Review for:
Fabrication (https://store.steampowered.com/app/916210/Fabrication)
Developer: Harry Gill
Publisher: Harry Gill
Type: 2D Turn-based RPG
Release Date: 11th December 2020

Despite a lengthy development and statements from the developer, Fabrication proved to be a more dividing game than White Pearl.

Opting for a more linear and focused approach to the game’s story, Fabrication only features 3 (huge) towns and has a much smaller world than it’s predecessor. Not only that, but the game employs level caps and content gating by chapter, a design choice which alienated many RPGMaker players, citing it to be a too linear experience for their tastes.

While White Pearl had it’s linear moments, it made up for this with it’s huge world, significant cast and great ambition that didn’t always hit the mark.

However, Fabrication feels like it wasn’t made with the same gusto as White Pearl – it feels stagnated and constrained, as if the 15 hour storyline wasn’t short enough for an RPG; it feels purposefully lengthened, like the plot was stretched thin.

Different Style has Merits

With all this said, you might think the game to be a major disappointment in comparison to White Pearl.
But Fabrication is not disappointing – it is just very different. It’s as if it is entirely disconnected from White Pearl and tries to be a different style of game, but with being developed on 9-year old hardware, with no on-demand team, it is clear that Harry soon reached his limits in development of this game and did what he can to finish it – as the game could be so much more, but it instead ends up between this limbo of turn-based RPG that feels like it gave up on ambition and the game is just a device to tell the story.

The developer himself admitted it – initially the game was going to use a real-time battle system, but soon thought it was too difficult to implement and would take too much time, so he settled for minor innovations on the combat system like the combo system and Team Attacks, which are fine additions, but the battles end up feeling too much like White Pearl’s in the grand scheme of things.

One remarkable area where Fabrication improves over White Pearl however is with the cutscenes, story, dialogue and exposition. Dialogue is candid, short and full of emotion. Through clever use of facial expressions, timing and text boxes, I found myself being drawn into the story when the gameplay failed to hold my attention. Characters feel as real as they can be with distinct differences and habits they are known for.
For example, Crimson is a woman who is hell-bent on revenge and that is something consistent from beginning to end, but she has her own fair share of character development with heartfelt moments with her would-be nemesis Sarah, all the character developments happen as the complex of the experiment project and The Government (yes, that is capitalised) unfolds.
When first looking at the plot, I thought it would be a rip-off of Final Fantasy 7, but quite refreshingly, the plot does not segway into ‘save the world’ nonsense, rather the themes of the story are all about closure and coming to terms with reality.
Sarah, meanwhile, is perhaps the most memorable character in Fabrication’s sadly tiny cast. It is clear where Fabrication excels is in the dialogue, story and cutscenes.
Would that the rest of the game be as enjoyable as watching sprites on a screen, but if the game was not to suffer from a lack of ambition in the first place, then it would suffer from a lack of budget.
Perhaps a testament to Fabrication’s strong writing is an area that was literally cut as a wall of text, as Harry himself admitted. It was almost like a text adventure – yet my favourite part of the game.
Through the use of sound effects, meandering text and thought-provoking writing, I found myself completely immersed as if I was watching it play out on screen.

Perhaps Fabrication could’ve fared better as a book rather than a game, but not all is so bad – areas are crammed with detail, NPCs, sidequests, and are complemented by a suitable soundtrack and background sound to immerse you in the world. But all too often I found myself treading through the same areas again and again, secretly longing for a world map and expansive world like White Pearl. Fabrication feels like half of the RPG it should be, but what it’s trying to be does not fit on a game engine like RPGMaker, one could say.

Back to the combat, although the random encounters are short and satisfying, I couldn’t help but feel limited by only 3 characters in battle, out of a cast of 4 – compared to White Pearl’s 4 battle characters out of a cast of 12. If Fabrication had ‘guest’ characters like White Pearl did, perhaps battles would be more enjoyable. And perhaps it would give the plot the extra padding it needs with the introduction of more characters over an abundance of sometimes interesting but mostly rote sidequests.

Weirdly enough, for it’s otherwise strong story, the game flounders in non-sensical rambling by the end which I doubt many could make sense of. It felt so purposefully forced that I couldn’t help but wonder if it would continue on in DLC or as an update to White Pearl, but with developer support ending in March 2021, that will not be so.

All Good Things Come at the End

Perhaps most to be praised when looking at the difference with White Pearl is the wealth of content available to the player at the end of the game. With the Arena, new items and weapons, new areas, and working towards the strongest items in the game, I felt like I was having the most fun by the final five hours. It is clear a lot of effort went into this content and is a good breath of fresh air from the otherwise suffocating linearity and forced line-up of the other 80% of the game. Not only that, there is over 50 Steam achievements to collect with a good amount of side content and activities to do. Series fans will be happy with this aspect that is vastly improved over White Pearl – White Pearl offered little to no side content.

Another thing to be commended on is the baffling lack of bugs. White Pearl had the contender for most buggy RPGMaker game ever, infested with bugs even years after release, yet just after one patch, Fabrication is stable.
This quality assurance through the limited means of the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be praised, especially with QA team consisting entirely of part-time volunteers. At the end, this came down to Harry’s detail and time with QA.

Conclusion

It is clear, like White Pearl, Fabrication has ambition.
But unlike White Pearl, Fabrication feels unfinished in the best sense of the word, like a part of what the game could be has been cut short in favour of ending the already significant development time of two and a half years.

