I've been working on upgrading the portraits. I've got a million complaints about the shading so I had to watch that, but anyways here they are :D

Jean Sozora hopefully isn't too loli... don't worry she has a personality



Ulidama Fia Owen is dissapoint




Mitori Kawashiro has prison palor



Sasha Sashiromiya is underwater



Surprisingly they're all free for dinner on short notice!
Other than that, though, progress is coming along fine. I've got some really good ideas for puzzles that are hopefully original, it's just gonna be really tough to implement them well. Guess that's all :D tell me what you think!

So I've pretty much moved on from creating maps to creating the DBS :0 I've not quite coded anything yet, I've been focusing mainly on creating the HUD, sprites and other miscellaneous graphics. Since the deadline is ever-increasing I've shamefully taken to less spriting and more splicing Dx Too bad stealing Tasofro's artwork won't make my spriting any better. Here's a sprite that used to be Reisen :D


Chaotic Dimension : "Super Moon"

Woooooooo it's swirly~ :D

My absolute worst fear is bumping back the deadline Dx I've worked really hard on creating a playable and enjoyable nontechdemo, and I feel that if I don't complete it by the deadline that it'll slip into nothingness and development hell to chill with Duke Nukem and that gay robot sidekick of his :< This may or may not mean late summer? Dx

eh, stick around, it'll get done eventually >>b

--Miracle

Less talk. MOAR SCREENSHOTS.


Sasha Sashiromiya casting "Albedo the World"

Yup. That should be what my CBS will look like.
It features a ring-style menu which is common for ABSs, but not for turn-based battles. Really, it works perfectly because you can either "Fight, Skill, Item, Flee" or choose from your four selections of Spell-Cards, four heroines, or scroll through your 11 or someodd items.

Aaaaaaああああああああnyways, progress is still going slow. CBSs are pretty hard to program on 2k3, but I believe it'll be well worth it for the player to not have to wait about half an hour before you can actually battle and do something fun.
Sure, puzzles and story is fine, but I really just felt pretty guilty of not including one of the most important part of the plot and gameplay in the first few minutes. Still need to give a good reason to battle in the dream, though~

Stay tuned for more important information!
Eh, who am I kidding. *goes and waits on porch for 3DS*

--Miracle

I may have a new demo later on :D Maybe Early Summer?

Anyways, it'll be a lot better than that old one. The old one had numerous errors and flaws, like being able to select options that weren't implemented yet, or leaving valuable ideas in the game code. It's pathetic and shameful and wants to die.

BUT the new one will contain gameplay :D No more techdemo. Probably not any battles, but that's allright because Jean doesn't get SpellCards until about half an hour through the game anyways, and it'd be too hard to try and perfect with what time my schedule allows.

Have a look at one of the opening sequences :



Probably doesn't make too much sense just by looking at it. It's really just a hideous portal (very hideous and hellish) to another dimension.

But like, depending on how things go I may move the demo sooner or later. Still very vague ^^;

Also, I like the idea that I'll send the demo to Creation first so he can Pass/Fail it. It won't be long, and I can easily adress any issues that he may point out. When it's all put together, I'll release it .

--Miracle

A large scenario I've cooked up. I'm not entirely sure about how I feel about it, so I would love to hear your suggestions. It's quite long, but I could definitely use your opinions.

SCENARIO

Jean and Ulidama are looking for something in the Mansion. They go in a maintenance closet and discover a hidden crawlspace behind a pile of boxes. Since Ulidama's rift cannot fit through the crawlspace, Jean must go through alone. She goes through a fairly easy maze with three seperate passageways. At the end she reaches the chamber where a treasure is held. She opens the box, gets the spoileriffic MacGuffin when suddenly the lights go out. She obtains a source of light (through another spoileriffic MacGuffin) and discovers there three Statues that move closer when you aren't looking (TARDIS don't you say a word~ >>) Anyways, they can only move when they aren't seen, so Jean must keep her eyes open in order for them to not catch her.

Here's where the mini-game begins. You chose one of the three passageways and one of the statues will follow you. You activate a Blink Meter. The Blink Meter will slowly decrease over time. To keep the Blink Meter going, you must press SPACE and blink. Blinking will not restore the Blink Meter fully, but Jean only blinks for a short time (.5 seconds.) If you let the Blink Meter run out, then Jean will be forced to blink. The Blink Meter will restore itself fully at the cost of Jean blinking for a longer time (1.5 seconds.) When Jean blinks, the monster will swiftly move toward Jean, and if it catches her, then you must restart to the beginning of the mini-game.

Also, since Jean is walking backwards, she moves a little bit slower, gaining speed over time (just to make it a little bit hard.) Moving backwards is forced, so you have to avoid tripping over rubble or backing into walls, which will make Jean blink and lose you some time.

This is only a quick mockup (I don't like the meter, it'll change later), but this is about what it should look like in the end of it's production :



At the end of the maze, the two other Monsters ambush Jean from both sides. She quickly ducks, and they're stuck frozen looking at each other for eternity. Whoops.

Jean crawls backwards through the crawlspace, where Ulidama pulls her out. She tells Ulidama of the Statues, and when they look back to the crawlspace, the statue has already worked somewhat through it (you can see it's arm sticking out.) Jean grabs a hammer and tells Ulidama to fetch a mirror. Jean smashes the arm until it's crushed then fastens the mirror to the edge of the crawlspace where the Statue looks at itself forever. Double whoops.

Then Jean uses the MacGuffin that she found in the chest. Turns out that the MacGuffin was what was animating the Statues all along, and without it they crumbled to dust.

Whaddya think, good idea or bad? Also, what might be a fantastic way to implement it?