(Game title is temporary, haha)

A very (very) new devlog!

[jeebus-crisp]

Everyone’s favorite space nerd

[ameliaandfriends]

Floor tiles. My first time drawing these hahaha I enjoyed. And I spent more time on making these idk-what-they-are-for maps > <

I’ll try walls and carpets tomorrow :’D

[spenchaaaaan]

Here’s a pitch for you kids with free time: A RPG Maker horror game where you don’t use a flashlight. Instead, you’re forced to depend on this $7 Hatsune Miku Projector Pen to help you navigate the darkest places unknown to man. (BONUS: when an monster closes in, “World Is Mine Nightcore” starts playing.)

[bleetdev]

Sorry to be a bother, but is there anything about RPG maker that talks about making a good map? Thank you!

I can do a quick little advice post for you, no problem! A “good map” is subjective, but there are a couple guidelines people are often recommended to follow:

1. Size

Depending on what’s in your map, you don’t want your map to be too big! I actually prefer smaller maps, and as my more recent games Fleshchild and Jasei no In have shown, my games have maps that are usually no bigger than the default 2k3 size.

In The Looking Glass, like many ynfgs, I made the main worlds massive and looping. The idea was to make it easy to get lost in the game like people in yume nikki often do, but actually, unless it’s for a specific reason, I really don’t recommend making giant maps that are hard to navigate! It can be really disorienting for people who don’t have good exploration strategies or don’t want to use them (like walking 5 steps to the left, then walking down until you come back to the same spot, and repeat), it can cause people to lose interest when they get lost too many times, and overall it’s not something you want to do often, if at all. You’ll lose interested players that way!

The map below is too large, and the player can walk on almost every tile of it. It loops, which makes it feel 2x bigger in game:

But for the map below, while its actual size is still kind of large, the space the player explores is less than half the size of the entire map. Players don’t get lost as easily, and the main exits are pretty easy to locate:

2. Landmarking Overworlds

In maps that are supposed to be free-roam like in Yume Nikki, you want to provide proper landmarks so exploring players will be able to find their way easily. Too many landmarks makes it feel cluttered and hard to navigate (a common issue in forest worlds in ynfgs), and too little landmarks makes it feel like you’re walking in an endless void, which is not fun at all if every world is like that and has no real reason for being that way. You also want landmarks marking new areas/links/items to be distinct, so players can tell if they’ve stumbled across something new!

The snow world screenshot from earlier is also a good example of too little landmarks.

The map below is an example of a huge map choked with landmarks; players got lost in this map all the time and never noticed the connecting areas:

The map below is a good example of providing a good number of landmarks which help keep the world interesting, while also providing clues for people on where to go next:

3. Realistic Proportions

One of my biggest pet peeves about a lot of rpg maker games is that people are constantly making huge rooms with objects that don’t match, so everything feels boxy, weirdly proportioned, and comically large. Your room maps will look much more polished if you make sure you don’t just make a large box and throw a bed sprite in the corner.

The map below is Irene’s old room. Even though I loved her room design, it still was way too big to make sense:

The map below is an apartment bedroom from Fleshchild. The room is still rather big, but the way the shape of the room and and objects are used makes it feel small and more realistic:

The map below is the smallest bedroom I’ve made in my games, and the only reason it isn’t smaller is because this game needs floor space so the caterpillar-style follower can move and won’t overlap objects:

4. Using Default Size Maps

So I wasn’t going to write any more, but I decided to cover one last topic, which is making realistically sized buildings and cityscapes without making massize maps that include the whole city. Of course this thing is up to personal preference, but I’ve grown to really like small maps of cities over giant ones. You can give each map a lot more detail while retaining the size of the city.

The map below is an entire city all on one map. Everything feels massive and endless, and there’s not much room for detail because the map favors size over unique buildings. It feels huge, repetitive, and unimpressive:

The map below is just the default rpg maker map size. Because of this, I can make a map with less buildings but more environmental detail, though this is a WIP:

The map below is just a little bit bigger than the default map size. Instead of throwing this map in one giant citywide map, I could make Irene’s schoolgrounds look much more detailed while keeping realistic proportions:

I hope this post helped! I’m going to bed lol it’s 2:34am

[stray-sand-blog]

a small update!!

hey!! if you're a student like me, you may know that exam season has come. luckily, I've already finished my math exam (and did pretty well, I think!!), but my science one is this wednesday. I've been pretty focused on studying for it, since it's not one of my best subjects, so I'm afraid I won't be posting much until it's over. thank you for reading this, I'll see you on thursday!!

[misc-rpg-blogs]

Who is your favorite RPG Maker Game character?

