHOOOOOO! TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING! Even though it's just a demo, it's a pretty damn epic one. Thank you to everybody who's emailed me and supported me along the way. Hopefully people will like it and I can concentrate on actually finishing Chapter 2.

-Chamber

P.S. - IT'S DONE, SON!

Oh man, I'm sooo sorry to everybody who's been waiting for this game to come out. I know it's been a long time. Truth is, a few months ago, my (ex) girlfriend of four years left me for somebody else. It's a little more complicated than that (there was also a marriage proposal, followed very quickly by a rejection), and well... it's just been been a painful, horrible soul-crushing event for me, and it's taken me months to even get to the point where I feel like anything but shit.

ANYWAYS.

The bad news is I'm still nowhere near finished with this game (storyline wise) and it still needs a lot of polish. The GOOD news is that I'm just about finished putting together a demo and it will be RELEASED BY THE END OF THIS WEEKEND. While the demo itself is still incomplete, truth is I need to push out SOMETHING or else I'm going to be completely demotivated to finish it. There have been a lot of substantial changes, so along with being an exhibition of sorts, it'll be a good way to test it for bugs and spelling/grammar errors. I remember when Chapter 1 initially came out, I was patching that bitch for damn near a month straight. Ugh. That was rough.

Anyways, as always, thank you everybody for your patience and support. I really, really can't thank you all enough.

-Chamber

*UPDATE NOVEMBER 28*
- So it's Sunday now and I said I'd be finished. Good news is the demo IS FINISHED and it works (as far as I can tell) like a smoothly lubricated sex robot. The only thing I need to do is edit and swap out the music. Then bang. Done. Should be up by tomorrow evening. If the demo works without too many problems, I'll move onto actually finishing the Chapter 2. Woot!

Hey guys, first and foremost - thank you for all the support over the past few months. I made a few videos showcasing some of the progress that's being made on Chapter 2. Admittedly, the videos aren't the greatest quality (I can only record at 45fps - the game itself runs at 60fps), so it looks a bit rough. Trust me when I say it runs a lot smoother.

Here's a sample of the battle system:

.
/* */
</div>

The menu system (which has awesome music):

.
/* */
And more battles!

.
/* */

Hey everybody, sorry I've been absent for so long. Being an LT in the Army is something of a... how shall we say this - a time suck. In other words, the days are long and the spare time is fleeting.

On the plus side, all the hard parts are finished. ALL OF THEM. And it fucking took forever. To recap:

The upgrade system: DONE.
The battle engine: DONE.
Sprites animations: DONE. (Mostly, like 85% done)
The platform engine: DONE.
Item/Weapon creation system: DONE.
Everything else: MOSTLY DONE.

The only things left to make unfortunately take a lot of fine tuning, namely the story and level design. And I'm in the process of putting together a test demo for balancing issues. I know I've been saying that for months now, but I really mean it this time. The new battle engine is REALLY damn cool but I'm sure the Upgrades need some tweeking. Give me one more month and it should be put together.

P.S. - I just wanted to thank Laughinbox for supplying me with item/weapon descriptions. It was a massive task and it took him months, but he came through and saved me a ton of time. And again, thank you to everybody who has left me feedback the past year or so. This game (when it is finally finished) is for you. =D

So it's been a while NG. Sorry about that. Lots of "real world" things that are getting in the way of my masterpiece. Before I talk about that, though, let's cover what's been done and what's left to do before MMX RPG Chapter 2 is ready for launch.

- BATTLE ENGINE: The engine is FINALLY finished. It's a touch of WoW, old school FF, and Breath of Fire all rolled into one. The challenge I found in developing this new system was in how to convert the massive amount of information available to the player into a clean, cohesive interface. The extra complexity in the game made this overhaul an absolute must, since fights (specifically boss encounters) require some deep levels of strategy.

- ITEMS/WEAPONS: Chapter 1 had approximately 25 items and 75 pieces of equipment; Chapter 2 has approximately 80 items and 350 pieces of equipment. Much of the equipment can be bought at a store, but a variety of the new weapons must be created. That brings me to...

- BUILD SHOPS: By collecting SCHEMATICS scattered throughout the game, you'll be able to create new items and equipment. Winning battles automatically produces SCRAP, and scrap will allow you to create new stuff. The only thing I need now are some weapon descriptions. IF ANYBODY IS CREATIVELY UP FOR THIS TASK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!
- IMPROVED INTERFACES (all around): I've spent most of my time improving and fixing the glitches people reported in Chapter 1. I've nailed about 99% of them and made some much needed adjustments.
- NEW PLAYABLE CHARACTERS: Dynamo and Sigma are intricate to the storyline in Chapter 2, bringing the total cast of playable characters to 5. Speaking of which...

