July Goals & Progress Thread

[DragonVine]

@ksjp17 That's really helpful. I plan on using the Ace sprites as children, and only really need 2 or so. I also only have one looseleaf sprite as a placeholder at the moment. I'm not sure where to go about editing the heads, but it's good to know that the two can work together in carefully planned circumstances.

 

[Marquise*]

@Exhydra... something tells me you like Facerig!


Also everyone... I kinda had layed down this for today... with the self explanatory comment on it. Yeah. I know... I'm still confused and not feeling kinda up to the challenge there and I knew this would be hard... Hey that $Dragon was a pes... pet to tackle with.


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=482890526

 

[bgillisp]

@Exhydra: Art's looking good so far!

@Schlangan: A crab that is always facing the player could work. I'd say go for it if the other sides are a pain to draw.

@Dragonvine: Yes. Though it might work as a placeholder. I had DS and RTP sprites together for a long time as placeholders, until I could get proper sprites drawn up.

@ksjp17: Well, I have caught myself forgetting that I put a silly dialogue in places, and laughing as a result. Not quite what you were referring to, but there are still pleasant surprises.

@Marquise: So when does the dragon become final? Or did it and I missed it by being gone for 2 weeks?

7.16 Update: Was too tired to post it last night, so posting early this morning instead.

Spent the day continuing the playtest, this time into Chapter 2 plot related events. Started off by fixing the dialogue for one of the big plot reveal scenes (I had never liked that dialogue I had there before, but had no ideas how to fix it, so I just left it and moved on for a while). Now I'm about half way in the Chapter 2 plot and at the spot where I need to edit another long dialogue scene. Plan is to work on that today sometime.

 

[Marquise*]

@bgillisp


when it gets a better head than THAT;

 

[Marquise*]

Addendum; if no one sees a problem there, oversized and normal sized filtered and unfiltered heads.


If it works my job on $Dragon will be over!


(I never been so spammy upon posting work! Thanks to Dreadshadow for helping me finding my hue!)


So? You recognize well who this is individually if you saw first the sprite or the battler?

View attachment 22361

View attachment 22362

 

[BlackRoseMii]

It's a little late now, but here's my update:

-actually got a lot of things done. Especially requests^^

-was also able to work a little on my game.

All in all, a good week. Now, off to enjoy the rest of my birthday^^

 

[Schlangan]

@ksjp17


It's true that I was sticking too much with real crabs. I can indeed tweak that a bit.


@bgillisp


I'll try again following ksjp17's advice, and if I fail I'll stick to the face view.


@BlackRoseMii


Happy birthday then ^^


Update for today :


I got a good advice from cafbe that kindly tested my game. Hence I added a new option : possibility to enable/disable enemy respawn. It's easier with respawn since the player can train more if the boss appears too difficult, but too many fights may be annoying. So, it is also possible to play with no respawn, thus having to fight the boss at the level it was created for. Fortunately, I made the bosses so a player going straight to it could win. It is also more realistic in some sense. Why would the enemies reappear once I obliterated them

 

[Kes]

@bgillisp

I too find that if I leave a troublesome dialogue for a while, when I come back to it the solution is often easy for me to see.  Perhaps leaving difficult dialogue is like leaving tough meat is in a good quality marinade, it softens it up and gives it more flavour.

@Marquise*

I personally like your dragon's face - those teeth! that smile!

@BlackRoseMii

congrats on getting the requests done, and have a happy rest of your birthday!

@Schlangan

I like the sound of that change in your enemy structure.

My Update

Cry Freedom!!!!!!!! Yay, the Strategy Guide is finished.  116 pages of distilled wisdom and knowledge - obviously that's not 116 pages of text (boring!), a lot is taken up with annotated maps, but it's still a huge amount of work.  I think next time I shall go back to my previous work pattern, and not try and do it in one big slog as I have this time.  It just does not suit my way of working, though I'm sure it's right for some people.

Now I've just got some final polishing to do on a couple of things I noticed while playing through for the Guide, and that will be it.  It looks like I'm going to meet my goals for this month with some time to spare.

 

[Schlangan]

@ksjp17


Congrats on the completion of your strategy guide ! That's a good work done ^^

 

[TheGreatEater]

@Marquise*, Does it make me a horrible person that I saw that dragon and the first thing to pop into my head was The Smile Song? Seriously though, awesome dragon, and he really does have a winning smile, I wonder which adventuring party he just got finished eating?

@bgillisp, Hopefully you were able to fix it ^_^. And good luck on that. 

___________________

So no real progress report as of yet. Still wrapped up in Mana Khemia 2, and my horrible habit of grinding and power leveling in any game I play. Although since all I really need to do on the base mesh is the legs they shouldn't be a problem. Then all that's needed is adding some details, and seeing if the over all base is sleek and attractive [aesthetically speaking]. Been going over the game book, and thinking of things that need to be cut, or altered. 

