Holiday Window

A little holiday window for you guys. I'm pretty happy with how the twinkly lights turned out. I may just have to make some lights decorations. :D

Terms: Free for commercial and non-commercial use in any of Enterbrain's RPG Maker programs.
Do not repost/redistribute! Link to this blog post instead.
Credits: Lunarea

Article to read

I haven't been posting very much lately. I've had too much work to do, and really nothing to post about. My game development was put on temporary hiatus, as was the majority of my random art/resources that I normally give away for free. Sorry about that!

Celianna wrote a really great article about tileset and just how much work goes into creating them. I think it's something that everyone should read and I hope that it puts some things into perspective in terms of what's involved in making tiles.

My zombie survival set, for example, took 493 hours of work total, spread over 6 months . Toward the end of the deadline, I was working 60-70 hours per week to make sure everything was top notch quality and ready for release. It was a lot of work, but I'm really happy with the end result. I hope you guys enjoy the pack, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you create with it.

With that out of the way, I want to mention that the holidays are on their way. Like every year, I'm making home-made gifts for my extended family. It will take quite a bit of time this year, as I'm doing paper art (cards, etc) as well as baking goodies. So, the updates might be sporadic until after Christmas, still. I'll try to periodically update with a stray resource or two, so hopefully it will make up for lack of consistent updates.

Hobbies: Card Making

One of the big things I've been into lately is paper crafting - more specifically, making handmade greeting cards. I get to exercise my creativity, as well as practice various traditional art techniques. For one of the cards I made a few months ago, I got back into watercolors and came up with a fabulous sunflower. For another, I used a patterned paper to make a pinwheel that you can spin around.

Today, I finished a Steampunk-inspired birthday card and I wanted to show it off:

I haven't decided who's going to be getting it quite yet (I have to find a fellow Steampunk enthusiast first), but it came out pretty neat. The best part is hard to see in the picture, but there are areas that are torn off. So, there are these raised little paper edges that are fun to touch.

Anyone else have neat crafting projects/hobbies?

Title/Game Over Graphics

Here are a few pictures I've created for a title or "game over" screen. They're pretty simple, but maybe they'll be useful to someone out there. Click on images to see full versions.

Purple Night Variety:

Background for titles.

I couldn't decide if I liked Game Over or The End better, so both are included.

Blue Night Variety:

Title Background

The background image does not scroll, but you could also use it as a parallax image in small (17x13) maps.

Tutorial 4: Painting Tiles

Part 4 of the tile-making tutorial is up:
Click Here

And just so this post has a bit more content than just 8 words and a link, here's a screenshot of a side-project:

Once it's gotten a bit further along, I'll share some more details.

Mini Pack (Mega Flowers)

The mini-pack of resources has been released!
You can grab it here, for free.

It's June?!?

Goodness, it seems I've gone back to being a month between postings. :(

I could say I've been pretty busy with work, but as much as it's a valid excuse, I still feel like I've neglected the blog a bit. So, I'm going to try and go back to a more frequent (and regular!) schedule.

Since I've had almost no time to work on my projects, I spent a little time going through my notebooks and game dev papers to find something interesting to talk about. And I found a list of game ideas that I really want to create. I still found them interesting and motivating, so when I do get to finish TUAH and Starlight, one of these just may be the next on the list.

Ghost Hunter (needs a better title)
Genre:
Adventure, Puzzle, Single Character
Story:
Your close friend has inherited an ancient mansion, but it's come riddled with dangerous (and deadly!) ghosts. As a talented young ghost hunter, it's your job to get rid of the ghosts and send them to the Great Beyond. But is it really possible that one single mansion is the epicenter of so much ghostly activity? Or is there something more nefarious in the works?
Comments:
I wanted to create a game that has a smaller scope and a more limited setting. The entire game happens in the mansion and its immediate surrounding (garden, cemetery, stables, chapel). It's loosely based on the many awesome point-and-click adventures I've played over the years - and that's my favorite game genre.

