What are you working on? (Game Making Thread)

[coyotecraft]

Been playing some Rpg Maker Demos.
Maybe the lv1 Slime encounter is overused. But here I am try to avoid "mares" in my dream setting because nightmares seemed uninspired.
I thought "hare gels" were a nice pun, plus it lends it's self to a monster = equipment for my close encounter system.
Can't really do that with mares. Studs on the other hand...hmmm. Eerie Earring? How to do this visually without it looking like a stallion raping a cat? That is the question.

Sticky Horse-fly paper? Maybe I can go somewhere with this.

 

[coyotecraft]

A Place holder graphic for an Opening Scene.
I've also been fighting Win 10 again. It keeps rolling forward to a bad Touchpad Driver that disables my scrolling settings and adds momentum to my cursor. and I'm just sefijwoefma'egj

 

[Nathaniel3W]

That poor bat. I hope it was OK in the end.

Boo automatic Windows 10 updates! Boo! Hiss!

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of tarot artists on the internet. I'll bet you could convince some of them to let you use their cards in your game, unless you really wanted to do all the art yourself.

And I've been making new encounters for my game. Finally all of the hard work is coming together. I had all of the data structures in place, and I just filled them in with different entries (Demons use these sprites, these names, this equipment, and drop this loot. Wolves use these others. The Viking-themed enemies use these others. Repeat for necromancers, steampunk dudes, goblins, and so on.) and I just added hours and hours of solid new content in just a few days. A lot of that time was spent touching-up some versions of the equipment sprites to work with skeletons and goblins. But mostly, I could just copy the level-1 encounter and rename it level-2, then make some changes, and copy it and rename it level-3, and keep giving the enemies more level-ups and better equipment.

 

[BizarreMonkey]

That poor bat. I hope it was OK in the end.

Same, Agrat would never look at me the same way if one of her subjects came to undue harm.

Boo automatic Windows 10 updates! Boo! Hiss!

I am still using my win7 computer I've kept going for five years, I'm certain its got another five in it, yet.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of tarot artists on the internet. I'll bet you could convince some of them to let you use their cards in your game, unless you really wanted to do all the art yourself.

Well technically even with all of the characters in Fantasia who have a face along with his bat character, you still would be several tarot short of all the Major Arcana. Fantasia has enough, here- proof!

And thats all with player characters or characters you directly fight within the paramters of the main story campaign.
Meanwhile PFC be like-

Even if I use iconic set pieces like the Angular-eyed Sight as "The Star", the Helgate as "Wheel of Fortune" and change Esperia's childhood friend (a stretch as is) to Judgement and make way for The Tower as the Literal London Tower, we're still short Justice, now yes- there are npc's who could take this spot, like Agent Mordecai, the occult monkey, the blue monkey or mayhap thats the bat in this, but as you can see its one heck of a stretch, and its likely many of these characters, such as the Blood council, won't even appear in Coyote's game.

But I'm glad to see Coyote working on something, and that it happens to be a fan project of Perseverance is flattering beyond words.

Also @Coyotecraft I love that naxon, the sacrement stashed in his belt is a nice touch!

And I've been making new encounters for my game. Finally all of the hard work is coming together. I had all of the data structures in place, and I just filled them in with different entries (Demons use these sprites, these names, this equipment, and drop this loot. Wolves use these others. The Viking-themed enemies use these others. Repeat for necromancers, steampunk dudes, goblins, and so on.) and I just added hours and hours of solid new content in just a few days. A lot of that time was spent touching-up some versions of the equipment sprites to work with skeletons and goblins. But mostly, I could just copy the level-1 encounter and rename it level-2, then make some changes, and copy it and rename it level-3, and keep giving the enemies more level-ups and better equipment.

Epic to hear of so much progress!

Speaking of progress?? HMHMHMHM lots is being made! Pj has been most reliable lately, so Pep and Rolly have all four of their body language poses now, meaning they are both complete, as the faces were already done by me. Fyori's final pose was finished, and so was the last for Sacreblu- meaning PJ is getting back on the ball, he is currently working on pexepe, then Svoli, then either Kara or Lyza.

