Alive, Rmxp - Survival Horror Options

[Albino Parakeet]

It has been paused as it had too much hassle to make the daily events work well day after day so I gave up and started alive.

Aw man I was looking forward to it. I loved the mapping D:

[Clord]

If you decide to add something like Pen item or any other item required for saving and is consumed upon use. Make it to be called "Hardcore" mode or something. This system relies too much that player can play great lengths at time and running out of said items would be too punishing for them. Also Save Points can be made part of the story. Just look at Corpse Party and the candles in it.

This post has been edited by Clord: Oct 1 2012, 05:45 AM

[Vexus]

Save will be limited it's a survival horror afterall I don't want it simple. (I thought by the feature you don't fight but have to hide and run implied it wouldn't be a walk in the park.)

It will utilize a pda instead of a pen and once charged it can let you save 5 times then you have to recharge it. (You will only be able to charge the pda once in the same area unless there are more than 1 possible ways to charge the pda.)

You have more than 1 chance to save but still limited so use them wisely and you won't have any problems.

@Albino Yes it's a shame, I had so many progress on it like custom icons edited or done by myself, custom title/game over screen by a friend, many custom scripts thanks to jens and as you said good maps with long dungeons too.

If IF the game ever gets started again I'm going to scrap the idea of having events doing daily stuff at x hour because 1 rmxp doesn't handle the load well and 2 it's too much time consuming to trial and error all the events to make them work correctly, have the update their progress even in other maps so when you go back they wouldn't get stuck and other stuff.

Too much hassle for me alone which led me to give up.

[Vexus]

-Small update-

I'm playtesting the project and the length is presumably 15-30 mins (In hospital only) so I hope that won't be annoying for you people.

This time unlike somnium the maps are not huge but smaller.

I'm also thinking on what to add as text in the diary and really need to fix the inventory because I really don't like how it currently looks and would really love on having it at least decent in the demo.

Anyway thanks for the support guys (Specially Jens) and will hopefully add a demo soon.

(Last thing, in the hospital there are many times your character will stop for a few seconds to talk, this is intentional to not have a quiet guy in a game. I also want to assure you that eventually after getting out of the hospital the "Prologue/tutorial area" you won't be stopped as frequently all the time.)

[Jens of Zanicuud]

Can't wait to see the Demo, then
I totally agree with you as regards saves.
This weekend I could work on the single save file system + PDA, if you need it.
I've just made something similar for an unfinished project (a sort of graphics novel set in the Forgotten Mansion's maps - just to test them before transferring it into Tryadine Effect).
Anyway, when the Demo is ready, just PM me:)

Jens

[Vexus]

That would be nice jens.

I really wish to have everything working nicely on the first demo, save system included.

I'm scrapping the hunger/thirst for the first demo then will implement it again but will need help on the hud department.

Currently I'm adding text in the diary and afterwards I'll see how to make the inventory screen neater. (Will also have to contact script creator on some small problems I'm currently having.)

[the prince of ma...]

the black and white art style is very nice how are to doing the lighting effects sorry if that's a really stupid question still kinda new to this

[Vexus]

Hey, thanks

The lightning is currently being done through a day and night script which is not really finished. (Can't have moving lights, lights on my version don't update unless you open/close menu or go in a new map and come back and some other small stuff)

If you really want to check it out here's a link:

http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=74494
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-Update-

With the help of jens I'm currently making custom layouts for the save/load screens because I honestly want the most of the layout complete before releasing a demo.

Anyway here's a concept I made today for the loading screen:

[Show/Hide] Load Screen

If jens can help me do it I'm thinking on having unlockable stuff you can find throughout the game with the first 4 given to you easily because they are utilities to save, use inventory and other stuff.

(Some of those icons are hints what you could find.(And yes you can find an unlockable that changes your appearance))

And for the Save layout this is currently the layout jens helped me do:

[Show/Hide] Save Screen

(Do not worry about the font not being clear I'm probably going to either increase size or change font.)

That's it for now, if you have any questions/feedback or suggestions please let me know either posting in this thread or pming me.

Thanks

[Vexus]

-Small Update-

I'm currently editing the title screen (Previous one I posted is no longer the title screen picture) PLUS new one will be animated with some random cutscenes if you don't press anything for like 12+ seconds.

The cutscenes are random with the help of variables and for now I only have 2 but will add more in the future.

(These cutscenes are not regarding your character but ehem other survivors which you might or might not meet. )

----

Anyway regarding the save/load layouts I would really love to get some feedback from people other than jens.

Thanks

This post has been edited by Vexus: Oct 21 2012, 11:26 AM

[Clord]

-Small Update-

I'm currently editing the title screen (Previous one I posted is no longer the title screen picture) PLUS new one will be animated with some random cutscenes if you don't press anything for like 12+ seconds.

The cutscenes are random with the help of variables and for now I only have 2 but will add more in the future.

(These cutscenes are not regarding your character but ehem other survivors which you might or might not meet. )

----

Anyway regarding the save/load layouts I would really love to get some feedback from people other than jens.

Thanks

You might want to place character's face bit more south in the loading screen. It just looks odd when it collides with that line above it.

However it is odd that save and load menus has so different design compared to one another.

This post has been edited by Clord: Oct 21 2012, 11:51 AM

[Vexus]

The design is different because you can only load from title screen (In save screen you have an option to go back to title screen tough) and using pda for both didn't look that good imo from the title screen perspective.