For every merit Fabrication has, it comes at the cost of gameplay of ‘fun factor’, the most important part in a video game. Every design decision is questionable. Perhaps where Fabrication can be compared to the most is Final Fantasy 13, a game that was met with similar divide in the fanbase. Yet Fabrication does not have enough quality and pros it needs to keep itself from sinking into the sea of obscurity, which is shame, since the story told here is powerful.

With the amount of updates and (finally), the addition of a quest log, you’re better off playing White Pearl – it’s free, complete and works well within the RPGMaker genre.
Only buy Fabrication if you are absolutely desperate to see more of White Pearl’s lore and world, disconnected as it is.

There is no denying the development of Fabrication was turbulent and fraught with doubt, nearly being cancelled, but the developer pulled through and, for better or worse, released a memorable story to the world.

The Verdict

Fabrication is a departure from the developer’s work on White Pearl, yet adheres too closely to it’s outdated design philosophy, stinting the possibility for engaging gameplay in Fabrication. At the very least, I enjoyed the story and world, small though as it was. It is a game that appeals to a niche of a niche.

Score: 7/10.

+ Unique plot
+ Strong writing
+ Good difficulty
+ Lots of fun activities to do before the end of the game
+ Overall a commendable last effort for a developer, a game which has soul and funny moments
– Overall lack of ambition or innovation
– Gameplay fails to excite or hold attention
– The world and story feels too small
– Linearity & level caps feel artificial

Disclaimer: These questions have been compiled from people who usually ask me these questions.

You’re building up quite the series. Can you give me some background onto how you became a game creator?

As a kid, I always played video games and watched my parents play video games. I started getting invested in racing games, but then my mother picked up this game called Lost Odyssey and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and I really enjoyed watching her play these games as well as playing them myself. I would constantly ask her if she’s playing Oblivion because I would always get the map out and guide her on her quest (laughs).

Growing up, it was difficult. So games were a great form of escapism for me. Over time, I grew out of racing games like Forza Motorsport and I got really invested into RPGs, specifically the Final Fantasy series. Of course I enjoyed Lost Odyssey, but I was around mid-teens then, so I really enjoyed playing Final Fantasy 13 more as that was my first action game. My first FF games were Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection on PSP and the XIII trilogy. I also sunk hundreds of hours on Dissidia on the PSP too.

Early on I decided I want to become a games designer, I was around 15 years old or so, and I would look for game creation tools. RPG Maker caught my eye, I looked up tutorials on the net to drive me forward and ever since then I’ve been making games via self-taught skills on how to use the engine to make a game.

Did you always aim for being a games designer to be your career?

Initially, yes. I studied related subjects like Computer Science at school and Games Design throughout the rest of my teen years. I do have some experience working in the industry, and I have touched a lot of different games, but this year I decided to seek a different career path that will allow me to learn new things. To put it simply, I want to expand my horizons. Because games are very big nowadays, the skill required to make them is massive. I do not have what it takes to become an actual working game developer who writes in C++ or C#, and my proficiency with Unreal and Unity is very lacking. How I make games is entirely different to how the industry makes them. And so I clashed with that a lot. I’ve decided to branch out my skills a bit more and I’m currently working as a software debugger for a tech company in London. This means I’m starting my career path from scratch, but with two games going forward and a decent amount of experience… Maybe someday I will return.

I see, so the life of study wasn’t for you then?

Absolutely not. I look forward to more tangible, achievable things. You could say it is a matter of preference, but I think it’s my personality. Ever since I released White Pearl, I’ve noticed that I’m not patient. I have to get things done and I need to do it now! (laughs) I don’t like taking orders. But that’s something I’ve had to learn recently. I’ve yet to start this new job, but even though it’s not games design related, I feel happy about it. I’m looking forward to it. I just really enjoy… working. The grind of developing these games and seeing it come to fruition, all the problems and the solutions I’d come to… its satisfying. Not necessarily enjoyable all the time, but satisfying. I just like working, I have a pretty hard work ethic, and I do need to tone it down because even on weekends I’ve been testing and developing stuff. Once I get more of a balance I’ll be fine. (laughs)

I still can’t believe you’re able to develop huge games like this. It must take a lot of determination.

I know how you feel. Yeah, when I look at games, I’ve always thought the amount of work developers put into it. I’m the type of gamer to zoom in on every texture and be okay with pop-ins and stuff. I just respect developers a lot. So I end up enjoying games a lot more and having little to complain about them.

But, yeah, I’m not kidding when I say I’ve dedicated thousands of hours to developing these games, White Pearl and Fabrication. I think I have this fierce determination inside me… I just keep on going. Usually people would say “I hope it makes a lot of money” or “you’ll be rich!” but all I care about is, well yes meeting sales targets of course, but also the reviews: whether the player has noticed a specific thing that I designed the game for: that I designed this game for them, and they end up really enjoying it and explaining to me why. That’s my dream.

Do you have any wants or needs as a game developer?

