Jason [51 / 40 Hours]

[Jason]

So I'm actually going to try this to see how I do, I'm only doing 40 hours though, and my schedule this month is already full so I may not even make this, lol... I've had an idea that I've already started on since the 1st, putting 6 hours in, but I've only just made this thread so I'm not sure if I should put those hours in my title...

I'll update it as I go along starting from here.

 

[Perihelion]

If you put in the hours after the 1st and kept track of them, they count. Glad to see you're participating! :biggrin:

 

[Jason]

Ah in that case I'll update my title then so people know that I HAVE been doing work... it was basically just spriting and my amazing ability to think of an entire game and plot within 5 minutes, lol... I'm not going to give any info out because I want to keep it quiet until I have something to show for it, but basically it's being made with RMVX, since I seem to have neglected the engine and will see what I can come up with, and I'm trying to make it as custom as I can, by scripting and eventing everything in the game, without the use of third party scripts, just so I can say it's all my own, lol.

 

[Mr_Smith]

Thinking doesn't count, research neither. Though I guess 5 minutes won't matter that much.
Good luck JayJay~~!

 

[Jason]

So I've been up for 3 hours, but for the last 2 hours I've been doing a little more spriting, I've decided that I'm just going to sprite the few main characters and leave everyone else as RTP since it'd take too long... I'm also thinking of using an ABS, but to make it a little more customisable than the scripts that we have, I'm going to event it, it might not be the best idea ever, but it'll make it easier to set events up etc.

I'm off to work in an hour though, until 10pm, so I'm not sure if I'll have anything more done today, but I'll try and pop another hour or two in afterwards to round it up to 10 hours, lol.

 

[Mr_Smith]

Consider XAS? If there is an ABS system that allows customization - that is the script for the job.

 

[Jason]

Hmm, I guess I could, although I'd rather attempt eventing one, but we'll see, lol

 

[Jason]

I've spent another 3 hours today trying some mapping, it's not going too well though, but I need to get it done, I'm really not used to using RMVX for mapping, I know I started a few games before where the maps looked fine, but trying it for a different style game is really hard... I'm also going to have to find some down sprites for my game too, I could sprite those but meh, if I can find a template I'll do the main characters (I'll really need to actually), meh, I'll think of something later on, right now it's past 3am and I need sleep!

 

[Kain Nobel]

There's an in-joke amongst spriters that RPG characters sleep standing up ;D

In other words, you can take a standing frame and shade it differently to make a character look like its on its laid out on the ground. You could even take something silly like a left or right, in-the-middle-of-a-step frame and just adjust the shading to assume a different light source, for instance. You gonna add blood? lol

 

[Jason]

Nah there won't be any blood, and to be honest, I might just not bother with the down frames anyway, and change the way some of the scenes play out...

 

[Jason]

I've still been doing some mapping, I've spent another 8 hours yesterday and today (5 hours yesterday, and 3 hours earlier today), haven't made as many maps as I'd hoped, and I've also been messing around with some events, just trying to sort out the narrative, I've started making the first scene already, which only lasts like 2-3 minutes, but still... it's progress I suppose, besides, the game isn't going to be a huge epic anyway...

Also, I've changed my mind and decided to use some third party scripts, but none of them for the sake of it, except maybe one, which doubles the screen size, but it definitely makes the game look more presentable and gives it a more... classic RPG look y'know? Everything doubled up...

I'm also going to have to find some sound effects, I might just borrow some from other games, or I could have a try at making some myself, I'll have to leave those until later on and come back to 'em.

And finally... I'm in the middle of a big decision... does the game really need combat? I mean, it's obviously one of the main mechanics of an RPG, but I'm thinking of keeping combat out of the main story, and will probably add a sub section where you can fight, or an arena or something, I mean, I don't want combat to be out of the game for good, I'd love to include it, but I can't find it fitting anywhere into the story, except maybe for bosses and as for filler while walking from place to place... hmm.

 

[Jason]

Yesterday I worked my arse off for 6 hours remaking the beginning of the game, changing the dialogue and adding sound effects, I've also put a little easter egg in the game so far, but you can't access it from the beginning, even though you can see it... (You can't actually move around the map until later in the game)

I've also been planning a little more as to what will happen with the story, I'm not quite finished with it, and I haven't written any notes down because if I did I'd just ignore them anyway...

Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, I'd just started work on a village map before I went to bed, which isn't even half finished yet, although I'm going to work on that for an hour or so right now, since I should really get it done, as it's a key part of the story (It's going to be used as a hub of sorts...)

