Ob Iter

I've spent most of my time lately going back through the database, both to fix some things that have been long overdue and to update some things.

One of those 'should have done it long ago' things was the sounds. There's a pretty solid database of free sounds at freesound.org and so i combed through it to give all the attacks and basic battle sounds a huge upgrade over the RTP stock. No doubt that will make the game experience much better, and i could not have really released the thing otherwise.

Similarly, i will need to finish replacing as much of the RTP monster set as i can. I spent a few days going through Charas and downloaded a few hundred ones i liked with a focus on either originals or ones without a real source definition. There's certain stuff that just shouldn't be used for professional reasons like anything Final Fantasy. But there's some good designs form obscure enough sources, and google itself can provide additional free sources.

Also, upon combing through the items tab today i realized that it is far overdue of me to just scrap the whole built in gear system. The stat and ability growth for characters in my game is nearly completely done through the use of customization instead of the level curve. Having standard armor sets seems useless as a result. Instead, i figure to devote the gear slots to accessories. There are 5 total in RM2K3, and the decision for me to make right this moment is should i devote all 5 to accessories or keep one or two for customizing the basic 4 of ATT, DEF, INT, SPD. I'm not sure yet.

On an aside, i just saw the "how is this game 400mb? did you accidentally include an episode of Friends in the exe package?" quote on the website banner. Well, MP3's really do add up. MIDI doesn't cut it. :)

Dunno, once i am satisfied with the database tabs in the next little while i will move on to really polishing the game itself. That will take some time but not too long, given how much is already in place. My goal remains to release Chapter 1 and 2 on their own as a starting point so that i can release something this year. As you will notice from how old this project page is, it is long overdue.

There is the choice of should i release each subsequent chapter as a stand alone download, but i have decided not to do that. It offers me much greater freedom with the project as a whole and simplifies a whole bunch of other stuff to just keep it as a single download. That does mean people will need to redownload the whole thing when each future chapter is released, but i think... in today's day and age... a few hundred megs is not really a burden to any ones bandwidth.