January Goals & Progress Thread

[bgillisp]

1.29 Update: So as expected I barely had time to log onto the website even yesterday, much less work on my game. Today though I did manage to implement the plot events for the mountain passage that the party has to fight their way through. Spend a few hours balancing a boss battle so that it was winnable, as it seems the combo of skills I initially gave the bosses made them 1 - 2 -3 punch the party into a KO if the RNG picked the right combo, so I had to remove a few and give them better patterns to avoid that combo ever happening. I think I still got some balancing ahead of me on that battle.

Also implemented the start of the Dwarfen capital. Currently have the initial entrance and the merchant square implemented, but have not implemented the tower and caves where everyone lives.

Just need to write the dialogue for the end of Chapter 4 scene and make the maps for the tower and cave system and Chapter 4 is done! Then it will be time to polish it up, add side events, and decide on tilesets for Chapter 5.

Also, Chapter 5 will require me to map a town where I show the houses, so will probably be spending some time on the Map Screenshots page once I have a rough draft, as this town will be more Western European Style.

Also realized that now that mid level skills/spells are entering the game those are going to need to be balanced more. Fire Ball was a one shot KO no matter who used it, enemy used it you were KO'd unless I really nerfed their MAT. Looks like I have some work ahead of me on that one.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

It works and looks good with 4 enemies, but I was wondering how cluttered it would be if there were more than 4 enemies.  Having both HP and MP bars for all enemies showing all the time is going to take up a lot of space.

Depends... The bars are configurable (sizing, position etc), they could be removed too... For the game I'm planning to use it upon, I think I won't put more than 4 enemies... XD

As for my progress, skill selection and item selection are working now. So all commands I have in mind so far is working, next thing to work upon is the targetting system. Right now it's working fully for auto-targets (i.e. all enemies, random targets, self etc). I just need to add the actual selection for skills that are not auto-target. The off to battle-log and pop-ups. Forgot to place the screenie in my flash drive... XD

Actor commands (default, you can make your own command window on a per actor basis)

- Attack (can be changed depending on actor,class,weapons)

- Guard (can be changed depending on actor,class,weapons)

- Skill (Opens up a window that shows all skill types available to the actor)

- Item (Opens up the item selection window)

- Specific Skills

- Specific Items

 

[TheoAllen]

The screen is almost filled up

Spoiler

 

[bgillisp]

1.30 Update: Redid two classes skills. I wasn't using any of their skills ever and I figured if I was not using them, no one else would. So, wracked my brain and completely started over the skill sets for two classes. Hoping it will fix that problem.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to implement the last map of Chapter 4 and the closing scene to that chapter (it's really short). May tackle the Chapter 5 intro if I still feel up to it, but also might decide to buckle down and rebalance my classes more, now that I have an idea how the mid tier skills are working with each other in actual, in game combat (battle test can only go so far).

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Last update for January!!!


Item selection in battle (yet to put icons)

Spoiler

Skill selection (yet to put icons)

Spoiler

- Selecting skill on the actor command window will open up another window where the skill type is selected then finally showing a list of skills of that type


Target selection + minimal command UI set-up

Spoiler

- target list is populated depending on the targets allowed by each skill/item


- multiple target skills can be set to either take unique targets or be able to target any battler more than once


- collective targets (like all enemies, all actors, self, etc) are automatically selected and hence does not open the target window


- icon is shown over the battler currently selected in the target window 


Extra stuff, sprite battlers and mapped battleback

Spoiler

I've also finished the pop-up system for damage and states. I've yet to add icons to the items and skill commands, plus make the exp and item drops. I'm still undecided as to how I'd go with item drops so... With that, the core of the battle system is almost complete.


PS: I'll whip up a video in the next few days to show how the system flows.

 

[Kes]

January ends with a slightly negative note.  I've scrapped how I planned to transition from one party over to the other.  It felt clumsy and tweaking it didn't help.  But actually it's a good thing to realise this now rather than later.  I think I know how to do it; it's not difficult, just requires approaching the dialogue from a different angle and doing a different "meanwhile/in some other place" cut scene.  Anyone who has played Tale of a Common Man will know what I mean - it's a device to show what's happening to people who do not form part of either team.

 

[bgillisp]

1.31 Update: With Chapter 4 done (mostly) I've realized that some of my skills needed tweaking, so I spent the day redoing the skill sets for the Energy, Mind, Life and Death mages. Most of this was for consistency more than anything, and to fill in a few spells I found myself wishing existed (and I'm sure other players will too).

Going to try and tackle the other four elements (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) today. I'm snowed in due to weather so it just might happen.

@ksjp17: Hopefully that isn't too big a setback! I'm thinking for my game I may need to totally redo how I handled the Magi Representative/Magi Tower scene (you played my project to that point, so you know what I mean), which will require a re-write of some of Chapter 1. I'm going to test it on paper first though to make sure it would actually work well what I'm thinking and be worth the 2 - 4 weeks of work to make all the needed changes (as it would affect all Chapters dialogues some, not just Chapter 1).

 

[Kes]

@bgillisp

No, not too big of a setback, and insofar as I had almost painted myself into a corner with my original thoughts, it does mean that I can now move forward.  I'm finding it quite tricky keeping 2 story arcs going at an even pace so that there are no spoilers for the player.  I can't have one team finding out too many things ahead of the other team, and as I'm moving towards the point where the teams join up, I need to have some revelations kept up my sleeve for then.  I also have to bear in mind that even after that point, no one in the game knows the full story, so I've got to pace it for what they discover after they join up.

Having separate parties is complicated.  I shall probably not have them in future projects, except for e.g. a side quest or two.

 

[mlogan]

ksjp - I can imagine how complicated it must be working on two storylines like that. I'm glad you've seem to be figuring it out!

I'm gonna go ahead and post one last little update here since I have gotten some things done this week. Mostly, creating my project thread, yay! I think having that will help me stay even more motivated to keep pushing through with the game.

Also, yesterday I started working on a mock up for some in game menu type stuff. I'm trying to decide what things the player will want/need to see as they are playing. It's also forcing me to think a bit more solidly about mechanics such as having goals to reach and what happens when those are/are not met.

And last, I've been trying to make some decisions about the stage selection scene and how I want it to look. I think I'm decided just not 100% certain on it.

And with, adios January!