(September 16 to September 22, 2013)
Welcome dear readers to the latest issue of the Weekly Gazette! Here in the Gazette, we give you the news in brief of what occurred in the past week as well as provide any news happening in Save-Point itself
Official Area
Occasions
If you ever walk by the bakery, you may notice a steady decline in the number of cakes available as birthdays abound. This week, these circular icing covered confections were used to herald the birthdays of mauro16b, EJlol, Strauss and edisonhwang. And later, local bakeries went into overdrive as CanBoy67's, edmhotta's and yuriferqawed's shared birthdays required their traditional icing-covered, candle blazing goodness.
General Chat
Sometimes you need to rant or let off a little steam, so the powerhouse thread that asks its members just What's on your Mind continues as DerVVulfman showed his irritation at file sharing sites. Only weeks after converting all his demo and script links over to a new site, did that site change their service so only the account owner could access the files. He received a couple of suggestions from JayRay and MetalRenard while Ahzoh and Pherione had their own entertaining opinions. While DerVVulfman worked on his transfers, he reminded members he actually has a dialup line, so some services like Box.Com are now incompatible. But, he had luck with MediaFire and fixed all his own personal demo and script links. Still, he became fatigued, spending literally hours on the mass of corrections he needed to make. KasperKalamity compared all of his work with his previous filesharing site to the effort of re-formatting all the dialog within an epic game, though MechanicalPen considered using a trick such as a smaller font. And odd as it sounds, DerVVulfman found he was able to access his new MediaFire account faster on dialup than with the ComCast internet he has at work, which JayRay agreed agreed was slower than dialup.
Copied from the USA Today website, DerVVulfman posted a report about the Gunman's Rampage at the D.C. Navy Yard, written by John Bacon and Donna Leinwand Leger.
Ahzoh made a thread, asking everyone What they thought of his revised language alphabet, showing a graphic image containing the 31 characters for his custom language. While wishing to show off his alphanet, he wondered if anyone could either convert it into a truetype font or to direct him to a program that could render it for him. Rather than actually converting the letters to a true-type font, DerVVulfman pointed out that it could be converted into an SFont. However, he also pointed out that SFonts are not recommended for large quantities of text at a time. However, Ahzoh saw SFonts only to be an RPGMaker system, but DerVVulfman replied that the SFonts script was converted from another's work. Still, he is really looking forward to see his custom letters show in a word document.
Forum Games & Nonsense
KasperKalamity felt he was in last place during the Mega Game Jam Voting as he claimed to feel burned out. Meanwhile, yamina-chan understood Ahzoh's confusion as he was more used to RM games needing no keyboard action. MetalRenard wondered if anyone else wished to submit their own scores to the four games, but time ran out and a winner was chosen in a very close race.
Games Development
Development Discussion
Tired of playing catch-up with your fellow members? If so, then you may wish to ask What's Up on their endeavors. KasperKalamity had been playing Final Fantasy Tactics quite a bit, and wondered if a Tactics RPGMaker existed. DerVVulfman recalled one from years ago, but said it paled in comparison to the ones made by both Mac and GubID. Meanwhile, Ahzoh suggested that someone make an RPG game where characters could be either left handed or right handed. Such an idea thrilled JayRay who contemplated adding something similar into his game's ABS system. And MechanicalPen would love to make a better map editor in C#, but needs to understand the map format. But while DerVVulfman isn't an expert, he knew that the MapInfos file is the map system's index. Lastly, Ahzoh is just about done making a TTF font for his custom language's alphabet.
Another image from KasperKalamity's game, Arbor's Eve, entered the Maps and Screenshots Thread now showing a couple of buildings and some tree designs. DerVVulfman, liked how Kasper developed the barren tree as he said it had a less-than-RTP appearance but commented that the second tree would do well if the second tree bark had a similar color. After that, he mentioned that he would likely need larger doors if the armored character he's using in his shots was typical for his game. But that was KasperKalamity's plan anyway as he continues to toil away at the natural tile elements. JayRay supplied a link to a mapping tutorial. And Ace showed his appreciation not long after. It was later followed by a screenshot from JayRay's game, RogueHaven, that boats 3D rendered tiles with realistic terrain and spritework. He also applauded KasperKalamity's map, appreciating that it still had the RTP feel while having its own original art, and suggested some shading techniques and critique. KasperKalamity, while replacing the RTP artwork, is still using it as a guide so everything would be the same style. He made mention how long it took to work on various graphics such as the grass and trees, but he replied it was needed as the RTP was too plain. JayRay is waiting anxiously for the game's release.
Upcoming Projects
JayRay offered his talents at making custom tiles for Dragon Reign, which Rose Guardian eagerly accepted as that was one skill that Rose Guardian lacked. That, and a self stated issue working on backgrounds and anime characters.
Code Support
Last week, ZeroSum asked for advice so he could add Combat Animations Via Scripting where he wished within the default RPGMaker XP battlesystem. It was answered by DerVVulfman almost as soon as it was asked, giving sample code and explanations. Once ZeroSum came in this week, he thanked DerVVulfman for so easy a solution and tutorial.
Material Development
Resources Database
This week, buprettyinpink wished to release her World Maps tileset, one that had an organic look while still having an old world treasure-map / chart feel. Within her download, she included both an .xcf (GIMP) and .pdf (Photoshop) file which would let you alter various layers and mess with the 20+ continents included. She has plans to add more content, but currently has mountains, houses, trees and various sundry items you would find on an old world map.
