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An Important Announcement: A Fresh Coat of Paint.

Sort of a big announcement, or at least potentially.

Backstory: So I was chatting up my game and going over some design documents with some homies, and the sentiment came up more or less of "You've got a really good thing going on here. You ever think about selling it? on Steam or such?"

And I thought about it, and...yeah. Maybe I should. I think I have a solid plot, mechanical design, framework, and I'm almost done! Putting Chronology on Steam would get the game to a far wider audience and invigorate me as a designer. However, I couldn't. Why? Well...asset wise, it needs a fresh coat of paint. In other words, it needs original assets and not the rips and edits I've been using.

Do not get me wrong, I've been a staunch defender of rips and edits in the hobby design corner for like, ever! They allow a designer to build up something using something else (and this is a thing in the art world utilized by very famous artists, 're-contextualization') and focus on the meat while they free up assets to build it. Also, editing is a lot of fun, I liked doing it for its own sake. It served me well forever. If you're making a game and using rips, and rips are the difference between your game being released or unreleased, use those rips! Either way, that's here nor there and this isn't about the ethics of rips or whatever, so shush.

However, I can't sell it, or more specifically, I can't sell Chronology as its with rips. And even if I didn't sell it, using FFVI assets and the like inherently limits my audience in the wider world.

So I'm announcing that henceforth I'm taking Chronology forward to eventually transition all of its visual assets to original ones. What does this mean for you, the (hopeful) consumer? A few things.

-This pushes the release date back until first quarter 2017 at the earliest, but this does NOT affect the mechanical development. It's still being developed in RM VX Ace, it's still being worked on as is, the plot is still being written and meat and bones of the game are still being chipped away at. In other words, this does not affect me opening up the program and working on the game.

-This is ONLY the visual assets. The music, plot, mechanics, script, etc etc were all original to begin with. This does mean I'll need new tilesets, charactersets, battle animations, and other visual assets. This is a fair amount of work, but I'm not building anything else from scratch.

-While replacing the visual assets will take a fair amount of work/time/some cash, in many cases its more of a one for one swap. Basically, the towns using FFVI chipsets will now be original, the forests using Rudra assets will now be original forests, the character and battle graphics will be similar in scale and appearance, just not FFVI edits, and so on and so forth. I don't have to recreate entire maps from scratch, I 'only' have to edit and fix graphical transition hiccups that comes from importing new assets and exporting the old ones.

-By 'original' I am not willing to accept a drastic decrease in quality. My game WILL be differentiated from the many other VX Ace games, graphically. You're not going to see glossy, Alex, RTP stuff. The visual look and feel of my game won't depart from the one it has now as much as possible.

-This won't be free, but I have some ideas (and some capital) to fund it, and I know of some talented people who I can ask around for to see if anyone is interesting in doing this. However if you know of anyone, please point me in their direction, or vice versa!

-This isn't, nor is selling the game on Steam, absolutely set in stone, but I am leaning towards it heavily. Until then, like I said above, I'll continue to work on the game like I did before!

Whew. That's a lot. Any questions or thoughts?

Posts

Pages: 1
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Makes sense. The ffvi/rudras graphics are worthwhile for letting us try it out and tell you what sucks gameplay/story-wise, though! A final build with new graphics for sale would be sweet though. I mean, hopefully. I've only played the game once when it was like a dungeon and a city in 2k3.
Please get in touch with BadLuck. He is hoping to convert several "classics" of the community to commercial endeavours, not unlike what he did with his own Ara Fell. He's helping me with Hero's Realm (if I ever get my ass in gear, that is).
you son of a bitch do you think I have money for video games?

This is obviously a good idea. Music is an expensive part of the equation, so if you've got that covered you're in a good place. I'd love to see this game with some new 16-bit era graphics (please don't go to 32x32 please please). If you hire a sprite artist, that'll free you up to work on the mechanics unhindered, as well, with the added benefit of making your money back (and hopefully more) at the end.