I thought about this too having 2 different layouts for something shared might look weird/odd but unless I edit the ingame save screen version to be bigger I don't think the load screen from title would look good as a pda when the title screen command window and pictures have nothing similar to a pda.

I actually placed the face there to cover the lack of upper hair from the faceset and wanted it to be near the name and surname. (Tough if others think it would be better at the bottom I'll change it's position.)

What about the title screen, like the new changes or prefer something different?

Thanks for the feedback

[Jens of Zanicuud]

As regards the buggy lighting script: it's really difficult to move lights, since the program has to rewrite the whole screen again and again, wasting a high amount of RAM. The script could be modified in order to make it update when something happens (e.g. a trigger turns on...).

These modifications should not be such painful (I do hope so), maybe I could give it a look.

Anyway regarding the save/load layouts I would really love to get some feedback from people other than jens.

In fact, I commented another post I've respected the rules

What about the title screen, like the new changes or prefer something different?

Where can I find it? Have you updated the Demo?

Jens

[Vexus]

It will be visible on the actual demo it's something I came up with as new feature.

(Maybe I could do a sneak peak not sure yet)

[Vexus]

-Update-

Well not much of an update but wanted to say that with the help of jens the menu screens are looking better and when every layout is done (Almost done) I'll do a final play test and upload the demo. (Now the inventory is the real problem as the script creator can't help me edit it and its currently really flawed :/ )

Demo's size is expected to be around 25mb in size (No RTP version) hope that doesn't discourage people from downloading it.

Jens can also test it out so I'm not the only one trying it and if he does it all till the end he could express some feedback with me about what could be edited and maybe how much time it took him to reach the exit. (Would prefer if it was trough pm unless what you post doesn't reveal anything that is not currently said by me.)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Nov 3 2012, 06:12 PM

[Clord]

Now you are just teasing. I don't want this to turn out to be yet another "never done" project.

[Vexus]

Now you are just teasing. I don't want this to turn out to be yet another "never done" project.

Well I'm actually forming the new inventories layout with some help it's just the "sort" of items not actually implemented yet.

How it currently looks:

[Show/Hide]

The part with "Items, Notes and Key Items" is currently only just for shows, maybe some better looking icons (The key one is only a quick substitute won't be that one in reality), possibility of maybe having command menu list showing horizontal and finding a suitable examine script. (Might have found one but will require some testing and edit to not make it whole screen.)

The rest of the layouts that need some retouching are save/load scene the rest are all fine. (Tough I'm trying to find a name for "my company" sort of as I'm trying to do a game logo since the title is animated now)

Not much more that's for sure.

(Not everything listed must be done before demo so don't worry.)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Nov 6 2012, 06:50 AM

[Vexus]

-Update-

1] Examine function now works thanks again to our valuable scripter jens

Screenie:

[Show/Hide]

So now when you look at the items in the inventory they will have a basic description of what they do, examine them and you get a much more detailed information that might or might not help you on said item. (Picture is showing a wooden plank's information tough it won't be in the first demo as the barricade feature is not fully functional atm since this feature won't be needed in the first demo)

2] Command menu is now horizontal from vertical, this in my opinion works more neatly with the inventory screen.

Screenie:

[Show/Hide]

I'm aware of that strange thing in the middle of the command window and I'm trying to remove it.

3] And last but not least. When you run out of space in your inventory a different menu will show which let's you discard items in the discarded window and transfer items from the discarded window back to the inventory.

Screenie:

[Show/Hide]

Pressing P or L will switch between your inventory and the discarded items window.

(Only a tiny thing needs to be added which is different text on when you press enter to transfer from discarded scene and inventory scene which it's not something that should take much to do.)

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That's it for updates now I got some small issue and I'd like people's opinions on what to do.

As you have probably seen from the various pictures of my inventory, the cursor is barely visible when it's shown on the grey grid while it works fine on the command menus. My initial solution was maybe to make the grid darker so that the cursor shows better and while this could solve it I'm kinda afraid on how the icons will look if everything is dark.

This is kinda a problem as I have to find a matching colour that won't make the icon's visibility harder to see.

So what do you suggest me people?

Should I make the grid more dark and maybe edit the icons to match the new colour? Should I try and switch to a different windowskin for this scene?

If you have any suggestions please let me know as once I fix the inventory all is left for the demo is fixing the z values with the light system and then a run or 2 of the game for bugs, pass ability issues and spelling mistakes.

Thank you for reading.

This post has been edited by Vexus: Nov 15 2012, 02:08 AM

[Clord]

I suggest not to ruin that skin just because of the slight visibility issue. Just make selected grid in the inventory to be lighter or darker colored.

[Vexus]

Hmm I'll see if I can do that since no one else replied with other suggestions.

Thanks clord maybe it works

[Edit]

Tried making the cursor more visible but without any success :/

So I tried darken the grid and this is how it turned out:

[Show/Hide]

Better then nothing I guess. (Timing it perfectly is hard but the cursor flashes and is visible this way.)

This post has been edited by Vexus: Nov 16 2012, 03:01 AM

[amerk]

Awesome prologue, which will set the mood for the rest of the game... whenever it comes out. Quite dramatic, too. As beautiful as the scene and music was, you couldn't shake the nagging creepy sensation that something bad was going to happen.