Special Projects
ReGaL (RPG Game Lab)
Screenies
As some may have read in the past, ReGaL will have a feature to allow game designers to create skill types so they can separate physical attack skills from magical skills or further and let these show up in the players menus under these skill categories. As flexible as ReGaL is intended, Kain Nobel updated the Actors Database topic with a shot of the new widget which lets you customize your hero. Now, you can select which skill types are shown for your hero. Similiar widgets are planned for weapon and armor type lists.
THE GAZETTE DEVELOPER INTERVIEWS
by Pherione
Developer: Yin and Trexrell44
Project title: Demon’s Revenge
Features:
Unique and Original Characters
Dynamic Time
Interactive environment
Motion Comic Cutscenes
Thought Provoking Puzzles
Link: DemonsRevenge.com or
Cavernofcreativity.com
(Note: DemonsRevenge.com is going through an overhaul atm)
The Interview
Pherione:
Hey Yin, welcome to the interview.
Yin:
No problem.
Pherione:
You’ve been working on an RPG named Demon’s Revenge for some time. Are you the only developer involved in the project or are there parts you’d outsource?
Yin:
No, I handle the actual creation of the game in the engine and I do sprites and story. Trexrell does spriting, concept art and some dialogue. He has been working really hard the last couple of years to get his spriting skills to the point where he could do the work at a high level. Coding, we outsource since we don't really know how to do much of that. I do some tweaks here and there, but as far as writing something from scratch, that's when we look to someone who is better equipped to handle that sort of stuff. In-game drawn art, battle backgrounds and motion comics are done by Ricky Gunawan. Ricky is a great sequential artist. His work is very detailed and he just seems to know exactly what we are going for. He is a very important addition to our project and we are very happy to have him work with us. Music is done by my brother Michael Correa and some is outsourced as well.
Pherione:
What is personally your greatest focus on the project?
Yin:
My greatest focus is telling the story and making it engaging and fun. We are playing around with a bunch of ideas to do that. Some of those ways are through exploration and discovery and in Demon's Revenge we want to reward and encourage that but also having it connect to the main story. So a bunch of our side quests offer a deeper look at the lore and history of the people and places of the game. Another way that we are trying to make the story a bit more fun and engaging is by having events where you can get in the action. One example of this that we are working on now is having one of the main characters being chased by wolves. It's sort of a quick time event where he is sprinting jumping over logs and dodging trees through a forest. The more you get right the fewer wolves you will end up engaging with. We are working on the balancing and EXP in these scenarios but its really fun to think about what I'm going to do next. Animating the characters in more story driven events and having them engaged with the environments and creatures is very important to me. Making sure everything works, as well as presentation is also a main focus of mine. Nobody wants to play a broken or ugly game. So I try my best to keep the polish on.
Pherione:
What makes your project stand out from others? What makes it unique in the current scene of RPG games?
Yin:
I think the main thing that makes Demon’s Revenge stand out from other projects is the art style. While most indie RPGs focus on more of an anime style of doing things, we prefer more of a comic inspired art style. We love comic art and we chose this style because it represented our story better. We have more of a gritty game. We don't have too many of the stereotypical characters you may find in most JRPGs or anime. Another big thing that separates our game from others is the different ways we want to tell the story. One of the more dynamic ways we are doing this is by using motion comics. It gives us the ability to do sort of animated segments and tell the story with some cool sound effects and narration. Lastly, I believe our battle system kind of sets us apart from the rest aside from being turn based. Our battlers, who are fully animated, are a lot bigger than what you would expect from RPG Maker games. And we are adding environmental interaction to the battles to add more strategy and diversity in the games. So pretty much you can knock over, blow up or cut down objects that may appear on the battle field.
Pherione:
You mentioned you focus a lot on the story, but what is it about?
Yin:
Demons Revenge is a game which mostly focuses on the culture of Hasphal. Although it centers around a girl named Sen who is kidnapped and is voluntarily returned to her family only to find out that she has demonic powers that she cannot control. She ends up accidentally killing her brother, her parents disown her, and she is left to wander the world on her own. Demons Revenge centers around the politics and world around Sen. There is extreme hate and prejudice involving the creature that Sen has become. They are considered vile creatures and are decreed villainous by the ridders, who are Hasphals main military force. So the world is in constant conflict as the demons feel that the Hasphalians are taking the land which belongs to them and vise versa. Discovering the mysteries about herself and the true history of Hasphal and its inhabitants. Everything is not what it appears to be as religion and life itself unfolds.
Pherione:
Last question. Working on a team isn’t always easy; how large is your team and what would you say is the most important thing when working in a team?
Yin:
It is currently just me and my husband Trex, but if we factor in people we are outsourcing I think I can say we have a medium sized team with the people that I mentioned above. I think what's most important about working on a team is communication. We live in a world where everything can be done online and it gives us the freedom to work with people from all over the world. Nobody can keep track of people so far away, but with that said, people are not my employees and I don't treat them as such, I treat them as members of the team and as a member of a team, we all have to be on the same page in order to work efficiently.
Pherione:
Alright, thank you for sharing with us your experiences and have a nice day!
Yin:
You too.
Well, that's it for this week.
"Men occasionally stumble on the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened." - Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
PROSPECTIVE GAZETEERS!
If you are the creator of a thread in Save-Point, you have the option of sending/writing your own entry into the Gazette. The Gazette accepts write-in announcements (which will be doublechecked). Likewise, the Gazette would welcome other content such as a comic-strip series, ongoing story arc, or the like.
Just PM DerVVulfman with the submissions. Submissions must be in by 10pm EST.