#metasuper

[koifishcoyote]

Killing my Code and Characters

Turns out that yea, my movement code is garbage and I'm only 1 video into the tutorial. Granted I'm still gonna change stuff for my needs but I had no idea how to use Unity's grid.

Anywho, on the topic of my code needing to die: I'm designing Metasuper around character death.

I noticed that even though Fire Emblem and X-COM have permadeath, both have reset problems.

Fire Emblem for the past few decades has been built around characters NOT dying. Plenty of supports and fun stuff for surviving and almost nothing for letting characters stay dead.

X-COM's problem is how the soldiers being randomly generated make it harder to care about their deaths (until you snowball into a canyon but that's a different problem)

If character death is meaningless in these genre leaders, then how is Metasuper going to be different?

Heroic sacrifices. When a hero hits zero HP, something big will happen that could turn the tide of battle. Massive stat boosts, massive heals, massive map-wide damage. Emphasize the characters by having them leave with a bang.

This is one of the reasons I'm theming around superheroes. Other reasons are how often they come back from the dead (I said it had "character death" not "permadeath"), and one kind of replacement unit that I'll keep secret for next post ;)

Feel free to guess what that secret is.

[koifishcoyote]

Been a while so here's all the character, enemy, and NPC pixel art I made, ready for color pallets. I tweaked some of them, and even replaced one, but I'm happy with how most of them turned out.

I also started writing dialogue. Not much important, just stuff for civilians to say when giving the player items. That doesn't mean I'm phoning them in. I'm trying to fit microstories into each of them.

[koifishcoyote]

I call the game Metasuper and it's going to be a tactics RPG with superheroes and character death.

Here's some pixel art for the characters on the map. You can mostly ignore the colors, I'll use code to change them for different characters. There's gonna be a lot of artwork anyways, might as well let myself reuse stuff.

But if the characters all look different, how will the player tell their units from the villains? Simple: I'll recolor the outline.

I have more game design stuff planned, but I can't share everything all at once🤪

[koifishcoyote]

Metasuper Emergent Storytelling

Emergent Storytelling: stories grown as you play. These stories are wonderful, and I'm designing Metasuper around these.

But how? I don't have the resources for Dwarf Fortress or Rimworld, and already locked in a chapter-based structure. That funky definition gives you a clue, "grown."

You can't build an emergent story like a house. You need to plant seeds, give them good soil, and get the player water them.

Stories start small, with motives and backstory. Plenty of room to develop. For example: a doctor that got fired but still wants to help people. Then things die. Or rather, moments fertilize the soil. They add texture and nutrients to grow the seeds. Anything from villains remembering heroes to heroes remembering fallen allies. You can't make the player water the stories, but you can motivate them. Choice is a big motivator, like who they take to the missions or which paths they take, but those are used enough people don't see the stories. I prefer small but special rewards. If you didn't know already, big rewards ironically kill motivation. A unique flower that heals a little HP feels special, but one that heals a lot is just an item. Anyways, what are some seeds, fertilizer, and watering cans that you've seen elsewhere?

[koifishcoyote]

Drew another hero. Meet Psy Gal!

[koifishcoyote]

Happy Easter to the Coyote Pond! I have a dev log for you!

Here's the biggest reason I have superhero theming. Super Pets!

Not as many kinds of pet as kinds of hero (for now) but when I decide on some color schemes these adorable little things will act as flier, combat, speedster, and healer replacements. Or maybe they'll take slots anyways for animal lovers.

You might notice the blue outlines that weren't on the other sprites I made. Turns out there's a reason nobody changes outline color, so I added a halo so there's no problem.

With that out of the way, which super pet is your favorite? Mine is the cat because of how much detail I somehow crammed in.

[koifishcoyote]

Pretty simple to modify a color swapper shader from a tutorial to make it work with multiple colors. Not every color though: the skin, cyan, and magenta I was using didn't work so I pushed them all the way and now they're fine. That tutorial was so simple I'm wondering if I'm overcomplicating my system code so I'll be checking one of those out.

Anywho I also made some art of a character. I call him Rescueman and no, I'm not an artist but I gave it a shot. Only *checks notes* 39 more to go. Crap.