The Book of Shadows (Released 9.12.19)

[GIRakaCHEEZER]

I played this game for a few hours and here's my feedback on what I saw:


Why in god's name is this file 712 mb? Figure out a way to cut down your filesize (don't include the files you aren't using), or else you're going to turn off players from playing this game before they've even downloaded it.


Looking in your BGM folder, there are *304 files*. Why??? You do not need this many songs, and if you do, then this is probably poor design as it is. It's not a bad idea to use music from many different RTP packs or whatnot but only pack into the download the songs and files you need, or else you're just grossly wasting bandwidth and turning off players before they even start or download the game.


And despite being 700+ mb, I *still* have to go download the RPGVXAce RTP to play this. Fun. Total download for this game: 900+ mb.


Now let's start the game itself...


"I used to not believe in the existance of...": existence, not 'existance'.


"Thank you again for agreeing to help me with my experiement...": experiment, not experiement.


"I think mine is dancing the watlz.": waltz, not watlz.


Well I'm past the intro now, and somes things don't mesh so far. Why are my player characters in explorer/RPG clothes if they live in (what I presume to be) the modern United States? Their clothes should be more casual, shouldn't they?


I don't really think the menu screen needs its own music, feels like it breaks the pace/mood of the game more than anything else.


I find it odd that Sylvie says "Maybe I can invent something with this!" when we literally received no items or money from the battle.


The golf club's icon is a boomerang? Does he throw the club at enemies??


Odd how the menu has different music but the save screen reverts back to the map's music.


A random Steve appears. Seems really convenient that he just happened to find us after we found the book.


In the battle against the slime I received an item with no name and no description. I have no idea what it does yet, seems like a bug though.


I decided to skip going to elmwood and went to the monsterball stadium or something, and suddenly John and Phoenix start talking to this fairy ticket person? Are they in my party or something? I have a feeling that I'm not supposed to be here yet, and that your scripting hasn't taken this into account.


I used a cheat card on the fairy guards, and now I'm in the stadium. Sarah is the only other person in my party, but John and Phoenix still appear in cutscenes. It's weird.


I died in the stadium since I was very underleveled. Now to see where else I can go on the world map.


I managed to make it to Riverdale (nearly died on the way). Let's see if I can sequence break here.


Oh great, now I can't leave Riverdale since John tells me not to push our luck with the guards. But John isn't even in my party (and I still don't know who he is).


Oh boy, I can buy developer cheat cards in this bar. And for free! Guess I'm going to win every battle from now on.


It'd be nice if the developer cheat card actually hit all enemies at once instead of killing them one after another.


These maps are really big and the random encounter rate is really high, so I get to walk maybe 5 or 7 steps before another random battle. I'd really recommend lowering the encounter rate if you're going to do random encounters.


I'm going to stop sequence breaking now since it's really boring and I have no idea where to go.


"However, we should tale care of some other business...": take, not tale.


"Come on, Josie, just because are his girlfriend and have heard every story of his by now!" - this sentence doesn't grammatically make sense.


There seems to be a lot of cutscenes and not that much gameplay so far. It would be better if the story was a bit more interesting, but at the very least it's not that hard to follow along with what's going on.


John's walking/map sprite looks nothing like his facepic. His walking sprite looks like an older man with grey hair and a moustache.


"Bow before me, mimions": minions, not mimions.


"Procced throug the passage?" : Proceed, and through.


I used a developer cheat card on the 3rd wave of rats in the really big rat nest, just to see what I'd get for beating them. I really have no idea how you're supposed to be able to beat them on normal.


This game seems very much like it's trying to be an open world game, but it fails to be one when party members keep dictating where you can and can't go. I don't see why I can't leave to the forest to explore a bit right now if I wanted to, really.


