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Progress Update and a Question.
Marche100- 12/16/2012 11:01 PM
- 1401 views
Alright, I said it would probably be a week before I got an update out, and here it is. An update. Where to begin...
Well, I'd say out of this week I've worked on Obama RPG maybe 3 or 4 days out of the week. My laptop that I use to work on Obama RPG kind of broke, meaning I appear to have a defective battery on my hands, and everything, but thankfully I was able to rip the battery out of it and that fixed it (except for the fact that now I can't unplug it or it just shuts off instantly). So, everything turned out fine there, thankfully. I would've felt awful if my laptop totally broke down and I couldn't work on the game anymore after just saying I was going to again. @_@;
As far as progress goes, I'm very close to wrapping up the third chapter. All I've got left to do is to create the chapter's final boss and the last scene in the chapter and that's all finished. I'm also creating boss title cards that will display before every boss battle and give you the recommended level for the boss, just so you know what to shoot for if you're having trouble or feel underleveled. I don't think there should be any points where you feel very underleveled, though. This brings me to my question for any of you who choose to reply, though.
With leveling up, comes experience, and with that in RPGs traditionally comes grinding. Now, I was browsing the development and design section of the forums here on RMN and I came across a topic about grinding where a lot of people basically flat out said forcing grinding in a game is one of the things you should never do. That kind of freaked me out a little bit, because you have to grind a little bit in Obama RPG to hit those recommended levels I made up. It's only about 15-25 minutes per dungeon, I'd estimate, but that's still 15-25 minutes.
So, my question is, do you feel comfortable with having that little bit of grinding?
I think you wouldn't be in too bad of shape if you didn't, but I don't want people to be turned off from Obama RPG just because it encourages a bit of grinding, especially those of you who are interested in the game. I just want to hear your honest opinions on this, because I'm a bit concerned, now. I'm making the game the way I want to make it, but I ultimately want to make the player happy and to make a game the player can enjoy, not just something that I think is good.
Anyways, this blog is getting long enough without me rambling forever. Last note for right now. After Chapter 3 comes quite possibly the largest chapter in the game, Chapter 4, which has 3 dungeons in it. The only chapter that rivals that in length is Chapter 7, unless I make changes somewhere along the line. So, that percentage of completion for Chapter 4 won't go up very quickly, but never fear, progress will be made at a steady pace.
That's all I have for now. I'll make another update in a week or something with some actual screenshots or something to show, because I know this update is a little dry with only my words to describe how things are coming. I considered showing some things, but I don't want to go off showing the entire game off, so from now on I have to be careful in considering what I want to show and what I don't want to show. I think Chapter 3 is something I'd like to keep hidden, for the time being, at least.
Until next week! Stay tuned.
Edit: Ok, I changed my mind. Here's a screenshot and an example of the boss title card I was talking about.
Edit 2: Remade the boss title card. Now it looks much better. From a bitmap standpoint, that is.
Well, I'd say out of this week I've worked on Obama RPG maybe 3 or 4 days out of the week. My laptop that I use to work on Obama RPG kind of broke, meaning I appear to have a defective battery on my hands, and everything, but thankfully I was able to rip the battery out of it and that fixed it (except for the fact that now I can't unplug it or it just shuts off instantly). So, everything turned out fine there, thankfully. I would've felt awful if my laptop totally broke down and I couldn't work on the game anymore after just saying I was going to again. @_@;
As far as progress goes, I'm very close to wrapping up the third chapter. All I've got left to do is to create the chapter's final boss and the last scene in the chapter and that's all finished. I'm also creating boss title cards that will display before every boss battle and give you the recommended level for the boss, just so you know what to shoot for if you're having trouble or feel underleveled. I don't think there should be any points where you feel very underleveled, though. This brings me to my question for any of you who choose to reply, though.
With leveling up, comes experience, and with that in RPGs traditionally comes grinding. Now, I was browsing the development and design section of the forums here on RMN and I came across a topic about grinding where a lot of people basically flat out said forcing grinding in a game is one of the things you should never do. That kind of freaked me out a little bit, because you have to grind a little bit in Obama RPG to hit those recommended levels I made up. It's only about 15-25 minutes per dungeon, I'd estimate, but that's still 15-25 minutes.
So, my question is, do you feel comfortable with having that little bit of grinding?
I think you wouldn't be in too bad of shape if you didn't, but I don't want people to be turned off from Obama RPG just because it encourages a bit of grinding, especially those of you who are interested in the game. I just want to hear your honest opinions on this, because I'm a bit concerned, now. I'm making the game the way I want to make it, but I ultimately want to make the player happy and to make a game the player can enjoy, not just something that I think is good.
