Yumé: The Eternal Dreams

[TsukasaZX]

As much as I love programming on a TI calculator, I do not believe that my skill level is adequate enough for my ambitions. In essence, there is so much I want to do but so little I really can do on a z80 hybrid BASIC platform. As such, I've decided to port the Yumé series over to the PC and continue it as a PC game series. Note, however, that I will still be releasing the TI-84 Yumé and finishing and releashing the TI-84 Yumé 2. I just won't be making any further Yumé games (or perhaps games in general, who knows?) on the calculator.

Anywho, on to the meat and potatoes!

Yumé: The Eternal Dreams
The Eternal Dreams is divided into 3 chapters, the first two of which being rebuilds of Yumé and Yumé 2: Rika's Story and the last being Yumé 3: Finality. The chapters are simply titled "Nanami", "Rika", and "Finality".

The alpha title screen:


One of Nanami's 12 current alpha sprites:


Still need to add detail to Nanami's outfit and create "felled" sprites.


Slated Features
 - Anytime Saving: Due to the expansiveness of the game, you will be able to save your progress at anytime and resume exactly where you left off.
 - Expanded Map: The explorable portion of the Dream World in the Nanami Chapter will be larger than it is in the original. The explorable portion of the Dream World in the Rika Chapter will remain the same but will also include the areas from Nanami Chapter. Finality will be confined to its own relatively large map (moving on from Chapter 2 to 3 is a PoNR [Point of No Return]).
 - Expanded Gameplay: Nanami Chapter will be longer and include more items and events
 - More Easter Eggs

Game Summary
Nanami Chapter introduces the Dream World and its mechanics. As with the original Yumé 1, there won't be much in terms of plot development.
Rika Chapter delves into the actual plot and begins to unravel the mystery of what exactly the Dream World is.
Finality is the climax of the plot and the solution of the mystery.

The Dream World
"I was drawn into a world so strange... a world devoid of life... every moment I feel weaker as if my soul is being slowly devoured...." - Nanami

The Dream World is a strange land that exists outside of reality. Devoid of animal life, it is a very desolate land. Mysteriously, an unseen force drains away the life energy of those caught in the Dream World's grasp. It is possible to escape from the realm, but whether or not you do depends solely on your wits and skill (and a few other factors).
Your character's life energy is literally slowly drained away every moment. However, you will be able to restore it in small amounts. At this point in time, I'm debating between two methods. Feel free to vote on them:

Survival/"Classic" - As with the original TI-83+ games, there are respawning "Life Energy" orbs scattered throughout the Dream World. Collecting these will restore some of your life energy.
Sanctuary - Certain areas of the map are "sanctuaries". The draining effects of the Dream World do not take hold in them and your life energy will naturally and gradually recover.

Actual Progress
I have some semblance of a movement engine done. I'm hoping to get the full movement engine complete in a couple of days. Then it's on to the Tile Mapper and HUD.
The game is being written in C/C++ with Allegro with cross-compatibility in mind. That is, I should be able to compile this on Linux AND Windows without changing source-code (much).


Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
Oh, and I might be requesting sprite and/or music help. I will also post progress updates on weekly if not daily intervals.

[DJ Omnimaga]

This sounds promising. I also like the Yumé 1/2 port idea. I hope this turns out well. I'm also glad you are planning a Windows version as well as Linux, since some people only have one of both.

I can't wait to see gameplay screenshots.

[TsukasaZX]

I can't wait to get actual gameplay coded
And yeah, I can't leave my fellow Linux or Windows users out in the cold, so to speak. Mac users, however.... well.... let's not go there j/k. I don't really know how Macware differs from 'nixware so I dunno how I could make a Mac version. Mac users can just Wine the Windows version I guess

Also, for those wondering, I'm doing my dev in Hard Mode. That is to say, all my code is written in gEdit and compiled in Terminal with g++ (with GDB). No  IDE or make files are used to expedite the process.
It's all done on a ASUS eeePC netbook at that. Graphics, on the other hand, are done on my Win7 desktop and ported via flash drive to said netbook

(note: I have literally close to zero prior experience with Ubuntu Linux and just about everything)

[ztrumpet]

Sounds cool!
I vote for the sanctuary idea.
Also, when do the calc versions come out?

