ZINGUH'S PROFILE

author=LockeZ
It's possible that this happened because of bad file copying, or possibly because you opened two copies of RPG Maker at the same time (which can cause big problems).

Crap. Well, I figured the latter was the cause. But I just called my friend who has the original copy and told him to open it and see if its the same as it is on mine -- and it is. And that is the original, not the copy of it. So even the original got messed up... can that happen by bad copying? And how can I prevent it from happening again? I really wouldn't want to lose any more of my stuff.

I have anxiety disorder, so I'm afraid of most things irrationally. Have been since I was a kid. But there are definitely things that have scared me the most all my life.

The ocean, for one. I can deal with tornadoes, hurricanes, etc... but a Tsunami or even getting caught in a rift? Oh no. I love water, but I don't like being IN water, if that makes any sense. I don't like knowing if I am in an instance where I could be swimming one second and drowning the next. Plus, the vastness of it is just... incredible, really. The power of it frightens me.

After death. I think we all fear this deep down somewhere in our hearts though. Some have accepted their beliefs while others have not. For me, though I do have christian views on the after death, does not mean I am not scared of it. It is hard to imagine heaven, or nothing at all, after living on earth. Either one is equally unsettling. Reincarnation even moreso because I would never want to unwillingly forget the people I have invested so much of my love into. Perhaps not knowing is better than knowing at all.

And I'm terrified of airports. Which may be the weirdest one. This was a fear that kind of developed as I got older. Airports has always represented someone I love leaving me. Because honestly, people don't go the airport if a distant childhood friend is leaving town that you haven't talked to for 8 years to say goodbye to. They go because someone they love or are close to is leaving and you want to spend every last second with them if you can. I suppose this is more personal as every trip I've had at an airport has been emotionally exhausted and hurtful. The idea of even being at one brings back so many sore memories I just start freaking out and don't want to go inside. The overwhelming feeling of loss and loneliness just kills me.

@LockeZ: I agree with what you're saying. To me, towns are just bland. Npc's are bland. They are almost pointless, really... just a passer-through to the main storyline -- which is sad. Most rpgmaker games or just real games in general have these plain npc's that could be there or couldn't be there. One of the reasons I think I loved Zelda: Majora's Mask was because you actually gave a damn about the characters in that game. They were important, somehow. Sure, they weren't the main storyline... but say if you never reunited the couple Anju and Kafei -- they would never be together again. Kafei would never even know Anju was waiting for him until the very end and Anju would never know Kafei was trying to be with her. Same goes for the ranch sisters... if you never choose to stay overnight and help with the alien invasion, the little sister basically loses her mind.

One of the aspects in my game that I am really trying to portray is a sense of reality. There are side-quests. Those side-quests have outcomes. Those outcomes have consequences. Say if a bartender asks you to pick up a shipment for him because his shipment has been late 2 weeks now and he is running out of alcohol to sell to customers, and you say "No thanks" and go along your business... Next time you happen to cross through that town, there is no more bar. You find the bartender living in some god forsaken house and when you talk to him you find out that he got someone else to do what he asked you to do and that person ended up being killed by bandits of some sort and due to that he could not get another shipment through his only contact. Therefore the bar closes, he's out of a job, one of the families in town is depressed because they have lost their father (whom the bartender asked to do the quest) and there is just a general feeling of guilt towards the player.

Not every single NPC should be unaware of the events of the world around them. One of the things I like most that people do in their games sometimes is that every single npc in that world has an ever-changing dialogue either based on the heroes actions or the actions in the world. That makes me want to go talk to NPC's and spend some time in town.

While the main story is obviously the most important thing here, I think it's also important to create a world the player WANTS to be in... not a world that they tolerate being in because of the story.

@Pentagon Buddy: I have tons of charasets that I've collected over the years i've been messing with rpgmaker. A good handful of them I have never even seen in rpgmaker games, so I've been messing with the sprite work for those in particular. However, I do love spriting, and if I have the time between other things that I'm working on, I will go out of the way to make my own. But yes, it definitely is easier (though the sprites are so small it's hard to make it look clean...) to do sprites when the body as a whole is in a fixed state.

@Ocean: Yeah, that's pretty much the thought process I have right now. I sincerely think that, while I have played many games that were very good in other areas, they lack in the creativity to excite the world around the player. When I play a game, I WANT to want to walk around the place, see the sights, talk to people, etc... I want it to be interesting. So I'm trying to implement that into my game.

@chana: I'm happy to know that other people agree! :)

I love Catherine. It's an awesome game. I went into it with pretty low expectations though, seeing as how I am not usually into cutesy anime like games with big boobs and KAWAII DESU ^.^;;;, and at first that's what I thought it was going to be like. I was pleasantly surprised though. The artwork was nice and the story held my interest from beginning to end. Not only that, but the puzzles were fun and challenging (I played on easy) and gave the game a uniqueness of its own.

Stage 7 part 3 (look it up on youtube to see which one i'm talking about) was a real pain in my butt. I almost broke my controller I was getting so aggravated. But man, the feeling of accomplishment when you do figure it out is awesome.