Charas-Project
Game Creation => RPG Maker => Topic started by: Meiscool on November 12, 2012, 03:12:41 AM
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-This will be the formal topic for my rpgm2003 game. This opening post will be edited as needed.-
GODSENT
System: RPG Maker 2003
Creator: Meiscool, Solo Project
Started: August 3rd 2012
~Relatively Spoiler Free Plot Summary~
Taking the role of a young woman on a train, you read a letter sent to her describing her back story. Tragically, she no longer has a home or family of her own, and has been offered shelter and employment as a miner as a gift to assist her in getting back on her feet. Mining has become quite profitable as of late due to the discovery of a new type of red ore found off the coast in an underwater cave. This red ore has certain useful qualities to it that are difficult to explain, but if harnessed correctly could change the world as the young woman knows it. The mining operation is difficult to undergo however, as sending people underwater to gather rocks is no easy feat. During one of the operations that our young heroin is attending, a cave in occurs and traps her underwater. Unexpected to her, she is washed away to a temple under the water. Here she finds the secret of the red ore.
What will she do with this information? What will her country do with the red ore? How will opposing countries handle the threat of a nation that has a new means of fighting wars? The young woman will be tied to all events that unfold as the world is changed before her eyes. She is Godsent.
Expect several religious and political plot developments and twists.
~Demos~
This is the old demo I put out September 2nd. Posting it here until I get a new demo out:
http://www.mediafire.com/?9ox0r5zmc4uswrj (http://www.mediafire.com/?9ox0r5zmc4uswrj)
~Gameplay Information~
I am in the process of making a guide to this game via word document. It is (for the most part) already finished, but will not be released until I have a playable demo out. Look here to obtain info on game mechanics, controls, etc.
I will also create a guide for the game detailing what the player should be doing, the location of enemies/chests, how to face bosses, etc.
~Screenshots~
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen1-1_zps62da3528.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GSscreen3_zps709e32c2.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen2_zps7b517e91.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GSscreen2_zpse6e42b64.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen3_zps0e9ac2fd.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen5_zps39cfe24b.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen4_zps46face80.png)
~Trailers/Gameplay Videos/Demonstrations~
Demonstration 2 (New):
-Best watched with captions on-
Godsent Example 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBofNqaorJQ#)
~Other Stuff~
Will come at a later time
~Credits~
Meiscool: Coding, Graphics, Writer, Music
Relics Walker: Inspiration, Graphics
Ramine: Music
And several others
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Ah, that's looking quite amazing so far, MiC! Loving the gameplay, very smooth. Let me know if you need someone to try creating some art (that is not pixel art) for it.
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I like that idea. Just know I'm not in a position at the moment to pay anything (or much, perhaps we could work something out if you are in desperate need of paid work). Character art always interests me!
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The idea of it is great, and the gameplay looks very promising. I love the little side menu especially; it looks really professional.
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You should be proud of your accomplishments Meisdawgiecool
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You never fail to impress.
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You never fail to impress.
Indeed. If I was better at coding and stuff, I might be on his level, but now I'm not even close. Hence why my game is pretty simple, but has puzzle-like areas and an attempt at strategic "real time?" battle system that's also simple. I do believe I can tell a good story too. Anyways, Meiscool has a gift and should be thankful for it.
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That's awesomely cool! Nice job on that :D
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That water effect is fucken amazing. I'm liking the simple premise yet character invested story. ABS is looking quite good surprisingly, only a handful of people have managed to pull it off in these ancient Rpg Makers, but it looks quite fun. Good luck, will be checking up on this :D
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Thanks everyone! Your support is very much appreciated! <3
To show that I am still working on this, I bring to you a screenie. As of now I have 13 rooms completed (as opposed to only the three screen in the video above).
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen1.png)
The underwater temple will have several different areas to it, including the main temple grounds, a garden, a cemetery, a crypt, a cave, and possibly a sunken ship that has a room or two inside it to explore. Working on creating more variety in the enemies found at the moment.
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Looks sweet. Maybe it'll be the first water dungeon I'll actually like hahaha.
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Just a small update:
Currently revamping the enemy system. Though it was fine the way it was, I feel that picture based enemies will produce a better quality game than event based enemies using pictures as the image.
I'm quite tired of the glitchy movement and the 16x16 tile limitations that event based enemies bring. Instead, I'm in the process (actually, more like 90% finished) of switching them from event guided to picture guided. This basically means the enemy has a greater movement range but it will look a little jerkier at times. It fixes some major issues I had with the enemies though, such as setting their speed and knockback.
23 rooms are complete atm, with 2 puzzles done and a boss in the making. Enemies can now die, and I have 3 different enemies at the moment. After finishing the switch from event based to picture based enemies, I will be doubling that number. I feel 6-7 generic enemies for one dungeon is probably enough.
Annnnnd screenies:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GSscreen2_zpse6e42b64.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GSscreen1_zps1f5db8ed.png)
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Yay! Keep it up!
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I'm still amazed by this
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Thanks for the encouragement guys.
Completed coding a magic spell. In addition to throwing weapons and adding elements to the throwables, you can use weapon arts (magic). These have their own bar and it takes~ 30 seconds-1 minute for the bar to charge enough to use an art.
These arts are simply meant to give the player more options to take on the foes around them. More details on it later, but basically you press z and x at the same time, and then a target circle appears for a few seconds that you can move. After time is up, an effect will occur at the target.
Added a floor trap today. Fun stuff, walk into it and you are unable to move until you slash. Take a wittle damage, fun fun. Will be adding more stuffz like this.
At the moment I have 5 completed enemy types (4 normal, 1 mini boss). I also just completed a big segment of the water dungeon (sewers, screenie in the screenshot topic).
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Not the exact moment of this post, but by the time you read this:
There is a new video demonstration of the game in the first post. Tried a new video recorder.
Anyways, the game is nearing the point where I can release an actual demo that has objectives and things for the player to do. Don't expect it soon, but expect it. In the meantime, I hope the video above will encourage you to keep this project in the back of your mind as something to try playing in the future.
EDIT: Please watch the video with captions on.
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****.
This is so goddamn impressive. And motivational. And it only make things better that you focus on all sides of the games, mapping, graphics, animations, programming and all that stuff.
I will give you my firstborn when you release this.
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I can't believe it's rm2k3 XD Amazing, of course.
Have you put much thought into balancing the gameplay once you don't have access to all the abilities? And will the demo be sandbox-y as you show in the videos or will it be more like the game, where you get abilities gradually?
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Prpl: Thanks :)
MT: Given abilities will be like the true game. It will be gradual addition of abilities. You'll have excess to two elements early on in the game, with a third (and possibly more) coming later in the game.
Focus will be more on upgrading the abilities you have rather than getting new ones. For example, early on the dash/dodge system might seem useless due to its huge expenditure of stamina, but later in the game with upgraded boots it won't cost much at all to use the function.
