October Goals & Progress Thread

[bgillisp]

@Marquise*: Oh, it's done. Now it's in the eternal polish run as I decided to crank out the plot first, then do everything else. As for Part 8, that joke was referring to it being the 8th game in a series.


@Vampire Vox: It's not an easy task. Thankfully I had most of it already drawn and could shift-click in the pieces. I just had to connect them and make it interesting. Though it is not short if you start from the beginning, I remember the time I had the *bright* idea to do a 140 x 140 dungeon map. 3 days later...


@Lantiz: Hey, it might have worked! Or probably the antibiotics the doctor game me are finally doing something.


@watermark: Good luck with the demo!


@Schlangan: Welcome back! Here's your throne, I was, um, keeping it warm for  you.


@AceOfAces_Mod: Gotcha. Thought dungeon 2 seemed a little low from what I remembered of the project.


10.14 Update: And the Pit's remapped. Thankfully I could keep a high percentage of what I drew already, it was making the rest more interesting that took most of the time today. Will have to go back and rebalance monsters tomorrow though, pretty sleepy still with getting over this whatever it was.


Edit: Got some energy after a nap, rebalanced the monsters too.

 

[Lantiz]

@Lantiz: Hey, it might have worked! Or probably the antibiotics the doctor game me are finally doing something.

Meh, it's my spell, bet you xD

 

[VideoWizard]

I hope it's not a bad thing that I've been busy working on my game rather than updating. Hopefully, I'll have something to show off soon. At any rate...


Remainder of October goals:


Finish the new, expanded maps of beginning areas, this time including treasures in out-of-the-way spots, and MORE monster variation! It's a lot easier to handle monster parties when they just appear based on random values, than making up to 8 different groups for EACH monster. I could be wrong, but I think that can be done in Ace, too. Oh well. Of course, the opening area will be limited to five monsters per battle. Don't want to make things TOO hairy... yet!


Best bet: Oct. 21-27. Worst: Oct. 18-20 due to Inventory. So-so: Oct. 14-17, 28-31 (Halloween). Of course, the true test will be in November.

 

[Marquise*]

Errr... Was the allegedly B-day for my furniture and personal appliance New  Cat today.  He survived trying to swallow an huge leatherwork needle... I don<t see the very small one tought.


So sorry for the delay.  I had fun with those masks and doing paper toys and giving some gift for this one's paws!  (Also... I think I got enough paper and cardboard for my $Eg piñata... well... bet finish $D2 first.  *sigh*  I wanted that piñata for Halloweeen!


Waves @Schlangan   Always nice to read you.

 

[Arithmetician]

@bgillisp In the protagonist's case, Arthur is my own middle name, and since some of his traits (a scholar) and appearance are loosely based on myself, that name came to mind quickly.   His possible surnames simply came to me off the top of my head as names of distinguished scientists or magicians.  Shakespearean names are fairly general knowledge, and I came across the story of Lorelei a while ago.  Coming up with Sabra as a possible tsundere name occurred after I typed "tsundere names" into a Google search.  And I did use baby naming website with themed filters to generate a list of possible Norse names for the wanderer.  


@Vampire Vox Thank you.


As for progress... I hadn't made much, but another user contacted me overnight with a number of story ideas.  Some of them seem promising and could help flesh out the world.  I was also given another possible take on the tsundere's profession... she could be a merchant.  That would give a pretty good reason to have the Chemist job... she could sell potions.  It's also still easy enough to justify her other jobs around it.  

 

[watermark]

Yay! Finally released the demo of 99! It's like a rock off my chest. Or uh ok...maybe that's not quite the right metaphor, but I do feel lighter. It felt like I've been on this forever and for a while I lost all inspiration for it. And as you guys know, procrastination set in for a bit but recovered now!


