Harbingers of Woe

[Matseb2611]

How do FF2 and 5 do the bows? I can't quite remember now.

I might have to use a script then to have Pestilence use a different skill for his attack which won't require him to move upclose. Should be doable.

Also, not related to the above, I've decided to just have 6 dungeon areas in the game than 7, though the final area will be larger than all the rest. 

 

[Scythuz]

How do FF2 and 5 do the bows? I can't quite remember now.

I might have to use a script then to have Pestilence use a different skill for his attack which won't require him to move upclose. Should be doable.

Also, not related to the above, I've decided to just have 6 dungeon areas in the game than 7, though the final area will be larger than all the rest. 

Basically they step forward a bit and then fire the bow.  You would need to animate the arrow separately though I think.  You're doing Incitement 3 in sideview too right?  So it'd be a very good idea to learn this before you start that since I imagine you'll want to make the animations more complex in that game e.g. grenades, laser rifle shots, pulse guns, rockets.

 

[Susan]

Don't worry about the achievement award, Matseb. I couldn't replicate it, so it was probably just a rare glitch. I still had 2 more chests to grab in that area.

If you are using Yami's Symphony Battle Engine script, there's a tutorial on how to make ranged animations. ^^

 

[Matseb2611]

Ah, so you guys mean to make an actual arrow projectile move? I am not entirely sure if that's something I can pull off with Galv's script. And I'd rather stay away from Symphony and Victor's systems since they are way too complex and gave me a lot of headache when I first tried to use them for Atonement. If there's maybe any other way to pull this off, I could try that. But for making him fire from his position shouldn't be a problem.

(For Incitement 3 most stuff will be guns, which technically should hit the enemy instantly anyway, so I can adapt animations to fit that).

 

[Scythuz]

Ah, so you guys mean to make an actual arrow projectile move? I am not entirely sure if that's something I can pull off with Galv's script. And I'd rather stay away from Symphony and Victor's systems since they are way too complex and gave me a lot of headache when I first tried to use them for Atonement. If there's maybe any other way to pull this off, I could try that. But for making him fire from his position shouldn't be a problem.

(For Incitement 3 most stuff will be guns, which technically should hit the enemy instantly anyway, so I can adapt animations to fit that).

Well it's up to you, but, I just feel one of the biggest problems with rpg maker games is how detached the combat can feel sometimes.  Seeing your attacks have impact in one form or another is a good way to alleviate this.

 

[Matseb2611]

I agree, but could you elaborate a bit on the 'seeing your attacks have impact' part? If I showed say a gunshot wound occurring instantly on the enemy, would that feel detached?

 

[Susan]

I'm nor sure what Scythuz means by that (maybe the arrow part?), but guns wouldn't be an issue here, as long as the characters don't have to move right in front of the enemy to fire their weapons (unless they're very short-sighted). Bullets usually travel too fast to be seen anyway. ^^

That animation you made for restaff this month would be useful for skills animations in Incitement 3, but I'm digressing. ^^

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, I'm defo not having characters getting upclose to the enemy to fire a gun (lol, imagine someone using a sniper rifle like that XD). I think what Scythuz meant was about showing the projectiles leave the weapon, travel across the screen, and hit the enemy. It's something I know can be done with Symphony and Victor's animated battlers scripts (though very tricky to pull off).

 

[Scythuz]

I agree, but could you elaborate a bit on the 'seeing your attacks have impact' part? If I showed say a gunshot wound occurring instantly on the enemy, would that feel detached?

No that would be fine, fast firing guns are okay and wouldn't require extra work.  I feel like characters such as Darmek would need a bit of extra work, basically any attack with a slower moving projectile than a regular gun.

If it's not possible to do this in your current set of scripts or it's not worth the time it would take, don't worry about it

Edit: Yeah that's what I meant ^^^

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah, I can see what you mean, man.

Whenever I used projectiles in Atonement (like rocks, darts, etc), most of the time I simply made them in the default RM Animation tool in the Database. Since the battle happens pretty fast, I think that works well and the player doesn't really get to see exactly who threw/shot the projectile (especially if it travels in an arc). They just see it coming from the enemy's general direction and hitting a playable character or vice versa. Most likely I'll just do that for Darmek (he'll be an episodic playable character in this game, not part of the main party).

