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Using Flash 8 as an assisting tool for move picture sequences in RPG Maker
This is a method that I managed to figure out after a while of trying to figure out a better way of testing and refining a series of move picture events than constant trial and error in testplay.
First of all, you need to obtain flash.
I personally use flash 8 because it is very easy to find if you know where to look. You can use any version of flash, as far as I can tell.
Then, set canvas size to 320x240 with a framerate of 60fps.
(standard modern 2k3 settings, change this as needed to match your game settings)
After that, import your pictures.
Make symbols for your bitmaps. Easiest way to configure them is to slap the picture onto the canvas, while making sure the desired keyframe slot is selected. If there isn't one, you can make one with F7.
Set your symbol at the desired starting coordinates, relying on the properties tab for exact coordinates stuff.
Now make a new keyframe every time you want to add a different linear movement (use F6 for this. F7 gives you a blank keyframe while F5 just gives you another frame the same as before unless in a tween)
Turn on onion skin if you want to see the previous frames and/or current frames while paused.
Repeat this as many times as needed until you’ve got all your symbols flying around how you want them to, each one on a different layer.
After you’ve got it how you want it, you can begin the process of manually exporting.
Remember how I had you note down all your keyframe coordinates and frame intervals? This is where you need to do that for reals.
do some math to figure out how long the intervals between keyframes of a particular picture are:
14-1= 13
13*0.6= 7.8
rounded up is 8
If you use the maniacs frame measurement method, you won't need to do the additional math to get 8 and can just use 13 (written as -13 in the move picture menu).
Very important note: I’m not sure if it’s just a flash 8 thing or if it has a way to set the properties coordinates to match the origin you give it, but as far as I can tell, the properties always gives you the upper left hand corner version of the picture coordinates. In maniac patch you can have this used as the intended origin, but if you need something to spin around, you will need to adjust the numbers you get from the transcriptions, adding half of the total relevant measurement of the picture to your given coordinate number.
Because I am tired of math, I’m just gonna use the topleft corner numbers as-is here.
Move picture 2 to (146,4) top left corner for 13 frames looks like this in TPC:
Much later, I want to figure out how to output TPC code from flash 8 using the commands option, which uses a dialect of javascript meant specifically to work with flash. But to do that, I will need to actually study it.
It might take a while, but this is one of those things that will be freaking revolutionary later on in development.
Hello everyone! it's lavendersiren, and it's finally june. Finally.
Last month was freaking TORTURE, with less days off and all. As a result, I mostly focused on gardening. and by gardening I mean pulling out blackberry roots. Now instead of constantly regrowing blackberry bushes, I now have a low quality side garden with 20 dollars worth of plants struggling to grow in barely amended clay-based soil! Okay, maybe it just needs some time to get used to being in the ground but whatever.
(can you believe this used to be overgrown with blackberry bushes?)
Back at the main garden, everything is taking off and I have no idea how to harvest most of these plants so the cilantro already bolted+flowered and I still have a few yellowed spinach leaves in my back pocket.
(I have a feeling I probably planted the radishes wrong but shrug)
The dill however has turned out excellent, to the point that my employers are slightly jealous. I gave them one stalk so far and my boss showed me how to make a really nice sardine open face sandwich with dill in return:
- one can of boneless sardines
- fresh dill to taste
- fresh lemon juice to counteract the fishiness
- half a cup of chopped onion
- vinegar to taste
- probably some other things I forgot about too
- and obviously some good bread (I like the big kind that has wheat and seeds in it. Regular wheat is too flavorless for my tastes and don’t even get me STARTED on the blandness of basic-ass white bread.)
mix all ingredients as you would a mix for tuna sandwich.
Slap your mix onto a nice piece of bread and enjoy!
I got one to eat and it was so freaking good. And because this time I didn’t rush ahead and try to eat an entire can of sardines, I didn’t get overstuffed!
There’s something very satisfying about growing and eating your own herbs. Being able to improve the quality of your own food in a very personal way. I’m absolutely considering figuring out how to add herb farming to the game later on, though thankfully Pane’s stand can just make plants grow underfoot, making wait times unnecessary to plan out.
So now for the main course.
Writing has been slow, but fortunately it has progressed past Ironways and has been transcribed by Dice up to the escape scene so far.
The basic custom menu system has finally been put together! (thank you Orochii)
(what will you do, Frie? what will you do??)
Thankfully, he made it very easy to use. I prettied it up a bit with a nice looking cursor.
Next thing I need to do is figure out how to dynamically set the options, which I can tell is theoretically possible (will involve some concat usage on the string variable probably), but it will take some dedicated work to figure out where to pull the elements together from.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
As far as eventing/scenario, I've been stuck on the setting introduction scene for a very long time and have only just recently reached the point where I can see the end of it.