I got past the boss spider but I think I'm done playing for now, since I've been playing this for a few hours today now. Exp in this game is really hard to come by, so random battles seem quite pointless and player progression/building is almost non-existent. And the encounter rate is *very* high, as I commented above, so a lot of the time I'm just spamming the "attack" command in random battles over and over again, which isn't all that fun. The story is easy enough to follow but not very compelling or interesting, there's no real hook to grab the player in it. Graphics and music are okay but didn't really feel all that special. Also, you really need to make sure the player can't sequence break like I was able to by walking to riverdale and the monsterball stadium right after Sarah and Eric found the white flower. And please make sure your game has no or minimal typos, since typos are a sign of a lack of proper play-testing, and also just a sign of general laziness.

 

[bgillisp]

Thanks for playing it! Sorry about the file size, that is all the music files. Can't do much while in development I've learned, because as I delete a file I find I need it later (disadvantage of early project development I guess?)

Yeah, you are *not* supposed to explore in chapter 1. Hence, the game is supposed to kill you if you do that. I'll have to add some logic checks to that (keep you out of the stadium, etc), or force you into Elmwood. Chapter 2 is where you can explore. I thought I had a sign saying closed on the stadium if you found it too early! Guess I accidentally removed it, will add it back.

As for the rest...most of the art is placeholder (see initial posts on this), so pending changes. For one, I need an icon set, as you did notice. And some monsters you are not supposed to beat until later in the game, they are there for the challenges in later chapters (the rat horde, the dragon, etc). As for John, actually, that's how the DS pack lines them up. I found it strange too, but that is how the DS pack has that sprite and face lined up, so I went with it. Will change it once an artist is commissioned though. I actually do have someone looking at redrawing the faces to better match the sprites, so we will see what we get from that.

Thanks for finding the spelling errors! I wish the game had spellcheck, as it is hard to catch those in the game. As for grammar, we don't all talk with perfect grammar, so my characters don't either (that's intentional to have them mess it up from time to time). If you had made it to the tower there is a point where Sarah says a line that makes no sense, and the players call her out on it even. 

I'm surprised you got as many encounters as that! I have it pretty low already, any lower and I can cross the map without any fights. Bad luck? May still try raising it by 5 steps or so in the map and see what happens. EXP is meant to be low as it is a low experience game (different than we are used to), and early fights are meant to be quick and easy while you learn the system, equipment/skills determines most battles instead. Some will like it, some won't though, as we have gotten used to games like Final Fantasy where we go from level 5 to level 10 in a blink. As it is, I'm trying to do a game where 1 - 2 points in a stat is a significant increase, so level ups mean a lot more when they are earned. Still needs work, but that is the intent here at least.

As for the quotes after the battle, that's a quirk of the scripts, as they say it no matter what you find. Do plan to edit that out sometime, thanks for noting it.

Am right no redoing some scenes, so will find and fix the typos noted. Thanks again for catching those!

 

[bgillisp]

The download link has been updated (or is being updated as of this post), with the new chapter 2. This download technically ends once you enter Riverdale, but you can proceed at your own risk. However, the game is going to be very buggy (and probably easy to break) from there onwards, as that part of the game is still being developed! If you choose to proceed from entering Riverdale, save often and in different slots.

Also the download will dead-end eventually a little ways into Chapter 3. You will know you hit this point when the game asks you to talk to your characters or rest, but no one responds to you. You can still rest and return to the world map, but there is no point as the rest of the game from there has not been implemented.

All reported typos have been fixed as well. Please let me know if more are found.

 

[bgillisp]

Update time. I have redrawn the Elmwood Sewers since the last update, the redraw makes the entrance/exits line up better with the city of Elmwood. Also, I have commissioned someone to redraw the sprites in the game (faces are next). Enclosed is a screenshot where you can see the new sprites for Laura and Sarah. Just be advised that John and the main character have not been redrawn yet, but they are next up on the list.

Spoiler

 

[bgillisp]

Update time:The download link is *much* smaller now, about 213K instead of 650K. This should help those with download limits.

Also have added the new sprites to the game for Chapter 1 and the sidequests for Chapter 2, and the initial quest before entering Riverdale. Game is still a *major* work in progress after you enter Riverdale (for example, you can sequence break the game if you are not careful), so like before consider the download over once you hit Riverdale.

