Technically you can. There's just some inaccuracies in the main menu, but if you get used to clicking at the "right spot" in the menu, you'll be able to play with only mouse. Sorry if I haven't fully fixed it yet.
I saw some comments about the game crashing when Syle confronts the first Fairy during the Aura Breaks class and I think I know why what it happens. In RPG Maker MV, the game keeps track of what images are used for the Face, Character, and [SV] Battler for the Actors which can be changed through the Change Actor Images command. When a new game is started, it loads the images as defined in the Actors database (data/Actors.json) to use as a default which it will also default to when Initialize is checked in the Change Party Member command. The purpose of this behavior is so the game keeps the images used for that actor for instances where the character may use a different graphic other than the default such as school/academy or wedding so that loading the game will use that graphic rather than default images.
I guess when you worked on 0.6, Uni was set to use Actor2_6.png (I guess it was a placeholder until Uni's graphic was done) which wouldn't be a problem since the player was only meant to use Syle, Ein, and Alyssa as well as Jin for one battle. However, 0.7 had Uni use a different graphic which Lawmage Academy should use but the problem is that 0.6 had her still use Actor2_6.png as the SV Battler so when you confront the Fairy, the game displays a Loading Error since Lawmage Academy is looking for Actor2_6.png. That's why starting a new game in 0.7 doesn't cause this error since Uni will use her proper graphic.
I tested this behavior by editing Actor 4 (who I named also Alyssa) of my project to use Alyssa.png as the Character, starting a new game and saving, changing Actor 4's Character back to the original, and removing the Alyssa.png file. By loading the save I made earlier, the game generated an error when I added Actor 4 which I could click Retry until the game crashed when I changed maps. If I Initialized Actor 4 (Alyssa) instead (or changed her graphics through the Change Actor Images before adding her), she would use graphic defined in the database thus the error doesn't occur.
When you start after the demo was left off and you go to the first battle (the Fairy) the screen pops up for meThe music just keeps playing and I've hit retry many times. Other than this problem, the parts of the game I've played are pretty good. I'm also very sorry that this problem for me is just now being spoken about but I stopped playing video games for a while because of school.
Hello Tikkywink! The only way to solve this problem is to start a new game. I apologize for this. What's happening is that the old save file is looking for old assets that aren't in the game anymore.
Anyway, there's some new visuals and an added "scene" at the beginning of the game so I think it's worth doing another playthrough anyway. ^-^
I really like the learning system you made. The side characters are amazing too, with their unique personalities. I really think about how to spend the days in the Lawmage Academy, if I should go to sleep or study or work or which lesson should I attend. Very few games have made me really think about passing of time in the story. To tell the truth, it is a bit motivational for real life study, but I am not really sure how to explain why.
(also what @chariotenjoyer said about being caught for stealing from villagers, really creative and I felt bad for it during the trial xD)
Also, I am happy to see that you are making the game better and better, played it some time ago and now came back to see the updates. There are many visual additions. Going to replay the game yet again to see the new stuff. The ability to make choices and rich story is everything to me, and this game gives it to me.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I haven't been productive lately due to burn out and stress due to work and I haven't made progress on the game as I had hoped. Messages like this help motivate me and get back on track. I really needed this, thank you. ; - ;
I recently started playing the game and I have to say, I really like it so far. One of my favourite parts of the game was when the villagers caught me stealing potions during the exam. I never actually expected there to be consequences for taking the potions and it made me paranoid whenever I saw a chest.
One thing that somewhat bothers me is that so far I have never had any reason to put Lunelle in my team since she joins the player's team fairly late and I usually always pick Enheal for Syle in order to grind early game which makes her even less useful for me (This is already a problem without even mentioning the Enheal crystal you get from the donation quest later on). I won't disagree that the only reason I have this problem is because of my spell preference but I'm still hoping that Lunelle will have something that makes her more unique and more likely to be used in parties.
I liked discovering all the small things this game has to offer. For example, I was really surprised when I started the Lost ring quest because at the time I just wanted to browse shards while I had the ring equipped.
The only real problem I have is the fact that there is only one mission in the game right now but I guess it can't be helped since the game is still in development and putting in another mission in the 2nd month would probably mess up the time frame a bit.
Overall, the game is very good and I'm actually surprised that not many people know about it. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much for the feedback! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this.
I'll see what I can do in making Lunelle, and other characters for that matter, more relevant strategically to incentivize trying them out. In the meantime, Lunelle has the highest magic stat in the demo. Her water Aura Skill works really well against beast type monsters and the Resistance debuff increases your damage output even more. Hopefully, when the game is completed people can customize characters' skillsets even more to further suit their needs. Thanks!
Right! I finished the demo a few days ago and that I REALLY enjoyed it! I'd been waiting to not play it until this recent update happened, and it was great! I love the feeling of the game, and how I can have each day play out different (I actually liked when I had a certain plan set for the day, and then I got curious about the person selling books outside of the main building which ended up taking my whole day's plans lmao). Battles are fun, and I'm excited to see what team compositions I can make in the future.
I've seen people point out the fairy shop error so I'll skip past that (especially if it's already been addressed ever since I played), but there is a name error where Jin seems to call you "Syle" no matter what (if that's also been solved... well ignore these observations).
...Also I love the gnome NPC's design, looks preeety familiar (in a good way)!
