Perihelion: 22+14 = 36/100 Hours

[Perihelion]

Just making my thread. I'll update this tomorrow when I make some game! I'm setting a goal of 100 hours for myself over the course of the month.

I'm gonna be working on Apparatus, my cyberpunk RPG about technology and politics. I want to keep it pretty under wraps for the moment, so I most likely won't be posting screenshots, but I am planning on getting a pre-demo done during this month. This will consist of the first area in the game sans battles. I'll need to recruit a scripter for the full demo, but I can at least start making the game and leave room for gameplay additions. I'll most likely be posting it in my subforum for feedback when it's done, so let me know if you don't have access and want it when the time comes.

 

[Perihelion]

Phew, got my essay done, so now I can make some game! I did a bit of work on the bus home, mostly writing out stuff in the first dungeon and then discovering a big plot-changing thing existed that I now need to figure out how to work in. Man, I always go to the trouble of making a nice outline, and then it all changes the second I start writing anyway. Pah! Well, it's okay, it should be cool.

I've been up since 6am and out all day, so I'm pretty tired now. I think I'm gonna relax for a bit before I get working again, but I'm definitely going to hit at least my 3:20 tonight.

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, I did some more game. And by "did more game" I meant "spent the better part of three hours wrestling pointlessly with scripts that ultimately don't work or won't do what I want." What a bunch of wasted time! Well, I did some plotting and a few small animations too, so it wasn't a totally wasted night. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'm gonna sprite some supercomputers (or be lazy and repurpose tiles I already have) and some doors and maybe some characters tomorrow. :toot:

 

[VexedEnigma]

Yeah... I feel your pain on the scripting front. Quit often I get really close to just saying "Screw it! I no longer care about features. People can have the defaults and either like it or lump it." But ultimately, wrestling with unruly scripts is a part of RMing... especially if you're a spriter. But hey! Progress is progress!

Keep them hours tickin'! I'm looking forward to some stiff competition :box:

 

[Perihelion]

I'm gonna catch up with you this weekend! Count on it! :box:

Yeah, it was a big pain in the ass. I'm not a scripter, which is part of the problem, because trying to make other people's code work when 1. you don't understand code and 2. the comments are in Portuguese is pretty iffy. But on the plus side, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do now, so I guess it wasn't a total waste!

Also, if anyone knows of a way to disable font anti-aliasing in RMXP, I'm all ears.

Edit: Did a bit of mapping.

 

[Mr_Smith]

Sounds good, this is maybe the first game about technology and politics I've seen that are made in RMXP. I will be following you closely, for the game and the competition with Vex.
Why are most RM scripters Brasilian or Portugese? Makes it so annoying

About the anti-aliasing, try coca's custom message system? That one can do a lot, maybe what you want as well. Or that other system, advanced message system I believe, might be a shot as well.

 

[Perihelion]

I'm using the Hermes message system, which has lots of really cool features but won't turn off anti-aliasing. I think what I'm going to do is just make a pixel font at 200%. I found a program I can use to make pixel fonts, so I'll do that whenever I get around to it. Right now I'm trying to make this message system do what I want.

 

[VexedEnigma]

Yeah, I think making a custom font is pretty much the only way to do that. I tried to do it with an old comedy mini-game I was making, but it became such a headache for me that I gave up in the end. Hopefully, you'll have better luck than me!

I've seen a few screenshots in the screenshot thread that have pixel fonts I think... maybe try asking one of the posters for some advice?

Keep up the progess! :box:

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, spent another two hours between classes wrestling with scripts more (I will get this to work I swear to god) and doing some mapping.

Edit: And another hour mapping in my math class!

 

[Tuna]

You can do it, Peri! I believe in you!!

 

[bacon]

tuna is beating you so you are now the worst kind of person~

 

[Perihelion]

No he's not! I just made a sprite!

 

[Tuna]

Argh, no!

 

[Perihelion]

Didn't get much done today, but I did make an idle sprite for Chernobog. I wasn't really timing it, but I think it was around an hour.

 

[Perihelion]

Worked for an hour yesterday and about three today. Looks like my pace is slowing down! Gonna do some more work tonight, though. I've done Chernobog's walk and idle poses now, so now I gotta do some NPCs for the first dungeon.

Edit: Started on an NPC design. Might redo it, not sure yet. Only worked for about half an hour, anyway.


Well, I'm not making as much progress as I wanted this weekend, but I'm still on track with my goal, at least! Oh, and I noticed I kept forgetting to update the day count in the thread title, so I just removed it.

 

[Perihelion]

I had an essay to procrastinate on yesterday, so I didn't get anything done. Did two hours so far today. Mainly I'm trying to hammer out some worldbuilding and thematic issues since it was a little jumbled up in my head and I'm doing some research that's giving me new ideas. I wish I could count reading time, but I still think I did the right thing in disallowing pure research since it's easy to research endlessly and never make anything.

I wanna get back to hard development, but man, I'm really tired. I should do more tonight, though. We'll see. I've been doing mainly spriting and planning and researching for the last little while, and I think it's sapping my motivation because I'm getting back into my same-old habits of not getting much in the way of concrete progress done. I'm gonna get back to the editor next time I work. Playable content is good for morale.

I gotta do some RL stuff that takes priority over this next week, but hopefully I won't get farther behind! I should be at 23:20 today, but that's not gonna happen. Hopefully I can catch up soon.

 

[Perihelion]

Things have been pretty hectic in the Peri house recently, between getting ready to temporarily move out and trying to do a bunch of paperwork, so I haven't gotten much done. @_@ 1.5 hours of spriting tonight. I predict a lot of late nights during Thanksgiving break, but I still intend to finish the 100 hours!

 

[Perihelion]

Sprited for 1.5 hours and plot brainstormed for another hour. I'm having serious plot issues. I think I need to back off from it for a while and do some research for ideas. Anyone know any good books on identity and information technology? I'm looking for more of a philosophical bent, but a practical one is good too.

 

[Bird Eater]

Could you provide some more information on that? What exactly do you need? Books that really focus on 'identity'? Or books like '1984' that have special political plots and have philosophic ideals?

 

[Perihelion]

Probably nonfiction would be better, but fiction is fine too. But I'm looking for stuff on how technology changes the way we view ourselves and each other and changes the way we interact. I know a fair bit about this already, but I'm hitting a wall and want to do some more research.