So what now? Well, take a short break for sure. But not for long. Then will have to hop over to our Unity projects for a bit and get those rolling. Then after that, maybe complete all 99 dungeons for 99 or maybe get started on a MV project that's been in the works for long: Valkyrie Blue! Who knows? Anyway I'm glad I met my goal for October.


Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Canini]

• Bugtesting/update dev log
  
• Replace placeholder dialogue and make the NPCs seem less generic (have them move around, play etc)
  
• Get some custom tilesets designed and done
  
• Collect feedback
  

It is the middle of the month and my progress is moving along nicely. When it comes to bugtesting the finished product is not 100% perfect by any means, but at least there is nothing game-breaking. The dev log was much easier to accomplish (I keep it posted on Wattpad) and even netted me a few new readers. Having collecting feedback as part of the goal may come back to bit me, though...but no moving the goal-posts now!

 

[Arithmetician]

Mostly settled on given names for the characters

Spoiler

Protagonist - Arthur, by default among the names I brainstormed


Princess - Lorelei,  Ophelia contains more connotations of mental illness or eccentricity than I wish, Cordelia is a bit too dutiful of a name for one who has a rogue class, and I associate both names too strongly with Fire Emblem characters.   Of Miranda or Lorelei, I like the sound of Lorelei better for a princess.  And one of her classes is Bard, and the character Lorelei in German stories was a sort of siren, so the connection of song is there, though the princess is a more benign character.


Wanderer - Brenna, apparently has a connotation of ravens, which is fitting for a character who has gained wisdom, and has Magus and Hex as some of her classes


Tsundere - Angela (or Sabra), while a unique name, is a culturally-specific to Israel.  An ironic name like Angela is quite fitting for a tsundere character.  That is, if they're from a similar geographic region, because that gives all of them European names.  If the tsundere originally came from somewhere else, then Sabra could actually still work as a name, deliberately setting her apart form the others, and providing a different first letter for each character.  So I'll keep Sabra in reserve.  It also looks like "Saber", and while she doesn't have the  Knight job, she does have some physical jobs.  So I guess the tsundere's name is still to be determined, but it will be one of those two.

 

[Marquise*]

err I thought of cutting some slack... kinda and... I just worked on a bit on my $Eg piñata!  (I will make you a picture when it is over; I am on the legs!  They are way more easy to do with toilet rolls and ribbon papers!  XD)

 

[Punamaagi]

Is it a good sign that six days feel like ages? I had a few days with no progress and didn't want to post until I had done something worthwhile. >.>


@bgillisp Oh dear, good to hear that I'm not the only one who makes questionable map designs sometimes. I am both looking forward to and dreading the first dungeon of my game: I consider myself at least adequate with outdoor maps and houses, but dungeons and dungeon-esque maps might be an entirely different beast.


@Vampire Vox Since one part of the storyline will involve incurable poisons, I decided to substitute the usual Poison state with Bleeding state, but damage which ignores armour is a nice idea. Thanks!


@Arithmetician I was supposed to say already a while ago that I like how you're taking inspiration from some of my favourite RPGs ever, namely Final Fantasy V and Seiken Densetsu 3, heh. I like both of the name ideas for your tsundere character although Angela is probably more fitting if she is meant to come from the same region/culture as the rest of the character (and Sabra is better in the opposite case).


@watermark Congratulations for the demo release! I can imagine that it feels both pleasant and relieving. Hopefully you'll come back from your short break feeling more inspired than ever before!


My progress:


Now I've finished all the dialogue I need for the initial demo, though, designed the window skin, and even found a free font for my game (which contains Ä and Ö letters too, in case I decided to realize my silly idea of translating the game). I'm also quite happy with my "tutorials": I'm using Yanfly's Gab Window plugin to display hints or help in order to make them less obtrusive.


Now I just need to test the ITB plugin, find a free photo editing software with proper text tools (GIMP maybe?) and do a few tweaks before the demo is ready to be sent to the initial test group (i.e. my brother and a few friends).

