November Goals & Progress Thread

[Marquise*]

Not much apart IRL busking and exposition visit (Yeah a few $ and a Christmassy invite for my robot!)


@bgillispWell I asked someone who used to mod some of my sprites about side battler poses and... well I was wondering about victory pose.   But no... I didn't saw Gotto Label (the Ogre) dancing.  Just... loosing her head!  XD  BTW 10000$ per game???    That's more than I do in a year in CAN$  (And yeah... if I take 5 years to make all the assets in my game before even making my game...  errrrr  that might represent that problem!)


@ksjp17You brought me back to nice memories there.  There was that red mustachioed character in Bugs Bunny who got a medieval chapter with a castle bridge opening up on him that came to my mind for the let me out part XD  (In fact it was "close the bridge" after yelling to "open the bridge" that got him squished under the bridge!)

 

[skatasticdinoboy]

@ksjp17, that's actually a pretty good idea! Keeping windows open would save me the hassle of going back and forth between programs.


@Lantiz, I get that. I'm not artist by any means but practice never hurts.


@Marquise*, That's the point! Making the cute sprites hide beneath bed tiles!


@EliteZeon, thanks!


@Vox Novus, thanks for the feedback! Did you mean for the side view or the or the front/back?      


As as for my progress, I took a bit of a break yesterday!             

 

[Lantiz]

@Lantiz, I get that. I'm not artist by any means but practice never hurts.

Hmmm "that"? Hahaha sorry... guess I got lost.


But yeah, I agree about practice


Hope your sprites are going well.


(Guess I'm posting too much also... '-')

 

[skatasticdinoboy]

@Lantiz, you said about some stuff being so bad that it's not worth an outsider's perspective.


And I hope so too! Haha

 

[Lantiz]

@Lantiz, you said about some stuff being so bad that it's not worth an outsider's perspective.

Oh right... some stuff = my art


Hahahahaha

 

[Canini]

My progress for the little war minigame I am working on for this months goal (placeholder graphics for some characters):





It is not a full minigame by any means, as there are only one viable solution. As such it is more like a puzzle from a Layton game.


You have to get the ghost to the top of the map, placing the other characters so they can defeat the attacking demons. Done purely with eventing! 

 

[Vox Novus]

A couple of responses for now:


@skatasticdinoboy Apologies, I meant the Front and back views. The side view looks much better proportioned to me; so I wouldn't say there are any issues there in that regard.


@Lantiz Well, thank yourself for making such cool things. A combat Demo sounds like a good idea; something to have for an early project thread at least. Would be a nice way to start to get some users interested in the project (outside of us following your progress in the monthly threads).


As far as my own progress hopefully, I'll have my secret boss monster done tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Lantiz]

@Lantiz Well, thank yourself for making such cool things. A combat Demo sounds like a good idea; something to have for an early project thread at least. Would be a nice way to start to get some users interested in the project (outside of us following your progress in the monthly threads).

Awesome, I'll try to put it together this weekend.


I've been thinking about early project topic, but I'm never sure if my project fits the criteria.


Thanks a lot for the interest and for the ideas.

 

[Kes]

@Lantiz One way of speeding up the development process is the cunning use of placeholders.  This is what most people do.  You pick any vaguely appropriate sprite and/or face set.  Name them whatever your final file name would be e.g. Project 1 general males.  Use them to carry on developing.  Your sprites arrive.  Call them by the same file name and import them into your game.  Your placeholders are removed and all your sprites are in the right place with no editing.  You won't have forgotten to do someone because everything happens seamlessly.  While waiting you have sorted out all your events, set your route moves, typed in your dialogues and so on.  Much, much easier than waiting until everything is to hand.


@AceOfAces_Mod I'd completely forgotten that Windows had a colour calibration tool.


@Vox Novus Slowing down towards the end is quite common.  So is getting stuck into an endless cycle of minor (or not so minor) tweaking.  You're right, you just have to keep on keeping on.  Good luck finishing your secret boss.