You also won't be able to switch elements/effects mid combat like I did in the video, but instead will have to pray at shrines to change your 'blessing'. If there is a puzzle that requires a certain element, a save point will be near by that way you don't have far to go to change your set up to solve the puzzle. There will be a small puzzle before most boss fights to kind of force the player into having certain elements equipped for the boss as well.
Balance will come when I get something out that more people can play-test. Right now I'm leaning towards making the beginning very easy, with an abrupt change in difficulty whenever new enemies are introduced until the players learn tactics to combat them effectively. I hope to make this game about player intelligence advantages rather than statistical advantages, gradually punishing players for not utilizing the commands at their disposal.
So far while watching my friends play, none of them use the dodge command or magic spells. They just aren't necessary during most skirmishes with enemies. However, a well placed sword art/magic spell can kill enemies before they even get near you, allowing you to take no damage while easily dishing it out. Dodge allows you to play hit and run very easily. It requires a little more skill than Lunge -> Sprint away, but allows you to throw weapons while 'running away' and take less damage if something should hit you. It also takes less stamina overall (as sprinting takes a lot of stamina in itself).
Thus my main balance goal is to create a learning curve that punishes players over time (rather than instantly) for not learning.
-End rant that probably went far off topic from what you were actually asking.
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Sounds good, although punishing gradually can create players who have become stuck in their ways and find it hard to change if they've been getting away with the same simple moves and sheer perseverence!
I look forward to the demo with much anticipation *places fingertips together*
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Im glad youre avoiding standard rpg grinding. Too many games fall back on this and pass it off as legitimate gameplay. Video was freakin awesome. Fluid animations, what looked like responsive controls and ai. Very excited for a demo!
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I can't even imagine how much work was involved getting something like that working with rm2k3's event system.
The game looks great! It's been a while since I played any rpg maker games, but I may have to make an exception to play this one.
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Wow, that's quite the compliment. Thank you!
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DB just made it a competition. Here's my entry.
It looks like Jesus took a dump in the Pope's hat.
In other words: Holy shit.
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That'd be enough to make anyone resign, amirite?
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ZING!
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Just a small update/bump:
Haven't really done much in the game. Been very busy with school, which sucks ***.
So, highlights of what I've done in the past ~month or so: finalize plot elements, create own character graphics, planned implementation of second playable character, and had people playtest what i've got and bug test. No major bugs, but I noticed some people have issues moving through one-tile-wide doorways. In light of this, I decreased the player collision box for hitting walls. This means there might be some graphical issues with the character (such as times when a foot might have a pixel in the wall or something) but allows easier movement all around.
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This looks fantastic. If I'd just seen the video of it I'd never guessed it was rpg maker 2003. Keep it up.
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So, today I have had time to work on this. What I completed today:
Reaching Zero stamina while sprinting and using a second effect will end your sprint. This is done in the spirit of preventing you from running from everything and to limit the mobility of your character while using special boomerang effects.
For example, the effect where a fireball circles your character endlessly drains your stamina. You can no longer sprint once the stamina drain gets you to zero.
Ice/stasis element now has a boomerang special too. It creates a shield around your character. Enemies that move to the center of the shield will be repelled. Taking damage ends the shield, at which point the damage that would've been taken is reduced or negated. This results in the ice element being a very defensive element, able to do no damage itself, but able to control which enemies you fight and which you can ignore.
I plan to add a 'stamina deficit' to the game at some point. What this will be, is certain actions will allow your stamina to go below zero but still be able to be preformed. However, it will cause negative stamina. Your main abilities (such as higher level sword attacks and dodging/throwing) will not be able to be used until your stamina has recovered past zero. Reaching the max deficit may cause your character to stop where they are and take a few breathes (haven't decided if this would be a good thing to add or not).
The stamina deficit will mostly be for sprinting, allowing you to continue running for more than a few seconds. However, exiting the run when your stamina is below zero will cause you to be less effective in combat till the deficit is paid. This is the only way I could think of to prevent people from running through/past everything, while not changing the speed at which they can explore areas/retrace their steps.
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Sounds good to me.
On the subject of ice, what is stopping the 'freeze enemy' spell from being uber overpowered? Is it temporary, or limited use, or something?
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Thank you for asking that! Only certain enemies are able to be frozen. Enemies unable to be frozen will not take damage, so ice is very situational.
I think I have a good balance on the elements. If any are overpowered it is pierce (whose boomerang effect I finished just now). Pierce is good in general, and excels in indoor areas it can bounce a lot in. I will probably have to tone down its damage a bit eventually. Wide open plains and such will limit its usefulness however, practically forcing a switch. Fire packs a good punch, so it is another good general element to choose, especially for areas that pierce isn't that effective. Ice deals no damage, and you get no exp from enemies that are frozen. Freezing everything you can will ultimately cause you to be weaker than you should be. The main reason for the element is puzzles. In fact, that is the main reason I made the elements in the first place. You will be required to switch between them frequently enough to balance any broken mechanics between them; if one element ends up becoming too powerful in my game, it may not matter because that element will not always be one that is usable.
Pierce boomerang effect: Acts like a normal boomerang throw (circles character out then returns), but it can bounce. If it hits an enemy, it will reverse direction and continue circling your character a bit longer, with the time to return to the character reset every time it hits an enemy. In addition, hitting an enemy will release a bouncing dagger. In indoor areas with tightly packed enemies, just throwing this elemental boomerang can cause a lot of damage.
TBH, this sounds powerful, but it really isn't. It is probably the weakest of the 3 boomerang elemental moves. How much use you get out of it is entirely luck based and relies on good positioning, both of which you may not have at times. Still, it is extremely entertaining to throw a single boomerang and watch it kill everything while I don't do a single other thing, but in all my play-testing this has not happened very often. Fire boomerang is much more abuse-able and ice boomerang has greater utility.
EDIT - If you were talking about the magic spell that freezes, it is meant to be very powerful and it has a limited use of once every 30-120 seconds, depending on how leveled your spell recharge is. Also, if you are hit while charging the spell, it cancels and you must wait again.
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You just keep on amazing me, keep it up!
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ugh this looks so sexy.
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So, I am thinking about soon putting out a small tech demo of the game. It would be a small 4-6 room demo with no plot/story that gives you access to the weapons and whatnot for testing. Would this interest people? Would you rather wait for a true game experience?
I'm doing this because I want the game tested for bugs basically. Though the coding is pretty solid and I've never encountered any game breaking bugs other than one time, that one time has me worried that there could be more.
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Well you've been saying you'd be bringing a demo out for many posts now (I've been saying that too :P) so I suggest you just go ahead and do it lol
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True, which is exactly why I feel I should release something, if anything. :/
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I'm close to demo, but my laptop dying put it on hold lol. Plus I stiill can't figure out a damn overworld theme. Frustrating... Put out what you can though!
