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I am curious about the character with the long dark hair. The mouth is interesting. My eyes can parse that mouth in two different ways.
One way is that I see a diagonal mouth, which is weird and cool, and I wonder what the story behind the crooked mouth is. Is it a scar? Is it a deformation? is it normal for this character's species? Is it just a lopsided smile?
The other way I can see it is as a cigarette, which is always sticking out at an angle from the character's closed mouth. However, the fact that in the side-view sprites the cigarette is angled up instead of sticking out forward makes me doubt this interpretation. If it is NOT supposed to be a cigarette, maybe it would be a good idea to change the reddish pixe, which to me looks kinda like the glow of a lit cigarette
Mon Jan 06, 2014 4:25 pm 
Mon Jan 06, 2014 7:16 pm
Bob the Hamster wrote:
I am curious about the character with the long dark hair. The mouth is interesting. My eyes can parse that mouth in two different ways.
One way is that I see a diagonal mouth, which is weird and cool, and I wonder what the story behind the crooked mouth is. Is it a scar? Is it a deformation? is it normal for this character's species? Is it just a lopsided smile?
The other way I can see it is as a cigarette, which is always sticking out at an angle from the character's closed mouth. However, the fact that in the side-view sprites the cigarette is angled up instead of sticking out forward makes me doubt this interpretation. If it is NOT supposed to be a cigarette, maybe it would be a good idea to change the reddish pixe, which to me looks kinda like the glow of a lit cigarette
One way is that I see a diagonal mouth, which is weird and cool, and I wonder what the story behind the crooked mouth is. Is it a scar? Is it a deformation? is it normal for this character's species? Is it just a lopsided smile?
The other way I can see it is as a cigarette, which is always sticking out at an angle from the character's closed mouth. However, the fact that in the side-view sprites the cigarette is angled up instead of sticking out forward makes me doubt this interpretation. If it is NOT supposed to be a cigarette, maybe it would be a good idea to change the reddish pixe, which to me looks kinda like the glow of a lit cigarette
Hmm, after reading this I can kind of see what you mean. I did not intend for this sprite to be interpreted either of the ways you have described. The reddish pixel was intended to be her nose extruding from her face while the greeny-blue pixels below were intended to be her upper and lower lips as they form down from her nose to her face. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see it that way after having a predisposition to your current comprehension of it. Just the same, I find it hard to see past my current comprehension of it too.
Anyways I'll try a few rearrangements. I've been finding it hard to find a good balance between a prominent face and a feminine face. I notice in many games the faces of males tend to have a noticeable nose while females in those games have no nose whatsoever unless viewed from the side. I tried the whole hidden nose thing but I just don't like the looks of it.
Thanks for pointing that out though.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
⍠ C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
Mon Jan 06, 2014 7:35 pm
Ah, now that you explain it, I can see it as intended in all of the helmeted sprites, and in the left and right unhelmeted sprites. In the down-facing unhelmeted sprite, I simply cannot un-see the mysteriously slanted grin.
You said that you don't like the no-nose look, but what about keeping the nose, but trying a no-mouth look? I have a hunch it would still look feminine.
... but actually, probably the best possible way to deal with potential confusion is to leave the hero sprite as it is, and add a good portrait sprite. That will give you enough pixels to express the face how you want clearly and unambiguously, and as soon as the player has seen the first text box of her dialog, they will get the "hint" they need to be able to see the hero sprite as you intended.
You said that you don't like the no-nose look, but what about keeping the nose, but trying a no-mouth look? I have a hunch it would still look feminine.
... but actually, probably the best possible way to deal with potential confusion is to leave the hero sprite as it is, and add a good portrait sprite. That will give you enough pixels to express the face how you want clearly and unambiguously, and as soon as the player has seen the first text box of her dialog, they will get the "hint" they need to be able to see the hero sprite as you intended.
Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:10 pm
Bob the Hamster wrote:
Ah, now that you explain it, I can see it as intended in all of the helmeted sprites, and in the left and right unhelmeted sprites. In the down-facing unhelmeted sprite, I simply cannot un-see the mysteriously slanted grin.
You said that you don't like the no-nose look, but what about keeping the nose, but trying a no-mouth look? I have a hunch it would still look feminine.
... but actually, probably the best possible way to deal with potential confusion is to leave the hero sprite as it is, and add a good portrait sprite. That will give you enough pixels to express the face how you want clearly and unambiguously, and as soon as the player has seen the first text box of her dialog, they will get the "hint" they need to be able to see the hero sprite as you intended.
You said that you don't like the no-nose look, but what about keeping the nose, but trying a no-mouth look? I have a hunch it would still look feminine.
... but actually, probably the best possible way to deal with potential confusion is to leave the hero sprite as it is, and add a good portrait sprite. That will give you enough pixels to express the face how you want clearly and unambiguously, and as soon as the player has seen the first text box of her dialog, they will get the "hint" they need to be able to see the hero sprite as you intended.
Good call. I'll keep the sprite as is but a good portrait will do a lot of justice.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
⍠ C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
Tue Jan 07, 2014 7:02 am
My interpretation of it was that it's the nose plus or one or two pixel shadow of the nose.
Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:42 pm
TMC wrote:
My interpretation of it was that it's the nose plus or one or two pixel shadow of the nose.
Haha. I'm surprised there's so many interpretations but I don't mind that interpretation.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
⍠ C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
Tue Jan 07, 2014 4:09 pm
Worked on slimeomancy and Technofunk Shipotron.
It was all script work so there's no pics.
@sheam pics:
like your otherstuff, tthese look simple yet nifty. Though the plain Jane in the middle one could middle something
@Jamescarrotorman :
really looking forward to this.
@sephy:
not another tech demo
It was all script work so there's no pics.
@sheam pics:
like your otherstuff, tthese look simple yet nifty. Though the plain Jane in the middle one could middle something
@Jamescarrotorman :
really looking forward to this.
@sephy:
not another tech demo
Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:05 pm
RMSephy wrote:
I got work done on my game this weekend as well!
There's not much to look at yet graphics-wise, but a decent chunk of the plotscripting has been completed.
Current features include:
- Pixel-based movement
- Being able to talk to NPCs
- Zelda-style exploration (including a minimap)
- Textboxes have been altered to fit inside the screen.
There's not much to look at yet graphics-wise, but a decent chunk of the plotscripting has been completed.
Current features include:
- Pixel-based movement
- Being able to talk to NPCs
- Zelda-style exploration (including a minimap)
- Textboxes have been altered to fit inside the screen.
Somehow I missed commenting on this. The resized textboxes look cool! Do you modify the normal text boxes by looking up their slices, or do you create new text boxes and fill them with strings?
Also, I like the Zelda-style maps in the top right corner. How did you decide to handle the interconnection between rooms?
I am looking forward to this game. Do you have any story-plans? Have you worked on scripting fightable enemies yet?
Tue Jan 07, 2014 9:17 pm
Bob the Hamster wrote:
Somehow I missed commenting on this. The resized textboxes look cool! Do you modify the normal text boxes by looking up their slices, or do you create new text boxes and fill them with strings?
Also, I like the Zelda-style maps in the top right corner. How did you decide to handle the interconnection between rooms?
I am looking forward to this game. Do you have any story-plans? Have you worked on scripting fightable enemies yet?
Also, I like the Zelda-style maps in the top right corner. How did you decide to handle the interconnection between rooms?
I am looking forward to this game. Do you have any story-plans? Have you worked on scripting fightable enemies yet?
There's actually more to the textboxes than I can just show with the screenshots.
Among other things, the text is shown character by character (like in the Dragon Quest games), so I am creating new textboxes by using a rect slice and showstringat.
