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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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OMNIS - the Erias Line (DEMO)
author=raidofrost97
I hate to necro post here, but I just have to say, this game is terrific. Crazy that its nearly a decade old now. Its a real shame that the project was cancelled - I felt that the story in the demo was just really starting and then it was over. The graphics are absolutely beautiful. It would be amazing if the original creators released the demo fully open source for fans to tinker with.
What an odd coincidence! I decide to check in on Omnis for nostalgia's sake and there's a new message only a few days old!
Thank you for your praise, it means a lot even now. It staggers me that Omnis--such a big part of me for so long--is so old and dusty already, but I guess that's just how time flies isn't it?
The Kickstarter (is Kickstarter even still a thing?) did very poorly, which was sad but inevitable I think given how little time I had left to devote to spreading word about it. Just wasn't meant to be.
I had never considered providing the original VX Ace editor file for people to have a look at but I think I will now that you've asked. Just as soon as I dig out the laptop it was created on!
The Allison Door
author=Dragnfly
A game is like your child, and all parents want what they feel is best for their kid.
You definitely get it. I still feel bad about announcing this game a million years ago with screenshots and wotnot though.
The Allison Door
Hi folks. Long time no see!
Dragnfly is correct, I've moved on to Unity. I went from trying to learn Ruby so that I could edit custom scripts to suit my needs to figuring "well, hell, if I'm learning Ruby may as well learn C# and get total control!"
The problem has been that while Unity has 1000x the power of RPG Maker, it comes with about 3% of the functionality. So I'm now working out ways to create switches and variables and events and parallel processes so I can THEN actually start making games again.
A dev log is a very good idea and I will get around to it. Maybe even tomorrow. Then I'll be back with a link!
Sorry for the absence and silence everyone.
Dragnfly is correct, I've moved on to Unity. I went from trying to learn Ruby so that I could edit custom scripts to suit my needs to figuring "well, hell, if I'm learning Ruby may as well learn C# and get total control!"
The problem has been that while Unity has 1000x the power of RPG Maker, it comes with about 3% of the functionality. So I'm now working out ways to create switches and variables and events and parallel processes so I can THEN actually start making games again.
A dev log is a very good idea and I will get around to it. Maybe even tomorrow. Then I'll be back with a link!
Sorry for the absence and silence everyone.
OMNIS - the Erias Line (DEMO)
author=Slimy_D6
Did you by any chance use 'Capiticus Calvaria' from The Binding of Isaac as a soundtrack for the game? Sounds awfully familiar, with minor changes(?).
No, I think that's pure coincidence; the music was all originally composed by my friend James. The similarity is striking, I agree, but I trust absolutely that no plagiarism took place :)
OMNIS - the Erias Line (DEMO)
author=lianderson
I noticed while playing it years ago that the battle system had terrible framerate. (mainly due to my mediocre computer at the time) This, tbh, was a little disappointing and ruined the combat for me. So much so, that it solidified my choice in keeping my own game front view.
But there´s two easy answers to this. 1, computers are better now, so the average person will now have good enough hardware to compensate for it. And 2, if you compress your battle sprites and animations with those free online picture compressors, the lag will literally be cut in half so no one will ever experience it, and yes, the pictures will still look exactly the same. It´s a win win. (according to a couple scripters I know, VX Ace doesn't use caches, so it has to constantly reload stuff all the time, hence the lag and why everyone should compress their stuff)
That, and I think the puppet switch puzzle being a little too hard for a early game area are the only constructive criticisms I have on the demo. Everything else was solid, and that looking out of the window part was cool af. (also, I remember some faceset needing work. I think it was the random guy)
I´m glad you´re putting more time into this, and I hope you put it on Steam, even Early Access if you have to. Kickstarter was just one route to making Omnis successful, and every game has different routes to get to success. Kickstarter was just not yours. But you honestly don´t require it. You don´t need to hire a pixel artist, because you are one! Yes, you´ll still have to work at your job or whatever it is that you do, so progress will be slow, but some progress is better than none. So take this game off hiatus goddamnit!
The tough puppet puzzle was an example of me trying to cram too much into the demo. That would have been better as a later in the game puzzle, you're right.