 

[Vox Novus]

Been a bit since I responded so I figure I should do so, to keep up the motivation; also a little over the half way mark for the month so let's keep it up everyone!


@Arithmetician Glad you got your names settled, now you can start to flesh out the characters in the story; hard to write for a character when you've yet to name them.


@Canini That's a good reason to have an external beta test, when you think you've found everything on your own let others see what they can find.


@watermark Saw your demo page, congratulations! After I finish up my project it will be on my list of games to check out and try.


@Schlangan Always a pleasure General.


@VideoWizard Not a bad thing at all, means you are getting stuff done and in the "zone" so to speak.


@Marquise* Pinatas for Halloween sound really neat.


10/17 update:


Haven't done an extraordinary amount since my last update, did a little more work and finished up some balancing and events. Working on setting up monsters and doing animations for part four. I've definitely reached the key point in the story where the greater plot unfolds and so now its a steady unfurling until the games conclusion in part 5. I think my development pace has slowed a little maybe because of just wanting a break so I'm not sure If I'll have everything done in time for the actual holiday of Halloween like I wanted.

 

[HexMozart88]

Finished my witch. Only problem: she kind of has the stink eye. She's not really that type. She's supposed to be very solemn and shy. 

Spoiler

View attachment 50116

I think that's better. And I also made her a bit skinnier (for whatever reason I tend to draw my characters way too fat. 

 

[Vox Novus]

@HexMozart88 You probably want to draw her eyes looking downward; since she is shy she wouldn't maintain eye contact strongly with individuals. Here is an example I pulled quickly from the good ol' interwebz (The middle eye):

Spoiler

 

[Lantiz]

Booooooooo


I envy you guys so much that I came here to say that maybe if the sun is ok, I'll be doing my skill window tomorrow.


*casting buffs* so you guys keep the good work, I'm loving to get messages from this topic on my e-mail, in the end I guess it really motivates me

 

[Schlangan]

Some progress here for me (I'm too lazy to reply to everyone right now ^^').


The cutscene in the meeting room is completed, and we switched to the cutscene/battle events in Schlangan's personal lab. The opponents of course don't stand a chance against him. I now need to properly draw the charsets and battlesets of the enemies, before going any further. After this scene, we'll switch back to the Death Realm where Michaël and the enemy leader have landed by mistake (Michael is still alive, while the enemy is... half-dead, or more specifically, undead now).

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

Progress Report #7


-Drafted a new enemy.


-Drafted the fourth dungeon.


-Re-designing Illos a bit. I am adding a few more houses on the upper area. You can see it here:




-Decided to request a script to handle the HP colors. IRL stuff have reduced my free time and I can't get the script working.

 

[Arithmetician]

@Punamaagi  By appearance, she probably comes from a similar area, so Angela would seem more likely at present, but I suppose that will get sorted out as I detail the scenario.  


Yeah, job system (and 1 male + 3 female party) from FFV, a character's name from SD3.... @Malevolence149 was suggesting a rather Dhaos-like villain in conversations about possible plots, and while I'm not committed to that yet, it did give me some ideas for possible world-building (I don't know if he specifically had the Tales series in mind, but that's what it reminded me of).  


Although not plot-related, I was considering weapon unleashes in the style of Golden Sun  (via Yanfly's plugins) as a means of further incentivizing the use of "Equip_Weapontype" skills, e.g. Equip Swords, Equip Staves, etc.  


And if I spread out the character's job access throughout the game (say Freelancer + 2 jobs at the start, then 1 more at a time), that suggests four arcs to the game, not counting the prologue, final confrontation, and possible bonus dungeon.    It would be fairly easy for those to be elemental in theme.  That might be too close to FFV, but on the other hand, it's not alone in having four prominent elemental dungeons - Golden Sun has those too.  I suppose the context of said dungeons is key.


@Vampire Vox Now I need to come up with a name for the villain, one that will help define his (or her) identity.  It's hard to write a story without a proper antagonist.