I fixed the bugs you mentioned in a recent update. Currently, the most recent patch is v0.7.8. For Itch, you will have to redownload the whole file though to get the fixes. But just so I can double check, can you tell me or send me a screenshot of where Jin calls you Syle?
Huh... it usually happened when I interact with him before a talk event (Where he'd say "Hey [insert name], can I talk to you for a second?") but I can't seem to find a specific instance anymore. Was that fixed?
Ah! I see. Yes, it's fixed now in an update. Unfortunately for Itch games, you have to redownload the whole game to get the update. Unlike steam, it doesn't get automatically updated. Just be careful because you might lose your current save file with all the changes.
Thanks for reporting the bug though! I appreciate it.
Hi, I played your game and really love it! Overall since I'm an architecture graduatee myself, I loved your chosen style and secret room.. somehow it's kinda clicked with their structure building. Your interior choice also really good, I must say they have a lot of clever motive too.
I never thought our choice have that deep consequence, and I ended up playing both choice on the fairy village (break the crystal or not). And I must say I'm impressed! The dialogue was fun too. I kinda forget their NPC for a while~
It's really fun and I can't wait to hear the next progress soon. Thank you so much, Verinius.
Wow thank you very much for the kind words. I was actually worried about the architecture since I don't have a background in that. The best I could do was research on principles of interior design to improve the indoor maps.
I'm really happy to hear that you felt that way about the story and the impact your choices made. The demo is intended to test the whole concept and get player feedback to see if I'm getting the right emotions, feelings, and reactions that I want to evoke. After reading your comment, I think I'm on the right track on this one!
No problem.. and thank you too.. I'll decide to pursue my dream on become an indie developer after played your game. Thanks for all wonderful experience inside it and I'm a graphic designer too. If you really need anything, I'll try my best to help..
I was playing Lawmage Academy and I noticed some oddities:
In Arashiya Forest (the area where Zelka teleports you to in Combat Basics), Syle can go through the tree on the bottom left of the map.
In the same area where you encounter Sylvia during the first visit or the Fire Spirit (second visit), Syle can clip through the tree.
After beating the Garuda in First Mission and talking to Lawmage Arendt (Drakewood House), there's a 0] after classes (it should say classes, not classes0]). Haven't tested with other Houses.
You can "block" enemies from encountering you if they touch the follower but not Syle. It's actually an issue in all RPG Maker games since VX where players can use followers to block events from triggering (for example, a battle). Yanfly addressed this issue with Event Encounter Aids.
I looked in the www folder and saw a folder named Character generator which is the JSON files for the characters you were creating. I suppose it was probably left over when you started working on Lawmage Academy. Since there's no JSON files for characters like Sylvia, I guess she and others not included were either added later in development or you moved on making your own character graphics when those characters were made. I assume the faces in early demos would use the CG faces but the current faces as of 0.6 uses the graphics from Puzxle. Also it appears that Ein was originally named Einsworth.
Thank you for reporting these bugs! I'll issue a fix later today or tomorrow to patch them up. You're right with the JSON files being left over as well. :D
Hi! Are you using an old save file? If so, then I found out it won't work. I also suggest redownloading the game in Itch. I've issued new patches to fix bugs. The latest version as of right now is v0.7.5.
I have played the demo of Lawmage Academy and enjoyed it, I haven't encountered any difficulties with the battles except for maybe the Golem and the final battle in Aura Breaks class which is impossible to win (interestingly, you'd still get a Game Over if you lose that battle). I like the game's tileset/graphics which stands out to other RPG Maker MV games using mostly the default assets, and I also like the idea of a magic school.
I was introduced to Sylvia in the Combat Basics class and she reminds me of Merula Snyde from Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery due to the way she views the students particularly Syle and Alyssa as weak and unworthy of being a Lawmage. Notable comparisons between Sylvia and Merula is that they have sabotaged their first classes (Combat Basics/Potions) and they want the main character (Syle & Alyssa/the player) to quit/drop out of their respective schools (Lawmage Academy/Hogwarts).
I noticed when I was doing battles is how confusing the characters' commands can be. In Lawmage Academy, the commands are issued by the order of the characters being able to act (similar to Final Fantasy X), not by the order of the party like in most RPG Maker MV games which could lead to you attacking with the "wrong" character if used to the default system. However, anyone who's played a game with a different battle system like MZ's Time Progress system will get used to the system in LA or any game using that plugin. Also for some reason, the mouse can select commands and use items/skills that target allies but it can't be used to select which enemy to attack.
Though people pointed it, I noticed there seems to be a flaw with the autosave where it can overwrite the current slot meaning you'd need to save in two slots. To be fair, RPG Maker MV doesn't have autosave out of the box and I think most autosave plugins including Yanfly's autosave plugin save in the same slot for manual saves. RPG Maker MZ does provide autosave which uses its own slot but it only autosaves on map changes and end of battles, and while MZ does allow enabling/disabling the autosave feature in the database, it doesn't (at least without plugins) provide options to enable/disable within the game similar to the Dash feature which can be disabled on maps but there's no way to disable/enable it through Events.
I also wonder if you plan on releasing Lawmage Academy on Linux because RPG Maker MV allows exporting to Linux as well as Windows and macOS, and both itch.io and Steam support Linux.
Thanks for the comments! I appreciate it. The autosave issue is duly noted. One of my next tasks is to find a compatible autosave plugin that uses a separate save slot. As for the mouse selection, I didn't know it couldn't select enemies. I'll have to test it and see why that is so. I'm open to a Linux port but for now I'm focusing on Mac and Windows.