- NEW PLATFORMING ENGINE: So admittedly, I was never really satisfied with my original platforming engine. It was glitchy. Inconsistant. And you couldn't wall jump. Well guess what: that has all been added. Wall climbing and double jumping ARE BACK BABY! Whoo!! And it's silky smooth. I redid the entire engine from scratch, so now it plays like a Megaman game should.

So that's all the things that have been accomplished. I still need to do the following things:

- REDO THE ANIMATION:Chapter 1 was, in my opinion, great, but not very efficient when it comes to memory storage. A lot of this was because how the character animation was done. I've fiqured out a method that lets me animate the same character with the same amount of detail at only 1/4 the memory usage, but it also means I have to redo all the animation. Its a gigantic pain in the ass, and it's unfortunately going to take me weeks to complete.
- REDO THE EFFECTS:Same as the characters. If anybody wants to help me in this department, I could really use it. Things like fireballs and explosions and the like.

- REDO THE SOUND:Thankfully, I don't have to redo all of them. I've though about doing some voicework for this version, but that ultimately comes down to how much space I have left after everything is said and done.

- CUTSCENES: Okay, so I'm not an animator, but I could really use the help of an animator in creating story cut scenes. Or at least somebody who can draw so we can fill the story with pictures and text. If there's no volunteer, I'll figure something around that. But still, an animator would be great...

- LEVEL DESIGNS/STORY:Once the animation and everything else is complete, I'm going to really start hammering out this story. Needless to say, it'll be less ridiculous then FFXIII. Which probably isn't saying much. Seriously - Lighting is a female version Cloud; Vanille is a stereotypical Japanese female teenager; Snow is whinnier/brawnier version of Tidus, and Hope is an emo/younger version of Squall. Godamnit Squareenix, my patience for your predictable stock characters is running thin.

Anyways, that's all for now. LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN HELP!

Hi everybody! I hope you're all enjoying the New Years (even though it's almost February).

Hey, um, listen. I know I said I'd be almost done about this time, but I've hit a few delays. The first of which is the job and the second of which is the amount of improvements I'm making. Unfortunately I can't negate the first one, but I can assure you that the improvements are well worth it.

Since the battle mechanics are finished, I've moved onto the platforming aspects. In the previous game, collision detection was spotty, some people got shoved off the screen, and a few other oddities persisted even after patches. This has been fixed completely. I actually redid the entire platforming code (a few times actually - ARGH! - so painful!) so it's pixel perfect now. Main characters can now wall jump (woot!) and double jump, and probably do a few more things when I'm done. But most importantly, the platforming aspects that make Megaman a Megaman game will be better applied.

Again, sorry this is taking so long to push out. You have to keep in mind that I'm kind of making three separate engines at once: an RPG engine, a platformer engine, and a i/o engine. But progress is being made!

Hello everybody! I just wanted to say, first and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEARS! Looks like humanities made it another year without (sadly) a zombie rampage. I guess that deserves some sort of celebration. Well. Unless you're a zombie. Then it's just not a good year for you.

UPDATE NEWS: WHAT'S NEW IN CHAPTER 2

FIGHT ENGINE - To get the ball rolling, I want to announce that I've fully revamped the battle system for Chapter 2. While it still retains it's core design, I looked at how many people were playing the game and made a lot of modifications. Aside from cleaning up the interface and making it more, how shall we say, "elegant", a LOT of my focus has been geared towards providing essential information without cluttering up the already packed display. As you can tell from the screen shot, buffs and afflictions (as well as other information) is now packed nicely in the corner, and with the mouse, you can view what kind of buffs/debuffs are affecting your party members just by going over them. Like in WoW. (Yes, I shamelessly stole a good idea when I saw it). Also note that strengths and weaknesses have now been compacted and moved to the left corner, just near the HP bar (which was also redesigned). There are also new and varied types of SUPPORT characters.

I worked on more than just aesthetics, though. A lot of improvements are "under the hood", so you'll get a chance to try it out when I release a test demo (hopefully) sometime in the next two weeks. I need bug testers to week out anything I might have missed.

TALENT POINTS - As I've already announced, there are now over 75 UNIQUE upgrade points. A lot of them are damn cool and I spent an entire week (this week in fact) finalizing them and making them all really useful. Some modify existing skills, some affect the entire party, some boosts stats. It's really a fun gimmick and makes this, in my opinion, one of the most - if not THEE most - sophisticated Flash RPG ever made. Yes, I'm making that claim. It's going to be awesome.