I still haven't decided about the combat yet, I don't want it in the main storyline, but I don't want to remove it from the game entirely either... so I'm going to see what I can do about that, I want to try and keep them seperate if possible, maybe I'll add a new "story" into the game where combat is required or something...

So far the game is playable for about... 5-10 minutes if that, I REALLY need to get some more maps and dialogue done, as for sprites etc. I'm just using placeholders, although I don't really have to since I've done the main hero and villain, and that's about all I need... maybe another character or two, but meh, I can probably use the RTP for those, VX RTP isn't as boring as XP if I'm quite honest...

 

[Jason]

So I haven't posted in this since Thursday, and to be honest I haven't done too much, however...

On my night shift on Thursday I was incredibly bored, and spent a good hour just doodling map ideas for villages and caves etc. and came up with some pretty cool, yet crudely drawn designs, and with my spare time over the weekend I was attempting to map them, so far I've only managed to get two of them to look right, but it's still progression, altogether, along with the hour of doodling (That surely counts?) I've racked up another 7 hours (I spent 4 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday, haven't done anything today (Monday) but will work on it some more tomorrow to break the 35 hour barrier hopefully...

As for my spriting and stuff, I think I may just scrap the custom hero and villain and use RTP, the main reason being that I want to add face graphics to the text boxes to give it a little more visual flare or whatever, I mean, my sprites retain the VX RTP style, but I can't draw face graphics to save my life, well, I can, but they're awful and wouldn't fit in whatsoever, since I use a different style when I draw anyway, and I'm not the best at colouring either, lol... so at the moment, I'm using the RTP as a more-than-definite placeholder, I mean, I may change it eventually, just do some recolours and rip apart the default faces to make something similar to the sprites I've made (Although I doubt any of them would work well together for what my main character WAS going to look like)... I'll have to ponder into this, lol.

 

[Jason]

Wow, I can't believe I even forgot about this thread, lol, I mean, I've still been working on my game in some of my spare time and I've definitely broken my 40 hour goal, although I haven't even got half of the game done yet, probably because I've been so anal about map layouts and why the VX RTP doesn't have all the right tiles for me to make the maps look how I want, but whatever, I'm sure I'll be able to finish the game eventually, lol...

Yesterday alone I worked 3 hours on it, the day before that I only put 1 hour in (Mapping another town, took too long, lol), on Thursday I did nothing though since I was asleep all day pretty much in preparation for my weekly night shift, on Wednesday I also did nothing since it was a 12 hour day for me and as soon as I got in I fell onto the settee and slept until morning, lol... however, on Monday and Tuesday I was sort of ill (I felt ill anyway, all the symptoms were there, even my bitching about being ill...) and I worked a fuck ton, I mean, on the Monday I set up my combat side quests (The game isn't having combat except some side quests or minigames or whatever you want to call them...) which took me all day, I mean, I worked on it for ATLEAST 6 hours on that, which is pretty good this far through a project for me, lol...

On Tuesday I was messing around with random weather effects (Using events and stuff instead of a script.. it was more time consuming and added to my overall time, lol), as well as finally deciding once and for all to use the RTP completely instead of trying to mix in custom characters, and I've changed the name of the main villain too to be a little more fitting with the setting and overall feel of the game, I mean, the original name will pop up for sure, I may even have the original villain pop up in one of the side quests or something... anyway, on Tuesday I was working on a few more of the cutscenes too (I've got quite a few maps done now, just not enough cutscenes, although they shouldn't be too hard to fit in, I've already got some planned out, while I'm going to wing the others)

I'm not sure how long I put in on Tuesday, but I know I worked from 2pm - 8pm and after that, so I'll just put 6 hours, even though I worked longer, but meh

Overall I've worked for another 16 hours this week alone, and crossed my goal... sadly I'm nowhere near finished, but meh we'll see what happens.

 

[Jason]

I've just spent the last 3 hours working on some cutscenes, a lot of them were just filler to be honest, but I guess could still be interesting to sit through, lol... I've also made some interior maps for houses in the villages, every house now has an interior, although you can't enter some of them until later in the story, and I'm thinking of eventually giving the player their own house, not sure what it could be used for, but it's always nice I suppose, lol (Like on Fallout 3 when I got the house in Megaton... I never used it after the first few hours, it was starting to look shitty, so I lived in Tenpenny Tower, lol...(By that I mean I killed Tenpenny and took his room for myself...))

I'm probably going to slow down with this after November anyway, I mean, I'll try to carry it on, but I'm only working on it so much right now to prove that I can, and since it's for this development month thing, lol...

Which reminds me... what'll happen to these threads after November?