Btw, v0.7 is available now if you wish to see an extended story, new illustrations, more refined mechanics and systems. The official announcement will be made soon. ^-^
I just noticed my concept of a mage (at least from Alexandria) defending the country from monsters and criminals is similar to a Lawmage. I guess Lawmages would arrest criminals but I haven't seen it happen in the game.
I got the FSM materials and I noticed when looking around that some maps in Lawmage Academy are reused from Woods and Cave Tiles although they're edited to suit the game. The FSM tiles are more complicated than the default MV tiles but I made my attempt to make a simple map with the tileset which is the Alexandria Academy (a magic school) which is somewhat similar to the Academy Entrance in Lawmage Academy.
Maybe I might join the Discord server since it'll be more ideal than using Itch. I could discuss Lawmage Academy and share my things since I also use RPG Maker MV which I could learn some examples from Lawmage Academy specifically the character/enemy stats and battles.
Thanks for the interest! Nothing is final yet, so my answers to your questions are definitely subject to change:
1. Early access on Steam? Maybe. I really have to think about this. I see a lot of a sandbox and roguelite games go on early access, but I rarely see RPGs do it. If I do decide to go for early access, I'll make sure the main story is finished at the very least and future updates would just be additional content/quests.
2. Preorders and early builds? That's also a good option. Maybe a patreon? I'm not sure at the moment. I'm not comfortable taking money from people unless I am very confident that the project will be finished by a specific date. Though you can donate via Itch if you'd like!
3. Pricing? Tentatively, I'm thinking of $15. In Steam I can change this based on the region so it's cheaper in other countries. I think it's a reasonable price, but I'm not sure if it's too low.
1. I know a farming sim game, Village Monsters is doing early access and they generally update within a specific time frame and basically post on twitter/ game's discord when they update or having something new to show the players what's in store for the new update in case that's stuff not working properly code wise. Not sure if that you're willing to do but it's an option to make money and produce the game without having to worry about paying the bills or something.
2. Glitched, a rpg didn't really do early access except allow certain players to buy stuff during a Kickstarter to have exclusive access to early builds/demos if they paid extra for it while offering steam keys too from what I remember And I think they made longer demos for the rest of the player base after a few months or so while ironing out the kinks and stuff. You could do something like that if you're up for it but it's up to you.
Don't view it as taking money from people but us paying you extra to have you be able to work on the game without having to worry about juggling stuff or stressing out. And having the player base offering suggestions to make the game better as you make the game. Or view it as getting paid extra while being given more work to do on your game if you view that way.
3. I say a bit more because of multiple routes and stuff but I have no idea how long you're making the game. Twenty bucks or twenty five if the game is longer than thirty hours or so.
Thanks for the suggestions and input. You pointed out stuff that never crossed my mind. I'll consider your suggestions when planning on my next steps. For now, I'll park this while working on the updated demo and get more feedback after releasing the update. ^-^
Hello, I just downloaded Lawmage Academy, and so far its great and I love it! But whenever I stop the game and come back to it after a while, when I press the Continue button on the home page, it doesn't work. Is there a way to fix it or not?
I was in a group of 3 (Alissa, Ein and me) when suddenly I noticed i didn't have the hability to choose my target when healing and using items in combat. There was a pre-selected character (Ein, switched to allisa near the end) and I could only heal them. Outside of combat, I could use items and heal normally. Also no problem with offensive moves. I repeated the mission and this hasn't happened again. This happened during the "Aura Breaks" class, day 14.
Anyway it's still a great game, would love to see a complete version.
Thanks for bringing this up! My guess is that your mouse was probably in the way, so that might be messing with the selected character. You can choose people to target with the mouse button as well and it takes priority over the keyboard selection.
I'm glad you enjoyed it~ Stay tuned for the update in a couple of months!
I talked to the cat in the 2nd day and my game froze ;-; ( the music still is on, forever, but i can't move after he does the water drop emote, and i don't think the girl helps me out )
Ah, thanks for finding this bug! Yes you are right, it's because the girl is blocking you when you are supposed to be pushed backwards. I can fix this in the next update easily. My apologies!
it's great with neat story writing.It feels like i'm back to first time at high school and learn everything about the environtment and people.i look forward for the final release.
Thanks! Honestly, I haven't shown the amount of content I originally wanted to showcase in this version. That's why there will be an update in a few months to showcase more of the game. I hope you try that out too!
By the end of the demo, I was really hoping that I could wreck Sylvia and her goons' day... So overall, pretty good character writing and I can't wait to see more! :D
I'm open to suggestions! There is a feedback channel in Lawmage Academy's Discord so feel free to send it there any time so I can have a look whenever. :D
During the battle against the golem monster, Jin told me to use an aura skill, but I didn't learn it during the battle or after the battle. Is this a glitch? I took the aura skill class after getting Alyssa and Ein to learn their aura skills, so that may have messed things up. On the other hand, considering what happened at the end of the demo, maybe the player character's aura is meant to unlock later, like during a rematch against a certain unbeatable boss.
Again congratulations on your game. As a Filipino myself, you inspire me to improve my game deving even more. You deserve all the success in this field. Looking forward for the final release of Lawmage Academy and to your other future games. 💛
Whenever I start up the game again, it doesn't remember any of the settings I picked before, such as auto-dash.