What game are they from? Why do you like them so much? Tell us!

[misc-rpg-blogs]

@pinkuboa

[misc-rpg-blogs]

Do you prefer a Silent Protagonist or one who Speaks?

From @flareblitzed​

[misc-rpg-blogs]

A silent protagonist or a speaking one is fine! Just do what you think will help your project the most! However, if the character speaks, imo, they should be well-developed characters.

Opinion below. 

If the character speaks, what do they add to the story?

If the character is strong and is well written, then yeah! Go for it! (I don’t mean strong as in, “They’re a BADASS and KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT!,” but more, “They are developed and are their own persons/3D characters” instead of being flat and 1-dimensional.) 

If the character speaks but is flat and 1-dimensional, then most of what they’ll say won’t be interesting or add anything to the experience. Instead, it’ll probably detract away from the experience, and the descriptions or conversations will probably be boring. You can’t get much of a sense as to what MC is like because they’re flat, and what they say will probably be something obvious. Even if the Author tries to deliver a line that’s emotional, it may not touch you because you don’t care much for the MC (because they’re flat). 

If your protagonist is flat, you should re-write them to make them more developed (unless being flat is purposeful/part of a plot reason/point). That’ll make them more interesting and more human. And people will care more. 

(For me personally, instead of having to deal with a protagonist who talks who’s flat, I’d rather deal with a silent protag. Sitting through a flat MC’s dialogue is suffering.)

However, a silent protagonist can have attitude! They can still be well-developed! This can be done via their interactions with other characters, the MC’s reactions to events, and MC’s actions. (Think of Ib where the MC never speaks, but other characters speak to her in a way that the Player knows what she’s saying.) (Will keep this part short bc I don’t want to get into it right now.)

How to Avoid Flat Characters: (Short, short tip.)

Give the Character a goal. 

Look at the above.

Look at the above.

Look at the above.

Make the Character go after the goal.

And ofc, every story should have a conflict (something that stops the MC from getting the goal easily). (There’s more to this.)

Anyways, this is just me blabbing opinions. Sorry I didn’t go so in-depth with the stuff I said! I can do that later (later). For now, I just wanted to blab. 

[stray-sand-blog]

you should also take into account what style you're going for!! EC did a great three-parter focusing on the differences between western rpgs and jrpgs (I can't permalink things on mobile, so here's the link: https://youtu.be/v8aiEsIW9IM), and one of the differences they talked about was how the story was told--japanese rpgs will make you more of a puppet master of the story by putting you in control of a character with an already established personality, while western rpgs will put you in control of the actual character, and allow you to express yourself within the game. so, a protagonist with dialogue--especially dialogue the player isn't in control of--will probably work better with a jrpg style game, while a silent protagonist may work better for a western rpg. however, this obviously isn't the only deciding factor 😅😅 the style will also depend on the rest of the design of the game, but it definitely is something to consider!!

[alliaofrph]

[writeinspiration]

WRITING HELP/CHARACTER

writing a bitchy character (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

writing a cocky character (1,2,3,4)

writing a emotion character (1,2)

How to play a hippie

Playing the quiet character.

Portraying the shopaholic.

Portraying a mute character.

Portraying a kleptomaniac.

How to play the stalker.

Writing distant, indifferent characters.

How to write a character who stutters.

Writing a character who is sassy.

A guide to playing a southern character.

Portraying characters with crushes.

How to portray a teen mom.

How to play a character who is mean.

How to portray a character high on cocaine.

Writing a character who is high on amphetamines.

Playing an efficient male character.

Portraying the asshole.

Playing a character who suffers from shyness.

How to play a mentally ill/insane character.

Writing a character who self-harms.

Writing a happy character.

Writing a character who suffers from night terrors.

Writing a character with paranoid personality disorder.

How to play a victim of rape.

How to RP a blind character.

Writing a leader.

Writing a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Writing a character with depression.

Writing a character who is homosexual.

Writing a character with schizophrenia.

Playing a fe/male character.

Writing a character with Nymphomania.

How to write a worry wart.

How to write a character with HPD.

How to write a bad ass character.

Playing a pansexual.

Tips on writing a drug addict.

Tips on writing the pregnant female.

Writing insane characters.

Playing a character under the influence of marijuana.

Portraying a character with diabetes.

How to play a prankster.

Playing a character who has been adopted.

Portraying a vampire.

Playing a character with an eating disorder.

Portraying a character who is anti-social.

Portraying a character who is depressed.

How to portray someone with dyslexia.

How to portray a character with bipolar disorder.

Portraying a character with severe depression.

How to play a serial killer.

Writing a tomboy.

Playing a pyromaniac.

How to write a mute character.