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Alrighty then.
Finished the stamina deficit system. Graphically, it is not complete, as placeholder sprites are used. Basically, if you reach max deficit, your character falls over for a few seconds (will be changed to your character standing and breathing heavily once I make the visuals).
While in the deficit, your sword attacks deal half damage, you can't throw weapons, and you cannot dodge. Dodging/lunging/throwing will not put you in a deficit; only interacting with map objects (like pushing rocks), over attacking with basic attacks, and sprinting will.
Sword swings have always had a small stamina drain when they are used, but I found it to be too insignificant to matter. I changed this up a bit: sword swings still drain VERY LITTLE stamina, but successive swings drain ~twice the previous swing if used in a tight time frame. Basically, if you keep mashing Z while at full stamina, you'll run yourself out of stamina by the 12th swing. 3-4 swings still won't drain much stamina at all, so you can still get in a good flurry of attacks. I just did this to prevent players from walking up to enemies -> spam basic swing -> profit.
Through my testing of the system, I rarely went into a deficit in combat due to most combat actions not putting you into deficit. Thanks to the deficit system, you can usually sprint through 2 or 3 rooms before you need to stop to recover stamina, so the ultimate goal of allowing players to move through areas faster was achieved, while still making them vulnerable if they decide to run past all enemies rather than fight them.
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Cool, yeah I'm down with a tech demo too.
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College finals and clinicals have been keeping me pretty busy. Feels like I haven't been on here in awhile except for the pathing request I made.
But, update:
Save room has been made. Save spots will be kinda like temporal spaces that your character goes to, and from the room you can warp to other places you have previously been. Currently, you can save and change your blessing (Element).
Enemy movement has been updated. If there is something in the way, they will search for a spot close to them that is also close to the hero and move there instead of to the hero. This isn't true pathing, but until I find a way to code what Dragonblaze suggested, it will do. They can move around large obstacles now, so at least there is that.
Tech demo progress: Zero. Wanted to do other things first.
Custom text system implemented. Nothing flashy, just something different from the normal text box.
Pause system implemented and pauses pretty much EVERYTHING. I like it, as I feel pause systems are actually pretty hard to make in rpgm. I may use it to make a sort of "time stop" ability later if I feel like it.
Challenge rooms planned. Challenge rooms will be rooms with nothing in them but enemies, and there will be a specific challenge for beating them. Kill all enemies with one boomerang throw, kill all without taking damage, etc.
Made more rooms/maps. Made building interiors, so you can explore the city in multiple ways.
Inspired by bioshock and similar games, much of the plot will be told by collecting notes throughout your exploration. Since you are traveling through a mysterious unpopulated underwater city, players will have a lot of questions. Notes/diaries/etc will explain the origin of the city, what happened, etc... they will even explain why how the hero arrived. Players who miss entries will still have things explained to them later if they wish through plot events, but they might not get the same viewpoints...
First-Mini boss completed. It is the Dark Knight seen in my second example video, just put in a different setting.
More puzzle ideas have come to mind that I plan on putting in this area. These include puzzles that you have to solve using powers, and puzzles that are solved just with the mind. Power puzzles will be to move forward in the game, mind puzzles will more than likely be used to unlock areas with treasure or notes to read.
Enemies can no longer half-move into terrain. This is because I gave them two x values and two y values now, and when moving it checks both to see if the enemy would be half inside a wall or not.
As a final note, I'm still working on editing sprite poses for my main character's new costume... But it is very time consuming. If anyone would like to help with this, let me know. Be warned; it is a large task, but you don't have to do any more poses than what you feel like. I need upwards of 80 poses changed from one costume to the other, so yeah...
Thanks for reading.
I'm sure I've done more (I worked on it alot yesterday because I made yesterday a me day) but yeah... updates woo.
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Fantastic updates I hope your finals go well..any more screenshots of terrain?
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Yeah, I can post a few later.
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This game is really the only reason I visit the forum anymore, please keep it up.
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Wow, that's quite the compliment. Thank you.
Update: College finals are done! As such, I've done quite a bit in the game. First off, screenies:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen1-1_zps62da3528.png)
One room of one of the houses you can go into.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen2_zps6049b256.png)
Save room. The doorways light up with pictures of places you have previously been (if you have been to those places), allowing you to warp between save rooms to previous locations. Also shows my lackluster text system.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen3_zps0e9ac2fd.png)
One of several sort of market places that you will come across while walking around. Attempted to visually show the ice shield that your character can use, which bounces back enemies that get too close.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen4_zps46face80.png)
A bit of a grave site area before heading into a crypt. This also shows a new enemy, unnamed flower atm. It has a very long range poison mist spit attack that is spammable, but the aoe and damage is small.
Gameplay: More slight bug fixing (working on making this as foolproof as possible!). However, the more exciting stuff is that enemies now have more variety in death animations (skeleton's bones crumble rather than just exploding, etc). Second to that, enemies can now drop items. They are picked up simply by walking to them and pressing Z/enter.
I have yet to decide how items will be used. I could have them be used to upgrade weapons, solve optional puzzles, craft stuff, etc. I'm leaning towards a slight alchemy system using items to upgrade and solve puzzles atm, but we'll see.
Not much else to talk about at the moment. After I move home I expect to work on this a lot more frequently, so more updates (and bigger/beefier ones) should be coming.
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Still so very impressive
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Generic I'm still reading post ;)
I love flower enemies. Flowers are awesome.
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I have an idea. Since you're putting so much work into this, make sure you have your own original music and not from other games. For something that looks as good as this and with all of the hard work, try to make it your own as much as you can. No shame in asking someone to write songs for you or to come up with a theme or story. Then sell it!
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All my music is original and not used in another commercial gam; just not originally made for this game in particular.
As far as selling the game goes, I don't intend to do that even if it were 100% my own work. My greatest hope is that people play this when I am finished, and I feel a price-tag might hinder that.
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all righty. i shall be a plus 1 to the list of ppl that play it!
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Sounds good to me!
Update:
Two new enemies completed:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen5_zps39cfe24b.png)
Clinch and Conchert.
Clinch the crab enemy does standard physical attacks, but if angered can tear its arm off and throw it at you. The screen above has an example of that, with the claw spinning to the left of the crab. High defense and immune to daggers.
Behind the rock is Conchert. A sturdy enemy that attacks by hopping. Nothing to panic about, but it has very high mobility, and your sword attacks may knock it back just far enough to where your next slash might fall too short, but its next hop won't. HINT HINT
Other noteworthy updates:
A few puzzles complete. Most of them are minor "push the rock correctly out of the way" stuff, but two major 'boss fight puzzles' have been made, and they're pretty cool.
