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Miscellaneous

Got any grapes?

I was hoping to post some fun stuff today but unfortunately I haven't finished it. I prob put at least 20+ hours into what I was trying to do this weekend and I'm still only about halfway done. On the bright side, halfway is halfway. I don't want to share too much about what it is until I finish but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep per night and getting exhausted. I think that I could have finished this stuff a lot quicker if I would have stopped refreshing forums and wasting time with other stuff on the internet.

edit: content deleted.

Miscellaneous

The Phoenix Blog

The last time I finished a blog entry, I clicked on the forums and saw a message saying the site was closing down. I was happy to read the news today that RMN may not close. After wasting a ton of time trying to figure out where I was going to post my progress when I thought the site was closing, I actually did some work on the game so I figured I would give a mini update.

My current focus is on making a working Return Spell / Wyvern Wing system. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Dragon Warrior series, the way that the spell item works is that it allows a player to select a town that s/he has already visited from a list menu and be teleported to that town.

The first thing I decided to do was create the menu graphics. I have made some decent progress on them and expect to finish tomorrow.

The next step will be to set up all the events, variables, and switches for the return/wyvern teleport system. I expect to finish this tomorrow as well.

I changed some other minor things today like a battle map, victory/failure after battle, and the way Gubid's TBS handles player death. I should be able to set up a resurrection system while I am doing the wyvern/return stuff tomorrow. I already did it for the demo but now there are a lot more towns so it will be a little different.

I was going to take some screenshots of the class changer interface but I'd like to add some stuff to it before I post anything. Right now, it's basically just a ring of characters representing the different classes. When the player pushes left or right, the ring rotates counter/clockwise like in Final Fantasy Tactics. However, I still need to connect it with a mechanism to change a person's class.

Finally, I have a nice little surprise planned for everyone. I am hoping to work on it tomorrow. If all goes as planned, I should have some nice screens and stuff to upload tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and for all the support so far!

Miscellaneous

Between Shamrock Shakes

In my last blog I talked about all the stuff that makes me not work on my game so I think it's about time I write about some of the work that I AM doing on the game. A couple posts ago, I explained a little bit of the proposition system. Since then, I have put together a basic hub for taking jobs. The way that it works is like this:

The player approaches one of the many bars or brokers that are in each town. Like Final Fantasy Tactics, the broker will offer to talk about rumors or propositions. If the player chooses "propositions" then s/he is given a list of all the available jobs that have been posted in the area.



The first job is to confront the bandits that are terrorizing the local merchants at a nearby bridge hindering trade between Hamlin and Moonbrooke. The thieves will not mess with a soldier, so you have to obtain an old merchant's uniform to disguise yourself and lure the thieves to their doom!

Whenever you buy a job at a local broker, he will provide you with a contract or license to do the job. This adds an item to the player's inventory. This item summarizes the name of the mission, the job requirements, the cost of the job, and the reward. It also gives a brief description of the job and maybe most importantly, a mini map that shows the player where to go. So, the good news is that there's no wandering around not knowing where to go!



In this scenario, the player must go to a bridge near the city and fight the bandits. Once the player defeats the bandits, the bridge becomes a battle map where players can fight random enemies to "train" or "level up." There are no random encounters in this game so unlocking battle zones like this is important if you want to improve your characters before the next big storyline battle.

Another thing that I did was begin work on an original-ish sprite that was based on a few other sprites in the series. It's a Frankenstein but it is heavily rearranged. I am considering using it on a new playable class that I have planned for the game.



Another thing that I did was find a screenshot of "Ortega", Erdrick's father from Dragon Warrior 3. I have never seen a sprite for this character so I began extracting, sizing, coloring, etc. one for use. I'm not sure if I will use the sprite in DWT, but it's fun to have the option. Here is a front and side frame:



Since working all the above stuff, I have been focusing on battle. GTBS is a great engine but it's been a few months since I messed with the code so this week I have been trying to get rid of my rust. I'm starting to feel more comfortable again and hope to speed up production over the next few days.

Miscellaneous

I Shall Finish the Game

A few days ago I said that I wanted to talk about process and motivation. I talked a little bit about my story process so today I thought I'd talk about motivation. When I think about my motivation to work on my game, there are 2 forces that I notice pushing and pulling at me. One force is all of the things that make me want to continue making my game. The other is all of the things that slow me down.

"Give me the bad news first."

