Memorie

[KDC]

Sooo..... Emil's getting a side story in the game.

Originally, I was going to make a different game, or draw a comic/manga instead for this. But I decided to do the drawing thing after this project is done, but yeah. Emil's gonna have a side story in the game as well as .... well.... be in the main game. Episode Emil is what the side story is called, for now.



This won't give any benefit for beating this side story before the main game, as it's technically just Emil's point of view during Akiko's time at finding Kita in the main game. Emil, herself, plays a bit differently than the other characters in the main game, and I haven't even made a battler for her yet, but I'll explain.

Instead of equipping better weapons to raise her attack stat, she equips Cores. These Cores will give Emil a boost in the attack stat, as well as special effects she may have while a core is equipped. Initially, the Cores would've had Emil not not only use her A.I. Partner, called Tom, but would also allow her to use certain weapons, as Abilities. But because of RPG Maker XP and possibly ACBS' limitations, I decided to allow her to gain access to these mentioned weapons, as well as discover new features Emil's device, and Tom, can do. Emil doesn't really have an actual weapon, since her Weapon Slot is pretty much fixed, and cannot be changed.

Other than that, Episode Emil also sports its own windowskin, unlike the Main Game where you can choose one of four, just to be different. Since it's in a different point of view, there'll be no need to play the main game first, as this is just Emil's point of view, and what she was dealing with before meeting Akiko. In short, the side story will be way shorter than the main game.

Since the majority of the side story takes place in a Headquarters of some sort, I'll be able to get away by just making an interior.... and maybe a digital VR simulation room to have fun in, at your leisure.

I think I'm adding a bit too much for one game..... Oh well, I'll just go with it until I get second thoughts.

[KDC]

I've been slacking off a bit, due to the lack of motivation to continue. I haven't given up this project, but I did attempt to get Emil.... kind of finished, for a field sprite. I dunno. I probably should've used CharGen Extended for the base, then the Game Character Hub (Portfolio Edition) for any pieces not in CharGen Extended, then do the touch ups with Paint.Net. But here's what I did for now.




The direction that she's facing in this preview image needs a bit more work. It looks like the topmost part, which is her shirt part, is higher than it should be. I'll probably move that down a pixel or two to make sure it fits more.. I was also thinking of adding glasses to the sprite, but I didn't want to. She does wear glasses in present day, so if I manage to make an image that features Emil, she'll be wearing glasses. Eventually, I'm gonna make a copy of the finished version of Emil's sprite and add a little object on her left hand that'll resemble a device she uses, as I mentioned in her little character bio a few posts back. For now, I am gonna focus on fixing the sprite a bit.

In other things, I thought I'd make a bit of information of about a few races, which was kind of inspired by Bounty Hunter Lani's Tidbits about Summons and Summoners for Destiny of End.

Magi
Normally, they look like your typical fantasy elf. Magi can utilize their own Mana to cast magic. Usually, they hide in woodland villages away from the prying eyes of the other races, even from their halfling counterparts, however it's known that a few Magi did marry someone of a different race. The magi are known for being very agile, and magically efficient in combat. Sadly, they aren't that strong of a race in terms of physical strength. As for their lifespan, a Magi can live up to about 500 to 600 years. That's quite a long time. In Memorie, there is one Magi, named Ovelia, that Emil meets in the side story, that helps out for one part or two, but she never goes into combat. Ovelia is traveling around the world for something, but I'm not gonna spoil that. Her motives will be revealed in the side story.


Half Magi/Halfling Magi
Normally cast aside, the Halfling Magi are actually pretty powerful depending on the other half. The most common Halfling Magi are ones that are half human. The halfling has half of a lifespan of a normal Magi, and their growth is as that of their other half of their race, but the aging will slow down when they are about 15-16 years of age. Like Magi, they can use their own Mana to use magic. However, this comes at a cost. Using too much of ones' mana can result in a very deep sleep to recover the mana they used up, some individuals called this deep sleep "Mana Deprivation". It's possible to delay the Deprive, but only for a little. Using Mana Potions can recover from Mana Deprivation very quickly, or the natural way would be to let them rest until they wake up themselves. The Half Magi are pretty durable, and they are almost practically immortal, excluding some things, like dying of old age. If a Halfling gets killed off, before dying of old age, Their bodies unconsciously react by creating a Remnant, which will be covered after this race, the halfling also hides to prevent further damage while the dead body is not only getting repaired by some mysterious force, but also to revive as soon as their wounds heal. Once the Remnant returns to the revived halfling, the halfling regains consciousness, and continues their life, as if they weren't ever killed. Though they might be wondering how they got to where they woke up. They also have a kind of "Super Saiyan" form as well. This is called Mezeme..... because I couldn't think of a different name. Their hair doesn't go straight up like a Super Saiyan though, and the visual is a bit different too. Visually, they are cloaked in a glowing aura. There are many colors that indicate how their Mezeme form was awakened. For example: Blue meaning that they had experienced sadness to their breaking point, or they lost someone very dear to them. Other than that, the Human/Magi Halflings are stronger than the other halflings, and the original races they are half of. They also get the benefits of both race halves. Kita, Akiko's (adopted) younger sister, is a halfling (Magi/Human). However, for this game's sake, she won't go into Mana Deprivation.

