What's up, RMers?

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

Firstly, happy new year, everyone! May this upcoming year be the best yet!

Secondly and something I meant to comment some time ago: I tried to install RM2K in my new All-In-One and I couldn't because the program is simply too old for Windows 10. No even running the installer with compatibility with previous Windows fixed the issue. So I simply copied and pasted the folder from my old laptop into my computer and that seemed to have done the trick. All is well now.

Yeah, I have no idea either.

[DerVVulfman]

That is odd. I have an all-in-one touchscreen HP that I have RMXP installed and running. I needed no compatibility settings with it, let alone VX. Now, stuff OLDER? Yeah, had to run compatibility.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

I'm as confused as you are. Oh well, at the very least that one problem was solved and I can use the program with no issues so far.

Also, on the subject of older versions of RPG Maker, today I learn that RM98 is actually older than RM95 and not a version of the program available for Windows 98 as I had assumed. The name refers to PC-98, a brand of Japan-only personal computers popular in the late 80s and early 90s.

[kyonides]

Which one was compiled in Delphi? RM95 or RM98?
I think I remember someone talking about it several years ago.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

From what I could gather, it's was RM2K that was compiled in Delphi.

[Remi-chan]

I'm as confused as you are. Oh well, at the very least that one problem was solved and I can use the program with no issues so far.

Also, on the subject of older versions of RPG Maker, today I learn that RM98 is actually older than RM95 and not a version of the program available for Windows 98 as I had assumed. The name refers to PC-98, a brand of Japan-only personal computers popular in the late 80s and early 90s.

I had this same issue with RpgMaker VX, but oddly not XP or anything older. Win10 is wild!

Xiie
She got a good part of Naamah done! Should be finished soon!

I've done almost all the database updates, only brochures remain alongside updating the medal icons in the optional event dossier.

Here's a smol preview of some of what you have to look forward too.



More later~!

[DerVVulfman]

Well, I'm working on the HELP FILE of my Layered Spritesheet Tool. That is to say, I am fleshing it out and dividing the help file into at least three parts: Just Starting, The User's Corner, and the Resource Developer's Guide.

The User's Corner is much the same as the original help file's content... same chapters and much the same information. However, I felt that it needed to be expanded. There's that, and that it will have support for up-to fifty layers of graphics.

The Resource Developer's Guide will cover the structure of a Resource Pack folder. It will not just be talking about the subfolders within and how they are named, but the way multi-layered resources are rendered atop one another, and the inclusion of new layers. And it will discuss the revised Style.Ini file that informs the Layered Spritesheet tool the dimensions of every image within a resource, the number of resources, and the new primary ID and filename entries which can quickly kickstart use.

That's to say... the old tool design had you run a few routines to begin use with any resource. The new design reads data from the style and says... "GO FOR IT!" the moment its loaded.

And lastly, the first section of the Help File will be the Just Starting section. Its gonna relay that the tool does nothing without a resource pack because you can't generate anything without the resources! But more than that, it will give a 'simplified' step-by-step on where your resource packs go (its the tool's root folder!!!), how to select a style (you click the style button and select it from the menu!!!), and then show you how to set things up and choose your resources.

It'll first cover what you do... and then WHY you do it.

But its gonna take a while.

[Remi-chan]

Woo holy crap, it has been a productive week. A nice change of pace from the rather lacking weeks prior!

My my... Where to begin?

Menu and Database Overhaul
In preparation for the mere potential of DLC (this is what we call future-proofing) and so in the case it happens my players don't have to make a save and spend another 50+ hours playing the game, I recently did the final database update. Making a large number of potential entries and also some new ones for the current playable version that should be on steam within this year.

So in full we have:
6 new Pamphlets
32 new Brochures
6 new Medals
19 new Delicacies





Ooh~ tasty!

Prior to this overhaul, the database was all compacted together, looked neat but was also gonna mean an entire overhaul should I ever seek to add new items, I'd have to either add them onto the end (messy, ugly and non-intuitive) or rearrange the database again.

Well~ So long as I don't add over 40 new pamphlets, 46 new clippings, 50 new brochures or 104 new medals, we should be fine! Given the items in the game now are for the ENTIRE game not just the 3/5ths that is currently playable, you'd best bet I've got breathing room for a lot of potential DLC!

