we make gam!!

it’s June, I suppose. Here’s my thoughts: The code is an unmanageable mess that I...

terminill — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:35:57 -0400

it’s June, I suppose. Here’s my thoughts:

The code is an unmanageable mess that I haven’t commented well enough for me to wrap my head back around after 4(?) months’ break.
I’m really not “feeling it”. It’s a daunting project istting just out of my reach and my motivation levels aren’t at their highest. I feel like working on some smaller side-stuff first, then maybe coming back to it. Probably with a total rewrite.

Those considered, here’s the source so far. I don’t expect anyone to pick this up or work on it or anything, but if you have any sort of passable knowledge of ActionScript it might be interesting to poke, I guess. If you do mess with it in any sort of interesting way, please do show me or at least let me know, though. I’m curious!

re: the previous post

terminill — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:38:00 -0400

looking back over my year planner, could be less than 2 months. only would have actually been a month and a half, tops. anyway I might have some more free time between now and then but that’s when my schedule clears up properly for any decent length of time.

still not entirely sure I’m “feeling it”, as it were, but I might see what I can do, programming-wise.

re: project status

terminill — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:55:26 -0400

Hey, hi. Been a while since anyone posted here, and almost as long since I’ve touched the project. (Just checked. 2 months, huh.) Anyway, thought I’d duck in to give you all a status update. The short of it is: not going anywhere. I’ve been alternating between furious maelstroms of study and procrastination, and the rest of the “team”, as far as I can speak for them, are preoccupied with other things - quite understandably, as pretty much the major holdup on progress for a while is me.

Now, study’s probably going to keep me fairly locked up until June or so. When June rolls around, I’ll see how I’m feeling about the whole thing, and how Leo’s feeling - he is, as far as I can tell, the “project leader”, insofar as there is one. Programming this is, for me, an exercise undertaken purely out of interest, and I know Leo has a lot of stuff on his plate, between his ask blog, his nuzlocke, his commissions, etc (I don’t think I ever really gave much mind to just how busy a man Leo is, huh).

Anyway: Don’t set your hopes too strongly on this going anywhere (although I don’t imagine anyone has). I wouldn’t call it dead yet, but it’s definitely resting for another month or two (at least, as far as I’m concerned). I feel slightly out of place speaking for other people involved, even to the little extent that I have, so I do invite them to come and say anything they feel needs saying. See you guys in June.

Regarding sprites

terminill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:42:00 -0500

This post pertains to how sprites are being handled by the game engine, and unless you’re planning on contributing sprites, you can probably ignore the rest of it. There’s a slight update here, knock yourselves out. All that’s changed on the surface is that you can hold your sword out, but hey - progress is progress, no matter how small, right?

Anyway! I suppose there’s not really that much to say, but whatever. As it stands, the character themself and the sword are independent objects, with their own sprites and animations and collision boxes. However! This doesn’t really lock you into treating them as separate objects for sprite purposes. The sword can be a part of the character’s swinging animation, and I would in fact advise this: it allows for much smoother, lower hassle animation (well, less hassle for me anyway. I imagine it’s probably somewhat easier on the artist to animate them as a cohesive whole, although possibly more work). I can simply render the sword object invisible and match its hitbox roughly to the animation.

These notes apply to any sort of item being used - the sword framework is likely to serve as the basis for any swung or held item (and probably ranged items too). Go nuts, spriters! (But only if you want to. I mean, it’s not like we’ve got an item list locked down or anything. I suppose really sprite work only needs to kick in towards the end, once we’ve got specifics worked out. I’ll just be over here working on the basics. Such is the life of the programmer - first to begin work, last to finish. [Actually, “ideas people” and designers and stuff probably start first. Whatever.])

On an unrelated note, technically my university course started a few days ago. (I say technically since I’m off-campus and not really doing anything right now.) Not like it’s going to impact on my non-existent rate of work. Heck, maybe if I feel productive, I’ll end up getting more done than otherwise.

It's that time again!

terminill — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:38:06 -0500

It's that time again!:

oohmrleo:

legendofyuyuko:

That time when I post a demo with very little changed from the last one and you all wonder what the hell I was doing with my time! (answer:not much)…

Link’s animation changes along with the sword swing in LA doesn’t it? That probably should happen here seeing as how otherwise the sword sorta looks like it’s floating on its own

ask and ye shall receive, although you may need to allow 4-6 weeks for delivery in most cases. Not this one, though - Link’s swinging animations are in, same link (cache clearing may be required). I’ll add the ability to hold it out for jabbing things/charging a spin attack/what have you tomorrow, I think.

