October Goals & Progress Thread

[FleetingInfinity]

Let's see, my goals for October:

I want to get an actual demo for my RPG Maker game done, as well as having a decent website for it up and running.

Do more work on my own personal website and blog.

Have all the writing done for characters and at least a few scenes for a game I'm doing the writing for.

Get at least one level done with my group that I'm working on a side-scroller with in Unity.

Have a working prototype for the program I'm working on to release to the Android Market.

Lose about ten pounds.

Edit:   This is a pretty good idea though, hopefully it will help make sure all of us get these goals done, hahah.

 

[Sharm]

You might want to map out the time commitments required for that, see if it's even possible. It seems a bit much for one month to me and unrealistic deadlines can be demotivating.

 

[FleetingInfinity]

You might want to map out the time commitments required for that, see if it's even possible. It seems a bit much for one month to me and unrealistic deadlines can be demotivating.

Fortunately I like to stay really busy, so even if I don't manage to complete all of the things I'm trying to accomplish I hopefully still will not find myself ending up demotivated.

I pretty much have it mapped out for the most part though.    About four hours a week of writing should have the writing done.   Working on my RPG Maker game and getting a demo of it done by the end of the month will probably take at least 10-15 hours per week.   The Android Project will probably take about the same, since I'm having someone else design the UI for it.   Getting at least a level done on the Unity project should only take about 5 hours a week since I have most of the code in place for it, I'm really just waiting on artwork.

So I'd be looking at relatively around forty hours a week, a full-time job worth of hours.   So I might have to give up on accomplishing one of those things, since that would be adding that to a full schedule of University classes, hahah.   

 

[Ms Littlefish]

I have to say that is quite a busy month, FleetingInfinity. .-.

A note about losing 10 pounds though, is it is recommended to aim for 1-2 pounds a week. Most people will lose a considerable amount of water weight (bloating) in the first few weeks. So it would be difficult to lose 10 solid pounds in a month, at least in a recommended manner. I would aim to refine habits and the rest will follow. I try not to care about how fast or slow my weight loss is, just keep my habits in check!

Hopeful to see some progress on your other points though! 

Yesterday I did not get much done because I sort of hurt myself at work and commenced taking fist fulls of pain pulls and being a bump on a log when I got home. I did buy more tiles (I can't be stopped) and started to orient myself with those as well. I think today I'd like to place out a small test town on some grid paper, nothing fancy, and then start mapping that out taking all the advice I've gotten to mind (and I don't know, maybe actually read a tutorial). I think once I get some good editor maps done I'll try messing around with some funny business like paralax/layering. We all know I like my Photoshops.

 

[kenibatz]

You just earned some major awesome points in my book! 

Well met and likewise!    You know, because of our busy month, I believe I will use the good Doctor's quote as my standard response for the month. "Gotta dash. Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard." It seems so appropriate, yeah?

Yesterday I did not get much done because I sort of hurt myself at work and commenced taking first fulls of pain pulls and being a bump on a log when I got home. I did buy more tiles (I can't be stopped) and started to orient myself with those as well.

Ouch. Hope you feel better soon. And congrats on the new tiles. I know what you mean about needing to buy more. btw, i think your soundforge link on your siggy is leading to an empty account?

As for my progress, I drafted the concept art for one of my characters today. After many revisions, she now wears a big newsboy cap and looks all cute and stuff. But don't call her cute. She's really indifferent about her looks. She just wears the cap just to avoid fixing up her hair in the first place.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Well met and likewise!    You know, because of our busy month, I believe I will use the good Doctor's quote as my standard response for the month. "Gotta dash. Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard." It seems so appropriate, yeah?

Ouch. Hope you feel better soon. And congrats on the new tiles. I know what you mean about needing to buy more. btw, i think your soundforge link on your siggy is leading to an empty account?

As for my progress, I drafted the concept art for one of my characters today. After many revisions, she now wears a big newsboy cap and looks all cute and stuff. But don't call her cute. She's really indifferent about her looks. She just wears the cap just to avoid fixing up her hair in the first place.

I recently changed my screen name on soundcloud and even though I replaced all the links it keeps doing that. I am aware, and even though that is the current address, it keeps doing that. Most likely has to do with Soundcloud being terrible. 

If you have a picture of your concept art you'd like to share I'm sure we'd all love to see it. She sounds awesome.

 

[Ruby]

I think I am progressing along nicely... I worked all week, but I still have a few things to show!

First up, is the completed base (unless there is something glaringly wrong with it?), and then the second pair of eyes I have (which are a WIP). About how many items would you all like to see for eyes, and outfits and such? Just a general question.

 

[Sharm]

Oh, don't ask that, Ruby. The answer will always be "As many as I can get!" Just try for diverse and versatile and stop when you decide you're done.


I'm going to try and get a basic ship body done today but I got distracted by a cliff face. Hopefully I can do both.

 

[whitesphere]

Just picked up a MIDI keyboard and a "Beginner's Piano" book and am starting to learn how to play the keyboard.  My goal is by the end of the month to at least be able to play a simple song.  At least this I can practice without making any noise (using headphones).

RPG-wise, I'm kicking around the idea for a futuristic RPG but am aiming for a very Robinson Crusoe feel, a set of intrepid travelers who come out of deep hibernation when their colony ship encounters something...unexpected...(not sure what yet)

 

[Ms Littlefish]

I support anyone learning how to play the piano! Really, really practice your scales with the proper fingering. If you can make that a habit early a lot of other things will go more smoothly. ^_^

 

[bgillisp]

I'd say I got my flashback scene about 25% coded now. Most of the talking part is over, about to get to some battles in the past!

 

[Sami-Fire64]

I love progress threads and going on about my plans!