Albeon: Marigold's Story
Genre:
Adventure, RPG
Story:
As the middle child of a family of 12, Marigold feels ignored and invisible to her family. After having a fight with her family, she makes a wish that she were the only child. The next morning, it comes true. But being an only child is not as great as Marigold thought, and she decides to go on a inter-dimensional quest to find her brothers and sisters.
Comments:
This is a light-hearted RPG that basically deals with family dynamics and the classic question of whether the grass is really greener on the other side. It appeals to me because it's not about saving the world (though that's also fun to do from time to time), and also because this game takes place in a very elaborate world that I created a long time ago. I've got another dozen ideas for games that happen in Albeon.

Oracle
Genre:
Adventure
Story:
In the 2649, it's illegal to be a fortune-teller or a psychic of any sort. When Cassie has a premonition that a horrible accident will destroy her school, she's torn between warning everyone and hiding her psychic talent. With the help of her childhood friend, Hayden, Cassie is going to have to make some hard choices.
Comments:
There are two things that are amazing about this idea. The first is that it's futuristic. And there's a lot of really interesting concepts I'm hoping to introduce in terms of society, technology and general futuristic life. The second is that there's a really awesome artist that's making the main character portraits for me.


Out of all of these, I think Oracle is the most likely to be the next in line. But I've still got little bits of inspiration poking me to make the other two projects, too.

Do you have any preferences?

Mushroom Town

Since I promised I'd make a mushroom town map, here it goes:

(click to see at full resolution)

It was fun to make, and I hope it helps!

Mushroom Tile Add-On

As per Strawberry's request, I redid my giant mushroom to look like something that fits better with RPG Maker. Click on the link to get the full size. Also posted here.

Terms: Free for commercial and non-commercial use in any of Enterbrain's RPG Maker programs.
Do not repost/redistribute! Link to this blog post instead.
Credits: Lunarea

Tiles tutorial Part 3

Part 3 is up!

Click me.

Also, as you've probably noticed, I haven't been posting much other than links to the tutorial. Various non-game projects have been kicking my butt lately, and I haven't even had a chance to open Ace, let alone do some work.

But I intend to remedy that by the end of next week. Expect some more info soon.

Creating Tiles pt. 2

The second part of my tileset-creating tutorial is up.

Click here to view it.

This part covers the perspective used in RMVX-Ace - which is a bit unique.

Creating Tiles Tutorial

A very quick update, mainly to let you know I've started a series of articles on how to create tiles in the style of VX/Ace RTP.

Click here for part 1.

The first part is very, very basic, but I want to cover all the bases so someone who's never done art won't be completely and utterly lost.

I am hoping to have a new part out on a somewhat regular schedule (once every week or 2 weeks), but it will largely depend on my work schedule.

Party Sprites

I've been working on more party sprites. I'd like to finish them in the next week (or so), and then move onto the NPCs.

Claudia's new sprite

Cordelia's new sprite

Other small tidbits that got done:
- Got the graphics for some enemies for the beginning area. Nothing huge, as Thalzon's battlers are incredible by themselves, but a few little touches to make them a bit more unique.
- Started conceptualizing the puzzle for the beginning area. It's an ice zone, so I'm trying to decide between a slider puzzle (player or objects) and lighting torches.
- Finished conceptualizing the first mini-game - complete with how it will be evented (in theory anyway).

And that's all for this update! 

Features and Portraits

Robin asked about the features that I've cut from Twice Upon a Hero. It's a somewhat lengthy list, thus another blog post was in order. I also want to take a moment to post the ideas that I decided to keep, so the two can be compared.

Ideas/Features that were cut:
1) Tournament
 Originally, at the beginning of chapter 3, Alistair and co. find themselves as prisoners in a pirate town. They are forced to compete in a tournament, gladiator-style. That particular tournament is rigged and basically a long quest chain rather than an actual tournament. Several people liked the idea of competing, however, and I'd planned to make a real tournament (prizes and all) for it later in the game.
However, outside Alistair's ultimate weapon, there was nothing significant to be gained from the tournament. It was a completely optional section of the game that would have involved heavy eventing, balancing and testing. With a lot of time and feedback, I probably would have managed to make it interesting enough for the player. In the end, however, I decided it was not worth delaying the game completion for.

