Shining Fanwork: New fangame

[chris1234p]

Hi All,

I have been working on a new Shining Force fan game for a few weeks and I wanted to share my progress and ask for input.

Check it out below.



Thanks

=== Update 1 ===


=== Update 2 ===


=== Update 3 ===


=== Update 4 ===


=== Update 5 ===


=== Update 6 ===


=== Update 7 ===

[Swalchy]

Hey, not a bad start at all.

You going to be doing your own Sprites etc.? Sega will probably try to take it down if you don't - they're shit like that these days.

[chris1234p]

Yeah I won't distribute it with these sprites, I just wanted to get started on the coding without worrying about graphics. Now that I see Legacies of Verdocia has some of their custom graphics available for community use I might swap over to those in the meantime.

[Caedmonball19]

Very cool. Great start. I look forward to seeing future updates. I believe I heard that RPGMV is javascript based. Not sure if that would interest you to instill a javascript TBS within that program.

[chris1234p]

RPGMV uses javascript as the scripting language but I don't think it outputs a web based game, whereas my game is playable on a website / mobile phone without any additional installations

[Caedmonball19]

That I am not sure about but I know they added the ability to play using touch screen on mobile phones in the latest release. Web based game sounds great to me though. Thanks for your passion for SF games.

[chris1234p]

Ah I see, I took a look at their website and I stand corrected. I look forward to any new fangames that come out using the new version.

[Caedmonball19]

The sprites may not work for your system but you are free to use mine as well from the Final Conflict game. They were sized for RPG MAKER VX Ace.

[chris1234p]

Thank you. I might just make a few basic sprites of my own, just enough to demo all the features. Any tips for making old school RPG sprites?

[Caedmonball19]

Corsair is the man to ask there on the old school ones. There should be quite a few in the community project. I think someone also did a thread giving advice on making sprites for the community project. I used GIMP to make my sprites and I like that software. I just looked at a lot of existing sprites, zoomed in really close and got ideas on making my own. If you end up needing help I could try my hand again at the old school sprites.

[Corsair]

I wrote a sort of tutorial but it was a few years ago and I never really finished it. I need to sit down and write a new one because looking back there is some advice that isn't so great and a lot of extraneous detail. Also I'm a lot less a dick than I used to be.

That being said, in my experience the best application for pixel art is Graphicsgale. I'm not trying to put some better-than-thou spin on it - but after 10 some odd years of casual practice, I've yet to find a utility that is more user friendly and facilitates faster production. (You'd be surprised at the subtle ways that poor application design can slow you down. Those 1-2 second delays get to add up after an hour or two of work and can break up your workflow.)

But you really should try it for yourself. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it's not steep.
https://graphicsgale.com/us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There's no particularly 'easy' way to make pixel art look good - like any skill there's a lot of practice, study and self-loathing involved.

I'd recommend reading over the following links to get an idea of how to avoid some common issues that are unique to the medium, and some general theory on how to make stuff look nice with minimal effort .

http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.pixel.schlet.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Pay particular attention to the discussion of clusters.)

Beyond that, everything I've done is Creative Commons, w/ attribution, so feel free to use and edit to your heart's content.

I need to set up a gallery somewhere but I'm honestly just too damn lazy.

You should be able to find everything I've done in here, in some fashion:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/38bt1mjiwbz4 ... Kgo3a?dl=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[macadoum]

Looks interesting. Good luck with this project.

[chris1234p]

I posted a quick update, I will put the video in the OP

[Chaoswizard98]

A web based SF game would definitely be amazing. I find it awesome that every new fan game that pops up on these forums uses a different system or coding language. Once everyone finishes their projects, we'll have all our bases covered!

I'm curious if you had any plans for story at this point or if you were saving that until after you finish the engine.

Looking forward to more updates!

[chris1234p]

Thanks for checking the game out Chaoswizard! I'm a big fan of The Legend of Syro and your work was a big inspiration. Hopefully someday my game will have all the features your has and be as smooth. You have great attention to detail.

Anyhow, yeah I am going to focus on the engine for now, and in the meantime I will think about the story and gameplay aspects. I don't really have any major ideas at the moment. I do want it to be similar to the original SF story (as far as making my game seem to take place in / tie into the SF world, or as close to the SF world as I can get legally) - or at least allude to the original SF world.

I also want this game to be fairly open ended, so there will probably be a main story line, but also tons of side content.

Tonight I continued to work on the attack menu command as well as making the white "target" to appear around the focused characters and animate around as you switch targets and such.

[Caedmonball19]

Looking good Chris. Glad GIMP worked out for you. I like the simplicity of the software and I also like the "freeness" of it too . I think offsetting the sprites was a good call. I heard what you were saying about the sound effect not playing correctly. Sounds like it is coded to play the sound effect completely before playing again. I am not a coder but sounds like you just need to allow the sound effect to be interrupted by another sound effect. Keep us updated on your progress.

[Chaoswizard98]

Thanks for checking the game out Chaoswizard! I'm a big fan of The Legend of Syro and your work was a big inspiration.

I figured that out the second you mentioned gamemaker lol.

Hopefully someday my game will have all the features your has and be as smooth. You have great attention to detail.

Most of my detail work came in later on. Things like hp/mp bars and all the other minor details were simply not as important as the core gameplay because they could be added very easily later on. Obviously some details should be added early on based on the limitations of your coding language or at the very least you should have some idea of how you'd add it later on (and add a comment to remind yourself of the plan). For me personally, menu pans caused all sorts of issues, especially regarding the 'if the player does something ridiculous' and 'button spam' scenarios.

I also want this game to be fairly open ended, so there will probably be a main story line, but also tons of side content.

This reminds me of an old game called Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic. It has a main story, but how you get to the end of the game is mostly up to you. Earl suggested adding dialogue options a while back. That might be something that could help you create a more open ended story.

[chris1234p]

Added another quick update video in the OP

[Caedmonball19]

Thanks for the update Chris. I have a suggestion but I'm not sure I even like my own suggestion. I remember in the last video you offset the characters to sit higher on the tile. Should the same be true for the targeting square? I noticed below the Goblin when you targeted him that the bottom of the target included the void beneath him caused by the offset of the sprite. Reason I am not sold on my suggestion is that your movement squares are obviously not offset so one thing will always not be like the others.
As far as the graphics for now why don't you use the graphics Corsair gave permission for? At least you have permissions which is more than you will ever be able to say from Sega If you want to have your own custom graphics later on then you can change again. I think they even have a menu created for their game too.

[Chaoswizard98]

I have a suggestion but I'm not sure I even like my own suggestion. I remember in the last video you offset the characters to sit higher on the tile. Should the same be true for the targeting square?

As far as SF accuracy goes, the cursor isn't shifted up like the characters are. Technically you're targeting the tiles where they are standing anyways