Edit: Is there a way to disable auto-save? It's bad design to have this feature save over a slot the player can manually save over, since they can lose their manual saves this way. You should instead have auto-save only affect a slot that the player is never allowed to manually save to.
It has been a while since i play tested it, will start again soon. Can already tell it has gotten a lot more prettier and polished though. Looking forward for full release
Thank you for the feedback, the comments, and suggestions that you gave early on! I appreciate the support and I will do my best to make it the best game it can be! :D
Hi HinaAsh! The testing phase for v0.5 demo finished and is no longer available. However, v0.6 is coming soon! I hope you stick around and stay tuned for updates. :D
This is looking really good and fun to play, but I'm going to be that guy and ask: do you plan on updating the battle UI (queue, stat placement/layout, etc) to not be something ripped straight from Octopath Traveler? Is this currently a placeholder while other tasks (arguably more important) are being implemented? Sorry if this sounds brash, but it was the first thing I noticed and now that's the impression I'm left with.
Thanks for asking this! The plugin I'm using for the battle system gives me limited options on how to customize it. I can edit the size of the windows, the colors of the gauges, icons of the shields, and adjust the positions of the characters. With the use of the Luna Engine, I was able to edit the menu of the battle system as well.
For the layout of the hp bars, I intend to keep them at the side to give space for the virtual buttons at the bottom for a future mobile port.
The turn queue at the top though I have very little control on how to edit it due to the nature of the plugin and the parameters it allows me to edit.
Thanks for asking this and I hope I answered your question!
I think the game is really easy now that I have played it so much. I have even beat it in one sitting once. What do you think about speedrunning? I think it may be possible to get a sub 1.5 hour run. I'm not revealing any secrets yet, but the other speedrunner I saw can improve in various locations. I need to test some stuff first though, such as how much I should grind for grades to make future battles easier.
Been eyeing on this game ever since ESGS2019. I couldn't play then because we also had a booth. But now I was finally able to play till the end.
Story: The story was pretty immersive, ever since the beginning of the game, I was drawn in. The writing was pretty decent, and the world building was on point. I could see the potter books we're references, which was great. Although it was off to a slow start, but I became really invested after the first dungeon. I love that they literally teach you the mechanics of the game through lessons in class. It was a good touch. For the world building, everything definitely fits together. I heard that the developer is an actual Lawyer (or studied law, correct me if I'm wrong), but he definitely found a way to mix Law and Fantasy in a very cool way. I won't spoil anything, but I was really frustrated about the outcome of the first trial. But definitely, the story and world building was one of the strong points of the game.
Characters: The characters we're really great and memorable. Each magister have their own personality fit with the classes that they teach. My favorite being Zelka and Uni. There were also those bully brats that I wanted to tear down with my magic. Each of them are really believable and have their own roles to fulfill in the world.
Combat: As an RPG Maker game, most games don't like to change the formula and innovate that much. But this game added a twist to the boring old turned based formula by adding Aura Skills/Counters. I think it added a bit of strategical factor to the battles. The basics - attack, magic, guard, item are still there but I think the battles are well balanced.
Audio: Like in any other game in this genre, I think the audio makes or breaks the game. In this case, the audio for this game was on point. I love the little jingles used for sound effects and most things have some sounds. The music really fit in with the theme of the world, and are used well on proper scenarios. I did they really did a good job on the audio for this game.
Student Life Simulator: One of the main features of the game is to let you live your life as a Lawmage Student. You are free to do things at your own pace at a cost of days. Each action you take takes the whole day to do. I was really amazed how much potential this game has. But I think they could add more things to do, it'll be more fun.
Final Thoughts: Overall, Lawmage Academy has the potential to be something really great. It has the foundations of a great game and a great story. It's something that I want to play till the end and have a great time. I hope the dev team get all the support they need to finish the game because they indeed deserve it. There are still some improvements that can be done here and there but overall I had a really pleasant experience with the game. I recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs/jrpgs. Thank you for making the game.
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can play with only mouse?
Technically you can. There's just some inaccuracies in the main menu, but if you get used to clicking at the "right spot" in the menu, you'll be able to play with only mouse. Sorry if I haven't fully fixed it yet.
I saw some comments about the game crashing when Syle confronts the first Fairy during the Aura Breaks class and I think I know why what it happens. In RPG Maker MV, the game keeps track of what images are used for the Face, Character, and [SV] Battler for the Actors which can be changed through the Change Actor Images command. When a new game is started, it loads the images as defined in the Actors database (data/Actors.json) to use as a default which it will also default to when Initialize is checked in the Change Party Member command. The purpose of this behavior is so the game keeps the images used for that actor for instances where the character may use a different graphic other than the default such as school/academy or wedding so that loading the game will use that graphic rather than default images.
I guess when you worked on 0.6, Uni was set to use Actor2_6.png (I guess it was a placeholder until Uni's graphic was done) which wouldn't be a problem since the player was only meant to use Syle, Ein, and Alyssa as well as Jin for one battle. However, 0.7 had Uni use a different graphic which Lawmage Academy should use but the problem is that 0.6 had her still use Actor2_6.png as the SV Battler so when you confront the Fairy, the game displays a Loading Error since Lawmage Academy is looking for Actor2_6.png. That's why starting a new game in 0.7 doesn't cause this error since Uni will use her proper graphic.
