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Hey there, As of late, I’ve begun working on making a game heavily inspired by Dragon Quest Monsters, (specifically DWM2 (my favorite in the series, while also implementing some of the features and conveniences from the more modern titles). Overall, I’m hoping to get a bit of feedback in these early stages of development, while also potentially seeing if any individuals would be interested in helping out with the project. As far as mechanics go, I'm mostly going off of Joker 1-2, with monsters having to be scouted in battle, and each monster having different skill trees that can be bred to other monsters. With that said, I'm planning on adding a few new features too, one of which being a more prominent typing system ala Pokemon, and having held items have more of a role as opposed to just straight stat boosts. The gameplay will probably play out like in DWM2, where you have a cozy little hub world to explore, shop, breed, and prepare, with the main exploitable areas being accessed via warping there, with these areas having both a small self contained plotline, and mildly progressing the overarching plot. Graphics wise, I'm going for an old school GBC look. I'm definitely planning on keeping the breeding system pretty much as is, although having some form of evolution to allow low ranking monsters essentially promote into higher ranking monsters could make for an interesting mechanic, I'll have to think about it. What’s possibly my biggest peeve with most monster taming series is when more than half the roster can't really be viable due to their evolutions/higher ranked forms outclassing them in every way. One thing that I’m hoping to accomplish is having pretty much every monster being viable as a long-term team member. I don't think I'll handle it quite like Joker3, mostly due to the fact that it runs the risk of causing my other biggest peeve in monsters taming games, which is when everything feels too similar to each other, without much reason to use one thing over the other. Still, this is definitely one of my biggest focuses with the project. I’m currently planning on a PC and Android release, with the possibility of an IOS release if there’s enough interest. This probably sounds like a lot (and it is), but I'm not starting completely from scratch. In fact, I have the majority of the monsters already made, from another project I've been working on for a few years. If anyone is interested in helping out with the project, definitely reach out to me, as I’d appreciate any amount of help I can get. Be it as a Pixel Artist, Composer, Skill and Stat Designer, Writer, eventual Beta Tester, or even just as someone who would like to pitch occasional ideas and feedback to the group, all aid is appreciated. Perhaps if there is enough interest, I’ll even set up a discord for the project. Although, even to those who aren’t interested in joining the project, I’m curious what sort of features/mechanics would you be personally interested in seeing in a project heavily inspired by DQM? If anyone seeing this is curious about the project, feel free to send me a message. I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Warning: contains spoilers for DQM: Joker. Proceed at your own risk! One more Joker challenge! Crazy one this time. The idea came from Ignasia7 (thanks buddy!). And here are the rules: 1. Only one monster in active party 2. Reset upon death 3. Party can only contain Slimes (regular blue droplet shaped gooey) To make the challenge less of time sink and more fun, I've decided to use 8x EXP cheat. It doesn't really make the game easier, just cuts time on grinding and re-leveling after synthesis. A few words about Slimes. High stat caps, but terrible growths. Can equip whips, that's great! No resistances, but also no weaknesses. Critical massacre, not very reliable, but better than nothing, I guess... Since there are no recipes for Slime, I'm stuck with the first one I scout and its skillsets until Palaish shrine, where I will get Phoenix scepter. It's not as bad, though. Slimer skillset has Heal, Frizz and Zap. Will do for a while. I started it as soon as I heard about the idea. Here we go! --- Sk8erpunq's log, 9/5/2014, 9:05PM >First entry: Infant and Xeroph isles (1:03:24 on the clock) >Monster: Slime (Rocket) I named the scout Solo, then chose Mischievous mole as starter (not that it matters anyway). Upon reaching Infant Isle, I scouted first Slime I encountered and put it in the active party (sent the mole to subs). Named it Rocket. Both Isles were quite easy. Thanks to 8x EXP code I almost wasn't forced to grind. Bought Leather Whip for regular encounters, kept midboss Orc's drop - Sacred spear for bosses. Even though Rocket was level 17-20, it still received some minor damage from regular enemies. Reached Xeroph shrine at level 21. The boss, Golem, kept doing 29-32 damage, which was quickly remedied with Medicinal Herbs. Fortunately it didn't Psyche up more than once. Took more than ten of turns to take it down. Stay tuned! Next: Palaish Isle&Shrine.

Warning: contains spoilers for DQM: Joker. Proceed at your own risk! I've decided to start September with a challenge: beat Joker with a single monster (synthesis acceptable). There are two rules: at any point in the game, I'm allowed to have exactly one monster in active party and if this monster dies, I have to reset the game. In case anyone is interested or wants do so the same in future, I've decided to keep sort of log of it. A few years ago I tried similar run with more restrictive rule: no scouting. I made it to Palaish shrine, where the challenge became impossible. --- Sk8erpunq's log, 9/4/2014, 2:38AM >First entry: Infant, Xeroph, Palaish and Infern (9 hours on the clock) >Monster: Mischievous Mole -> Sheslime -> Great Sabrecub -> Gryphon -> Archdemon -> Jamirus As starting monster I chose Mischievous Mole, good physical attacker with Psycho. Named it Solo. Thanks to ability to Psyche up, midboss of Xeroph and boss of Xeroph shrine were quite easy. All healing had to be made with Medicinal Herbs. Infant isle was a breeze, Xeroph required some grinding (about 2h I'd say). After beating Xeroph shrine I synthed Solo it with Healslime to get Sheslime. Decent stats all-round, Frizzmaister, Immune to Frizz and can equip whips to boot! I gave her Healer, Attack Boost and Frizz&Zap. Heal is an absolute must. You'll go crazy without it. Buff is very nice too, when you face three durable monsters or try scouting. I took only Frizz from Frizz&Zap, good for Shellslimes with their constant Buffing. All the rest went into Attack boost. Snakeskin whip made first part of Palaish Isle (the 'kill X Slimes in Y time twice' thing) and then grinding (I had to grind Solo to level 20 to beat the boss of Palaish shrine) quite bearable. I reached Celeste with level 21 Sheslime and this is where the fun begins. There are many traits that are just great in solo run: Counterstriker, Early Bird, Magic Miser/Scrooge, Magic Regenerator, Master of weapons (or ability to wield whips), Steady recovery, Psycho and finally Double Trouble. I chose Double Trouble (if I ever do the same run, I'll ban it, too OP). The best early DT monster is Jamirus. To make it, I needed Dark Slime Knight. They are extremely hard to scout even for a full party (I remember getting about 3% with decent party at that point). What now? If you see this, write 'I like slimes' at the bottom of your message The solution is Psycho trait. I synthed Sheslime with Jailcat (from Palaish shrine) to receive Great sabrecub, with which I scouted Lesser Demon, Lethal Armour, Dark Slime Knight and Flyguy. Then it was just a matter of grinding and synthesizing over and over for 4-5h to get Jamirus: Great Sabrecub (with Phoenis Septer) + Lethal Armour = Great Sabrecub Great Sabrecub + Lesser Demon = Gryphon Gryphon + Dark Slime Knight = Archdemon Archdemon + Flyguy = Jamirus I got rid of Frizz&Zap, replaced it with Frizz&Bang2 (from Archdemon) and invested 10 point to get two elemental slashes (cheap way to get 10% damage boost and for exploiting weaknesses). Attack Boost became Attack Boost3. Healer will remain on Solo eternally. You think that's overkill? Remember about incoming fight with Snap, which you are not supposed to win even with full party! And since I have 'no dying' rule... Stay tuned. Next: Celeste shrine.