September Goals & Progress Thread

[TherainED]

@Folks: Appreciated. And those are just the non-real-life things I've got going. Still, it's not like the real-life thigs are particularly complicated anyway.

@Chara: See you got some drawings there to do. Good luck with those. I tried to do a drawing once and, by the gods, never again. I haven't gotten more frustrated at something in my entire life. And I've fought the Bed of Chaos.

@Schengen: Those robots are looking pretty fricking neat. Not cute, but still really amazing.

@Mlogan: For a couple of posts it's been sounding like you need some sleep. Commercial work is not the best thing to get it I understand, but...Y'know what people say. Resting is also part of working.

@Crispy: Good mapping is tough. Specially if you don't know which kind of game are you going for or which kind of obstacles you're going to present the player with. See: Huntsman Copse in Dark Souls 2 - The map with the poorest design in the whole game.

@BeeGee: PoS is as good of a game as I've heard? I'm kinda wondering if I should try it or not. I mean, I don't even know if it's my style. Not to mention that right now I'm on it with Shadowrun: Hong-Kong. And I'm REALLY on it.

Spoiler

1st - I've decided to change priorities. Instead of working on Francesca and Biela now, which would break the flow of the story in some way, I'm going to focus on Nerei and Silas (other two characters) first, then finish the story of Meridian and, after that, go for the back-story of those two. Or not if I see I can expose that to the player in some other way. The whole proccess is gonna take me a while, but the Silas/Nerei arc remains under the same deadline. Inb4 Sunday 20.

2nd - Do the last 8 characters in the chart. The second-to-last line is done, so it should be easy. After that, I'll revisit the entire document and ask for advice, since there are some things like unique skills that don't really convince me and I want to change to better fit the character. The last line, inb4 Sunday 20. The revisit to the whole document, inb4 Friday 25.

3rd - Prepare the PR post on the "42 characters" idea. Choose a couple of characters to illustrate the idea behind the game. Resume the plot in less than 10 lines. Allocate some funds in case they might become necessary. Lower my expectations so I don't end up very dissapointed when it fails. Inb4 some point before the end of the month.

The 42 characters are done. Will up a post requesting advice/help with some of them in a short while. Be on the lookout. Or not. Depends on how interested you may be.

 

[Marquise*]

Addendum in the morning.


Did the platform in my anim siggy. Still have to get a better timing on Photoshop or render and recompile all my images one by one to be certain of my timing in a dope sheet! Ah là là!


@Chiara


nice mechanical blog reference And you're right usually tapestry were used in medieval time to warm up the places! Well nothing is lost... unless I start to animate falling air conditioners in the weather effect animation!


@AceOfAces_Mod


What kind of game is THAT? Seems like more worked out interface for RPGMaker Vx Ace!


@Engr. Adiktuzmiko


Wow... start generic great I was expecting a movie. Hope the approver have a good battery of anti-viruses since it is an .exe!


@Bgillisp


neat. Major ark done! We can walktrough until the end but we can wait patiently for the nice icing on the cake putted with love there!


Returning to SLAVE myself until no more Pepsi! (this animator's addiction!) I have to be careful I restart to get paranoid and anxious again XD

 

[R4B]

Following my standard protocol, I'm late for the goals and progress thread, I always forget about these halfway in, but seeing how it's already halfway in (there's only 30 days of September, right?)  -  I might actually get through the entire month! 

This time I'm going for the simple goal of ONE mock-up image in 15 days. That said, I'm still waiting for my new tablet (Cintiq13HD ..hohoho  :  ) since the old one broke after 7 years of usage.  I'll be sending that one off on a fiery boat funeral tomorrow.

So until then I'm stuck with using my half-broken dumb mouse, which won't have a fiery boat funeral ...
 

 

[hiddenone]

@Chiara - Honestly, I had no idea what the plural for cyclops was, and I was too tired to try figure out what it was.  Apparently it's cyclopes.  
 
Futzed with my alchemy system a bit more.  It's not super exciting to look at right now, since just about everything are placeholders but the layout is getting closer to what I want.  Pretty much you throw items into the cauldron (which curiously enough looks like a slime right now), and the color changes depending on what you put it.  What you add shows up at the bottom of the screen, since I quickly realized that I don't have a good enough memory to remember what I add and needed reminders.