How to write a character with an OCD.

How to play a stoner.

How to write an asexual character.

How to play a bitchy/vicious character.

How to play a character with HPD.

Playing a pregnant woman.

Playing the burn-out.

Writing a “nice” character.

How to play a gentleman.

How to play a shy/introvert character.

How to play a naive character.

Playing characters with memory loss.

How to write a character who smokes.

How to write pirates.

How to write characters with PTSD.

How to play a character who isn’t ready for sex.

How to play the geek.

Playing the manipulative character.

Portraying a character with borderline personality disorder.

Playing a character with Orthorexia Nervosa.

Writing a character who lost someone important.

Playing the bullies.

Portraying the drug dealer.

Playing a rebellious character.

How to portray a sociopath.

How to play a swimmer.

Portraying a ballerina.

Playing a promiscuous male.

Playing a character with cancer.

How to portray a bubbly character.

How to portray a power driven character.

How to portray the shy character.

Playing a character under the influence of drugs.

Playing a character who struggles with Bulimia.

Portraying a hippie.

Portraying sexually/emotionally abused characters.

Playing a character with asthma.

Portraying characters who have secrets.

Portraying a recovering alcoholic.

Portraying a sex addict.

How to play someone creepy.

Portraying a foreigner.

Portraying an emotionally detached character.

How to play a character with social anxiety.

Portraying a character who is high.

How to play a strong, female character.

Writing a character with a hangover.

Playing angry characters.

Playing a character who is smarter than you.

Playing and writing autistic characters.

Portraying a trans character.

How to portray a dominant character.

Playing a character who is faking a disorder.

Playing a prisoner.

Playing the opposite sex.

Portraying a character who has PTSD.

Playing a character who stutters.

How to play a depressed character who self-harms.

Portraying the “dumb” character.

How to portray a lesbian.

How to play a blind character.

How to play a sexual assault victim.

Writing a compulsive gambler.

Playing a werewolf.

Writing a character who is drunk.

Playing a Brit.

Portraying a character with amnesia.

Playing heroes.

Portraying a witty character.

How to play a vampire.

How to play a character who is manipulative.

Portraying the natural born leader.

Portraying the character who is flirtatious.

Writing a nice character.

How to portray a character who has asthma.

Playing a character with ADHD.

Amnesia

Children

Losing Someone (2)

Physical Injuries (2, 3)

Sexual Abuse (2)

Fight Scenes (2, 3, 4)

Horror

Torture

How to Describe the Body Shape of Female Characters

Character Appearance Help

Words to Describe Voice

Character Development Exercises

Art of Character Development

Introducing Characters

Characters You Need to Reinvent

Making Characters Likable

Heroes and Villains

Understanding Body Language

Mental Illness in Writing

Conflicts and Characters

How about some writing resources for those post-NaNoWriMo blues?

[stray-sand-blog]

I forgot to post it, but here's the (finished??) animated sprite for Ingrid!!! I'll probably come back to it later, but I'm definitely done with it for now 😅😅

[stray-sand-blog]

@pollinatorgator thank you!!!

[stray-sand-blog]

@kittenmita ok, I swear I tried answering this before!! I think the post disappeared, though?? I'm not very sure what happened to it 😰. the program is called aseprite, though!!!

[moonanagames]

AAAAA 1106 followers, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I’m so glad you’re all with me! , Thank you so much for being with me until now, it’s the best birthday gift for me (my birthday is today, actually, but I wanted to give you all a present *-*)

1st place will get a super cool pixel bust in the style of Virgo’s cutscenes! (as the bigger image shown above). You can ask me for your OC or fanart, for example!

2nd place wins smaller pixel avatar for you to use in tumblr, twitter or anywhere really! (I can increase the size for you, if you like bigger pixels!)

RULES:

Must be following Virgo Vs The Zodiac! It would be so cool if you don’t unfollow me right after, I would be super glad, and plus, it’s my birthday today, ok, you can’t just unfollow the birthday gal >:0

Reblog to enter! 1 reblog = 1 entry! likes don’t count! :>

Have your askbox open! I’ll inbox the winners, if you don’t reply within 48 hours I’ll have to pick another random person! ;0

There will be 2 winners!

CAN’T DRAW:

Mechas

Complex bugs

Deadline is MAY 28th 2017!! Good luck & thank you all <3

[stray-sand-blog]

✨✨

[stray-sand-blog]

@sevenplayers that’s so sweet, thank you so much!!!

[stray-sand-blog]

This is totally how you sprite- Erin

[stray-sand-blog]

thisishowyouresupposedtomakespritesright.png

[stray-sand-blog]

Introducing our main character, Ingrid!!