December Goals and Progress Thread

Been studying but took a break today to mess around with more features. This time being a mini-map and hud.
Fairly simple at the moment but I'm still trying to decide exactly how much I want on the screen (don't want to clutter it up with too much). Planning on a "wave" image beneath each of the additional party members and a more rounded mini-map.

Of course, this also reminds me I need to change the sizes/overlay and a few other things for the larger sprites I'm working on but that'll be another task for after exams I think.

Did a bit of work today, though it feels like I'm back to where I started in a way. Here's the update:

-Tweaked the mouse support. Along the way Effectus hit the last straw as once I removed it to test something the mouse support was perfect, and the stutter problem went away completely.
-Dropped Effectus from the project. I already was planning on not using it on any future projects, but I had enough at this point as all the glitches I was getting with it that could not be fixed (or only had ad-hoc fixes) was making the game look poor. Went back to Theoallen's script. This though breaks all saves so I have no more saves for testing.
-Tweaked the Chapter 3 cutscene that I wanted to fix.
-Added proper mouse support to the Intro.
-Dropped fullscreen++. As I used 640 x 480 I noticed it upscales pretty well to 900p (what I use), and it will upscale nicely to the new 1440p monitors that are coming out by default, as 1440 / 480 = 3. Plus it didn't work well with mouse support, as when you go to fullscreen (or back) the mouse is in strange spots as it doesn't properly relocate it.

Ok, so I sat today and worked hard on the database, made every type of enemy type I could think of, made myself a character from scratch and made a little dungeon. I think I might have a handle of battle balancing. I hope... but I'm not sure if I really have. Bbut still, totally proud of what I have done.

Progress Update:

• tried to do some research on UI/UX, but had a short attention span day

Took a break from studying and ended up messing around with window skins/ideas. Didn't like the way backgrounds looked so might stick with just the new corners and animated cursor. Maybe pretty up the lines but otherwise, pretty content with how it looks.

Well, I am almost done with Downfall FES Re:Boot. Just need to make some NPCs, finish a few small end-game events, and clean up my database and I'll be done with a game that has been in production ever since I got MV- I may even get it done before the Christmas holiday! I ain't gonna rest, because as soon as I am done, I am immediately moving on to Downfall FES 2 (which won't be on the RPG Maker engine this time around.)

Progress Update:

• some minor things in MV
• a tiny bit of character development/going through potential dialogue in my mind

Today I found out that I've forgotten a paperwork thing that's kind of important, thank you past me brain. >,> I hope I get at least some more minor project things done, in addition to the important stuff.

Getting all the scripts and making a Gdoc link crediting peeps to plug into the game ... man. Turns out there are a lot of plugins that'll apply not to just this game, but are pretty perfect for anyone of them. But that stuff adds up quickly and eats up days XD. Yanfly's Engine alone ate up almost two XD.

Progress Report #1

Immortal Sins:
-Done an overhaul in the renderer. Used a new plugin for overlays and added an option to use more lightweight effects.
-Added new gameplay mechanics. May add a few more later.
-Gutted part of the dialogue since I decided to remove a mechanic that I was going to use (a sort of morality system) but it ended up being underutilized.
-My game's launcher can now use EdgeHTML (Microsoft Edge's rendering engine) in the news tab. It uses that in Windows 10, but older OSes only use Internet Explorer's rendering engine (until I find a better solution).

MV Cook Tool:
-Released it on the Microsoft Store.
-Released version D1.04.

Got 99% of all the Scripts I'll need in my game other than 5 or 6 that can be added later. Will be working on Characters and Basic necessary artwork now. I'll post up the beginnings of my Character Art sometime next week.

Progress report:
-Got the new anti-lag script working and bug fixed now (as far as I can tell), started adding more mouse support. Tested through early Chapter 1 today.
-Added an option to turn mouse support on or off at the start of the game.

Today's breaks resulted in redoing Sorcha's design a little (her face was off kilter and her outfit was a little too plain) and then sketching out a character design. Might tweak Sorcha's outfit further with more designs on the sleeves to give it a more "rustic villager" kind of look but still trying to keep it close to what I have for her twin's. If I have time this weekend, hoping to do her new larger sprite.

-To start working on my game's battle system so I can release a demo.
-Fixing some spelling and events of my IGMC title to update it after the jam finishes.

Progress Update:

• when I scribbled possible menu layouts a few days ago, I cut some potential features but another one cropped up: Ned has a phone. He has a report to write he doesn't want to write. How can you procrastinate (, when you don't have games or internet on your phone because you're in a game and your dev refuses to create them for you)? Call your friends (also, he has to make a few calls as part of the story anyway)! I made a list of contacts on Ned's phone and whether or not the player is able to call them, how many times, and when. I might cut some of them after the fact, but for now, I have a list
• realized that if I were to use busts and wanted them to be to scale, I'll have some interesting challenges ahead. Ned is 1.56m. The shortest NPC who can potentially be called is 1.32m, and the tallest who'll appear in any case is 1.98m. Good thing I'll be drawing them myself, so I can plan them out with this in mind

I did a little bit today already, too:

• re-summarized the plot points and colour-coded them to make the flow chart more easily readable

Also, I got reminded that articy draft exists, this might be a good time to actually use it for once (, though I am more of a paper person when it comes to note-taking and planning. Then again... Yesterday, I was literally covered in sheets of paper, so...).

@Chiara That phone concept sounds pretty awesome, I look forward to seeing how that plays out.

Here is my progress report:
My first game is released(Yay!). Now all I need to do is create some art assets for a friend's project by the end of the month. :kaojoy:

@TheGreatEater : You and me both, with the way my brain works, I never know what will become of a feature. xD

Progress Update:

• started using articy draft and inserted some stuff already. Might need to re-think how I go about some things. While the phone stuff will be optional, I basically need to know what happens from the other characters' POV at various points in time

I've been working on getting Terrax Lighting to work the way I want it to, but it's still kinda not. I also added some dialogue and scene stuff at the beginning of the dungeon. I'm still being frustrated with the on-screen enemy. I understand wanting NPCs to walk around during dialogue scenes but why can they trigger events during an event??? XD I'm starting to think I should have used a variable instead of a switch so that I can go from a set movement during the dialogue to an "approach" movement when the scene is over. I'm also slowly adding on-screen projectiles, shields, and maybe a few other things. I'm actually debating what all I want to do, especially since I want to have a cool acronym for the system. (At one point, I toyed with calling it A.R.S.E.D. but only had three of the letters figured out... it might turn out to be something like A.I.R.S., dunno.)

I started to avoid my bachelor thesis by coming back to my project :dizzy:
Working a few hours at mapping a town, trying parallax and than switching to write quests should be over. With that way I din't made any progress in over a year (with long breaks). The new and more effective way is to work with placeholders, map only what is necessary for the plot and than event with even more placeholders.
You can say, that I made every newbie mistake you can make. But I really want to tell this story and publish it someday. I hope my workflow will improve with time.

It took me ages to get the eyes right, and it's not much yet. Need to add Cheek Details, Eyebrows, and basic rigging. But I feel accomplished. Oh! And a close up of the eye decal.