Author Topic: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion  (Read 120021 times)

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Offline Escheron

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #165 on: May 26, 2016, 10:18:31 am »
Ya'll keep up the good work! I've been watching this for about a year now, and I can't wait till its finished. It really looks amazing! It really is inspiring to see such a well thought out quality game unfold. The graphics are the best I've ever seen in a calc game. There's a lot of time spent on plot and character development. I wish I had half the talent ya'll have, I'd be programming all the time. This will very likely be the most advanced calculator game that will ever be made.

Aw, shucks.

Quote
I do have a question though. I remember ya'll saying it will be too big for the TI-83+, but would it work for the 83+ Silver Edition? I presume it will work fine on the TI-84+. I have all three, I was just wondering.

Possibly. We'd like to maintain compatibility with the 83+, but it boils down to space constraints. Toward the end of the project, we'll definitely look into code optimization and see if we can't cram this sucker onto the 83+ after all. Alternatively, Iambian, may consider writing a custom OS loader to accomplish just that. It's also entirely possible that we could consider downsizing some of the game's assets. There are a lot of whats and ifs. It's hard to say anything until we get to that point.


On an unrelated note: Our biggest hurdle at the moment is working with cutscene magic. Cutscenes are rather painful to orchestrate, and there are a lot of them. It's not only a matter of scripting the character movements and interactions, but also rearranging dialogs across multiple text hives that are already packed to the brim. So yeah, this leg of the project may take quite some time. Just bear with us. It may begin to seem like we've dropped off the face of the earth with a lack of proactive updates, but most likely we're just completely engrossed in putting shit together.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2016, 10:28:02 am by Escheron »

Offline Escheron

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #166 on: May 29, 2016, 06:23:11 pm »
There will be no further updates or contact from me following this post, and I have intentionally chosen not to leave open any channels of contact. In so many words, I do not wish to be disturbed. As for why, I have my personal reasons that are beyond the scope of anything related to this community.

Iambian and Geekboy1011 are now solely in charge of Escheron. They've been given all of the assets they need to continue, assuming they wish to do so. Of course, this means they have a complete artistic license in my absence, so whatever changes they may see fit are of no concern to me. As for things that might presently require my collaboration (more specifically, cutscenes) - I guess Iambian and Geekboy will just have to wing it based on the notes they already have.

To reiterate: This is an absolute and indefinite excommunication from the project, which I am surrendering to the whims of Iambian and Geekboy.

Offline coops

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #167 on: May 31, 2016, 03:12:55 am »
I really hope this project isn't over, ya'll are so close to being done!

Offline Eeems

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I really hope this project isn't over, ya'll are so close to being done!
From what I saw in the post it isn't. Just one member of the team is on hiatus.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

/e

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #169 on: May 31, 2016, 04:17:46 pm »
@Geekboy1011 and @Iambian : Here is the area I found while testing. This screenshot is from the Dreadnought area. It appears that Maya should be able to walk through here, (It' wide enough) but she isn't aligned properly with the map in order to be able to do so. Not sure if it's an error with the map data, or if it's not intended to be walkable. If not, I'd probably block it of with some tiles.

Offline Iambian

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #170 on: May 31, 2016, 04:41:15 pm »
[...] This screenshot is from the Dreadnought area. It appears that Maya should be able to walk through here, (It' wide enough) but she isn't aligned properly with the map in order to be able to do so. Not sure if it's an error with the map data, or if it's not intended to be walkable. If not, I'd probably block it of with some tiles.

Those are actually two adjacent wall tiles that, unfortunately, form to create an illusion of a path that might appear passable but isn't due to map alignment. Not quite sure how to fix that.

* If we made them passable, you'd essentially be able to walk through certain walls (and thus bypass things and break events).
* "Adding a tile" wouldn't work because this pathway is formed from the combination of two non-passable tiles. To fix this visual bug, we'd need to create two new tiles specific to this problem and I honestly don't remember if we can add more tile types to this map, or anywhere else due to possible engine limitations. It might be something to explore.
* Alternatively, we could redesign the map. Maybe. idk how that would work, since no one currently on the project knows diddly squat about map design. Not to mention that calcgs is awful. idk why we still use it.

Thanks for the feedback, tho
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Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #171 on: May 31, 2016, 04:44:35 pm »
Surely there is some non-walkable tile (that doesn't look walkable) that could be plopped in there? Or are maps limited where only certain tiles are loaded per area? If not, maybe a small redesign of that area could be done?

