Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Images
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
0 reviews
Add Review
Subscribe
Nominate
Submit Media
RSS
Progress Report
Next phase begins!
sbester
Just got the second chapter notes from amerk and things are looking up! I should be able to start things up again in the project by Sunday night, right after Surreality is rightly finished.
I have a crapload of edits to do for the prologue, so the implementation phase is gonna take a few weeks, but I can go ahead and launch straight into chapter 3 when I'm done too, so it'll be a busy couple months for this game.
The trilogy editions of game 1 and 2 will be out this month as well, so we're hoping that will build up some more anticipation for this entry in the coming months. I've got my work cut out for me with the third game's additions, but luckily, I have a plan set for it.
Reading through the new notes, I'm happy that amerk is working with me on this project. It's my first collaborative effort through and through, but it already has me looking forward to future ones with him on EL5&6. Perhaps that's looking a little too far ahead, but I do hope that we will begin the fifth game immediately after finishing this one.
I have a crapload of edits to do for the prologue, so the implementation phase is gonna take a few weeks, but I can go ahead and launch straight into chapter 3 when I'm done too, so it'll be a busy couple months for this game.
The trilogy editions of game 1 and 2 will be out this month as well, so we're hoping that will build up some more anticipation for this entry in the coming months. I've got my work cut out for me with the third game's additions, but luckily, I have a plan set for it.
Reading through the new notes, I'm happy that amerk is working with me on this project. It's my first collaborative effort through and through, but it already has me looking forward to future ones with him on EL5&6. Perhaps that's looking a little too far ahead, but I do hope that we will begin the fifth game immediately after finishing this one.
Progress Report
Let the good times roll!
Finished my playthrough of the first chapter! The rest of the game should move a lot smoother now that everything is working semi-properly.
I found a bunch more bugs than I'd hoped, but I believe I have ironed most of them out. Amerk will help me out with that too, so I'm not worried at this point.
Just sent it off to Amerk and now he can begin writing his portion, then we'll switch. Below, I will attempt to answer to questions that have been lingering in my head for a while:
- I am estimating around 8-10 chapters for the game. However, after chapter 4, they will become much longer and you will be more free to move about and do whatever it is you want. Also, you will not see chapter intro's, it's just how we will divide development up.
- I think we're aiming for an August release. We'll see how thins progress from now on though.
- I think the game should last around 15 hours or so to complete.
- The game plays somewhat differently from past iterations of the series. I kinda like it!
- Yes, I'm switching my focus back to FH2 primarily for the next couple of weeks or so. Best part about working with a partner!
I found a bunch more bugs than I'd hoped, but I believe I have ironed most of them out. Amerk will help me out with that too, so I'm not worried at this point.
Just sent it off to Amerk and now he can begin writing his portion, then we'll switch. Below, I will attempt to answer to questions that have been lingering in my head for a while:
- I am estimating around 8-10 chapters for the game. However, after chapter 4, they will become much longer and you will be more free to move about and do whatever it is you want. Also, you will not see chapter intro's, it's just how we will divide development up.
- I think we're aiming for an August release. We'll see how thins progress from now on though.
- I think the game should last around 15 hours or so to complete.
- The game plays somewhat differently from past iterations of the series. I kinda like it!
- Yes, I'm switching my focus back to FH2 primarily for the next couple of weeks or so. Best part about working with a partner!
Progress Report
Obligatory Update
I took another couple days off of this, but caught up today. Just a couple cutscenes and some map population left to go until I can hand this off to Amerk for his chapter writing.
I also managed to do a bit of mapping for chapters 2 and 3, which I will continue doing while Amerk writes. That'll cut down on some production time an allow us to meet our Summer deadline much easier. I was really happy to see that the mp3s work perfectly in 2k3 (I never actually tried it before), so that saved me some major hassle as well. All in all, things are still going well.
Despite this, I still feel as though I've fallen behind, since taking a good year off from anything to do with this series. Perhaps this jump in development is just overcompensation for that... anyhow, it still feels good to finally be making major progress on it finally.
The other great thing about this game is that it sets out the groundwork for the next two upcoming sequels (if you weren't keeping up with the EL news, this the the second of three trilogies in the series). Expansive, I know. Having these systems in place will make it easy to start working on the next one right away, as I did with EL2 and EL3, and I can simply build on different things to give the sense of upgrading or evolving.