The memo interleaving bit had to be figured out on a concept level before it could be implemented, but I think it's set up pretty well now. I also got sidetracked while exploring other options that maniac patch had added to the most recent version.
Did you know that you can make messages way way longer if you choose to do so now? Did you know that there are advanced options for animated facesets? Did you know you can change the freaking resolution???
Did you know I'm (probably) not using those for regular gameplay?
Yeah, I had to remind myself of that too. gotta keep the scope as tight as possible on a scope creep nightmare like this game. it's already grown to the point that I worry it's going to take longer than Narcodis had taken on developing The Looming Spire, which appears to have similar gameplay to what this game might one day have.
But yeah, stress and lack of free time heavily impacted development in May.
(rip in pythen)
However, most of the work was actually done on planning out the custom battle system, which is looking to be something particularly elaborate, if I can wrap my mind around how to structure the back-end of it in a sufficiently extendable manner.
As it appears now, there will be two rows with three slots each, a front row for direct attackers and tanks, and a back row for long distance casters and support units. ideally, party member placement will be important for party synergy, according to party member bonds (which can potentially be one sided!)
(big owie is a state many have entered across all time)
Also, there will not be traditional level-ups, but rather the skills used will level up with repeated use, giving access to variants in that particular category, depending on how much you used a skill type.
There will also be a context-sensitive "tactics" menu, for actions and maneuvers that will only be options for that particular battle. most likely they will require use of a "strategize" skill in order to unlock during battle, which will be most useful for back-row party members (since they won't get interrupted by attacks quite as much) Ideally, a party member with a high enough bond with another can strategize and act as a tactician for another, allowing one party member to unlock tactics for another, which would be really really cool.
Another interesting thing is how the hp system will operate. Zero percent HP or lower means that a combatant has fainted and under normal circumstances cannot fight actively. Crucially, hp will be able to go as low as negative 100 percent, and as high as 200 percent. If any combatant goes outside of that bounds, they Die Forever. If it's a party member, that's an instant game over. However, ideally you won't need to worry too much about that. Just make sure you keep your party above the fainting threshold (0%) and keep Pane from overhealing himself to death. If all party members are fainted, then you lose the battle, but there may be softer redo mechanics in that case.
You don't need any fancy revives to go back from the fainting threshold, though a cured fainting might be upgraded to asleep if the party member isn't woken up by something in the process of being healed above 0 percent.
Another important thing is that food items do not direct heal HP, it instead impact fullness and morale, which augment natural healing methods to HP and SP (spoons). Pane will usually be the only one who can directly heal HP, which will probably make him very busy, but crucially, his power does not impact any other stats other than HP.
Just like in Snowball's Chance, this game will have the cast from HP conversion in case you run out of HP. But you will not be able to actively cast anything or eat anything in faint state. (however, there's always indirect methods...)
Something important toolwise, is that I figured out a good way to use flash 8 for setting up and debugging picture movement sequences!
I will however cover that in a different post, because it's pretty involved.
Regardless, it helped a LOT with a particularly complex move picture sequence and it will certainly come to great use later on as well.
So regarding what to do this month, I want to put together a bare bones prototype of the battle system. one that can be upgraded as time goes on. Another thing I want to do is get the Town Map area working enough to work with, and set up a basic pause menu.
I also want to assemble the "mage's quest" cutscene.
I really hope that having a reasonable amount of free time makes this more attainable than last month.
hello everyone, lavenderSiren here. it's been… an interesting past month.
in case anyone's been wondering, my garden is now planted and thriving! it took a while, especially since I also had a LOT of blackberry bushes to fight for that ground soil. granted, the local soil is kinda clay/silt flavored, but I think it'll work fine with the rest of the different types of dirt. If I need some sand, there's two bags of paving sand available, but I don't think I need that. The important part is that I now have all the fresh cilantro I could ever ask for.
I love cilantro. That is all there is to say on the matter.
With gardening stuff out of the way, let's get to gamedev.
trying to make a follower system was a trainwreck. the main reason being that there doesn't seem to be an effective method to detect a tile with a collision, or at least if there is, I haven't found it yet. I struggled for like, 2 or 3 weeks before I finally just put that away for later to focus on other things.
as for the menu stuff, Orochii has yet to deliver, as it appears he's become enthralled with an entirely different personal project that is in 3D. (I think this is the one?)
I don't expect results from him, considering this is all voluntary work, but if he finds the inspiration and drive, the task is still on the docket.
hashtag dy'lan poasting again
(except you can't put apostrophes in hashtags because they're delineated by single quotes in the first place rip)
In regards to actual progress, I made the most headway on less technical things such as assets and mapping, though the work of one person will always be slow when there's a dayjob involved, even if it was a month with more days off than usual.