For the minimap, I used a large enemy sprite like the one here, and covered up the rooms and hallways with black rect slices. Every time the player goes into a room, the script frees the slice covering up the room, and checks the walls around the room. If it finds an opening on the left side of the room, for example, it'll erase the rect slice covering up that hallway.
I'm actually using the default OHR battle system for this game, not a zelda-based one. If you hit an enemy while on the world map, you'll do some extra damage to the enemies when the battle starts. I do have some interesting things planned with the battle system, but that's going to be a secret for now.
The story is more or less planned out. I'm planning to get this game finished for the HOOHR contest.
Progress
Tue Jan 07, 2014 11:54 pm
I worked on my game this weekend. Perhaps I'm posting a little late, but I had no access to my computer for some.
So I'm back!
Behold!
This is one of the last dungeons in the game. It's Ice-Themed and is meant to bear hard puzzles rather than hard combat. (The Fire-Themed dungeon, in contrast, lets the player have a rush with fighting rather than having to pay attention to the map's layout and any sort of puzzles.)
What you see in this picture is the main room of the dungeon, in the first floor. And those diamond-shaped tiles are cables. The main puzzle of this dungeon consists on the way the energy flows through them; Instead of keys, this dungeon's doors are controlled by the cables!
That's another room. In this screenshot you can see there's a box in the bottom-right corner of the screen; Items in the game are divided in three different types: Foodstuffs, Apparel and Tools. Tools are special items. You set them to X and you use them wherever you want, giving space for pretty interesting game mechanics. (The game encourages the player to try items on any location at any moment.). So when you select a tool, it is displayed in this box. (Perhaps I should also add a function to browse the tools without having to open any menu; Using keys. But I'd like to leave key usage as complex as it already is)
The "S" and the "F" represent Satiation and Fluid. They are stats that are important while navigating the map. You raise them by consuming food.
All those things can be toggled with W. This allows you to remove them from the screen in case you just don't want them there.
Z allows you to run, of course. A and S allow you to swap heroes in the active party quickly. And Q allows you to display the Hero's Menu. (This is not the Main Menu. It's a bigger menu showing lots of things regarding your current leader hero, such as their inventory, status, their analysis of the current situation (Which aids you if you don't know what to do next, or just if you think things are pointless), and even a biography of the hero, which could be handy several times in the game.)
That "East ->" is a string which tells you what you have at your right. This direction can change depending on which room or section of a map you are. You pay attention to it to navigate properly. (Unless you find the hidden Cheat Shop in all dungeons to unlock interactive maps.) Some rooms may even have a "toggle perspective" function.
The "X0" is a representation of the money integer. Every hero has a specific amount of money, in different currencies else than "X", so money is managed with custom variables rather than with the main money integer the engine has. And fortunately there's a way to exchange money with your partners.
This is a big room located in the middle of the dungeon... There's a gap in the cables. Perhaps you can find parts of it in the dungeon, set them to X, and lay them on the floor?... (Too bad you can only find arrow shaped ones, meaning they will only make energy flow in one specific direction, making things trickier!)
Many things are totally inspired from The Legend of Zelda series (Except for the final bosses, which are not always bosses.)... The way dungeons work... Their layouts... The way Tools work... Hopefully, I'll come up with lots of original ideas. Such as the story, which is rather much more complex and involves a lot of psychology, poured into the dialogues at a gentle pace.
And this project is named Ep1cQuest - Diamond of Life. I put things together better this time. Before starting to make the game itself, I wrote a long script in a .rtf file describing the main storyline. This file had lots of text formatting used in handy ways (such as items being marked in blue, and text box dialogues written with italics). Doing this allowed me to work on different parts of the game, no matter if I'm working on the ending or the start of it.
