THE SCREENSHOT TOPIC RETURNS

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I like the stuff that you've added into the lab, but the tiles that you mention seem a bit... off. Like JPEG quality in the middle of an otherwise flawless picture. Especially the computer terminal feels like this.


I need to do more tutorials. How devs can get XP-like maps just by using VX/Ace without parallaxing.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
My goal with the wiring was to make it look more hectic and crazy, but I don't think it's getting the desired result.

You mean the computer with the green screen in the center left, or the tall machinery in the upper right? The stuff in the upper right is, yeah, probably too blurry.
Give those wires some slack and curves...No one would have a long term lab set up with wires pulled taught like that. Like run some extension cords if it won't reach the outlet, guy.

To get around making reuseable wire tiles in your chipset, I would just paralax the floor and walls and draw the wires in. They will seem much more organic this way. Also useful for computer/consoles/tubes whatever your player doesnt need to walk behind and can just be on the wall and won't clutter up room in tileset.

Then again I dunno if this is more difficult in vx or whatever
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Curved wires would be a lot better, yeah. Makes it look cluttered without looking ridiculous.

Since it's XP, my tilesets can be infinitely large, so I haven't bothered with parallaxing at all. I just add stuff to the tileset instead, even if it's only used once in a single map. I sort of love my absurdly huge-ass tilesets - one of them is 8 tiles wide by 580 tiles tall, and I'm going to keep adding to it as I go.

I still need to redo a couple of the tiles that don't match the style of the rest. The file cabinet, the bookshelf in the lower right, the stacked books, and the TV are all a little too pixel-art-ish. And the towering machine that goes *ping* is not quite pixel-art-ish enough.
BizarreMonkey
I'll never change. "Me" is better than your opinion, dummy!
1625
Started doing stuff with game maker. Movement is fairly smooth now, working currently on dialogue.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Most of the objects are typical limited-color pixel art with shading, the door and window are totally flat bucket filled pixel art with no shading, the character has a solid black border while nothing else in the game does, and the two paintings are photos.

I know my screenshot doesn't match itself either, though. But I'm unhappy with my own work too.

Also that living room is utterly massive, and the doors are like twenty feet tall, and each of those pistols is as big as the dinner table.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
This is, technically, a (few hundred) screenshots. I posted this on my gamepage but it generated no criticism, which is entirely unhelpful.

LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
- When choosing a skill, the borders above and below the skill description make the right character's hat look fine, as it's being cut off at the edge of the window. However, while skills are being performed, those borders vanish, causing the hat to be cut off at a random point in space. If you just can't bear to give him a hat that fits in the window, you might want to make those two borders above and below the skill description stay on screen permanently. The skill names appear in the same location, so right now it's hardly ever empty, and you could prevent the few empty moments by making the skill names not disappear until something else takes their place.
- When Ethan's full upper body appears for his dialogue, if you have enough drawn to be able to do so, I would position it so that the top of his hat is being cut off by the top of the screen.
- The menus have a very consistent style, I like it.
- I can tell how your battle system works just by watching this video, which is a good thing. It seems nice and complex.
- Not sure "the next air skill will fail" is a compelling enemy mechanic. The player has two options: either don't use air skills for the rest of the battle, or waste one to unlock air skills. Choosing an action that has no result isn't an enjoyable way to deal with an enemy skill - it's technically not that different from casting Esuna or Dispel, but it feels like failure instead of success, the way you've set it up. Even though the player knows, mentally, that they just stopped the boss's strategy, a skill being blocked causes the failure neurons in their brain to fire. It's an excellent example of what I talked about in point #4 of this article. I would either make the ability-blocking effect wear off after two or three rounds, so that the player has a better way of overcoming it, or else just make it totally disable air skills, so that there's no temptation for the player to make themselves feel bad.
- Combining the 100% custom graphics with the RTP sound effects is really awkward and noticable to those of us who've been doing this for a while. I'm not sure the average player will notice or care, but you might consider checking out freesound.org for free CC licensed sound effects.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
author=LockeZ
- Ethan stuff

The art is from a Degica-sponsored package. What you see in dialogue is his entire available portrait, sadly. Giving him more hat is a very low-priority touch, but certainly not impossible.

author=LockeZ
- Not sure "the next air skill will fail" is a compelling enemy mechanic. The player has two options: either don't use air skills for the rest of the battle, or waste one to unlock air skills. Choosing an action that has no result isn't an enjoyable way to deal with an enemy skill - it's technically not that different from casting Esuna or Dispel, but it feels like failure instead of success, the way you've set it up. Even though the player knows, mentally, that they just stopped the boss's strategy, a skill being blocked causes the failure neurons in their brain to fire. It's an excellent example of what I talked about in point #4 of this article. I would either make the ability-blocking effect wear off after two or three rounds, so that the player has a better way of overcoming it, or else just make it totally disable air skills, so that there's no temptation for the player to make themselves feel bad.