The garden got most of that, plus having to contend with my sense of focus and drive being very selective. Also home distractions, due to my brother and my mom and my stepdad being awake and active and loud in ways that make it difficult for me to focus on anything. There were multiple times when all I could say is "I hate my brother" because I was getting overstimulated by his music choices and also stressed out by the fact that he was using my headphones and laptop and he always freaking loses or breaks my things if I don't watch him like a fucking hawk. Fortunately, my equipment survived and I got my nerves back from a long walk.
Thing I actually typed in a commit during this time:
"coda stop trying to walk into the wall
blair witch project looking ass"
But yeah, a lot of npc's bumping into chairs and really sucking at pathfinding because I really such at logic and math.
The emote animations were much much easier to implement, having already made them before and whatnot. Just a solid night or two of busywork. Those were added pretty quickly.
transportalizers :b
I also managed to add a working transportalizer pad 2 part disappearence animation! It's so freaking cool! I used the alterniabound sprites and recolored them green. Not sure why they were in silver in that walkaround, especially when green makes them more apparent and reflects that they're powered via sburban uranium (as opposed to actual elemental uranium).
fun fact: idraw3 is very useful for checking if a walk cycle actually looks good in motion! I highly recommend it... if you're using indexed colors.
There was a lot of work on charsets!
I finally got Kale's walking sprites finished, as well as making some single frame standing sprites for Dy'lan and Gray. I also added some more voice bips, using Dy'lan's bips from hycheld and fabricating Gray's from samples taken from the raw recording of the elevator argument. Dice did the voicework for that and I gotta say, they have a nice voice.
Eventually, after hardcoding the npc movement (aough), I finally managed to finish the Land of Skyscrapers and Darkness section! After that, I needed to think a lot about how to structure the next part, and honestly I'm still sorta working it out. The most that's been confirmed is that it involves a picture-based cutscene. The dialogue, of course, has already been written and imported, it just needs to be put to pictures.
Soon I'll be able to finally add Ett's artwork! I added a number of details to this particular pic manually.
Also, it turns out that the latest freshest version of maniac patch vastly upgrades the message box input! it has a freaking monospace letter count ruler! It has text in a big enough size to see on an average sized screen (in 2026 standards rather than 2006 standards)! it has click to add tags, just like that really cool message formatting website, and it has an option to add instant-appearance tags to the first line!
Granted I see no need to do that even though I am using first line for name, but it's cool that's an available option!
Also the extra commands are a nice way to access some things that were previously only available via TPC. Especially considering that TPC is very cryptic looking without comments. I'm used to code that's more readable and less shorthand, like rgss1.
I do wish that the new stuff could be rearranged in the command list like everything else, but shrug, maybe something for a later version.
As for how to get the most recent version, you'll need to join the manipa discord server to download it. While it's mainly in japanese, there is a growing group of english speaking users who show up there.
Also the patch does come in both english and japanese versions, so no worries on that end.
Snacks: Let's make a snack!
Meals: Let's get cooking!
Chemicals: We need to cook.
While slowly tackling scene writing with Dice (who has been dutifully converting the logs to usable form all this time, thank you for that), I think I've managed to figure out some schema stuff in regards to gameplay structure.
It will involve very abstracted location overview maps, indicators for which party members are in which locations, ability to follow particular unlocked characters, and a mix of walkable up-close places and cutscenes.
The overview map stuff is necessary because while I want to show these places off, I don't want to have to go full detail with them, or make them seem a lot smaller than they ought to be. I am only going to have the locations that are relevant by some measure being explored deeper, while offering a lot of room for the player's imagination to run wild without feeling trapped by the tangible limits of where they can run around.
Recently picked up the new tomodachi life game to watch my blorbos interact. It brings me joy. I really like the drawing editor in this game.
I feel like feeding the player's mind in this way is important, as it gives the setting more room to grow beyond the current gameplay scenario that's being explored, without overscoping the work too much.
As for what comes next, I'll need to assemble that scene, see what else needs to be drawn. Then finish the map of unity village, at half size, since full size is larger than it needs to be. After that, work on some music in the few moments I get with enough quiet and calm to focus on musical composition. and then maybe try again with a menu thing, and probably cramming a pre-made caterpillar system, since those at least work properly.
Funny thing is, I was so damn adamant about getting a more casual looking squad walking system put together until I saw first-hand what being too headstrong about implementing a thing can do to somebody. I saw another dev calling upon the programmers in the rmn server for help over and over while not making much progress on understanding what's going on and often throwing his hands up and "giving up" dramatically, only to resume the next day trying for his exact vision in the same manner.
It's reminded me that sometimes you just need to know when to settle for less and work with what you can, rather than go for the exact shape of your dreams.
an old wip pic from a snowball's chance, showcasing an early version of the cooking system.
Even if it is a compromise, an imperfect game is still better than being in development hell forever. And sometimes the gap between dreams and reality can inspire the imagination as well.
A perfectly assembled game is one that will be forgotten. An irregular but playable game will inspire those who play it.