About Diamond of Life: This game is all about Colors. Each color represents some factor of Life in this game. Green, for example, symbolizes Joy, while Yellow points to Bane... etc... So, a Diamond has no color... It actually lets color pass through it... Hence, it's both everything and nothing at the same time. The main storyline was inspired by this. So I took all the characters that I had used (created in my mind) for other projects and put them here. I divided the heroes in four groups; Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Their personalities and the adventures they have are related to the color they represent. Then the player has to find the location of Four Gems. In the past. Yes, you learn the backstory of a Ruby, a Sapphire, an Emerald and Golden Beryl (This was one of the only good options I found for a translucent yellow-ish gem...), by playing with heroes from a regular world which is not aware that those four gems, which are regarded as regular everyday items, have divine powers. And then you have to look for them in the past, before the ancestors of the main heroes find them.
I like the personalities I came up with. Most characters are adults (Actually, there's only one child character until now...) and the whole game presents a rather formal style to it in both text and architecture. But somehow I included (unintentionally) several dialogues and situations packed with jokes, puns and generally game humor and easter eggs. Thankfully, there's not a single joke with sexual nature.
Another thing I did this weekend was to come up with an idea for a comedy game. Using a few characters from DoL, I imagined a game where one of the main male heroes gets to spend a long while playing a fictional MMORPG. And then the game describes the sweetness of any MMORPG... Getting your friend's account hacked by someone who hates you, losing all your items, explaining the game to your wife, internet slang, meeting people online (including the principal from some swordplay school you attended some years ago), and Lots Of Lag Issues!... As well as describing how the real world is affected by this game. Just an idea.
I actually come up with too much ideas every day, and I just realized that I write too much... So...
Thanks for reading this.
So I'm back!
Behold!
This is one of the last dungeons in the game. It's Ice-Themed and is meant to bear hard puzzles rather than hard combat. (The Fire-Themed dungeon, in contrast, lets the player have a rush with fighting rather than having to pay attention to the map's layout and any sort of puzzles.)
What you see in this picture is the main room of the dungeon, in the first floor. And those diamond-shaped tiles are cables. The main puzzle of this dungeon consists on the way the energy flows through them; Instead of keys, this dungeon's doors are controlled by the cables!
That's another room. In this screenshot you can see there's a box in the bottom-right corner of the screen; Items in the game are divided in three different types: Foodstuffs, Apparel and Tools. Tools are special items. You set them to X and you use them wherever you want, giving space for pretty interesting game mechanics. (The game encourages the player to try items on any location at any moment.). So when you select a tool, it is displayed in this box. (Perhaps I should also add a function to browse the tools without having to open any menu; Using keys. But I'd like to leave key usage as complex as it already is)
The "S" and the "F" represent Satiation and Fluid. They are stats that are important while navigating the map. You raise them by consuming food.
All those things can be toggled with W. This allows you to remove them from the screen in case you just don't want them there.
Z allows you to run, of course. A and S allow you to swap heroes in the active party quickly. And Q allows you to display the Hero's Menu. (This is not the Main Menu. It's a bigger menu showing lots of things regarding your current leader hero, such as their inventory, status, their analysis of the current situation (Which aids you if you don't know what to do next, or just if you think things are pointless), and even a biography of the hero, which could be handy several times in the game.)
That "East ->" is a string which tells you what you have at your right. This direction can change depending on which room or section of a map you are. You pay attention to it to navigate properly. (Unless you find the hidden Cheat Shop in all dungeons to unlock interactive maps.) Some rooms may even have a "toggle perspective" function.
The "X0" is a representation of the money integer. Every hero has a specific amount of money, in different currencies else than "X", so money is managed with custom variables rather than with the main money integer the engine has. And fortunately there's a way to exchange money with your partners.
This is a big room located in the middle of the dungeon... There's a gap in the cables. Perhaps you can find parts of it in the dungeon, set them to X, and lay them on the floor?... (Too bad you can only find arrow shaped ones, meaning they will only make energy flow in one specific direction, making things trickier!)