Spoiler

 

[Kes]

@hiddenone

Who needs alchemy when you've got your own tribe of Cyclops (I've just paused for quite a while trying to work out the plural of Cyclops.  Then I remembered, it's Cyclopes.  I feel better now. )

EDIT Just before posting I saw your second post which also has Cyclopes.  It's amazing what cauldrons will do to disguise themselves in the hope of getting out of work.  I'm glad to see that you were not fooled by that pathetic attempt to look like a slime.  Good observation on your part.

@Engr Adiktuzmiko

Once again you put the rest of us to shame as you get something else finished.  Congrats.

@Schlangan

I've worked out what it is about your robots.  Everything was coloured by how I was seeing the robot which is the second one in yesterday's post.  It sort of looks like a floating comfortable arm chair.  How can an arm chair be threatening?

@Marquise*

Oh no, this isn't a new home I'm moving to.  It's my old home I'm moving back to.  Where I am now was always intended to be temporary (work related).  But thank you for your very kind wishes.  I like that roof.  You could use those designs for ornate floor tiles, or if you took just one or two, they could be interesting, slightly enigmatic designs on walls.  Obviously some of them are very explicitly Church symbols, but others are more general.

@Chiara

I love your description of the Picasso moment.  I agree with you - sometimes the most time efficient ways of doing things actually manage to kill the enjoyment.  Efficiency can be over rated.  What's needed is effectiveness, not efficiency.  I do like the idea of one character helping you discover things about other characters.  And great progress against your goals.

@AceofAces_Mod

That's a relief to know that it's not just the game taking away all my save files.  I get a bit nervous about this, as I've seen in a number of threads recently, queries about how to delete the player's save file if they do this or that or get a Game Over.

@bgillisp

But can our intrepid heroes get lost in the maze looking for the person who is lost in the maze?  I once got lost in a RL maze for over an hour.  It started raining.  I had no coat.  Not a happy experience.  

@TherainED

those sound pretty comprehensive goals.  Good luck with them.

@R4B

Hope the hardware arrives in good time, and that everything works smoothly.  I'm just thinking of all the hassle that Sharm had with her new set up.  It's fine now, but it was frustrating at the beginning.

My update

Started mapping, realised that I needed a few tiles which didn't exist, back into my home from home (aka GIMP) and worked merrily away there, got distracted further by AceofAces_Mod's suggestion for "ghostly skill animations".  Did one with flashing death's heads surrounding you.  This, for those who don't know, is part of the suggestions for Member+ resources, not the next one due (I've finished the animations for that) but the one after.  Anyway, got very little mapping done.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

It took me a long while to finish it, definitely way out of schedule... Now time to rest a bit then resume on my RPG.

 

[bgillisp]

@TherianEd: Good luck with those goals. They seem through and well thought out.

@Marquise: Pretty much. I've been focusing on the story first, as there are some zones we return to and I want to make sure there's enough room for all those late game events too, so some maps are blank on purpose to give me 'filler space'. Just in case.

@R4b: Hope your new tablet arrives soon. Marshmellows for the firy send off of the old one?

@hiddenone: Being creative with placeholder sprites. Nice.

@ksjp17: Yeah, it is possible. The good news is battles are disabled in the maze, so at least there are no monsters to worry about. Plus, there are two exits, and if they use the wrong one they can just go around.

9.14 Update: Was at work most of the day, but did manage to plan out my side quest flow on paper a little better. Most of them involve people that your party members know, and doing them is a good way to learn more about your party members, and earn neat stuff too.

Long day at work tomorrow, probably will be 9.16 before any major updates occur.

 

[TheGreatEater]

There was some terms that my main pre-reader / editor didn't get. From the Pre-Cataclysm part of the timeline. Added those in. And I'll post it here as well.) 

[SIZE=14.6667px]1) The Planes. In Esoteric Teachings, and some fantasy games. The Planes of Existence are [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]non-physical,  realities / subtle dimensions that are tied to and emanate from the physical. They are in essence an interconnected series of “worlds” I guess that is the best way of stating it that governs certain aspects of reality, like working cogs mesh together to govern the workings of an analog clock. Each “world” giving formation and stability to the physical plane, as well as templates for all interconnected ones as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]The Universal Planes are all the “worlds” that govern the universe, and ensure everything from the passage of souls to where they need to go at death. To what X looks like. To ensuring that the various elements and fundamental forces are in balance. The Taint (2) works to alter that balance to the detriment of all realities.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]The 7 Higher Ones transcend the universe in ever increasing amounts. Thus understanding them get’s substantially harder. Since they work with an ever increasing complexity to the templates they work with, which in turn allows them to watch over, and ensure the stability of lesser ones, which are denser and less complex versions of the planes below them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]The Amethyst Plane, holds 6 individual core universal timelines. Which keeps tab of six different expanding realities. The Silver holds six Amethyst. The Gold six Silver. And on wards. Giving rise to 279,937 distinct core universes [not including alternate timelines, and dimensions which are born from them].  [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]In the Total Immersion Gaming - Universes. They are artificially kept to 3 core universe. With a simplified Planes set up. Which creates a ring around the Ring of Chaos. Keeping it locked up tight. Both from the Inner and Outer Planes. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1Mh-GZFjeTIdnZDVVFMQVZpRm8/view[/SIZE]
 