The bad news is that I work very slowly and I am distracted very easily. I have a difficult time focusing on things so really any and everything can distract me. Some distractions last only a few seconds while others can delay me for weeks or even months. As I write this, I will probably stop a few dozen times to watch a movie scene, get a drink, read something else, talk to someone, etc. This blog is distracting me from my game and other things are distracting me from this blog. I'm dreaming in my dream. My distraction has distractions. I don't know why I am like this but you can't really blame me. Some aspects of game-making are boring. If I have to choose between testing the same cut scene for the 20th time or surfing some message board, there really isn't any choice. On the bright side, these distractions are quickly overcome and while they do slow my work, they don't put the entire project in danger like the next one does.

The other kind of distraction is the long-term distraction. Long term distraction usually takes the form of some new video game that I've just discovered or an old one that I've decided to replay for the 100th time. There are other long term distractions but this is the big one. I'm not sure if I get tired of game making and that leads me to seek out a game to play or if it's the game that pulls me away from making my game but the bottom line is that I become addicted to the game and forget about game making. Then, the few months between when I leave and when I come back makes a mountain between me and my game.

Coming back after a break sucks. It sucks because you forget everything. You forget what you were trying to do with this or how you did that. After a 2-3 month break I have to take at least a day or two to re-familiarize myself with my own mess. So why do I do it?

I can think of a few things that make me want to work on my game and finish it. On a day to day basis, my participation in the rpg making community gives me some motivation to continue. I like to be active and participate in the community and working on my game makes me do that. At the very least, it gives me a reason to read articles, polls, threads, etc. I said that this blog was a distraction but it also gives me a reason to work on my game so that I have something to report. But there's another reason why I want to work on my game and finish it.

There's another reason why I spend hour after hour hunched over a computer making a game one pixel at a time. It's because for all the work that goes into making this game, I want to finish it. Why? So that I can start over and do it again. I have a dozen ideas that I want to see take shape. But I want to finish this game first. I have already abandoned a million weird game ideas. But for the first time, I feel like I have one that can be a good game. It can be a success if only I am willing to see it through.

Dragon Warrior Tactics is my commercial hit. It is my safe-picture that I have to make before I am willing to give myself permission to make some gonzo noir art-house game or something. I want to finish this game is because I do not allow myself to start another game until I finish this one and I have a whole library of new projects that are screaming at me to finish the game.

"I shall finish the game"
William H. Bonney aka Billy the Kid, Young Guns II

Miscellaneous

War is Hell.

authors note: I was going to post this in the original DWT blog thread here but then I realized my reply was just getting too in-depth. I'd like to thank Mellytan for the question. It really opened up for discussion a feature of the game that is in the forefront of my mind right now.

my reply:

author=mellytan
This could either be cool or not cool. What kind of "tasks" and "jobs" would you have the player do?


I'm glad you asked this because it helped me realize that I never really explained something. In the original Dragon Warrior games (I, II, & III) cave and tower crawling to fetch an item or kill a monster was necessary to progress through the game. It was required.

Dragon Warrior Tactics is not like that. DWT progresses much more realistically. DWT focuses on faction conflict. In DWT, most of the core story is going to unfold as you move around the world and town/castle maps trying to conquer enemy cities, defend your lord's own cities, etc.

However, all of the caves/towers/etc. from the original games are included in Dragon Warrior Tactics. I tried to make them exactly the same as the ones in DW I, II, III so, for example, if you remember the way through the "Spring of Bravery" from Dragon Warrior II or "Erdrick's Cave" from Dragon Warrior I, then you should be able to find your way through them in DWT.

Why does this matter? You don't have to go through all of them to complete the core story of DWT. You may have to go through some of them but the rest are optional and may be involved in DWT's jobs or tasks (They are called propositions in Final Fantasy Tactics and are not named yet in DWT).

In DWT there will be hubs or places where you can obtain a list of all the current available side quests or mini missions. The most basic job is the fetch. If someone has posted a fetch this and I'll pay you that type notice, then it will appear in the list at the hub. If you do like going into a caves to find antiques or relics from the past, then there will probably be a wealthy person in town who has posted a proposition requesting someone do it. By taking the job from the hub and doing it you would get paid what the person is offering.

However, If fetching isn't your thing, you might want to pick a different task. Maybe someone placed a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" poster in the local tavern. Now, that notice appears in the hub too. By taking this proposition, you assume the role of a bounty hunter looking for a man in hiding. Sounds like a fetch, but the wanted man might not come quietly so now you have a fight-type proposition.

So, now we have propositions to cave crawl and fetch an item and a proposition to fight a wanted man but there's a million other quest type propositions that will go into DWT. The problem isn't finding a huge variety of sides quests in the form of propositions, it's that these quests or propositions may feel "tacked-on". To combat this, I will make every effort to make the quests meaningful and to tie them into the game's story.

