November Goals & Progress Thread

[Ms Littlefish]

Progress 11/3 I read an absolute boat load of tile editing tutorials, which I guess is a very important step. The amount of Photoshop required is well, well within my ability so I think it's mostly a question of actually executing it and being clever. Which, of course is always easier said than done. I personally love nature and having diverse and accurate nature, so at first I was thinking of making a nature tile. But, then I thought that it may be a little too intermediate. Any suggestions for a beginner's first heavy tile edit?

 

[Sennie]

My goals for November may not get completed it's gonna be a busy month, next week I'm MOTing my father's car with him, then I'm going to try and get out more (ASD stops me from leaving the house!) and so on.

However, here are my RPG Maker goals

1. Start my game so that it's story is in place and the creating and mapping begins!

2. Finish document for characters, ideas, features, etc.

3. Get all the first towns and characters added to my game so that they merge with the story properly!

Hopefully I can get all of them done

 

[Jeneeus Guruman]

So, progress... I doubt I will have any progress tomorrow because of some things I would do, so I try to complete this one plugin I'll finish even if it will stay me awake until dawn (or morning). Anyways, here they are:

• I just realized that I typed "scripts" instead of "plugins" in my posts here when I''m making plugins, not scripts.
• Managed to convert my improved AI in Ace to MV for my game.
• Testing and tweaked some action sequences.
• Started making a "Command Equip" plugin but I'm stuck on how to call Scene_Equip without starting the Scene_Battle all over again when going out of Scene_Equip in battle.

@Jeneeus - Sounds like the code world is keeping you busy! As for your Mana/Mp script thing, I say go ahead and release it. Sometimes a subtle difference in a script can make a person choose one over another very similar. I know I often try out different scripts for the same thing to see which one I prefer.

I'll try to post that but I think I'll make a new plugin for my game and maybe I'll post that new plugin if I can manage.

@Jeneeus Guruman: Sounds like pretty good progress. Yay!

Thanks again.

@Jeneeus Guruman : I see. But it should be better doing it by yourself, as you could get exactly what you need.

I'm still understanding Yanfly's codes in Battle Core about making a battle system to be compatible with his plugins.

 

[TheGreatEater]

@Marquise*, Your welcome and too bad on not being able to get that injured cat. 

_________________

Found out that there was an error in my coloring that resulted in black lines and scar tissue forming all around my model. Going to recolor, but I do have a decent light map for when that's fixed. After that, going to try and finish this model by the end of the month. I'm actually pretty excited. 

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

Quick Progress Report:

-Finished with the  Backup and Restore UI. Now to translate it.

-I am working on a simple splash screen:



I tried to add credits on the start of the game, but I wasn't happy with the results.

I still haven't finalised the engine stack(read: collection of scripts) for Immortal Sins, so it is annoying having to update the credits both on the game, the manual, the readme and the launcher's about screen (in both English and Greek).

 

[Shake0615]

I'm working with Dave-X to get an English translation of his website Nail-Saga so that the English community can get a feel for it before his RPG Maker demo hits. Check out his thread in Early Project Feedback cause it's an awesome piece of work. I hope to be finished with the translation by the end of the week.

As for my own projects, I plan on finishing a lengthy series of opening cutscenes by the end of the month but my hopes aren't too high!

 

[Another Ned]

Won't have tomorrow morning to post, so I post now (it's almost 9pm for me). If I don't make sense, blame it on the time.