Many things are totally inspired from The Legend of Zelda series (Except for the final bosses, which are not always bosses.)... The way dungeons work... Their layouts... The way Tools work... Hopefully, I'll come up with lots of original ideas. Such as the story, which is rather much more complex and involves a lot of psychology, poured into the dialogues at a gentle pace.
And this project is named Ep1cQuest - Diamond of Life. I put things together better this time. Before starting to make the game itself, I wrote a long script in a .rtf file describing the main storyline. This file had lots of text formatting used in handy ways (such as items being marked in blue, and text box dialogues written with italics). Doing this allowed me to work on different parts of the game, no matter if I'm working on the ending or the start of it.
About Diamond of Life: This game is all about Colors. Each color represents some factor of Life in this game. Green, for example, symbolizes Joy, while Yellow points to Bane... etc... So, a Diamond has no color... It actually lets color pass through it... Hence, it's both everything and nothing at the same time. The main storyline was inspired by this. So I took all the characters that I had used (created in my mind) for other projects and put them here. I divided the heroes in four groups; Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Their personalities and the adventures they have are related to the color they represent. Then the player has to find the location of Four Gems. In the past. Yes, you learn the backstory of a Ruby, a Sapphire, an Emerald and Golden Beryl (This was one of the only good options I found for a translucent yellow-ish gem...), by playing with heroes from a regular world which is not aware that those four gems, which are regarded as regular everyday items, have divine powers. And then you have to look for them in the past, before the ancestors of the main heroes find them.
I like the personalities I came up with. Most characters are adults (Actually, there's only one child character until now...) and the whole game presents a rather formal style to it in both text and architecture. But somehow I included (unintentionally) several dialogues and situations packed with jokes, puns and generally game humor and easter eggs. Thankfully, there's not a single joke with sexual nature.
Another thing I did this weekend was to come up with an idea for a comedy game. Using a few characters from DoL, I imagined a game where one of the main male heroes gets to spend a long while playing a fictional MMORPG. And then the game describes the sweetness of any MMORPG... Getting your friend's account hacked by someone who hates you, losing all your items, explaining the game to your wife, internet slang, meeting people online (including the principal from some swordplay school you attended some years ago), and Lots Of Lag Issues!... As well as describing how the real world is affected by this game. Just an idea.
I actually come up with too much ideas every day, and I just realized that I write too much... So...
Thanks for reading this.
Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:22 pm
Unfortunately, I cannot see the screenshots. ep1ccraft.com seems to be down right now
Wed Jan 08, 2014 4:59 pm
Bob the Hamster wrote:
Unfortunately, I cannot see the screenshots. ep1ccraft.com seems to be down right now
It should be working now; using another place to put my images in. My website doesn't seem to be reliable anymore...
Thu Jan 09, 2014 8:38 am
Sounds interesting. I'd definitely like to see more Zelda-likes with tool usage.
I didn't understand this part though. What's to the right? Nothing? Are "East" and "->" redundant? None of the other screenshots seem to show this in use either.
Quote:
That "East ->" is a string which tells you what you have at your right.
I didn't understand this part though. What's to the right? Nothing? Are "East" and "->" redundant? None of the other screenshots seem to show this in use either.
Thu Jan 09, 2014 10:39 am
Bob the Hamster wrote:
Unfortunately, I cannot see the screenshots. ep1ccraft.com seems to be down right now
That is why I use Dropbox now. Photofuckit used to do that sort of shit to me a lot.
"One can never improve enough nor should one stop trying to improve."
Thu Jan 09, 2014 6:12 pm
SparElric wrote:
That is why I use Dropbox now. Photofuckit used to do that sort of slime to me a lot.
Bob the Hamster wrote:
Unfortunately, I cannot see the screenshots. ep1ccraft.com seems to be down right now
That is why I use Dropbox now. Photofuckit used to do that sort of slime to me a lot.
/uses imgur or own website
dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x
