Destiny of End
08-19-2018, 07:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-19-2018, 07:58 PM by Bounty Hunter Lani.)
"We Dragons have elevated this man, knowing he was The Reaper. Now The Reaper has come to collect on all of US.
Today I bite The Reaper. I hope my comrades will follow, and my impending death will not be in vain. But many have been too trusting, and won't fight back. They'll accept their fate. Accept The Reaper's 'judgment.'
But not I. Let my fearsome cries be heard 'round the world, through The Fog and through the brainwashed masses."
- Karus Alistar, from portion of letter to his daughter Kara Alistar
I wanted to give an update on what's been going on lately, and the choices I've been considering/making.
Issue A: Due to all of the Animated Battlers problems, I've had to consider multiple options that can hopefully resolve or simplify the issue.
These include:
1 - Revert to default battle system. This would make resource hunting SLIGHTLY easier, and art would be easier to ask for than multi-frame animated battlers. HOWEVER, the quality of the images would have to be consistent, lest it be criticized to the max. And THAT is an issue that would be created by this option.
2 - Start a GoFundMe to get funding for an artist to make animated battlers, keeping the system in place and greatly improving the quality of the game itself
3 - Instead of "Animated" battlers, perhaps they could all be "still" like in old RPGs, and move forward for attacks? That'd be even easier to make than the default battlers. Likely to cost less as well, and weapons could even be added in place of others with some sort of visual system!
4 - Try to skip rocks in a pond and maybe if I can skip the rock 8 times, a magical spirit will come out of the water and grant me a wish, to where I will wish for a million dollars to fund my game with a professional team on Unity, and not have to worry about any of this stuff because it's all taken care of, and I can just focus on the story and systems I want implemented.
Yeah, that last one's not likely. But what can I do? Animated battlers aren't being made much anymore, unless you want 5 different sizes of battlers with incomplete animations from "off" online sources that claim their battler is unique, only to find out a month later that it's from Dragon Warrior 2 or something.
I don't have funds, so GoFundMe seems like a viable option for a battler artist, but what solution would I have to do?
I'm leaning towards option #3, simply because the visual aspect of having different weapons sounds SO COOL. Heck, it gives me so many ideas on what I could do with the system! It'd also feel fairly "Retro", so perhaps that might be a good step in that direction. An expansive game with a retro Final Fantasy type feel to it. Just uhh... not so pixelated?
What do you think I should do? Would I get ANY support if I started a GoFundMe, or is that a longshot?
Issue B: The Dragon Lore is all written, but I'm not sure how I want to release it. I have questions-- mostly to myself.
Do I release the lore in parts? What do I want to allow to be known? Should it be mostly history with their traits mixed in, or should I emphasize the traits more?
Should I even mention the history?
WHAT DO.
Issue C: I have fixed a lot of script issues I previously had. Some were user error (Like the poisons script causing SP damage because I didn't place Nil in the SP portion) and some were bug-related, to which were fixed. I will be adding in more and more scripts as I get to the parts where I need them.
Example - I won't need to make sure the Vehicles work until I get an actual vehicle in the world map via story. I know it's best to make sure it works right now, but I have a lot on my plate already, so I've been taking an approach of "We'll see when we get there", which has left me with much more work ethic.
I haven't been sidetracked by a boss battle's event not working properly. I haven't been sidetracked by an event towards the end of the game, or the third continent's map. I'm doing it as I go, since I am only one person. It's led me to being able to get a lot of the story done and text actually written.
Issue D: Balancing has been an issue that has been on my mind for a while. I don't want someone being able to get to level 25 and one-shot an Ice-type boss that I expected you to be at level 10, because they learned Firojinx at level 25 and upgraded it to max with 200 Fire Stones they grinded for a few hours, beating up 1000+ Squirrelmon5000s next to the second town, ALL BECAUSE I made them drop Fire Stones at a 5% rate and give the best exp in the area. That can't happen, ya know?
I've been considering:
1 - Caps on certain skills by certain points
2 - Learning skills at certain points by changing classes of characters, so they CAN'T GET THE SKILL AT ALL until the story demands it
3 - Give up and let the people who waste hours of their lives grinding weak monsters to beat up a boss in one hit because you can't control peoples' playstyles, right?
Whatever I decide upon, you'll likely see it when I release my first demo someday. But I need to figure out what battle system I will use before that can even happen. Animated battlers are looking more and more like a longshot at this point, simply due to a lack of resources on all counts. I'm doing what I can, but again, I am one person, and I'd like to stick to what I'm best at. And it's not drawing.
Okay, that's all for today!