Chests now contain contents and whatnot (where as before they were just opened and nothing happened).
Enemies can now be immune to certain attacks (typically daggers, but I may have a mist/gas enemy be immune to swords and etc). I also have it coded that enemies can be immune to attacks based on the direction they are facing (for those that have a shield in the front and etc).
Overall, the gameplay is really coming together and feels like a true game every time I test it.
Combat requires adaption: The variety of enemies is fairly large, but what really makes each fight unique are the various mixtures of enemies you encounter. 3 up close hitters or 3 slow movers might be easy to take down, but try not getting hit when dealing with a distance attacker, a fast mover, and a slow moving heavy hitter. Ignore one and you'll more than likely get hit by it.
Exploration is meaningful: Not everyplace needs to be explored to progress with the story. Everyplace does need to be explored if you want to gather enough items to fully upgrade your gear, learn more about your surroundings, etc. Exploring is made easier with backtracking via save point warps.
Scenery is varied: You spend a great deal of time in this dungeon, but hopefully the frequent changes of scenery make you want to see more of the dungeon, and not less.
Breaks are as frequent as the player decides: If you enjoy fighting and just that, then go for it. If you enjoy puzzle solving/reading diary entries, spend the time doing them.
Grinding is minimal: I'm doing my best to make this happen. Basically, once I'm done with the area I'm going to map out a "perfect route" (no unnecessary wandering), calculate the number of each individual enemy you'd encounter on that route and adjust the probability of them dropping items so they you should have enough of each item you would need to do the things items would be used for. Then I'd take the total experience received from beating them, and set that as the standard amount needed for the things that experience would be used for. Thus, assuming players kill most of what they come across during their exploration, they should not need to grind for much of anything.
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For those push puzzles, did you use 'If' statements say if the hero is facing right, then the object will be pushed right? And also when the object lands on a certain square/coordinate, it activates another event that completes the puzzle? I ask because I'm going to have some push puzzles and whatnot as well. And I'm totally all for you're exploration ideas. I went as far as to make side quests to go back to previous places and open up new areas within them.
You should also post a video of one of those boss fights!!
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Yeah, pushables are pretty easy to code and just use (I use a variable because of pictures, but you would use sprite: hero facing) 1 variable and 4 if statements.
Then after I do a check to see if the object actually moved, and if it did I play a sound effect and drain player stamina. To do that, record the x and y of the object, tell it to move, wait 0.0, and see if the x and y still equal the original x and y.
I have a process running that tracks the x and y cords of the objects, checks to see if they are in specific spots, and activated things based on such.
A video may come later... but probably not of a puzzle boss fight. They are kinda lack-luster if you go into the fight already knowing what to do (One of them I can end in ~10 seconds just because I know exactly how everything was coded).
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Yeah that's how I do it. 4 conditional branches for the hero setting. If up move up, if right move right, if down move down, if left move left. Then I have the "switches" and a paraless process that sets the X and Y coordinates for the two objects with a conditional branch "if rock X = switch X > if rock Y = switch Y
and if they do: turn on a switch that removes the possibility to move the rock and then open a door or whatever.
Game still looks amazing.
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I see what you mean, maybe a brief 5 second clip lol
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I do it by creating a living invisible AI within the game. This AI just chills and hangs out on whichever map she feels like, but when someone is playing the game, she follows the main character and if she notices the player is supposed to move a block, jump, or something like that, she's actually the one who moves the block, but to the player, it looks like the main character pushes the block.
If statements are good too.
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Wha...? lol
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Just roll with it.
Or push with it. Whatever :P
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You have to excuse my non-know how to code brain of mine lol.
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Quick update:
Working on more interesting puzzles. Visual of one:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen6_zps4db05fa4.png)
Working on more interesting enemies. Example of one:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen7_zps104fc3b3.png)
Enjoy~
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Did you make these chipsets?
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Yes, but my chipsets don't include everything you see in the screenshots. I use rm to make the basic map, then add objects in photoshop and save the image as a backdrop.
NOT going to say that all the work is custom, but basically I take stuff from a lot of different sources and recolor/reshade it to make it work with my style. A lot of hunting and ripping random graphics from games is involved.
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All right, i was jw cuz they look great. They fit very well with your character sprite. I like your mirror room btw.
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You mention enemies will drop items. How do you plan on implementing item selection/use (CMS, cycle-through HUD, good ol' DMS, etc.)?
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I don't have consumable items at the moment, just crafting resources. I'm not even sure if I will have them at all, since I have my save rooms heal your character fully.
I'll probably make a CMS down the road, but it is a lower priority atm.
Updates: Some system updates, visual, and some plot.
Plot: Mapped most of the game up to the point that you receive your first power. This occurs fairly early, but I will note that none of the videos shown show anything of the beginning area of the underwater city, and I believe only one screenshot shows any of the maps either. Quite large area overall :)
Visual: This is kinda cool imo: certain maps will have a background that you can "walk into" and your character's size will reflect it. Just a small visual quirk that I enjoy.
System: Well, you can die now, achieve game over, and your health meter will reflect in color your stats. Also, zelda-style low health system implemented... without the annoying sfx.
Lastly, made another enemy. Not gonna spend much time on it, but basically it is a fish that swirls water around it and randomly rushes towards your hero, and it can call tides. It is a harder enemy that will probably be required to fight a few times.
And... screen, cuz it looks kinda nice:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen8_zpse50c8baf.png)
I want to note that the above screen is just an extensive recolor of a map from a commercial game. Very little custom work went into it.
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how many maps do you have so far?
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Between 88, but that is including testing maps and stuff... I'd say about 75 of them are for this one dungeon.
In my mind it doesn't sound like much, seeing as you can run through a map in <10 seconds if you want... but we'll see once I get everything connected and my friends can give it an entire run-through.
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MY GOD, this game looks freakin' good! Really like seeing updates form this and hope something good comes from it :D
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Hmmm i feel like seeing a transition to map to map would get annoying if it happened a lot within a minute. But I have no idea how they're connected so i have no idea. Do you plan on connecting the smaller maps into a larger one? Simple copy paste with the exception of the events.
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No plans for it at all. Atm, all maps are 320x240 (20x15) and it will probably stay that way. The way you see it in the example video is the way the maps are.
Zelda 1 for the nes does this effectively, so just picture this as a faster paced version of that.
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No plans for it at all. Atm, all maps are 320x240 (20x15) and it will probably stay that way. The way you see it in the example video is the way the maps are.
Zelda 1 for the nes does this effectively, so just picture this as a faster paced version of that.
I find it rather charming.
Especially if there is a transition sound.
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I find it rather charming.
Especially if there is a transition sound.
Thanks. I don't have a transition sound, but if you can think of a good one I'll give working it in a try.
Finding sound effects is probably the hardest thing as far as resource hunting goes.
