The Enemy Within

[eharper256]

Hey guys, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I believe I noted in my previous post about my job-switch. The consequence of this is that I'm now working twice as many hours in a week as before! Though this does mean more money for me, it doesn't leave me with alot of spare time unlike before. Rest assured that I AM STILL working on the Enemy Within, but progress is naturally slowed (sigh...)

In all likelyhood, my goal now is to probably release a 0.76 kind of version when time permits, that will at least showcase the new stuff I managed to add so far. I shall complete Chapter V, do a few more tests, and release there. The gigantic Chapter VI could take a while after all... 0_o

 

[Diedrupo]

this was one of my favorite demos last year, i DLed the latest version a few days ago and could see the significant improvements. good job!

 

[eharper256]

Hey Diedrupo, thanks for your support. I'll probably be releasing a version 0.76 or something in the next couple of weeks. I have a nice long weekend off this week, so yay! :D

 

[tibuda]

Good you're still working on this... This is one of the most promising games in my opinion... I just can't play the old demo anymore because of stupid megaupload...

 

[eharper256]

Thanks tibuda, that kind of support means a lot. Did you want a new upload somewhere else? I'll take suggestions since I'm not exactly a Megaupload fan either.

Main progress this weekend: Spent awhile tinkering with Ccoa's UMS, changing it so that it recognises all of the old commands from Dubealex's AMS in lieu of the new. (like \f, \name, \t, \|, \. and the like) Though I like the new features of the UMS, I'm sure as heck not changing every tripcode in ALL of my hundreds of text boxes, so that prevented me from making the switch for some time. Doing it this way saves many hours. Also, I made some animated (blinking) facesets.

Also completly overhauled my tired looking extended town exterior tileset. It now has many different coloured roofs, better looking fences, etc.

 

[tibuda]

Thanks tibuda, that kind of support means a lot. Did you want a new upload somewhere else? I'll take suggestions since I'm not exactly a Megaupload fan either.

Don't worry... take your time with the game.

 

[eharper256]

Oh, ok. I have a day off tommorow (phew) so I'll be putting some more stuff in once I've plowed through the backdated anime I need to watch.

 

[eharper256]

Woah! Was it really as far back as August that I posted here!?!? I hope that with the changeover there's not been any rules about Necroposting ones own game back to the front... If so, sorry, let me know and it won't happen again...

Anyhow; Enemy Within is STILL NOT DEAD! (No really!)

There has of course been the extra hours of work impeding my progress; but I've also been lazy and ill-motivated. That said, material up and including the end of chapter V is pretty much done, its just the case of actually collating it and ensuring it works. Now that work hours have returned to a considerable smaller degree (at least for a time) I might get around to actually doing the 0.76 version I promised SO long ago.

I'm particularily excited about my new concept for battle animations: the character battler disappears and re-appears (as an animation) in front the enemy to attack and suchlike, giving a most excellent impression of movement (rather than the usual flash and slash associated with the DBS). Its taken some effort in photoshop to get it right, but I'm pleased with the results (though I still need to finish the girls sprites).

As an example, I'll place Fortinbras' new spritesheet here for you guys to look at. Critique welcome.

Spoiler: Fortinbras New Battle Sprite

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/simjimm/RPG/Version%2007%20Images/Crappy-Fortee-Sample.png[/img]

 

[tibuda]

Good to know this is still alive, this is the best RMXP project I've ever seen (my opinion)... Your battlers concept looks great, I just can't wait to see them in action.

 

[eharper256]

Thanks for the comment tibuda, it seems you're my only loyal supporter, lol.

Anyhow; in a related incident, I've uploaded a crappy little video showcasing the new battle animations in action! (Squee! Etc.) Check it out here on my youtube:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/simjimm/th_TEW-Anim.jpg[/img]

Also, I'll be uploading more screenies of version 8 in action soon.

Biggest news and progress: As well as the cool anims, I've also finished a huuuge skill grid for the game (a 90x90 map!); which is entirely event based; would you believe. So this, combined with a rewrite of Game_Battler 3 again, and Blizzards stat stimulation, make something very close to the system I originally envisioned for TEW: lots of player choices and versatility.

Here's the grid:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... /Grid1.png[/img]
And a close-up; Risa at her start position on the grid:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... /Grid2.png[/img]

Some of you might have noticed I started a graphics workshop for T.E.W. also, but in case you didn't, heres the link:
http://www.rmxp.org/forums/index.php?topic=37346.0

 

[nick5674398]

This game is realy fun, I like how there are so many items and things you can do on the side, like smithing and the alchemy quest. The battle system is a little slow, and annoying though, it takes a few seconds for the battle to start when your on the battle screen, and a bit to end when you defeat all the enemies, not a big deal though.

 

[baniff]

Hey, I played the new demo. Fun game! I'll post some problems I find once I'm done playing through it.

