[CC][XP-Demo]Oh, Brother

To show I am doing things.

Spoiler for Unai Wip Map and info:

In-editor.
I am working on remapping the first town as a single map.
Redesigning a few bits as I go, but keeping it mostly the same.
I'm not too far in yet as I had to do quite a bit of bug testing/squashing in the XP demo.
May give an idea of what the new town will look like though. There's a bit more, cut off.
(I'm sure the tree autotiles aren't meant to be used as they are in the center, but hopefully it doesn't look too bad.
I'm trying to give the impression that the forest the town takes up is quite dense and housed on a mountain.)




In-game shot of outside Nini's Home.

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Once the mapping in the first town is finished, I plan to map out the areas in the next chapter.
Then, once those areas are mapped and events are placed, I'll go back and put in all the events/dialogue for the Prologue/First Town.
This way I can have the next chapter finished and have something new for people to check out while the Demo is being remade.
It will likely contain a little intro event that shows Nini leaving town, and start her with the items she'd gain in the Demo (the unmissable ones).
I'd planned to have an intro event for each new Chapter anyhow, but this one will be unique in that it gives the items.

I'm not entirely sure how to make each Chapter it's own project. I have an idea, however.
When the next/remade Demo is released it will contain the Prologue and First Chapter.
Subsequent Chapters will be released, if it works like XP, in folders containing the new files but not requiring a full re-download.
Each Chapter will end with a special event/image and the option to save and begin with the same image and a mini intro to the next Chapter.

Unless I can find an easier way.

Spoiler for Portraits:

Testing out a simpler style (Cave Story inspired), hopefully it will take less time to make them this way.

=Update=

I'll be putting updates on hold until I have the Prologue and First Chapter completed. (may update the main post with screenshots/art as completed)

A few things I'd tried to do in the Demo were too complicated and unnecessary. I'm trimming things down and simplifying where I can.
This will not impact the story at all, or the core gameplay, and I doubt anyone will even notice the differences.

I've made a few important changes to how things work and would like to keep a little mystery.
The Demo will show what to expect from the writing and gameplay. Just know that there will be differences from it and the final release.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions/bugs concerning the Demo.

See you when I have more playable. ^.^

That forest looks really nice. Can't wait to see more screenshots.

Hey, I was just playing your demo, and I have to say that I'm enjoying it so far. The dialogue is pretty amusing, and the maps are very well put together. However, I came across sort of a weird error. In the academy, after talking to Daddy, I went to the bottom-most floor and talked to the lunch lady. While talking to her, I accidentally pressed the jump button, and Nini jumped clear over the counter and the lunch lady in one go. I tried to go around, but the ball of light kept me from passing. So, I jumped over that, too, and it resulted in a loop, with the lunch lady saying "You're not allowed back here. Now scram!" or something like that over and over again. Had to close out the game. It wasn't anything big, just sort of strange.

Haha. Sorry about that. I probably should have switched the jump off for dialogue. I've been told it happens in a few spots. I'll fix it up.

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. It is nice to know the writing is amusing. As that's my favorite part to work on.
And the maps, which it seems is a good thing if they're working well. ^.-

---
It's taking quite a bit of time to remake things in Ace. Lots of differences and I've made some fairly large changes to things.
Nothing story-wise, really. System stuff, Database shenanigans, little rearranging of the world and things in it. Oh and redesigns for some NPCs.
Not Nini or her Mother, but her Dad and Brother. They didn't have a solid design to begin with, so I'm trying to give them one.
I am also attempting to find an easier, quicker way to handle portraits so I can have one for every NPC without killing myself.

So..it may be a bit before I have anything to really show. I am working on it though. = )

I wanted to wait until I had some video or tech demo to show, but it's been a while since I updated. Also,  getting some mock-ups done and playing around in the engine has assured me I'm doing this -

I'm not going to be using RPGMaker to make this game.
There are many reasons, but the major one is that I have developed a serious attachment to the ideas and want to give them a real showcase.
A gameplay style that will do the game in my head justice, and a unique art style to truly make it my own.

So, "Oh, Brother" will now be an Action-Adventure RPG(akin to the Zelda series), made entirely in Construct.
Sswave, being awesome, has informed me that he will continue to work on the music. So there will still be a beautiful soundtrack.
I will be doing everything else myself. Which means it will take some time to have anything playable.
A great deal longer than the three months the demo took. But all of the things I want to do are possible in Construct, and I think it will do better to practice with the program I'll likely be making all of my other projects in. (the ones this was meant to be a step toward, were to be made in Construct)

Hopefully the wait will be worth it.