Just… make sure it doesn't fall apart easily.
(I was going to post this earlier, but i forgot that I had this drafted somewhere for a while.)
As mentioned last time, I decided to make a game for the rmn event A New Start, to commemorate the revival of the website proper.
Interestingly enough, at the beginning, I had no idea what sort of game I wanted to make. however, I did know that I wanted to make a game featuring Coda and Frie, in a scenario that wouldn't be viable in the main game.
like, the thing that's tough about writing scenarios for a Snowball's Chance, is that because of its semi grounded and strongly defined mountain setting, there's not much variety that you can smoothly introduce to the scenarios. not to mention how it can't exactly have elements that would legally bar it from potential commercial release.
But a spinoff au has none of those stringent limitations, so I can go absolutely nuts on the setting writing! To get that out of my system, and throw these characters into some Situations, I decided to send them on a quest on the DND 5e modded until it broke and got reborn elsewhere world of Plit.
The previous time this particular setting was shown, it was a brief mini-chapter in HyacinthHeld, with the time before that being it's restoration at the end of Kale's Adventure. It's got plenty of usable plot hooks, but not that many fish within range, let alone a yarn angler willing to catch too many. I think there's been a wait of a few years just for an old campaign to start up again? But, at the same time I realized at some point that I don't like the flow of the battle system in dnd 5e, nor the expectation to go through their methods to play it out. All I wanted was the setting lore and maybe a few stats to pull from when desired. It's kinda tough to get a thing that you want when folks associate the setting so much with a tabletop battle system that you don't like much (plus also the fact that whenever I DM, everyone wants to be a player and so I've got a party of like, 6 people to encourage to do things and it's exhausting, even when I have someone else do the math calculations for me)
But enough about that. in this case, it's just me and dice, with me as the DM, writing for nearly everyone, and dice writing for Pythen. the battle system in use during our roleplay sessions is a quick and dirty roll for flavor type thing that mostly uses references to 5e for jokes more than anything (mainly inflicting psychic damage after particularly blursed lines are spoken lmao)
Now, in standard lav fashion, I definitely overscoped this game. I thought that we would be able to finish this adventure within four weeks, but not only were we nowhere near that, but also we only actually had three weeks. That being said, I feel like I learned a lot about getting things done and leadership through outsourcing.
The thing is, I'm not as young as I used to be. I get tired. I have a lot of things to do offline. It's very rare for me to get in a state where I can reliably do Actual Gamedev Stuff beyond just barking orders. fortunately however, I was able to recruit Dice and Orochii to handle the hardest most sloggiest busywork for me: editing and message input. Adding all those messages is just so boring for me, especially when it's already written material. Unfortunately, you kinda gotta edit writing to make it good so it's best to handle the writing before the import process. However, that part came a little later.
The first week, I was planning on making the game in rpg maker vx ace. full color digital drawings. tons of scripts. and then after me and dice played out the first battle in the rp, I realized that the setup I had wasn't what I needed. you see, the default battle system for vxa is cool and all, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. however, I had made something that I had wanted to work with a while back, that connected to the primary idea in the first place.
The base premise for A Snowball's Quest is one that's actually been on tap for a while now. The concept of the four party members of Snowball's Chance taking on tabletop rpg classes and going on a quest or something. I was going to add this to level 4, but at the same time it doesn't quite fit what I've developed. It may have some influence, but it won't go nearly as much off the beaten path in the main game.
Regardless, one of the plans I had for that section is to use the battle system I had designed for How to get a Rise out of a Cat, which was more of a "choose your own adventure" type thing with a turn order loop. and since it would be evented, I wouldn't need most of the features from vxa and could instead work with RM 2k3, which has significant upgrades to particular features that no other version has, while keeping it simple... as long as you're not using its default battle system. so that worked out for me!
Now, because the music was in ogg format and I found an experimental text bips thing, I decided to use the maniac patch. I freaking love maniac's patch. It transforms 2k3 into something far more powerful, though I do worry about incompatibilities sometimes.
So then I meticulously ported the intro I made in vxa and continued from there. now, at this point, we were getting close to the end, so I sought more assistance. fortunately, there was an artist looking for a team to join so I snatched them up to do some work when I would t be able to deliver. their name is et3rniti and as it turns out, their drawing style is excellent. Only thing that sucks is the fact that the event version of the game didn't get developed far enough to feature any of their work. but rest assured, development is continuing, and their work will be in the game! offline troubles and obligations continue to make things hard for me, but hopefully with these great team members by my side, we can make something beautiful together.
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So, with the positive reception of the demo, me and the team have continued working on a Snowball's quest, albeit rather slowly.
pretty early on, I finally set up a git repository for the project. much more reliable than trying to cram a ton of zip files into my Google drive, especially for a long-term project.