2) Field Skills
This was probably the toughest feature to cut, as I love the idea of using skills to interact with the environment. Originally, I was going to use field skills for things like reaching chests on high ledges, opening up shortcuts between areas or skipping certain puzzles. Two problems arose. The first was that having field skills sometimes forced the player to have a specific party members with them. Those party members may not have been as useful in the rest of the area (i.e. battles). To make things easier, I also planned on having key items that accomplished the same skills as the characters.
The second problem was that these skill places involved creating custom character poses, as well as creating somewhat elaborate movement and effect mini cut-scenes. Given how much graphical and eventing work already has to be done, I did not want to add even more.
So, I removed the idea of field skills, but kept the special key items. The environment will still play a role, but the player has more freedom with the party make-up.

3) Crafting System
The crafting system was predominantly done for upgrading equipment and for creating some potions via alchemy. Sam is an alchemist, so it made sense story-wise to give him a laboratory. However, Sam doesn't join until a little later in the game- by which point the player has received a ton of potions and money that can be spent on potions, on top of having characters that can heal. After working out the equipment and the items for the database, I realized that there really isn't a big number of items that would need to be crafted.
Instead, there will be side-quests that upgrade equipment or reward the player with consumables.

4) Party Camp
Specific spots on the map would allow the player to teleport to a camp where the party members are. You could talk to party members and give them gifts - basically, a way to further the idea of relationships.
Player can do the same thing in the base, however, as well as in towns where the party is split up. So, the party camp idea was removed for redundancy.

5) Trade Market
I had the neat idea to have trade markets instead of regular shop. The player would basically trade certain items (ex. random monster loot) for useful consumables or even equipment upgrades. While it's a fun idea, my major concerns were that it would either not be used or that the player would feel like they have to grind to get certain items.
I've gone back to regular shops, where the player can choose when and how to spend money. I will still have at least one side quests that will have the player trading items, but it will be optional.

6) Extra Languages/Currency
There are actually several different cultures in Caeta, so I wanted to add a touch of realism by giving them various languages and currencies. It would have been something akin to the Al Bhed language in Final Fantasy - over time, the text would be translated as the player gets dictionaries, etc. The currencies would operate via currency exchange. The player would go to the bank in a new area and exchange their money for the local currency - with some variation for the exchange rate, etc. The local merchants would only sell items if the player had enough of the local currency.
Although the idea was very fun, it would become a hassle to have to switch currency on various continents (especially in quests that carry over several areas). Given the nature of the plot, the player would have also occasionally found themselves with money they can't spend.
The language required a script that I was not able to make work. I thought about doing it via eventing, but the event would have been complicated and I'm not sure that the player would have enjoyed the idea enough to justify spending extra time on it. Instead, there will be other languages peppered in the regular chatter and a translator will be provided for areas that do not speak the party's language.

7) Training Dojos
Nic's skills revolved around animals and animal forms. Originally, the plan was to have her visit various dojos around the world where masters would teach her animal forms- mainly via a puzzle section and a boss battle.
The problem with this idea is that Nic was the only character that had to train like this, and that these dojos were entirely optional. The rest of the party learned through levels or through equipment. I was worried that having a completely different way to acquire skills would be too much work for some players and that they'd end up not using Nic - which is definitely not something I'd want to see.
Instead, Nic is going to be learning all skills the same way others do, and the dojo idea is getting tossed into a different project.

Ideas/Features that were kept:
1) Party Relationship System
I kept it because it allows for more characterization, for a more individual play-through (and possibly adds a touch of replayability) and because it's the simplest way to create multiple endings. It's also one feature that was consistently praised and enjoyed by players.

2) Home Base/Lab
In the later half of the game, this becomes the major quest hub. Most of the quests that further the story will start and end there. It will also be the place to change party members, talk to party members (and give them gifts), upgrade equipment and shop. I'm hoping to have it be an evolving place that is decorated over time.

3) CTN (teleport system)
There is a long quest chain involved in unlocking and maintaining this system, but it will allow the player to quickly get from one place to another - and it will be usable from virtually anywhere. Since I don't have a conventional world map, it's an excellent way to avoid having to run through maps multiple times to get somewhere.

4) Artifact Museum
Completely optional area where the player can display treasures, trophies and other artifacts. The main purpose of the museum will be to have all historical and religious tidbits in one place. Though I'm planning to add a lot of information via NPC dialogue and bookshelves, I wanted to have a central place where the player can learn more about the world and past events. Time permitting, I may also have a kind of video-viewer that shows past cutscenes.