WEAPON / ITEM SYNTHESIZING - This was a feature I wanted to do for Chapter 1, but I didn't have the time to implement it. But now it's ready. After battle, you'll often find SCRAPS. By finding "Schematics" littered throughout the game world, you'll be able to create new weapons, items and armor from existing gear.

Well that's all for now. I'll try and have a playable "test" demo out within the next couple of weeks. I'm sure there's a few bugs that need to be panned out. Oh, and this is for my fans - THANK YOU SO MUCH for your patience and support. It means a lot to me that I still get the occasional email asking me when Chapter 2 is coming out - and I promise it's coming! As you may or may not know, I recently graduated from OCS and I'm currently Lieutenant in the Army. Sometimes I have a lot of time for hobbies like this, and others... well, you know. But again, THANKS for being my fans. i won't let you down. =D

Tier 3 UPGRADES (subject to change):

DIGITAL LEARNING: Increase the amount of XP and SXP your team earns by 2/4/6%.
SPOILS OF WAR: Chance to find twice the amount of scrap after battle than normal.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE: --
COHESION: --
CHAIN REACTION: Longer combos increase damage done.

BATTLECRY: The entire team has their damage increased by 5/10/15%.
NANO SHIELDING: Restore 5/10/15% of your total HP when blocking.
STATIC DISCHARGE: Deals damage when attacked.
RECYCLIST: Items used in battle are turned into scrap.
TREASURE HUNTER: Enemies drop more exotic types of loot more often.

PRUDENT: Inventory sold at shops are 20/40% cheaper.
BLOODLUST: Recover HP after destroying an enemy.
WHITE BLOOD: Poison now heals HP instead of draining it.
TACTICIAN: Increase all stats by 1/2/3%.
BUSTER BOOSTER: Buster attacks cost 2% of your SP, but increase the overall damage by 5%.

SECOND WIND: If an attack defeats the player, SP is drained instead of HP, therefore preventing a KO.
SUBSTITUTE: If there's not enough SP to cast a tech, HP is taken instead.
KILLER INCENTIVE: Critical strikes increase all party members ready bar.
SHOTGUNNER: Improve damage caused by ALL-ATTACKS by 25/50%.
COMRADERY: Heals are increased by 8/16/24%.

As you can tell, I still have a few slots left to add more UPGRADES. If you have any suggestions for any good ones, let me know.

Tier 2 UPGRADES (subject to change):

REDIRECT: ARMOR rating increases your POWER by the same amount.
KINETICS: ABSORB rating increases your CHARGE rating by the same amount.
MENTAL CAPACITY: SP is increased by a percentage of your HP.
IMPROVED REGEN: REGENERATE command also cures poison/blindness.
IMPROVED RECHARGE: Improve the amount of SP regained with the RECHARGE command by 25/50%.

IMPACT: Your melee attacks cause extra damage.
BARRELS OF WIN: Your buster attacks cause extra damage.
BACKSTAB: Causes extra damage when attempting to steal.
PRIMER PLUS: Damage caused by Primer Attacks are increased by 10/20/30/40/50%.
UNLOAD: Melee/buster attacks deal more damage based on aggro. Each attack decreases aggro.

IGNITE: All fire-type attacks BURN the target, increasing damage caused by fire damage.
LOCK-ON: Each successful fire-type attack increases the chance to crit. Effect stacks.
ROBOT VITAMINS: The duration of afflictions is decreased.
BIOMETRIC SCAN: Enemies that are scanned receive 10/2030% more damage.
BESERKER FURY: The more aggro you have, the less damage you take.

MOMENTUM: All wind-type techs have a chance to bestow HASTE to the caster.
FIGHTIN' DIRTY: All wind-type techs have a chance to BLIND the target.
CRYSTALIZE: All ice-type techs have a chance to SLOW the target.
COLD FUSION: Tech costs are reduced 10/2030%.
POWER SURGE: Techs do twice the damage, but also cost twice the SP to cost.

ENFUSION: HEALING rating increases FOCUS rating.
RESIDUAL HEALING: The caster regains a portion of health after healing another friendly target.
BATTLEFIELD MEDIC: Aggro generated by heals are reduced by 30/60/90%.
SPARK OF LIFE: When a heal crits, a percentage of SP is refunded to the caster.
IMPROVED SUPPORT: Increase the damage/heal effect your support unit does by 20/50%.