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Game Design
8.0.1 teaser changelog
dragonheartman
4 post(s)- 06/01/2012 04:16 AM
- 1357 views
Announcement
By the way, RMN, do you still like free stuff?
- dragonheartman
- 0 post(s)
- 05/24/2012 07:55 PM
- 390 views
If you haven't heard, this year I am giving away some posters based off this lovely image kei drew for SU.
If for some weird reason you are in San Jose, California this weekend I will be giving them out for free at FanimeCon. I'll post updates on where you can find me on facebook/twitter.
I'll also be mailing some out, and those will be almost free. All you'd pay for is shipping. I'll post more details in a week or so, so please stay tuned.
By the way, I still have a few scratch and sniff stickers from last year. If you are interested, let me know.
If for some weird reason you are in San Jose, California this weekend I will be giving them out for free at FanimeCon. I'll post updates on where you can find me on facebook/twitter.
I'll also be mailing some out, and those will be almost free. All you'd pay for is shipping. I'll post more details in a week or so, so please stay tuned.
By the way, I still have a few scratch and sniff stickers from last year. If you are interested, let me know.
Announcement
Starless Umbra 8.0.0b released!
- dragonheartman
- 3 post(s)
- 05/01/2012 06:51 AM
- 1046 views
Announcement
Are you ready to get your Umbra on?
- dragonheartman
- 7 post(s)
- 04/13/2012 10:38 PM
- 1840 views
Announcement
Some resolutions.
- dragonheartman
- 7 post(s)
- 03/23/2012 04:19 PM
- 1615 views
Announcement
My third official hiatus status. :)
- dragonheartman
- 1 post(s)
- 01/31/2012 12:25 AM
- 823 views
Progress Report
Battle system updates from the past week
- dragonheartman
- 13 post(s)
- 09/16/2011 08:06 AM
- 3666 views
Status Effects
I implemented support for a fairly sophisticated status effect system today. Unfortunately there aren’t any screenshots to illustrate the work I had completed but the backend work is complete and fairly functional so far.
Status effects, like poison and so on, last not a number of turns but for a “time” duration I’ve devised. Time is defined as 1000 units equal to one turn, so if your attack takes 50% delay and you have the mean agility, you effectively take 500 units or a half of a turn. That propagates through the poison formula to determine effective damage.
What that means is if you do four attacks at 25% delay or one attack at 100% delay, you receive the same amount of damage from poison (give or take a few HP due to rounding).
I feel this is a more accurate approach instead of dealing static damage per turn. It makes speed-based characters just as equal in terms of damage received from poison.
Status effects also have ranks, which can be a number 1-9. A higher rank means the status is more potent. All this data is stored in a single integer. Cool!
From here I have a list of about twenty status effects I want to implement. Only one (poison) is implemented, but I can add more as I go. Each character can have a maximum of nine concurrent status effects, both positive and negative, and I need a good way to display those in-battle (either as a series of icons next to the HUD—if room permits—or an emoticon that cycles through all current status effects affecting the character).
After all the base cases for status effects are completed, I can move on to something fun like field effects or enemy movement.
Delay
So techniques with variable delay rates and a generic delay modifier (that additively affects all abilities) are completely implemented.
What that means is that one attack may take 100% delay, which is fairly standard, and then another slower attack may take 200% delay. On top of that, you have a modifier, which is something like an equipment or ability that reduces (or maybe increases) delay. The two values get added to determine the final delay. For instance, if a cape gives -10% delay, in our previous example, we would effectively have 90% delay and 190% delay.
Of course the queue alongside the bottom of the screen neatly sorts the turn orders in ascending delay for the next few attacks, so the result looks really professional as the queue is updated while you select your ability. (This is the best part of the strategy element involved with creating the turn order queue system.)
Fun fact: I liberally set the minimal cap at 10% delay and Andoru got in fifteen attacks before the wolfie got in one. Revenge for the bug from earlier today!