Remnant
Remnants are pretty much a "temporary body" of a Halfling Magi. Upon first created, they have amnesia, and they start to remember the reviving halfling they were created from over time. They can use magic like Magi, and they don't have any kind of special transformation or form. Their appearence also differs from the halfling they were created from.... with magic. Usually this difference in appearence is a change in hair, the hair color, or both. Eyebrows count as hair, but they remain the same look as the reviving halfling. The Remnant also has the same gender, body type, and face as the halfing they were created from. Depending on how the remnant is treated, they could be their own person. When they remember everything, they have to choose to go back to their, now fully recovered, halfling, or continue their own life. Normally they choose to return to the fully recovered halfling. The Remnant has no lifespan, but they can die, thus also preventing their reviving halfling from being fully revived. If the halfling they returned to gets killed again, they don't get amnesia the second time around, and will go about their life until the halfling is ready to continue again. So yeah, it's kind of like having a second life, or something.

Alright, I made this way too long. So I'm going to end the post here.

[KDC]

When in doubt, take a time machine and search in the past for what you're looking for.

I've been resource hunting, and for some sci-fi tilesets, I was lead to a site by Zanyzora, whose site seems to not be around anymore, at least in my POV. So I took the Internet Archive Wayback Machine back in time to a point where that site was around, and managed to find what I was looking for.... kind of. It's a good thing that the Internet Archive has that wayback machine part of its site. It's a bit helpful. Anyway, back to resource hunting. Hopefully I don't have to use the wayback machine for another dead site, because it seems like not all images load on it for some reason. I kind of wish I had my old hard drives and an IDE Hard Drive dock/shell/whatever so I could see if I had any resources downloaded back then.

[KDC]

So.... Four things...? I guess.

1. I've been playing a bit too much Phantasy Star Online 2, since it came out to PC recently in North America, despite its various bugs, which a good amount are now fixed, based on my playing. It was addicting, and I had 0 ideas for this project, and another, lately. so that's a thing.
2. Using Wix, I decided to make a website dedicated to both this game, and an upcoming comic/manga of the same name. You can find that here, though the site is coming soon.
3. Depending if I can continue with the ideas in RPGXP, whether it's by limitations or my head, I might actually end up moving the project to RPG Maker MV. But that all depends on a couple of things, but I'll debate that in another date.
4. The screenshot above....... is just showing some placeholder text. I doubt anyone in an agency would scream something similar than that. Though I wonder what the mystery person meant by "McGuffin".

Also, From now till..... I guess next couple of weeks, I might decide to do a thing that might have you guys make your own marks into the game world via, an NPC made especially from you. More details on that later if I do start such a thing. Anyway, I stayed up too late, so I'm going to bed.

[KDC]

A small update. First off, the beginning cutscene has been changed. It will instantly take place on Emil's first mission in the Episode Emil sub story. Secondly, I made the Deployment Area for that same sub story.



The Tutorial image is not part of it, and I just now realized that the image is a bit long in terms of picture width. Part of it is cropped off because of the size of the screen. I'll fix that later.
As for the map itself, I had to add one of the RTP Ceilings on the tileset via, the autotiles option in the database, to get this to look alright, despite the ceiling tile looking more stone than metalic. Anyway, this is the area Emil will be going to every time she enters a mission, or a story related thing. It's like a preparation area. Always plan ahead.

Akiko, for the main story, will also have a Deployment Area in the main game, but will not be accessible until later on in the main game. I'm also thinking of separating the two prologues, Akiko as a child and a teen respectively, as their own sub stories to have a more thorough backstory for Akiko, and partly Emil. This is because both prologue parts play differently than the meat of the game, which is the main story. More on that on a later date.
That's all for now, but I'll keep you all updated for more details. That one idea I mentioned earlier, which I mentioned that I was debating, is still in the debating process in my mind right now.

[KDC]

I changed a bit of things on the Title Screen, but... I'll just show you the progress I had on June 29th.




After the Splash screen, showing my YouTube account's name, which I'll probably rename my username here on Save-Point sometime to match that splash screen, a BGS plays to match the new panorama thing that's also there. Also a sound effect had changed, and I used the one provided in RPG Maker VX ACE's RTP. Other than that, the menu(s) are still choice windows, but I did do some changes, at least.

• Scrapbook is no longer there. I decided to remove that, but I will bring the images I originally put and will put in there in the dedicated website instead.
  
• In the Story Selection choices, a new one is made. This is called "Prologues".  This will be the prologue stories that were originally going to be played through before the Main Game.
  
• The EXTRA choice in the Title Screen is still there. But the only option there for now is to change WindowSkins for the prologues and main game. I will be adding an aditional game mode in there in the future.
  