Anyways, this blog is getting long enough without me rambling forever. Last note for right now. After Chapter 3 comes quite possibly the largest chapter in the game, Chapter 4, which has 3 dungeons in it. The only chapter that rivals that in length is Chapter 7, unless I make changes somewhere along the line. So, that percentage of completion for Chapter 4 won't go up very quickly, but never fear, progress will be made at a steady pace.
That's all I have for now. I'll make another update in a week or something with some actual screenshots or something to show, because I know this update is a little dry with only my words to describe how things are coming. I considered showing some things, but I don't want to go off showing the entire game off, so from now on I have to be careful in considering what I want to show and what I don't want to show. I think Chapter 3 is something I'd like to keep hidden, for the time being, at least.
Until next week! Stay tuned.
Edit: Ok, I changed my mind. Here's a screenshot and an example of the boss title card I was talking about.
Edit 2: Remade the boss title card. Now it looks much better. From a bitmap standpoint, that is.
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Dyhalto
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Closeauthor=Marche100
I would've felt awful if my laptop totally broke down and I couldn't work on the game anymore after just saying I was going to again. @_@;
Back that shit up, yo.
My main computer died on me 6 months or so ago. I would have lost my freaking mind and thrown shit everywhere if I wasn't making regular backups of my game every month.
That said, grinding is still a very general a no-no. People can stomach it when a boss enemy suddenly amplifies the difficulty, but nobody wants to go through 7th Saga-style grinding just to get to the next town. If you can make some adjustments and severely limit it, do so.
Marche100
939
Yeah I realize that I should have backed it up, but it broke like the first day I started working on Obama RPG again, so I was just getting back into the whole game-making mindset, and I don't think I had realized that I hadn't backed it up since the demo. But every month? I think I'll back it up more like weekly at least. Monthly seems a bit too long to wait.
But, yeah, I think I'm good on grinding then. Like I said, grinding is, for the most part, optional, and you're not grinding to get to the next town or anything (there aren't enemies on the world map, anyways, just in dungeons), just to be prepared for the next boss's difficulty, and even then you don't have to spend very long at all to prepare (I'd say 5-10 minutes). And I try to boost experience output from enemies substantially so that it doesn't take too long and generally I try to encourage the player to gain at least 1, recommended 2, and at most 3 levels per dungeon. So, yeah. I'm not going to worry about it. I think I was freaking out about it more than I should, considering that I was already trying to minimize grinding before, and it's not at all to the level of most RPGs that I can think of *coughPERSONA3cough*.
Oh, and just a side-note that I keep forgetting to mention. Still thinking it out, but I'm going to simultaneously release a casual version of the game where Obama and all of the other party members start out at a fairly high level (I'm thinking upwards of 40-50) for people who absolutely do not want to fight enemies at all for whatever reason. That way, you can basically play it any way you want. Sit back and casually enjoy the story or play it like a traditional RPG where you'd die very quickly if you just run from every battle. It's just a few simple changes to make, and I think it would appeal to some people more than others, so why not?
Anyways, that's all I have for now, again. Thanks for the advice.
But, yeah, I think I'm good on grinding then. Like I said, grinding is, for the most part, optional, and you're not grinding to get to the next town or anything (there aren't enemies on the world map, anyways, just in dungeons), just to be prepared for the next boss's difficulty, and even then you don't have to spend very long at all to prepare (I'd say 5-10 minutes). And I try to boost experience output from enemies substantially so that it doesn't take too long and generally I try to encourage the player to gain at least 1, recommended 2, and at most 3 levels per dungeon. So, yeah. I'm not going to worry about it. I think I was freaking out about it more than I should, considering that I was already trying to minimize grinding before, and it's not at all to the level of most RPGs that I can think of *coughPERSONA3cough*.
Oh, and just a side-note that I keep forgetting to mention. Still thinking it out, but I'm going to simultaneously release a casual version of the game where Obama and all of the other party members start out at a fairly high level (I'm thinking upwards of 40-50) for people who absolutely do not want to fight enemies at all for whatever reason. That way, you can basically play it any way you want. Sit back and casually enjoy the story or play it like a traditional RPG where you'd die very quickly if you just run from every battle. It's just a few simple changes to make, and I think it would appeal to some people more than others, so why not?
Anyways, that's all I have for now, again. Thanks for the advice.
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