Speaking of those faces, boy have I got some samples, I'll put them in spoilers to avoid making this post too large, though!

Rolly

Spoiler

Pep

Spoiler

Fyori and Sacreblu

Spoiler

Right! So he's currently working on Svoli and the other characters who are essential for Disk 0- i.e; all the ones you fight.

So now let's speak of Xiie, after Nola I didn't expect she'd so quickly outdo herself again but here we are!

Tiramisa Cookiedoe now has a most amazing sprite!

And Jake has been no slouch either! May I present to you- Yi Hellrider's battle theme AND the Ascension theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBK0er3mfXchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76a3MpCyzl4
He also finished the character theme for Wi Hellrider.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdvDPJyJC3Y
And on top of that, he has also done all five of the music effects. But they are too short to really bother showing here.

As for me, I've mostly been busy incorporating all these resources, for the time being all of Pj's work is done, but Nola and Tiramisa's sprites have yet to be implemented.

The music has just recently all been implemented, as well. As a bonus- I'm thinking heavily on plot structure and on how to make the first two bosses you fight in the main story less ridiculously easy. Not hard just a bit more than 'stand still and spam A to win'.

Beyond that, adding flavor text and typo-hunting proceeds apace.

I've also been making some neat marketing imagery in preparation for the future.

In Spoilers simply because its the size of five screenshots.

Spoiler

In other smaller news, I also changed a couple song names to better reflect the characters. Mostly these were all done to tracks that have not yet been composed. The exception being Yi's battle theme, but it's change is older than the others- old enough to have been already accounted for in the one instance it plays. The only other mishaps is that Esperia's themese are used in the game, albeit rarely- so that'll take one or two little updates to re-append her tracks.

Green circles indicate what names have been changed.

 

[coyotecraft]

I'm trying to writing. But

 

[BizarreMonkey]

I and my team have made even more progress.

Xiie for starters, is FINISHED all of her work for Disk 0 and Disk 1.

Kara was the last remnant, and here she is:

With Shades

Without Shades

Pjcr hasn't gotten me anything since last post, but he has finished Svoli's draft and while awaiting for the chance to have it approved, he is working on the poses for Tristy Heals, Wi Hellrider and Esperia.

And speaking of Esperia, Jake has recently composed her character theme, and some others since before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVzj0j4pTIhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jAzup2FGw8
He's also begun on the Esperia Hero mode / Battle theme, and from the demo I've heard it promises to be amazing!

All music for the cutscenes has been added and I've applied the finishing touches, all 12 main story cinematics and their intermissions are complete, now. You can sample them all here if interested: Click me!

I myself also have also been busy, rendering videos, getting more in-battle cinematics for Denui Damnations ready, only Kara remains now for Disk 1 Main story.

I've also been working heavily on paving future events via written dialogue. Here's an example, mayhap it will serve to inspire you Coyote. :B

And one other little excerpt.

Soon I will begin working on what presently demands my attention, the battle with Tristy. I've already made good headway, just needs to be finished.

 

[coyotecraft]

Oh indirect characterization. You are my writer's bane.

 

[BizarreMonkey]

Epic progress update time!

First things first, here's a cool cinematic trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtLFOy1yezA
Now, second- Svoli's base was handed to me not long ago-

So now I've got 16 individual faces done for her.

All with three frames of animation, here's a video with some new flavor text showing off some of that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F8XGIBf7qI

Now, the BIG news? The Fight with Tristy and both of it's phases is complete, now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sb-6_sZ7o
Meaning that all of Disk 1's story content is now complete. Although i still haven't done or implemented the Denui Damnation cinematic for the Kara fight.

Though speaking of- I did do all but one of Kara's sprites. Only her kneeling pose remains.

Again, credit to Xiie for the epic sprite, all i did was minor edits with GIMP.

I also finally filled in that blank area in the London Downtown in the top left above Poormart and the Bomb shop.

With what? Why! Svoli has already clarified. A gas station basically.