The series is quite far from dead :)
I also managed to do a bit of mapping for chapters 2 and 3, which I will continue doing while Amerk writes. That'll cut down on some production time an allow us to meet our Summer deadline much easier. I was really happy to see that the mp3s work perfectly in 2k3 (I never actually tried it before), so that saved me some major hassle as well. All in all, things are still going well.
Despite this, I still feel as though I've fallen behind, since taking a good year off from anything to do with this series. Perhaps this jump in development is just overcompensation for that... anyhow, it still feels good to finally be making major progress on it finally.
The other great thing about this game is that it sets out the groundwork for the next two upcoming sequels (if you weren't keeping up with the EL news, this the the second of three trilogies in the series). Expansive, I know. Having these systems in place will make it easy to start working on the next one right away, as I did with EL2 and EL3, and I can simply build on different things to give the sense of upgrading or evolving.
The series is quite far from dead :)
Progress Report
It's Alive!
I did a lot of stuff for this today, from the leveling system for the black magic user, to fixing up the world map once and for all, to implementing the new energy system. I'm happy to report that everything is going swimmingly.
I have 2 towns done, a dungeon is complete, and I'm about to start working on a second one. The next step will be implementing the leveling system for the warrior character.
At this point, the best I can do is hope that the new energy system works well. 2k3 makes the battle menu work much better for this particular series, I just can't imagine that it won't. For an in-depth description of the new energy conserving system, see my previous blogs.
One thing that I know for absolute certain is that this is going to be quite a long game. We are going to go out of our way to make it as nonlinear as possible, but the initial few chapters will pretty much follow a straight path until you have a full party.
I have 2 towns done, a dungeon is complete, and I'm about to start working on a second one. The next step will be implementing the leveling system for the warrior character.
At this point, the best I can do is hope that the new energy system works well. 2k3 makes the battle menu work much better for this particular series, I just can't imagine that it won't. For an in-depth description of the new energy conserving system, see my previous blogs.
One thing that I know for absolute certain is that this is going to be quite a long game. We are going to go out of our way to make it as nonlinear as possible, but the initial few chapters will pretty much follow a straight path until you have a full party.
Announcement
Production back on!
I'm finally finished school, and I've got a lot more free time on my hands while I look for a job. I'm finally able to get back to work on this, and the prologue is now completely finished (even though Amerk wrote it like... a year ago. I only just finished transferring it into the engine now).
Anyways, I still need to hear from Amerk and see if he's finally ready to get back to it too, but I'm going full swing into chapter 1 while I take a short break from FH2.
It's funny, the prologue mimics the end of the third game so well, but the shift to the new story really brings about a fresh new atmosphere right away. I'm very excited to finally be making progress on this again, it's been too long.
Anyways, expect regular updates very soon!
Anyways, I still need to hear from Amerk and see if he's finally ready to get back to it too, but I'm going full swing into chapter 1 while I take a short break from FH2.
It's funny, the prologue mimics the end of the third game so well, but the shift to the new story really brings about a fresh new atmosphere right away. I'm very excited to finally be making progress on this again, it's been too long.
Anyways, expect regular updates very soon!
Miscellaneous
Status Update
Still working away at bug testing for EL1 trilogy edition, but I've made some story and design progress on EL4 that I have yet to mention, so here's the update.
The prologue is about 50% complete. The dungeon is finished, and I've done a majority of the cutscenes for it as well. I just have to make the tutorials, implement monster parties and music, and finish off the end opening and ending scene.
Chapter 1 has been started as well, as I've finished two scenes off. Two more scenes and I can get to work on the level designs.
Databasing has taken up most of my time for this game thus far, but I'm nearing the finish line. Considering how slow I've been lately, it will still be a while before I can hand the finished demo off to my associate, Amerk. However, once I finally have all the abilities out of the way, the ball will get rolling and we will start to hammer out huge amounts of progress.
If there are any FF4 fans here, I'm trying to model it after that game. The idea for this game is for it to be an early SNES RPG, so many of the graphics, designs, and cutscenes are likened to that game in particular. However, FF4 has a lot of boring straight forward dungeons, and we want to move away from that. The first 3 EL games did that enough, it's time to move on. Also, the characters will be much more interesting here than in earlier SNES games. While cutscenes remain short, we're going to make sure that each of the main characters has something to draw people in. Lots of firsts for this series, but we're very focused on showing progression in the series as a whole.