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Will it be quick transitions?
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Will it be quick transitions?
The video on the main page shows the length of the transitions.
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Alright.
I nv played Chrono Trigger til the DS version because 1. No one had it on SNES and 2. The playstation one took forever to start the damn fight.
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Yeah, it had loading issues that should not have been there for no more than what the game was.
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Very nice as always, meis, I really that interior shot, is that what it is? The one on the last page... Oh snap, wait, I just realized it's suppose to be a reflection. Damn man, you really are going above and beyond.
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Update on life: got an internship at a hospital working 40 hours a week... which doesn't allow much time to work on this game. Hopefully I can get the hours cut back, because I really don't like 40 hour weeks.
Update on game: Added a 4th element to the game, which is wind. Wind daggers have a slight homing effect on enemies. Wind boomerang doesn't actually throw anything, but instead causes your character to briefly restore stamina at a very fast rate.
This element has a lot of combo potential, especially when you factor in that the increased stamina regen can allow you to flip -> throw 3 seeking daggers in a pretty spam-able way. Visually, I feel this element is one of the nicer ones too. The homing effect will be used to solve some puzzles, which is also coooool.
Other than that, not much to say. Made a few maps, touched up a few of my older maps by adding some shadows, and fixed a few scripts here and there to improve the quality of the game.
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Congrats on your internship! :)
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Thanks. Even though I hate it, still glad to have it in a way.
So, spent the last few hours changing up the element system in my game to allow you to switch elements on the fly. I've always had a script that let me switch when I wanted to, but I had planned to take it out upon release. With the old script, changing elements while a boomerang/dagger is out would mess with what was already out and make some pretty screwy stuff happen, but I didn't worry about it since I knew when to switch.
Now, if you use the ice shield then switch to another element, the ice shield will remain unchanged and will still detonate ice shards. Or, if you make the fire boomerang circle you then change to wind element and burst the fire ring, it will still shoot out fire daggers. Etc.
This might not seem like a big change, but I feel that allowing players to change between elements whenever they want will add to the gameplay and allow me to make more interesting puzzles that don't have to be right by a save point.
The downside is that piercing daggers are still really overpowered... which isn't a real big problem except against bosses. Having access to piercing daggers at all times may force me to make bosses immune to them, or at least the stationary bosses.
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Boha :o
Amazing! And all with the RPG Maker 2003.
Can you tell me how to make a Pixel Movement?
It looks like you are using you as a script.
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I could, but this already exists and does a very good job: http://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/498/ (http://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/498/)
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Sweet baby jesus.
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Since I do not want to release any of the underwater dungeon without having it more complete, I've decided to map out a small area of the next part of the game and turn that into a tech demo.
Progress is good, as the maps are done and all that is left is making the enemies for them, 3 of which I made this weekend.
Just giving a small update atm, more will come later.
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Update:
So, enemy creation is the main thing I am doing atm. I've coded for enemies to shoot and throw projectiles that go in a straight line or circle. Coded for airborne enemies that can move over some terrain that your hero and other enemies cannot. Coded for spawn-on-death enemies (enemies that explode into other enemies). Coded for more types of enemy movement (as of last update, the only enemy movement existing was "towards hero" movement).
At this moment, I am going to start implementing status effects into the game. As I'm making enemies, I'm noticing that they are all starting to become the same due to the fact that they are all geared towards dealing damage, and really the only difference between them is how they do it. Making some enemies geared towards giving status effects and such will allow more variety (I hope) and actually make the game a bit easier (due to not every attack hurting your HP pool).
So... what kind of status effects do you think I should put? What kind of effects do you think are outright annoying/stupid and hate when they are in a game?
At the moment, I was thinking:
Confusion: Movement keys are reversed.
Paralyze: Sword/Boomer/Dagger disabled.
Blind: Large part of the screen visually obstructed.
Poison: Actually going to try to stay away from this one, as it is just a damage effect for the most part.
And possible ones that might be a bit harder to code or seem like more annoyances than interesting status effects:
Slow: Movement speed halved.
Fatigue: Stamina regen lowered.
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You can totally make poison do something else besides DOT.
Weakening stats is a pretty easy one, but you could make it more interesting by making it get progressively worse over time.
Poison doesn't HAVE to be boring, but it's so easy to typecast it.
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I guess I could make poison damage your special meter rather than health. Kinda lack luster though.
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Any preventative status like bind, paralyze, freeze will get gratingly annoying if you put multiple sources of it in room.
So area filled with projectile ice monsters.
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Well, a lot of coding has occurred this weekend. We've got:
Enemy Movement:
Coded "circling" movement for enemies. Basically, these enemies circle around your hero, then move in to attack.
Coded random movement for enemies. I'm particularly pleased with this one. With some enemies moving randomly, the game changed pretty drastically. Though easier, also less predictable. Thus... I can make enemies a little stronger in certain regards.
Coded for horizontal and vertical strafing in enemies. Think projectile targeting.
Coded for "run from hero".
Coded for charging movement. Think stampede.
Coded for teleporting movement.
Coded for objective movement. Essentially, pathing for guards and such who have not seen your character yet. Those of you who have played the original demo of this might remember a room with a guard who had vision... think that.
Status Effects:
Coded paralyze (no attacking/throwing)
Coded Blind (darkness around hero)
Coded Confusion (movement keys reversed)
Coded Fatigue/Poison (Stamina Regen decreased)
Coded Burning (Can't stop moving and move with increased speed, kinda comical. May actually be used for some puzzles if I can figure some out)
Coded priority system for statuses. Basically, if inflicted with one status then inflicted with another, depending on the severity of the two statuses, the more severe one will be applied and the second will not. This is to help keep visuals more practical. I don't intend to put several sources of negative status in the same area at once though, so I may have just coded that for no reason, but we'll see.
Going to experiment with a freezing/slowing effect... not sure just how feasible it is. Other than that I think I have my status effects. May make some simple str down or something effects if I feel these aren't enough, but I've never been a fan of raw stats being reduced.
Lastly, my biggest supporting play tester keeps telling me that I need a heal spell or item in the game. I don't really want to code items at this point (mostly because of the menu associated work they come with), so I thought long and hard and figured that I could make the sword arts into the extra spells I need. So, every element will have two sword arts... one for targeting enemies, and one for targeting yourself. During the time period you have to position the spell, if you are in the spell ring by the end of the targeting period, then a different spell will go off. Probably will be something like...
Ice: Heals HP, maybe remove status effects too.
Fire: Inflicts self with burning. (for potential puzzle solving goodness)
Wind: Temporarily increases hero slash range by a large amount.
Pierce (which I may remake visually into earth at some point): fudge if I know. Open to suggestions.
The idea of this is to add more usefulness to the art system than just a powerfully attack every so often, and also provide that much needed heal to the game.