Now, the big thing to note is that yes! All of this IS now done and THEN SOME!

So when it comes to then some, it is imperative to know that I did it so for the reasons why!

If your brain hurts from reading that, then that's okay. My brain also hurt typing it out!

What I'm getting to with all this kooky wordplay is that the rewards notifications felt underdeveloped and in many cases, just bad. Like, oh yes~ it is pretty cool when you get a ribbon, charm or delicacy, but otherwise you just get a silyl bit of text saying 'congrats you received this whatever it is!'

Well, no more! I have now personally gone through the game and personally made this process one with much more flair and pizazz, and now when you get a pamphlet, brochure or medal, you can see it properly and if you like, read it then and there, rather than having to enter the database to see what you won!

It's hard to fully stress this in a still image so I'll save us some post space and share a video instead.

And you can simply press out of it by hitting any escape or confirm key. This include spacebar, enter/return, Z, X, escape, right click and left click.

In that video you'll also see I've updated the prompts which tell you what buttons do what. I could have saved that for a whole seperate video but... I was tired so I did not.

Now I hear you saying... "Well, that's great and all Remi, but won't that take a shit ton of time to implement all these new reward prompts?" and the answer is yes but also... I've already done it.

For the entire game that is so far playable, even on some shit you personally can't access yet.

Yes, I did stay awake too long to do so, but that is deep-dev for you! Pucker your piehole though because i also did a small little extra feature which is letting you know in a similar way when you get clippings. This one was fairly easy as there's only four you can acquire in the game (so far) and I was in the mood to make new assets because I'd only done 32 brochures over two sittings less than a week ago and it just wasn't enough to sate my simian starving soup-slurper so here's one of those!


"Okay neat Remi cool you did more of the thing you're good at very neato and love that for you BUT what about those assets you need to release the game on time!?"

This is a valid concern you just had for me and my game and i respect it and truthfully I'm just as concerned as you are if not more, but take heed for Pjcr has gotten back online and has already sent me a new file withink the last hours and Xiie ... I dunno they haven't gotten back to me with Naamah's full sprite yet so something probably happened.

But chin up because we got a waifu for laifu in the form of an ice-themed Nekomata who is called Fubuki and she is gorgeously shy and adorable.

And yes, she is already fully implemented, down to her animated portraits and her pamphlet.

There is more I could go into like how i also implemented Nankaina's portraits (finally) as well as some other's i'd been sitting on but you can already see that in another thread. I could also go into my tentative plans to create epic boss intro cinematics but again... another thread has you covered there.

So instead I'll share with you just two screenshots, one of a new character who I've yet to make much in the way of content for, as she won't be available until Disk 3 when you unlock the Pink Sun and its events. She's one of the faithful similar to Mycallah of the Usagi, Fritti of the Simaja and Sadu of the Cholepteroi (who also we won't see much of until Disk 3)

Yes, Bijou of the Serpentesai is an avid matchmaker, given she is one of the faithful of Lilith who embodies the love of the Goddess Satanifa it isn't too surprising this is her trade.

Finally, one of my favorite reasons for the new reward interface to exist...

Usually I will avoid having these pop up during the middle of an intense scene for the sake of flow but i think in this case it adds to the intensity. This just helps to underline that this is a boss you are definitely not strong enough to face yet, and that running away is definitely your only means of survival!

With that, I think that's about all I can think of to share!

[Remi-chan]

Good news from all fronts!

Pjcr
While his rate of sending files has been abysmal, he has gotten another of the Nekomata to me.

This is for Raiko, the Lightning / Electric elemented Nekomata.

Xiie
While progress has been a little slow, she has finished Naamah and is deep into Agrat bat Mahlat, no previews yet, but I foresee one before the end of next Gazette!


Coyotecraft
While he has not much to show just yet, he did notify me that while progress has been slow, he is getting things done. he is basically the fella who I've conscripted to help Xiie with some of the more absurd body type sprites.

He HAS one small thing to show, however!

