Announcement

[jaydee15]

@Luchino-Chan:
First thing: about your title screen, I would have removed a bit of saturation and lowered the brightness slightly, too (but that is just me being subjective). I do not know if it is worth mentioning adding a shadow beneath Laine (not that it matters, anyway). Second thing: story... STORY... STORY!!! And then the rest... And stop being overly critical on yourself lest you give up. I mean it! >.<

[Luchino-chan]

@jaydee: Oh, alright then. I'll stop criticizing myself so harshly then... >< And you like the storyline the most, eh? That's good, that's good. ^^ On a happier note...

MORE FANART!!! ^^ It's of Laine, done by A-Moonless-Night. Thank you so much!


You got her details spot on here, and I love that sword, too. ^^ Even though the colours for her boots and pants should be reversed, I still love it.

[jaydee15]

Wait, is that Alastor, from Devil May Cry? LOL! JK! JK! XD

[Luchino-chan]

@jaydee: I wouldn't know myself. XD

So, the site is up and running again. I don't know if it's me, but this site always seems to have downtime whenever a contest is being held. XD

GAME UPDATE: (10/02/2012)

While that happened, I've been crazy productive, working on so many things for Chapter Two it isn't even funny. First of all, I've added a Biography section to the Main Menu, which is evented, no doubt thanks to the amazingly versatile YEM ( Yanfly Engine Melody ).

This is just to give you a rough idea of what it's like. The final version ( not recorded ) can be viewed below. I can't tell you how much I love this tune...

Random note: Little sad about the Youtube channel... Maybe I'm not advertising it enough. Hmm...


Laine's version is the finalized one, hence the little logo/watermark at the bottom right. ^^

- Added in several new areas to explore in the game.
- Made two full sidequests avaliable ( the very first one being in Landen, where you can get an extra easy 3000 Kr ).
- Mapped out a new cave system which Laine & co. end up in. Cillian and Siglud finally join your party here.
- Gameplay is estimated at around 3 or so hours now. Once I hit the five+ hour mark... bring out Chapter Two and my beta testers!


The system of caves known as the Ulster Range.

So that's that for now. I have no idea how long the final product will be in hours, but I'm crossing my fingers for 10-15 hrs of playtime. ^^ But we'll see. It's most RPG developers dream of creating a 30-60 hour epic, but I do it bit by bit, never aiming too high, or shooting too low.

This post has been edited by Luchino-chan: Feb 15 2012, 08:39 AM

[Ronove]

Just shoot low and when your game exceeds the low number, feel proud! It means your game can carry itself along without needless padding to get up to the epic hour range.

It's looking good! Loving the screenshots.

[jaydee15]

@Luchino-Chan:
I meant Rebellion (DMC3, etc.). LOL! (see image below) By the way, you always tell me that I have to persevere, even when my thread is commentless. I think YouTube is the same thing as here.

[blueperiod]

I love that evented biography menu! How exactly did you manage to make it work? I've tried doing something like that before and it didn't work out too well . One nitpick though. I don't think you need the first message that asks the player if he/she wants to look at info about the characters, since it might get a bit annoying having to click "Yes" every time you go into the Biography menu.

Oh and don't worry so much about the Youtube channel stuff . It's really hard getting a lot of views. I have one video for my game that has a lot of views, but that's only because some Brazilian website picked it up and started posting it everywhere. If you want to get a lot of views and subscriptions, you're going to have to put a whole lot of effort into the channel (advertising it and so forth). I honestly don't think it's worth it that much if you're an indie RPG game developer. After all, I think we should focus on our games foremost rather than stress ourselves out worrying about our Youtube channels . Regardless, I think you should continue posting videos, as it gives fans of your game stuff to look at and be excited about.

This post has been edited by blueperiod: Feb 11 2012, 12:27 PM

[Luchino-chan]

@blueperiod: I'm actually thinking of making a tutorial on how I did that evented in-game biography, and because you're also using the same main menu script ( Yanfly Engine Melody ), it shouldn't be too hard, since it only requires a tiny bit of scripting knowledge. But it's easy enough to understand. I'll see when I can get it up.

And about the Youtibe vids, yeah, it is really hard getting views on a channel... ><

@jaydee: Haha, I didn't even know you were referring to a sword. ^^ Anyway, it's probably the way AMN coloured the artwork that makes the sword look the way it does.

[EZaxess]

The biography screens are tasty Luchino! It's pretty well organized and easy to read. I like the cave as well... so simple and appealing I drool..

I do have to agree with bluperiod about the confirmation message since it's accessed through the menu directly, get rid of that!

Edit: I forgot to add...... that drawing of Laine is looking good.. she looks Italian! I just had to.. she does..

This post has been edited by EZaxess: Feb 13 2012, 01:28 PM

[Gawain]

I've been lurking about this thread every so often since it was first posted. Just wanted to chime in and say keep up the good work; it looks great. I also voted for custom art. Now it's tied with Fire Emblem.

This post has been edited by Gawain: Feb 14 2012, 05:56 AM

[Luchino-chan]

@blueperiod: If you want the tutorial on how I did that evented biography, it can be found here. And for anyone else who is interested.

http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=53249

@EZ: To which picture are you referring to?

@Gawain: Thanks for the vote and for stopping by. ^^

So the votes ( as from posting now anyway, Valentine's Day, 18:33 PM +2 GMT ) are finally tied after a several-month long poll. I am finally starting on the custom art, whether it would've won or not I probably would've still used my original art. So, I present to you, my first true 'digitally inked' piece of Laine.


Now I just need the right color palette... Still stuck there.