Well, with developing Fabrication, I started to realise that I’m using pretty much everything I can do within my capability and circumstance. One of my dreams is to make a 3D action RPG. With cutscenes in Fabrication, I have acted on the feedback to provide more interesting cutscenes, but I want people to know there is only so much I can do since my budget is limited and I have no staff. I’ve wanted to try a more cinematic approach for important cut-scenes like the ending, but I couldn’t find any means to do so. And I think that’s a shame. I think that Fabrication could’ve benefited with dedicated staff but, even then, I don’t think I would be experienced or worthy enough to manage a team like that… if others were to come on, how am I going to keep the project in sync? RPG Maker is outdated software in the regard that it is mostly for personal and hobby use – perfect for the person making the game; it’s designed for one person to make the game.
If I ever decide to come back to the game industry, I’d like to make a medium-budget 3D Action RPG title, but that’s really silly of me to say, since I’m sure there are plenty of other people out there who actually have the skills needed and are more worthy of taking up such a title themselves. I’m not saying it’s bad to have dreams, but I have to be realistic. (laughs) Building a game of my dreams is something that I think won’t happen. I think I’ve done well with what I have.

When developing event scenes, I would usually look to TV drama or my favourite anime for inspiration. What I can display on screen is very limited, but when I write events in the game, namely emotional cutscenes, I put a lot of thought in every detail, like how other characters interact with each other and what they will look like and how they will react to things. It’s my favourite part, the story and events. FF13 was an inspiration in that regard, it was dramatic and every scene was directed like a movie.

Apart from that, so yeah the main issue I had was cutscenes in Fabrication – I wish I wasn’t so limited. Time really moved forward on this project, so I was like “I have to keep it the same… I have to get everything done and move on.” Still, there’s plenty of things to look forward to in Fabrication. It’s just that I know my games don’t appeal to the majority of gamers; they are very niche. If you like reading and world-building, then… well, you should buy it!

Any further cool facts?

The battle advantage system you see in Fabrication is, uh… pretty much the mog clock as seen in Final Fantasy 13-2 (laughs). Nowhere near as cool looking, though.

Apart from that, I’ve disclosed a lot of interesting facts in White Pearl’s Chronicle Edition, and Fabrication’s development comments, so check them out if you’re curious. But there are some things I might’ve not mentioned yet…

Any possibility on future projects?

I feel like I’ve reached my limits as a creator. Like, I’ve tried everything I can do. And I’m happy about it. So, to answer your question, I will consider a future project if it meets these requirements:

1. Fabrication exceeds the sales expectations OR
2. Fabrication receives a critical reception above the initial expectation AND
3. If I have time to do a future project AND
4. If I want to do a future project

Thank you. Any closing words?

Check Fabrication out on Steam. It’ll be cheap, so consider buying it at launch! I’ll be… slumped at my desk! (laughs)

Now that the Steam page is released with a concrete release date, it’s time to share the official development comments of Fabrication!

What was it like developing Fabrication?

At first it was very difficult because I struggled to continue the motivation going on producing updates to White Pearl, while planning and developing Fabrication. The first plans for this project began at October 2016, while White Pearl was being developed, and I was making the game on RPGMaker MV by February-May 2018, after White Pearl was released. But then I restarted development on the VX Ace engine at July 2018 to speed things up and improve on my previous experience with that engine. It’s very rare you see a indie game developer take up another project so early after a gargantuan game like White Pearl was just released, and I was quite creatively and mentally fatigued through most of the development, so… I actually forced myself to develop this game since it was announced very early. I’m okay now, but 2018 and 2019 were really rough years for this game; I was ready to cancel it because I barely had time to work on it (laughs). Of course I was studying full-time as I was doing these projects too, until 2020, so it was quite an effort.

Both White Pearl and Fabrication are games made using RPG Maker VX Ace – a game engine tool largely regarded to be suitable for beginners at game development since it needs little to no programming capability from the user. Though a stigma surrounds ‘low-effort’ games made using RPG Maker, with an accumulated 5+ years of experience and deep-knowledge of the engine and several thousands of hours developing White Pearl and Fabrication, I have been working hard to make RPGs made using the engine worthy of note through my love of RPG games. I go through this in detail throughout the interview!

Here we are… 3 years after White Pearl’s initial release on GameJolt which marked the end of development back then… with a new game! I’m impressed I could pull this off in such a short space of time.

What is one thing you think worked really well for Fabrication?

By August-September 2018, I already had a vision for the full game and I stuck with that. It’s not like White Pearl where I was making stuff up as I went along; I had a plan for this game and I stuck with it. When I had made a few battles and finally made the game actually playable (instead of just story scenes) by May 2020, it all came together really well. I was really happy. I’ll never forget that feeling. Once you have a solid vision and proof of concept for the game, I think development is easy from that point onwards. And so, from that point on in May 2020, I have been making the game 24/7 and it’s just about done now.

Also, I initially wanted to make the game not as large as White Pearl, but it’s going to end up being close to that. So, if you played White Pearl, I want you to take your time and enjoy this next game! The game is also noticeably improved in quality in exchange for quantity. This was also another vision that I successfully achieved.

So, I would say there’s two things that worked well: my planning and foresight, and my mantra of quality over quantity.

What surprised you in the development of Fabrication?

My programming involvement and how much I managed to solve problems. In July 2020, I managed to get a Quest Journal working and this was something which eluded me ever since I added the Luna Engine (custom UI engine) in August 2016, to assist in the development of White Pearl. Since it made changes to the core UI, most scripts that I found online weren’t compatible. The Luna Engine has an in-built quest log in it’s script library, but since it required a lot of setting up, I was more focused on finishing White Pearl. I was tempted to add it in a post-release update, but I had a lot of other things to fix at the time and it never got done. This was actually a huge step forward. You’ll see below, that the quest journal looks really nice. I think I just missed a line of code or something, I can’t quite remember how I got it working, but I know it was something that wasn’t worth 4 years of frustration for.

