March Goals & Progress Thread

[hiddenone]

@Chiara - Using sparkles is the best thing I could come up with for now, since the ingredients randomly respawn every day (I may try to come up with a nicer way later, but for now it makes it easy for me to see if everything's working correctly).  Also, your default art style is pretty awesome, and I would love to see that style in a game at some point. 

@Tuxedo Leila - Eve's arm was used in a dark arts potion when she was young, which is too bad since she had been right-handed.  Your system is impressive, so hopefully you can figure out how to deal with those problems.

@slimmmeiske2 - It looks like you've got a pretty nice layout for your animal town.  I never plan out my maps (I just throw tiles at them until I think they look ok), but it would probably be a good idea to plan when I need to map a village.

I think I've got my ingredient idea set up, so next is to actually test it a ton and also work on some of the cutscenes when I just can't collect plants any more.   

I'd feel strange posting without some graphic, so here's a random sprite of Eve I made when setting up the events made my eyes spin.

 

[Marsigne]

March 13, 2015: Didn't have much time for game making (due to suddenly going out), but made progress nonetheless, and fixed an animation error (sprites where being above an animation instead of below). While slower than expected, I like the way it is going and like it (and hope you guys like it too when you guys watch it xD) Here's a hopefully spoiler-free screenshot xD:

One tip about what it is about: my best friend asked in Facebook, something among the lines: "If one day I am in a strong fight and I can't do it alone, I want to know if you give me the hand and help me in the fight". This video will be my answer

What the screenshot says: "I am stronger than you, nothing more I say to you."

LOL, I just noticed that on the last post, I posted "February", instead of "March" XD

 

[Another Ned]

@VideoWizard: Thinking is progress as well. : )

@slimmmeiske2: And that's the important part: Nice and constructive. : )
ButbutbutIhavetoresist. ;__;
I'm bad with town/village maps myself, so I can't say much. .__." One thing: the foliage roof (?) has some weird white pixels around it – or did it only happen because of image size reduction?

But it's a good idea to figure out who lives where beforehand. *takes notes*

@KeniisuGaming: Wish you lots of motivation for your goals!

@bgillisp: One thing I learned about making stuff while tired: You have a ... meh version, but the next day you see what doesn't work and can make an even better version. But that's about the only up-side I can think of right now.

@hiddenone: What about making the ingredients visually more distinctive? Especially while in "respawning later" mode. I don't know how to describe it better, sorry.
And thanks. : ) I'm currently stuck with the style (this sounds so negative D: ), unless I have an epiphany of some sorts while drawing, so I'm glad people seem to like it.

But how can one ever tire of collecting stuff (in-game)? D: Hello, my name is Chiara and I'm an in-game hoarder.
Sprite is cute. You turn to spriting when events become too much?

@Marsigne: This somehow made me think of the ending to a movie I have watched several years ago. I can't remember the plot, but it ended with the protagonist and his best friend fighting side by side against impossible odds.
___
Yesterday, I said that I'm procrastinating on visual things.
Then this happened:

Spoiler

Character design thumbnail sketches!

I prepared a rough body sketch based on reference, modified it according to the three party members' body types, and added an object because the person on the reference image was carrying a sword or something, and without an object, the pose would've looked off-balance.
Then I thumbnailed, as you can see.
I already made some preliminary choices, but I'm open to suggestions.If I were to talk about "traditional" combat roles, Fhal (top row) would be the tank (they're the high endurance/resilience type), Luan the mage (though she had melee training as a soldier), and Ahron the rogue; just to give a general idea of what I'm trying to convey visually.

Other things I did:

• looked at how Windowskins work (I'm still confused about what the help file calls "window background 1" and "2") and tried to make one myself (not pretty, but it helps understanding things). This was when I noticed that the cursor keeps flashing quite annoyingly. x__x Need to find a way to prevent this. Why haven't I noticed this before?
• looked through the different tileset styles available to me in regards to what I'll be needing. XPRTP winked at me with its beautiful ocean tiles, but it's too early to decide on a style for me. Just good to know what my options are (lots of editing will be involved either way)

Btw, my project's now two months old! And I'm still working on it! This thread really helps. *hugs thread*

 

[Marsigne]

@Marsigne: This somehow made me think of the ending to a movie I have watched several years ago. I can't remember the plot, but it ended with the protagonist and his best friend fighting side by side against impossible odds.

That sounds awesome while the beginning will be kinda epic, I will make it more epic when I enter the scene xD friends fighting alongside each other in an epic fight, what's not to like? xD

 

[VideoWizard]

Hot streak! Like Marsigne's map and the recent weather around here.