Offline Geekboy1011

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #172 on: June 01, 2016, 04:22:44 pm »
Surely there is some non-walkable tile (that doesn't look walkable) that could be plopped in there? Or are maps limited where only certain tiles are loaded per area? If not, maybe a small redesign of that area could be done?

We decided I would just script a barrel onto the walk way. Due to the nature of sprites will be an easy fix. Thanks!

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #173 on: June 01, 2016, 10:02:07 pm »
Glad to hear it. :D

Offline Escheron

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #174 on: June 03, 2016, 09:23:59 am »
I attached an edit to the Dreadnought that may be more satisfactory. I was surprised to read that Iambian and Geekboy didn't seem to have knowledge of how to make map edits with CalcGS. (or perhaps I misunderstood)

For future reference:

* File > Open > select the Escheron tileset ("tileset.gsm", in the \calcgs_maps directory)
* Set the tileset resolution to 16x16 from the Tiles > 16x16 drop-down menu
* Map Editor > Open from the drop-down menu to open the map editor

The rest is straightforward.

Remember that the player's POV extends 3 tiles (or two-and-a-half) from the left and right, and 2 (or one-and-a-half) from above and below. All the maps are designed with these boundaries in mind, so out-of-bounds sections usually contain no tiles, or generic background pieces like dirt or cloud tiles. "Missing" tree halves or buildings that appear "broken" are intentional - I blanked out-of-bounds areas for my own reference.

----

Regarding my absence: I don't like to broadcast my personal life online, but I struggle with depression among other serious shit. It's very hard to focus on long-term goals and projects, and I feel terrible about leaving Iambian and Geekboy in the dust. I really hope they understand.

I rushed to cobble together the remainder of the game's scripts and assets so these guys would be able to finish the project on their own, and that took more willpower than I frankly had.

This post isn't intended to be any indication that I'm returning to the project, but maybe I'll check in on Omnimaga on occasion to see if Iambian or Geekboy need some quick fix from me.

Offline Geekboy1011

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #175 on: June 03, 2016, 09:38:42 am »
It was more of not wanting to adjust your maps. That aside do check in. Your help is always appreciated.

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #176 on: June 06, 2016, 02:31:14 pm »
Sorry to hear about your issues Escheron. I hope things Improve for you. :(

Offline Iambian

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #177 on: June 13, 2016, 10:42:44 pm »
Update:
* Physical attack animations added
* Slight UI adjustments (text line height is now 8px)
* Started work on a PC-side cutscene editor

The following demonstrates dual-wield claw, single staff, and dual-wield sword attack animations.
The Quality Assurance Dragon, as seems to be the trend these days, ends the fight with a bang.



The GUI for the app we have so far. The bright colors are layout placeholders made during testing.
The map is of the Celestial Spire, generated from the actual CalcGS tilemap/tileset files.



Notes:
Work on the app has been a bit slower than I'd have liked it to be. I wasn't originally going to do standard attack animations but you can see how that turned out. Second-wind and certain skill animations still need to be put in, but I think we can safely ignore those for now.

For cutscenes, we decided it would be better to code a graphical PC-side editor and build cutscenes using that. We're using the Python GUI library Tkinter and the imaging library Pillow to drive the graphical UI side of the editor, with everything else being written in Python.

So far, things are looking good for the app. Geekboy1011 comments that this app is already better than CalcGS based solely on its ability to allow decent window resizing despite the fact that the app literally does nothing else besides allow resizing and quitting. I truly wonder about that but maybe it's just frustrations of the team bubbling up to the surface? Anyway. I'm almost surprised at how fast this is coming together despite myself spending just a couple of days using Tkinter. Fun stuff.

Python++

TODO:
* Second wind and skill animations
* Cutscene editor
* Cutscenes
* Stuff
« Last Edit: June 13, 2016, 10:45:48 pm by Iambian »
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Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #178 on: June 14, 2016, 01:58:56 pm »
Wow, ++ for the quick progress on the cutscene editor. :D I feel sorry for that poor Quality Assurance Dragon. He's really become a punching bag. XD

Offline coops

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Re: "Escheron: Twilight over Ragnoth" — progress updates and discussion
« Reply #179 on: June 16, 2016, 01:29:47 pm »
Looks good! The attacks look fluid. Reminds me of pokemon's cut and slash!

For all his pain and suffering you should keep Quality Assurance as an easter egg in the final! :P