@EliteZeon I hope things have eased off a bit.  I was looking at your skill names, and one jumped out at me.  'Tainted Armor'.  From the name I would assume that its effects would be both positive and negative, yet I can only see positive, so why is the armor tainted?  


@Marquise* Now you mention it, I remember that bit too.  Very funny.  


@skatasticdinoboy Yeah, the more ways you can find to smooth out the workflow, the better progress you will make.  I've usually got several windows open at the same time.


@Canini That mini game looks intriguing, and I do like the black outline sprites.


My update:


I've been messing around with lighting and tinting on the outline underground maps I've just started.  I was wondering what people thought.


The first one is fairly near the surface, so not so dark.  Here is a screenshot of our heroes just pottering around testing passabilities - I have my tiles so you can walk behind cliffs, walls and roofs.

Spoiler

The second one is deeper underground, so should be darker.  But is it too dark?  I don't think so, but then, I know these maps.  What our heroes should also know, but clearly don't, is that an unusual looking chest in an obscure corner is never going to be something to take lightly.

Spoiler

So - too dark?  Any other thoughts?

 

[Marsigne]

@ksjp17 Doesn't look too dark to me.


And... yeah... I'm off to NaNoWriMo again. *vanishes*

 

[Lantiz]

@Lantiz One way of speeding up the development process is the cunning use of placeholders.  This is what most people do.  You pick any vaguely appropriate sprite and/or face set.  Name them whatever your final file name would be e.g. Project 1 general males.  Use them to carry on developing.  Your sprites arrive.  Call them by the same file name and import them into your game.  Your placeholders are removed and all your sprites are in the right place with no editing.  You won't have forgotten to do someone because everything happens seamlessly.  While waiting you have sorted out all your events, set your route moves, typed in your dialogues and so on.  Much, much easier than waiting until everything is to hand.

Now that's a nice tip. *taking note* (also, thanks again haha)


But honestly, I'm kind of weird... I want to organize the files the best way possible, without unecessary files, grouping images (1 tile sized sprites for instance).


And I even take some time to rest, I'm not in a big hurry


BUT, I rememberd that I have some unused custom assets, and this weekend I'll put together a small game with the purpose of testing the engine (the actual demo I was talking with @Vox Novus)


Maybe it gets decent enough to be released as a full game, even being small [:

 

[EliteZeon]

@ksjp17 Ah we're still assessing the situation, but things slightly calmed down but it's kind of tense still. As for the skill name, you brought up a good point. I didn't want to call it Shadow Armor or something, so I decided to throw the word Tainted instead... Plus my skill system was originally heavily influenced by the original Guild Wars games.


Ideally if I can have something like targets that hit the character with the buff get poisoned, that'd be nice. I'll give it some more conceptual thoughts. Maybe change the name out if I can't get something I like to work.

 

[hiddenone]

Great progress, everyone!


@ksjp17 I think the second screenshot is right at the edge of not too dark.  It'd work, but I think I'd run into at least a few things on the map.  What I'm curious about is why they don't have any light source, like a torch or lantern.  I've been in a few caves without light, and I was constantly walking into things and tripping over rocks, so I'd think that if the heroes knew they'd be heading into a cave they'd make sure to grab something to light their way.


I've gotten some great feedback on my demo already, so I'm trying to get things implemented.  My recipe book has been called out for being not very helpful, so I'm going through it and putting in some hints to make experimenting funner.  I'm also working on getting a quick crafting system set up, but it's a bit more complicated than I was expecting.

 

[Lantiz]

@ksjp17


Oh, about the maps... I like them a lot, the cave tiles are awesome.


About the light, at the first map the heroes seems to be lighter than the environment, but its beautiful.


About the second one, it is too dark for me, but maybe it's not a problem if small maps, I tend to get nauseated when I play games that are too dark.


Do you have a lighting system, maybe using a torch or something in those ares would make it better (maybe it's just me).