I am going to bring back a game mode, which was originally going to be a separate game. The mode will be called 3 Minute Survival. It's a game mode where you battle endless waves of enemies with a 3 minute time limit. Originally, this game mode had the player character roam around a map. Instead, it'll be an endless barrage of battles. There won't be game overs in this mode. I'm aware that there are limited saves because I'm currently using the Default Save Menu provided with RPG Maker XP. I'm gonna look for a script that will have enough Saves for all the content I'll be putting in, if I stick with RPG Maker XP. I'm still debating on the RPG Maker Switcheroo and stuff, but more on that when I make a final decision somewhere in 2021. But anyway, whether I change RPG Makers to develop this game with or not, I am thinking of using pictures instead of using Choices. That'll be harder, and will require more work on making the images the way I want them to be, but I'll deal with that later. I also made an opening cutscene for the main game, which I'll show later because I need the game to get to a point where the player has control. So far, that hasn't happened yet as I'm making the map(s) that's exclusive to the first chapter, which you won't be able to return to once the chapter is finished.

I guess I'll put a little fun fact here.

Fun Fact
Kita's name, in Japanese, stands for 'North' apparently. That would mean that I would have to change her name exclusively in Japan to make sure characters aren't saying "North", or "North-kun", or whatever. But what name would that be? Who knows. I never given the thought of that yet. Maybe one day when a different game project sees the light of day and gets ready for Overseas releases. This is because that characters in this project will also appear in the other project.

[KDC]

The Survival Mode, and a completely new mode are coming into the game

So earlier, I stated that I was bringing back a 3 Minute Survival game mode, I had planned years ago. However, I had this thought and decided to add a completely new game mode, a unique one of sorts. Currently, the new game mode is called "Challenge Mode". In this mode, you go through challenges in maps from the main game, sub stories included, as well as maps from..... a project or two, that I am not proud of today but was proud of it back in my teenaged years, with a character of your choice. Anyway, these will be, pretty much, just copy and pasted maps, with all of its events deleted, except map transfers as well as some events that allow you to traverse large gaps, if needed. This game mode is currently an experiment, and I hope to bring it out. For now, I'm dealing with the Tutorial of this said Challenge Mode.



In the screenshot, of the tutorial, you'll notice that you won't be alone, you'll have some company, but you'll be battling alone. Like, all of the time. You can cheer the other characters on though, even if they won't be able to cheer you on during your battles. This will raise their morale and allow them to finish their battle quicker. Oh. And this game mode has Random Battles, so that's a thing. This game mode will be the final game mode I'll be adding to the game, as It's probably going to take as much work to get the game mode working, since I'll have to create patterns for the other character(s) that will be with you on this game mode.

Anyway, that's all I can show right now. I'll keep you posted on my progress on the game. Till then, later.

FUN FACT
Matsuko WAS going to be in the game's story. I decided to cut her out of the story. But at least she'll have a home in the new game mode, as well as 3 Minute Survival.

[KDC]

TIME FOR A CHANGE OF PACE! LITERALLY!

To make things go quicker, for a change, I've decided to focus on making the maps and eventing the story and game quests before putting any battles in, so that the story and map eventing portion is done. That way, I can focus more on other things, such as making battler sprites, or ask for anyone to make them instead (as I'm not that artistic enough), and insterting battles to where they belong in the game. This'll make things a bit easier, and faster, since all I would have to do is edit what's already created.

As for the last two game modes mentioned earlier...

The menus are added in the Title Screen, as well as have their own Menus. A tutorial for the Challenge Mode is being made, but I know that, when I get to the actual maps for the mode, this will take a while so I'll be doing that after I deal with all the story stuff, as well as in game maps, are in. As for the 3 Minute Survival Mode, or just Survival Mode, I'll be dealing with that once I get to the battle portion, as the game mode is pretty much an endless battle fest with set Items until the clock hits 0. So yeah, I'm doing what I should've done first, and focus on the game maps, as well as field sprites, or character sets or whatever you call them.

To be honest, That's what I should've been doing at the start, but I was a bit too scrambled to even attempt to stick to one thing at a time.

[KDC]

I Guess I'll change font while I'm at it...

So I looked through the forums, and I noticed one little detail in TIPS AND TRICKS. The literal FIRST thing I find is how to change the default Font. This was a literal game changer, somewhat, as, because of the Default Menu I am planning on replacing sometime down the line, the font is usually Tahoma. Which is somehow the default for RPG Maker XP here in the west. And I didn't even know that.



This screenshot of the Equipment Menu, that I am using for a tutorial in one of the Sub Stories, uses Tahoma, though the rest of the text fonts have been altered to Times New Roman, the font I decided to use.

By using a certain script code, shown in TIPS AND TRICKS, This happened to the rest of the Equipment Menu.



All I can say is neat. This is a neat trick, DerVVulfman. Now on to my regularly scheduled development cycle.

Okay the Scheduled part was a lie.

[KDC]

Hmm........ I'm gonna need to find a way, whether to start a fresh project, or actually reordering switches.... somehow, But either way, I'm gonna have to clean up my mess, and get rid of some older things that are in the project files, which I'm no longer going to use. HOW IN THE WORLD AM I THIS DISORGANIZED!?!?