Soon to come is the Gameplay Trailer, and following it will be a Story trailer- though i can't properly get underway with it until i have not only some more files from PJ, but some new voice acting as well.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

There is no such thing as a small change.

Yeah, it looks like it's just opening and closing a gate, but you would not believe how complicated this is: Who controls the gate? And do you want to attack the gate or move through it? Should you be allowed to attack from inside the gate? I had to retool all of my attack code to allow attacking a gate instead of an enemy unit. And then I had to redo pathfinding: If you control the gate, you can go through it, but if you don't control the gate, you can't go through it. And what if you don't have enough move to go past the gate? Should you sit there with the gate open? And the AI, when it's choosing where to go and what to do, it can pathfind around the gate, and it can also choose to break through the gate. And I had to rework some meshes to fit the hex size. And I had to rework materials for dynamic lighting. I literally spent about a week on this system.

 

[coyotecraft]

Power's out. I could type while my battery lasts. But im going pull out my white board and draw a flow chart.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Power's out. I could type while my battery lasts. But im going pull out my white board and draw a flow chart.

Look at Mister Fancypants over here with a laptop battery that lasts long enough to type something when the power goes out.

(Thinking this right now because my wife's laptop battery holds literally zero seconds of charge and we just haven't gotten around to replacing it.)

 

[coyotecraft]

Something I wrestling with a.t.m. with my script writing is letting things just be there without shining a spotlight on it. I've got these characters with significant origins but I don't want to introduce them unceremoniously. Like, pop into existence self-aware. "Hello. I'm the anthropomorphic representation of a traumatic childhood memory."
I think it's too forward. I want to be more indirect, somehow. But I'm starting to crack and am willing to admit I lack the skill to do it any other way.

In another story I was reading, the characters - or projections - quickly acknowledge that they live in exist as a part of the unconscious domain. And bluntly explain that the environment they're in is made up of incomplete thoughts, unresolved emotions, stuff like that.
I want to avoid that omniscient creep where it seems like the spirit guide or whatever already has all the answers but isn't forthcoming.

 

[Nathaniel3W]

Something I wrestling with a.t.m. with my script writing is letting things just be there without shining a spotlight on it. I've got these characters with significant origins but I don't want to introduce them unceremoniously. Like, pop into existence self-aware. "Hello. I'm the anthropomorphic representation of a traumatic childhood memory."
I think it's too forward. I want to be more indirect, somehow. But I'm starting to crack and am willing to admit I lack the skill to do it any other way.

In another story I was reading, the characters - or projections - quickly acknowledge that they live in exist as a part of the unconscious domain. And bluntly explain that the environment they're in is made up of incomplete thoughts, unresolved emotions, stuff like that.
I want to avoid that omniscient creep where it seems like the spirit guide or whatever already has all the answers but isn't forthcoming.

You don't have to make the introduction memorable through the dialog. You can use lighting, animation, and lots of other effects to help introduce the character. And you can also change the environment when introducing that character. Just for this one instance of "representation of traumatic childhood memory," I'm imagining Protagonist out in the rain. Everyone else runs inside, but for whatever reason Protagonist just sits out there getting soaked. And then Mr. Representation shows up and starts up a chat.

As for showing that the interactions take place in the subconscious, go with the show-don't-tell approach, and trust your players to pick up on the clues. Add in some kind of special effect that you only use in the subconscious. I don't know what can be done with RPGM, but some neat environmental effects that I've seen include the environment dropping into place, forming and disintegrating as the player approaches and departs, turning from black and white to color, and flickering like a old TV, or making a familiar location look like it used to be a long time ago.

 

[coyotecraft]

I guess it's simpler to say I have footnotes that I'd prefer not to be footnotes. Context that should already be known to players from the other games, but I'd still like to formally explain within this story.
So it's like - ah, I know. The game kinda starts with a premonition dream. A premonition of a scene in Perseverance.
If I present it right, the audience should infer that the events are taking place before Perseverance. And establish what the relationship is between Naxon and Sven. A tyrant and member of a resistance.
There's also business with the Cookiedoe Cats having devil and/or angel gene mutations. But that's confidential information known only to a few characters. I'm not sure how I should handle that.