And, lastly, several of you wanted to see the party portraits. Here we are:

(From left to right: Cordelia, Claudia, Penelope and Nic)

(From left to right: Alistair, Sam, Ian and Ruben)

And there you have it! Phew, thanks for reading this giant wall of text.

Work~

I've been driving myself insane with going back and forth on the graphical style. I'm still very much torn between wanting completely custom sprites and making life easier for myself by reusing RTP. The sprite you see above is my latest effort, and I think I'm just going to stick with it. It's a combination of my custom template and XP RTP with some heavy editing.

I think it looks unique enough to be memorable, but I'm not going to be spending the next 5 years making all the sprites I need for the game. It also has the added benefit of looking exactly like the portrait and the faceset.

Other than that, I've finished the last and final versions for all party portraits, as well as all the emotion facesets for the girls. Still need to finish the guys, but that shouldn't take too much time.

I've also gone through the game plan again and cut out some of the mechanics and features I was planning to incorporate. Though they would fit into the game well, they would take a lot of time to develop and implement - and they might not bring as much fun as I was thinking. The list of ideas is much smaller now, but definitely more manageable.

I've set a very loose release schedule for myself. I want to try and complete a portion of the revamp (first town and dungeon) by then and have a demo for everyone to play. It will be a lot of work, but I'm more motivated than ever.

Project to check out

Due to illness, I haven't been able to do a whole lot of work or a whole lot of updating. I'm doing better now, health-wise, but I'm still required to rest and take it easy for a short while longer. I have an appointment tomorrow, so I hope to have more information then (not to mention a better posting schedule).

In the mean time, I want to encourage you all to check out an awesome project by two of my friends:
X-Noir

I've known Volrath and Artbane for quite a while now, and they've always amazed me with their abilities when it comes to RPG Maker and game design in general. The things they do with writing and puzzles continue to blow me away. X-Noir also features custom art from Ronove, another close friend of whose artistic talents I'm totally jealous of.

Give X-Noir a try, and more importantly, give Volrath and Artbane some feedback. :)

More Tiles - Wealthy, Poor, Specialized

Continuing with the tile upload.

Rich/Castle Tiles:

Please click on image to see it full-size.

  Presets:

Poor/Dilapidated:

Specialized (tailor/weaver; tavern):

Please click on image to see it full-size.

Terms of Service:
Free for use in non-commercial VX/VXAce projects with credit. Contact me privately for use in commercial projects.

Please do not re-distribute or post in other places! Link to my blog/post instead.

Back and tiles

Eep, I just noticed it's been well over a month since I've posted an update. Between work, life and health keeping me busy these past few weeks, I've barely had time to breathe. But I'm finally back on track (I hope!) and catching up on various projects.

Several people have had issues downloading from Photobucket, and I'm really tired of trying to constantly switch links etc only to have Photobucket screw it up again with a new beta build. So, I'm going to be slowly reposting my resources in my blog and give you all an extra download option.

I don't want to overwhelm the blog with a ton of pictures, so they will be released in batches.

Common/Middle Class Setting:
~Living Room~

~Kitchen~

~Bedroom~

 ~Various~

 ~Windows and Walls~

Terms of Service:
Free for use in non-commercial VX/VXAce projects with credit. Contact me privately for use in commercial projects.

Please do not re-distribute or post in other places! Link to my blog/post instead.

TF: Fancy Lamps

This week, I have a set of fancy floor lamps for you:

Terms: Free for non-commercial use in any of Enterbrain's RPG Maker programs.
Do not repost/redistribute! Link to this blog post instead.
Credits: Lunarea

Download Link

I have added a new download link for chapters 1 and 2 of TUAH:
Click here
(you will need to be registered and signed into the official RM forums)

Note that this is still the VX version and that I'm in the process of remaking the project in Ace. It's still a couple hours worth of play, though, and I think it's pretty fun.

Other than that, this week's updates are being delayed slightly. It was a very busy work week. Also, I'm fighting some kind of flu or cold (or something). Trying to rest, but it's still pretty miserable ...

Weekly Progress: Mapping

I've slowly started putting together a tileset for the inside of buildings in the starter town (Burgunda Port). It's still very much a work-in-progress, but it's getting there:

I've still got to change the floors (they're a bit too matchy) and the drawer handles on the cabinets.