Until then, if it's okay with the Mods, I'd like to revamp this thread for the new stuff but keep it so I can continue to share my progress with you guys.
I'll make a new support bar, too, if that's a thing people still want.

In the mean-time, here are some things to look at.

Spoiler for Mock-ups:

HUD/basic area concept


Menu Concept

Spoiler for previous designs:

Old HUD, didn't change much but colors and did more to the scene.


Old Menus, two pages, still working on redesigning the second and designing the third and the save screen.


Battle concept, mostly for perspective practice.

Spoiler for Concept Art/Animation:

Basic Turn and the start of a walk cycle


front-facing walk-cycle, I don't like it, but it's a nice starting point.

And a sprite, sort of. Just the first frame, in the front-facing direction so far. But it's a start.

======
Well, there it is. Let me know what you think and if you guys are still interested.
I'll certainly post it here first, whenever it is finished. It started here, after all. ^.-

===
Frequent updates found here. It's just the artside; mock-ups/concepts. I'm learning Construct also, but I can't really -show- that.

--I also want to specify that I am, by no means, saying that RPGMaker is a bad program. It's just not the right fit for the game I want to make.

Spoiler for More Concept art - and a short walk animation:

An Arachnoid - one of the lesser Voidbeasts Nini will encounter early on.
All of the enemies are meant to look a bit unnatural, as though they do not belong in the world.
He spits poison and, if Nini gets too close, curls into a ball and pops spikes out of his back.
I still need to draw the spots for the spikes when not out.



West-facing walk animation, just two frames. Want to keep it simple.
I'll alter it a bit to add more movement, but I thought it came out kind of cute.
The other directions look a bit odd animated, so I need to fix them up a bit.

I am for the change in engines, and also the new support bar.

Glad to see someone is still interested. = )

And the support bar, glad you like that too. I'm trying to figure out a style for sprites still, so knowing it's still working is good.
I think the hardest part so far is figuring out exactly how simple I want to go with the graphics. I'm sure everything else will prove harder later, but right now it's pretty irritating testing things out with what amounts to blobs while I figure out how things should work and look.

I was thinking Minish Cap style for appearance, but not certain my abilities are up to that yet. I may go a bit closer to Earthbound's simple 2-3 color backgrounds but make the sprites themselves a bit more detailed. I think I figured out what art style I want to go with but the shading style is what's slowing me down.

=As for an update of sorts=
I've only managed some basic movement and AI behavior. Frankly the AI behavior is not what I wanted for the beginning enemy type but it's neat and I'll probably use it for a different enemy. It's not the easiest program in the world to work with, but it sure is fun to figure stuff out. Being able to truly design everything myself, and knowing it will work without too much hassle, is pretty nice too.

As soon as I have something in-game to show, I will post it here. I'm hoping to get a tiny playable demo of the features ready before a real demo is. One with placeholder graphics, and by that I mean "this circle is the player, this one is the enemy, this blob is terrain" sort of placeholder. Just to show that things are progressing, and give some hint as to how it will play.

May be a while, as I'm new to this sort of game in this engine. I've played with it before, in an attempt to make a side-scroller, and learned many valuable lessons. But side-scrollers do not have the z axis to worry about. 2.5D makes things a little...complicated. ><

I still do not have much free time. However, I make myself sketch out a concept piece for Oh, Brother and attempt to learn a new feature of the engine every day. I joined in on a drawing challenge on Tumblr, to assure that even when I can't come up with something to draw for the game, I am still practicing. Getting faster because of it, so that's good.

As for concepts, I think I've nailed down what the beginning few enemies will look like. Not the colors yet, but basic design.

Spoiler for Enemies:

That was kind of long, but hopefully not entirely rambling. Will update again when I have more to really show.

Oh dear... I can't feel a pulse... Call the Medics!

I honestly forgot to update this until my e-mail just told me someone still cares. I am sorry. ><

This has become a side-scroller to be made in Construct. I am working on a very small, simple practice game to learn the program and working on improving my art so I can handle all of the resources I will need to make. Oh, Brother will still happen, but not with RPGMaker. Which is why I did not update this topic.

I am very sorry to those who were watching or waiting for this project. If you still care and want to see how it's going, I have a blog where I occasionally post things. I've been pretty busy with other things, but am always working on my game when I have the time. Any updates will be found there.

Again, I am sorry for not updating to let people know. Been a full and not so pleasant year. Hoping this one will be better.

As for this topic, feel free to close/remove/tossintotheabyss. I will likely make a new one in the not RPGMaker-exclusive thread whenever the game is finished.