I have a bunch of cool screens that I've been wanting to post, I may just put them on our official site instead though. It needs some love. Expect those soon.
The prologue is about 50% complete. The dungeon is finished, and I've done a majority of the cutscenes for it as well. I just have to make the tutorials, implement monster parties and music, and finish off the end opening and ending scene.
Chapter 1 has been started as well, as I've finished two scenes off. Two more scenes and I can get to work on the level designs.
Databasing has taken up most of my time for this game thus far, but I'm nearing the finish line. Considering how slow I've been lately, it will still be a while before I can hand the finished demo off to my associate, Amerk. However, once I finally have all the abilities out of the way, the ball will get rolling and we will start to hammer out huge amounts of progress.
If there are any FF4 fans here, I'm trying to model it after that game. The idea for this game is for it to be an early SNES RPG, so many of the graphics, designs, and cutscenes are likened to that game in particular. However, FF4 has a lot of boring straight forward dungeons, and we want to move away from that. The first 3 EL games did that enough, it's time to move on. Also, the characters will be much more interesting here than in earlier SNES games. While cutscenes remain short, we're going to make sure that each of the main characters has something to draw people in. Lots of firsts for this series, but we're very focused on showing progression in the series as a whole.
I have a bunch of cool screens that I've been wanting to post, I may just put them on our official site instead though. It needs some love. Expect those soon.
Miscellaneous
Energy-Based Battle System 2.0!
Originally, we were going to keep the energy usage system from the previous EL titles for this game. I came up with an idea to upgrade it significantly the other day though, and Amerk agrees that it seems for fitting for a technically enhanced sequel. So, introducing the Energy-Based Battle System version 2.0!
A character will start out with a set amount of energy. Lets pretend at level 1, you have 50 energy points. Each character will hava a skill called "Energize", which requires zero energy points to use, and gives the player a set amount of energy points back (let's say, 10 to start out).
As the player levels up, the replenish skill will obviously become pretty useless, so I was thinking that as a sidequest, we could have a collection game where if you get a certain amount of orbs or whatever, you can upgrade the energize skill for all party members to replenish more energy points at a time.
This will still make preservation of energy points a huge part of battle tactics, and will make it harder as your characters level up. In many ways, it works the same as the previous games, but you won't regain all your energy every other turn while in battle, thus making tactical moves even more important.
As for progress, I finished making all of the first hero's skills. There are 55 in total, and you'll acquire about 28 of them throughout the course of the game, so there's plenty to choose from as you level up. Also, each one has a different effect attached to it, and you'll have a chance to upgrade each skill twice as you progress. While there won't be quite so many for the other characters, there will still be quite a few.
Balancing this thing is gonna be a bitch and a half, but whatever.
Next up is rearranging some pre-existing skills and finishing the other characters'. Once this is done I'll feel more confident about moving forward with the game design aspects.
A character will start out with a set amount of energy. Lets pretend at level 1, you have 50 energy points. Each character will hava a skill called "Energize", which requires zero energy points to use, and gives the player a set amount of energy points back (let's say, 10 to start out).
As the player levels up, the replenish skill will obviously become pretty useless, so I was thinking that as a sidequest, we could have a collection game where if you get a certain amount of orbs or whatever, you can upgrade the energize skill for all party members to replenish more energy points at a time.
This will still make preservation of energy points a huge part of battle tactics, and will make it harder as your characters level up. In many ways, it works the same as the previous games, but you won't regain all your energy every other turn while in battle, thus making tactical moves even more important.
As for progress, I finished making all of the first hero's skills. There are 55 in total, and you'll acquire about 28 of them throughout the course of the game, so there's plenty to choose from as you level up. Also, each one has a different effect attached to it, and you'll have a chance to upgrade each skill twice as you progress. While there won't be quite so many for the other characters, there will still be quite a few.
Balancing this thing is gonna be a bitch and a half, but whatever.
Next up is rearranging some pre-existing skills and finishing the other characters'. Once this is done I'll feel more confident about moving forward with the game design aspects.
Miscellaneous
Pertaining to all my games in development
THE GOOD NEWS
I'm not quitting on these. If anything, RMN's closing is a sign that I should expand to other places on the web. Anyways, EL trilogy, EL4, and Fragile Hearts will all be easy to find when they're completed. Until that time, however, without the use of RMNs blogs... I may be silent for a while.