Fri 3.13.15- Oooh, Friday the 13th! Well, it proved to be nothing bad, as I got started on the Lakeside Cliffs map and got a tiny piece done. Also posted a compilation of maps for the Release Something XIII event at RMN. This was all in about three hours. I want to get a little bit further on mapping so I can then start on events that lead to that area, and then it should mushroom from there.

 

[SquallStorm]

Thanks every for the feedback~  I won't be able to get any RMing done today, but he's the second screenshot of that dungeon.  I've also got some new skills implemented into the game, and due to interest from my lady love, my drive to meet my #marchgoal has been increased.

Spoiler

 

[Marsigne]

Hot streak! Like Marsigne's map and the recent weather around here.

Fri 3.13.15- Oooh, Friday the 13th! Well, it proved to be nothing bad, as I got started on the Lakeside Cliffs map and got a tiny piece done. Also posted a compilation of maps for the Release Something XIII event at RMN. This was all in about three hours. I want to get a little bit further on mapping so I can then start on events that lead to that area, and then it should mushroom from there.

LOL xD ouch, I wanted to post something in Release Something XIII but forgot, lol

Thanks every for the feedback~  I won't be able to get any RMing done today, but he's the second screenshot of that dungeon.  I've also got some new skills implemented into the game, and due to interest from my lady love, my drive to meet my #marchgoal has been increased.

Nice that dungeon looks nice also

 

[Kes]

I wasn't able to post yesterday, and there are now so many posts since my last one that I don't think I'll be able to give feedback on each one.  I do notice, though, that everyone seems to be making good progress, and I'm sure that posting here is a great help for keeping focused.

One thing I will comment on, though,

@SquallStorm

Nice map, but one thing always bugs me about cave maps - caves are dark (by definition) with perhaps just chinks of light getting in here and there so that our intrepid heroes can see to get around.  Mushrooms and withered grass I have no problems with - but bright green grass and pretty pink flowers in the best of health strike me as deeply odd.  Perhaps you could use another variety of mushroom, throw a few small rocks around, maybe put in a mini-hole or two, to add the variety you want.  A nice bit of green slime can work wonders.

As for me - mapping, mapping and then, for some variety, mapping.  The player can now get in to the Inn, the Potion shop, and 6 houses, including bedrooms.  I think that's probably enough for this map, unless I have a great surge of energy at a later date and come back to add a couple more.  Started the eventing.  From one house you can see into part of another and notice something interesting.  If you find the way to get in there (the front door is bolted) and do what's necessary, you can get a very good item for late game.  It looks good, with sliding sets of drawers and things like that, people appearing and disappearing.  I had to do a new 'down' sprite and then one of the person in bed under the covers, so that took up quite a bit of time.  Now for the less interesting eventing.  Trying to find new things for NPCs to say - remembering that the other party will be coming through here soon, so I've got to be careful how I set this up so that it all makes sense to the separate 2 parties, without repeating anything that the player has already heard.  And all the found items to distribute.  I only put stuff that I want to ensure the player finds in chests (and even then some people miss them); most stuff is in cupboards, jars etc. so that the player is rewarded for exploring.  It's truly amazing what can be lurking at the back of the rocking horse.

 

[bgillisp]

3.14 Update: I came back and wrote that last dialogue line for the stadium. Decided to take the quest in a slightly different direction, which required me to redo the end of Chapter 1 dialogue ever so slightly. Added in the bare minimum to finish the quest now, though since the quest is to find 5 of something before entering Riverdale I want to give you a few other places to find it (so the player is not stuck finding the exact 5 spots I used). I plan to put 8 total of them between the three towns that are now open (and dungeons), that should be sufficient that the player who explores can find them.

Then, made the last minute tester corrections and uploaded the official Chapter 1 demo. I did make a very last minute name change to get rid of two placeholder names (John and Steve now have different names, just Sarah is a placeholder now), and as far as I can tell that went smoothly, but you never know.

Now got some RL things to take care of. Might be able to return to some work later this evening, but we will see.

 

[slimmmeiske2]

@Chiara: Givein!Givein!
I'm not really sure what you're talking about, as I can't see what you mean.
It does help with decorating both the inside and outside of the house
So much work done! Love the sketches. :3 For the window, you mean the little arrow jumping up and down? Why don't you, when you make the windowskin, just have the four arrows on the same "place"? That way when they animate, they don't actually move. (I'm not sure if I'm explaing myself well ^^; )
XPRTP all the way!
@hiddenone: I'm just terrible with outdoors, so throwing tiles doesn't really help me. It just makes me have to redo the maps thrice.
Lovely sprite!
@ksjp: Mapping! Now there's insides! I like that idea of a bolted house, it's really interesting. NPCs routine and dialogue is a suprisngly difficult task (at least to me), so kudos to you!
@bgillisp: Congrats on the public demo! I'll try it sometime next week.
 