Not really much of a post, but just wanted to say how things were going and what's all done. Steadily working towards getting a polished product to release to yas.
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Lastly, my biggest supporting play tester keeps telling me that I need a heal spell or item in the game. I don't really want to code items at this point (mostly because of the menu associated work they come with), so I thought long and hard and figured that I could make the sword arts into the extra spells I need. So, every element will have two sword arts... one for targeting enemies, and one for targeting yourself. During the time period you have to position the spell, if you are in the spell ring by the end of the targeting period, then a different spell will go off. Probably will be something like...
Ice: Heals HP, maybe remove status effects too.
Fire: Inflicts self with burning. (for potential puzzle solving goodness)
Wind: Temporarily increases hero slash range by a large amount.
Pierce (which I may remake visually into earth at some point): fudge if I know. Open to suggestions.
Sounds like a great idea,
Don't suppose you could make the pierce element give you the ability to reflect projectiles for puzzle solving or just a spiky shield that hurts enemies that walk into you like 1-3 times?
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Sounds like a great idea,
Don't suppose you could make the pierce element give you the ability to reflect projectiles for puzzle solving or just a spiky shield that hurts enemies that walk into you like 1-3 times?
Ice boomerang already nullifies projectiles for puzzle purposes (something I didn't mention yet). Not sure about how reflecting them would impact game-play.
Spike shield isn't a bad idea. I'd like to hear more ideas before I run with that one though.
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Could you also use the spike shield to possibly push 'spiky' objects that would otherwise hurt you? Or to catch certain projectiles for defense boosts, so that for instance, you 'catch' a flaming... ball, or whatever, your next block also retaliates with fire damage, a wind-based object with extra knockback, ice with a short freezing, poison, a 'piercing' object that causes bleedout damage, and so on. These could also be used in puzzles, I think. Just a thought from a fan.
Also, totes magoats excited to see some of my work in your demo vid! Looking great so far!
Also also, I'm temporarily back by absolutely no popular demand.
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Awesome, great to see you back. Those rocks you made have been very helpful.
So, I thought I'd drop off a visual update today on stuffs. With all the coding changes I've done, I haven't really had anything to give out visually, so here's eye candy to keep some of you interested.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen15_zpsa88f91a6.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen13_zps29000505.png)(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen14_zps4c3d9e53.png)
This is an area that will be in the tech demo when released. Some buildings you can go inside of.
Screens display status effects.
New enemies.
HUD now shows element.
Not much else to say about the screens. If people are wondering why there are monsters in a town... there will not be per-say. These are just placeholders.
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I rather like those buildings.
They're very nice to look at, and look very...there.
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So, update:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen16_zps9522f7fb.png)
Heal spell and Wind infused blade spell now complete. This marks the complete finish of the ice and wind elements, which makes me very happy.
"Regain" is above, which creates pillars of light that rotate around you for awhile providing regeneration.
"Shear" is the wind buff, which is pretty awesome. Every slash unleashes a short range wave of energy that deals damage. Lasts until you cast another spell, but may have it be time limited as well.
With the advent of creating Shear, I've decided to make additional stats magic (for the player items) and resistance (for enemies) in the game. This will allow certain enemies to be pretty buff against the normal sword but vulnerable to elemental projectiles/sword arts/shear, while other enemies are more resistant to the elements and thus harder to be taken down. Also gives players a reason to turn elements off from time to time and ration their upgrading materials. Thankfully since most of my coding is in the common event section, this won't take long to do.
Speaking of upgrading, I'm not sure I spoke of this yet, but I've had plans for months now to have the character upgrade their gear with items found fighting/exploring. Upgrades will cost exp, provided by enemies... so you can have the items, but lack the exp. Exp amounts won't be anywhere near grinding potential.
Thus far, you can upgrade:
Swords X 3 - Slash damage, Lunge damage, Drive damage, Special damage, Special regeneration.
Daggers - Physical damage, Elemental damage, Weight (effects stamina when throwing).
Boomerang - Physical damage, Elemental damage, Weight.
Boots X 2 - Defense, Stamina regeneration, Weight (effects dodge stamina consumption).
May add more junk (like passives or status effects resistance) if I feel there needs to be more options to upgrade.
Late game (fully tricked out gear), your character has nearly no need to heed stamina constraints for most actions other than sprinting and map-based events. You'll also regenerate special at a much faster rate. Spells/Lunges/Projectiles become more available and spammable as you progress with this setup.
Began coding small map events here and there. Basically, if you beat all the enemies on a map or 'room', preplanned icons may appear. Examining those icons can trigger events such as conversations, the hero's thoughts, finding diaries, etc. Most of the plot and character dev will be through these events, thus defeating enemies pays off in more ways than one.
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Sounds good to me, still amazed at the dedication you put into this.
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Ditto. It still looks way too good to be the work of just one person (edits or not).
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Been working at mah job a lot, so not a whole lot has changed in the game. However, I figured I should post an update of what I had done today, as well as what my play testers so far have thought and how I've changed it since.
First, play testers felt it annoying that you couldn't 'unfreeze' enemies. They also felt that the magic system wasn't expansive enough, and that the fire self-target magic was useless compared to ice/wind. They also felt that puzzles were easy enough once you know what to do, but really annoying because you don't always know what to do.
So, what I've done/plan to do: Pressing Z while dodging will do a weak magic spell (much like how pressing shift while dodging produces a stronger dagger throw). Ice magic during dodge will shatter any frozen enemies as well as produce some damage. Fire dodge magic lights your character on fire, increasing the move-speed and enabling to keep my puzzles that used this effect. Fire self target magic will need to be changed now... Earth/Pierce and Wind are not coded yet. Since this uses up every possible button combination of Shift, Z, and X, I do believe that I will not be adding any more moves into the game past this. I already felt that it had enough, so this is going above and beyond for me.
Puzzle difficulty will need more people to test before I decide to change anything.
Made a few monsters since the last update, and also ripped a butt load of boss graphics from games, so I will shortly be working on some epic battles as well.
Speaking of earth/pierce... I believe I figured out what I want to do with it. Self target earth will create a stone clone of your character, which will walk around and attack enemies. Using dodge magic while the clone is active will switch player positions with the clone. However, I am going to wait to code this stuff because earth magic will not be available to the player at the point in the game where I am releasing a demo, so no point in wasting time on that when it could better be used in other places.
Final note: Obligatory screenshots:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen17_zps83aa43af.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen18_zpsce4e767c.png)
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Still wow
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Curse you for spending time at your job instead of finishing the demo!
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Your sprites go with the background and terrain almost perfectly. It looks excellent Meis. I promise you I will play it good sir.
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Thanks all
Your sprites go with the background and terrain almost perfectly. It looks excellent Meis. I promise you I will play it good sir.