Edit:  To avoid double-posting, I'll elaborate upon the night's accomplishments here.

• Installed several key plugins for the implementation of my job system, along with generally useful Yanfly plugins
  
• Began linking character sprites / portraits to their job classes
  

Job Changing Example

Spoiler

Our three heroines and the hero in their Freelancer job.





The four Freelancers in battle.  All stats are default placeholder values for now; they do not reflect the actual values I intend to have once I recalibrate the damage formula and stat curves.  The bats are a placeholder enemy as well.


Now, let's change their jobs:





Arthur -> Magus


Lorelei -> Cleric


Angela -> Chemist


Brenna -> Warrior





And in battle with their new jobs.


All of these are real screenshots, with the job change managed through the menu (not shown).


I still need to adjust the plugin settings to restrict the classes each character has access to.  Currently, they all have access to every class.   I think it will be easy enough with Yanfly's plugin.  If not, it would sacrifice the uniqueness of their characters in battle and a bit of the associated characterization, but I wouldn't terribly mind that, as it would just default to a system more akin to FFV's, which I like anyways.  


And if I am unlocking character's jobs sequentially, it's probably easier to balance everything if the same jobs are unlocked for all characters at the same time (as in FFV), rather than each character gaining access to their particular combination of jobs in a unique order.


e.g.  Arthur and Lorelei share Knight and Astrologer in the current plan.  Per their characterization, Lorelei should gain access to Knight before Arthur as she is royalty, whereas the more scholarly Arthur would learn Astrologer before Lorelei.  The problem with this is that in the current plan, Astrologer has some of the most powerful equipped skills in the game (e.g. Half MP Cost and EXP Boost)... having it as anything other than a late-game job would require a substantial nerf.  


Of course, it goes without saying that if each character acquires the rest of the jobs, I have some more sprites to make with the generator.  But we're not going to rush to a decision on this.

 

[Schlangan]

@AceOfAces_Mod : What do you mean handle the HP colors ? During fights, menu screen ?


@Arithmetician : You don't necessarily need elemental dungeons. I put some in my story, because the author specifically sent his characters to zelda-like places, but well ^^



My update :


The curscene is Schlangan's lab is over, and the Death Realm scene is next. Meanwhile, I started designing the sprites of the opponent's team. Here are the charsets, the leader Krishna on the left, followed by his new undead form. Then Mataji the right hand woman, and the succubus Bronanda.





In addition, I also started the facesets, using the generator as a basis. I now need to take care of Krishna's undead face. 

 

[Arithmetician]

@Schlangan  Of course I don't need elemental dungeons.  That's just an obvious (although lazy) approach to coming up with four major dungeons (though there'd be a number of smaller dungeons too).


Really, the plot needs to be developed at this point before I can say what type of dungeons there will be.


Anyways, I think I will expand each character's access to all jobs (as in FFV), as that will be far easier to balance rather than figuring out a unique sequence of unlocking jobs for each character.

 

[Marquise*]

@SchlanganNeat work!  Also I am looking at your siggy.  Grrr I have to GET more time and DO everything I wanna do for/in/with RPGM!  Why can't we put the parties and holidays just when we have finished our works?


About me.  Well... not more change on 2nd dragon and we worked on the masks for the haunted house and two masks of someone and a half needed my maintenance...  I kinda didn't had timeto tell anyone to solidify their masterpieces because it was a bit of chaos... and... all 4 cat faces were taken/done.  Even by luck I also had a cat mask out of my bag!    Awww... I should try to get a melpot day with 2D dragon, fitness, mask painting, house cleaning and gaming tomorrow...    IT IS TOMORROW!!! 


Awww After midnight.. time flies when we meet someone also fighting BBs.  *facepalms*  I think I got it, inspired by Halloween, sleep and live for a while in the center of a huge salt/seashell circle!  Grrrrrr!!