@AceOfAces_Mod: Good luck with that plot hole.
@shiningHatsya: I so envy people who find titles for things they work on.
About the sprite: While I don't know much about pixelart, I have to note that I find it a bit weird that the hands look so large. I mean, they are about half the width of the character's waist. Oh, are those super-large gloves? – I'm mostly thinking out loud. Since my thinking becomes increasingly chaotic in the evening, don't mind me if I don't make sense.
@Schlangan: I second what mlogan said about the bed. Is the bed by any chance a work in progress? It looks stylistically different from the other hard surface objects. There's also a certain lack of shadow. And I find the floor somewhat depressing, it reminds me of the metal flooring part inside a long bus. D: I mean, I like the pattern, but I wouldn't like it in the room I was sleeping in. – The overall look is nicely coherent (apart from aforementioned stylistic differences).
@mlogan: Ah, so I didn't understand quite right. But it still sounds like it did what you wanted it to, the learning thing.
I wanted to try putting dialogue into a spreadsheet because it was looking pretty. But my brain is too chaotic for it as well.
@VideoWizard: Sounds like a busy month in front of you. So you also went to MV?
@Ms Littlefish: I'd recommend starting with hard surface/man-made objects. I myself started with wall tiles. A3, to be precise. I'd look at reference images, sketch the parts I deemed important, and then tried to edit the walls for as long as I needed to until they looked like what I wanted them them to look like. And if you're using Photoshop or any application that enables you to use layer masks, use layer masks. Don't be like me and erase things and then have to redo parts because you erased too much and can't un-do it.
Also, I wasn't sure if being "cleaver" was a typo, so I looked the word up and learned that there's also a plant with that name. x")
@Sennie: I think it is a goal's fate to always be in danger of staying not completed. But lots of luck, motivation and everything else that your goals escape that fate.
@Jeneeus Guruman: The last bullet point sounds complicated to me – I'm kind of stupid when it comes to code. Why would the battle thing start anew when you call something entirely else? D:
@TheGreatEater: At least you now have a method for creating scar tissue. : D

If I forgot someone, I'm sorry, yay progress, and yay goals, but I'm completely unable to think right now. Good thing I typed my progress a few hours earlier.

Progress, 3rd:

• spent some time searching/collecting bookmarks with resources on English grammar, word uses and other things (trying to get my English skill to the level of my native language is one of my long-term goals and directly affects my project(s))
• more fleshing out Yael (several Din A4 pages written by hand) as well as some more world building

Had a few moments of "Why am I doing this?", "Who would ever want to play this?!", and "Did I even improve during the past year?!", but I once read that this is something pretty much everyone creating something goes through at one time or another, so I simply went on.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Oh, my Gosh. Dangerous typos! I meant 'clever,' ha!

I think that sounds like a great idea, Chiara. I'll work on some wooden objects/walls. Those do sound much easier than plants since they're mostly straight lines and what not. The layer masks are a great suggestion, too. I don't utilize them nearly as often as I should.

However, I did jump the gun and tried to make a plant. Key word. Tried. A Golden Pothos to be exact. It's totally WIP. And I totally have no clue what I'm doing. Soooo, consider this my "I got stuck" point. Here it is inside of a quick map. They're wall climbing plants so they love to grow toward windows and lights.

Spoiler

Chiara, if you ever need someone to glance over and help with some English editing; it's something I actually really, really enjoy. ^_^
 

 

[Another Ned]

@Ms Littlefish: I actually am past my ability to compute much (stupid bad ADD day) but I just had to type this: You seem to have a pretty good foundation already, only thing left to do is to make it fitting to the style. I don't really found out myself what exactly makes out MV's style but the MV plants look like they have pixelart-like outlines with some anti-aliasing. I think that'd already do a lot to make this MV-compatible. Then a bit more focus on the light source. Irrespective of the on-map light source, light on the tiles comes from the... left is it, and top. When I did my plant tiles, I always had Outside B opened next to my working file at about 600% zoom to look at some plants there.
I'm super excited of what'll become of this, and what'll happen when you have more routine and do more plants and I should actually go to sleep right now.
I'll type something more coherent when it is tomorrow for me (poke me if I forget it D: ).

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Thanks! That was exactly what I was having trouble deciding; was what to do about the light sourcing. I'm going to post this in the Resource WIP thread to get more help on how to go about doing that properly. Have a good rest. You've been very helpful getting me started! 

 

[Jeneeus Guruman]

@Jeneeus Guruman: The last bullet point sounds complicated to me – I'm kind of stupid when it comes to code. Why would the battle thing start anew when you call something entirely else? D:

I restarted again from scratch. I actually don't need a new scene anymore. But from 12am-6am in my time (now is 6am in my clock), I finally done making it.

I guess my only progress today (November 4, GMT+8) is only:

• Done making "Command Equip" plugin. I'll be editing this tomorrow to be able to share with others and also to retest it.

 

[TheGreatEater]

Todays progress. Used a lightmap / model texture combo as a displacement map, and fixed up the textures. When this finally get's done, all I'll need to do is run it through hue / saturation to give me different skin colors [either that or Mix RGB]. Voila different human skins.

 

 

[bgillisp]

@Chiara: If only it were instant. I still have to draw it after all...

@Aceofaces_mod: That's what I'm doing now too...no fun I tell you. Good luck resolving the plot hole.