 

[eharper256]

Woah, suddenly I'm popular... (checks to see if he fell into an alternate dimension this morning)

This game is realy fun, I like how there are so many items and things you can do on the side, like smithing and the alchemy quest. The battle system is a little slow, and annoying though, it takes a few seconds for the battle to start when your on the battle screen, and a bit to end when you defeat all the enemies, not a big deal though.

Glad you like the freeformness. As you might tell from the Wyndia Arena (the announcer, LOL) I'm a big fan of the Elder Scrolls franchise, and though making something quite ~that~ freeform is a bit beyond a single person like myself, I can sure as hell try.
To be honest, I never really noticed the slowness of a battle's start; I'm used to far worse in commercial RPG's, but then again, I guess it is slower in comparison to a barebones RMXP game. This is obviously because of all of the additional battle scripting. And probably because I couldn't be bothered to put a resource prioritizer/anti-lag script in for version 0.7. (the new version has one- the skill grid alone NEEDS it!)

-------

Hey, I played the new demo. Fun game! I'll post some problems I find once I'm done playing through it.

Thanks! Glad you like it! Any problems or bug reports will still be appreciated, even though its actually the old 0.7 demo you've got there. Also, LOL at the Chibi-Kratos on your avatar.

 

[eharper256]

Woah...
I just recovered from a horrendous main HardDrive death that forced me to re-install Windows and format the drive.
Fortunately, it was looking dodgy a couple of days ago, so the Enemy Within is pretty much fully backed up on my external drive and I've only lost some minor bugfixes from yesterday (thank god)...

There's a lesson here kids. Paranoia regarding computers + Big external HD == useful.

Now, where did I bloody well put my installation for RMXP... o_0

 

[eharper256]

Updated 17/03/08:

Squee! Video advertising for the win. I've posted a six minute video with sound this time to youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTuuX4qhRng
This part covers just after Risa wakes up on the second day to the Prologues end and the Credits. There's an intro explaining the backstory and a training session prior to this (you meet Triela during the training session; she's a major non-player character. But you get to fight with her in the party for this section only.) Enjoy.
My poor laptop hernia'ed a bit trying to play and record the siege cutscene simultaneously, and its noticeable in the video. This doesn't occur just playing the game. (I was also running Firefox and Photoshop in the background, like a moron, so its no wonder really...)
At least there's sound this time! Though I'm stuck with an evaluation notice on the corner now (doesn't bother me, but I guess it might some people)
More teasers forthcoming.

 

[eharper256]

Hi guys; most of this week with TEW has been fiddling under the bonnet, trying to figure out exactly why skills were so pants. I finally figured out that apparently, in my infinite wisdom, I screwed up the elements adjustment.
But the old calculations were archaic in any case, so I totally re-wrote and slightly simplified the hit and damage algorithms for both skills and physical attacks using my own vocabulary (dumped the old 'power' and 'rate' for 'potency' and 'multiplier', which sounds better).
Because of this, I can now reliably estimate skill powers using my calculator before they go off, which is useful to speed up testing issues.

Also, finished some more long overdue mapping. First, I finished Eris; the border town between Tessalatoria and Tuskuru:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... s/Eris.jpg[/img]
Though fairly small, its a conflux of activity, since it lies in an effective position. The large square belies the fact that lots of merchants and travellers might use it. It also offers a way to the west to reach the frozen lands of Silesia.

Secondly, I totally redesigned the Arena in Wyndia. Now it actually looks like a proper fighting pit rather than a little playground:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... Arena1.jpg[/img]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... Arena2.jpg[/img]
The crowds have increased dramatically, too, as is befitting of a popular entertainment venue.

Oh, and an underground section for the combatants, a bloodworks, has been added too; which you can obviously see if you compete:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/ ... Arena3.jpg[/img]

 

[Diedrupo]

Wonder Sniper Briggit? Is that a reference to Fire Emblem? (Bonus Points if so)

 

[eharper256]

Wonder Sniper Briggit? Is that a reference to Fire Emblem? (Bonus Points if so)

Damn right; Fire Emblem 4 is one my favourite games ever. My FE love should be evident in my title: I'm the Social Knight, as is also explained in my sig (in the spoiler).

And yeah, my Briggid's (I think thats the translation they use) always rock. That said, Briggid does have the Ichival giving a her a bit of a wtf pwn advantage...but even then, Jamka and her son Faval tend to be nearly as good. Never since have there been such awesome archers in a FE game as that (except Astrid/Stella in FE9/10, who always rapes the RNG and caps every stat for me for some reason despite her mediocre averages).

Since I made a battler that looks somewhat like Briggid, I included her as one the 10 arena fighters. The Arena (and in fact, much of T.E.W.) has several subtle and not so subtle references if you look for them. Like how the horror play at the theatre is called 'Attack of the Gackt clones' in tribute to most new Final Fantasies. And how... well, play it and find the rest yourself.

 

[baniff]

Those animated battlers are really cool. And FE rocks

 

[Larynni]

Can you upload it on mediafire, please?