Now, with the limitations of the event removed, that gave room for some scope expansion here and there. But of course, that also means having to locate the resources to make those features possible.
current plans call for both a custom menu system and a custom battle system. Neither of which have been put together entirely yet.
I'm still learning how to put together a custom menu in the first place! I'm sorta starting to get it though... sorta. I assigned Orochii to fix the broken basic menu I had found some eventing for. Still need to check on him for that.
(original code by Goburinbro, mildly upgraded by me to use maniac patch string pictures)
Meanwhile, I finally figured out how to get TPC working on my copy of maniac patched 2k3! (I forgot to put the TPC.exe in the correct directory, oops...)
As it turns out, the c stands for compiler (the T is for Tkool, short for tsukuru, which is short for rpg maker, and the P is for Partial) and it basically spits out events when used, and it is even reversible! The editor will let you edit your events via TPC, allowing you to even edit things that can't be edited by regular eventing! That means I can delve into the highly desired world of Hybrid Eventing!! (also this means I can add coda's diary! Once I figure out how to make a readable/writable array.)
At this point I'm trying to work up the mindset needed to figure out more TPC stuff, and maybe do some mass message imports, like I had originally wanted to do.
Regarding writing, me and Dice are taking that a bit slower now, writing about a scene or two per week. This relaxed pace is probably better for quality, as far as I can tell. sprites have been progressing slowly but surely. I've managed to make a bunch of walksprites for Pane, a character that's slated to show up later. I also need to make Kale's updated sprites, but the challenge of making pane was too irresistible. I do need to make a few variants of him, including one wearing his travel robe.
Mapping is slow but steady. The current area is of a place designed by dice, so they have a bit more say in things.
walls and floors I had made for a previous game, Vindicators 2: Rainbow Diamond. Chairs and tables were edited from A Snowball's Chance, fire extinguisher stolen from HyacinthHeld (lol I made that game too)
What I really need though, is a good solid hyper focus gamedev day. I've been having to go out and do outside errands so often and my abilities only seem to work before doing my travels for the day.
And to make matters worse I've taken up gardening in this gorgeous spring weather and I'm still filling my planter box, which I built myself... My plants are waiting impatiently for me!
Layers added so far: cardboard base, decaying plant matter, more recent yard debris, and two big bags of bark mulch that I originally tried to order online but instead got somebody's olive garden dinner sent to me instead so my stepdad had to buy the bags for me instead (though I think he was motivated by the shrimp dinner we ended up getting mostly). Still need to add filler dirt from the mound under the sticker bush and some bags of topsoil.
Other things I've added include a screenshot outputting common event that I found on the virpg wiki, and slowly assembling the emote animations that were never implemented here. I've got a combination of emotes from Snowball's Chance and HyacinthHeld, with adjustments to fit the latter's style. I still need to test the alignment in game...
Regardless, there's a lot to still be worked on, including a thing to make NPC's walk towards a particular set of coordinates. I've got some code that was used in Snowball's chance to work off of, but I still need to translate it from rgss1 to eventing. This will be the first step in designing a complex on-screen follower system. Yes this is necessary, seeing the party members on screen when they are present is essential.
Development will continue on a Snowball's quest! We've got a lot of work ahead of us here, but I'm excited to learn how to get the most out of 2k3 and improve my skills, as well as tell a story that can't be told on the limited grounds of Trial Mountain.
March devlog (oops i forgot to devlog in feburary)
Hello everyone! lavendersiren here. A handful of things have happened since last time, including the reopening of RMN.
First of all, @dicelibrarian is now an official member of fallingstar! I got them a handful of rpg makers during a recent steam sale and they're starting to learn the program. It's certainly easier to talk shop with them now that they're right there.
Since last time, I've managed to get the transition pack working with mkxp-z! I had asked orochii for help, but his implementation was far too customized for Drekirokr to work with my more basic and default-y setup.
It wasn't until my other programming friend coelocanth gave me a good tip on putting Graphics.freeze in the right places that I finally had the breakthrough I needed. They're so freaking cool.
So with that handled, I felt that I could finally go ahead and merge the mkxp-z stuff into the main branch. I can officially call that experiment a success. It will certainly improve the longevity and performance (and possibly even portability?) of the game from here on out.
After that, developments have slowed down a little. Started vaguely implementing the restorative actions, as well as focusing on optional skills here and there. Apparently I added a skill called "chillberry", but it's been so long since I've checked the game files that I forget what it was supposed to do. I also added a snackmaking hotkey to fierce cookery, which will need to be set to check if coda has the requirements for snackmaking (must be in at least level 2 or later! also must have the "can cook" switch activated).
I did manage to improve the introductory scene to actually feature a freaking establishing shot of the mountain. I also replaced the fmod splash image with something for mkxp-z, though I did have to edit the image more, since I had accidentally grabbed the logo for the older version of mkxp. Unfortunately, the logo for mkxp-z is literally just a pokeball, as it was designed for use with pokemon essentials. So I had to get a little creative. I wound up giving it a healthy helping of plausible deniability that I think I can be proud of.