Or perhaps I will make my own site for my games. I have enough finished projects and projects on the go that it would probably be worth the effort. Maybe now's the time to come up with a developer name.
Also, this will not hurt the partnership between Amerk and myself at all. We communicate through regular email anyway.
THE BAD NEWS
Aside from the death of RMN, that is... I was seriously contemplating getting back to fixing up my "slew of oldies" games and releasing them, finally. Seeing as how I made them RMN exclusives, however... I've made the decision to scrap the releases. If the site stays up afterall, then I'll get back to releasing them.
Anyways, after April 2, you'll find most of my attention focused on RRR. But I will be expanding and posting all my games on other sites as well, beginning with the EL Trilogy Editions.
I'm not quitting on these. If anything, RMN's closing is a sign that I should expand to other places on the web. Anyways, EL trilogy, EL4, and Fragile Hearts will all be easy to find when they're completed. Until that time, however, without the use of RMNs blogs... I may be silent for a while.
Or perhaps I will make my own site for my games. I have enough finished projects and projects on the go that it would probably be worth the effort. Maybe now's the time to come up with a developer name.
Also, this will not hurt the partnership between Amerk and myself at all. We communicate through regular email anyway.
THE BAD NEWS
Aside from the death of RMN, that is... I was seriously contemplating getting back to fixing up my "slew of oldies" games and releasing them, finally. Seeing as how I made them RMN exclusives, however... I've made the decision to scrap the releases. If the site stays up afterall, then I'll get back to releasing them.
Anyways, after April 2, you'll find most of my attention focused on RRR. But I will be expanding and posting all my games on other sites as well, beginning with the EL Trilogy Editions.
Miscellaneous
Pre-production ends, Production begins!
To be totally honest, Amerk started his side of production last week. I started today.
We will be slow to start this, but eventually we'll pick up speed. Amerk's still busy finishing up the first game's novel, and I'm spending way too much time tinkering with Fragile Hearts. Plus I'm still chipping away at the Trilogy Editions. So far though, the prologue is written, the story has been plotted, and the world map is being worked on.
The world map has a few problems that I'm going to have to try and work around. The sand meets water tiling is ugly as hell, so I'll have to do some editing (which I hate). If it still sucks after that I'm going to murder a mouse.
Anyway, it's past the planning stages, so I'm posting it. Excuse me while I go wallow in frustration. Stupid chipset.
We will be slow to start this, but eventually we'll pick up speed. Amerk's still busy finishing up the first game's novel, and I'm spending way too much time tinkering with Fragile Hearts. Plus I'm still chipping away at the Trilogy Editions. So far though, the prologue is written, the story has been plotted, and the world map is being worked on.
The world map has a few problems that I'm going to have to try and work around. The sand meets water tiling is ugly as hell, so I'll have to do some editing (which I hate). If it still sucks after that I'm going to murder a mouse.
Anyway, it's past the planning stages, so I'm posting it. Excuse me while I go wallow in frustration. Stupid chipset.
Miscellaneous
Pre-Production Begins!
Amerk and I are well into our planning stages of EL4 now, and we seem to have a bunch of the story planned out. We've worked out a system for how we'll be tossing our ideas around, and I am quite confident that this will be the best Eden Legacy game to date (by a long shot).
The story will be broken up into chapters, each one dealing with a new party member and their backgrounds. Think Dragon Warrior IV, but much better character development.
As soon as we're done discussing resources and gameplay (which includes battle, leveling, and menu systems), we'll be ready to go ahead and start on this 16bit trilogy.
There isn't much more to report right now, but I wanted it to be known that we haven't forgotten about this. I'm still piecing away at the trilogy collection editions, but as soon as I'm finished with those we can go ahead with this (I think Amerk wants to finish the first novel as well). It is coming though, rest assured, and it will be awesome!
The story will be broken up into chapters, each one dealing with a new party member and their backgrounds. Think Dragon Warrior IV, but much better character development.
As soon as we're done discussing resources and gameplay (which includes battle, leveling, and menu systems), we'll be ready to go ahead and start on this 16bit trilogy.
There isn't much more to report right now, but I wanted it to be known that we haven't forgotten about this. I'm still piecing away at the trilogy collection editions, but as soon as I'm finished with those we can go ahead with this (I think Amerk wants to finish the first novel as well). It is coming though, rest assured, and it will be awesome!