[DJ Omnimaga]

I can't wait to get actual gameplay coded
And yeah, I can't leave my fellow Linux or Windows users out in the cold, so to speak. Mac users, however.... well.... let's not go there j/k. I don't really know how Macware differs from 'nixware so I dunno how I could make a Mac version. Mac users can just Wine the Windows version I guess

Wine is available for Mac?

I guess someone could maybe port it, though. *pokes graphmastur *

And wow at your dev environment. I never could stand working through command line and the like.

[Binder News]

I say sanctuary/mini-chapel things.

[TsukasaZX]

A'ight, Sanctuary: 2 | Survival: 0

@ZTrumpet: I posted about each one in their respective threads but to repost here: Yumé 1 comes out either today or tomorrow, depending on when I finish the bonus content that goes along with it. Yumé 2: Rika's Story comes out sometime this summer.

@DJ Yep, there's a Wine for Mac OS X, at least according to google search

@Binder News: I'm thinking more like areas surrounding specific statues

[Geekboy1011]

wow looks epic and i could take a stab at the music if you give me the theme for the songs/music you want need a reason to mess with mtvmg/Fl9 ^_^

oh and sanctuary on my side as well

[TsukasaZX]

Sanctuary: 3 | Survival: 0
Y'all are racist against orbs ; ~ ; j/k

I could definitely use music help, Geekboy
Mind taking a stab at a couple of BGMs? For a title theme, I was thinking of something kind of upbeat but slow, similar to Golden Sun Dark Dawn's title theme or "choose save" theme for the game's title screen. I was also thinking of something eerie and "lonely" feeling for general background music.

[Geekboy1011]

sure ill take a stab at it in teh next few weeks want to get a close to finished product on Cadan:CD first ^_^ but i will see what i can do.

and yes orbs look like balls and no one likes balls j/k

[TsukasaZX]

Heh. Anywho, I have a couple new ideas and I'd like everyone's input on it:

1)When your Life Energy drops down below a certain level, your movement is slowed a bit.
or
2)A "run" button that lets you move faster for a short time but leaves you exhausted for a few seconds, during which your movement is slower than normal.

[Geekboy1011]

im with number 2 as if your health is low and you have to get to a sanctuary and you cant move fast enough to get there its like signing a death warrent

[TsukasaZX]

But death warrants are awesome!

Anywho, have some alpha demo of Nanami's movement engine.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0HAyVZ5ato" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0HAyVZ5ato</a>
Recording's a little laggy. Most likely it's because I recorded it directly on my netbook with gtk+recordMyDesktop

[Binder News]

#2 for low health. Also, I can ask a bored friend of mine to try his hand at some music for you. Attached is some of his work.
Just PM me for more samples or to have me ask him.

EDIT: took off the attachment as he probably would prefer I not leave it open to the whole world, he doesn't even like me sharing hi unfinished picturs with my parents. Sigh.

[TsukasaZX]

Woah dang, that's awesome music!
I just might put that on my iPod Touch ....

Also, #2 it is and is already implemented. A brief overview of how it works:

Nanami has a set amount of "Stamina", which governs her ability to run. When Nanami runs, her stamina begins to drop. If she ceases running, her stamina will regenerate about as quickly as it drops. If she burns her stamina to nothing (reduces it to 0), she temporarily loses her ability to run for a short while, after which she regenerates a quarter of her stamina and normal stamina regeneration resumes.

Hold down the Alt key and an arrow key to run in that given direction.

Opinions?

Oh, and I'm working on the HUD a bit. Should I put some manner of stamina indicator on the HUD to show how much stamina Nanami has left?