Some new cutscenes added to chapter 1, and two new sidequests added to Chapter 2/3. Go to Tall Oak to start the first, you will discover the second in the same zone as the first takes you to. Also be careful, as an ultimate boss was added to the game in this sidequest zone, but you will see it coming before it attacks you.

Screenshots replaced on the front page to be more reflective of where the game is at now.

New facesets coming over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!

 

[Kes]

Have only played up to Eric's arrival in the forest.  Here are some things I noticed on the way.

Title screen has not been resized to fit the window.  Those black side bars look ugly.

 

Kansas City Sewers

Clean sand floors seem out of character for the type of dungeon.  I can't say that I get much idea of it being a sewer, it could be any sort of tunnel or cave with bridges.

 

There is a bridge which, when you cross it, you have a dialogue about how deep it is.  If you return across it, the cut scene begins again, in that Sylvie goes to look at it, but then it freezes the game.

 

Victory screens need attention.  I got 0G and no item, and the character still said that I had something e.g. “I’ll be taking these” or “Hey, what’s this?” or even worse “The enemies dropped something”.

 

I’m not sure I believe the exp and JP given.  2exp and 1JP per fight – when it needs 500JP just to get Sylvie’s first learnable skill?  Hmm.  And as far as the list goes, Eric can’t learn any.

 

Also the Hit rate seems rather low – I can go for 4-6 attacks in a row and get a miss every time.  In the meantime my party is being hammered, which, given the lack of healing items and no healing spell, seems unbalanced to me.

 

The skeleton which gives you the practice sword disappears once you have the item.  Missing graphic on page 2 of the event?

 

I get the bikini which gives me 10% chance to Charm – at this stage I don’t know what Charm is, and it’s not a skill which shows up in my learnable skills list.

 

On a bit further and Sylvie wonders why it’s damp there.  Really?  In a sewer?

 

I think if you're going to have a separate music track for the Menu it needs to be something other than the RTP that you've chosen which doesn't, imo, fit.  Given the number of times that the average player goes into the menu during the course of the game this is one track which needs to be something that - at least at the beginning - feels fresh.

 

There are intriguing possibilities in the game, but at the moment it feels very rough.  I'll play on further when I have some time and let you know how I get on.

 

[bgillisp]

Thanks! I do have to work on that resize, but no idea how to do that yet. Its on the pending list. Same with the victory screen, its a quirk of Yanfly's Victory aftermath, people often ask how to fix it but no one seems to be posting an answer yet. I have that on the to fix list later on. If you know solutions to any of these (in the scripts) let me know please!

Eric gets skills about 1 - 1.5 hours into the game, via a story event. I am disputing letting you pick a class for Eric at the start of the game, but worried about people picking classes they don't like later on, and being stuck with it. Though, ksjp17, how did you handle this in Tale of a Common Man (balancing the first character)? 

10% to Charm means 10% chance of charm on a hit. Any ideas on a better way to state that in the description?

Nope, the skeleton is supposed to disappear. This is so you know what you have and haven't searched already.

The default hit rate is 75%, to symbolize that these characters are not typical heroes. Sometimes the RNG does make it worse than that, as rats are very agile, but in the long run it is about 75% of the time you and enemies will hit each other, based on my counts. Some enemies though are not very agile and easy to hit (like slimes and skeletons), so it should balance out.

Higher AGL means higher dodging, higher DEX means higher chance to hit (4 points in DEX = +1 to hit, 4 points in AGL = +1 to evade). I am disputing a way to allow healing in the sewers though, but haven't come up with a way that works in the plot yet. Maybe up it to 10 or 15 potions to start instead?

Hmmm...will check into other tile ideas for the zone then. Or, since you said you get the impression it is a cave, call it that then? Think that will be better?

Early on you are not supposed to learn skills. This is to balance out the fact that you are given a couple high level skills early on. It picks up about mid chapter 1 until everyone hits the 1000 JP skills (still working to balance after you hit that point, but that is late chapter 2/early chapter 3).