It's that time again!

terminill — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:11:34 -0500

It's that time again!:

That time when I post a demo with very little changed from the last one and you all wonder what the hell I was doing with my time! (answer:not much)

But progress is progress, no matter how small. And I bring you a sword. Hit Z to swing your sword at… nothing much. Come back in a week and maybe I’ll have something for you to poke with it. Other minor changes are:

the movement speed was tweaked to a compromise, since everyone thought the fast version was too fast but I and at least one other person felt slow was also a little slow? Feedback on that is still welcome. Also fixed a minor graphical glitch related to that, but you didn’t need to know.
I changed the player hitbox to be accurate to Link’s Awakening’s - NOT because this game is designed to clone Link’s Awakening to a T or anything, but it is at least going to be Zelda-like and since I’m already using the LA sprites as a placeholder, I figured I may as well make the hitbox match up.
levels/worlds/screens/whatever are loaded on runtime rather than compile. The upshot of this is that people (other devs or just people) will be able to edit their own. Doesn’t mean much at this point, but it does mean that further down the track when levels are being built they won’t all have to go through me to be compiled/tested/tweaked/repeat which would be frankly a PITA for all involved.

I’ll try and keep out of the chasm of procrastination and maybe have some more progress for you guys in a week or so. Like things to poke with your sword, and other items, and not mysteriously walking over water.

picknickpick: legendofyuyuko: Alright I’ve been thinking about the spirit world stuff and this is...

leomodesto — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:44:20 -0500

picknickpick:

legendofyuyuko:

Alright I’ve been thinking about the spirit world stuff and this is something I think would be interesting.

During normal gameplay you control Youmu like you would Link and her ghost half floats around her like it should. The press of a button switches things however, and makes the “spiritual plane” visible or something like that. At this point you can only control Youmu’s ghost half while her human self stands in place.

There are hidden items and other stuff that are only accessible in this mode. The ghost half can not move very far from the human half but it can access areas Youmu wouldn’t be able to reach on her own like small ledges (but this has limits).

Enemies can also be interacted with differently in this mode, although they still move and behave normally. There may be enemies who can only be defeated in the spirit world and others who are the opposite. Enemies who change form when you switch modes can also exist.

The ghost half can’t be normally hurt except by specific things. The human half can still get hurt in this mode so you have to be careful about activating it.

is this gonna be like, the central gimmick of the game?

also rebloging to maybe remind myself to illustrate some stuff tomorrow.

right now, I’m going to sleep!

Well if this is in the game it probably should be because the alternative is having more gimmicks and that would be weird?

Man I should probably have just thought that post out and wrote everything down before posting...

leomodesto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:44:54 -0500

Man I should probably have just thought that post out and wrote everything down before posting it.

Something that I should make clear: Youmu’s human half can only interact with the human plane and her ghost half can only interact with the spirit plane. You can’t “cheat” by having her ghost half reach out for an item on the other side of a river. The moment you switch modes that item becomes inaccessible.

What I have in mind, visually, is that the items you can interact with in the spirit plane have a cyan glow around them. Everything else is blue and faded to show you can’t actually interact with it (with the exception of walls and such which your ghost half still can’t go through - you’re not Seiga)

Also

leomodesto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:38:27 -0500

It should come without saying that the ghost half can float over bottomless pits, lava, water, and spikes.

Of course everyone in Touhou can normally fly but I’m not giving that ability to the protagonist of a Zelda game, that’d just break it beyond reason.

Alright I’ve been thinking about the spirit world stuff...

leomodesto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:34:32 -0500

Alright I’ve been thinking about the spirit world stuff and this is something I think would be interesting.

During normal gameplay you control Youmu like you would Link and her ghost half floats around her like it should. The press of a button switches things however, and makes the “spiritual plane” visible or something like that. At this point you can only control Youmu’s ghost half while her human self stands in place.

There are hidden items and other stuff that are only accessible in this mode. The ghost half can not move very far from the human half but it can access areas Youmu wouldn’t be able to reach on her own like small ledges (but this has limits).