Continuing on with the map from yesterday today. Made it a bit more compact and less empty, replaced the basin placeholders with the actual statues and patio. Had to search a while for the right sprites to put on top of the statue pedals. In the end, I found all, but one, a donkey, so I edited one of the rabbits into a donkey with some help from here.
Screenies:

Spoiler

I'm using events for that roof at the top.

Some close-ups:

Spoiler

 

[SquallStorm]

@SquallStorm

Nice map, but one thing always bugs me about cave maps - caves are dark (by definition) with perhaps just chinks of light getting in here and there so that our intrepid heroes can see to get around.  Mushrooms and withered grass I have no problems with - but bright green grass and pretty pink flowers in the best of health strike me as deeply odd.  Perhaps you could use another variety of mushroom, throw a few small rocks around, maybe put in a mini-hole or two, to add the variety you want.  A nice bit of green slime can work wonders.

Hm, you do raise valid points.  I'll take them into consideration.  Thank you.

 

[SpiralSigil]

Currently in the process of remapping my entire capital city with a new tileset.  It's still a work in progress, but thus far I've managed to remake my old maps - Thankfully, I hadnt actually finished the city originally

My goal is to have it all finished (Or at least all MAPPED) by the end of the month; here's what I've got so far!

  OLD RTP VERSION NEW AMAZING SO PERDY VERSION

I'm noticing now that a few things aren't lined up properly (Mainly the statue in the city square...) Dont worry, those ARE actually set up properly in-game!  A co-worker of mine said the original maps reminded him a bit of lego, and I totally see it now ;

 

[VideoWizard]

Sat 3.14.15- Made a bit more of the Lakeside Cliffs map. This area is harder to map because it's quite a mountainous and cliffy place. That's another hour down.

 

[thirdmuse]

@SpiralSigil Very impressive! I cannot wait to make a big city, unfortunately I'm not at that part in the story yet. How many of those buildings are going to be explorable?

 

[Kes]

This is obviously a mapping moment in the RM world.

@SpiralSigil

What a transformation!  With the scale it isn't really possible to comment much on the map in itself.  This might be because of the scale but a little right and up of the statue in the middle is what looks like a tree growing out of the top of the boundary wall.  It looks a good layout from what one can tell.  Perhaps when it's closer to completion it would be nice to have an in game screen shot so that we can see how it looks from the player's point of view.  Well done on the switch.

@slimmmeiske

those look lovely, and I do like the statues you're doing for that area.

I, too, did some mapping, but not a lot, as I was mainly doing some eventing and editing sprites.  I've made the sprite for an important NPC, the new commander-in-Chief of the army.  Hard, ruthless, not as good as he thinks, prepared to sacrifice a lot of things for the end goal.  I swear that there was no conscious decision of mine, but the sprite looks remarkably like Joseph Stalin.

 

[bgillisp]

3.15: I broke the trend, as I didn't map. Actually I didn't do anything except look at all your maps.

@sprialsigil: Hmmm...the first map does have the advantage that it is easier to find your way around in it. Having different color roofs does make the shops stand out better, and could allow for unique directions (let's see, you go left at the yellow house, then right at the blue, and it is the second green house on the right). The second map looks like a neighborhood association gone bad, as I can't tell one house from another now. Hope you can somehow make those houses stand out, else I'll be lost in your town.

@ksjp17: Sounds like the game is coming along! ETA for finish?

@slimmeiske2: Looks good. I still need to check out your game sometime soon.

 

[King Sangos]

As of now, I'm currently working on the third level/chapter (Don't worry your cotton little socks, it's not an episodic game.) of my RPG, BLANK. So far, I have the map of New Lumenia all complete.

Spoiler

Now I don't believe I'll be able to complete the rest of Chapter 3 by the end of march, but I certainly hope to have finished constructing the mini-dungeon that I have planned for it. In all honesty, I really don't mind how long the game takes to complete. All I know is that progress is being made and I'm having a whale of a time working on the game. : >

P.S. Don't pay too much attention to the building in the bottom-left. The player won't be able to see that structure in-game, so I've used simple tiles to give the impression that there's a large structure beyond the bridge directly south.

 

[SquallStorm]

3/15/2015:  I've successfully remapped the entirety of First Steps Cavern.

Spoiler

 

[JAD94]

I've got my third gameplay trailer up and running ^_^, has updates that fixes a couple of little technical issues I overlooked as well as updates with the battle system, and an additional bonus level that is obtained by obtaining the best rank at the end of the game

Click on the pics to enlarge them :

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[VideoWizard]

Sun 3.15.15- I just barely got my time in for the day, because I worked late and had to get up early for the next shift (today). It's another part of the map for Lakeside Cliffs, which is harder to map because of all the mountains and cliffs and such. Today's an easier part of the area, it's the broken bridge that has to be repaired in order for the player to continue on to the overlook.