It’s true I have programmed quite a lot more in this game than I ever did in White Pearl, but it’s mostly the smaller stuff. Like the bomb system, I wrote the system in charge of checking co-ordinates and things like that, so it’s mostly the puzzles – but also, the Team Attack system, the way numbers appear in battle, the design and position of menus… it’s a little bit of everything, but of course, without the core code, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Without the fantastic community of RPG Maker providing all these scripts and assets, I wouldn’t be a game developer!

The events of this game go really deep too, when you look at it behind the scenes.*
There’s a lot of checking, conditional branches and “is this person in the party?”, “do you have this item?”, “is this quest complete?” calls.
What it boils down to, is that the game is better than what I achieved before with White Pearl. Without a world map, and some backtracking in the game, I’ve found that some events, like in the main city, reach over 100 instances. I’m not sure if that’s reaching the limit for RPG Maker, but I do know, when you get further through the game, the Party Menu takes longer to load, so it’s a good sign that the game is large enough (laughs).

I also didn’t expect the game to be the same size as of White Pearl; the size of a standalone Final Fantasy game like Final Fantasy IV.

*Events in RPG Maker are pretty much like Blueprints in the Unreal Engine.

What are some things that didn’t work out in development of this game?

Pretty much all the “fluff” systems I initially planned, like the Feather Feet, Reputation Level and Relationship Level… These features were present since August 2018, so when it came to designing the actual game in 2020, I had to cut a lot and rework a lot of things so that I could actually finish what I was doing in the first place. Yes, the initial concept for the game was to be non-linear, a game that you’ll play in short bursts, but naturally the game’s focus just became the characters and story and ‘doing the opposite of what White Pearl did’. For example, I’m pretty sure there’s a point in White Pearl where it’s just 10 minutes of plain exposition and characters standing around (that was actually a thing in Fabrication once, before I cut it to 5 lines of dialogue). It’s kind of irrevelent, but once I watched a Let’s Play of my game, I couldn’t stop cringing and biting my nails to some things, and I became a lot more aware about what the player could be feeling and it changed my philosophy entirely. (It was still a really fun Let’s Play though and it was awesome.)
Let’s Play link: https://youtu.be/VsE-6OKjt4s

Can you give an example of a hard challenge you faced in the development of Fabrication?

Game development itself is a complicated process, so when I was first asked this a few days ago (October 2020 at the time of writing), I struggled to give a concrete answer.
In order to properly answer this question, I must go over my experience.

Having spent years developing White Pearl, I learned how to develop a game using the RPGM engine. With my experience in college and university, I have acquired skills and knowledge like project management. Fabrication is a culmination of everything I have learned coming together.
So, the main challenges I faced were ones that I made myself as the game was continuing development as I made a conscious effort to improve and learn more, and therefore make a better game than White Pearl.

One of the main difficulties was making a sneaking system, that you see in Chapter 3.
This system uses a combination of in-built RPGMaker event programming, with some neat tricks I’m using on the side, and hard-coded programming. It still was really hard to get it work how I wanted, so I streamlined it in the end.
Another complicated problem I faced was the quest journal that I talked about earlier on in this interview, but it was more of a continuing problem than a complicated one… The end result is the same, though.

The main complicated problem, which will be rather boring to read, was making sure that events were starting and ending at the appropriate times in the story. An example of this is a quest that may not be available until Chapter 5, and until you’ve got “4 or more reputation level” accumulated beforehand, so that’s where all the checks come in. Because quests and objectives use a lot of shared maps with the story, I had to have a deep knowledge of what was happening in the game and when to make sure that a massive progression or immersion-breaking bug didn’t happen. It’s so hard to explain… But I had to play close attention to detail when debugging quests and their objectives.

At the risk of sounding like it went too well, most of the development, which is designing content, went smoothly and to expectations, but this was only because I had developed White Pearl beforehand and I knew what to do and how to improve.

When compared to White Pearl, how did you develop Fabrication differently?

With White Pearl, I made a game that I wanted to make, and I didn’t think much of the players when I was making.
But with Fabrication, I am making a game for the players. From the start, I wanted to appeal to the audience that wouldn’t have played White Pearl, because it is, in truth, a generic RPG.
This is why the story, setting and characters is different but, most importantly, the gameplay.

Also, I made an effort to improve the debugging tools and recruit quality and usability testers to help provide an early opinion on the game which impacted the development and gives me an idea of how the game is going to be received.

Can you give an overview of the development and decision process.

When I first started this project, I aimed to get it done very quickly. I was thinking of a short 9 to 10 hour RPG that offered choice, a simple story and was more player friendly compared to White Pearl. None of that worked out, and it’s good. I ended up focusing on the story, characters and world very heavily. Because I love to use games to escape too, and to create these worlds has been my lifelong dream. Though I lost nearly half a year in production time due to a hiatus I took in the middle of development, it was well worth it. Picking it back up in May 2020 and working every day of the week and night until now, has allowed me to design a high quality game in such a short space of time. But none of this would’ve worked without my planning and preparation beforehand, as well as my initial foundations of the gameplay experience. It was really hard to start but easy to continue. I feel very happy and relieved to get this game off my shoulders and into the hands of the people that matter most – the players. I have put my heart and soul into this, thinking it might be the last RPG Maker and/or indie I create. So please enjoy. Thank you.