Thanks for reading! Dragon lore will be released "Soon", once I figure out how to release it.
Buh bye for now!
Today I bite The Reaper. I hope my comrades will follow, and my impending death will not be in vain. But many have been too trusting, and won't fight back. They'll accept their fate. Accept The Reaper's 'judgment.'
But not I. Let my fearsome cries be heard 'round the world, through The Fog and through the brainwashed masses."
- Karus Alistar, from portion of letter to his daughter Kara Alistar
I wanted to give an update on what's been going on lately, and the choices I've been considering/making.
Issue A: Due to all of the Animated Battlers problems, I've had to consider multiple options that can hopefully resolve or simplify the issue.
These include:
1 - Revert to default battle system. This would make resource hunting SLIGHTLY easier, and art would be easier to ask for than multi-frame animated battlers. HOWEVER, the quality of the images would have to be consistent, lest it be criticized to the max. And THAT is an issue that would be created by this option.
2 - Start a GoFundMe to get funding for an artist to make animated battlers, keeping the system in place and greatly improving the quality of the game itself
3 - Instead of "Animated" battlers, perhaps they could all be "still" like in old RPGs, and move forward for attacks? That'd be even easier to make than the default battlers. Likely to cost less as well, and weapons could even be added in place of others with some sort of visual system!
4 - Try to skip rocks in a pond and maybe if I can skip the rock 8 times, a magical spirit will come out of the water and grant me a wish, to where I will wish for a million dollars to fund my game with a professional team on Unity, and not have to worry about any of this stuff because it's all taken care of, and I can just focus on the story and systems I want implemented.
Yeah, that last one's not likely. But what can I do? Animated battlers aren't being made much anymore, unless you want 5 different sizes of battlers with incomplete animations from "off" online sources that claim their battler is unique, only to find out a month later that it's from Dragon Warrior 2 or something.
I don't have funds, so GoFundMe seems like a viable option for a battler artist, but what solution would I have to do?
I'm leaning towards option #3, simply because the visual aspect of having different weapons sounds SO COOL. Heck, it gives me so many ideas on what I could do with the system! It'd also feel fairly "Retro", so perhaps that might be a good step in that direction. An expansive game with a retro Final Fantasy type feel to it. Just uhh... not so pixelated?
What do you think I should do? Would I get ANY support if I started a GoFundMe, or is that a longshot?
Issue B: The Dragon Lore is all written, but I'm not sure how I want to release it. I have questions-- mostly to myself.
Do I release the lore in parts? What do I want to allow to be known? Should it be mostly history with their traits mixed in, or should I emphasize the traits more?
Should I even mention the history?
WHAT DO.
Issue C: I have fixed a lot of script issues I previously had. Some were user error (Like the poisons script causing SP damage because I didn't place Nil in the SP portion) and some were bug-related, to which were fixed. I will be adding in more and more scripts as I get to the parts where I need them.
Example - I won't need to make sure the Vehicles work until I get an actual vehicle in the world map via story. I know it's best to make sure it works right now, but I have a lot on my plate already, so I've been taking an approach of "We'll see when we get there", which has left me with much more work ethic.
I haven't been sidetracked by a boss battle's event not working properly. I haven't been sidetracked by an event towards the end of the game, or the third continent's map. I'm doing it as I go, since I am only one person. It's led me to being able to get a lot of the story done and text actually written.
Issue D: Balancing has been an issue that has been on my mind for a while. I don't want someone being able to get to level 25 and one-shot an Ice-type boss that I expected you to be at level 10, because they learned Firojinx at level 25 and upgraded it to max with 200 Fire Stones they grinded for a few hours, beating up 1000+ Squirrelmon5000s next to the second town, ALL BECAUSE I made them drop Fire Stones at a 5% rate and give the best exp in the area. That can't happen, ya know?
I've been considering:
1 - Caps on certain skills by certain points
2 - Learning skills at certain points by changing classes of characters, so they CAN'T GET THE SKILL AT ALL until the story demands it
3 - Give up and let the people who waste hours of their lives grinding weak monsters to beat up a boss in one hit because you can't control peoples' playstyles, right?
Whatever I decide upon, you'll likely see it when I release my first demo someday. But I need to figure out what battle system I will use before that can even happen. Animated battlers are looking more and more like a longshot at this point, simply due to a lack of resources on all counts. I'm doing what I can, but again, I am one person, and I'd like to stick to what I'm best at. And it's not drawing.
Okay, that's all for today!
Thanks for reading! Dragon lore will be released "Soon", once I figure out how to release it.
Buh bye for now!