I tested this behavior by editing Actor 4 (who I named also Alyssa) of my project to use Alyssa.png as the Character, starting a new game and saving, changing Actor 4's Character back to the original, and removing the Alyssa.png file. By loading the save I made earlier, the game generated an error when I added Actor 4 which I could click Retry until the game crashed when I changed maps. If I Initialized Actor 4 (Alyssa) instead (or changed her graphics through the Change Actor Images before adding her), she would use graphic defined in the database thus the error doesn't occur.
Yes exactly! I didn't think of using the change actor command. That's a brilliant solution. Thanks!
When you start after the demo was left off and you go to the first battle (the Fairy) the screen pops up for me
The music just keeps playing and I've hit retry many times. Other than this problem, the parts of the game I've played are pretty good. I'm also very sorry that this problem for me is just now being spoken about but I stopped playing video games for a while because of school.
Hello Tikkywink! The only way to solve this problem is to start a new game. I apologize for this. What's happening is that the old save file is looking for old assets that aren't in the game anymore.
Anyway, there's some new visuals and an added "scene" at the beginning of the game so I think it's worth doing another playthrough anyway. ^-^
Thank you! I hope to see what's different.
Thank you for making such an amazing game:)
I really like the learning system you made. The side characters are amazing too, with their unique personalities. I really think about how to spend the days in the Lawmage Academy, if I should go to sleep or study or work or which lesson should I attend. Very few games have made me really think about passing of time in the story. To tell the truth, it is a bit motivational for real life study, but I am not really sure how to explain why.
(also what @chariotenjoyer said about being caught for stealing from villagers, really creative and I felt bad for it during the trial xD)
Also, I am happy to see that you are making the game better and better, played it some time ago and now came back to see the updates. There are many visual additions. Going to replay the game yet again to see the new stuff. The ability to make choices and rich story is everything to me, and this game gives it to me.
Thank you for your hard work and keep it up:)
Thank you so much for the kind words. I haven't been productive lately due to burn out and stress due to work and I haven't made progress on the game as I had hoped. Messages like this help motivate me and get back on track. I really needed this, thank you. ; - ;
I recently started playing the game and I have to say, I really like it so far. One of my favourite parts of the game was when the villagers caught me stealing potions during the exam. I never actually expected there to be consequences for taking the potions and it made me paranoid whenever I saw a chest.
One thing that somewhat bothers me is that so far I have never had any reason to put Lunelle in my team since she joins the player's team fairly late and I usually always pick Enheal for Syle in order to grind early game which makes her even less useful for me (This is already a problem without even mentioning the Enheal crystal you get from the donation quest later on). I won't disagree that the only reason I have this problem is because of my spell preference but I'm still hoping that Lunelle will have something that makes her more unique and more likely to be used in parties.
I liked discovering all the small things this game has to offer. For example, I was really surprised when I started the Lost ring quest because at the time I just wanted to browse shards while I had the ring equipped.
The only real problem I have is the fact that there is only one mission in the game right now but I guess it can't be helped since the game is still in development and putting in another mission in the 2nd month would probably mess up the time frame a bit.
Overall, the game is very good and I'm actually surprised that not many people know about it. Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much for the feedback! I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this.
I'll see what I can do in making Lunelle, and other characters for that matter, more relevant strategically to incentivize trying them out. In the meantime, Lunelle has the highest magic stat in the demo. Her water Aura Skill works really well against beast type monsters and the Resistance debuff increases your damage output even more. Hopefully, when the game is completed people can customize characters' skillsets even more to further suit their needs. Thanks!
Right! I finished the demo a few days ago and that I REALLY enjoyed it! I'd been waiting to not play it until this recent update happened, and it was great! I love the feeling of the game, and how I can have each day play out different (I actually liked when I had a certain plan set for the day, and then I got curious about the person selling books outside of the main building which ended up taking my whole day's plans lmao). Battles are fun, and I'm excited to see what team compositions I can make in the future.
I've seen people point out the fairy shop error so I'll skip past that (especially if it's already been addressed ever since I played), but there is a name error where Jin seems to call you "Syle" no matter what (if that's also been solved... well ignore these observations).
...Also I love the gnome NPC's design, looks preeety familiar (in a good way)!
Heya mimironi! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!
I fixed the bugs you mentioned in a recent update. Currently, the most recent patch is v0.7.8. For Itch, you will have to redownload the whole file though to get the fixes. But just so I can double check, can you tell me or send me a screenshot of where Jin calls you Syle?
Thanks!
Huh... it usually happened when I interact with him before a talk event (Where he'd say "Hey [insert name], can I talk to you for a second?") but I can't seem to find a specific instance anymore. Was that fixed?
Ah! I see. Yes, it's fixed now in an update. Unfortunately for Itch games, you have to redownload the whole game to get the update. Unlike steam, it doesn't get automatically updated. Just be careful because you might lose your current save file with all the changes.
Thanks for reporting the bug though! I appreciate it.
I just got into the fairy forest (I think), after falling down the bridge. and when I get into the fight with a fairy, I got this. :(
nevermind, I just read what causing this XD sorry to bother you.
Ah I'm glad you were able to sort out the problem. Have fun! ^-^
I got this error too.
Hi! You'll have to start a new game unfortunately. Existing saves are looking for the old sprite that isn't there anymore.
Oh okay thanks
Hi, I played your game and really love it! Overall since I'm an architecture graduatee myself, I loved your chosen style and secret room.. somehow it's kinda clicked with their structure building. Your interior choice also really good, I must say they have a lot of clever motive too.