9/14 update: I’ve made the delay modifier multiplicative instead of additive. That means in my 100%/200% example with a -10% delay, it’s actually 90%/180% delay instead. I think this scales a bit better and is actually more intuitive.
Icons
All active skill icons are done. There's not a lot of text in-battle, actually.
I implemented support for a fairly sophisticated status effect system today. Unfortunately there aren’t any screenshots to illustrate the work I had completed but the backend work is complete and fairly functional so far.
Status effects, like poison and so on, last not a number of turns but for a “time” duration I’ve devised. Time is defined as 1000 units equal to one turn, so if your attack takes 50% delay and you have the mean agility, you effectively take 500 units or a half of a turn. That propagates through the poison formula to determine effective damage.
What that means is if you do four attacks at 25% delay or one attack at 100% delay, you receive the same amount of damage from poison (give or take a few HP due to rounding).
I feel this is a more accurate approach instead of dealing static damage per turn. It makes speed-based characters just as equal in terms of damage received from poison.
Status effects also have ranks, which can be a number 1-9. A higher rank means the status is more potent. All this data is stored in a single integer. Cool!
From here I have a list of about twenty status effects I want to implement. Only one (poison) is implemented, but I can add more as I go. Each character can have a maximum of nine concurrent status effects, both positive and negative, and I need a good way to display those in-battle (either as a series of icons next to the HUD—if room permits—or an emoticon that cycles through all current status effects affecting the character).
After all the base cases for status effects are completed, I can move on to something fun like field effects or enemy movement.
Delay
So techniques with variable delay rates and a generic delay modifier (that additively affects all abilities) are completely implemented.
What that means is that one attack may take 100% delay, which is fairly standard, and then another slower attack may take 200% delay. On top of that, you have a modifier, which is something like an equipment or ability that reduces (or maybe increases) delay. The two values get added to determine the final delay. For instance, if a cape gives -10% delay, in our previous example, we would effectively have 90% delay and 190% delay.
Of course the queue alongside the bottom of the screen neatly sorts the turn orders in ascending delay for the next few attacks, so the result looks really professional as the queue is updated while you select your ability. (This is the best part of the strategy element involved with creating the turn order queue system.)
Fun fact: I liberally set the minimal cap at 10% delay and Andoru got in fifteen attacks before the wolfie got in one. Revenge for the bug from earlier today!
9/14 update: I’ve made the delay modifier multiplicative instead of additive. That means in my 100%/200% example with a -10% delay, it’s actually 90%/180% delay instead. I think this scales a bit better and is actually more intuitive.
Icons
All active skill icons are done. There's not a lot of text in-battle, actually.
Miscellaneous
Battle System Update 3
- dragonheartman
- 8 post(s)
- 08/16/2011 08:04 AM
- 1854 views
Miscellaneous
The past and future state of SU
- dragonheartman
- 8 post(s)
- 06/24/2011 07:29 PM
- 2178 views
Hi all; I’m going to take a moment to explain the past and future development process of my project, Starless Umbra. Hopefully by the end of this you’ll have a better understanding of what my project was, where I am now, and what it will become when it is completed.
Let’s step back in time to late 2002. I started on a project called Dragon Heart on RM2k when I was 14 years old. You played an adventure-hungry teen “Andrew” who somehow teleported off his home island and had to then search for four crystals to save the world. As you can assume, but it was terrible; I received unanimously negative feedback and was upset at myself when the game was rejected several rpg making websites.
MY EYES--THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING
I kept working on the game and revised the look and feel of it. Even though the game featured the same overused storyline, feedback became fairly positive, as I tried to introduce minigames, puzzles, and other gimmicks into the dungeons to keep players engaged. I ported it to RM2k3 and even evaded the happy RTP battlers in favor of using the character sets. The game was beginning to shape up even though it had a terrible storyline and a notoriously slow introduction.