One way that I feel I can accomplish this is by making some of the propositions affect the next storyline battle. Depending on who posted the want ad, when you walk into a tavern to take a job, some of the jobs might have a money or item reward (like the ones above); HOWEVER, some of them might give you advantages in the next big storyline battle! Are you having a difficult time winning the next storyline battle? Instead of grinding to make yourself stronger, why not take that job posted by a captain in your local army that weakens the enemy forces instead?

These jobs are not your run of the mill fetch jobs! These jobs are more realistic and test just what the player is willing to do to win that next big battle. Can you live with what you just did to win the battle? You might have to. Can you win without it? War is hell...

Miscellaneous

I'll See You at the Crossroads

So, I'd like to get enough work done on DWT to write a daily blog but I know that it's not going to happen. So until I have enough new information to report, I thought I would talk about process and motivation. I touched on motivation in my last entry, so I'm going to address process first.

I don't know if anyone really cares how it happened, but the way that the I wrote the story in DWT was by creating a horizontal branching time line. In the beginning of the game, you are on a linear course moving forward through time. However, that single horizontal thread quickly branches into multiple threads. The threads part and cross throughout the story but the other characters remember what you did and how you got there.

This opens up a world of play styles. Some people might want to play the knight in shining armor. Other's may want to opt for a more devious experience. But life is not always black and white. While players can choose absolutes, they don't have to do so. In DWT, there are shades of gray. There are changes of heart. There are chances for redemption OR damnation. Tired of being Mr. Nice Guy? Change. Ready to stop being evil and do what's right? Go for it. Just don't expect the villagers to forget right away!

There is no "morality" system in this game. There is no virtual clipboard counting how many times you kicked a puppy or saved a baby. Dragon Warrior Tactics assumes that there are pivotal moments in our lives. It says that there are times in a person's life when the decision they make at that moment will change everything forever. You may come back to this place some day but you cannot erase everywhere you have been and everything that you have done between now and then.

Time marches on. While drawing a branching horizontal path for the player to take, I also drew vertical lines. These represent things that will happen at that point in time. The player will experience these events very differently depending on which path they were on when the event happened. In DWT, you are a lowly soldier. You do not decide whether battles happen or not, leaders do. Battles will happen whether you like it or not. They will happen if you pick one side or if you pick the other. They will even happen if you don't show up at all.

All of this is an important aspect of another part of the game, the proposition system. As you play DWT, you will be able to pick up various odd jobs. These tasks or mini-quests will vary depending on where you are, what time period it is, what choices you have made in the main storyline, etc. However, unlike in Final Fantasy Tactics, the proposition system in Dragon Warrior Tactics is not about choosing a person to do it and then coming back later to find out the results. In DWT, you have to actually take the characters through the task.

Space_Bone

Miscellaneous

Old School Black Hole

Hello RMN!

Before I begin, I'd just like to thank you for taking an interest in my game. It is really inspiring to see the page hits, subscriber numbers, and nice comments. I will try create something that you all can enjoy. Hopefully, it will not disappoint.

Where to start? I guess I'll start at the beginning. I became interested in rpg's around 1989 when Nintendo Power was giving out copies of Dragon Warrior. I didn't have a sub, but I knew someone who did, so I played at their house. I fell in love with the genre. I started mapping my own towns and castles with a pencil and a graph paper tablet. 20 years later, I've given up my graph paper but I still enjoy making old school rpg's.

I've put more hours into my current project, Dragon Warrior Tactics, than into any other game project. Whether it's art, code, or writing, the work never seems to end! The first big chunk of time went into converting the graphics into vx format. There are currently 600+ character sheets as well as map tiles and object sets.

The battle system has also taken some time. Gubid's tactical battle system is amazing. However, it is also difficult at times. I do not know if the problems I have encountered are user error, problems with the script, or a combination of the two, but I have spent countless hours trying to learn the system and fix bugs that happen in the game while the battle system is running.

A third area is mapping. Using the converted tilesets mentioned above, I have mapped Alefgard and Torland from Dragon Warrior I, II, and III. Nearly all of the tiles are placed true to the original games. The one major difference is that I merged the full-size Alefgard from I with Torland from II instead of using the miniature Alefgard found in II. This might not mean much to everyone but fans of the series will probably know what I am saying.

There have been a million other little things that have taken up time like the evented job-class's graphical interface, the day/night system, etc. However, the black hole sucking all my time now is the intro/cut-scene. I'm getting carried away and I'm making it too long. I'm not happy unless it satisfies me but at the same time I can't stand undoing or redoing what I have already done. I know that I should go back and do it differently but I just can't bring myself to do it.

I'm the same way with driving. If I take the wrong road, I'll drive 100 miles into the unknown before I suck it up and backtrack. Unfortunately, when I get lost on my game, there's a distracting website at the click of your finger. So, here I am, writing this instead of doing what I should be doing, fixing my ridiculous intro.
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