What was your encounter rate in the sewers? I've been playing with the numbers to try and avoid too many fights while you are trapped down there with no healing skills. Currently it says it is set between 29 and 60 steps (I have a script that lets me specify a minimum number of steps before fights per map), did it feel like it was at a decent rate to you?

Music is currently being commissioned, so some tracks are out of place. Only ones that are final are the music for battle, Elmwood, Silas' Rest, and the Shadow Battles. If you hear ones that work well in their current spot and don't clash let me know please so I know to *not* axe them.

 

[Kes]

Did a bit more, here are the notes.  I'm only at the beginning of the sewer (which, btw, looks much more like a sewer).

Elmwood Apple Orchard

 

After the slime fight

“To get to Elmwood.. head north”.  It reads as if she is giving directions to someone unconnected, but she’s going there as well, so should read something like “…we head north.”

 

Elmwood

Entrance – I can walk over the log by the path to the Tower.

 

Down the ladder

Sarah : “She’s the nercomancer…” should be necromancer. 

Next dialogue:  “…when and where she can meet you at tomorrow.”  That “at” is clumsy and is best omitted.

 

I can walk over the log here too.  I assume the passability applies to all maps.

In the potion shop I can walk all over the cupboards.

 

I get the explanation from Sarah about where she is staying etc., but I have already visited that part of the town and been told that she lives in that particular house, so the explanation makes no real sense.

 

Just to see what happened in the cut scenes, I swapped Eric and Sarah.  When I enter Laura’s house I now have 2 Sarah sprites.

 

I can walk over the teddy bear in Sarah's room.

 

Now when I enter Eric’s room, I still have Sarah sprite but ‘Eric’ is talking to a Sarah sprite which is has changed – different clothes, different hair colour and style etc.

 

“Suddenly a skeleton comes charing through the door”.  Should be charging.

 

In Laura’s parents’ room I once more have 2 Sarah sprites.  I think the only way round this is to lock Eric as the lead actor.  I think you’re using Yanfly’s party script, so to do that is very straightforward.

 

Sewers

Sarah:  “…and see if Savina can find examine a book for him.”  “find” needs to come out.

John:  “…like why a Necromancer deared to hurt you…”  should be dared.

 

Cutscene necromancer and 2 bunny girls

Rebecca: “Come on, Josie, just because are his girlfriend…”  The word “you” is missing.

 

 

Description for Disease Cure

This may be a difference between UK and US English, 

“…but this cures about any disease.”  I would write “…this cures just about any disease.”

 

At the moment the items in the Items Menu are blurred and pixilated because the engine can’t really resize them very well.  Have a look at this tool which would help a lot (imo) 

 

 

 

For the resize thing - check what size you made it in Yanfly's Ace Core Engine script, and then use GIMP, Photoshop or whatever you use to resize the title screen.  Doesn't need any script adjustment.

For the Victory Aftermath screen problem - haven't a clue.  I don't use it because, tbh, I find those screens deeply irritating.

 

For the Charm thing, the wording is clear, my point (which obviously wasn't clear) is that Charm is presumably a state that I might inflict - but you haven't told the player what that state is, what it does, and so enable the player to judge whether it's worth equipping the bikini, given what it does to some stats.

 

I don't think calling it a cave would work, it's too tunnel like, and you have to account for those bridges somehow.  Actually, I think your mapping could do with some more attention.  The maps that Ksi does with the RTP can show you what is possible.  At the moment there is nothing of particular interest in them - both in the first sewer and in Elmwood.  Somewhat empty and bland.  Would the ground in Elmwood show no areas of wear and tear?  At the moment it looks like an absolutely pristine lawn that no one walks over, and nothing is irregular anywhere, no signs of people living, breathing and making a mess.

 

I had no problems with the encounter rate in the first sewers.  Seemed okay to me.

