Thursday Resource Update

Normally, I'd be posting a screenshot of the awesome new tiles I've been working on, but they're not quite ready to be shown just yet.

Instead, I give you something from my vault of "I-made-this-and-never-released-it":

 
Free for use in non-commercial projects (any engine). Just credit me, please, and link to my blog. I'd also appreciate if you didn't repost this elsewhere. :)

Weekly Progress - Week 3

Despite a rather busy work week, I actually managed to get quite a bit of progress done on TUAH.

• I've modified the weapons two characters are using. It actually made a lot of sense, since their home locations have also been changed.
• I've started working on the database. It's going to be a huge undertaking, but I figure that if I take it slow and let LaMia do the bulk of the work (I'm not lazy, I promise!), I can get it done soon enough.
• I've messed around with the enemies in one of the early areas. There's a total of 7, including the area boss. Not too shabby for the first area you encounter.
• I had an awesome dream and it spurred an idea to start the game with a (hopefully) fun mini-game of sorts. I think you'll enjoy it, anyway. I just hope I don't have to spend multiple hours troubleshooting it.
• I've gone through the plot plan again and added a few more details. I'm going to aim for quality, rather than quantity. Some of the things I've taken out will probably appear in a sequel/prequel – should I decide to do one, anyway. If not, I'll definitely post a short story or two set in the same universe.
• I've started some light mapping:
  
  
  
   This is the revamped and redone version of Burgunda Port, the starting town.
  
   This is a screenshot of Neva Mountains, the first explorable area in the game.

I've also started restructuring the religion in Caeta. Even in its earliest incarnation, Caeta was a polytheistic universe. There were many gods and goddesses, and each town (and village, and some other random locations) had a patron god/goddess. It wasn't always an obvious one, either. For example, Ahmiran is located in the desert. Normally, you'd expect them to worship the god of the sun (or equivalent). However, the patron goddess of Ahmiran was the goddess of plenty – i.e. fertility. Unlike most desert towns where water is a rare and precious comodity, Ahmiran had plentiful water from a nearby mountain spring. (And there was a big long quest associated with this).

And while I absolutely love this idea, the gods and goddesses of other towns weren't as impressive. So, I started thinking about how to change the mythology to make all gods/goddesses more pertinent. And I think I've come up with a solution.

Caeta remains a polytheistic land, but they only worship female goddesses. And goddesses are born from mortals who have met tragic ends. The stars took pity on them and made them a place among them in the night sky, giving them the divine powers to perform miracles.

The tragedy element of the mythology will be very interesting to explore. Some people will use it as a model (becoming martyrs in some ways), and others will use it as a cautionary story of what to avoid. And because of this tragic element, it will be easier to explore the themes of fanaticism – though I'm not telling how fanaticism will play a role in the story, or whether it will play a role at all.

Guide for getting your request filled

I get a lot of requests from people, and I'm often asked why some requests are filled and others not. So, here's your guide to getting a custom-created resource:

 - Make it yourself -

Even if it looks absolutely terrible, try making it yourself. Show that you're willing to spend time on making the resource you need. More times than not, an artist will help you improve your attempt or provide you with a better version.

 - Prioritize -

I often see request threads asking for 10 characters + faces + poses. You don't NEED 20 original and fully custom characters. Yes, it would be nice of you had a custom cast for your game, but it's not going to completely ruin your game if you don't get them right away.

Think about what's important. Your main character is someone that the player will see through the entire game. You should aim for a custom main character and you can make a request thread for that main character. The rest of your cast can be just a little less special.

This point is especially important when it comes to tiles. If I see a request for “sci-fi tileset”, I don't consider doing it. Not because the request is boring, but because a full tileset is months of work and there's no guarantee you'll even be working on that game anymore.

Instead, ask for something that's really essential. For example, one of the requests I filled was for a large standing radio/jukebox. It was only one tile, but it was important to the user's game. I had no problems filling that request.

 - Use placeholders -

One of the things that a lot of artists don't like to see/hear is “Please help me! I can't continue my game without this!!!”

Well, actually, yes you can. And you should. Your game development shouldn't be dependent on whether an artist is feeling generous or inspired at this particular time. Music and visual resources are things that you can replace with relative ease. But things like events, database or general game progression aren't.

Don't use a lack of custom art as an excuse to slack off. Keep working on your game.

 - Settle for less -

It would, of course, be fantastic if you had the best artists on the net making your custom resources. But it's very rare that they'll actually have time to do so. And you also have to remember that regardless of who is making your resource, their efforts are using time and energy. Even if the result is not perfect, please make sure you thank anyone that attempted to help.

What artists hate to see is “No offense, but that's not good enough.” It makes you look like an entitled jerk, and it potentially damages any relationship you had with the artist that tried to help. Thing is, people get better with practice. Maybe a few months down the line, that artist that helped you will see you using their resource and remake it into something better. I've done this several times, myself.

And lower your standards. Really. If the resource looks okay or it can be modified to look okay, use it.

 - Be willing to pay -

Paying for a resource is not a guarantee that you'll get it filled, but it could very well be the deciding factor. Saying that you are willing to pay for a resource is saying that you know the artist's time is valuable, and that you respect that.

But what do you do when you don't have money to spend on a resource? Well, try to find a way to make some. Here are a few possible sources of income:

• Day Temp jobs through a temp agency. These types of jobs are extremely short-term (think a few hours of work) and they don't pay much. However, they would give you just enough cash to pay an artist for their resource.
• Giving blood/plasma. If you're old enough, you can donate about once per month. Not only are you getting money to pay for your resource, but you're helping save someone's life.
• Save money from birthdays/holidays.
• Find a chore or small job you can do for your parents/neighbors/friends/etc and have them pay you: mowing grass, raking the yard, snow shoveling, cleaning bathroom, washing windows, babysitting, etc.
• Find websites like Fiverr, where people pay you for performing, art, marketing, etc.

 - Be an active member of the community -

I cannot stress this one enough. Artists are much more likely to help people who are friends, acquaintances and generally more helpful to the community. No matter how attractive your request is, it's very rare that an artist will pick you over their friend.

If you just come in, make a request thread and never post anything but “bump”, you're basically saying that you have no interest in anyone except for what service they can provide for you. This is just a huge turn-off.

Fairy Set

I've made some progress on other tiles, but nothing entirely worth blogging about. Next week should be less busy for me, so hopefully there will be brand new shiny screenshots to show.

I am, however, going to talk a little bit about the fairy set I will be making.

The participants of the Be my Muse contest all received this image (larger size and no sample text):

This cute little mushroom house is an example of what you can expect in the new set.

Here are some details I'm planning:
- A few types of houses/buildings: mushroom, pinecone/acorn, fruit and gourds.
- Some very large flowers and blades of grass.
- Town decorations: gazebos, lamps, benches
- Magic portal
- Bathing spring
- Cute furniture (maybe some common items used as furniture - like a bed made out of a matchbox, etc.)

More to come as I start making these tiles!~

Weekly Progress: Week 2

Despite a pretty busy schedule, this week was very productive for Twice Upon a Hero:
- Reworked the game intro and first town.
The beginning of TUAH is supposed to teach you about the basics of the game, and yet it doesn't have any exploration, battles or puzzles until you get to the second location. So, that's been changed. The tasks of Burgunda Port will no longer be to just talk to a bunch of NPCs. It will be more exciting (and hopefully more fun).
- Made an amazing concept for one of the final locations.
I can't share what it is, but it's immensely cool. It will take a while to paint the tiles, but I think it will be worth the effort.
- Collected all the scripts I'll be using and started configuring them.
Redoing chapters 1 and 2 took forever because I had decided to upgrade some scripts. I love modern algebra's quest script, so I updated to a newer version mid-production. While it made the game much better, it was also a huge pain to update every script call, quest and switch. Definitely not doing that again!
- Started on the Database.
Another one of those "lessons you learn". I had to redo the database in the last revamp and just thinking about it now gives me a headache. This time around, the database is getting done first.
- Made final versions of the party and started on some NPCs.
 A few of the essential NPCs are complete (Diana, Flora, names-I-can't-mention-yet) and I've started on random villagers.

So cute! Loving this style, now.

And that's my week in a nutshell! There was also quite a bit of planning and discussion done about battles, puzzles, etc, but I'm leaving that for the next update.

Tiles: Roman/Temple

A brief sneak-peek at the new tiles I'm developing right now:

They're roman/temple tiles with tons of statues, stonework and pillars. There will also be some pieces of classic roman furniture.  I'm also thinking about including some devious traps, but there's much pondering to be done there first.

Other tiles I'm working on are the Education/Culture add-on for the Modern Day set. I just may post some screenshots of that set next Thursday. Besides that, I've got 2 other super secret projects that are a little bit different (but just as fun!).

And then there's the winning tiles from Be My Muse contest (still a chance to vote for your favorite!).

Am I busy, or what?

Weekly Progress: Week 1

Now that I've made the decision to port TUAH over to Ace, it feels like starting over - though not quite as daunting.

I spent a little time going through my original notes, and I have to admit that they were way too ambitious. Originally, Caeta featured 250+ locations. I had enough of a plot to span over 30 hours of play, and featuring a staggering 18 chapters. Sometime after finishing chapter 1, I realized that this goal is completely unrealistic for me to achieve - not without sacrificing all the customization I was planning - from graphics to battles and more.

So, I adjusted my original plan a little: cut down to 10 chapters, cut the locations in half and started aiming for 20 hours of play. I stayed pretty true to the story and it seems that people enjoyed playing the first two chapters.

But going through the plan again, it struck me that it's still way too ambitious - especially when it comes to the story and the pacing. You didn't even get to meet some of your party members until chapter 9 - giving you just a chapter and a half to get to know them. Back when the game had 18 chapters, it wasn't a big deal to add the extra party members in chapter 9. You still had half the game to go.

So, I've made some major changes:
- I re-wrote the story.
Chapters 1 and 2 (which is what you can play with the current demo) aren't affected too much, but the later chapters are. I cut out a lot of filler bits and just focused on what's crucial to the story - particularly the ending.
- I cut out a staggering 100 locations.
Some of those locations were places that the player never got to visit - basically only there to show the vastness of the world. And thinking about it, I realized that it might be frustrating to see all these places and never explore them. Other locations were completely side-quest material - meaning that some players wouldn't get to see them either.
- I cut out a ton of features, ideas and quests.
I want to complete Twice Upon a Hero, and I really need to focus on that. I can always add more content via sequels, prequels or even something like DLC.
- I switched to a different sprite style.
TUAH is a bit more serious and dramatic than the cute chibi RTP can potray. So, I've switched to a taller sprite size. It's basically a happy mash of XP and VX/Ace. I think it looks pretty good.
- I am remaking the maps to be different.
This one was a tough decision to make. But taller sprites call for different mapping, and I want to get away from Parallax mapping. I only really used parallax mapping to avoid the VX tileset limitation. Since Ace has no such limitation, I'm going back to tiles.
- I am going to get some help for battles and the database.
As nice as it would be to say "I did this alone", getting help means I get everything done sooner. And that's much more valuable at this point. So, I have LaMia helping, and I might make a recruitment thread at some point for extra bits of help.

And there we have it. My super productive week in a nutshell.

TUAH - Port

Whats this? Two entries in a row?!?

I have a news tidbit I'm excited to share and I just couldn't wait.

After much deliberation, I will be porting Twice Upon a Hero to Ace! I've been going back and forth about this decision since Ace came out, pretty much. I much much much prefer Ace over VX, and switching back to VX to work on TUAH was a bit demotivating.

I also have help from the very talented LaMia, who will be helping me set up the database and transfer events/dialogue/etc over. She's a jack-of-all-trades, so she will also help with graphical transitions.

Speaking of graphics ... Since this new direction is basically like starting over, I've been playing with the idea of maybe going non-RTP with the character style.

This is how the party (well, the party members you've met, anyway) looks like right now:

They look very cute and tiny.

And this is how they could look:

Taller and more detailed.

 Possible armors for Alistair.

I haven't decided which direction to go in, quite yet. LaMia can help redo the NPCs and faces (though most of the faces won't need any adjustment), so it wouldn't be a huge undertaking.

Which version do you prefer?

Regular Updates

Archeia's started a new thread (Game Making Drive - check it out!), and it's inspired me to go back to having regular updates in here. I confess, the blog's been looking pretty sad with just one or two teeny entries per month - most of which have me apologizing for not posting in forever.

So, I'm designating Thursdays and Sundays as my update days. This means that there will be at least one post every week that will talk about what I'm doing. I think I will save Sunday updates for my game updates and Thursdays will be a little of everything. If you readers are interested, I might post same samples of tileset work I'm doing.

I leave you with a screenshot of the updated NPC map I linked in this update.

A quote

“When ego is siphoned off creativity, when creativity becomes one more thing we do, like the laundry, then it takes far less time to do it. Much of our desire for creative time has to do with our trying to coax ourselves into being in the right mood to create. We want to “feel like it,” and when we don’t, or don’t quickly, we think the solution is more time. Actually, the solution is less attention to the vagaries of mood. In short, creativity needs to become something daily, doable, and nonnegotiable, something as quotidian as breathing.
When we make a special occasion out of our art, we rob ourselves of the time we actually have. When we make a ceremony out of the right paper, the right noise level, the right pen and precise circumstance, we are actually creating many false conditions that make our art not more possible but more impossible. “I can’t think when it’s noisy” or “when the kids are home” or “when the phone’s going off.” We may not like thinking under those conditions, but we can think under them and we owe it to ourselves to learn that we can. By making our creativity nonnegotiable, we do it a little every day no matter what our mood and no matter what our judgement of our work. What we are after is the gut-level knowledge that our creativity is both doable and portable.
… The less precious we are about how and when we do our work, the more precious it can be to us. We are like parents who take their infant everywhere. The child learns to thrive in many environments, and so, too, can our brainchild, art.”

- Julia Cameron, The Sound of Paper

A very inspiring quote sent to me by a dear friend. I think this is something I need to reflect on.