Our kickstarter campaign and the demo itself got absolutely torn apart on reddit when we promoted it there, so I've got a lot of (very valid, though I was devastated at the time) feedback to work on from there too before moving forward.
OMNIS - the Erias Line (DEMO)
author=lianderson
Your skillset is more than fine. You have the rare ability of creating awesome pixel art, as well as a great story. A 100,000+ copy commercial game is well within your grasp. You could make the next To The Moon or Lisa if you just pushed yourself again.
That - now that means a lot man, thank you. I do try and maintain that kind of confidence moving forwards, though it's very rarely easy.
I think the thing with Kickstarter, for me, was that Omnis stopped being about love for a story and characters and a game world and became about budgets and twitter analytics and promotion deals and sending out mass press emails. Ultimately, that all took a massive toll on my passion and really muddied the waters when it came to my motivation.
For anyone else reading who's interested in the state of the Omnis project, here are some areas where I feel Omnis needs to be improved before its ready to go again:
Uno: Animation.
I've put a lot of practice in with static pixel art, but I'm only forcing myself to learn better animation techniques recently. I'm also trying hard to get a better grip of colour palettes, smear frames and more interesting/expressive animations in general.
Zwei: Story.
The demo was too long and took far too much time to get across a few basic plot points. This is an issue of needing both tighter writing and much more focused level design (quite a few people got lost and frustrated in the first area, which can only be because the layout wasn't clear enough).
Trois: Mechanics.
I'm a story person, and a lot of Omnis' proposed 'custom mechanics' were shoe-horned in after the fact. When the time comes, I'll be redoing the demo and redesigning everything with those mechanics at the core, rather than stuck on to the periphery like dung beetles on s**t.
IV: Fanbase
I stubbornly insisted on launching our Kickstarter before we were ready. I did this for reasons related to my personal situation, and freely admit that I refused to acknowledge the obvious warning signs:
< 100 likes on Facebook and most of our 700ish Twitter followers were just other devs looking for publicity of their own.
When we launched our Kickstarter, we did it "silently" (as one ezine put it) and never really had any hope.
(At the risk of sounding a bit sycophantic, I'd here like to repeat my gratitude and appreciation for everyone who did back us, as well as for everyone who's offered feedback, reviews, criticism and everyone who enjoyed the demo despite its bloated size)
What I learned is that a really polished project page, lowish fundraising goal and a demo with a lot of provisos and promises attached does not a successful KS campaign make.
OMNIS - the Erias Line (DEMO)
author=Blindmind
Just saw one of this game's (many) astonishing screenshots on the front-page. Still such a disappoint how it all turned out :(
Any plans to potentially give it another go with the Kickstarter?
I don't think I'll go the Kickstarter route again. I didn't like how it turned me into an accountant/marketing executive rather than a designer/story teller.
I also learned that I have a long way to go in terms of developing my skillsets before I can make Omnis the way I want it - so it's probably for the best that our KS failed so miserably.
Maybe, just maybe, when we've got a big enough fan base and I'm not so naive, maybe then we'll give it another crack. But for now I just want to dev for the love.
The Allison Door
author=TPetrichor
HOUSE OF LEAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE MY NEW OBSESSION GIVE ME THIS GAME
"This is not for you."
:)
The Allison Door
The Allison Door
author=Dragnflyauthor=Elder71On that note, not counting personal preference is there anything... linguistically technical in the book. By that I mean anything that would make an audio version less impactful? And just to re-state, I don't mean an opinion of which would be better. I mean like are there key illustrations or anything that require a visual medium?
I would repeat the recommendation to read House of Leaves. You should pick up a copy straight away and get lost in it - reading it won't spoil anything for this game, I'm 'inspired by' rather than 'based on', if you get me.
I would say so, yes. Large portions of the text are laid out in very unusual, specific ways, which is one huge piece of the House of Leaves experience.
Large parts of it are in languages other than English too - I only read/speak English so I didn't go through those passages, but their simple presence adds something to the atmosphere of the book that would be lost if they were cut from an audio version.
In summary, it's a very visual book and plays with space. An audio version would be possible, I think, but not without a very complex and risky edit.
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