 

[Scythuz]

Yeah, I can see what you mean, man.

Whenever I used projectiles in Atonement (like rocks, darts, etc), most of the time I simply made them in the default RM Animation tool in the Database. Since the battle happens pretty fast, I think that works well and the player doesn't really get to see exactly who threw/shot the projectile (especially if it travels in an arc). They just see it coming from the enemy's general direction and hitting a playable character or vice versa. Most likely I'll just do that for Darmek (he'll be an episodic playable character in this game, not part of the main party).

Up to you, I just think it might be worth experimenting with is all

 

[Susan]

I've played around with Galv's script and it is definitely a simpler but efficient animated battlers script.

You wouldn't need a separate script to prevent Pestilence from moving upclose to the enemy. You just have to take away the <melee....> tag.

Pestilence will then fire his bow from his current position.

The only issue here is the arrow animation. Yami's script can handle it, but for Galv's script, you will need to use the RM animation.

The problem with using the RM animation is, the arrow will appear according the the enemy sprite and will not originate from the actor.

 

[Matseb2611]

Yeah. The trouble is, all 4 Horsemen share the same 'Attack', so removing <melee... > tag will mean War and the others will also not move in upclose. Hence why I'll need a different script so that Pestilence has a different 'Skill' as his default attack. I'll probably just use one I used in Atonement to give Nail and a few other characters a unique 'Attack'.

And yeah, that arrow animation is what I meant. I don't think Galv's script handles this stuff, whereas Symphony and Victor's are too complex, and I'd rather not get into that headache again (especially for a short, non-commercial game).

 

[Scythuz]

Yeah. The trouble is, all 4 Horsemen share the same 'Attack', so removing <melee... > tag will mean War and the others will also not move in upclose. Hence why I'll need a different script so that Pestilence has a different 'Skill' as his default attack. I'll probably just use one I used in Atonement to give Nail and a few other characters a unique 'Attack'.

And yeah, that arrow animation is what I meant. I don't think Galv's script handles this stuff, whereas Symphony and Victor's are too complex, and I'd rather not get into that headache again (especially for a short, non-commercial game).

Save the last part for Incitement 3 (if you need it) then?

 

[Matseb2611]

Some screenshots of the next couple of areas.

Fickle Fortress:

See if you recognize these two demonic figures from Ars Goetia...

The Inverted Tower

 

[Matseb2611]

Surprise! The game has been completed and released as v1.0.

Download links are here:

Non-RTP version (~51 M

RTP-inclusive version (~101 M

Some fixes have been added since the demo and 3 new dungeon areas added that complete the game: Fickle Fortress, Inverted Tower, and The Pit.

Enjoy!!!

 

[Nirwanda]

Damn! I was halfway through the demo, and you've already finished making the game! I keep meaning to play several RM games, but I always end up getting distracted by other stuff. Well, congratulations on the finishing it! 

...I hope I get around to play it soon

 

[Matseb2611]

Hehe thanks. This is a fairly short game and was mostly dungeons. Not having to worry about mapping towns and making npcs for them, or coming up with an elaborate plot made it easy to make fast progress. I think it's only taken about a month to make this. Heh, perhaps dungeon crawlers are a good idea in case there's another IGMC next year. Lol.

Edit: Forgot to mention, but this is a bit of a favour, guys. If you've enjoyed this game (or my other games) and are up for writing any reviews, I'd really appreciate some on the RMN website. It appears it is very hard for your games to be noticed on that site unless they're either featured or given a high score. Here is the RMN page with my games:

http://rpgmaker.net/users/Matseb2611/games/

A huge thanks in advance.

 

[Matseb2611]

I just came across this video. This guy has masterfully fought all the bosses in the game and put them all into a single video.





Also, not related to the above, but I've come across a bit of a bug in the game. It seems it's not possible to save the game from the shrines in Hard-bitten difficulty (the 2nd one), so if you're playing the game, just ignore that difficulty for now until I get a chance to fix and re-upload it.

 

[Matseb2611]

Hey guys. Check out this awesome fan-made logo for the game by Hyde:

Also check out the one he's done for Just Face It!.