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Elder71
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Hi, I'm Stephen, lead designer of OMNIS - The Erias Line.
Aspiring game-dev, societal drop-out, coffee drinker, chain vaper. Pixel tweaker. Location maker. Character dreamer-upper.
Also a part-time Parallax Mapper available on commission.
(contact me re: commissions at elder71@hotmail.co.uk)
ALSO - I like reviewing games. If you're looking to get your game fairly reviewed with constructive criticism/feedback, PM me or email me or otherwise contact me telepathically. My messenger-pigeon service is out of order following an unfortunate incident that involved a jumbo-jet engine.
Cheers,
S.E
Aspiring game-dev, societal drop-out, coffee drinker, chain vaper. Pixel tweaker. Location maker. Character dreamer-upper.
Also a part-time Parallax Mapper available on commission.
(contact me re: commissions at elder71@hotmail.co.uk)
ALSO - I like reviewing games. If you're looking to get your game fairly reviewed with constructive criticism/feedback, PM me or email me or otherwise contact me telepathically. My messenger-pigeon service is out of order following an unfortunate incident that involved a jumbo-jet engine.
Cheers,
S.E
OMNIS - the Erias Line (...
A story and character driven RPG featuring a variety of game play and key decisions that influence how events unfold. (Smaller, "no rtp" version available.))
A story and character driven RPG featuring a variety of game play and key decisions that influence how events unfold. (Smaller, "no rtp" version available.))
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#6. Long Absences + Ressurection part.3
author=Dragnfly
Holy crap that looks great! Like, old Lucasarts great! (yeah, I used to play loads of old point-n-click)
How are you managing screen real-estate now that the sprite is so much bigger?
The way it works out, the new sprite will actually appear smaller in-game.
With the first sprite, I was just going to make them all 'small' and then double their size so that they weren't tiny on screen, but the new ones don't need any up-sizing because they're bigger on their own.
Here are the sprites' as they would appear in-game. I've also included the original sprite (used in the current generation of screenshots) for comparison:
So it's actually the one on the right that would've posed the real estate problem.
Testing_some_basic_mechanics.jpg
author=Dragnfly
Actually, you got me thinking about it. I figure it all has to do with how much of the imagery needs to be decoded by the player in order to get the basic story, and how easy it is for them to misinterpret that imagery.
Again, let's look at Silent Hill 2. You don't need to get any of the symbolism to understand the story. The really important parts are made perfectly clear. But if you want to interpret what certain monsters symbolize or why James keeps jumping down holes you can and you'll be better for it.
That's a good example. Clears things up, I think. As long as the player doesn't complete the game going 'so what in the holiest hell was all THAT about?' then the right amount of symbolism and wotnot has been used.
Testing_some_basic_mechanics.jpg
author=CashmereCat
Yeah, that makes sense.
I take the possibility that I'm going to be 'artsy' and overdo / overuse symbolism as a story-telling crutch very seriously.
But I don't think that representation has the same effect as symbolism in this case?
#5 - Long Absences + Ressurection part.2
author=Dragnfly
I always tell people that RPG Maker is better for making puzzle adventure games than the adventure game makers LOL.
IMO for a non-contrasting horror like TAD the chibi sprites are out of the question. People manage to offset the chibi sprites with more serious character busts sometimes but the heavier the game, the less that covers it up. IMO it's also a liability to have everyone be one tile tall.
I agree. Even the word 'chibi' seems to undermine the seriousness of psychological horror. And I'm not using busts, so wouldn't even have had that option.
Testing_some_basic_mechanics.jpg
author=Dragnfly
Hmmm. Do you have an example, even if it's not from TAD? I'll help in any way I can.
An example is tricky without giving away the main premise of TAD. Hmmm.
Representation: You're walking down a busy high street. It represents your life and the aging process, you die once you reach the end.
Symbolism: At the start of the street are shops selling cribs and diapers, later there's a school, then offices, then a church with a wedding in progress, then a care home, then a funeral directors.
In terms of game design, the street is the 'premise' and 'setting' of the game, the shops are ideas that help to define the premise and explain the setting.
Does that make sense?
#5 - Long Absences + Ressurection part.2
author=Dragnflyauthor=Elder71I hear ya. My character busts are made by cobbling together parts from 3D models like some digital Mr. Potatohead, posing them and then tracing over the result. My sprites are made in voxels, each frame of an animation is copied to a sprite sheet, then drawn over because voxels in RM look like crap. After that they're broken up into parts and animated with Spriter (also 6 frames. Seems to be the magic number) so more complex animations can be achieved.
Cheers! Still a WIP, though. There's a daunting amount of work and effort ahead with this new, reimagined TAD
The suffering we go through just to make our games look a step above RTP, eh?
Oh yeah. I think, unless you're doing something specifically suitable (like some kind of twisted fairy-tale where cuteness is offset against darkness, etc) the RTP is especially unsuitable for horror RM games. That's from my perspective, anyway. I was originally gonna use the RTP to make The Allison Door just a quick, few days project. But the look of it was so mismatched with what I was picturing.
Testing_some_basic_mechanics.jpg
author=Dragnfly
Just remember that symbolism is a tool and not an escape or excuse and you'll do fine. It's the difference between artistic and artsy. I played one once where the story was so open and flooded with symbolism that the plot and all events could really mean anything. A story like that is pointless because the player has to do all the work and the Dev gets all the credit.
However, some symbolism used appropriately and backed up by in-game evidence (not the dev saying later on his blood this meant that or that meant this) is an extremely powerful tool.
A good way to work with it is to make it the way you intend and then ask yourself if there's other ways that decently intelligent gamers might interpret it. Then ask if those other potential interpretations hurt your story or encourage discussion. That's why stuff like the subtleties of Silent Hill 2 are still discussed today.
Re-reading this comment now, with the project being revived, I think I may be guilty of exactly the sin you outlined. Nothing like a few months away from something to really open your eyes to its flaws.
Luckily, this is STILL the planning phase, so I can easily adjust.
EDIT
Although...I wonder...In the case of story telling in games - is there a practical difference between symbolism and literal representation? In hindsight, I think I'm more guilty of using the latter than the former..
#5 - Long Absences + Ressurection part.2
author=Dragnfly
I like them. It reminds me of those really nice character sprites you'd get in some DOS adventure games back in the day.
Cheers! Still a WIP, though. There's a daunting amount of work and effort ahead with this new, reimagined TAD
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