Crack kills
After that I experienced gamemaking ennui. I didn’t know what I was doing when I started using RM2k and I never planned a storyline to completion. For a few years, I considered canceling the project due to slow progress; however, In 2006 I revised much of the game and renamed the project to Starless Umbra so I could nab a domain and find my project on the internet with ease. (Dragon Heart is already a movie and the former name of the cheesy power metal band Dragonforce.) Thus, I split the game into chapters and released chapter four under the new name, Starless Umbra. It took a while for me to get used to the change but I think it was for the better. (One thing that never changed was my alias. starlessumbraman, or sum, seems weird to me. Then again, dhm really isn’t much better. As a result, I’ve had the same stupid avatar and stupid username for eight years now.)
RM2k3 version of DH--circa 2004
Revisions didn’t end there, though. For chapter six I revised the game’s introduction for the fourth time and my project became a huge mess. Thousands of variables and maps were haphazardly thrown about in RM2k with no clear structure or naming convention. I’ve lost track of dungeons and introduced features that got neglected or lost down the road.
Well, it’s now 2011. The storyline has been finalized to something I feel is unique; however, this has yet to be reflected in much of the game that is currently available. With that, I’m actually now entering the final revision cycle of the project.
WTF KELAR?
My solution to the inherent fragmentation of SU in its current state is simple: I’m re-releasing all of the chapters with updates to several areas of Starless Umbra. This revision has a plethora of goals. First, I’d like to get the whole project’s storyline to feel continuous by removing needless characters, unifying the plot devices, and solidifying mystery that really matter to the players. Characters are clearly defined in the backend, but maybe that doesn’t show through in the dialogue as well as it should.
The largest change, and arguably the most debatable, is the removal of the default battle system in favor of a custom one. The game’s default battle system is capable of a lot, but it suffers from editor-specific bugs, annoying implementation, and general unreliability. Where most games with CBS’s have not much seen the light of day, I am optimistic that I can finish this for a few reasons:
-The game is already 80% done.
-The battle mechanics are already solidified.
-I have no desire to start or move on to other projects.
-I get the greatest joy in RPG Maker from hacking together custom systems/minigames and generally pushing 2k3 to its limits.
This also gives me an opportunity to revise all of the systems I’ve gradually tossed at the player over the years—the tech system, the essence system, the rage system, and more. I’ve learned that incrementally implementing all these neat features at the player that don’t really play well with each other can be overwhelming and messy, so this will be an opportunity to create something that feels completely integrated, where all the game dynamics flow seamlessly.
Other enhancements for this phase are being planned, but I haven’t really revealed much yet as they are still in infant stages. New dialogue boxes/faces, custom monsters, custom music, and more are all also underway.
So how does this affect the game’s release? For one, I’m not supporting much of the current release any longer, which includes the whole game through chapter seven. I’m instead rolling out all of the chapters individually again, starting from the prologue, until I catch up to where I was before. Then I can start working on new content, namely the last two chapters.
It's hard to believe I was once proud of this abomination of a title screen.
People often ask why I’ve stuck with a project this long. Indeed, the common trend is to make something that is quick and solid—quality over quantity. Several games here have received a well-deserved and respectable amount of attention for creating something so wonderful and unique in a relatively short time. For whatever reason I wanted to try to create something that felt a bit more traditional, yet just as fun and lengthy as the classic SNES RPGs. I feel even eight years later I’ve retained that same optimism we all had when we first opened up RPG Maker and I hope by continuously pushing RPG Maker to its limits I can inspire others just as they have inspired me.
Let’s step back in time to late 2002. I started on a project called Dragon Heart on RM2k when I was 14 years old. You played an adventure-hungry teen “Andrew” who somehow teleported off his home island and had to then search for four crystals to save the world. As you can assume, but it was terrible; I received unanimously negative feedback and was upset at myself when the game was rejected several rpg making websites.
MY EYES--THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING
I kept working on the game and revised the look and feel of it. Even though the game featured the same overused storyline, feedback became fairly positive, as I tried to introduce minigames, puzzles, and other gimmicks into the dungeons to keep players engaged. I ported it to RM2k3 and even evaded the happy RTP battlers in favor of using the character sets. The game was beginning to shape up even though it had a terrible storyline and a notoriously slow introduction.