I guess this is the reason for the "Oversight" Ability that's present in so many isekai power fantasies. In "That time I was reincarnated as a slime", Slime has a "Great Sage" ability that's basically a voice that explains and analysis things in the world for him. Similar stories about being trapped in a game world have a system notices or the innate ability to read people's stats, view a world map, and stuff like that which appears to everyone else as some kind of clairvoyance.
Important information that can't be derived normally, which is driving the character's actions and decisions.

I dunno. I don't want to use an omniscient character. But I think I hate it more when a character makes assumptions and is just never wrong. Then again, it's pretty funny for a conspiracy theorist to be completely wrong but they're so close that nothing contradicts them. Or they hit the truth but it's a complete shot in the dark and the people in the know are like :X "inconceivable!"

 

[Byron]

Got my first NDA on some friends project.
They've been testing it out in the studio space we have since Christmas and iterating upon it. Through playtesting and just talking with people I somehow found myself working on a digital version of it. Working mostly on backend stuff atm but will move onto making some UI for it soon :D
(Super vague because NDA.)

 

[coyotecraft]

I'm going through caffeine withdrawals. So on top of headaches I'm feeling this emotional weight that everything is crap or broken.

But a few days ago I did some "research" and found that on average a cut scene should have about 20 textboxes before the scene changes or there's a battle. I just stuck a bunch of games in and counted.

Agarest War was pretty darn consistent at exactly 20 textboxes. I think the writers were intentionally filling a quota. It's got a Visual Novel type presentation. Other RPGs that require the player to tun around and trigger event flags are a little harder to identify where a "scene" begins. Western RPGs have branching dialogue trees. So that makes it difficult to count.

I did all that to confirm something about my own script writing. I spend hours fussing with the wording that I get the sense I'm meandering and the scene is going on too long. It's hard to judge by looking at a word document alone. But the theory is that 20 is the right amount of text boxes for the player to wade through, before the screen needs to change.

 

[coyotecraft]

Biz uploaded a video on his youtube for Fantasia. It was a hot spring scene with his Kyoshi character. He was in a bath with using an XP model sprite. Fully clothed!
So I said to myself "This is unacceptable. Clearly I am needed to put the fun in fundoshi"
And I started on this.

 

[coyotecraft]

Ah, sweet ambrosia. I'm restocked on pop and blissfully knocking this template out.

It's not really necessary to draw a backside since all Kyoshi does is walk down and to the right. I was wrong about it being an XP sprite too, it just looked small in the video. I think he had a temp XP sprite in an old demo and I thought it was the same. So I probably don't need to do a fully clothed sprite either. Still it could be useful in the future. I think I could make some improvements with the hair. BizMonkey likes to have flowing hair and ribbons and such, but animated in 3 frames, It doesn't really flow, you know? Kinda flaps around. That custom frame plug-in I was working on back in *lemme check* June, might help. Although I don't think I ever got that head-bob thing figured out. That's what these sprites really need, a special follow-through motion. So when the event/player stops moving- the cape or whatever follows-through and drops. Actually, with events you can just do it manually by changing the event's graphic. It's the player movement that would need plug-in help.
if player.isMoving is false
doTheThing() unless alreadyDidTheThing; :shades:

 

[coyotecraft]

Obtaining the perfect body is hard work. The side arm was giving me a lot of trouble, the forearm in particular. Then something about the hips didn't look right. It could have just be the SD form, or the lack of anatomy, or the lighting. The lighting on the top one has a wetter, shinier, look. Which was kinda what I was originally going for. The property of wet surfaces is that the highlight going going to be more concentrated to the outer most edge. Although I just did that for the chest. To be honest, I'm not sure I could do the back and side.
The hair is the really tricky part. I can make it look good from one direction, but then rotating it in different directions is challenging. But it's probably just the way I do hair, I always try to make it more detailed than it needs be.

 

[Jason]

Dat ass