Now, the first thought that comes to your mind would probably be, 'Hey, she looks like Lightning!' I am aware that she does bare somewhat of a resemblance to the FF13 heroine, but Final Fantasy has had no influence on this project ( apart from hints of FF12, which I love ). Whether it's her hairstyle or jacket, I'm not sure, but... yeah. That's what I get.

GOAL: 600 replies by Friday? Year-long topic anniversary coming up! Luchi-chan needs you!

Now, on Friday (17/02/2012), it will be a very important day for me. The year-long anniversary of this topic, and I was wondering if you guys could help me get it to 600 replies by then, but no spam! It would mean alot to me. If not, it doesn't matter, it just seems like a nice milestone.

Uhm... how do I remove the poll? Should the mods remove it or...? ^^

[Luchino-chan]

Getting there, slowly but surely. I'm actually on fire with regards to game progress, it's already approaching the 4-hour mark! ^^ ( After I'm done with one of the dungeons anyway ). There's a ton more places to explore, a lovely world map to traverse, more Laine/Pat goodness, with a dose of Cillian and Siglud thrown in. I'm growing fond of the latter, he's actually an Expy of one of my favorite Fire Emblem characters, Hector. Actually, several of them are Expies from FE chars. But, of course, you'd have to play the games first, and unfortunately, Fire Emblem isn't as well known as other game series.

Nearly there...


And this is for those who completely and utterly ship Laine and Pat. My personal favorite OTP. Mainly for Ronove. She loves these two. ^^

I really do love writing Laine and Pat's scenes out. I do love stomping on their little electronic hearts. *evil laugh* I wrote that little scene that features the above image last night, and it delves into Laine and Patrick's past...er... relationship. Before Pat became a clergyman, anyway ( he's got a a damn good reason for becoming one as well ). Laine states that their relationship now is purely platonic, but does she mean what she says?

If I am honest with myself, Pat has the greatest potential for character development here. He is just so much fun to mess around with. He is what we call a 'Woobie'.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWoobie

I mean, everytime I look at him I go, 'Daaaaawwww'. He just has that pull/draw for me. I don't know if you guys feel the same way. ^^ I should probably add a list of Tropes to the OP. I'll list what I know, but if you guys know of any more, let me know asap. ^^

[BattlesofMorfoth]

Haha, lookin' good as always.

[jaydee15]

LOL! You are quick in your updates! I wish I was just as fired up as you are. And "Patrick" is a better name than "Rolfe." The latter reminded me too much of "Ralph," the default hero. Just saying. LOL! Kudos!

[Ronove]

more Laine/Pat goodness

And this is for those who completely and utterly ship Laine and Pat. My personal favorite OTP. Mainly for Ronove. She loves these two. ^^

*shakes pom poms for more Laine/Pat goodness!* And without a doubt I totally ship them (unless you sink their ship in a way that would make me cry (okay bad puns, I will stop now)). Mainly because I am a sucker for stronger ladies with meeker men. It's one of my favorite dynamics.

I need to draw them now. :| I'm bad at fanart, but I have an urge to draw them!

[Luchino-chan]

@jaydee: Yes, that was one of the reasons why I changed his name. It was too similar to old Ralphie. ^^ Pat's name is a little more meaningful in here anyway.

@Ron: I do like fanart, even if I never hint at it. I too, am a sucker for strong female leads. I'm tired of male RPG heroes paired up with frail, Staff-Chick Damsels in Distress. I took that and role-reversed it. And I love it.

I forgot to add this to the earlier update, but...

Inspired by SSP as well as Golden Sun, virtually every object in the game now has some form of interaction. Of course, only open barrels, boxes and such can be searched. I won't give any indications in-game, so it's up to the player to decide how much exploring they want to do, instead of pointing them to 'over there, that object can be interacted with'. Or maybe I should... Most objects, like cabinets and kitchen counters, will sometimes have the same description, and Laine will normally make a comment as to how clean or filthy it is. Just a little quirk I picked up from my very first RPG, Phantasy Star 4.

And this is the current valley/dungeon I'm working on. Laine and co wil run into those bandits that the player encountered in the very first scene in the game. Only this time, they're no pushovers, and Complete Monsters while they're at it. You can find out more once I release Chapters 1&2 combined. ^^

[Twidger]

Lookin' amazing, as always Luchi
Your mapping never ceases to amaze me

[jaydee15]

Is it me, or do I see RMVX-Ace tilesets? I don't think it fits with all the other maps you have made so far.

[Luchino-chan]

@jaydee: Yes,I noticed that after I looked at that valley screenshot. The VXAce tileset style is too detailed and contrasted as oppossed to the VX-style.
So, I fixed it. Should look a bit better now. ^^

And here's the battleback. Where's Patrick?!?! Gosh, do I love Closet's battlers.

Just a little update on all the FE edits I've done over the last few months or so.

Spoiler:

And I have to top this... >< The guy with the blue ponytail is an assassin named Finn, and will become playable at the start of Chapter Three.

A biography of most of the characters shown in the above image will be up shortly. And as for Pat missing in the battle screen, Laine,Cil and Siggy are out on a sidequest, from which Pat has abstained from due to personal reasons.

I'm also implementing some gameplay maechanics of my own, which will drastically affect the outome of battles in the new release. More details on that in a later post. Only thing I can say is, watch what you equip from now on. ^^ Everything will be evented, as usual.

[Ronove]

You need more ladies! 'O'

Oh and lookie! 600th post. I should make it a bit more substance.

*throws confetti*

Edit: actually, looking at the cliffy desert maps, you should be careful with some of the tiles. The ones with the dirt tile on top, they kind of clash with the cliff face as the border around the dirt tile doesn't go into the cliff face very well--it cuts off instead of being seamless. Otherwise, looking grand!

This post has been edited by Ronove: Feb 20 2012, 05:35 PM