The FAQ/Summary of Fabrication has been updated following further development of the game.

Questions & Answers

Q: Where do you plan to release Fabrication and when?
A: *Update: We are targeting an end of 2020 / early 2021 release date

Q: How to do you plan to support Fabrication?
A: To the same extent as White Pearl. I am happy with fixing bugs and helping players even years after release. Regarding major patch updates, I don’t want to make something like that for Fabrication since I want the base game to be as quality as possible. But if I think of something good to implement after release and it won’t take too long, I’d definitely do it. I want old players to have the same experience as new ones. There’s no point in releasing a unpolished game first and then polishing after hoping to change people’s opinions on the game. When it comes to the player, you only have one chance to make a formidable impression on them, so that’s what I’m focusing on.

Q: Will Fabrication be free to play?
A: Fabrication will be pay to play. The price I have yet to determine but there are multiple factors to consider such as the scale of the game. For me the greatest factor which affects the price is the fact that it’s an RPGMaker game. I will have to price it accordingly.

Q: Is there gamepad support for Fabrication?
A: Yes, fully.

Q: How long have you been making this game?
A: Since July 2018 I have been actively developing it. Again I am the sole developer.

Q: What is the game, in basic terms?
A: Fabrication is a story-focused 2D turn-based RPG. You will experience the main story in 7 Chapters, while exploring the world and interacting with the environment. You will also have sidequests to complete. Also you can craft things. Yeah, I’m good at this! laughs
There’s a lot of content in the game if you are an RPG fan. You will like it if you like old-school Final Fantasy basically, but I really tried to make a more interesting story this time around.

Q: How long will the game take to complete?
A: Around 15 to 20 hours. It really depends on your pacing…

Q: How is the game “story-focused” when you can do sidequests and stuff?
A: The game is linear and story-focused in the fact that it is has no world map and has a strict chapter-by-chapter design. The reason why it is linear is to focus on creating a more enjoyable experience for the player.

Q: I’ve already played White Pearl. Will the turn-based combat stay the same?
A: The combat has been expanded significantly. There are multitude of new and revised mechanics. Read this post for more information.

Q: Will White Pearl be updated any more after you finish Fabrication?
A: It’s possible White Pearl will attract lots of attention because of this game. So yes.

Q: I’ve already played White Pearl. This game is a prequel. Is there any point in me playing it?
A: Even though this game is a prequel, you should regard the game as a sequel to White Pearl which continues this universe because the story is designed like that. There are many surprises in store. It will continue from White Pearl’s main ending while similarly telling the tale of the Fourth Dark Era.

Additional Information

• Each character has a unique play-style with certain strengths/weaknesses
• The elemental system from White Pearl returns but with a few caveats:
  – The colour of the numbers that reflect damage dealt and taken in battle correspond to what element the damage is (example: 999 in black means 999 dark damage).
  – It’s more important to build a resistance against elements for your party, particularly on bosses
  – Every enemy will automatically reveal their strengths and weaknesses in the target info sheet
• Direct skills also return from White Pearl
• At the end of every chapter you will have the opportunity to view a story synopsis
• Crafting can be done at any point in the game and the amount of stuff you can craft is far greater and the system is much easier to use. You can also “break down” items, to restore it to it’s original materials
• Skippable cutscenes will be a feature upon launch
• You will explore many large areas with stuff to discover and find, similarly, you will also make use of new field mechanics:
  – Feather Feet: jump across large distances, limited use
  – Bombs: Blow up certain walls with cracks, you have to find potions on a shelf to create a bomb
  – You will experience several unique puzzles throughout the game to shake up the gameplay

As development of Fabrication is now in full force and as I gather testers to continually test the state of the game, I will be making changes very frequently over the summer. So far I have changed a lot when compared to the 27th May 2020 release, so I will be compiling my changes and uploading them here every-time I would like testers to test out a new version of the game. Thank you for your co-operation.

To get involved, look at this post: https://hgdb2.home.blog/2020/05/16/testers-needed-fabrication-2020/

In order to focus more time on developing the game now that, as of 29th July 2020, I have revealed the release date as 5th January 2021 – I will not be updated the build notes as much, if at all. However, when you test the game, you will always get the latest build possible. I try not to make you go through the game hundreds of times because you will get sick of it. Just play what I made and have fun!