Speaking of torches, I think having some kind of natural light source, even if not many, on this kind of area is needed for immersion purposes... when in a cave we would not see too much otherwise.

 

[Kes]

@Lantiz and @hiddenone Can't have torches.  They never planned on being there, and are, in fact escaping from jail, so have had no opportunity to take sensible things with them.  These are natural tunnels/caves, so there won't be any torches on the walls.


@Lantiz I don't think anyone has solved the problem of sprites showing up lighter than screen tints, though I could be wrong.  On your other point, there is a suggestion of natural light in the first one.  This is difficult to show because of the limitations of mapshots, and obviously it won't show up in screen shot of the editor.  But this is what the whole of the first map looks like, except it doesn't have those odd lines in the middle in real game play.  And the sprites do get darker as they move into the more shadowy looking patches.

Spoiler

@EliteZeon For your skill, I'd just use the damage formula box.  I couldn't work out from your phraseology whether the target for the positive aspect is the user or an ally and also who gets the poison, but all of those possibilities can be done in the formula box.

 

[EliteZeon]

Sorry I just like putting my thought process down a lot.


The idea was that the character that casted it got a lot of benefits and foes that attacked the characted buffed with Tainted Armor got poisoned.


But the more I think about it, the more I feel that more powerful skills should cause repercussions, especially since my world is based on a slightly more darker setting with a bit more humorous characters and some silly monsters. (Say Berserk meets Dragon Quest)


I actually have a skill called Burst of Aggression that costs 25 MP (plus 3% for scaling) that gives 25 TP (TP skills being decently powerful) but gives a state that causes his defense to drop 50%.


So maybe I should actually make this Tainted Armor skill cause defense rises, hp regen and a few other juicy beneficial things at the cost of a DoT (though that will counteract the hp regen)... Hrm, I figure something out.

 

[Lantiz]

@ksjp17


I understand now, context.


About the charactes, maybe change them while on this map? Ok the work may not be worth, but it's an option [:


About the natural light sources, you could use other stuff, like crystals. But i understand your point.

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

Progress Report #5


-Made two NPCs as shopkeepers. (See below)


-Polished some of the maps.


-New faces added.

Spoiler

 

[Kes]

@Marsigne Good luck with  NaNoWriM.  Are you doing it in English or Spanish?


@Lantiz Hope the short game is making good progress.


@hiddenone I've taken the opacity of the overlay down a notch, so it's a bit lighter without sacrificing the "down deeper" feel.  Fortunately It's a tiny map, so all the player has to do is to go down to the chest and then (assuming they come through unscathed) straight back up again to the stairs.  I read the posts about the recipe books.  It's quite a delicate balance, I think, between giving enough guidance and hand holding. Easier to make it more explicit rather than less, or at least I assume it is.


@EliteZeon I think the new version of Tainted Armor is more appropriate to the name, though I see your point about the clash between DoT and regen.


@AceOfAces_Mod Just a small suggestion - if you use shift-click mapping you could get your carpet to look like it's continuing down behind your walls.  That would give a better impression of depth.


My update


A lot of time getting a solution to one of my skill problems.  I want to avoid the Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3 route, so I have one Fire skill which scales up nicely depending on the actor's level (same for all elemental skills). My problem was skill cost.  There is this skill getting steadily more powerful, but the MP cost remains what it was when the skill was first learned.  By mid game it is pretty cheap and by end game it is ridiculously so.  Having multiple copies of the skill in order to do the usual forget one/learn another workaround was going to be a complete bore, and it would require parallel processes all over the place to discover if it was time for an upgrade.  Now, however, I have a simple, but elegant, solution which allows for the cost to increase in a smooth fashion without any additional skills.  So pleased.


Apart from that, did a bit of mapping.  I'm happy with the way the tiles are working out.  A bit fiddly, but worth it (imo).

 

[Marsigne]

@ksjp17In English.  (I'm used to writing in English hehe)