There are so many complete bogshite VX Ace games on Steam and it would be so nice to have a good one. If you do it, I will begrudgingly open my purse strings to you.
Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
Since I've never played this iteration of your project, the wait doesn't phase me at all. To be honest I expected this like end of next year maybe? But hey, good luck with finding an artist!
author=Craze
Makes sense. The ffvi/rudras graphics are worthwhile for letting us try it out and tell you what sucks gameplay/story-wise, though! A final build with new graphics for sale would be sweet though. I mean, hopefully. I've only played the game once when it was like a dungeon and a city in 2k3.

Yeah, I'll still be working on the game and updating it and the blog/twitter/etc as I go along so you guys can chip in the other tangible parts!

And yeah, that demo was quite a while ago, ahha. For better or worse given the length, the game is far superior to what it was then. I'm confident that it'll be profitable if I can release it at its best.

author=kentona
Please get in touch with BadLuck. He is hoping to convert several "classics" of the community to commercial endeavours, not unlike what he did with his own Ara Fell. He's helping me with Hero's Realm (if I ever get my ass in gear, that is).

Thank you, and I will!

author=Kaempfer
you son of a bitch do you think I have money for video games?

This is obviously a good idea. Music is an expensive part of the equation, so if you've got that covered you're in a good place. I'd love to see this game with some new 16-bit era graphics (please don't go to 32x32 please please). If you hire a sprite artist, that'll free you up to work on the mechanics unhindered, as well, with the added benefit of making your money back (and hopefully more) at the end.

There are so many complete bogshite VX Ace games on Steam and it would be so nice to have a good one. If you do it, I will begrudgingly open my purse strings to you.

Thanks for your vote of confidence man!

That's part of the reason why I'm eager to explore this; if I'm releasing a product that I'm charging people money for, no matter the amount, that automatically drives me to release a product that'll be competitive in the market. Oftentimes I feel reluctant to do that 'extra mile' like sidequests, lore, deeper mechanics, etc etc because I feel people won't play it. If I'm releasing my game to a wider audience and not for free, I have to do these things, which is awesome, for me as a creator and for you the consumer!

author=Tau
Since I've never played this iteration of your project, the wait doesn't phase me at all. To be honest I expected this like end of next year maybe? But hey, good luck with finding an artist!

Thank you! I'll be worth the wait, although interestingly enough I'm happy to tell you I don't think you'll have to wait as long as you thought you did.

And yeah, I'm still looking for artists!
WIP
I'm not comfortable with any idea that can't be expressed in the form of men's jewelry
11363
You have my axe! (Money)
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
Congratulations! I'm very excited and happy for you!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Good luck, man! I'll be rooting for you!

This might sound strange, but make sure to archive the old look, whether it's via screenshots or a backup your current build. Being able to see a side-by-side comparison of an old version to the new look is a huge motivator, and would make for some interesting blog material if you decide to go that route.

I didn't do that before overhauling the visuals for PotF, and I deeply regret it. Don't make the same mistake I did.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Red_Nova
Being able to see a side-by-side comparison of an old version to the new look is a huge motivator, and would make for some interesting blog material if you decide to go that route.


MOG's special talent is conjuring blog posts -- he might have already scheduled this for like April or something.
author=WIP
You have my axe! (Money)


I THANK YOU, WARRIOR.

author=Sailerius
Congratulations! I'm very excited and happy for you!


Thank you! I appreciate the sentiment and I look forward to what's next.


author=Red_Nova
Good luck, man! I'll be rooting for you!

This might sound strange, but make sure to archive the old look, whether it's via screenshots or a backup your current build. Being able to see a side-by-side comparison of an old version to the new look is a huge motivator, and would make for some interesting blog material if you decide to go that route.

I didn't do that before overhauling the visuals for PotF, and I deeply regret it. Don't make the same mistake I did.


Not strange at all, and great advice. I thought of doing this as a good way to make good blog and progress material.


author=Craze
Red_Nova
Being able to see a side-by-side comparison of an old version to the new look is a huge motivator, and would make for some interesting blog material if you decide to go that route.
MOG's special talent is conjuring blog posts -- he might have already scheduled this for like April or something.


You are very close to reality there!
Go for it!

(yes, I'm late to the party. sue me)
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
I'm glad you've chosen this route!

There's no joy like pushing your craft and growing.
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