@Schlangan: That's what I'm thinking. Skeletons walking around, maybe a ghost or two or three, and a few normal people that don't think anything odd about all of it.

@mlogan: Yep. I figure this way I don't risk wrecking the main project if it doesn't pan out.

@Videowizard: I here you there about the holidays. Hopefully progress goes ok even with them.

@Ms Littlefish: Any tile tutorials you would recommend? I may want to skim them over as I imagine I'll at least want to edit tiles sometime.

11.3 Update: During my breaks at work, I decided to use Shaz's MV converter on my project (after backing it up of course), just to see what happened. It converted over pretty nicely, though I am missing a lot of tiles and scripts, so I think MV is out. Still, I now have my database in MV, and can use it for an MV based project if I ever desire to.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

@bgillisp I found this one on Celianna's DeviantArt very helpful. http://pinkfirefly.deviantart.com/art/Editing-RTP-Tiles-193007467

 

[Schlangan]

@mlogan : The bed is shorter since I didn't see any point in having a bigger bed, compared to the size of the characters ^^


@VideoWizard : Nice job of uploading a MV version already.


@Jeneeus Guruman : Well you script some plugins though, so... both terms are correct


@TheGreatEater : Black lines ? Like the ones on the nails ?


@AceOfAces_Mod : Can't you read the credits from an external file, which would be easier to update ?


@Chiara : I was in fact concerned about the "noise" made by walking on the floor. If you are looking for more vocabulary for English, I often use the Thesaurus website.


@Ms Littlefish : The plants are nice, but it somehow feel like they are floating in front of the wall instead of being on it. You should probably add shadows under the leaves. Also, the leaves' veins seem a bit blurry.


@bgillisp : Yeah, converters are only efficient if you're not using many scripts. The best example is my converter; it works for simple projects, but with all my scripts it was pointless to use it for my own game


My update :


More tiles, and taking mlogan's and Chiara's advices, I tried to improve the room, giving this new version. But even with a shadow I still feel like the bed is floating. Grmbl...

Spoiler

I also did the charsets of the three other soldiers. Finally their haircuts have been slighlty changed from my XP's version, but I find them better like this.





Tonight, I'll add a way to switch the front character using pageup/pagedown keys. I decided to not show the caterpillar team (the followers) since it would be a mess with the chairs.

 

[TheGreatEater]

@ Schlangan, and on the back, head, and ankles. But yep, created a bit of scar tissue from parts that I improperly covered. I ended up fixing it though, no more lines / scars. 

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

@Schlangan, The installer has wierd rules when updating games, so there's chance that it won't replace the older version. I'm working on it, but until it's fixed, it's my workaround.

Progress Report #4

-Characters are being re-designed.

-Still investigating the plothole.

 

[shiningHatsya]

«NaNoWriMo Report»

• Opening the 1st chapter with a scene from another game before NOAH? Seriously? Probably meant to build up the main character's in-game personality.
• The main character's design (cross-posted from my art dump):
  
  Spoiler

  

«The MV Project Report»

• Taking notes from Exit Fate's spriting style. Upscale the original 16x Pixels to 32x please! Also, gotta change the main character's "big hands".

 

[Marquise*]

All right managed to accomplish double log last month... And, lost too much time. Paid balance of the vet bill for Mommy cat and awaiting the guy for her cremation today with what is left for the month (No worries I know my food banks).


So right now... I need SPACE! So this month, I will try to make SPACE! I want my lab and kitchen back and operational! So this month I will sporadically shuffle RPGMaker projects and spriting and commissions but I really need my workspace BACK!


BTW, it would be Mommy cat B-month today! No I won't eat a shrimp and smoked salmon cake for a while... still...


(PS: saw back who I think being same female short haired grey cat this morning. This time with a collar and all paws going. Hope she was the same the squirrels were making a fuzz warning me about my cat or something. Then I saw her running from her hiding and taking back the path leading to the direction she last took. Nice one squirrels!)

 

[TheGreatEater]

WhooHoo!!!!!! Progress!!!

So I finally got a mix of nodes I'm happy about. The skin has several layers of textures and Sub Surface Scattering that doesn't make it look all grainy. And I think it looks somewhat decent ... might need to increase the displacement map maybe, but I think it looks good atm. So here's the results.



Front body.



Face shot [i think the lips turned out pretty well. They at least don't look lipsticks on them ^_^.]



Front side view. 



Back side view. 

Next is the eyes. Hair. Then comes the fun bit of making the clothes.