Enemies can also be interacted with differently in this mode, although they still move and behave normally. There may be enemies who can only be defeated in the spirit world and others who are the opposite. Enemies who change form when you switch modes can also exist.

The ghost half can’t be normally hurt except by specific things. The human half can still get hurt in this mode so you have to be careful about activating it.

Of Twins and Tengu

leomodesto — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:24:14 -0500

submission from Prime32

There were comments on which Touhou characters would work as Twinrova. Don’t tell me everyone’s forgotten about Mai and Yuki? ;_;

Momiji would make a fine rival/recurring boss. If there’s a “look into the spirit world” mechanic, Hatate seems like a good person to explain it (and possibly assign a photograph-them-all sidequest). The Great Tengu is unexplored territory, and could be made a Biggoron expy (Youkai Mountain is a volcano…).

If you want a non-overused villain with a reason to make the Saigyou Ayakashi bloom… Yuuka.
Yuuka: “It would be so pretty.”
Youmu: “But thousands of people would die!”
Yuuka: “Didn’t I just say that?”

Hm. Okay here are some points:

No one really needs to be a stand-in for another character, although the possibility of mirroring an existing Zelda enemy/boss gameplay-wise still exists. Yuki and Mai certainly work with the fire/ice duality in mind and of course there’s also Mugetsu/Gengetsu for another “two at once” boss should that be the case.
I don’t really like sadist Yuuka, although of course there is a character at least related to plants in some capacity. There’s nothing “confirmed” about the plot yet though - I just imagined the tree as the final boss worked for the purpose of a) being related to Yuyuko in a way and b) being the only truly evil being in Gensokyo.
You just reminded me I had some gameplay stuff drawn, I should post about it.

oh goddamn

terminill — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:42:46 -0500

I should be working on this shouldn’t I

I’m a terrible person, people should nag me to do this more

~~I won’t get any more done but I’ll feel worse about it~~

submission from ask-yuyuko-saigyouji: i don’t know if it would help any but here Well that...

midori-and-pyon-saigyouji — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:38:10 -0500

submission from ask-yuyuko-saigyouji:

i don’t know if it would help any but here

Well that certainly is a picture of Youmu finding the Master Sword.

I don’t really want the similarities between games to be that blunt. Think about the Tasofro fangames for reference, I think.

Regarding the plot and mechanics thing, since Youmu is half-human and half-ghost, maybe we could base the game around that? Like, some kind of spiritual world that only the ghost half of her can enter or something? If we do something like that, then I think Youmu's physical human half would get items and equipment as upgrades, and her ghost half would get special abilities as its upgrades.

leomodesto — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:23:55 -0500

Hm. Maybe some kind of “filter” that can be turned on to reveal hidden things that only the ghost half can interact with…

A post about everything

leomodesto — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:45:18 -0500

Plot

One thing I noticed is that most Zelda games have the plot be built upon a certain mechanic from that game. Link to the Past had the Light World/Dark World duality with the ability to go between the two. Wind Waker had the sailing and also the countering mechanic which was implemented in the final boss fight. Ocarina of Time and several others had time travel. So I suppose once we find out what exactly we want from this game in terms of mechanics we may have a basis for the plot.
Again, I feel like the plot needs to involve something with the Saigyou Ayakashi, since Yuyuko’s role is that of the princess, and the evil youkai tree is pretty much the only thing that threatens her existence. and I also think it’s the most evil thing in Gensokyo which may be fitting for a final boss. Of course, outside of Yuyuko herself we don’t know who else would want to unseal an evil youkai tree…

Mechanics

Again, contributions are welcome. I imagine overall it’ll be very similar to LttP.
Bosses are probably going to be more Touhou than Zelda - small but with lots of bullets to dodge. Do you think this is feasible? Again though we probably should have every boss require a different tool to beat - usually whatever you got in the same dungeon but not necessarily.