[SIZE=14.6667px](2) The Taint: [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]The Taint is a corruption of the Universal Key. A magical, sigil that contains the programming of a universe. The corruption slightly alters it to give the following powers to the Antiverse Movement. [/SIZE]

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Enhances their powers while weakening the magical / spiritual abilities in others. To some cases the diminishing of magic to an [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]almost[/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px] [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px] [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]unnoticeable amount. [/SIZE]
  
   
  

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Mind control over souls / entities touched by the wielders mark. [not seen physically, but mars the make up of the soul]. [/SIZE]
  

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Allows for the use of those touched willingly to act as power conduits giving them great power during the multiversal war. [/SIZE]
  

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Spreads to connected timelines, and eventually to the Higher Planes unless combated. [Not all combats are successful, and require more power to try to undo. If done long enough the universe dies.] [/SIZE]
  

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Willing followers gain spiritual, magical, or physical aid / blessings for as long as the wielder needs them [faith acts as food / power source.]. The unwilling, don’t need to submit to the Taint. Since it slowly invades all things, and uses their death / entropy to power itself.[/SIZE]
  

• [SIZE=14.6667px]Corruption slowly corrodes reality, causing the increased spread of entropy, death of all realities in a universe, and empowers the wielders with that death allowing them to go to other universes to try to spread the corruption. [/SIZE]
  

[SIZE=14.6667px]For those reasons it’s called the Taint. A horrible, horrible fate. It was because of the horrors in fighting it, and seeing loved ones lost to it. That TIG was created in the first place. It’s origional purpose. A safe haven, and refuge from the horrors of a multiuniversal war against a great evil, for those who needed rest, relaxation, and healing. [/SIZE]

 

I'll be moving on to the Post Cataclysm tomorrow probably. And work on a term for unique game concepts. 

 

[Marquise*]

Did siggy anim marathon... I must had been up for about 40 hours now. will get to sleep soon.


@

@Marquise*


Oh no, this isn't a new home I'm moving to.  It's my old home I'm moving back to.  Where I am now was always intended to be temporary (work related).  But thank you for your very kind wishes.  I like that roof.  You could use those designs for ornate floor tiles, or if you took just one or two, they could be interesting, slightly enigmatic designs on walls.  Obviously some of them are very explicitly Church symbols, but others are more general.

Ooooh... You are physically returning home I am awaiting to be home in my apartment. ^^ I'm pretty sure all those ceiling symbols are liturgics from old and new testaments.

 

[TheGreatEater]

@Marquise, what happened to your apartment?

 

[Schlangan]

@Chiara : Bah, it doesn't matter if their appearance looks cute. There was a story of a cute rabbit that completely wiped out a party


@bgillisp : Overgrown forest. Hmm... Do you have man eater trees ?


@TherainED : Schengen ? I'm not a no-boundary/passport travel area x) Aren't you somehow affected by the current news in Europe ? Anyways, thanks ^^


@Marquise* : Does it mean that if you had 10 tons of Pepsi you could go on until you drank everything ?


@R4B : Your goal seems pretty decent. Let's hope that your tablet won't be late.


@hiddenone : Your alchemy system definitely seems interesting. I'd like to test it


@ksjp17 : I see. But... *stupid pun of words mode activated* What is better than an armchair to kick you ass since you sit on it ? *stupid pun of words mode deactivated*. I'll still keep the robots like that, it's enough for now ^^


My update :


Not much progress this time, the training room tired me enough to need a break, and the week end is over ^^ I set in place the correct escape and teleport systems for mission 2 and half of mission 3, and changed the battler of the wolves in the forest. And now the player can sit on the chairs of the house in the forest too.


Typically, the next days will be setting the new teleport systems in other missions, and the correct escape from fights too.