 

As for balancing - I take a very rough and ready approach at the beginning: normal enemies should be killable with 2 - 3 hits, and the enemy should be able to kill the actor in 6 - 7 hits.  I then play around with stats, damage formulae etc., until it plays smoothly in Normal Mode.  But - and here is my Get-out-of-jail-free card, when the game goes to Indinera he has to balance it across all 4 difficulty modes, and in the case of the Common Man, had to take into account how players might use the stat distribution points they get.  Nightmare.  Fortunately Indinera is a genius at balancing (I'm not using that word lightly) so I didn't have to angst over it.

 

[bgillisp]

I never tried that actor swap, good catch! I will probably have to lock Eric into 1 to avoid it (and I see it can be done with Yanfly's scripts), so will probably do that to avoid those issues early game.

Thanks for the typo catch/wording suggestions. Will investigate. After playing it 1000x myself sometimes its hard to see (which is why I posted it, figured it was time for others to look at it and see things I'm too blind to see now).

Will see about the resize suggestions you had too...maybe over Thanksgiving when I have a week off where I can just look at this non-stop?

For Charm: I went off the base that most RPG players know what Charm is (I've played many a game that never defines Charm, and goes off that assumption). However, once the game is done I do intend to add a manual that defines all the states and what they do, so that will be addressed in the final version.

Will check into the fixing for Elmwood. I think the KC one is going to be a cave...I've been spelunking and that cave is possible (some do look like tunnels in the end, and some are all over the place. Just depends on what nature decides to do). May add more to it to suggest that, as it could be an unnatural cave (like say one for tours? Then the bridges would make sense). As for mapping, I've started to post these maps on the feedback posts to have ideas suggested, so they are being worked on, but any suggestions are appreciated!

Ah, I wondered how you did that! I figure as more and more play this the balance will get better. Right now my concern is I have skills that add to the to hit rate, and weapons that double attack, and if I raise the to hit rate any higher it makes the 2x attack weapons the go-to for everyone (as they will never or almost never miss), and negates the point of the +to hit rate accessories and skills. Will tinker with, but might consider raising the default to 80% before game goes final (though that is probably 2+ years away too!).

Edit: Found and added the lock for Eric in slot one. It will not kick in until someone starts a new game, but its in and tested. Also figured out what was up with the KC sewers, I had a bad tileset chosen *smacks forehead*. Redrawing now.

Edit 2: Based on feedback the opening dungeon is going to undergo a complete redo to better fit the game. That will be done *after* I finish Chapter 2/3 bug testing though, so not going to be available in an update for probably a month or more.

 

[Kes]

And the next mini installment.

Skills learning tutorial

First dialogue reads :  “…then select the skills coomand.”  Should be command.

Sewers

Actually, despite what I said in my last post, this doesn’t look anything like a sewer.  Green grassy paths through relatively clean looking water.

You said that the skeleton in the first sewer disappeared so that you know what you’ve examined and obtained stuff from.  Here, though, the barrel with the tattered cloak not only doesn’t disappear, but the dialogue changes, so clearly it’s not meant to disappear.  I think consistency in this would be better.  My own preference would be for things not to disappear, because I think it’s more rational and gives the opportunity for further flavour text.

I take a ladder which brings me back up into Elmwood – and the characters make no comment about this.  I would expect them to say something.

In the weapon shop you can buy a skillet.  A skillet is a frying pan, so okay yes you could hit someone with it, but you have given it the graphic of a shield, which doesn’t make sense.

Okay, no access to an Inn, and with some weird pricing for potions – expensive for little effect.  Hmm.  Given the price of the MP restoring potion I take it you expect the player to just spam attack?

The multiple slimes in front of the chest with the hatchet.  Only 10exp and 5JP for that lot?  Given that there were several, all with pre-emptive, all-party attacks, which never missed, that seems ridiculous.  Also, given the amount of exp needed to level up, I really question how much you are allocating to each fight.  At the moment I think the average HP is around 4 per fight.  I’ve already had a lot of fights, and I see that what’s still needed to get from level 3 to level 4 is between 176 EXP and 261 EXP.  That works out at needing between 44 and 65 more fights before they level up.  That is a very high number for this stage of the game.