Snowball's Chance may have some inspiration from pokemon games (particularly the exploring and looking around for random items in natural areas), but it is not a pokemon game. I don't want nintendo lawyers busting down any more doors anyhow.
After that, I got an idea from somebody to add a new character to level 4: Burian Ivanov!
I even dragged out the character names book to get a good set of russian sounding first and last names. of course though, russia in this setting is referred to as Molnya (fun fact: Molnya means village), so technically he's of molnyan descent. 2nd generation, never having seen the place his parents came from, aside from in rose tinted propeganda media. As a result, Burian is a prepper type that just sorta lives in a tent on the mountain. Apparently he was once friends with Ranger back in the day, as a result of being the closest thing you can get to a neighbor out here in the backwoods. Gotta stick together! Also, Burian loves durians. He has one that he keeps chilled near his tent. It's basically been his best friend out here since Ranger went missing 10 years ago. It… probably needs to be replaced at this point.
Overall, I think he's gonna be a fun addition to this previously empty feeling first half of level 4. Like sure, there is an optional cabin that you can only get to with a certain optional skill, but that's practically at the end of the section!
After that however, I began work on a side-project. It is called A Snowball's Quest. I'll write up a proper separate entry for that after this, but it takes place in a timeline split that occurs right after the end of level 4 part 1. I managed to write some dialogue and draw some images that should prove to be useful for the main game in the prologue scene.
In the process of getting that side project set up, I managed to kidnap (er, recruit) two additional new team members, Orochii (my main programmer friend) and et3rnitii (a really good artist!).
I have no idea how long they'll be sticking around, but it's nice to have some company in the fallingstar server, not to mention easier access to bothering orochii whenever I get stuck on programming stuffs.
As for what the future holds in this month? that's hard to tell. Snowball's Quest is certainly going to be developed beyond the event it was started for, but Snowball's Chance is also waiting for me. I suppose I'll be focusing on quest while I wait for Renn to deliver on the gantlet challenge written draft for chance. Though I could also dig around on the to-do list for something to mess around with.
Granted, I also have to work with my motivation levels, which can sometimes be hard to get calibrated, especially considering I'm not as young and spry as I used to be. Not to mention my family tends to distract me a LOT.
Dice seems to be pretty good at keeping me enough on the ball when I'm working on call though. I can't thank them enough for that, not to mention being such a good friend.
Here's to more work on snowball, in both directions!
Heya, lavendersiren here again. Figure I might as well keep this a consistent thing.
So, during this month of work, I managed to finish the cutscene, style the rails (after finally downloading gimp 3.0 and having to get used to all the tiny changes between that version and 2.10 which I had been using for sprite editing), and most importantly, I SUCCESSFULLY ported snowball to mkxp-z.
Do you know what this means? It means this game is that much more future-proofed and potentially compatible with more platforms in the future!
However, to pull this off, I did have to fix and remove a few things. Screenshotting and special transitions have been temporarily removed, due to previously requiring screenshot.dll. mkxp does not use screenshot.dll and instead uses its own screenshotting method, which I still need to figure out how to use in order to re-implement those features.
I plan on digging through one of my newer versioned pokemon essentials based projects to see if any of those scripts ever used the mkxp screenshot method. For now though, it's of low priority.
The feature that was at high priority however, was getting the tile change script working. Now, this one was a doozy, due to not only containing waaaaay too many nested for loops with inscrutable variable names (one of the reasons I hate for loops, by the way), but also, it turns out the reason it was erroring was because it was returning a nil at the end and mkxp was having none of that, while standard rmxp just sorta went for it.
It took having to consult the maple shrine and getting help from Actual MKXP Devs That Actually Know Ruby to get an answer to that one.
So while it now works again, I still feel like I should try and optimize that code eventually, but I'm a noob when it comes to refactoring. Honestly, my specialty is breaking things and working through trial and error.
Another thing is that while mkxp-z technically has impulse tracker support, it always adds an annoying gap between loops, so I will need to shift formats for much of the soundtrack (or endure the suffering of compiling the thing myself just to get loops working again).
While the ones with larger samples have been swapped to ogg format, I plan on adding the midis of tracks with relatively standardized samples and then adding those samples to a comprehensive soundfont, which mkxp can use on those midis during playback! However, this is an intensive operation which will need very firm concentration. Not to mention various additions to the IT files will need to be backported to the midis they came from originally (I almost always compose in midi and then edit in IT format via openMPT.)
Another thing is that I had to swap the controls back to a more standardized form instead of the duct-taped form I had before, but now the end-user can customize their controls endlessly!
