Making of 'gaia temple & dead gaia'

This blog post has been written by Elder Prince, Creator of Eternal Eden.

HELLO AGAIN!

Despite some setbacks, I am making great progress in beta-testing the game. I was able to play test two more dungeons in the past few days and I am confident that the game will be released soon, most likely by the end of January or beginning of February. I really hope so! I can’t set an exact release date due to not-so-easy life circumstances. While my real-life job is slowing me down drastically I am looking forward to the game’s release, and I know that it will be worth the wait!

GAIA TEMPLE IS JUST SIMPLY GLORIOUS

I’ve put a lot of crazy work into making sure there’s more for you to explore in this new Mandela Edition. As a result, most dungeons now feature three times as many rooms, giving you more opportunities to discover new and exciting treasures that will aid you on your journey. You’ll come across many more hidden loots throughout the dungeons, which, as I mentioned in my previous post, can be traded for powerful equipment and accessories.

Last week, while beta-testing the Gaia Temple dungeon, I realized that the progression wasn’t quite what I had envisioned. I wanted something more engaging and rewarding for you, my dear players, so I made the decision to start from scratch and create a brand new layout.

Compare the images below:

the first one is the layout of the 2008 version, the second one is the new one from December that I didn’t really like, and the final one is the improved and final layout.

As you can see, the 2008 version had about 25 rooms, while the Mandela edition has nearly 60 chambers. That’s a drastic change!

And, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the layout of the Gaia Temple dungeon is shaped like a butterfly, which ties in perfectly with the backstory of the dungeon.

P.S. It’s not the only dungeon with a special shape!

DEAD GAIA IS JUST SIMPLY BEAUTIFULLY GRIM

I won’t elaborate too much on this dungeon to keep some mysteries, but I was also required to rework it from scratch given that it’s directly connected to Gaia Temple in the other parallel world, so it has a very similar structure. Just wonder: What a butterfly could look like in a dark dimension?

BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF GAME DEV

When I first began working on Eternal Eden back in 2008, I didn’t have much experience with RPG Maker. I was new to the Ruby language and had no idea how to add my own scripts to the editor.

Fast forward to today, I’ve definitely become more skilled at writing efficient code. But, even though I’ve come a long way, I didn’t want to take any chances with this new edition. I wanted to avoid any unexpected bugs or other issues that could prolong the development. My sole intent is of course to release the game as soon as possible.

However, I’m finding that beta-testing the game without custom scripts is driving me crazy. It requires a lot of manual and tedious chore in the level editor. So, I decided to create some custom scripts after all, but I made sure to keep this phase minimal and not to go too deep with them.

For example, I created a script that links rooms together automatically. I realized it was an absolute necessity when I decided to rebuild Gaia Temple from scratch with a greater vision in mind. I didn’t want to go through the process of linking rooms together manually again, it was already super time-consuming for the initial layouts I made in December. It often took over 250 command event modifications per dungeon, so if I need to relink other dungeons from scratch in the future, this script will make the process faster and more efficient.

Additionally, I created a script for automatic jumps to make it less tedious on my side but also more seamless for you as well, dear player.

You no longer need to push the A button to trigger the jump action, jumping is done automatically while you’re holding the direction button.

Working with the oldest VX version of RPG Maker has reminded me of how messy the default code can be; it’s like a huuuge mass of spaghetti. Urgh. This week alone, I lost two days trying to debug data and it was super hard to make sense of the behaviors based on the default written code. But, things are working now and will be useful for what remains of the development.

IN CONCLUSION

I hope you enjoy this kind of behind-the-scene blog posts. I’ve put a lot of work into making sure there’s more for you to enjoy when the game is released, but I also wanted to be transparent about the challenges and obstacles I’m facing along the way. From dealing with unexpected bugs and issues to reworking entire dungeons, I’ve had to make some difficult decisions in order to ensure the best possible experience for you. But I am excited about the new features and improvements that I’ve been able to add, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do. Thanks for following my journey and I can’t wait to share the game with you soon.

For more up-to-date updates, find my website: https://www.blossomsoft.com/

BY SUPPORTING THIS OLD VERSION, YOU'RE HELPING MAKING THE REBOOT EDITION POSSIBLE!