The benefits of creating your own palette and sticking to it.
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The benefits of creating your own palette and sticking to it.
If only I had an artistic ability...
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This looks absolutely beautiful! Can't wait to play :D
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So, it has been a long time since I've commented on this, but I am still working on this.
Made a few new areas, new enemies, etc.
Working on two boss fights (my goal is to have bosses be very unique and different than typical "reduce their hp to 0" bosses you fight in a lot of game).
Changed coding of a lot of weapons, both enemy and player:
- Boomerang no longer goes through walls.
- Fire boomerang explodes when hitting walls.
- Wind magic complete
- Enemies now have projectiles that can be thrown straight, curve, lobbed, and much more
- New "suck in or blow away" features in some enemies.
Typical bug fixes.
FINALLY added in several puzzles that I've been wanting to put in for ages. Now you have mirror combat (your reflection mimics all your moves and hitboxes), statues that need to be hit by a certain element to trigger, more block puzzles, open/close gates puzzles, etc.
Honestly, sitting here writing all my accomplishments for the last few months in this game has me kinda depressed because I when you put it on paper it doesn't sound like I've done much... but I have haha.
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Yay an update. Man this game is so heavily coded it looks nothing like 2k3.
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i love to play this game
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Glad to see you're still working on it.
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I too am still interested : ) Do you have a schedule or are your just poodling along at what pace you have time for?
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Doing my best to just find time to work on it here and there. No schedule since I can't seem to keep to one when it comes to planned releases. My biggest 'easily attainable 'goal atm is to release a vid similar to the one on the main page of my work over the pass half-year.
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So, worked on the game quite a bit last night and this morning.
Did quite a bit too! Redesigned swimming and climbing to be more easily detected and fluid (You can go straight from attacking to swimming and climb out of the water with no funny/choppy animations now essentially).
Mapped a bit.
Most importantly, made my title screen:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen6_zps0a30c4cf.png)
Using a patch I made a fully animated title screen. The title screen will more than likely have multiple backgrounds of various important places in the game, and above is one.
Using the pacth comes with a bit of bugs (the loading screen gets fuzzy if you try to load save file 4 or more, but will still load it ok, just look fuzzy for a bit), but I feel its worth it.
Hopefully will get more done, including another video, soon.
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I'm excited. I really wanna see a testplay of a recent release. Other than that, the title screen is very crisp and fantastic.
Is it gonna be slightly animated?
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Moving water, character, jumping fish, falling leaves, and dragon flying in the distance.
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Moving water, character, jumping fish, falling leaves, and dragon flying in the distance.
always perfect, you should make a .gif of it if you can.
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It doesn't fit into a gif very well, but I did make a vid of it.
Here ya are:
Title Screen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20qfj5Lczzo)
Last 10 seconds or so have a bit of gameplay. Other than that the video is only the title screen.
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I love the title screen patch. Makes it seem less like it came from the rpg maker engine and more like a real game. Probably one of my favorite patches. The artwork for your game is just fantastic and it's great to come back to charas every once in a while and see it progressing. Great job, Meis!
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That animated title screen gave me some serious deja vu feelings. Need to figure out what that is.
Looking great though
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That animated title screen gave me some serious deja vu feelings. Need to figure out what that is.
It kinda makes me think of the SaGa Frontier title screen.
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Damn, Meis, that is a beautiful title screen.
Check out this guys plugins, he's got some great stuff for custom save/load menus using global variables. Pretty straightforward.
http://rpgmaker.net/users/PepsiOtaku/ (http://rpgmaker.net/users/PepsiOtaku/)
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I wasn't aware that so many nifty plugins for Dynrpg have been made o_O
If I decide to use Dynrpg on this project I'll definitely use the custom save loading.
Smallish update: Completed another puzzle today, a mini boss, and added some new additions to typical gameplay.
Enemy caused recoil is now received on hit by the enemy. Most enemies will not give recoil; only hard hitting attacks will cause recoil. Strong recoil will cause the character to fall. Recoil doesn't stack, so you most likely won't get stuck getting whacked forever by multiple enemies.
Self recoil is recoil now caused by the player attacking something (such as a heavy knight or giant stone enemy). The idea is that the heavy enemy shouldn't be moving, but the player. Causes the player to be bounced away from the enemy zelda-style.
Revised fall duration (now shorter) and character slides while falling.
Breakables: zelda-style bushes now make appearances on occasion. Can be broken with sword or magic. Some bushes can only be broken with a powerful attack (not just normal swings).
Swimming: Not real major, but fixed an animation bug that caused the player to look like she was very quickly switching between swimming and walking when near the edge of water.
Fire projectiles can light some candles/braziers on fire. Gonna be pretty specific on what can and cannot be lit.
Damage floors created. Currently only have spikes that deal damage, but the potential for lava/poisoned swamps, etc. is there.
Also, it occurs to me that I haven't posted many screens lately... so here is a variety of ones from areas I've worked on since the lacks of posts between August and Feb.
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen8_zps46c5d8b2.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen7_zps6d2abd4c.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen9_zps1d835afa.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/TheLongHouse_zpsf41c169e.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen3_zps2cda0902.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen12_zpsadd4740d.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen2_zps4eda35ec.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen11_zps7665c665.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen10_zps01e3533b.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/UpdateScreen5_zps97153567.png)
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Looks great, as always.
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The more I see of this game, the harder it is to believe that it was made in rm2k3 and not professionally.
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I demand a tech demo. Immediately.
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Wow, Meiscool. Long time no see. This game looks great, I look forward to playing a final version. Beautiful map-making as always!
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I wish I was as dedicated as dedicated as you are. This is beautiful!
Actually are you pursuing professional game design, or is this more hobby-ish? Just curious.
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the fact that you cracked open RPG maker 2k3 in every way possible and dominated it is a feat within itself.
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aboutasoandthis: Hobby only.
Everyone else: Thanks. The support helps during the really boring portions of game making.
So, been ages since I'm given this some attention. Final year of college is a real bitch. Unpaid 40 hour/week internships + normal job + research study gives me little time to do what I want here.
But I have some time off so I've worked on this. Since its been so long since I've worked on this I went straight into coding. Done A LOT this week.
Homing projectiles, Area-bound zigzagging projectiles (kinda like orbitals but with straight-line movement), Projectile bouncing (Zelda Link to the Past style) WITH geometry (IE location you hit projectile determines where it will fly to. Really proud of this one), Self fire magic (creates an aura that prevents you from being burned, slowed, and lights up dark areas) and accompanying dark areas that are lit up when fire (ANY FIRE) is on screen. Plans for earth magic made (self magic will create a shield that reduces stamina upon receiving damage before health is reduced. Targeted magic will create an earth clone of your hero at target location).
Created a hunting grounds of sorts... an area just for killing monsters to get materials for crafting.
