Roland The Paladin
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Created as a refreshing modern take on the classic story of a heroic paladin, his mailman husband, the local GuntanaTM expert, and their neighbour from down the road, in their quest to stop an ancient evil from being awoken by a cult; Roland The Paladin tells the tale of a band of four who find themselves battling their way through everything from assassins to children to magical cosplayers(*) as they venture out into the dangerous knowns and unknowns of their bizarre world.
Travelling everywhere from bottomless pits of the damned, to abandoned holiday resorts, to the requisite swamp level(**) (all depicted in lovingly-detailed 2D spritework(***) ) our heroes will stretch themselves to the limit against puzzles and combat galore(****) and meet a colourful cast of generic nameless NPCs as they investigate the many dungeons and mysteries throughout the land.
But is their quest as simple as it seems? Could there possibly be a traitor amongst them? And will Roland finally be able to kick his crippling sword addiction before it ruins the party’s finances? The answers to all of these questions(*****) and more are for you to discover...
(*) [And with any luck, doing it without destroying TOO many vulnerable ecosystems]
(**) [Unfortunately the union would not allow us to include a sewer level for the game despite our best efforts; our deepest apologies]
(***) [AKA the default RPG Maker MV graphics]
(****) [Don’t forget the fishing minigame! :) ]
(*****) [“Yeah”, “Maybe”, and “Depends on what equipment you buy in the shop menus I guess”]
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( Please note that this release can be considered an incomplete “demo” of sorts, consisting of roughly the first 2/3 of what would have been the full game’s content; this consists of around 5 or so full dungeon areas, alongside 2 or 3 optional side dungeons, each taking roughly an hour to complete.
In terms of difficulty, the game is made to be easy enough for the average player but still difficult enough that enemies will require actual strategy to beat aside from “mash attack skills to win”; I hope that the somewhat unorthodox use of the built-in “TP” bar for RPG Maker MV helps keep the game’s combat system simple yet engaging.
While the game itself is fully SFW, those offended by the occasional raunchy joke or gay people existing are advised to steer clear. Otherwise the game’s tone is mostly pretty jovial, and not a secret surprise horror game or anything, so nothing in the way of content warnings for gore/etc are required so far as I’m aware.
Finally, a list of credits for additional graphical resources and plugins used can be found in the README file included with the game. Happy adventuring! )
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This game was such a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw it was a canceled project, but this ended up being a really involved, creative, entertaining and well-thought out experience that I had a lot of fun with! I love how each new city brought a new spin/twist to the game’s worldbuilding, I especially had fun with Salisbury Town and Pardean Town. The AP system took some getting used to but that never really hampered the gameplay, and despite the default RPG Maker graphics I still really enjoyed the characters and exploring the world. The writing was always sharp and funny too, I enjoyed how it flipped between absurd and serious, and how it often lampooned RPG tropes.
It’s a shame the game won’t be completed but I’m glad we got the rest of the story outline in the dev notes. And the epilogue sounds like it would’ve been a really nice way to wrap up the story.
Thank you so, so much for the kind words! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, but it's genuinely really wonderful to hear somebody say they enjoyed this little project that I made on-and-off over the course of a year or two.
I might've already mentioned it in the dev room at the end of the game, but I feel like a big part of the game's vibe being the way it was probably had to do with the fact that that I'm a big fan of comedy which comes from inherently absurd situations being portrayed entirely straight, and while I was fairly limited for the most part by my decision to work as much within the default RPG Maker MV assets as possible I think that philosophy was actually really helpful when it came to giving locations their own unique feel despite that restriction (as well helping to maintain the same balance you mentioned).
For a game that I only made as a way to try out the MV engine for the first time after a friend gifted it to me and was pretty much just making up as I went along for the most part (something that's probably especially noticable during the early parts of the game, with even the name itself being something I just pulled in reference to the acronym used for the Runtime Package that you had to download to play games made in older versions of RPG Maker) I have to admit that even I came to get attached to the strange little world I'd created and the cast I'd written for it.
I'm also really glad to hear the AP System was a success for you; by the time I'd come to grasp how to properly use plugins to make the RPG Maker battle system feel enjoyable to play it was far too late for me to implement much of it into RTP, so the AP system & having level-ups be connected with items gained through sidequests rather than XP was something of a compromise in that regard. I wanted to try and make battles feel more involved than just "attack enemy til dead without dying" and I like to think that, in combination with a couple plugins I was able to squeeze in during development, the AP system helped me pull that off and make players feel like fights required proper management of party members & resources to beat.
(also as a P.S. - by "Pardean Town" did you mean Praegen, the final town? that's the only one I can think of beginning with the letter P but I could be wrong... glad to hear you liked those two either way, Salisbury Town was honestly really fun to implement so I'm glad to hear you liked it! :D
if I had to pick a favourite of my own it'd probably be Solford, but that's mainly because it felt like the most visually accomplished to me personally, and I was especially happy with how the maps I made for it came out even compared to the other areas in the game because of that)