 

[Ossra]

Oof ... should hopefully be finished or near finished with the third and final minigame by the end of tomorrow or Sunday. Nothing too incredible, but I'm happy everything works. After the last minigame it will be nothing but graphics and dialog until the end of time.


The first minigame is a program run by the main character to repair damaged header data of virtual objects. The layout is kind of reminiscent of a hex editor. One of the possible IDs on the right is correct, so you have to hunt through the raw data on the left to find the entity ID and make the proper correction(s) before time runs out.

The second requires the player to hit the listed buttons in order; a correct input enters a line of code and gains you progress while an incorrect input costs you progress. Sometimes there are multiple 'sections' of code you have to complete before the action is a success. The number of buttons are random, but gradually increase with each subsequent section required.

 

[VideoWizard]

It's been a little quiet around here as of late. July blahs? Perhaps the summertime blues are a real thing. Or IGMC is taking away from the progress thread (slightly).

@Marquise* That $Dragon faceset goes along well with your $Dragons. 

@Exhydra Thinking that first screen is Crisisgate, but then again, I could be wrong... (Game Over!)

@ksjp17 Congrats on finishing that 116 page strategy guide! If they're anything like the Prima guides, then I know a LOT goes into making a strategy guide.

@bgillisp Looks like you were doing a playthrough, too.

@Chiara This is at least the second time you have had a post directly after mine XD. Hopefully things get better for you there. At least being July 18, early August is only two weeks away.

Tue 7.14.15- Nothing was done today.

Wed 7.15.15- Continued the playthrough on Tough mode, got to the Lair of the Queen Bee before stopping, level 20.

Thu 7.16.15- Finished the playthrough at Renzan Mountain Path, level 26.

Fri 7.17.15- Fixed the remaining maps in Lakeland, added some detail to the Lair of the Queen Bee.

Hopefully I can continue on in Renzan, after that little break playing through the game. That counts, right? I plan to put up the corrected Waves of screenshots soon, and also some new ones. You'd think with William being able to cross dozens of miles of landscape in no time flat, that things would move along faster... oh well, better a delayed game than a rushed and bad one, after all.

 

[Another Ned]

No energy/brain power to reply, only two things:
@BlackRoseMii: Belated Happy Birthday!

@ksjp17: Congrats! *throws strategy guide-coloured confetti (it should fit the occasion, after all)*
__
It's been a rough and crazy and draining week, and it probably will stay like this for a while (courtesy of German bureaucracy), so didn't find the energy to post, or even just reply these last few days. Let's just say that problems hunt in packs.

At least after yesterday's Paperwork Friday, a few things seem to slowly move in the right direction. About time! Some of those have been going on since last year.
Nonetheless, I did get several things done, though most of them in order to distract myself from those more pressing matters.
Progress, 13th - 17th:

• working on the layout of the base/facility/it should get an in-world name; even began sketching everything in an isometric view since it's easier for me this way to keep an eye on the big picture (even if every room has its own map, I'm still trying to have it make sense). Tricky part: Keeping track of which surface is on which "level of elevation"
• thinking about certain gameplay elements; also debating if I should simply kick experience points and levels out since it's complex enough for me to have "knowledge" requirements (the main character is a student of ancient cultures, after all), weapons, skills and spells that could affect stats, maybe even potions for temporary changes – more than enough so I'd feel that keeping exp and levels would be unfitting for this particular game
• began searching for music that might be fitting (read: listened to all the great music packs that were inside the humble bundle). Find it really hard to choose by "might fit the game" and not by taste only
• changed a few maps here and there, but nothing major
• a few little tileset edits, mostly in the morning hours when it still isn't so warm (Note to self: Update my resource thread once my life has gotten less stressful)
• some minor planning (mostly making a list for "to do when it's cooler")

I expect my current onslaught of problems to continue until early August (but I'll never know if there are new problems waiting just around the corner), so I won't know if I'll be posting again anytime soon. So everyone have a "Yay! Progress!" for the past days, and the next few.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Wow, good progress folks. No progress for the past few days for me, hopefully by this week I could get rolling so that I will be able to finish my entry for the IGMC on time.

 

[TheGreatEater]

@Chiara, That's a true saying regardless of where you go I guess. I wish the best for you and hopefully things will settle for you before August rolls around ^_^. Also bureaucracy is a bloated beast regardless of the nation your in (I think it's needlessly complicated just so those in it can stretch out the hours to make more money while doing less actual work. Or as the saying goes, their good at "Looking busy while doing nothing".) 

 

[Marquise*]

@BlackRoseMii


Happy Birthdayyyy 2 U! Happpy Biiiirthdayyyy 2 Uuuuuuuuuu! *I usually sings it on some very fast beat *


@ksjp17


I remember when Blizzard had something around 300 pages as strategy guide for Diablo II. Don't worry, table top gamers actually had house invaded by some D&D guide and rules books nowadays! I take the smile is enough neutral to both being friendly and menacing in a dialogue box. (I hope)


@TheGreatEater


That video just totally made me forget about all that you typed in your post. But one thiong is sure I smile now! I don<t grind my teeth under intense concentration.