I never thought our choice have that deep consequence, and I ended up playing both choice on the fairy village (break the crystal or not). And I must say I'm impressed! The dialogue was fun too. I kinda forget their NPC for a while~
It's really fun and I can't wait to hear the next progress soon. Thank you so much, Verinius.
Wow thank you very much for the kind words. I was actually worried about the architecture since I don't have a background in that. The best I could do was research on principles of interior design to improve the indoor maps.
I'm really happy to hear that you felt that way about the story and the impact your choices made. The demo is intended to test the whole concept and get player feedback to see if I'm getting the right emotions, feelings, and reactions that I want to evoke. After reading your comment, I think I'm on the right track on this one!
No problem.. and thank you too.. I'll decide to pursue my dream on become an indie developer after played your game. Thanks for all wonderful experience inside it and I'm a graphic designer too. If you really need anything, I'll try my best to help..
Thank you so much! I'm so happy to hear that you've decided to pursue your dream. <3
I was playing Lawmage Academy and I noticed some oddities:
Thank you for reporting these bugs! I'll issue a fix later today or tomorrow to patch them up. You're right with the JSON files being left over as well. :D
Loading Error At The Point Fairy Encounter
Hi! Are you using an old save file? If so, then I found out it won't work. I also suggest redownloading the game in Itch. I've issued new patches to fix bugs. The latest version as of right now is v0.7.5.
I have played the demo of Lawmage Academy and enjoyed it, I haven't encountered any difficulties with the battles except for maybe the Golem and the final battle in Aura Breaks class which is impossible to win (interestingly, you'd still get a Game Over if you lose that battle). I like the game's tileset/graphics which stands out to other RPG Maker MV games using mostly the default assets, and I also like the idea of a magic school.
I was introduced to Sylvia in the Combat Basics class and she reminds me of Merula Snyde from Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery due to the way she views the students particularly Syle and Alyssa as weak and unworthy of being a Lawmage. Notable comparisons between Sylvia and Merula is that they have sabotaged their first classes (Combat Basics/Potions) and they want the main character (Syle & Alyssa/the player) to quit/drop out of their respective schools (Lawmage Academy/Hogwarts).
I noticed when I was doing battles is how confusing the characters' commands can be. In Lawmage Academy, the commands are issued by the order of the characters being able to act (similar to Final Fantasy X), not by the order of the party like in most RPG Maker MV games which could lead to you attacking with the "wrong" character if used to the default system. However, anyone who's played a game with a different battle system like MZ's Time Progress system will get used to the system in LA or any game using that plugin. Also for some reason, the mouse can select commands and use items/skills that target allies but it can't be used to select which enemy to attack.
Though people pointed it, I noticed there seems to be a flaw with the autosave where it can overwrite the current slot meaning you'd need to save in two slots. To be fair, RPG Maker MV doesn't have autosave out of the box and I think most autosave plugins including Yanfly's autosave plugin save in the same slot for manual saves. RPG Maker MZ does provide autosave which uses its own slot but it only autosaves on map changes and end of battles, and while MZ does allow enabling/disabling the autosave feature in the database, it doesn't (at least without plugins) provide options to enable/disable within the game similar to the Dash feature which can be disabled on maps but there's no way to disable/enable it through Events.
I also wonder if you plan on releasing Lawmage Academy on Linux because RPG Maker MV allows exporting to Linux as well as Windows and macOS, and both itch.io and Steam support Linux.
Thanks for the comments! I appreciate it. The autosave issue is duly noted. One of my next tasks is to find a compatible autosave plugin that uses a separate save slot. As for the mouse selection, I didn't know it couldn't select enemies. I'll have to test it and see why that is so. I'm open to a Linux port but for now I'm focusing on Mac and Windows.
Btw, v0.7 is available now if you wish to see an extended story, new illustrations, more refined mechanics and systems. The official announcement will be made soon. ^-^
I just noticed my concept of a mage (at least from Alexandria) defending the country from monsters and criminals is similar to a Lawmage. I guess Lawmages would arrest criminals but I haven't seen it happen in the game.
I got the FSM materials and I noticed when looking around that some maps in Lawmage Academy are reused from Woods and Cave Tiles although they're edited to suit the game. The FSM tiles are more complicated than the default MV tiles but I made my attempt to make a simple map with the tileset which is the Alexandria Academy (a magic school) which is somewhat similar to the Academy Entrance in Lawmage Academy.
Maybe I might join the Discord server since it'll be more ideal than using Itch. I could discuss Lawmage Academy and share my things since I also use RPG Maker MV which I could learn some examples from Lawmage Academy specifically the character/enemy stats and battles.
Very interesting!
Yes, I would love to see you in Discord for more discussion, not just with me but also other Lawmages~
Would you be willing to put the game in early access on steam? I like to be able to buy the game without having to wait for it and support you as dev.
Or are you taking preorders that will allow users to have acces to the early builds as you make it then full game access?
Do you know what you're pricing the game as? Like twenty or thirty bucks or so?
Thanks for the interest! Nothing is final yet, so my answers to your questions are definitely subject to change:
1. Early access on Steam? Maybe. I really have to think about this. I see a lot of a sandbox and roguelite games go on early access, but I rarely see RPGs do it. If I do decide to go for early access, I'll make sure the main story is finished at the very least and future updates would just be additional content/quests.