[SIZE=12pt]Actually, I’m getting bored with the encounter rate which seems way too high.  There is nothing visually to hold my interest, the party has no interaction with each other,   Plodding round in here is simply not much fun.  I'm getting hammered with no real possibility of healing up because with this encounter rate, getting back to town to buy more unduly expensive potions will only mean that I shall need even more potions to heal up from the damage I'll take getting there and back.[/SIZE]

 

[bgillisp]

You should check around town more, there is a lady that heals you for 25 G. Use that (she's under the star sign). Also later in the sewers there is a spot which fully heals you and restores all MP.

The slimes don't pre-emp by default, that was bad luck (in fact, I would like to disable that being a surprise attack, since you see them coming). They do alternate between all party and hit one. The chest is supposed to be the reward for that, not the EXP or JP.

Early fights do *not* give much JP or EXP. I'm going for a game where it takes a long time to level up and each level up means something. The option to set the difficulty in the beginning is to offset that if you don't like the settings (though then the game gets too easy later on, as the game is meant to be between levels 1 and 10 for the characters, not 1 to 99 like most games). May add an option to change that later (or even go the Bravely Default route and let players turn off random fights!). Eventually I hope to do what you did and put an option to go visual or not, but that is pending.

Pricing is still a work in progress, will consider some changes based on your observations. I think I did lower the sewer encounter rate some since the upload, still finding that sweet spot.

How did you *not* get the characters to comment on the sewer back to Elmwood? They are supposed to say something. Did you go straight for it? That's what I do, and I always get it. I'll look and see if there is a way to get there and miss the event trigger. Edit: Or, do you mean the ladder you can't reach?

For the map...would you suggest more dirt? I don't think the grass and dirt mix well on the same map with the tilesets, so I've avoided that for that reason. Even with shift-clicking all I get is ugliness if I do grass and dirt together.

 

[Kes]

Okay, if levels are capped out at around 10, then I can see that it's going to take a long time to change from one to another.

Sorry, by pre-emptive I meant that they got in first, not that it was a surprise attack.  I wasn't as clear as I needed to be.

The ladder I took back to town was the first one I came to (or perhaps I should say the first I noticed).  There's the barrel and it's not long after that, reached by going up just before where the slime is.  You come out where you can see soldiers by a chest on the left and some yellow/orange tiles with a grey geometric pattern on the right.  Down and to the right we get the sleazy side of town dialogue.  Hope that clarifies where I went.

EDIT

Went back into the game and now I'm deeply confused.

The map goes like this.

I come out of the area where the party spent the night.  There is a small dead end path above me.  I continue going west.  There is a path going down, but leave that for the time being.  I continue west,just a few steps, come to the junction where I can see the slime.  Go up into town.  Return.  Fight slimes.  Area behind them with the chest is a dead end.  That only leaves the path going down that I ignored.  I return to it and start going down, and am pushed back with Sarah saying that's not the way to Elmwood, We should return to Elmwood.  I'm stuck.  

I see that I forgot to answer about the map.  I wouldn't be using grass and hedges to make a sewer.  This is supposed to be underground - how are you having all that vegetation growing?  Sewers are constructed, those paths look like you were trying to make them look natural.  There are several sewer sets of tiles around.  You might be interested in the set included here  Being a green set, it would go with the sort of place you want.

 

[bgillisp]

Okay, if levels are capped out at around 10, then I can see that it's going to take a long time to change from one to another.


Sorry, by pre-emptive I meant that they got in first, not that it was a surprise attack.  I wasn't as clear as I needed to be.


The ladder I took back to town was the first one I came to (or perhaps I should say the first I noticed).  There's the barrel and it's not long after that, reached by going up just before where the slime is.  You come out where you can see soldiers by a chest on the left and some yellow/orange tiles with a grey geometric pattern on the right.  Down and to the right we get the sleazy side of town dialogue.  Hope that clarifies where I went.