June 2020 Build Changes and Additions

June Build Release Date: 6th June 2020

• More interactable items have been added to areas (only very important items are marked).
• Further expansion to gameplay in Chapter 1 with a new boss battle before the end of the chapter
• Further expansion to gameplay in Chapter 3 with a new puzzle and loot to collect
• Chapter 5 has been expanded with a new boss battle, gameplay sequence and boss battle but it is not fully finished and you need to continue to the Underground house in order to properly advance the story.
• The database is much larger compared to last time with more things to craft, more crafting materials to collect and obtain, weapons, armor and accessories added
• A new sidequest has been added in Ry’ner, more items can be collected in the city with more NPCs in the houses.
• Ry’ner now house explorable houses
• The battle advantage flash, sound effect and cursor icon has changed to be more player-friendly.
• The crafting menu has been improved by showing your current gold on the choice list and it now stays open constantly until you put it back in your bag or choose an option.
• Sarah’s different elemental weapons now have their own seperate animation and sound
• The shop menu has been designed.
• Shop item inventories have been adjusted accordingly, following the further development to the database of the game
• The “Team Attack” skill type option has been removed from all characters except Crimson, since only she can execute them.
• Direct skills have been added to all character except Crimson in it’s place. These are special unique skills available to each character outside of skill menus. If you played White Pearl, you’ll be happy to see these return.
• The effects of the accessory, Blessed Armlet, has been buffed
• Crimson’s skill: “Scythe Strike” now restores HP back to user from using “Scythe Strike II” in the combo that is now known as “Absorb Strike”.
• Tutorial on skills that absorb HP have been added
• Reputation and Relationship tutorial adjusted to be more clear and better represent how it actually works in the final game
• Shadow Scythe+ ATK scaled down a bit
• Jansen has been added as a fully playable character with skills
• Tons of new animations added, because of new skills, bosses etc
• Iron Scythe+ ATK buffed a bit
• Max HP now visible in battle
• Max HP removed from party menu display
• New music added and sound design adjusted in certain scenes
• House of Caelus now has NPCs
• Rainbow Shot TP requirement reduced from 15 to 12
• Houses added to Ry’ner
• Spelling and bug fixes
• Just lots of bug fixes lol

July 2020 Build Update Notes

July Build Release Date: 28th July 2020

• Idle character talk has been improved in the opening and is now implemented in several instance of the story in the game. This feature makes a return from White Pearl. In the opening, there were previously basic messages that were assigned to this function like “go to this building” or “open this”, but it has been improved by changing it to character dialogue that immerses you instead. This will be added over time as development progresses but is the lowest in priority for development tasks.
• The gate guards at the start of the game now drop 1 Leather and 1 Cloth.
• Fog has been added to the area of the entrance to the Library in the first mission at the start of the game.
• The Government Library at the start of the game is now called “Top Secret Library”
• Certain movement points have been changed in the Spirit Forest
• The dialogue in the scene where you meet Jansen for the first time has been changed to be more realistic and reflective of the current situation
• Jansen can no longer straight up kill you in the mock battle. If you reduce his HP low enough, or he nearly K.O’s you, the battle will end.
  If you reduce Jansen’s HP far enough, the battle will end with rewards.
• Rose has been added as a fully playable character with abilities
• New boss battle music added (replaced)
• New victory music added (replaced)
• Options renamed at the starting mission when you go into the towers
• ‘Marked for Death’ skill animation changed and potency increased
• Metal Golem has a few more skills in his arsenal and more of a “script” (in terms of boss design)
• Battle pop-up text size adjusted to be more consistent; specifically the elements
• Cursor sound volumes adjusted
• Background sound volumes adjusted
• Background sound added in certain areas
• More NPCs added in certain areas
• Added 2 new sidequests in Ry’ner (one available from the new weapon shop, the other available in Ry’ner)
• Added/replaced some item tooltip text to be entertaining. Not very good just having it be empty space/boring.
• Redesigned the Ry’ner Item Shop
• Added the Ry’ner weapon shop
• Added a run-down house in Ry’ner (tied to sidequests)
• Several new enemies and sprites added (tied to sidequests)
• New areas added in Ry’ner (tied to sidequests)
• Several new enemy skills added (tied to sidequests)
• A quest journal has been added, allowing you to track the progress of the main quest and side quests of the game
• Using “Guard” in battle now restores 5 TP in addition to restoring HP and AP by 2%.
• Using a bomb no longer fades out the screen and shows a pointless message that says ‘it’s been removed from your inventory’. -spark shower- Woosh, seamless transition!
• Level cap raised in Chapter 2 following development of further battle content
• New dialogue options added to Sarah in Ry’ner Lab rest room
• Thunder Choker added as a craftable item
• Guarding has been fully implemented and fixed
• More tutorials/tips have been added at the start of the game
• Boss battle with Employee #66 at the start of the game adjusted a bit with some new skills
• AOE finisher added to Rainbow Shot and Rainbow Shot+; damages all enemies, corresponding to what element you focus on in the combo.
  Example: Player uses Rainbow Shot -> Chooses Icicle Shot combo 2 times = AOE ice finisher
  Example 2: Player uses Rainbow Shot -> Chooses Icicle Shot combo 1 time and Firey Shot combo 1 time = AOE physical damage finisher
• Tooltip of Rainbow Shot adjusted
• Snipe skill animation changed
• Impervious Ward skill cost changed from 5TP to 5AP.
• Protection skill costs changed from 30TP to 12TP and 5AP.
• Sneaking gameplay sequence in Chapter 3 adjusted with placeholder events, in-dev for now, it’s being rebuilt
• You can now skip some tutorials that you may have already seen.
• Some minor bugs/inconsistencies fixed
• One of Crimson’s end of battle quotes have been re-written
• The chest sprites at Ry’ner (the town proper) have been changed to be a larger variant
• The amount of Gold you receive from the first mission has been decreased from 800G to 450G.
• The amount of Gold you receive from the Spirit Forest mission has been decreased from 800G to 500G.
• The Underground area has been remade with entirely new graphics and a new layout
• The Underground communications area has slightly different graphics
• New NPCs are added at certain points in the story in Ry’ner Inn and Ry’ner
• New NPC sprites added and implemented
• Jansen’s dialogue now changes when you need to do the Spirit Forest mission.
• There is now dialogue options for all other NPCs when you’re looking for a solution to get into the Spirit Forest
• Certain enemy drop rates adjusted
• Game over screen and music added (it was there before just stock materials)
• This is rather backend stuff – but the graphics were properly organised and some were deleted that are not used in this update, so there may be graphic or collision bugs if I miscalculated some things in that process.
• The size of the Ry’ner lab safe area has been increased so lore book graphics no longer clip
• Debug NPC added in the Ry’ner lab safe area that adds the new skills to Sarah in-case you’re using an old save file.
• Breaking down a Leather Choker now gives you one Leather. (More items will be added to the breakdown system later)
• “Making the Most of Combos” tutorial in the Metal Golem boss has been deleted following the rework of Rainbow Shot
• The floor graphic in the Ry’ner military division has changed so that it is easier to see the movement points
• More detail and graphics added to the Kolan Inn area
• The player is now notified when talking to the Petal Mother, it will end Chapter 3.
• Salve Vial HP restore increased from 125 to 150
• New lore book graphics added – the last of them
• Lore book tooltips adjusted, new lore books added and are now obtainable – all of them (lore book on Kolan and Terra district)
• Chilling Breeze no longer reduces fire resistance and instead reduces ice resistance
• Marking Flame no longer reduces ice resistance and instead reduces fire resistance
  * Errors regarding the effects of these two skills have been fixed
• A new cutscene added at the start of Chapter 5, showcasing more lore on Kolan Temple as well as Rose’s personal motives and how she ties into the story.
• The design of the Ry’ner main lab has altered slightly with more paths and a more expansive space, with several new graphics added in accordance to this
  – More safe zones added to the area, easing the difficulty on the sneaking section
  – The programming used to sneak may be altered in the future because players have expressed problems, but if works well and makes sense, it will stay the same
• Several new NPC sprites added
• NPCs and lots of optional dialogue added in Kolan Town
• Graphics and objects of certain areas like the House to the Underground and Ry’ner Inn have been adjusted
• Crafting tutorial graphic changed
• A new sidequest added in the Underground
• The Underground area expanded
• The game now starts at a 80% default BGM volume
• Gold window added to the shop menu
• A few new armours added
• Chest drops adjusted
• Certain items are now not visible and usable in battle (eg: crafting materials)
• Various collision errors fixed
• Bug fixes has been issued relating to the repeating of certain cutscenes under particular circumstances
• A few spelling errors corrected
• Sound design adjusted and sound bugs fixed
• Various bugs fixed
• There’s so much more that I forgot to add!