Crack kills
After that I experienced gamemaking ennui. I didn’t know what I was doing when I started using RM2k and I never planned a storyline to completion. For a few years, I considered canceling the project due to slow progress; however, In 2006 I revised much of the game and renamed the project to Starless Umbra so I could nab a domain and find my project on the internet with ease. (Dragon Heart is already a movie and the former name of the cheesy power metal band Dragonforce.) Thus, I split the game into chapters and released chapter four under the new name, Starless Umbra. It took a while for me to get used to the change but I think it was for the better. (One thing that never changed was my alias. starlessumbraman, or sum, seems weird to me. Then again, dhm really isn’t much better. As a result, I’ve had the same stupid avatar and stupid username for eight years now.)
RM2k3 version of DH--circa 2004
Revisions didn’t end there, though. For chapter six I revised the game’s introduction for the fourth time and my project became a huge mess. Thousands of variables and maps were haphazardly thrown about in RM2k with no clear structure or naming convention. I’ve lost track of dungeons and introduced features that got neglected or lost down the road.
Well, it’s now 2011. The storyline has been finalized to something I feel is unique; however, this has yet to be reflected in much of the game that is currently available. With that, I’m actually now entering the final revision cycle of the project.
WTF KELAR?
My solution to the inherent fragmentation of SU in its current state is simple: I’m re-releasing all of the chapters with updates to several areas of Starless Umbra. This revision has a plethora of goals. First, I’d like to get the whole project’s storyline to feel continuous by removing needless characters, unifying the plot devices, and solidifying mystery that really matter to the players. Characters are clearly defined in the backend, but maybe that doesn’t show through in the dialogue as well as it should.
The largest change, and arguably the most debatable, is the removal of the default battle system in favor of a custom one. The game’s default battle system is capable of a lot, but it suffers from editor-specific bugs, annoying implementation, and general unreliability. Where most games with CBS’s have not much seen the light of day, I am optimistic that I can finish this for a few reasons:
-The game is already 80% done.
-The battle mechanics are already solidified.
-I have no desire to start or move on to other projects.
-I get the greatest joy in RPG Maker from hacking together custom systems/minigames and generally pushing 2k3 to its limits.
This also gives me an opportunity to revise all of the systems I’ve gradually tossed at the player over the years—the tech system, the essence system, the rage system, and more. I’ve learned that incrementally implementing all these neat features at the player that don’t really play well with each other can be overwhelming and messy, so this will be an opportunity to create something that feels completely integrated, where all the game dynamics flow seamlessly.
Other enhancements for this phase are being planned, but I haven’t really revealed much yet as they are still in infant stages. New dialogue boxes/faces, custom monsters, custom music, and more are all also underway.
So how does this affect the game’s release? For one, I’m not supporting much of the current release any longer, which includes the whole game through chapter seven. I’m instead rolling out all of the chapters individually again, starting from the prologue, until I catch up to where I was before. Then I can start working on new content, namely the last two chapters.
It's hard to believe I was once proud of this abomination of a title screen.
People often ask why I’ve stuck with a project this long. Indeed, the common trend is to make something that is quick and solid—quality over quantity. Several games here have received a well-deserved and respectable amount of attention for creating something so wonderful and unique in a relatively short time. For whatever reason I wanted to try to create something that felt a bit more traditional, yet just as fun and lengthy as the classic SNES RPGs. I feel even eight years later I’ve retained that same optimism we all had when we first opened up RPG Maker and I hope by continuously pushing RPG Maker to its limits I can inspire others just as they have inspired me.
Miscellaneous
Want free SU scratch & sniff stickers? Of course you do.
- dragonheartman
- 12 post(s)
- 05/06/2011 10:02 PM
- 2922 views
Completely free! More info/order form here:
<removed due to spam. pm me!>
I'll post a real game update sometime soon.