But this presents a problem, in that now I don't have all of the keyboard to mess with, and now I need to figure out how to make best use of two potentially assignable buttons for anything that the player might need, while still reserving the A key, Q key, and W key for various defined things.
However, this will also require some major redesigns to some menus to accommodate, which will also take time and effort.
Meanwhile, my partner in crime Renn has been helping me with designing some things, taking charge of planning the challenges leading up to the bear. I'm looking forwards to the puzzles she's coming up with!
Also, my dear friend Dice has been giving me various cool ideas here and there, which may lead to a new spoon related mechanic that hopefully will lead to a more resonant experience for the player.
As for other things I need to do, I still need to add sokoban rock puzzles to level 4, as well as distribute snacks and maybe write up an extra optional scene for the player to stumble upon. Also of course writing other important scenes down the line.
Development is going strong and I intend to keep it up into feburary. Let's do this, yeah!
(Disclaimer: this is written as lore for a series of video games. please do your research elsewhere if you are looking for legitimate psychology concepts.)
In Aurelia, these two beliefs are largely understood:
Everyone should have at least one identity (and you probably have more than one, even if there isn't much separation between them)
We all wear masks (it came free with your identity!)
Identity determines how you engage with the world. Your identity gives you a particular stat spread and associated skillset. You can certainly go around without one, but the pressures of life will make this far more painful as a result. Hence why aural masks tend to develop.
Each identity comes with its own "aural mask", the way you present to the world. It is a passive projection of how you perceive your identity, as well as a psychic shield of sorts. Interestingly enough, it has tangible effects by default.
How do masks tend to look across most aurelians? Well, a wide variety tend to take on a therian form, often one originally passed down from their identified family. There are some who have a more fantastical mask, while others tend to keep their mask relatively grounded, keeping a more base human form. This distribution tends to vary from culture to culture, and there are some that unfortunately judge others based upon the form their mask takes.
Just as masks can be put on, they can also be taken off.
if your identity is compromised in some manner, it will be unequipped, and your aural mask will deactivate as a result. you will take on your base form, which to many can be very different from their aural masked form. Fortunately, they can be re-equipped when you're ready to face the world once more.
However, aural masks are not set in stone (no matter how hopeless it might seem!), and can always be changed.
Just as identity changes over time, so does an aural mask associated with it. This is a natural development, but it takes a considerable amount of energy. As a result, such changes tend to be slow and gradual.
However, it is possible to make radical changes to your mask and identity, with enough energy. The most accessible method tends to be the "epiphany method". This requires learning something important about yourself and embracing it. the rush that tends to result powers such changes, though it tends to be relatively limited in scope, if not performed in a high aura environment.
Just as people have aura, locations have aura too, oftentimes as a result of those that leave vibes, notions, and even ghosts behind in places. Sometimes locations have particular elemental phenomena that becomes a wellspring for its associated aura. places like this are able to imbue someone with enough energy to modify their aural mask more fully. This is known as Radical identity auracharge. There are other methods to borrow great amounts of aural energy, but travel to aural hotspots tends to be most accessible in this respect.
Do note that those that undergo radical identity auracharge tend to need an overnight rest period immediately after, as it tends to use the subject's energy, as well as the location's energy. as a result, this is considered exhausting.
For those that are particularly attached to their identity and feel that it fits them well, it is possible to imprint an aural mask permanently upon the base form through radical identity auracharge. This is referred to as Self Actualization. This tends to make base form stronger and more capable,but this isn't necessarily the case across the board. Those that have a personally unfitting base form tend to benefit the most from this.
Self Actualization tends to require knowing yourself and feeling empowered with your identity. This usually takes a lot of personal effort and "soul searching", but it's always worth it.
As you might guess, you usually need to have your needs met first before being able to achieve self actualization in earnest. this tends to be one of the bigger hurdles, especially when faced with the perils of survival.
Interestingly enough, it is possible to swap between different identities to gain access to different aural masks more easily. This tends to be used to interface with different groups in different situations, such as the public, close friends and family, and otherwise.
The use of an aural mask that's used to interface with the general public tends to be referred to as Masking, as the identity associated with this type of aural mask rarely tends to be ideal for private life. It can be very convenient to have more than one identity to choose from in this respect, as it takes far less energy to exchange an identity than it takes to modify an identity. This of course can take on shades of plurality, but it's not necessarily required to interface with the concept in that manner.
Will there be strawberries to collect in A Snowball's Chance? -SI
Sadly, because strawberries don't grow on Trial mountain (especially during the Endless Winter), there won't be any strawberries, not even the winged variety.
However, there are three leaf berries and four leaf berries to be found that can both be cooked into a tasty compote.
Very handy for a snack or something to add to an evening meal.
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So, what Auras fall into place on Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions, or similar systems?
If there's an emotion, there's likely a corresponding aura for it, even if it might not be identified yet.
