Heart of the OHR Contest 2020
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- Spoonweaver
- Liquid Metal King Slime
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- Pepsi Ranger
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- Feenicks
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I've got another iteration of False Skies done up, this time swapping out the intro dungeon for something more interesting [among several other changes and bugfixes]. I want to wait a bit before uploading it for real, so PM me if you want to run through it.
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- Ruins
- falsesky0125.png (26.85 KiB) Viewed 4420 times
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- Also changed up everyone's portraits, since that was a sticking point the last time.
- falsesky0134.png (21.5 KiB) Viewed 4420 times
- Nathan Karr
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Okay gentlemen, complete course redirection.
What I'm making isn't going to be a thinly disguised allegory for my troubles with my last job and an excuse to import a bunch of music I ripped from YouTube videos.
Instead I'm making something much more useful: A tutorial game. Something that would not work the way I'm implementing it before the OHR implemented the live playtest from editor function (which is the main way I play OHR games now).
I'm not making the big, fun, fancy SNES RPG like Wandering Hamster and Vikings.
I'm making a broken game and including instructions for the player to fix it, in real time, within the editor. Asking the player to make decisions about player characters' appearances and palettes.
What caused this sudden inspiration? Honestly it was playing RPG Maker on PS1 again after almost eighteen years without it, realizing how many things about it are more user-friendly than I've gotten used to over almost two decades of using the OHR.
So I'm making a game that starts the player with Natalie and a separate guide fairy alone in a house, then shows a little bit at a time how to do all the basics. Heroes, spell lists, foemap, vehicles, shopkeepers, flavor NPCs, all of it.
This is my Heart of the OHR project: An RPG about making RPGs, not in its plot but in its gameplay.
I'm using a mix of graphics I've made myself and Fnrrf's graphics pack. To use all of it would be overwhelming - I'm instead offering a total of 13 hero sprites, of which 5 are imported ahead of time. A total of 4 tilesets across 3 maps (a house, an overworld, and a dungeon). Sound effects already loaded in and assigned and a folder of 50-ish songs (20 of them an oft-overlooked pack of free public domain songs someone released back in the Operation:OHR days).
I want to make the sort of game that could feasibly be packed with the engine much like Sample and PStutor were back in the day, only more in depth and not relying on external documentation to figure out how to work.
What I'm making isn't going to be a thinly disguised allegory for my troubles with my last job and an excuse to import a bunch of music I ripped from YouTube videos.
Instead I'm making something much more useful: A tutorial game. Something that would not work the way I'm implementing it before the OHR implemented the live playtest from editor function (which is the main way I play OHR games now).
I'm not making the big, fun, fancy SNES RPG like Wandering Hamster and Vikings.
I'm making a broken game and including instructions for the player to fix it, in real time, within the editor. Asking the player to make decisions about player characters' appearances and palettes.
What caused this sudden inspiration? Honestly it was playing RPG Maker on PS1 again after almost eighteen years without it, realizing how many things about it are more user-friendly than I've gotten used to over almost two decades of using the OHR.
So I'm making a game that starts the player with Natalie and a separate guide fairy alone in a house, then shows a little bit at a time how to do all the basics. Heroes, spell lists, foemap, vehicles, shopkeepers, flavor NPCs, all of it.
This is my Heart of the OHR project: An RPG about making RPGs, not in its plot but in its gameplay.
I'm using a mix of graphics I've made myself and Fnrrf's graphics pack. To use all of it would be overwhelming - I'm instead offering a total of 13 hero sprites, of which 5 are imported ahead of time. A total of 4 tilesets across 3 maps (a house, an overworld, and a dungeon). Sound effects already loaded in and assigned and a folder of 50-ish songs (20 of them an oft-overlooked pack of free public domain songs someone released back in the Operation:OHR days).
I want to make the sort of game that could feasibly be packed with the engine much like Sample and PStutor were back in the day, only more in depth and not relying on external documentation to figure out how to work.
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- Natalie's colors aren't accurate to her character sheet because her sprite needed contrast.
- TutOHRial0005.png (12.21 KiB) Viewed 4359 times
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- Small enemies everywhere...
- TutOHRial0001.png (5.25 KiB) Viewed 4359 times
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- Bob the Hamster
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- Pepsi Ranger
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- Nathan Karr
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And I just crossed the 200 textbox threshold and finished the tutorials for the first map. I'm now at the point of teaching the player to import tilesets for the overworld map.
Thus project is running strangely smooth and I also get to work bad puns and historical facts about weapons and armor into it as I go!
Thus project is running strangely smooth and I also get to work bad puns and historical facts about weapons and armor into it as I go!
Remeber: God made you special and he loves you very much. Bye!
- Nathan Karr
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I didn't realize that was your hotohr entry, Nathan! That's a super interesting submission, but I can't argue it really gets at the heart of the OHR.