Yeah, that's still a pending cap though. It might go up, it might not, but until the game is fully designed I'm going for slow progression, especially as I still have *no* actual idea how long the game will take once it is in the computer (I do have it on paper, but still, hard to guess), and I don't want level 99 mid-game either.

Ok, I never did add a dialogue on the initial entrance to Elmwood when you pop out (I added one for the wrong entrance), will slip something in.


You think a dirt tile would help it look more sewerish? I have noticed the RTP is sadly lacking in sewer tiles, this was the closest I could find for now.

EDIT


Went back into the game and now I'm deeply confused.


The map goes like this.


I come out of the area where the party spent the night. There is a small dead end path above me. I continue going west. There is a path going down, but leave that for the time being. I continue west,just a few steps, come to the junction where I can see the slime. Go up into town. Return. Fight slimes. Area behind them with the chest is a dead end. That only leaves the path going down that I ignored. I return to it and start going down, and am pushed back with Sarah saying that's not the way to Elmwood, We should return to Elmwood. I'm stuck.


I see that I forgot to answer about the map. I wouldn't be using grass and hedges to make a sewer. This is supposed to be underground - how are you having all that vegetation growing? Sewers are constructed, those paths look like you were trying to make them look natural. There are several sewer sets of tiles around. You might be interested in the set included here Being a green set, it would go with the sort of place you want.

You have to go back into Elmwood, and then once in go down and to the left. That should get you back into the main town. Remember you need to return to Josie (or where she was). I do hope to add a quest journal at some point so players don't get lost...and actually, which script did you use in your game? That one seemed pretty good to me, might work for what I need too. I know I've seen it around on the forums but can't remember which one it was.
The tileset you suggested I can't use due to the terms of use posted (I refuse to use anything that is not allowed for commercial use, as I don't want to get in that trap later on when I decide which way to go). I'll keep checking though, but for now this is as close as I could make it, for what was allowed.


I'm adding an updated version right now, it should be done soon (as soon as mediafire finishes the upload). It adds the ability to turn off random fights if you get bored of them or stuck, and the ability to edit the difficulty on the fly. I did fix the typos you found in this one, though if you do backtrack you will hit a scene I was working on (and *just* remembered), so it might have problems (ignore that scene if you hit it, its the one about the ladders).


If you load your old save game and apply the updated version it will default to random fights off, go to system to turn them back on.

 

[Kes]

The quest script I used is Modern Algebra's.  I find it very straightforward to use.  You can get it here.

What exactly is the 'look' that you want for that sewer?  Would stone walls/floors suit or not?  Because you could get some quite nice sewer type tiles from White Patisserie's site, drains emptying out, grills etc.

Do you own XP by any chance?  Because there are some nice looking tiles there which you could use in Ace with the tiniest amount of tweaking.

 

[bgillisp]

The quest script I used is Modern Algebra's.  I find it very straightforward to use.  You can get it here.

What exactly is the 'look' that you want for that sewer?  Would stone walls/floors suit or not?  Because you could get some quite nice sewer type tiles from White Patisserie's site, drains emptying out, grills etc.

Do you own XP by any chance?  Because there are some nice looking tiles there which you could use in Ace with the tiniest amount of tweaking.

Stone would work, aren't there stone tiles in the RTP? I've seen some that look stoneish to me at least. I do also own XP, but not sure if I can do the tweaking...though I do have a spriter, maybe they would consider it.

I'll check it out. I remember I dodged that script as I couldn't find the terms of use anywhere. Where did Modern Algebra post those?

PS - the upload has finished, you can now download the version that allows you to turn off random fights (for when/if they get too annoying). Just note it defaults to random fights OFF until new games are started (or you turn them back on).

 

[Kes]

Yes, there are stones in the Rtp that would work, plus a couple of variations. I'll pm you tomorrow with some suggestions.

Modern Algebra's terms are a free copy of the game. I can't remember now how I first discovered that, but I confirmed it via a pm, and as I recently 'paid' him I checked that his terms were unchanged for my current project. He confirmed that they were.