2. Preorders and early builds? That's also a good option. Maybe a patreon? I'm not sure at the moment. I'm not comfortable taking money from people unless I am very confident that the project will be finished by a specific date. Though you can donate via Itch if you'd like!
3. Pricing? Tentatively, I'm thinking of $15. In Steam I can change this based on the region so it's cheaper in other countries. I think it's a reasonable price, but I'm not sure if it's too low.
1. I know a farming sim game, Village Monsters is doing early access and they generally update within a specific time frame and basically post on twitter/ game's discord when they update or having something new to show the players what's in store for the new update in case that's stuff not working properly code wise. Not sure if that you're willing to do but it's an option to make money and produce the game without having to worry about paying the bills or something.
2. Glitched, a rpg didn't really do early access except allow certain players to buy stuff during a Kickstarter to have exclusive access to early builds/demos if they paid extra for it while offering steam keys too from what I remember And I think they made longer demos for the rest of the player base after a few months or so while ironing out the kinks and stuff. You could do something like that if you're up for it but it's up to you.
Don't view it as taking money from people but us paying you extra to have you be able to work on the game without having to worry about juggling stuff or stressing out. And having the player base offering suggestions to make the game better as you make the game. Or view it as getting paid extra while being given more work to do on your game if you view that way.
3. I say a bit more because of multiple routes and stuff but I have no idea how long you're making the game. Twenty bucks or twenty five if the game is longer than thirty hours or so.
Thanks for the suggestions and input. You pointed out stuff that never crossed my mind. I'll consider your suggestions when planning on my next steps. For now, I'll park this while working on the updated demo and get more feedback after releasing the update. ^-^
I have finished the demo, and it was great! I even trying to be in each different dorms at different playthrough
I can't wait for the full game!
Yaaaay! Glad you like it. The updated demo will be finished by the end of this month. I hope you try it out too! <3
I love how the game is coming along keep up the great work!
Thank you very much!
I solved the problem-done worry about it! Plus I simply LOVE this game-its the best game I've ever played!
Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you were able to solve the problem as well. <3
Hello, I just downloaded Lawmage Academy, and so far its great and I love it! But whenever I stop the game and come back to it after a while, when I press the Continue button on the home page, it doesn't work. Is there a way to fix it or not?
I enjoyed every minute of this game! Keep up the good work!!
Thank you, Mochi!!
This is the first time playing this kind of game and let me tell you-
I loved every minute of it! I just finished the demo. Can't wait for the full version :)
Thank u for your hard work!!
Thank you very much for the kind words. This is really motivating for me. <3
Really enjoying the game. I'm only on day 10 but curious, will you be able to customize your dorm room at all?
At the moment no, but it's something that I can probably implement in the future.
I was in a group of 3 (Alissa, Ein and me) when suddenly I noticed i didn't have the hability to choose my target when healing and using items in combat. There was a pre-selected character (Ein, switched to allisa near the end) and I could only heal them. Outside of combat, I could use items and heal normally. Also no problem with offensive moves. I repeated the mission and this hasn't happened again. This happened during the "Aura Breaks" class, day 14.
Anyway it's still a great game, would love to see a complete version.
Thanks for bringing this up! My guess is that your mouse was probably in the way, so that might be messing with the selected character. You can choose people to target with the mouse button as well and it takes priority over the keyboard selection.
I'm glad you enjoyed it~ Stay tuned for the update in a couple of months!
That makes sense. I checked and that seems to be what happened. Thanks for answering.
Anytime. Thanks!!
I talked to the cat in the 2nd day and my game froze ;-; ( the music still is on, forever, but i can't move after he does the water drop emote, and i don't think the girl helps me out )
maybe it's cuz the cat would push me backwards,but because the girl is there i just keep triggering the event over and over and i can't move
Ah, thanks for finding this bug! Yes you are right, it's because the girl is blocking you when you are supposed to be pushed backwards. I can fix this in the next update easily. My apologies!
Really enjoyed it and can't wait for the full game to be released !!!
Thank you very much~ I'm glad to hear that!
One of my top games on my list, the story is really good and the gameplay too.Hope this game will one day go BOOMING, they really deserve it.:)
Thank you very much! I'm glad you loved it! Stay tuned for an extended demo version early next year. ^-^
it's great with neat story writing.It feels like i'm back to first time at high school and learn everything about the environtment and people.i look forward for the final release.
Thanks! Honestly, I haven't shown the amount of content I originally wanted to showcase in this version. That's why there will be an update in a few months to showcase more of the game. I hope you try that out too!
Kirito is Vissage because he has 2 swords. 1 sword in each hand. = Balance. LOL
By the end of the demo, I was really hoping that I could wreck Sylvia and her goons' day... So overall, pretty good character writing and I can't wait to see more! :D
Hahaha yaaay thanks~ Glad you enjoyed it!
This was an interesting demo. Congratulations and I look forward to your progress and final release.
Thank you very much! I appreciate the well wishes~
Oh, and I forgot to mention, if you would like some suggestions on spells, give me a shout here on Discord if you'd like.
I'm open to suggestions! There is a feedback channel in Lawmage Academy's Discord so feel free to send it there any time so I can have a look whenever. :D
During the battle against the golem monster, Jin told me to use an aura skill, but I didn't learn it during the battle or after the battle. Is this a glitch? I took the aura skill class after getting Alyssa and Ein to learn their aura skills, so that may have messed things up. On the other hand, considering what happened at the end of the demo, maybe the player character's aura is meant to unlock later, like during a rematch against a certain unbeatable boss.