Bans... Do fade with time already.

author=Lockez
- Combining the 100% custom graphics with the RTP sound effects is really awkward and noticable to those of us who've been doing this for a while. I'm not sure the average player will notice or care, but you might consider checking out freesound.org for free CC licensed sound effects.
I wasn't aware they'd have cursor sounds on a site like that. I will most certainly check that out!
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=LouisCyphre
Bans... Do fade with time already.
Oh, never mind then. If that's being communicated somehow, it wasn't clear to me. I can't see any visible indicator for the effect, and the description when the boss used it didn't say "temporarily". The battle may simply be going to fast for me to be able to notice such things when I'm not the one playing.
BizarreMonkey
I'll never change. "Me" is better than your opinion, dummy!
1625
author=LockeZ
Most of the objects are typical limited-color pixel art with shading, the door and window are totally flat bucket filled pixel art with no shading, the character has a solid black border while nothing else in the game does, and the two paintings are photos.

I know my screenshot doesn't match itself either, though. But I'm unhappy with my own work too.

Also that living room is utterly massive, and the doors are like twenty feet tall, and each of those pistols is as big as the dinner table.
Ahahaha, yeah I'm aware its very contrasty... I'm just in a lazy mood at the moment.

Was just getting movement operational with game maker. I've figured out what I need to do... I just need to find an art style I'm really happy with and then make a whole game with that.

Until then, I guess I'll finish working on Menagerie and just release it as a contradictory mess.
author=LockeZ
My goal with the wiring was to make it look more hectic and crazy, but I don't think it's getting the desired result.

You mean the computer with the green screen in the center left, or the tall machinery in the upper right? The stuff in the upper right is, yeah, probably too blurry.

I actually meant center left.
CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
author=LouisCyphre
This is, technically, a (few hundred) screenshots. I posted this on my gamepage but it generated no criticism, which is entirely unhelpful.

<youtube clip>

+ Really clean style
- The yellow is a bit... harsh?
+ Portraits are valuable
- The colour scheme is a bit clashing... the gradients are a bit too strong maybe?
+ Cool battle animations
+ The way that the icons are set out is cool
- I think that the yellow lines are a few pixels below where they should be
~ lol his hat has a very flat top
- All the changing colours sometimes make my head nauseous
- I don't really like the font all that much... seems a bit self-important or typography-y. I don't know how to explain it other than it's a bit too fancy for my tastes.
- "Inundate" not innundate
+ some really interesting things going on like "more suspectible to critical hits" or "ban air".
+ that twist ending tho
~ I bet he *is* her.
The yellow is a bit stark.

Well, the end result of me working on my ascii project has pretty much come down to me making a coffee shop/relaxing with a cigar sim more based off of a random procedural generation of your guests, stories behind each one, and day to day basic human drama. Also coffee. So, this is the design of the cafe so far, complete with potted plants, a sign out front and yes, the "Ð" is a chest for your beans, and a piano.

What are your opinions at the design thus far?
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523


I stole a feature from SMT IV. Guest allies will pop out to contribute slightly to a fight.

(Unlike SMT IV, guest allies aren't valid targets for enemies or the player.)
BizarreMonkey
I'll never change. "Me" is better than your opinion, dummy!
1625
author=facesforce
The yellow is a bit stark.

Well, the end result of me working on my ascii project has pretty much come down to me making a coffee shop/relaxing with a cigar sim more based off of a random procedural generation of your guests, stories behind each one, and day to day basic human drama. Also coffee. So, this is the design of the cafe so far, complete with potted plants, a sign out front and yes, the "Ð" is a chest for your beans, and a piano.

What are your opinions at the design thus far?
Man between you and ???noBody??? I'm gonna end up trying to make my own ascii game by the days end. :I

I really like the aesthetic, though I'd recommend changing the colours of each different entity to reflect a little more on the scenery.
@Louis that looks schweeeeeeet ;-; ♥

oh



this horrible map
who knows where does it come from
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
that's sad bro
that's more than sad, this is the epitome of bad mapping
but where does it come from? >:^C

(it's from a commercial game)