That being said, potency of an aura is directly correlated with intensity of emotion. Complex ones tend to either be combinations or something entirely custom, depending upon subjective association. It's a very fluid and expandable system when it comes to classification.
Something that is present in all games that take place within the Grand Aurelian Anthology is the presence of "Auras". But what are they in this setting?
Auras are psychic manifestations of thoughts and feelings, brought into elemental form. Because of cultural standardization over time, certain effects are reliably associated with certain elements, to a degree. The interesting part is that not only can these effects be observed by those outside of the source's subjective experience, but that it can also have tangible effects upon the immediate environment.
In Aurelia, emotions are palpable and oftentimes very potent. they can be used for buffs, debuffs, attacks, defenses, and sometimes even supernatural abilities. however, auras are dependant upon those who generate them, and often quickly disappear when those supporting them move elsewhere.
However, sometimes particular locations have an aura all their own. a certain vibe that is held over certain places. objects can be imbued with aura as well, delivering an aural payload upon receiving. This is known as "auracharging". In A Snowball's Chance, you eventually gain the option to auracharge the meals that you make, strengthening how your client feels about the dish they've been given. This can be used to both benefit and detriment, as it will make a disliked dish even more hated, and an enjoyed dish more loved. You could very well say that it's basically "pouring your heart into something".
That being said, here is an incomplete list of known auras. It is a very expandable system, so this is by no means comprehensive, and will have overlaps and synergies with particular other auras.
Rain.
A healing softness, the willingness to become vulnerable.
Wind.
The desire for change and unpredictability.
Frost.
The distance and protection to cool down any situation.
Mountain.
The inner strength to weather any storm.
Spark.
The flash of inspiration needed to ignite a passion.
Flame.
The power to overwhelm and seek greater things.
Sun.
The light and the appreciation of the self.
Brilia.
The light and the hope to create success despite what may appear without it.
Cardia.
The resilience and stamina to push onward.
Blood.
The power that resides in pain.
Tide.
The power to humble those that stand before you.
Wave.
The grace to accept hardship in stride.
Floral.
The bounty given in the spirit of gratitude.
Moon.
The desire for the seemingly unattainable.
Shadow.
The openness and doubt found in absence.
These auras and more can be mixed and matched to create complex and nuanced effects, both passively and actively. They can also be kept internalized rather than externalized with effort, though this may require an amount of self control to sustain.
How auras manifest are reliant upon a wide number of factors, including identity, personality, present disposition, observed limitations, the path you have chosen to take at the moment, as well as many other factors.
Hi there, I'm lavenderSiren. I'm the main dev for A Snowball's Chance. I've been taking a year-long break on working on this game, but since finding reason to continue, I'm once again back on the grind. (I was working on another game for a year, but it's been going slow, especially since the first draft of the writing was completed.)
Regardless, I'll be delivering updates regarding the development of Snowball.
Currently, I am working on Level 4, which is supposed to be themed around Choices, and the ramifications of those choices. At the beginning of the level, you are given a major choice that will determine the route you take up this leg of the mountain: will you dismiss the guest hiker, or allow her to continue with you at her peril? She has an ability that allows you to dash up snowdrifts in a mach bike manner. this opens new paths that may make navigation easier.
However, traveling as a party of 5 can be cumbersome, especially when the acres feel so small. Not to mention, this guest has the lowest HP in the entire party, which presents great risk.
At the moment, there's work being done at assembling and blocking for a cutscene that takes place in a guest route exclusive location.
Admittedly, handling this kind of choreography is hard, but it's important for the sake of the level of verisimilitude that this game aims to achieve with its cutscenes.
other tasks that stick out include styling the grind rails. yes, I added rail grinding. turns out that it fits the design philosophy of this game relatively well, and was able to be implemented in a way similar to the already present ice skating feature.
Another set of tasks include writing up the Major Bear Encounter and designing the second half of level four. Hopefully I have enough time and energy to keep up momentum here.
Ascend the mountain as a gastromancer trailguide! What secrets will you find?
This is A Snowball's Chance.
Your name is Coda and you are a "Gastromancer Trailguide".
It is your job to get your clients up Trial Mountain.
However, you will face many obstacles on the way up.
You will encounter cold freezing rivers, oddball characters, mystical phenomena, various distractions, challenges brought about by the elements, and perhaps even a bear?
And to top it all off, you still need to feed the party dinner every night. You will need to forage for ingredients to make meals that your clients will enjoy.
Will you accommodate for dietary preferences and restrictions, or will you simply give out what you've made to everyone?
This game was made in rpg maker xp and is still in active development!
It is an action/adventure rpg with no combat and a focus instead upon exploration and making choices.
The current demo is approximately 3 hours long, and has the full contents of level 1, level 2, the intermission, and level 3.
It is designed to be played on windows.
Any version from vista to 11 should be able to run it just fine. No guarantees on getting it running on operating systems outside of this however.
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