Resources for Game Designing

NinjaOverdrive · Post by **NinjaOverdrive** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 1:58 pm

I wasn't sure if this was the right place for this or not, nor whether something like this already exist on Slime Salad but here goes anyways.

I understand most people are diehard OHR users but some of the resources I've used for other engines can also be implementedd for OHR as I've actually taken some RM2k tilesets and put them into the editor.

So if anyone wants to add to this please jump in.

Anyways, the main thing that compelled me to start this was a little flash app I came across yesterday that immediately earned a bookmark.

http://www.superflashbros.net/as3sfxr/

It's an app that allows you to generate 8-bit sound effects and customize them for variant sounds. It's incredibly useful for generating menu and attack sounds.

However, it seems a tad buggy as it can sometimes stop working if you alter the frequency (in my case anyhow) but you can easily save your sounds to .Wav files and reload them into the app.

Also, you might want to get Audacity if you want to customize or edit the sounds further.

Secondly, I've used this next program quite a lot for another RPG engine and while it may not help with OHR it's fun to play around with if you like creating world maps. It may be possible to create some tiles with it which I'm going to try later tonight.

Fractal Mapper
[ur]http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/mapper.htm [/url]

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 4:46 pm

We already had a thread for SFXR. I've made sound effects with it and used them in several games. I have it on my desktop right now.

It's a really nice program to have.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 5:18 pm

Most of the ringtones on my phone were made with sfxr :)

NinjaOverdrive · Post by **NinjaOverdrive** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:39 pm

Oh well. Anyone else have any other useful tools and/or resources to share? If not I guess this thread can be removed.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 7:48 pm

NinjaOverdrive wrote:Oh well. Anyone else have any other useful tools and/or resources to share? If not I guess this thread can be removed.

No worries. We generally never remove threads around here. This thread could remain useful anyway. Just because many of us have used sfxr, doens't mean everybody has. (thought maybe everybody SHOULD! sfxr for all == world peace!)

NinjaOverdrive · Post by **NinjaOverdrive** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:18 pm

Alright then, what's a good MIDI program? I've used Presto in the past but is there any other recommended apps for editing and composing Midis?

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:40 pm

When it comes to MIDIs, I've found nothing better than Anvil Studio, which is the kind of software where you can get most of its features for free, but it'll sometimes blather about a full version whose perks are nebulous at best.
To be honest, it's still not very good, and the UI is a bit clunky and occasionally glitchy, but as I said, I've found nothing better.

NeoSpade · Post by **NeoSpade** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:01 pm

Haha! You use Fractal Mapper! I thought I was the only person who used NBOS products

, I haven't used mapper so much as InspirationPad that generator kicks some major bottom.

If anything I'd recommend GIMP for graphics, you can make some fairly decent and quick attack graphics using it (for placeholders/a base to work on).

Tilesets wise, I believe that it'd be best studying other tilesets rather than direct imports into CUSTOM, as the OHR's native tile size is 20x20 (an odd and unique thing that I now use for everything

), this means the tiles will either be stretch out of shape (if 16x16) or become slightly messy as you shrink them (32x32), just a hint, you're probably doing that anyway with the tiles you're importing.

NinjaOverdrive · Post by **NinjaOverdrive** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:44 pm

If anything I'd recommend GIMP for graphics

I use Paintshop Pro 8 because quite frankly it rules.

On a similar note, does anyone else use PSP8 and know if you can change the Grid to 20x20? It's default to 10x10 which is decent enough.

I've never actually tried InspirationPad.

Also, for anyone who writes a lot of stuff out on their PC I find this program pretty nifty:

http://focuswriter.en.softonic.com/]

It's a distractions free, full screen word processor that's stripped down for easy and quick use. A lot of what write nowadays starts in Focus Writer and either ends up getting transfered to OpenOffice or yWriter later on.

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:00 pm

I use MSPaint. I'm so used to working around its shortcomings that I can't comprehend other systems, aside from the OHR's built-in graphic editor, which has its own set of limitations.

NinjaOverdrive · Post by **NinjaOverdrive** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:59 pm

I tried out several MIDI composers including WinJammer which seems popular but I have now found that Anvil Studio is by far the best composer with easy to use interface and the option to easily cut/paste segments.

Definitely worth getting if you're interested in editing or composing original songs.

Blacklight_Studios · Post by **Blacklight_Studios** » Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:53 pm

For Midi files I use a website. That's what I said. This website is great for beginners who want to quickly make music. free to join, but the better instruments are exclusive to paying members.

shakeyair · Post by **shakeyair** » Fri Apr 29, 2011 7:37 pm

Logic Pro is what I use for music, but I bought it for non-OHR reasons. I do a lot of recordings for small-time bands n such at home. (and am now switching my major to audio production, so its suddenly justified)

Beyond that, I used to use Guitar Pro, but it is also not free. Before that I used some program with a blue logo. Thats about as specific as I can get.

If you happen to own a keyboard, you can get a MIDI to USB adapter for about $30. I'd recommend it. I have a dedicated MIDI controller, which is nice and cheaper than a real keyboard, but that ran be about $80. Both of those are a lot if you're not a 'real musician,' though.

I recommend though, for people who don't know much about music, to use a program which lets you set a key at the start of the first measure, and then be reeeeeeal careful about ever adding any sharps/flats.