*In order to focus more on development of the game now that the release date has been set, I will be compiling changes behind the scenes. See first paragraph for more info.

I’m very involved with games now, so I thought this would be a good time to reflect on how much White Pearl has grown in these past two years. I’m so attached to the project, that I think of it like a kid. I can’t help but get emotional sometimes! I feel like I’m the only one who feels this way, when indie devs talk about their projects – they are rather prideful, but I always play it down (I know, I keep getting told off for that) and get a bit teary-eyed when I start thinking about the number of downloads (it’s just hit over 22,000 on Steam alone…?)

Well, enough of that. Looking back now, after releasing and experience the aftermath of my first game release, I realise that White Pearl could’ve benefited from about 8 months more of development time for that extra polish and, most importantly, user feedback.
I didn’t know back then, of course, so that’s why I released it only 3 months after development finished. I didn’t underestimate the size and scale of this project, but I did underestimate how much time it needs. Back then, I was too anxious to ask for help, so I did all the testing myself. You can imagine how well that went: because I knew how to play the game, it ran perfectly compared to my standards, but I didn’t think about what the experience would be like for others. I think that’s why reviews were a little too negative. Still, 75-80% satisfaction is pretty good – but I was aiming for 80-85%. On itch.io, the game received a score of 4.8/5.0 even before all the patches.

Thankfully, White Pearl is a free game, so people won’t get angry if I added more content in subsequent patches to make it deeper. In-fact, I think my developer support is the best part about this project: everybody seemed to like it. As long as they did, I was happy. I was planning to post this a lot earlier, in time for the 2nd anniversary, but…

Time to summarise how much this game has changed these past two years, goodness…

Release

Of course, December 23rd was the big day for the release of the game. But let’s look into the past for now…

I begun plans to bring White Pearl over to Steam in November 2017, after launching the game on itch.io. Disappointed with the results (yet very high ratings) of the game on GameJolt (now a discontinued release) and, to a lesser extent, itch.io – there was one last chance for this game left: Steam. I remember walking into the living room and begging my dad to pay for release of the game on Steam (it was £75, and I had no form of income at the time). Of course, he said yes, but said for me to wait until after Christmas. I don’t know why, but I was so intent on getting the whole project out in 2017, that I wanted it on there as soon as possible. So, late November or December. He was confused why I couldn’t just wait (I really should have), but after so many years in development, a long and arduous journey to get the game completed through my mental state, and wanting to prove myself as soon as possible: I was insistent on reaching the targets set by the announcement trailer in July 2017 – to have the game release Late 2017/Early 2018.

