Small Update

So work on the editor is still going strong. Kyle managed to add a bunch of features that make the process a lot easier to handle. There is now a selection tool (think of the marquee tool in Photoshop) that allows you to fill in a specific area.

On the non-programming side, I've managed to start thinking up equations for the game mechanics. I had a few questions on the subject and found a great StackExchange Q&A page dedicated to game development. Turns out I wasn't the first to ask similar questions and managed to find great answers.

That being said I decided to figure out what my main attributes will be. From there I will find derived attributes calculated by the main ones (for example, the strength attribute would modify the physical attack derived attribute). Having these is helping me understand the role for each character and will then help me map out the growth of these stats as they gain experience.

One of the major things I'd like to change from classic jRPGs is try and find a way to remove the randomness of misses. I've always hated the random miss during critical moments. I've always felt that if I avoided running from every battle leading up to a boss that I should be able to defeat it without having to go back and grind. If at any given time one of the characters misses arbitrarily and it causes me to lose the battle... well, let's just say that it's infuriating.

I do feel that critical hits and misses are part of the jRPG formula but I'd like to shrink their importance in battle and rather have a situation where a hit might — instead of missing — deal less damage.

Map Editor (Version 2)

We're almost back to where we were in the first iteration of the game. The editor is now solid enough to start drawing maps! This means that it was time to start making tiles to use it - I decided to go with house tiles that I will be able to reuse easily. The resulting houses aren't as pretty as they would be if I drew them pixel by pixel but it's a small price to pay for the ability to make a bunch of houses on the fly.

Having the week off has really helped me get back into the project. A few weeks ago I bought myself a sketch book and I drew the outlines of the maps that would be used for the first scenario of the game. So far it gives me a good TODO list for what needs to be done.

It's so much easier to work on the 16x16 scale.

The Party

I just thought I'd print the party walking around. Nothing special but still fun for me to see :)

The Silent Protagonist

While writing up the game design document for the game I often think of scenarios I want the party to find themselves in. Often these scenarios involve dialog and I always picture Rohe as being a silent protagonist.

The idea behind this project is to create a RPG I would have loved to play as a kid (definitely aiming for some nostalgia) but I'm wondering if the silence is really necessary. I mean yes, it would really bring me back if Rohe was silent (than again it's not like silent protagonists have gone anywhere) but is it really necessary to make the player feel more connected to the character?

If anything the silent protagonist might make the player feel less like he or she is in control of the situation because other characters are always speaking or making decision for them. If my goal is to make the player feel like he's Rohe (making him a generic boy hero) would they really feel more connected if they never made the decision to go to dungeon X but had Jill bully them into going?

That's why I decided to ask the question on Gamedev. Hopefully someone will come in and answer my question with a clever angle I never considered.

Whoa whoa whoa, let's go back a few spaces

So it's been months since I've posted anything on here. I wish I had some great news about how I've been too busy working on the game but really I just haven't had the motivation. This doesn't mean I've stopped thinking about the game, quite the contrary, I think about it almost on a daily basis.

I realized that to get the game started I needed a partner. The project in it's last life was a bit too big to handle. I wanted too much and I had no clear direction. Though Zedix was good at keeping things grounded and building the tools we needed, he soon found himself immersed in another project, one which took up most of his time. That meant I had lost my partner and with it the motivation and focus to pick up his code and go on. That's where I had the idea to downgrade the project to a smaller scale RPG, something with smaller graphics and a simpler scope.

First thing I needed was a partner and here enters Kyle. Long time friend and fellow programmer. He was always interested in making games but due to the geographical distance between us I always hesitated on building a game with him. This was kind of silly considering Zedix and I barely ever spoke outside of IM.

Second thing I needed is a game design document. This is where I am now. The biggest problem these small projects have is that scope creep gets to them. It would be awesome to do this, oh we should do that! BAM! Next thing you know you've scope-creeped yourself into a corner that you can't come out of. This is what I'm going to avoid this time around. I currently have a 10 pages document outlining some of the features that I want. This document is currently in its draft form which doesn't flesh out all the details to the letter but it does help me create a scope.

Badass Becomes Doctor Who

So I had posted some concept sketches for the "badass" of the party a while back. He was going to be a cheesy ninjaesk character with glowing neon-green goggles and super-rollerblades. I decided to scrap that idea after being hooked on the new season of Doctor Who. I think Matt Smith is a great Doctor and figured I'd tip my hat to the show (it is an inspiring source for this project) by making the last character a Doctor knockoff. Enjoy!

Rohe and Saucer retrofied...er...

So I messed around with my old sprites and redid Rohe on a 16x16 grid. I decided to also go ahead and make my saucer character as well. I think it's a lot more fun to work with this size constraints because if keeps me from worrying about the smaller details. I like the saucer's force-field effect.