(Putting it under here ⬇️ because this one is a bit longer than usual.)
Does anyone know any way to make things larger or further zoomed in in XP? I feel like I’m having to strain just to see my own game, especially the player character. I like where my sprites are at right now (I’m aware there’s some lighting issues and an somewhat nauseating floor pattern I have to fix, but it works for now), so I don’t really want to rework them. But gosh just the sheer amount of space around the actual gameplay area without any fullscreen option is bugging me a little bit.
A little sneak peak into a room ^ which is so so so close to being finished (how exciting!). The puzzle in it needs some tweaking is all, aside from the wider whole game edits like tilesets and whatnot.
Another awkward question, if anyone here has the answer to it: I’ve been stumped on making a working stamina bar/system. I don’t really need a graphic for it, but I’m trying to make running a limited use thing. If the player runs for a set amount of time, the character gets tired and has to wait to be able to run again. I’ve got running working, but I can’t seem to tie stamina like that to it? I asked on reddit, got a response, initially thought I understood it, tried replicating what they explained, and, well, it’s still not working. I’m a bit embarrassed to ask there again (_ _ ; ).
For uh more context, the only coding class I’ve ever had was with python and it’s been a good 7 or so years, so I’m pretty rusty at coding language speak in general. So I’ve explained the thought process in comments on there, but, again, running is working fine, stamina is not. Anyway, I don’t expect many people to see this and if there’s no response here, I’ll brave Reddit again. Uh, insight into the inexperienced dev experience.
I hope to have more things figured out soon. Right now I’m just focusing on mapping out the building. I’ve got 11 rooms roughly floorplanned and I’m going through with place holders to mark where objects and events will potentially be.
This log is more than just a list, I feel like stream of consciousness writing feels a bit more personally helpful. It’s nice to have a, what’s it called in coding, a rubber duck? That’s something you say whatever you’re struggling with to troubleshoot, I believe. I suppose I get yapping time out of it as well, lol.
Anyway, to do:
Try to fix the running/stamina mechanic (again, ohh the stamina bar is going to be the death of me).
Basic mapping of more rooms.
IF the stamina mechanic is working, high emphasis on IF, begin planning more puzzles.
Unfortunately, progress has been heavily stalled by sudden general life events, but I’m making this update just to confirm that the project isn’t dead! I will persevere! It’s just been awfully stressful lately and I haven’t had much opportunity or energy to work on it.
That being said, I have figured out a couple story points and character relationships I hadn’t finished before, so that’s at least some progress.
To anyone else working on a long, difficult project like this, any progress, no matter how small, is still progress made and still worth acknowledging : ).
Day one of using this blog as a dev log for myself.
Things of note I’ve accomplished so far (including but not limited to):
Running mechanic works fine.
Finished an enemy sprite sheet.
4/8 main characters have been sprited.
Got way more used to conditional branch events and planned a couple.
First room of the game near finished, only needs some tweaks to the puzzle and sprites.
A decent amount of rooms have been made with placeholder textures.
Several events, a couple common events.
First cutscene of the game works, may need some edits later.
Menu Map largely finished.
Things accomplished today:
Alternate sprite sheet for a character finished.
Story script work.
Worked on event/puzzle planning.
Second alternate sprite sheet for a second character started on.
Goals for tomorrow:
Figure out how to tie the running mechanic to a stamina bar.
Finish aforementioned sprite sheet.
Finish at least one room.
Continue story script work.
In short, the game is in the very rough early stages. I’m hoping that keeping track of what kinds of progress I’ve actually been making and setting goals for each day keeps me motivated. It’s good to know exactly what you’re doing and to break down that task of “make a game” into smaller more manageable tasks like “make a puzzle” or “draw some assets”.
After a long break (admittedly out of frustration lol), I’ve started trying to use RPG Maker again. I know I have an awfully large amount of work ahead of me, but I’m going to try breaking it down into smaller steps.
Recently, I’ve pretty much figured out how cutscenes work, so that’s cool. I just need to script out all the cutscenes on notepad to make putting them together easier. I already have the basic story rundown finished, it just needs some polishing.
I think my next thing to focus on will be figuring out animations and some more work on the maps. I also would like to try to start doing dev log updates. I think that’d keep me in check and maybe be motivated a little more. Kinda like journaling in a way I suppose hehe.
I think I’m starting to realize that the current project I’m working on is going to be stupidly hard to do entirely alone. Or, at least, that it is going to take a good, long while. That doesn’t mean I’m not still going to try making it, I just might be stuck doing a lot of test and side projects that are way smaller scale before I can get to “long super polished rpg horror game”.
Anyway— if anyone has any resources for the engines 2003, XP, or VX Ace, that would be very helpful. I have found a video on the coding language Ruby recently, but besides that a lot of the specific questions I’ve been having end up either not on the forums or unanswered on the forums. I’m also probably turning to asking on Reddit, even if it’s a little awkward.
Mapping is pretty tedious… I’ve made a little floor plan to make it a bit easier, but it’s far from final. Likely will have some downsizing done to it.
Having this in the program itself is fun because I can set the starting point in this at any time and test how nicely each of these rooms flow together. It’s also pretty surreal since it’s all placeholder tiles, smaller scale, and no separation between rooms.
Hmm I already see a couple things I want to change about it—
Hasn’t even been that long since the first post of him and he’s already getting some better contrast and lighting done on him :3. Before he was very awkwardly light against the background and didn’t mesh with the style of other sprites.
Two different versions of a character portrait, one where he's green because of btmp color limitations from when the game was being developed in RPG Maker 2003. It's since been moved to XP, so he doesn't have to be green anymore lol, but I still like how the green one looks hmmm.