Starting this week, if I can crawl out from under my massive pile of things to do (it's hard to maintain other hobbies in graduate school, to say the least), I want to get back to my current game project and at least finish the prologue, though considering that there's quite a bit left to do for that (not only does the in-character tutorial need to be finished, but the player character needs to go home and then... uh... darn, what should even come after that? Learning the layout of the city? Getting your first mission? I have so many epic scenes planned and and absolutely no way of getting to them) it might not finish this weekend. Also if I could get some help with editing what I've got sometime soon, that'd be great. I need it, badly. Yes, the talking dog is telling you everything you need to know about your new role as a magical girl/guy in-character-ly and it's nice that she's actually telling you what's going on instead of dumping you on your behind, but holy moly that is still an infodump.

Also, since I've noticed there are some musical people about, I'll add in this. I want to get at least one song composed and done by the time the month is over. Unfortunately, my previous forays into composition have been lackluster at best, and while I want to keep trying in hopes of someday getting better through practice, lack of time + lack of skill + lack of knowing what I want have resulted in my composition efforts being shoved onto the back burner. (As a side note, it's not video game music per se; they're actual songs with singing and lyrics, but I might shoot for making background music someday.)

 

[Ms Littlefish]

@ Sami. Let me know if you want me to look at any of the compositions you're working on. I'll be happy to help any way I can.

 

[Sami-Fire64]

@Ms Littlefish: Ah, thanks for the offer! Can I just bounce stuff off you from time to time? If so, look forward to some messages from me... sometime. Be warned- you'll quickly learn that my music is kind of a crapshoot (*shifty eyes at two most recent tracks*). I basically posted my entire portfolio (all... 5 songs of it, most of which aren't even recent) in the Post Your Music thread; take a peek over there if you'd like to hear my original pieces, but those last two are doozies. Listen to those two at your own risk, haha...

 

[kenibatz]

I recently changed my screen name on soundcloud and even though I replaced all the links it keeps doing that. I am aware, and even though that is the current address, it keeps doing that. Most likely has to do with Soundcloud being terrible. 

If you have a picture of your concept art you'd like to share I'm sure we'd all love to see it. She sounds awesome.

i found your SoundCloud page by copy-pasting the link on your sig instead of clicking it. listening to "Thinking of August" now and wow, you are awesome.

I think I am progressing along nicely... I worked all week, but I still have a few things to show!

First up, is the completed base (unless there is something glaringly wrong with it?), and then the second pair of eyes I have (which are a WIP). About how many items would you all like to see for eyes, and outfits and such? Just a general question.

looks good so far. I can't offer any helpful suggestions because I'm a total noob when it comes to character sprites. but i do like the changes you made with the second pair of eyes. there's enough personality between the first and the second to set them apart.

@Ms Littlefish: Ah, thanks for the offer! Can I just bounce stuff off you from time to time? If so, look forward to some messages from me... sometime. Be warned- you'll quickly learn that my music is kind of a crapshoot (*shifty eyes at two most recent tracks*). I basically posted my entire portfolio (all... 5 songs of it, most of which aren't even recent) in the Post Your Music thread; take a peek over there if you'd like to hear my original pieces, but those last two are doozies. Listen to those two at your own risk, haha...

if you have a soundcloud account, maybe add a link on your siggy too.

today i redrew my newsboy-cap girl again and named her Eli, short for Elizabeth.

but don't call her Elizabeth. she gets irritable when people do.

check her pencil sketch here on my instagram.

I also trimmed down my goals for the month as I have a better idea of what I want and what I can do.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

@Kenibatz I love your drawing! Her attitude is really coming through that pose and expression. Can't wait to see more. And thanks for stopping by my soundcloud. I have identified what's wrong with the hyperlink. The hyperlink is still leading to my old address for some reason. Edit: I think I fixed it. I typed it out instead of copying/pasting. Why it works. I don't know. But, whatever.

@Sami I've been  listening to a few pieces this morning and I'll see if later I can do a write up for you. Don't worry about being new. I wrote plenty of stuff like this when I started out, too.

 

[TheoAllen]

I'm working on battle system script. Hopefully, I can finish it in this month. It's so tiring Q_Q

Also I'm learning Unity right now, and it's really interesting. I hope I can understand most of the basic of Unity this month.

As for progress, I made Tone and color on battler icon

 

[bgillisp]

Finally got the cutscene implemented, it's two minutes in game time. Getting all those move routes to work out though so that characters didn't trip on each other or get stuck was the biggest challenge, as the scene takes place in a kitchen (so its a tad crowded too).

Edit: To be more clear, the cutscene is of a royal banquet in a castle. So there are a lot of people (nobles, guards, servants) in the room.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

New Goal/Change of plans. Mapping is still happening. But since we as a forum have been summoned to make some DLC content for a Steam release, I will be making some forest music. Most of us need a forest at some time in our life! I plan to have this piece done in the next few days.

 

[Sami-Fire64]

@Kenibatz: I love how your one sketch conveys volumes about Eli's personality. That pose looks sassy!

@Ms Littlefish: A writeup would be great, thank you! I think at some point I'll just sit down and crank out a pure BGM/Leitmotif piece and focus on consistency and see if that helps any. It'll probably be a relief to not have to mess with Hymmnos for once...

Meanwhile, I'm always fascinated with what people do in their games. The closest I've come to a unique battle system in my current project is the idea of an unlockable desperation attack. I need to figure out how to actually put the player in control... I'm a bit wary of the idea of the prologue being roughly 10-odd minutes with no non-railroaded gameplay. I want to leave it to the second draft to fix, but part of me wants to hurry up and adjust on the fly so I don't forget or get something thrown at me by beta testers for leaving in something I knew was an issue. We'll see what happens, I guess.