 

[bgillisp]

Thanks! I'll watch for the PM, though Tuesday is my long workday so might be slow to reply. Definitely can use the help, as I feel mapping is my weakest area (spelling second, as you probably noticed).

Ok, might go with Modern Algebra's then. I'm still undecided on commercial/non-commercial (depends on if I can learn enough to get this up to that level of quality or not! Practice makes perfect, right?), but am going off the suggestion in the tutorial that it is easier to go from commercial to non-commercial than the other way around. So, for now I'm treating it as commercial though it might be changed down at or near release time.

 

[Kes]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I had another thought about the 2 sewer dungeons.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I think it would help if you did something about tinting.  At the moment both areas are as bright as above ground, and I think it would help the atmosphere if you made them darker.  For the first one, start experimenting with the tint screen set to something like -68, -68, -68, 34.  For the second one, reduce the green less, so something like -68, -34, -68, 34.  Adjust them until you are happy with the result.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]One thing I notice in many games is that you can see the transition from one brightness to another.  There's more than one way of dealing with that, but here's what I do.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I put the tint screen command in the transfer events - tinting it on entering and removing it by using the 'tint normal' command on the exit event.  Then I have to ensure that the player doesn't see the transition.  So I use fade out/fade in commands.  The event command then looks like this:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Play SE: 'Move', 80, 100[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Fadeout screen[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Tint Screen (whatever setting I want) (choose 1 frame for duration, and make sure you do not check the 'Wait' box)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Transfer Player [wherever]  - BUT I edit this so that the fadeout box bottom right reads None - that is because you don't want 2 fadeouts, it doubles the time taken to transfer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Fadein Screen[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Some people swear by tinting in a parallel process - I prefer not to use parallel processes unless I have to.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]You have seen how this looks as a player.  IMO, it looks very smooth.[/SIZE]

 

[Kes]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I had another thought about the 2 sewer dungeons.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I think it would help if you did something about tinting.  At the moment both areas are as bright as above ground, and I think it would help the atmosphere if you made them darker.  For the first one, start experimenting with the tint screen set to something like -68, -68, -68, 34.  For the second one, reduce the green less, so something like -68, -34, -68, 34.  Adjust them until you are happy with the result.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]One thing I notice in many games is that you can see the transition from one brightness to another.  There's more than one way of dealing with that, but here's what I do.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I put the tint screen command in the transfer events - tinting it on entering and removing it by using the 'tint normal' command on the exit event.  Then I have to ensure that the player doesn't see the transition.  So I use fade out/fade in commands.  The event command then looks like this:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Play SE: 'Move', 80, 100[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Fadeout screen[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Tint Screen (whatever setting I want) (choose 1 frame for duration, and make sure you do not check the 'Wait' box)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Transfer Player [wherever]  - BUT I edit this so that the fadeout box bottom right reads None - that is because you don't want 2 fadeouts, it doubles the time taken to transfer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Fadein Screen[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Some people swear by tinting in a parallel process - I prefer not to use parallel processes unless I have to.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]You have seen how this looks as a player.  IMO, it looks very smooth.[/SIZE]

 

[bgillisp]

I'm starting to experiment with tinting in the newer dungeons (the ones in the screenshot show that). I do have the lighting tutorial bookmarked, but some of his tints are too dark for my eyes (the forest tint he suggests is so dark I feel like you can't see anything). Plan to play with them as time allows.

As it is, you can see my attempts at tints so far in the town of Riverdale (you can start a new game, enter the 3rd teleporter from the left, and turn random fights off to get to the town easily). Also the tower on the NW corner of the explorable region has tints too.

Question for you too: I was thinking of adding in an option to let the player just bee-line to the tower, skipping the scenes in Elmwood. Good or bad idea? It would break the plot a little, but maybe a couple careful scenes could adjust for that.

Also, about the potions...have you used Laura's alchemy skill at all? She has the ability to make potions outside of battle, and all those slime oozes you should be finding can be used to make a minor potion.