Don't worry it's not a glitch. The player character's Aura skill will be unlocked later. :D
Again congratulations on your game. As a Filipino myself, you inspire me to improve my game deving even more. You deserve all the success in this field. Looking forward for the final release of Lawmage Academy and to your other future games. 💛
I appreciate the kind words, Carl! I'm glad I could inspire you and help motivate you to finish your game. <3
Whenever I start up the game again, it doesn't remember any of the settings I picked before, such as auto-dash.
Edit: Is there a way to disable auto-save? It's bad design to have this feature save over a slot the player can manually save over, since they can lose their manual saves this way. You should instead have auto-save only affect a slot that the player is never allowed to manually save to.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll look for better plugins to to address those issues in the extended demo. ^-^
Amazing start so far! I need more!!!! I will definitely be purchasing the final release.
Wonderful~ I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for making such a great game.
Awww ; ~ ;
Great demo, looking forward to the final release! :)
I appreciate the kind words, Angel!
When id the . exe file coming?
The public demo will be released on the first week of November. ^ - ^
I cannot wait XD
It has been a while since i play tested it, will start again soon. Can already tell it has gotten a lot more prettier and polished though. Looking forward for full release
The updated demo will come real soon! I'm so excited for you to try it out. :D
Woah, now it's keep improving! Looking forward for the full release~
Thank you for the feedback, the comments, and suggestions that you gave early on! I appreciate the support and I will do my best to make it the best game it can be! :D
Am i just blind or there isn't really a download button?
Hi HinaAsh! The testing phase for v0.5 demo finished and is no longer available. However, v0.6 is coming soon! I hope you stick around and stay tuned for updates. :D
I really am looking forward to this
It has gotten better! Keep it up!
Thank you so much~! <3
Deserve the love it gets ❤️🙏
This is looking really good and fun to play, but I'm going to be that guy and ask: do you plan on updating the battle UI (queue, stat placement/layout, etc) to not be something ripped straight from Octopath Traveler? Is this currently a placeholder while other tasks (arguably more important) are being implemented? Sorry if this sounds brash, but it was the first thing I noticed and now that's the impression I'm left with.
Thanks for asking this! The plugin I'm using for the battle system gives me limited options on how to customize it. I can edit the size of the windows, the colors of the gauges, icons of the shields, and adjust the positions of the characters. With the use of the Luna Engine, I was able to edit the menu of the battle system as well.
For the layout of the hp bars, I intend to keep them at the side to give space for the virtual buttons at the bottom for a future mobile port.
The turn queue at the top though I have very little control on how to edit it due to the nature of the plugin and the parameters it allows me to edit.
Thanks for asking this and I hope I answered your question!
I think the game is really easy now that I have played it so much. I have even beat it in one sitting once. What do you think about speedrunning? I think it may be possible to get a sub 1.5 hour run. I'm not revealing any secrets yet, but the other speedrunner I saw can improve in various locations. I need to test some stuff first though, such as how much I should grind for grades to make future battles easier.
You can definitely do it faster I think. The dev room has enough exploits to ensure that everything goes fast.
Been eyeing on this game ever since ESGS2019. I couldn't play then because we also had a booth. But now I was finally able to play till the end.
Story:
The story was pretty immersive, ever since the beginning of the game, I was drawn in. The writing was pretty decent, and the world building was on point. I could see the potter books we're references, which was great. Although it was off to a slow start, but I became really invested after the first dungeon. I love that they literally teach you the mechanics of the game through lessons in class. It was a good touch. For the world building, everything definitely fits together. I heard that the developer is an actual Lawyer (or studied law, correct me if I'm wrong), but he definitely found a way to mix Law and Fantasy in a very cool way. I won't spoil anything, but I was really frustrated about the outcome of the first trial. But definitely, the story and world building was one of the strong points of the game.
Characters:
The characters we're really great and memorable. Each magister have their own personality fit with the classes that they teach. My favorite being Zelka and Uni. There were also those bully brats that I wanted to tear down with my magic. Each of them are really believable and have their own roles to fulfill in the world.
Combat:
As an RPG Maker game, most games don't like to change the formula and innovate that much. But this game added a twist to the boring old turned based formula by adding Aura Skills/Counters. I think it added a bit of strategical factor to the battles. The basics - attack, magic, guard, item are still there but I think the battles are well balanced.
Audio:
Like in any other game in this genre, I think the audio makes or breaks the game. In this case, the audio for this game was on point. I love the little jingles used for sound effects and most things have some sounds. The music really fit in with the theme of the world, and are used well on proper scenarios. I did they really did a good job on the audio for this game.
Student Life Simulator:
One of the main features of the game is to let you live your life as a Lawmage Student. You are free to do things at your own pace at a cost of days. Each action you take takes the whole day to do. I was really amazed how much potential this game has. But I think they could add more things to do, it'll be more fun.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, Lawmage Academy has the potential to be something really great. It has the foundations of a great game and a great story. It's something that I want to play till the end and have a great time. I hope the dev team get all the support they need to finish the game because they indeed deserve it. There are still some improvements that can be done here and there but overall I had a really pleasant experience with the game. I recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs/jrpgs. Thank you for making the game.
Thank you so much for the detailed review. I appreciate the kind words and the suggestions. I hope to meet you as well in the next ESGS! 😊