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

@ksjp: Heheh, sorry for the false alarm. And I never expcected some people to delete saves for some reason. And while I do have an idea for a hardcore mode, I  won't use it on this game (for now). The diffrence is, you won't lose your saves unlike the traditional design of hardcore mode (introduce timer?). I'll give more details when I start working on it. (You won't lose your saves at all throughout the game).

@bgillisp: For now, you can get Hunter Coins in battles (but rarely). You can get them a lot easier by completing missions though.

@Marquise, The game is made in RPG Maker VX Ace. The program you see in the screenshots is it's launcher that I made in Visual Studio. It was designed to expand the capabilities of the engine in the only way that I know (as of this writting): Windows Forms!

Progress Report #4

Launcher:

Finished with the save manager's UI (though it needs a bit of tweaking). Did some under the hood modifications to better support on Windows 8.1 and older OSes and attempted to make the launcher high-DPI aware. Also re-worked the Quick Start mechanism to operate like Quick Load (option availiable when there's a save file, Save Manager scans again, etc.).

Game:

Fixed some of the tilesets and finished a scene. Now to design the Corsair's HQ (and fix up some other maps).

Misc:

Played Skyborn for a few minutes. So far, it's pretty good.

 

[luzi]

My Update:

I've been helping my friend's game for a change recently.

- maps remastered

Spoiler

- Roman countryside Tileset done!

Spoiler

- Adjusting and setting the recently done Battler
- Damn, MGSV is such an awesome game. Can't stop playing.

 

[Marquise*]

@TheGreatEater


LOL I can see in your imagination upon that line now! XD Well let's recap gently; I've been invaded by Bed Bugs a year ago and still have the sequels of it as to do the treatments all drawers and closets have to be emptied. So all my apartment is kinda also invaded by the content of wardrobes, closets and drawers in bags and boxes invading my space to facilitate the city housing inspectors and exterminators invading procedures/exterminations! And no, I am not trowing a In-House party once this is over!


@Shrangan


... After 2 liters of Pepsi it starts to be harder on the pump! And with age my feet swallow a lot after 8 hours on the bench!


@luzi


Wooooo... Pretty! Seem you got contrast and gamma at max and you did a indepth auverhaul! What would you recommend as first lesson to someone longing to learn Tiling?


Err not on my anim tonight! I put on text my Learn As You Play PBEM Diceless RPG loosely based upon 2nd of BESMs Tristat system and partly inspired upon Amber... But it might get transferable somewhere some day.

 

[luzi]

@Marquise*

Contrasting is my habit when I color my drawings. I like bold color so I usually took RMXP tilesets to adjust contrast.
As for tiling, I learn generally from Celianna's tutorial. It's quite easy.

http://pinkfirefly.deviantart.com/art/Editing-RTP-Tiles-193007467

 

[Another Ned]

@Engr. Adiktuzmiko: Congrats for getting it out!
@AceOfAces_Mod: I think it's great that you give out so many warnings for deleting all saves so they don't do this by accident. Especially if they're like me and like to look at all the options and maybe happen to press the wrong button without the intention to and– okay, I stop here.
@bgillisp: As long as the missing person isn't a minotaur and confused with a potential enemy... D:
And yay for things that have the player get to know the party members better.
@TherainED: It's very interesting to see that your goals are so detailed. Whenever I try to do that, it doesn't work. D:
@Marquise*: I've never seen an air conditioner in person, but I think they might be a little to big for a weather effect. D: But what about nice little fans? They come in all sizes, even small enough for weather effects.
@R4B: Good luck with your goal. And that your new tablet may serve you well like your old one did (I see, it was a veteran, just like mine is).
@hiddenone: Butbutbut dict.cc told me that cyclops can also be used for the plural, which is why I was so shocked. D: Cyclops, cyclopses, cyclopes – I feel like having to learn Latin and confusing the forms all over again. x"D
The screen looks promising! Love the reminder of what's inside at the bottom.
@ksjp17: At least, those distractions were productive ones. Hope the poor maps didn't feel neglected after you abandoned them to work on tiles and other things.
@TheGreatEater: So the Universal Planes are something like the DNA of the universe? Then the Taint sounds like a virus that injects its RNA everywhere. Don't know why those terms came to my mind while reading over your post.
@Schlangan: In my mind, I just pictured a scene in which monsters surround a house in the forest, but the player is too lazy to get up from the comfy chair and fight them. D:
@luzi: While I do like the RMXP RTP, I do prefer this high-contrast, higher-saturation version you made. It's a lot easier for the brain to process as a place rather than a picture. Adds depth, and "readability". For my brain, at least. I also feel like looking at the concept (left) compared to the final assets (right).
"Roman Countryside" is looking nice as well. So many pretty things.
I'm not a fan of those dusty atmospheres that make the sunrays visible, though. Personal preference, I think. ^^"

Progress, 14th:

• more work on the design. Actually, went alot better than the day(s) before.
• so good that I could stop after the next version – didn't feel the need to do variations
• did a sloppy back view (I mean really, really sloppy)

Design is done!

