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[Devlog] PAUSE & EFFECT

A topic by wei created Feb 06, 2020 Views: 211 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 5
Submitted (1 edit)

so! this is a really late time to start a devlog, but better than never, right?

i'm wei and before jam started, i had a couple years' worth of experience in writing and art, and exactly 0 experience with rpgmaker. anyways, i've gone long enough without talking about what exactly has been going on with the game i'm working on with my boyfriend is, so i'll get right to it. 


PREMISE

you play as an exorcist codenamed Pause in a modern-esque world where seeing ghosts and spirits about is a common occurrence.  as an exorcist, it's your job to eliminate the dead so they won't hinder the living. and there's something... peculiar about pause that lets her track down spirits much more easily than others might. 

one day, you track down what you think is just another exorcism only to find yourself confronted with a strange situation, followed by an unexpected series of events involving another exorcist codenamed Effect

the finished product for game jam is just going to be a demo that hopefully introduces the battle system, basic plot, and characters. it's going to be more story than gameplay focused since i admittedly don't know as much about the rpgmaker battle system as i should, but hopefully anyone who plays it will enjoy nonetheless! 

DEVELOPMENTS SO FAR

i honestly can't remember what exactly happened when, but i'll just list some stuff that we did and the times i think we did it below

days 1-3: finalized story, finalized character designs, wrote down plot summary on a google doc

days 4-7: lots of fussing around with talksprites and the script, map sketches, started on tiles

days 8-now: more talksprites, cutting back on content that'll be going into the gamejam game so as not to get overwhelmed, actual rpgmaker stuff (mapmaking, etc) that i was holding off on because of lack of assets, sprites, thinking about how things will be set up (eg switches, items, etc, etc)


more details below since this post is getting long vvv

Submitted

my boyfriend's been covering tiles while i've been doing most of the other stuff (so programming, character art, etc), and we give each other feedback pretty often. the tilesets for the demo are all pretty much done at this point; here's some examples: 

outstanding. gorgeous. effervescent


meanwhile on my end, i finished sprites and talksprites for pause (main mc) and a portion of the talksprites for effect; i'm currently juggling programming and scripting to get a feel for rpgmaker, progress on the game, and figure out what other talksprites i might need. tomorrow i'll be doing effect's sprites, which should go a lot easier than today (since i just created the base for sprites today)(i really wish school hadn't decided to bite me out of nowhere this week)

don't mind the bad crops, i just wasn't familiar with rpgmaker rules

effect's talksprites are mild spoilers, so here's just a preview of them for now!
Submitted

the text window was also customized & the font changed to better suit the game's mood yesterday! i'm pretty happy with this development since the text box has been bugging me for a while. the game's intro cutscene and temporary flavor text were added as well.  

we'll start exporting tilesets tomorrow, and hopefully i'll be able to get in tile setting tweaking  and actually use our tiles for the map. 

some other minor things needed for tomorrow: 

- npc sprites (static)

- standin talksprite for a certain recurring side character

- solid design concept for the first enemy encountered

- start a tileset for an area that wasn't originally going to make it into the demo (? depends on bf lol)

stuff that should be considered but doesn't have to be done by tomorrow: 

- cg 1 composition ( :) )


gotta go for the day, but hopefully tomorrow we'll have a good amount of stuff to show for it!

Submitted (1 edit)

i forgot to update the log yesterday, but  some standin npc talksprites were finished as well as effect's spritesheet! 

can't remember everything that we did yesterday, honestly, but today will be mostly script finalizing, finishing up effect's talksprites, and then really cracking into the programming. 


Submitted (1 edit)

lots of major developments today! we've admittedly been doing a lot of deadline rushing, but i think everything's gonna turn out okay. hopefully. 

we figured out how to import custom tilesets without completely beefing the tiles (admittedly something that should've been looked up beforehand but my lack of experience with the software led me to think that it was going to be easier) and one of the maps has been nicely renovated. :]

talksprites were also finished and script finalized, meaning tomorrow can be almost all coding for me, and much less stuff on my boyfriend.  i managed to get a general grasp on switches, events, variables, etc today, so hopefully that'll help things along tomorrow. hopefully if i ever join a jam again i won't end up in a crunch like this one...

ignore the empty faces, those are just extra backups

a friend also helped with a really quick, photo-based battle scene background so we won't have to worry about that anymore for the demo battle. really made me consider using photoshop just for the filters.

anyway, stuff for tomorrow is going to be pretty basic since it's basically just wrapping up game development; the following is tomorrow's ideal progression: 

- import remaining custom tilesets

- battle assets/cg (at least a sketch will do)

- programming items/finding a demo title theme on the side

- programming  storyline

- flavor text (my favorite)


just one last push!!