@Exhydra


please tell me that you are doing that for IGMC! ^^


@Chiara


Cool your game seems to be on the right development path.


@Everyone,


I think I guess it is time to call the last Dragon faceset as a final I gonna test how it fits my large facesheet so I see if it goes along well with all the others, then I suppose I will have to post it on my regular tread for it to be freely use for commercial or not use!

 

[TheGreatEater]

@Marquise*, Good to know ^_^.

_________________________

Progress Report. 

So I'm downloading a video maker. I did a short recording, on a ghetto rig (used a blanket as a camera stand XD), to record my brother going over some of the Tsuyaga stuff, and basically us putzing around while getting stuff ready. Since we usually joke around and something funny came up that I wanted captured for posterity. I'll be posting it on youtube soonish. 

Although I remember now why I don't like talking on phones / recordings all that often. My voice sounds really weird when it's not me hearing myself. Still it's a pretty cool little vid. 

Edit:

https://youtu.be/rjzQlhuF7r8

[Part 1 before we were interrupted.]

https://youtu.be/8Gt47yoThUM

[Part 2. Even funnier stuff.]

Btw. The box in the can was one of those weird things when the bag isn't full. But something decides that it wants to hang on the side of the lid. Looks kinda unprofessional, and I wish I would've fixed that before hand. But those are still pretty funny vids IMO.

 

[Ossra]

@Exhydra Thinking that first screen is Crisisgate, but then again, I could be wrong... (Game Over!)

You succeeded! o:

@Exhydra


please tell me that you are doing that for IGMC! ^^

Yeap! Trying my best to get it completed and such.

 

[bgillisp]

@Marquise: I'd still use it. Besides, the dragon in my game is a talking smart alec who loves to mess with the party.

@Schlangan: Did I see right that the crab is done now? Thought I saw you post something elsewhere on that.

@Videowizard: Maybe July is the month for playthroughs? Though, level 26? Are you aiming for level 99 by the end of the game?

@Exhydra. Sounds interesting. What are the other mini-games?

@ksjp17: I think I'll be doing that some with other dialogues somehow. Then again, I know I'm going to have to go through my game once when done just to check for consistency for the characters, so there is bound to be some dialogues redone at that point in time.

@Chiara: Hope things settle down soon for you!

7.17 - 7.18 Update: I started by fixing up the dungeon (broken item drop links, etc), wrote another draft of the dialogue, but was not happy with it. Been stewing ideas for how to fix it since. Though, I think in the process of this I gained an idea for another side quest for the party for Chapter 3.

So, rather than beat my head against the wall, I worked on polishing the world map for the game. Seems when I first drew it, the cities were a tad too spread out, now they are closer together, and more points of interest are on the map. I only did this for the north half of the world map so far though, as the south part doesn't get used until Chapter 7, so I figured I'd draw the south half then.

Tomorrow's my designated off day from game making, then I work 10 hours on Monday. Probably will just do a little polishing on the map then, or get to tweaking the map for where I'm at in Chapter 2 so I can do the dialogue I want to do (the characters need more room to move around than it currently allows to do the scene I want to do).

 

[Kes]

@Exhydra

Argghhhhhhhh  timed mini-games (runs away and cowers in the corner)  It's interesting - give me a mini-game and I'll do it as fast as I can; make it a timed mini-game and my mind seizes up.  Perhaps it's because I have so much in the way of deadlines in RL that having another one crop up in a game is just too, too much to bear.

@VideoWizard

 oh well, better a delayed game than a rushed and bad one, after all.

100% with you on that one.  If it's level 26 on hard (that's a lot for where you're up to!) what level would it be on Normal?

@Chiara

Here's hoping that things get sorted.  I know how stressful bureaucracy can be, so you have all my sympathy.  I see, though, that you got quite a bit done.  I'm intrigued by your no-levels-no-exp possibilities.

@Engr.Adiktuzmiko

Hope your training session was worth it.  And good luck getting back on track with the game.

@Marquise*

Saw the beast on your thread.  Looking good!  It really needs a name.  If Eric and them get a name, why not the beast too?  It's got style; it's got personality; it must have a name.

@TheGreatEaster

I stopped watching the second vid fairly soon, as I found the graphic description too gruesome (I bailed out when we'd only got to the sternum being used as a spear).

@bgillisp

sounds like a productive time.  Have a nice day off.

My Update

Did some polishing, and then fell into the paths of temptation and iniquity.  Yes, folks, I started messing around with bits for the next project, and I had said to myself that I wouldn't do that, but that I would cleanly finish off this one first.  So back to the ways of righteousness tomorrow, and see if I can get it done.