As for my own entry, it looks like the clean-cut RPG I wanted to make isn't going to happen. I made too much headway in Katja's Abyss: Tactics (formerly Minesweeper Tactics) to stop working on it. That being said, although it'd be a stretch, I did add a story mode to Katja's Abyss, and it's definitely 30+ minutes of gameplay. The argument isn't airtight, but I think one could consider Katja's Abyss to be a minesweeper RPG (charbile keeps calling it that, so maybe his word can back me up here).
If Pepsi will accept it, I'll definitely submit Katja's Abyss, but I totally understand if it falls too far outside the scope of the contest.
EDIT: Here have a gif!
As for my own entry, it looks like the clean-cut RPG I wanted to make isn't going to happen. I made too much headway in Katja's Abyss: Tactics (formerly Minesweeper Tactics) to stop working on it. That being said, although it'd be a stretch, I did add a story mode to Katja's Abyss, and it's definitely 30+ minutes of gameplay. The argument isn't airtight, but I think one could consider Katja's Abyss to be a minesweeper RPG (charbile keeps calling it that, so maybe his word can back me up here).
If Pepsi will accept it, I'll definitely submit Katja's Abyss, but I totally understand if it falls too far outside the scope of the contest.
EDIT: Here have a gif!
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- katjasabyss0030.gif (1.69 MiB) Viewed 4213 times
Last edited by kylekrack on Wed Jul 29, 2020 6:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- Pepsi Ranger
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I'm going to accept TutOHRial because it actually IS the heart of the OHR (because we're here to make games, not just play them). But I agree with the underlying sentiment. It's hardly a game, based on what I've read (I haven't played it yet and could be completely wrong about my impression--I'm sure Nathan will correct me if I am). Nevertheless, I think there's something about it that makes it perfect for Heart of the OHR. I should probably play it though, just to make sure.kylekrack wrote:I didn't realize that was your hotohr entry, Nathan! That's a super interesting submission, but I can't argue it really gets at the heart of the OHR.
Katja's Abyss, while probably not in the same category, reminds me a little of 2012's Silhouette, where the action is based on selecting numbered squares (if I remember it correctly). I was admittedly hesitant to accept that one into the contest precisely because it was nontraditional and seemed more like a scripted puzzle than an RPG, but I decided its mechanics didn't detract from the "heart" too much, so I ultimately allowed it. This one looks more like a tactical RPG, which I'm sure is fine. I haven't been strict on format since 2010, so I don't know why I'd start now.kylekrack also wrote:If Pepsi will accept it, I'll definitely submit Katja's Abyss, but I totally understand if it falls too far outside the scope of the contest.
As usual, if anyone thinks it shouldn't be in the contest, they can state their reasons, and I'll consider what they say, but at this stage I'm willing to accept it, provided it can meet the basic rules. But I won't accept a tech demo. It's got to have a story attached.
...which is another reason I should play TutOHRial before I automatically accept it...
...hold on...
EDIT:
Okay, so I played both games long enough to form an impression, and I think both are fine for the contest. So, enjoy.
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Wed Jul 29, 2020 2:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Yay! Thanks Pepsi! I thought I was gonna go another hotohr without submitting anything. I totally understand the hesitation, but yeah, I guess it'd be a tactical RPG. I feel like Katja's Abyss is beyond a tech demo at this point, assuming there aren't any game-breaking bugs I haven't found (which is quite likely). The story is theoretically playable from beginning to end right now.
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- Fenrir-Lunaris
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I'm submitting Vikings of Midgard for the (final?) time in Heart of the OHR 2020.
There's literally too much to go through and make a list of what's changed since the Alectormancy release back in 2012. EVERY thing in the game has gotten a revamp, mainly on account of the reviews and suggestions made from all over the community since that time. As far as 30 minutes of content is concerned, I've had reports of people being able to play through the game in 2.5 hours, while others have been playing for a week. Your mileage will absolutely vary.
The only real "heart bug" that I feel should be addressed is the one where having mouse controls enabled can cause strange things to happen if the cursor is left anywhere near a selection box like the hero picker but that may be pushing it. Having "Hróðvitnir" as the name for the next engine release is just fine. If there's anything I'd want, it would be for people to play the game, and if they like it, give it a review!
EDIT: Could have sworn I posted this in this thread. Instead it ended up in another? Mysteries!
There's literally too much to go through and make a list of what's changed since the Alectormancy release back in 2012. EVERY thing in the game has gotten a revamp, mainly on account of the reviews and suggestions made from all over the community since that time. As far as 30 minutes of content is concerned, I've had reports of people being able to play through the game in 2.5 hours, while others have been playing for a week. Your mileage will absolutely vary.
The only real "heart bug" that I feel should be addressed is the one where having mouse controls enabled can cause strange things to happen if the cursor is left anywhere near a selection box like the hero picker but that may be pushing it. Having "Hróðvitnir" as the name for the next engine release is just fine. If there's anything I'd want, it would be for people to play the game, and if they like it, give it a review!
EDIT: Could have sworn I posted this in this thread. Instead it ended up in another? Mysteries!