Phantom Tactics development journal

I'm always down for playtestin' Moogs. Count me in.

You were already on the list!

Twins got me the rest of the chapter 1 graphics, so it's straight rock & roll from here on out.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

i'm definitely interested in playtesting

srpgs are totally my life

You are a man after my own heart. (Assuming you're a man.) Just be forewarned that Chapter 1 will not challenge you unless you try it on an Xtreme difficulty level. It's possible on any difficulty level, though, and still probably not too tough once you know what you're doing.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

I'll probably play it on the normal difficulty or whatever then again on the most difficult - as usual for when I play games. Hopefully the difficulty gets pretty steep. Most SRPGs forget the S

(Yeah I am a dude)

Added the Ninja class ability (able to move after attacking, but may not initiate another attack). That's the last of them until I add more unit types.

In related code, the Cleric can no longer initiate an attack. The Cleric already could not attack, but now Clerics can't start a battle, either. This has slight strategic ramifications, but mostly it just stops you from doing something stupid.

Rebalanced the mage classes' stats, making them more frail. I'm still worried about these guys being overpowering, but I'll figure out how to deal with that down the line.

In Chapter 1-related news: working on battle animations. Still needed:
- Knight
- Skeleton
- Zombie
- Wraith
- Demon

Note to self: add menu sounds.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Work is slow-going this week. I blame it partially on the weather.

I come from Texas, where it's hotter than Seattle. Unlike Seattle, though, Texans have the good sense to install air conditioning everywhere. We're having record-breaking heat now, and the best we can do with our dinky little A/C unit is to make our kitchen cold. My wife slept in the kitchen last night.

The truth is probably closer to me killing dudes with swords in Wii Sports Resort, but the heat is a factor.

In progress: the reinforcements engine. After briefly considering a gigantic switch statement, I've decided to go with something a little more flexible and put the information in an array. This has several advantages, but the important thing is that it makes it easy to read and write. For example, if I want a level 5 Fencer to show up in the upper left corner of the map on round 3, I might write something like this in the battle setup code:



This is way better than the giant switch statement.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Graphics Dev Log I:

Haven't pixeled in too long.
Started animating again.
Am nicely surprised at the results.

I've personally been feeling that the graphics for the Ninja and SwordSage have been looking pretty shoddy in comparison to some of the other sprites.
(And honestly, the SwordSage was a mess to begin with).

Went back and redid the SwordSage. Gave him a new walk animation and an actual attack set.
It came out something like this (Moogs, I will have the 16-bit set ready for you soon):


I guess I've also got some Magikers to animate as well.

Yes sir.

That is a fine-looking Sword Sage you've got there. I didn't particularly have problems with the old one, but this guy's a big improvement.

It occurs to me that we haven't really shown off many of the classes beyond the three base units. Only Janus and the Pirate, I think, and Chapter 1 only adds Garland, Cleric, and Knight to that. Maybe you can show off more of them.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Chapter 1 is done? Or my memory is bad and I'm forgetting something? You be the judge!

I haven't done the rest of the animations yet, but I did just finish Reinforcements. They are awesome.

1-3.5 looks good. I suspect there's something wrong with 1-4, though.

That leaves:
- Animations
-- Knight
-- Skeleton
-- Zombie
-- Demon
- SFX
-- Menu stuff
- Testing
-- 1-4
-- 1-5
-- 1-5.5
-- 1-6
- Scripting
-- End of chapter

Forgot about end of chapter. So I guess it is a memory thing.

Still, it's nearly there!

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

It's August now. Is chapter 1 done yet?

Added sounds yesterday. Menu beeps and faint footsteps.

Something is wrong with the Skeleton respawn. That's my first order of business. Then I will test the rest of the chapter, then I will do animations, then I will send the game to the testers. I think I can do all that today. It's not a huge amount of work.

Oh yeah, and the end-of-chapter cutscene. It's not a huge amount of work.

There are some polishing touches that need to be done which I will do after sending out the game, such as adjusting the music volume. Mostly, I want to get it to the testers as soon as possible so that I can get the game ready to go soon.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Skeleton problem: fixed. I like the Skeleton battle. That battle and the one prior feel pretty unique.

Decided against letting enemies gain experience, simultaneously solving the problem where the enemy stats overflowed into the poison registers in 1-6. (Suddenly: everyone dies a horrible death.)

I think I also solved a bug that occurs when battle animations are disabled, but I haven't tested it.

Less progress than I'd hoped today, but it's something at least.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Animations done: Knight, Skeleton, and Zombie. That leaves Demon and Wraith (I forgot Wraith on my most recent list), both of whom have slightly more complicated animations.

Found a layering problem that occurs when you have the status boxes on ability mode. I'll just move the battle display up a bit.

The leader moves in 1-5 when he is not, in fact, supposed to. Should be an easy fix.

Everything else looks pretty good, so I should just have to finish the above then script 1-5.5 and 1-6.5 to complete the chapter.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks

Graphics Dev Log II:

Remembered that I hadn't actually sent the Sword Sage to Mogri.
Made the set import-friendly and was able to include a couple of frames that I had actually cut out of the gif animation.

Was also caught unaware that Clerics would actually make an appearance in the first Chapter, so I whipped up a couple more frames for him.
Along with fixing his face a little bit.

On top of my workload, it looks like I still have the Ninja, Sorcerer, and Hexer left.

I'll probably make a few boss versions of existing monsters as well if they're needed.
(Would they be, Mogri?)


The Knight!

No, but I'm thinking I'll want more monsters for chapter 2, perhaps of the still-alive variety.

Development is slow-going on my end: busy week. I've got a few fixes ready to go, but haven't actually made them yet.

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Mega Tact v1.1
Super Penguin Chef
Wizard Blocks