Friday, June 28, 2013

Bugs

It's Friday and I'm doing a blog post three days early? Don't mind if I do!

So I had my first and second playthrough attempts this past week...by attempts I mean that the game crashed towards the end due to unforeseen bugs, sigh. Bugs are funny. You go through everything one time and figure you have discovered all the bugs, you make a list, go down that list and fix each one, then go through everything again and this time find even MORE bugs than you did the first time, haha. There is nothing like thinking you fixed everything and then when you walk up a river and one of your characters is across the river already walking in place....

"What the-??" *silence* "Another venti white mocha, please..."


"Umm, I can't finish the scene with you standing there..."
Well, I have a pretty long list to get back to. Anyone have some raid?...Yea, it's a bad joke. Sorry =P

Monday, June 24, 2013

Timing and a character idea

Timing is a BIG deal. It's the difference between a scene having emotion and being thrown together with bad pacing. Over the past week I have done NOTHING but fix the timing on a single scene. Am I completely happy about it? Kind of...but I feel like I've stared at it enough that I can't even tell if the timing is good or not, haha. I'll probably go back over it a few more times in the coming weeks. With the closing of this scene, however, I am now free to begin knocking out the other bullets on my todo list for getting this game demo out. First thing is first, skills. Wish me luck. I think I am making a female version of Cyan from FF3/FF6 without that annoying timing bar, which is making her surprisingly overpowered haha we'll see how things turn out.

In other news, I listened to this earlier and now I want to make an archer character. I have a pretty good idea on how I'd want them to be. I even see them taking on Raven, my badass one-eyed fencer. Before I start thinking "long going series" I guess I should actually finish this one haha Seeing as this post is rather short I will reward you with screenshots of some of the bad guys doing their thing ;)


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Combining maps

I guess it's about time I show some screenshots seeing as I should be finishing up on the demo soon.




These two screenshots are from the same map...sorta. Let me explain. Sometimes I will create multiple maps to transfer between that look exactly the same for the purpose of being less cluttered and less laggy. While playing the map, if the transfers are placed and timed correctly, the player will typically not even notice that they have been hopping between several different versions of the same map. It's all an ILLUSION!

Anyway, this particular map that I have taken screenshots of used to have three copies of itself due to the high number of events that take place in it as well as npcs that also take up a lot of space. I was having issues with the game engine and the transitions between battles and transferring between maps. I could go into greater detail and lose most of you or I could just say that it didn't look fluid/professional. So, I am currently trying to combine it all onto one map.

Sad part is that I am starting to feel the lag creep up. I have a few ideas on how to cut down on the lag but we'll see during the testing phase. Worst case scenario....I split up the maps again and perform some "illusions" that don't involve the battle transitions. Watch out, David Copperfield! ;)

Monday, June 10, 2013

How time flies!

Just got settled back into my old job as a cell phone repair/random other gadget guru. Had to pay the bills and boy is it tough with a mortgage, haha. Anywho, in relevant news, I am closing in on finishing the demo. Since we last "spoke", I have all but completed the storyline aspect of the game. I just have one and a half more scenes to time and dialogue. I have the gist of what I'm shooting for which helps. I did do the ending of the demo yesterday. I hope the movement, music, and dialogue does the scene justice...and I hope I don't get stoned for ending at a literal cliff hanger, haha. Working on this game has been fun and I hope the players will be able to feel my passion and love of storytelling in it. You know what they say though, "Your first game will suck 'insert term' balls." So I'm trying not to get my hopes too high. I should finish up with the half scene tonight, leaving the last scene for tomorrow....unless I power up with a five hour energy shot again and push through!! We'll see. I am at work now with about 3-4 hours of sleep in me....hoping I can make it to 7pm and starbucks before collapsing. The battle starts now. Once the story is complete it is on to gameplay balancing and tweeking(which some would consider is the hardest part since it is after all....what makes your game fun ;) hehe) I will try my best in getting this blog on some kind of set schedule. I need to set alarms or something on a weekly basis...I will not go the way of my favorite podcasters! Thanks for the support and I will show you all something really cool in a few more weeks ;)