I'm also finding it more difficult to reuse the old TUAH maps because the new sprite base is taller. Walking around on the old maps basically looks like walking around munchkin-land. It's not a huge change (a few pixels here, a few there), but it's enough to have me reconsider some of the maps I'd planned.

Other than that, I've made very little progress. It's been a busy week in other ways for me, and next update will also probably be somewhat brief as well. -_-

However, I hope to make it up with some extra resources soon. I've been working on a few fun things I think you'll like. :)

TFR: Fantasy Tree

This week's resource is a curly fantasy tree:

Terms: Free for non-commercial use in any of Enterbrain's RPG Maker programs.
Do not repost/redistribute! Link to this blog post instead.
Credits: Lunarea

Thursday's Freebie: Sparkles 2

I missed the update on Thursday, so you get it a few days later:

Glow-y witch battler.

Here's how she looks with a dark background:

Terms: Same as the RTP EULA.
No need to credit.
You may repost elsewhere, but please link to my blog if you do so.

Weekly Progress: Sprites

I've started spriting some characters. Instead of doing NPCs, I figured it would work better to start with the main characters.

So, after much time and several hand/wrist cramps, here are Alistair and Claudia:

 They now match their portraits/faces (Yay!).

The rest of the week was pretty much spent on some requests/commissions and work.


Not much of an update, but I'm pretty tired today.

Weekly Progress - Details

As last week, the bulk of my work in TUAH has been on the database. I finally mostly finished the iconset - with the exception of the little NPC face icons that will be used for the quest interface.

Screenshot of the menu:

 As you can see, I have all kinds of fun little icons that make the standard VXAce menu seem more exciting.

Next week, I plan to get into spriting. I need to get started on making NPCs - as there's a giant variety of those in the game. I will post some NPC designs in the next update.

Free Battler

Yet another Thursday freebie for you all!

This time, it's a sparkly female battler:

There's actually quite a few shiny effects that are hard to see with the white background, so here's how the battler looks on a dark background:

All shiny and sparkly.

Terms: Same as the RTP EULA.
No need to credit.
You may repost elsewhere, but please link to my blog if you do so.

Weekly Progress: Cast Changes

I finished Claudia's faceset and expressions last week. They turned out just fabulously, of course, and allowed me to make just the perfect expressions for her.

This week, I was all set to start spriting when it struck me that the rest of the cast now looked kind of shabby by comparison. I mean, Claudia gets a custom look and everyone else is just barely re-colored RTP.

And so, I spent a little time and redid the look of everyone else. It was a big move, and I was pretty nervous about the reaction. But I ran it by some friends first, and they were all supportive (thanks a bunch Ronove, Volrath and RavenTDA!). I decided I'm going through with it, and now I'm happily spriting away the new cast.

New Cordelia:

She has pretty curly hair, now. 

She's also a little older, because it was just way too creepy to write her as a romantic interest otherwise.

New Penelope:

That's actually how she looks in all my concept sketches, and stuff. But I didn't find a sprite or portrait that matched at the time.

New and much-hotter Alistair:

Long hair! *swoon*

Special thanks to Jalen, here, since I pretty much used her awesome Dominic portrait.

And lookie, young Alistair:

Can you believe this young little guy saved the world?

The rest of the time has been spent organizing the database (will it ever be done?!? ;_;), making some awesome new icons and working on the inner tavern map.

Wild West

Continuing with the wild wild west theme and bringing you some more furniture:

Enjoy, and don't forget to credit me!

Terms: Free for non-commercial use in any of Enterbrain's RPG Maker programs.
Do not repost/redistribute! Link to this blog post instead.
Credits: Lunarea

Title Woes

Working on the title screen, not sure which version I like best.

Version 1: Mostly bits and pieces from the RTP.

Version 2: Mostly custom with RTP sword and an "old page" textured background. Also, dragons. Not that there are any dragons in the game, really. They just look cool.

Version 3: Sparkles. 'cause sparkles...

  

At the moment, I'm leaning toward 3. But that might change in the morning. >_>

----
Edit:
After taking in all suggestions and opinions, I've come up with a final version: