Support NeoGAF

[electroflame]

Loading a new level shader:

Overkill? Should I tone down the tiling and separation? Tone down the color separation? Use it on all objects or just some in the loading phase?

I actually really dig it. I don't think it's overkill at all, although my opinion might change if you load into levels frequently.

EDIT: Woops, top of the page. I'd better quote the image for reference...

 

[timetokill]

The last five impressions of my game have gone as such: "It's pretty good but I found this bug."

I thought I was basically done with the game on Saturday or Sunday, but I've spent all week fixing bugs.

I finally understand why games take so long to come out after they go into beta. If there are this many bugs in my little puzzle game, I can't imagine how many bugs there are in a big budget console title.

Just remember: the last 10% takes 50% of the overall time.

 

[Jacksinthe]

I actually really dig it. I don't think it's overkill at all, although my opinion might change if you load into levels frequently.

EDIT: Woops, top of the page. I'd better quote the image for reference...

It's meant for the first time you load any level and after continuing. Lives are run in-line in the game, currently. So, unless you hit the continue screen a lot - then you're only going to see it for as many levels as there are in the game. Only new levels, any cuts between areas of a level won't be using the shader - I figure the level is already "loaded"

I can also randomize it a bit more so that not every object in the viewport loads using that shader to lessen the effect for greater impact of the initial load if not everything uses the shader. Maybe like 30% of the objects will be just enough to direct the user's eyes.

 

[Jellycrackers]

Does anyone have any experience with the Indie Team Up site linked in the OP? I want to start to put my feelers out for people to help with my game, primarily artists to do the character sprite work and the level art. I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start the hunt since it's technically not a paying gig ATM.

The project is a side thing for me -- I work full-time as a software engineer for a non-gaming company -- but I'm thinking about working on putting together a Kickstarter campaign for it once I get things rolling. In a perfect world, I'd at least have some concept art together, the gameplay details nailed down, and maybe possibly even a single playable stage to use for the pitch video.

To you folks who have done the Kickstarter or Greenlight thing, any tips for success?

I just signed up on Indie Teamup to see if any teams need a music composer... It can't hurt to at least try since it's free to use.

 

[Burt]

Does anyone have any experience with the Indie Team Up site linked in the OP? I want to start to put my feelers out for people to help with my game, primarily artists to do the character sprite work and the level art. I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start the hunt since it's technically not a paying gig ATM.

The project is a side thing for me -- I work full-time as a software engineer for a non-gaming company -- but I'm thinking about working on putting together a Kickstarter campaign for it once I get things rolling. In a perfect world, I'd at least have some concept art together, the gameplay details nailed down, and maybe possibly even a single playable stage to use for the pitch video.

To you folks who have done the Kickstarter or Greenlight thing, any tips for success?

This might be a bit pessimistic, but I think looking for art based solely on the promise of future pay, whether that's revenue share or a future crowdfunding campaign, is generally a losing proposition. Most artists that you would actually want to do art for your game wouldn't bother with a situation like that, and most that would aren't any better than you could be with the help of a few tutorials and a couple months of practice. I know financial constraints are hard (often impossible) to work around, but considering you aren't doing this full-time, it'd almost certainly be more beneficial in the long run if you either saved up money for a few months to hire an artist, or spent those months practicing your own skills.

As for Kickstarter/Greenlight, read this: Lobster Sundew's Kickstarter Guide

Read all of it, and take a lot of notes.

The most important part of the Kickstarter, maybe the only things that matter, are the art and music in the trailer. Everything else is necessary, but if you lack a trailer with some real verve, you're in trouble no matter what's underneath it. Make sure you get a lot of feedback on your trailer, and if you have the luxury, make sure that it's overwhelmingly positive.

In an ideal world, you'd be able to do a PR/marketing rush 2-3 months before you launch your campaign. If it sticks, you know you're on the right track. If you can't get any traction from media outlets, you should definitely reexamine your approach. It's a rare Kickstarter that gets its audience after it launches.

 

[Jobbs]

hey guys. I'm updating the ghost song beta build on monday, and in advance of that I've taken the liberty of capturing some raw footage showcasing new stuff.



if you don't want to play the beta again (or at all) or are curious to see what I've been up to, I'd love to hear your feedback. framerate derps are primarily fraps chugging me for whatever reason.

Link

There's a little new content (as you can see in the video) but generally most the changes are visual or quality of life. The blue overlay is gone, and the game looks more organic and colorful now. There's less (but still some) noise. There's also the ability to custom map gamepad controls.

On monday this update will drop on Steam and I'll be uploading a more slickly edited, shorter trailer for the general public.

 

[SeanNoonan]

A little update - the latest version of the soundtrack is up!

Jack B. Nimble Soundtrack

Enjoy

 

[akachan ningen]

hey guys. I'm updating the ghost song beta build on monday, and in advance of that I've taken the liberty of capturing some raw footage showcasing new stuff.



if you don't want to play the beta again (or at all) or are curious to see what I've been up to, I'd love to hear your feedback. framerate derps are primarily fraps chugging me for whatever reason.

Link

There's a little new content (as you can see in the video) but generally most the changes are visual or quality of life. The blue overlay is gone, and the game looks more organic and colorful now. There's less (but still some) noise. There's also the ability to custom map gamepad controls.

On monday this update will drop on Steam and I'll be uploading a more slickly edited, shorter trailer for the general public.

How can I play the beta?

 

[Jobbs]

How can I play the beta?

it's a backer tier. also I sometimes have giveaways of steam keys. I gave away a bunch when the beta first went up. I may give away a few more on monday but I think I overdid it last time since I do want the backers to feel special. it's a tough balance to strike.

 

[F-Pina]

Congrats on the mobile launch!

And as a fellow portuguese and aspiring indie dev I'll buy it. The game looks great and it's in Lisbon, it's a no brainer.

Thanks man!
Since we launched yesterday, Android pirate copies are everywhere. I knew piracy on Android was bad but it is absolutely fucking ridiculous how blatant it is.

 

[Feep]

What's weird is, like...how many laypeople even know how to pirate Android stuff? It really hammers home how few people are willing to spend any money at all.

 

[Five]

I live in Orange County, California where it's hard to even find someone who uses Android, but everyone I know who uses it pirates their apps. It's pathetic. Never underestimate how cheap high school students are.

 

[whiteape]

Some GameSalad users here? Seems like GS released games from users for Amazon Fire Phones without the creators permission for free. Crazy.

http://2dgameartforprogrammers.blogspot.tw/2015/01/wtf-is-gamesalad-thinking.html?m=1

 

[Mr. Virus]

Looks awesome!

Cheers very much! Your game reminds me of 90's adventure games, nailed the art style with it !

A little update - the latest version of the soundtrack is up!

Jack B. Nimble Soundtrack

Enjoy

Sounds awesome! Didn't know it was one of the Gamewank guys doing your music either ha ha.

Loading a new level shader:

Overkill? Should I tone down the tiling and separation? Tone down the color separation? Use it on all objects or just some in the loading phase?

The effect in general is cool, but IMO it's a bit much. Maybe use it on some objects (such as the foreground stuff) like you said?

 

[Kritz]

Loading a new level shader:

Overkill? Should I tone down the tiling and separation? Tone down the color separation? Use it on all objects or just some in the loading phase?

no such thing as overkill. (but maybe throw control over to the player a bit earlier so they get to run around while the shader's still kicking)

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

What's weird is, like...how many laypeople even know how to pirate Android stuff? It really hammers home how few people are willing to spend any money at all.

It's as easy as PC piracy of non-copy protected software - you type in the name on a torrent site or whatever, download the .apk, put it on your phone then run it.

 

[Feep]

I suppose. But so many people have Android phones, and so few even know how to torrent, it seems...I guess the overlap between game players and the technically competent is high.

 

[Sword Familiar]

hey guys. I'm updating the ghost song beta build on monday, and in advance of that I've taken the liberty of capturing some raw footage showcasing new stuff.

http://fat.gfycat.com/FickleFrailAfricanporcupine.gif

if you don't want to play the beta again (or at all) or are curious to see what I've been up to, I'd love to hear your feedback. framerate derps are primarily fraps chugging me for whatever reason.

Link

There's a little new content (as you can see in the video) but generally most the changes are visual or quality of life. The blue overlay is gone, and the game looks more organic and colorful now. There's less (but still some) noise. There's also the ability to custom map gamepad controls.

On monday this update will drop on Steam and I'll be uploading a more slickly edited, shorter trailer for the general public.

I just want to say that I'm impressed with what you've accomplished so far. As I personally backed this game, it's good to see that you are putting the money to good use, and judging from your updates I can see that you are putting a lot of effort into improving this game. The atmosphere is amazing. I can't wait to see the finished product. That said though, I hope you take your time in making the product as good as you can. I personally don't mind waiting if I know you're hard at work improving the game.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

I suppose. But so many people have Android phones, and so few even know how to torrent, it seems...I guess the overlap between game players and the technically competent is high.

It's exactly the same market problems PC gaming had before Steam arguably 'solved' it - even people completely tech-unsavvy know someone who is who will happily load up an SD card with games and apps for them, and for areas of mass endemic piracy like china there are just apps you can install which work like storefronts and just rehost pirate copies for anyone with the app to download.

I've made the correlation before, but don't really have enough scientific data to prove it, but piracy rates on completely drm free PC titles or android titles is basically the same percentiles (the high 90s) as F2P players who never pay anything, except f2p models assume a monetisation rate of ~3% of the userbase and use the people prepared to pay to subsidise those who don't.

I've definitely seen data that suggests ad-supported with IAPs is the best way to make money on the Android platform rather than pay to play, no matter how much as 'real gamers' we might balk at that being the optimal model.

 

[akachan ningen]

it's a backer tier. also I sometimes have giveaways of steam keys. I gave away a bunch when the beta first went up. I may give away a few more on monday but I think I overdid it last time since I do want the backers to feel special. it's a tough balance to strike.

I see. I missed the KS for this game. But hey what they don't know won't hurt them right?

 

[superNESjoe]

We're ready to start revealing/talking about our next game, and it's a pretty big leap from GunWorld.

Bashketball 2015 is a 2D arcade-sports game that mixes Basketball, Volleyball, and Cage Fighting into one huge super-sport. We're going with a kind of hybrid hand-drawn/paper cut-out visual style, something really colorful and sharp. Here's a screenshot taken from our current build. We only have two characters currently playable, and the one blocked off with a ? is super top secret.

We're still really early. Combat is barely implemented, but the core mechanics are all there. You can shoot, dunk, volley, and steal the ball. The basic game actually kind of works like Pong, since no button press is required to volley the ball away from your net. You simply have to position yourself in front of the ball, if it collides with you it's an automatic volley.

 

[bumpkin]

This might be a bit pessimistic, but I think looking for art based solely on the promise of future pay, whether that's revenue share or a future crowdfunding campaign, is generally a losing proposition. Most artists that you would actually want to do art for your game wouldn't bother with a situation like that, and most that would aren't any better than you could be with the help of a few tutorials and a couple months of practice. I know financial constraints are hard (often impossible) to work around, but considering you aren't doing this full-time, it'd almost certainly be more beneficial in the long run if you either saved up money for a few months to hire an artist, or spent those months practicing your own skills.

As for Kickstarter/Greenlight, read this: Lobster Sundew's Kickstarter Guide

Read all of it, and take a lot of notes.

The most important part of the Kickstarter, maybe the only things that matter, are the art and music in the trailer. Everything else is necessary, but if you lack a trailer with some real verve, you're in trouble no matter what's underneath it. Make sure you get a lot of feedback on your trailer, and if you have the luxury, make sure that it's overwhelmingly positive.

In an ideal world, you'd be able to do a PR/marketing rush 2-3 months before you launch your campaign. If it sticks, you know you're on the right track. If you can't get any traction from media outlets, you should definitely reexamine your approach. It's a rare Kickstarter that gets its audience after it launches.

Thanks for the insight. Yeah, I can't say I've never known any artist personally who was like "Sure, I'll do stuff for the promise of money later". I was just thinking if I'm willing to put in time on the side with the coding, surely there has to be someone out there willing to do the same with art. I did used to draw a lot when I was younger, wasn't ever really big on the fundamentals though; I never did rough sketches and fleshed things out later. My drawings were always clean lines and details from the outset. I chalk it up to my touch of OCD that made imperfections and erase marks huge eyesores. Never fancied myself as being very imaginative or creative either. I was very good at looking at others' art and re-drawing it by eye, but that's about the extent of it.

So yeah, I guess in short, I *could* make an attempt at doing the art myself, I'm just not confident I'd get anywhere even if I devoted weeks or months to it. That's why my first instinct was to seek out someone to whom art is their first language in a manner of speaking. It would certainly yield better results.

Thanks for the link to the guide on KS/GL pitches. I'll definitely give it a look and make some notes for ideas and principles to apply to my own.

hey guys. I'm updating the ghost song beta build on monday, and in advance of that I've taken the liberty of capturing some raw footage showcasing new stuff.



if you don't want to play the beta again (or at all) or are curious to see what I've been up to, I'd love to hear your feedback. framerate derps are primarily fraps chugging me for whatever reason.

Link

There's a little new content (as you can see in the video) but generally most the changes are visual or quality of life. The blue overlay is gone, and the game looks more organic and colorful now. There's less (but still some) noise. There's also the ability to custom map gamepad controls.

On monday this update will drop on Steam and I'll be uploading a more slickly edited, shorter trailer for the general public.

Swanky! Looking forward to it!

 

[timetokill]

We're ready to start revealing/talking about our next game, and it's a pretty big leap from GunWorld.

Bashketball 2015 is a 2D arcade-sports game that mixes Basketball, Volleyball, and Cage Fighting into one huge super-sport. We're going with a kind of hybrid hand-drawn/paper cut-out visual style, something really colorful and sharp. Here's a screenshot taken from our current build. We only have two characters currently playable, and the one blocked off with a ? is super top secret.

We're still really early. Combat is barely implemented, but the core mechanics are all there. You can shoot, dunk, volley, and steal the ball. The basic game actually kind of works like Pong, since no button press is required to volley the ball away from your net. You simply have to position yourself in front of the ball, if it collides with you it's an automatic volley.

awesome! I love sports-inspired games. I've had an idea for a sports-ish game kind of inspired by blood bowl. I'm always down for this kind of stuff.

 

[Jobbs]

I just want to say that I'm impressed with what you've accomplished so far. As I personally backed this game, it's good to see that you are putting the money to good use, and judging from your updates I can see that you are putting a lot of effort into improving this game. The atmosphere is amazing. I can't wait to see the finished product. That said though, I hope you take your time in making the product as good as you can. I personally don't mind waiting if I know you're hard at work improving the game.

thank you. I frequently feel guilty that it's taking so long to deliver (in part because of the scope of the game and my own inexperience, in part because of mistakes made early in) but I feel like as long as it comes out well people will be satisfied. that's usually the sentiment expressed by backers.

I see. I missed the KS for this game. But hey what they don't know won't hurt them right?

like I said, I may give away some more keys on monday if there's much interest. shtay tuned.

Swanky! Looking forward to it!

thanks

 

[Candescence]

thank you. I frequently feel guilty that it's taking so long to deliver (in part because of the scope of the game and my own inexperience, in part because of mistakes made early in) but I feel like as long as it comes out well people will be satisfied. that's usually the sentiment expressed by backers.

That's the spirit. It can't be helped when you're doing both the programming and the art and whatnot all by yourself, Noogie and Pixel can attest to how long THAT can take. But sometimes, for the multi-talented like yourself, doing both gameplay and visuals makes it easier to create what you're visualizing in your head, I'd imagine. As long as the end result is great, well, I don't think people will complain.

 

[Jobbs]

That's the spirit. It can't be helped when you're doing both the programming and the art and whatnot all by yourself, Noogie and Pixel can attest to how long THAT can take. But sometimes, for the multi-talented like yourself, doing both gameplay and visuals makes it easier to create what you're visualizing in your head, I'd imagine. As long as the end result is great, well, I don't think people will complain.

there's definitely a certain efficiency in not having to communicate or deal with people or get through various disagreements, but with that efficiency comes a ceiling in overall productivity.

BTW, Ghost Song is featured in next month's Game Informer. I think it takes up a whole page.

 

[Jacksinthe]

there's definitely a certain efficiency in not having to communicate or deal with people or get through various disagreements, but with that efficiency comes a ceiling in overall productivity.

BTW, Ghost Song is featured in next month's Game Informer. I think it takes up a whole page.

I concur and it should take 2. Deserved, IMO.

 

[kiguel182]

Thanks man!
Since we launched yesterday, Android pirate copies are everywhere. I knew piracy on Android was bad but it is absolutely fucking ridiculous how blatant it is.

As an android user/dev that's really sad. Specially when games on the platform are already really cheap.

But I'll be sure to buy it when I can. I'm toying with the idea of doing a simple point and click game next and I'm interested to see how one could work on a tablet. I actually had your game on my Steam wishlist and didn't know it was coming to Android, it was a nice surprise.

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

BTW, Ghost Song is featured in next month's Game Informer. I think it takes up a whole page.

That's awesome. I'd frame that shit and hang it up on my living room wall.

 

[Nätso]

That's why my first instinct was to seek out someone to whom art is their first language in a manner of speaking.

What kind of game are you looking to develop?

I wouldn't call myself a phenomenal artist, but I do have a degree in Game Design and I'd wager that my art is at least better than average. I was actually in the planning stages of my own concept and not having to do everything single-handedly would be nice.

My website is down at the moment but if you're interested, I can create a demo piece from scratch?

 

[timetokill]

BTW, Ghost Song is featured in next month's Game Informer. I think it takes up a whole page.

That's so cool. Congratulations!

 

[Feep]

there's definitely a certain efficiency in not having to communicate or deal with people or get through various disagreements, but with that efficiency comes a ceiling in overall productivity.

BTW, Ghost Song is featured in next month's Game Informer. I think it takes up a whole page.

Grats! You deserve it!

 

[bad guy]

This is my 3rd game. It's smaller than my previous games; Only took me ~12h all together.
I wanted to do a simple game with Red/Blue/Black/White colour scheme. It worked out well.

Lo-fi arcade, home made

Download [2mb]

Press SPACE to cycle the white bar on the sides.
Keep the ball in play, and demolish red lines.

 

[bumpkin]

What kind of game are you looking to develop?

I wouldn't call myself a phenomenal artist, but I do have a degree in Game Design and I'd wager that my art is at least better than average. I was actually in the planning stages of my own concept and not having to do everything single-handedly would be nice.

My website is down at the moment but if you're interested, I can create a demo piece from scratch?

Well, I know the genre has been done to death as of late, but it's where my heart is when it comes to favorite genres; I was working on making a run, jump & shoot style game ala Mega Man. I'm still brainstorming ideas about a unique twist to give the game its own flavor, mainly just working on the coding right now.

 

[akachan ningen]

This is my 3rd game. It's smaller than my previous games; Only took me ~12h all together.
I wanted to do a simple game with Red/Blue/Black/White colour scheme. It worked out well.

Lo-fi arcade, home made

Download [2mb]

Press SPACE to cycle the white bar on the sides.
Keep the ball in play, and demolish red lines.

The ball keeps getting stuck in the paddle.

It would be so much easier to play if the bars just rotated clockwise instead of this asymmetric pattern.

 

[mantrakid]

Yo guys, was curious if maybe someone can give me a hand with something.. Basically im trying to make 'off-screen indicators' but i can only get as far as making it work as long as my Y coordinate is 'up' / my X coordinate is perfectly horizontal. The minute i start to rotate, then Y/X become arbitrary and the position to the viewport no longer works properly (its placing it outside of the visible area because it thinks its inside the visible area, but at the wrong angle...)

Does anyone know what I can do to account for the angle shift? Let me know if that makes sense...

Thank you so much in advance if anyone can get me out of this jam.

http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com...-to-point-to-off-screen-targets--gamedev-6644

 

[MagicD]

hey guys. I'm updating the ghost song beta build on monday, and in advance of that I've taken the liberty of capturing some raw footage showcasing new stuff.



if you don't want to play the beta again (or at all) or are curious to see what I've been up to, I'd love to hear your feedback. framerate derps are primarily fraps chugging me for whatever reason.

Link

There's a little new content (as you can see in the video) but generally most the changes are visual or quality of life. The blue overlay is gone, and the game looks more organic and colorful now. There's less (but still some) noise. There's also the ability to custom map gamepad controls.

On monday this update will drop on Steam and I'll be uploading a more slickly edited, shorter trailer for the general public.

Damn! This looks pretty awesome! Nice work.

 

[bkw]

Yo guys, was curious if maybe someone can give me a hand with something.. Basically im trying to make 'off-screen indicators' but i can only get as far as making it work as long as my Y coordinate is 'up' / my X coordinate is perfectly horizontal. The minute i start to rotate, then Y/X become arbitrary and the position to the viewport no longer works properly (its placing it outside of the visible area because it thinks its inside the visible area, but at the wrong angle...)

Does anyone know what I can do to account for the angle shift? Let me know if that makes sense...

Thank you so much in advance if anyone can get me out of this jam.

http://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com...-to-point-to-off-screen-targets--gamedev-6644

Not too experienced with this, but can you transform the off-screen thing's position into the camera's local space? Then X/Y will be horizontal/vertical and it should work?

 

[mantrakid]

Not too experienced with this, but can you transform the off-screen thing's position into the camera's local space? Then X/Y will be horizontal/vertical and it should work?

not really, technically there is no camera local space per se.. the viewport and definitions of ViewportLeft, ViewportRight, etc are already doing that but thats the issue, its totally independent from whats actually on the screen...

if that makes sense...

it doesnt even to me anymore..

I feel like im close in understanding the trigonometry of it..

I know the layer is rotated by LayerAngle degrees, so now im trying to determine if i can use sine + cosine to modify the original Viewport X & Y coordinates to "NewViewport" X & Y coordinates. i feel like thats the right path, but i think im still outside of the gate....

 

[bkw]

not really, technically there is no camera local space per se.. the viewport and definitions of ViewportLeft, ViewportRight, etc are already doing that but thats the issue, its totally independent from whats actually on the screen...

if that makes sense...

it doesnt even to me anymore..

I feel like im close in understanding the trigonometry of it..

I know the layer is rotated by LayerAngle degrees, so now im trying to determine if i can use sine + cosine to modify the original Viewport X & Y coordinates to "NewViewport" X & Y coordinates. i feel like thats the right path, but i think im still outside of the gate....

Hmm. Not familiar with Construct 2. What does ViewportLeft/Right/etc represent? Are your off screen indicators going to positioned in screen space? Or in the same space as the rotated layer?

 

[Korten]

Hello!

I haven't posted in this OT yet, only in the last one. Some may remember I was working on a RPG maker game and progress has slowed, but I come here seeking opinion on something since it's something sort of drastic.

See, up till now I used ingame sprites for enemy battlers, which meant they were fully animated. This is great but also very limiting, see I'm not great into spriting, still very much a novice. So this limits me to what enemies I can use by what I have.

Now I seek to do this...

This is how it currently looks:

How I imagine it:

Standard not moving sprites. However I have a lot more of these than I do have of ingame monster sprites.

I also can then do this...

(Left: Original, Right: Edited)

Edit: I also attempt a sort of overhaul, by trying to take the pre-made skeleton sprite and make it look like one of my enemies:

Edit 2: Also an attempt at drawing in what is missing:

Yeah it's recolors and minor edits, but I'm learning. I feel as though I can do a lot more with these... Just wondering if I can get some opinions on this.

 

[akachan ningen]

Hello!

I haven't posted in this OT yet, only in the last one. Some may remember I was working on a RPG maker game and progress has slowed, but I come here seeking opinion on something since it's something sort of drastic.

See, up till now I used ingame sprites for enemy battlers, which meant they were fully animated. This is great but also very limiting, see I'm not great into spriting, still very much a novice. So this limits me to what enemies I can use by what I have.

Now I seek to do this...

Standard not moving sprites. However I have a lot more of these than I do have of ingame monster sprites.

I also can then do this...

(Left: Original, Right: Edited)



Edit: I also attempt a sort of overhaul, by trying to take the pre-made skeleton sprite and make it look like one of my enemies:

Yeah it's recolors and minor edits, but I'm learning. I feel as though I can do a lot more with these... Just wondering if I can get some opinions on this.

RPG maker won't let you make your own sprites and animate them? If there is a way, you should just try it. It's not as hard as it looks, it just takes time. Even if it's just 2 frames of animation, it can still look good.

 

[Korten]

RPG maker won't let you make your own sprites and animate them? If there is a way, you should just try it. It's not as hard as it looks, it just takes time. Even if it's just 2 frames of animation, it can still look good.

No it isn't like that. It's more like I have not built a sprite from the ground up. While I could probably
animate things like humanoid enemies, monsters is way out of my league.

 

[akachan ningen]

No it isn't like that. It's more like I have not built a sprite from the ground up. While I could probably
animate things like humanoid enemies, monsters is way out of my league.

But you did that one on the bottom right? Even if you just trace over old sprites like that, it's still a legit way to do it. It looks good to me. I think just give it a shot.

 

[Korten]

But you did that one on the bottom right? Even if you just trace over old sprites like that, it's still a legit way to do it. It looks good to me. I think just give it a shot.

Yes but... There's also the issue of size. See, all the sprites are the same size, so even a dragon would be the size of the player character... And if I try and change the size, then it creates an issue of size since the script I'm using is mean't for a very specific kind of size.

Static images do not have this issue.

 

[akachan ningen]

RPG maker sounds like a pain

 

[Pehesse]

I seem to recall free easy to use scripts to handle different sprite sizes in RPGMaker Ace, but yeah, it feels bit limiting at first. Maybe look for those before delving too deep?
I'd recommend looking into scripts first anyway, to prepare a suitable "engine" for your game in RMK according to your needs (or what you think you'll need) - it's better to do it early and remove what's not necessary, than forcefully put stuff in later on and risk breaking every earlier thing, I found.

In other news, I know WIP visual novel stuff is not the most exciting thing to showcase out of context, but it's still new animation, so here, a small sample, with the complete thing here.

 

[plagiarize]

Pehesse, Korten, Jobbs, Absinthe and many others...

Your work impresses the hell out of me, and that you have all made me feel welcome in this thread as I work on my one man, first time, pet project means a heck of a lot to me.

I'm going to be putting up some videos of the current level soon, so you can see the last week or so's work. I'm really happy with how this one is turning out. There's some surprisingly 'gamey' things in here.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

I feel as though I can do a lot more with these... Just wondering if I can get some opinions on this.

You're obviously aping the style of early FFs, which barely used any animations in their battle scenes for enemies at all - you might be overthinking this.

super quick and crappy mockup to show you what I mean, or just go back and rewatch some early FFs to see how much they skimped on battle scene NPC animations and relied almost entirely on things like spell effects instead

 

[mantrakid]

Hmm. Not familiar with Construct 2. What does ViewportLeft/Right/etc represent? Are your off screen indicators going to positioned in screen space? Or in the same space as the rotated layer?

Well the way I'm doing it now the indicator sprites are being created when an enemy is created and then they're told to be set to the enemy position every frame, so they're on the same space/layer as the enemy. To get them as off screen indicators, I then clamp their position to the viewport which is the visible area. Construct 2 uses those system expressions for that: viewportTop / ViewportLeft / Right / bottom.

The value I would get from viewport top would be the y coordinate of the Topmost line of pixels I see on my screen, so that changes as I move around.

As long as my screen doesn't rotate this is all good and works like a charm, but the minute I rotate 45 degrees, clamping to the ViewPort stops working because only the viewport angle changes but the layer with that enemies and the indicators is still at the 0 degree angle.. So now the coordinates of the viewport are different from the actual game layer if that makes sense. So it's still showing the indicators and positioning them as if my viewport isn't rotated but because the viewport is rotating I can only see them at certain angles.

So I'm thinking I just need some algorithm for accounting for that angle the viewport is changed... But I donno what that would be...

Lemme know what you think (Thanks!!!)