Spoiler

Meet "the guy who looks kinda like a Northerner merchant prince", as Yael puts it. He's part of two cultures (Home Town, where he was born and to which he returned to, and another country he spent most of his life in) and doesn't prefer one over the other. Once I realized that, design went by quickly, and here he is. And yes, it's common in Home Town(, which really needs a name) to wear (what's the right verb for this?!) hair like this. Plus, it's easier to draw. As much as I love making characters with wavy and curly hair, it's a pain to draw sorrypeoplewithwavyandorcurlyhair. "Hm... Do the patterns clash too much? I mean, I'm not sure yet how much of the character will be shown during dialogue, so I won't know which parts of the patterns and stuff will be visible to the player most of the time, but if anyone thinks "No! My eyes!", please tell me.

Progress, 15th:
Went to the next town over for groceries and stuff, and there was a lot of talking. I'm so not used to talking to people anymore, my throat got all sore until I got back, and afterward, I was super exhausted. So not that much progress at all.

• some thinking about the characters and stuff
• wrote down a bit regarding the characters and was reminded that there's still that nice little giant plot questionmark I should work on (so some really important things actually make sense)

 

[TheOriginalFive]

I'm not too pleased with my lack of progress this month, but an unfortunate shorting out of my main gaming rig means I'm sitting around waiting for parts.

In the meantime, I bought some DLC and a full VXAce license through the Bundle Stars offer. The only tileset I'm not sure I want is the modern old-school set, because it clashes with my sprite style.

 

[Schlangan]

@AceOfAces_Mod : To be efficient with older OS, be careful of the .NET framework you're using, and if you're compiling in 32 or 64 bits too.


@luzi : Nice remasterization, but I wonder why you moved the scarecrow out of the field. Anyways, it makes me wonder if I shouldn't do tree variations for my pine forest. Hmmm...


The shadow of the pontoon is a bit strange too. It feels like it is floating over the ground level


@Marquise* : After Schengen, now I am Shrangan Anyway 2 liters is already a lot ^^


@Chiara : If the main character was with the four soldiers in the house, he would exactly do as you imagined. "Hmmm ? Monsters ? Nah, I don't want to, I'm good here. Go fight them by yourselves, they're too weak for me". Fortunately, he isn't there at that moment


Your design is good. I fear the moment when I'll have to redraw my facesets :S


My progress :


- I tweaked a little bit the difficulty of the boss of the 3rd mission. Now you're expected to fail if you do not use the correct strategy (before it was easy to win without it).


- The slimy mutagenic monsters will now stop attacking you when you stand on a cliff and they are at the bottom, and you can escape properly with the new system.


- I made the exhausted poses of the wolves and the slimy monsters too, they were formerly lacking


- Finally, I played around with the lighting inside the house and the cave, to make it better. ksjp17's advice in the screenshot topic was pretty useful for the attic

 

[TheDigitalDevil]

My Goals for this month are

-To get my budding project into a semi-ready state

-Produce more art or provide some resources to the community

-Get a demo out but that's a stretch

 

[R4B]

The Cintiq should have arrived today, but alas, I see no shiny new tablet, and what is life without a tablet!? WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME, BASED WACOM!?

Instead I made Iced Coffee, it was delicious ... I'd say that's progress. 

-

@Sharm: Oh snap, Cintiq doesn't work with Pyxel edit? Seems like you managed to solve it tough, mind if I ask how? I'd rather not be in the same position when mine arrives.

@Schlangan: Man, those sprites makes me miss XP.

@Littlefish: Like recording your own sound effects? It's rare to see RPG maker games with custom sound effects and I'm all for RPG maker games that doesn't look sound or feel like an RPG maker game. Gold star sticker for you!

@Chiara: Another bug for SAI? if it wasn't for it's pen stabiliser and superior pen pressure settings compared to Photoshop; I'd absolutely hate SAI, I've lost so much work due to it's love for crashes ... That considered, I should probably save more often ...