Of course, like I said on the introduction of this post, I really should’ve locked the game into half a year more in development for all the usability and player feedback, but I was so fed up already. I wanted my life to change, and change it did…
I began working on the Steam build of White Pearl on 25th November 2017, and before that, setting up Steamworks and my developer account. It was a really lengthy process which should’ve took weeks to set up, but I managed to get it all set up in two single nights. I stayed up very late and had to call my bank for tax information (even for a free game, it doesn’t matter, you still have to set up your developer account and how you’ll get funded – should you release a commercial game on Steam).
As for the Steam build, gosh… That was a roadblock. I had no idea where to start, so I just took to reading the Steamworks documentation like I usually do. Then I managed to find a converter script for RPGMaker VX Ace (the engine used for White Pearl), to be able to enter certain script commands which will activate achievements in the game – but, to do that, I had to install a custom api and assign the (unhidden at the time) “appid” (game number on Steam) to the game in a text document. You can see these files in the game’s install folder.

Steam compatibility was one of the very few things I was 100% involved in this project, besides production, direction, story and the UI. So, it was handled completely by me. Even though I worked non-stop during 2017 to finish this game, while I was working on the Steam presence, I had an adrenaline rush.
“This is it,” I remember thinking. It was a big moment. One that never truly hit me until now. Because I was so wrapped up in development and patches during 2018-2019, I never got the chance to fully reflect.
By the way, the official Steam tutorials on how to build a game using Steamworks was kind of wrong… It showed you the wrong thing to enter in the command prompt. Yes, you use the command prompt. Yes, there is a GUI alternative, but it’s weird… and, in the end, it was simpler to use the command prompt method. Building the game took a lot of trial and error. I wouldn’t have the energy for it now. Hell, even when I have to update the developer build of Fabrication on Steam, if I get the path wrong – I just sigh heavily and close the window. Sometimes these finicky things can really test out your patience. So, I really help that Steamworks modernises their way of building games someday – even though I can fully grasp it in the end, it took a lot of frustration.

You also have to go through a review process for the store page. I managed to get everything mostly right on the first try. When it was all done, on 3rd December 2017 – White Pearl was made visible to Steam, with a release date of December 23rd 2017. I couldn’t release the game until after a month has passed on my first “app credit” (basically it costs £75 to ship a game each on Steam), so 23rd was the earliest I could get. I was frustrated and so worn out that I barely did any checking to the game’s depot status and actual status.

So, when the game released, for 6 hours – there was nothing to install… This didn’t invite as much attention as you’d think, but when I fixed it, I managed to do it just in time before the huge surge of downloads commenced (most downloaders were from the USA). I did get a few forum posts about it, though.

I remember going to bed, very happy. But also extremly anxious. RPGMaker games on Steam certainly do not have the best reputation, and I was very scared… But when I woke up, I woke up to 80% positive reviews. I remember being filled with joy. I did cry when I read the positive reviews for the first time, absouletley. Yet, from the cirticism brought on by the negative reviews that would surface soon after – there was much to do and fix…

I didn’t really need to do much else in the first place besides fix bugs. But I wanted to go the extra mile, just because I enjoy it. I loved writing patch notes. It was fun having other people play the game, offer their feedback, and me going back and making changes. Basically, the game was in development again, and this continued right up until December 2019 – where I think I can finally put it to rest! I wasn’t planning for it to support it with updates for this long anyway, and they did trickle out in 2019 – but I just kept on thinking of more and more things to add and change. I greatly benefited from user feedback, and I wish I realised it sooner, to reduce the amount of negative reviews. Because I do strike for the game to be as perfect as possible, I had that ability and time to do it back then… That it is the beauty of indie game development. It is your project, and you could do whatever you want with it.
Now, the game is vastly different from launch. ‘Vastly’ in terms of it’s performance – it’s very stable, and runs about 8% faster now. Lots of bugs (around 230) have been fixed. New cutscenes, a new alternate, an extended final boss and ending sequence, new items, new crafting options, new skills and new quests have also been added. Yet, still, for those who didn’t like it at first – they probably won’t like it now. But, overall, the game has been updated for those who felt a little dissapointed by it’s lack of depth. So, it’s better for players who liked it in the first place.

Anyway, ramble over. Just had to get this out of my chest. See you another time!

I have decided to cancel the public alpha testing phase for Fabrication that was due to begin on the 23rd January. The reasons for this are simple. One, I have a team of internal testers. Two, even though there is a good deal of content in the game, its current state is still highly unfinished and will change a lot, not being reprenstitive of the final product should I release the build for the public to access. It also creates unneeded pressure for me. The last thing I want to do with this project is create myself deadlines. I did that in 2019, and it went okay and it worked, but I don’t think I can do it again. It was a miracle that I even managed to get so much of the game done in between everything. In that year, I forced myself through the initial despairing stage of development. I had everything: a plan, roadmap, and I knew what to do to make it happen. I just needed to make more of the game. And I did! Now the hard part is over. Now I just need to keep creating more of the story, areas, locations – while slowly introducing the gameplay systems, and trying my best to implement that on the side. Although it was really difficult and daunting at first, I’m glad I decided to force myself to work in 2019. In that year, I also formulated the plan to develop the game, and I think it’s going to pay off. If I continue feeling as good as I am about the state of the game now, I doubt that will die out. But do try to enjoy indie development as much as you can. I cannot help but set myself difficult tasks such as these from time to time because I want to improve. However, it is important to know your limits. I am just learning them. I also want to manage my time better. I rush too much. I have a lot of time. I want to release a new trailer for the game this year, but we’ll see how far along development goes. Let’s hope its just as productive as 2019.