Tuesday Tidbit #2

Tuesday Tidbit 2:
How it all looks

As promised a second edition. It’s a bit later then last week’s. But in my timezone it’s still tuesday so that counts. If it’s wednesday where you are just think of these as the Wednesday Weekly. This edition will focus on how the game looks. I’ll discuss the art and the mapping. I will also ask for some feedback. So I would appreciate some comments.

In this edition:
Mapping: Finding the right atmosphere
Art: Right style? Not in the way?
Menu: Simplicity: Good or bad?
Scripts: Update on the Memory System
Mapping
I don’t really like mapping myself. When XP got out I called myself a mapper cause I believed I was pretty good at it.
But with VX I’m having trouble. The limit of tilesets doesn’t really help.  The RTP tiles are versatile and it demands some creativity from the player to create the map he needs but I do miss multiple tilesets. Hence why I will be using bulletxt‘s Tilesetswapper. This allows me to switch between tilesets without much trouble. I’m not using it for the moment because the tiles I use now are good enough for the maps I need to make.

Now I believe the #1 in mapping that’s important is atmosphere, in my game the main theme are poverty and war. Using very bright colours kinda destroys the atmosphere. At least in my opinion. When showing rich people who are having a good life, I’ll use those bright colours, but when during a cutscene someone talks about the poverty it’ll most likely rain softly and the tint will ake to grey to emphasize the mood.

This is a map I just created. I’m not a great mapper but the point of the map is to create a sort of dark atmosphere. I used a fog and weather effects for this as well as a dark tint. I have to mention that pentagonbuddy‘s mapping tutorials really helped me create this map. It’s not a perfect one and I’ll need some time before it looks good but I’m quite proud of it.

I’ve been thinking about how to map the Spirit World and I came up with a simple yet effective effect to add to it.
This is yet again a fog and a blue-ish tint. Ignore the map for now, in the game this’ll have more added to it. For the moment this was just a little experiment.


As for progress. Both Ookie and Ryan A are working on their maps. Ookie has a lowpriority map. As announced in the previous edition she will be working lightly on this game. And so she takes her time with this map. Ryan A is remapping the slums to give it a better look then it has now.

 

Art

Gyrowolf makes the art for Cry of the Fox. I absolutely love the art and I have a feeling a lot of people agree with me. However I’ve also heard that several people don’t like the brightness of the art. So just to get an idea. Is there any kind of improvement that could happen to the artpieces?

On the other hand people have also complained about the placement of the Faces. Which you can see on this screenshot:

Some people have mentioned that they obscure the player’s view. It’s true. When a faceset is shown it takes
about a third of the screen. My comment on that is that nothing really interesting is happening underneath the face.
But I do understand that it’s a problem. So I’m asking would any of you want an option to hide the faces? Or is there another solution I’m not seeing.

The Menu System
The current menu system is based around simplicity. I know there are a lot of  scripts out there that use pictures to create beautiful menus. And a lot of creative scripters/graphic artists have made custom versions of them. But for me a menu should be accesable. Nice looking is an extra but not the first priority.  That’s what I told Wij when I showed him the design and that’s what I still believe.

The same goes for the battle system. Though people have urged me to update it with at least a battlebackground and others have even asked me to implent a battle-hud. I’m torn. I don’t mind having a relativily dull looking battle system as long as the battles itself are interesting but as others mind I’m going to listen to the suggestions of people reading this blog and look for some ways to slightly redesign it.

Scripting
A mini update on the memory system I mentioned last week. BigEd has almost finished it. The non-vivid (text-based) memories will work via pictures. This to add some customization. Normal text is little bit dull.

On the other side of scripting. The big scripts are 100% finished. If I request some other scripts it’ll be polish to the game. Small things that make the player go “Oh that’s cool” without it having a massive gameplay effect. I’ve yet to decide what kind of things that’ll be. Ideas are welcome but I don’t think it’s a real priority.

Note:
Next week there is going to be another tidbit. If you have any questions about the project, post them in the comments and I’ll answer them next week. I’m not running out of ideas yet but just to be safe.

 

 

 

 

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