Also created two 'hard-type' normal enemies that will most likely result in a game-over the first time meeting them. They have a mixture of status effects and combo their damage with those status effects to make it difficult for the player to fight back. Far from impossible to beat, and both enemies actually have huge weaknesses (one takes 20x normal damage from fire being shot inside its mouth, etc) that are explained by NPCs. Kinda trying to mix some Dark Souls inspired difficulty into the game; some enemies are just plain hard until you know what they are all about. These enemies have low/medium experience (because once you know how to kill them they die pretty fast), but have high material drop chances (35-100%).
Screens of new area:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen19_zps21df3743.png)[/URL] (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen20_zps8d5176bf.png)[/URL]
Screen of darkened area being lit up by fire aura:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen21_zps412f5ca2.png)[/URL]
Yup.
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The funny thing is after all this work I think my favourite thing about this game is the side menu : p it looks so natural and cool.
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that is one sexy side menu.
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That is one sidebar I would have sex with.
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Dat grass tile tho.
I'm glad to see you're still truckin' along with this Meis. Great work as always.
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Holy crap. This looks amazing for rpgmkr 2003. I think I might have commented before but still this looks so great. I don't understand how you are making such at thing in rpg 2003. o-o
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Ok, just got to say, holy f***, you continue to impress Meiscool. This is besides the point, but for all these years years you have worked on this, it's a shame that this wont be taken beyond rm2k3. I mean this **** should be on steam for everyone to download. One day.. One day...
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Thank you very much guys.
To everyone that loves the side bar: I want to again state that its just an edit of Relic Walker's side bar (changed from all pink to silver/gold with colored face and other minor pixel tweaks).
DB: I have often thought to myself that this is a **** ton of effort just for a rm game, and maybe one day it will be taken beyond it, but right now my goal is to just release SOMETHING (be it for any program). Problem is I'm a perfectionist so I never feel anything is at the right point to be released.
Progress: Just a few more things done here and there. Made another enemy (these take a long time to do believe it or not). Finally made an acceptable code that prevents you from walking through enemies. At first I checked hero collision box against enemy collision boxes and prevented overlapping, but that actually got restrictive and was unable to modify jumping/leaping/moving attacks of enemies to prevent hero from briefly getting stuck in the enemy during the attack. If I turned collisions off during the attacks then I run the risk of the hero being inside the box after the attack... Finally figured out a code that expels the hero from the enemy collision box if the enemy has collision checked as a property. This will need a lot of testing I'm sure. Its bug-less, but I need to know if it feels right.
Also placed limiters on the boomerang's abilities. In previous videos, I could have the boomerang active for an unlimited amount of time (and it went through walls). It can still be active for an unlimited amount of time but... It dispels once your stamina drops -40 or once you are knocked down. It also dispels or bounces (based on boomerang type) once it hits a wall. This is awesome fun for certain cramped areas where you can get the boomerang to hit an enemy > 10 times just because of the bouncing! Additionally, elemental boomerangs have an upgradable maximum effect procs (ice boomerang is a shield and is dispelled after blocking X projectiles, fire boomerang is a damaging orbital that dispels after hitting X times, etc.) with unlimited most likely being the final upgrade. Lastly, stamina no longer regenerates while using a maintained boomerang effect, bringing you ever closer to tripping due to fatigue and dispelling the effect.
A small quality improvement: Fire anything now thaws frozen enemies. Too many enemies to handle at once? Freeze some, kill one, thaw one, kill it, repeat.
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Problem is I'm a perfectionist so I never feel anything is at the right point to be released.
Ah I remember that feeling, part of me misses it. But truth to be told I'm kinda happy that I lost it. All that pressure all the time. Luckily my work with people made it disappear piece by piece.
Also, yeah you're doing some great work here and I kinda envy you for making all these tweeks and fixes along the way.
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I agree prpl. Like, there are good and bad sides to having that kind of attitude towards your own creations.
Speaking of tweaks, I did more today. First is kinda awesome, but also annoying because it created a bug that I have to painstakingly change tons of variables for to fix... but yeah.
Anyways, sometimes sprint movement would get the player caught on edges/slopes that give you auto movement along them. This was because I had sprinting moving at 2 pixels per refresh. I changed it to 1 pixel per refresh twice, which eliminated the movement catch, but created a bug where if you do a Drive attack up/down a slope, sometimes the image of your character will appear at the end of the drive before starting it... which is my own fault because I try to use 'placeholder' variables for multiple functions to save variable space.
So fixing that is my next big project. While working on that, I noticed that Drive attacks (sword stabs that move the player forward with the stab a medium distance) could be spiced up... so now depending on if you press keys during your Drive you will end the Drive and do an additional action. At the moment I have Drive -> press enter to do a spin slash and Drive -> press Esc to do a fast backflip away from target. Trying to think up ideas for Drive -> Shift.
And screens of new areas:
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen23_zps35868f2d.png) (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen24_zps23658103.png)
(http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreen22_zps75640e4d.png)
Coded for horizontal and vertical mirrors (my hope is to have a boss fight where the room shifts between the two and you have to position your reflection to do things :D ). You might also notice that some of the screens have a different character sprite for the hero... I am working on making my own costume for the main character (as opposed to using one someone else made). Anyone decent with pixel art and willing to help, let me know. I have TONS of poses to convert and even doing a few helps greatly.
Lastly, custom app icon: (http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c105/Meiscool2/GodsentScreenIcon_zps99a96fa8.png)
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Project is still alive.
Fixed the bug/bugs mentioned above. Also reduced some potential lag on lower-end computers as a result of fixing it.
Today I coded 'guarding' into the game. At the moment I have holding the x/esc key change your character's stance, making it to where you're next move command is a dodge (backflip or dive) and your next item throw is your boomerang. Just now I have coded that during the first second or two (duration is upgradable) of entering the stance your character is guarded. If hit while guarded, no damage is taken from most attacks, and the character is knocked back a bit.
Still have to code facing orientation into this (don't want the character to guard attacks when she's not facing the right way) but it works well so far.
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You're putting a lot of thought into your tweaks
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Awesome. So when's the tech demo coming out?
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Direction-Detection coded for successful blocking. Projectile blocking coded. Can only block physical projectiles/attacks.
Now need to go through all currently coded enemies and assign unblockable attacks.
As for a tech demo... what would you guys be happy with? I was hoping to wait until I have a plot-related release as well as a finished system. Do you guys just want me to release a small area to run around in and fight **** with all powers unlocked?
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Sounds great and also like a lot of work. I just enjoy giving you a hard time about demos. Of course, I wouldn't complain if you ever did release one. ;)
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Sometimes releasing something quickly and getting feedback helps with your productivity. If the releasable end goal is far in the future it's difficult to judge your day to day progress and things tend to stall.