[Kain Nobel]

As you all may or may not know yet, I'm somewhat of an executive concept director of sorts for Project : REGAL !

With that said, I've spent a long time planning out what I would do if I were making my own "RPG Maker", so to speak. One MAJOR thing I've always wanted done different is the whole handling of the Database/Animations tab. While I am sorting out the various settings and functions of animations, both on a cell-by-cell level and as a whole, I've decided to come up with some mock-ups of what I'd do differently...

Fig A


Fig B


Fig C


...Anyways, yeah, that's what I'm hoping we'll be able to accomplish with our new systems.

OH YEAH! Also, layered animations. "Layered, wha, " you ask?! Layered animations!

Animations will consist of...

• Background : Animation cells and timing effects played upon the battle background panorama.
• Floor : Animation cells and timing effects that are played beneath the battlers' very feet.
• User : Animation cells and timing effects that are played upon the user. B-line animations originate at user's coordinate.
• Target(s) : Animation cells and timing effects that are played upon the target(s). Multiple instances of B-line animations will end at the specified target(s).
• Screen : Animation cells and timing effects that are played upon the screen.
• Other : Timing effects applied to target(s) on a frame-by-frame basis, such as damage pops, sound effects, transformations and various other "misc" settings.
  

Just imagine it in action...

The screen goes dark and a gentle rain begins to sprinkle upon the battle field. Our hero Johnny emits a red shimmer, then "BOOM!" A thousand fire balls erupt from his mouth and seek out assholes like the asshole-seeking missiles of hell were programmed to do!

...Also, his friends "faded out" during the animation, but faded back in as soon as it was done. And the screen tone reset back to what it originally was. As did the weather too. And...

What I'm saying is these are all very very easy features to implement, especially upon a layered foundation. I could snap my fingers and have it written in code in two seconds. The more trickier part is building a GUI designed to handle it all, as I don't know how to actually make a GUI program thingamobobber yet.

When we actually get together to build this baby from the ground-on-up, I want it done proper, as it's easier to implement special features earlier than later! Feel free to drop by with some comments, suggestions and/or ideas, we'd love to hear 'em!

[Ace]

Looks and sounds very nice. The idea is great and I hope you can do this just like that!