Perhaps small isn't quite the word to use! This is big chonky Yasondre, and she is perfectly as round and large as I desire! He was afraid it might be too much which lead into this hilarious exchange.


And finally...

Remi-Chan
I did only one thing this week really, but it was a pivotal step foreard in the steps to come. I recoded the bossfight with the Insidious Architect at the end of disk 0.

This turned out to be more of a challenge than previously anticipated due to the sheer number of events, which block player projectiles unless given certain comments, I also wanted to make the graphics for her ZERO UNIVERSE ability a bit more cool, and so I did just that. This ended up making the process take much longer than it may have otherwise.

After all that and making a very fun video about it, I worked on the game not at all since. Burn out is like that.

But I will likely work on it a lot more this coming month. I already have a list of all the fights to either remaster or recode.

On top of this, I also have to rewrite some of the optional events in Disk 0, create a bunch of main story introduction videos, adjust the Lumi ascension cinematic to fit the new story beats that the old no longer makes any sense with, and continue to ensure the TAB cannot be opened during dialogue of any kind.

Will I have Demo 3 Steam Release fully done by 3/14? Probably not. My plan is to get as much done as i can, and if I'm successful, release Demo 3 in early access and ignore the placeholders that remain, as most of them won't matter until deep into optional content. The main reason for getting Demo 3 Steam Release done will be that from then on I can work on the rest of the game while my artists catch up with their work. I truly do get tired of not being able to work on Content I should have been able to work on long ago, so that ends soon. Once my work is done, I will have a Demo 3 up on Steam if at all possible. Once that is done, be there still some placeholders or not, I will begin working on the RELEASE build of Fantasia, which will include all of Disk 3 and Disk Delta. More information on those later~

[DerVVulfman]

 I haven't posted too much gaming, because most of it has been revolving the Half Kaiser Battler project and the Layered Spritesheet Tool.

 The battler project requires major work as I redesigned the body template to recognize both Left-handed NPCs as well as the traditional Right-handed NPCs.  The original design offered only a Right-handed NPC, though a fault existed within as the pose used for bows showed off NPCs using such Left-handed to get a better shot of the body.
 
 Right now, my work is still in RGB format, though they will be converted to an indexed format to severely reduce filesize.  I have the bodies recreated. a baseline set of eyes of roughly 8 designs (no colorized palettes yet), multiple ears, separate heads/faces, a reworked bodysuit, and now brand new 'Pants' ... denim specifically.
 
Full-sleeve pullover shirts will be next. 
 
As for the Layered Spritesheet Tool, I'm relatively satisfied with it for now.    Oh, there are things I want to improve upon of course. 

 The lists on the right work, but it would look like a real windows interface if I used my Windows-styled widgets.  I mean... scrolling works beautifully with my widgets, and it looks authentic!
 
 The reaction speed of Input.repeat? with the system needs work.  It reacts too fast, more like if I just hit Input.Press?  It just doesn't pause like it should after the first pressed moment.  So scrolling through the individual poses of a spritesheet when zoomed... its SPEEDY and it shouldn't be speedy when you first click the Prev/Next buttons.
 
Oh, and perhaps have Zoom go beyond even 5x zoom. 
 
And lastly, I really want to see about speeding up changes when one uses the Color Balance system.  

When you access a resource, it can hue adjust immediately when you load it into memory.  But Color Balance is totally scripted so it is dependent upon how fast the Game.Exe's framerate is set, and 120 is the fixed maximum for all processing for RPGMaker XP through to VXAce.  RPGMaker Engines from MV revision 1.4 on up have a fixed logical 60 frame processing (which would run my script SLOWER), though its visual graphic processing is based on your monitor hrz speed (generally visually much smoother). Yeah, I do my research.  

The color processing is fine for small resources,    but big ones are an issue.  Its all a matter of the size of the resources loaded in memory, so a simple faceset or a simple 4-pose characterset collection is fine.  Make it a multiple pose character set with five attack poses, dancing, a variety of idle poses, a pose of the NPC flipping someone the bird, and so on...  that may take longer than expected.

 I am thinking of a means to reduce the delay, though it would would mean a massive amount of work.  Oh, I'm up for it, but not now.  I mean, geez...  

I never seem to stop.