Enemies

The easy way to go here is to think in terms of the roles the enemies in (mostly 2D) Zelda have and think of things that would work in a Touhou context for them, such as:
An enemy who walks around and throws projectiles you can shield or deflect (Octorock)
An enemy who flies around and can’t be hit with your sword until they land (Peahat)
An enemy who jumps around (Tektite)
An enemy who emerges from water and fires at you (Zora - this will be a kappa obv.)
An enemy you can’t hit with your sword because it hurts you when you do (Chuchu)
An enemy who eats you and your shield (Like-like)
An enemy who is invincible except from the back (Darknut)
An enemy who takes you back to the entrance of a dungeon (Wall/Floormaster)
An enemy who splits into smaller enemies (what are those things called…?)
Stationary orbs who shoot lasers at you (those have names?)
An enemy whose movement mimics yours but reversed (several enemies I think)
Flying tiles (fuck those - but if there’s a Yuuka dungeon they’d be fitting)

NPCs

I think Youki should be in the game somewhere as some sort of… I don’t know. Someone who gives Youmu something important like a sword upgrade. Shouldn’t be an enemy
Rinnosuke runs the regular store
Marisa runs the potion shop
Nazrin could give you an idea of what your next goal is or at least where you can find hidden items. Perhaps you obtain her dowsing rods as an item at some point
Komachi ferries you places
Yuyuko, duh
I don’t think Yukari should be an enemy (too obvious) except as an Extra, post-game boss possibly. But I definitely think she, Ran and Chen should be NPCs as they’re obviously in good terms with Yuyuko
Reisen. I don’t care how, gotta have her at some point
ZUN in a Tingle suit - this is non-negotiable

Items

We should think of the same strategy here as with the enemies. We also have to decide if we’re going with “Youmu gets items from other characters” idea of if they should all relate to her in a way. I like the former honestly

Movement speed

terminill — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:01:07 -0500

just getting a quick opinion.

slower or faster? (note: you might need to clear your cache [hold shift and hit reload] on the slower link - if Link still has a red hat, you’ve got the old copy)

Or anything inbetween. I can tweak this anytime, so it’s not a big deal if it turns out to be a crappy choice in the long run.

Note that you might perceive yourself as moving slower diagonally. You’re not, you’re actually moving at the same speed - it just feels slower because your horizontal and vertical speeds are slowed so that you traverse the same distance diagonally as you would over the same amount of time just horizontally/vertically, through trigonometric/Pythagorean magic. Have a crappy diagram:

of course, maybe you knew this already? I don’t know, maybe someone’s learning something here. this has been TI’s possibly uninformative and probably patronising/condescending maths lesson, I promise I won’t do this again unless it’s really necessary (it probably wasn’t here but hey). If I do, I might make a less half-assed diagram.

Generally in the 2D Zeldas the style has been to have the head wider than the torso. That being said, I do like the sprite shown already as well.

leomodesto — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:42:41 -0500

Alright! The sprite is ultimately up to Blu though haha

A possible Youmu sprite

terminill — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:34:18 -0500

legendofyuyuko:

legendofyuyuko:

Hey guys! Bluwiikoon here, and I decided to mess around with some pixels and mock up a sprite.

If everyone likes it, then I’ll go ahead and makes more frames for it and stuff, and test out sword and shield animations and stuff. It depends on what the programmer has to say about it, too - would this kind of thing be alright, or would a different style be preferred for the game engine?

Let me know what you think!

I kind of think the body should be a bit smaller… but maybe I’m just used to giving everything large heads?

3x same-blog reblog combo

But really, I can work with most anything I’m given. The framework I’m using has very little in the way of real restrictions on these things. As for the art itself, I think it’s nice enough!

A possible Youmu sprite

leomodesto — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:23:25 -0500

legendofyuyuko:

Hey guys! Bluwiikoon here, and I decided to mess around with some pixels and mock up a sprite.

If everyone likes it, then I’ll go ahead and makes more frames for it and stuff, and test out sword and shield animations and stuff. It depends on what the programmer has to say about it, too - would this kind of thing be alright, or would a different style be preferred for the game engine?

Let me know what you think!

I kind of think the body should be a bit smaller… but maybe I’m just used to giving everything large heads?

A possible Youmu sprite

bluwiikoon — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:25:44 -0500

Hey guys! Bluwiikoon here, and I decided to mess around with some pixels and mock up a sprite.

If everyone likes it, then I’ll go ahead and makes more frames for it and stuff, and test out sword and shield animations and stuff. It depends on what the programmer has to say about it, too - would this kind of thing be alright, or would a different style be preferred for the game engine?

Let me know what you think!