Gai's Hunters, TEASER DEMO AVAILABLE Options

[Holder]

I'm not sure if caught the update on this but you can use out newest tag to show youtube clips, like this:

CODE

[youtube]hFmudtDgV24[/youtube]

I can't wait till you start balancing the classes and things like that, I'd love to assist with that. I've got some icon ideas for equipment that I'll compile and send over to you as soon as I've got a few hours spare.

[OranGemeo]

Definatley plan to check this game out when it's got a demo out I love the Final Fantasy Tactics influence, should make for an interesting game.

There's really only one thing that kind of irks me - the two classes "White Mage" and "Black Mage". I really believe that those names are purely for Final Fantasy, and perhaps a different name would work better. Healer/Cleric/Shaman/Wizard/Sorcerer ... something, but not WHM and BLM.

[The Law G14]

@Titanhex: Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it I'm glad you like the recruitment and relationship system I wasn't too sure if that would appeal too many people that you had to talk to people to get them to join, but I guess it seems fine Additionally, I'm too sure what you mean by the menu being a little "vanilla". Do you mean it's a little too plain? As for the battle system, it's still a work in progress as I'm still editing the core foundation of the script by GubiD. And the screenshot doesn't tell much as it's a test map, but I'll definitely update after the next Major Update and give a more thorough description. And yes, I have been deeply inspired by FFT. FFTA was actually one of my favorite handheld games ever. Thanks again for your thoughts

@Holder: Thanks Holder! I didn't see it when I was typing my post, but I tried to find the option (because I did notice it on HBG), but that clears things up. As for the icons, I don't know if I told you about it (I should of if I didn't lol), but Ghalleon started working on a few custom icons for all the equipment, items, and skills. If you want though, you can definitely help him out with it because he told me how progress will be slow since he's gone back to school, I believe. So if you want, I'll just send you over some of the icons he's already made so you know what style it's in.

@OranGemeo: Thanks for your comments And thanks for the heads up, I'll see out for a better name for those two classes.

[The Law G14]

Update Three(09/18/2011)


Introduction
Hey, it’s definitely been a while everyone since the last update on this thread. Well anyway, this is Major Update #3. We have to talk about today including, awesome new music, a developed quest system, interactive world maps and more. Hope you like it


Music
The music for the menu has been decided on and this is what will be used while in the menu (changing jobs, abilities, etc.)

The intro for the game has been synced with the customized intro music. All the graphics in the intro, however, are placeholder (except for the credits). Once we get some custom sprites and tiles into the game, the intro will be updated accordingly. However, for now, we have awesome music made by our musician to go along with the introduction for our game. Hope you like it (I couldn’t make a video because it lags a lot with my screen recorder).

Both songs can be found here (The menu music is called GH-Basic1):
http://soundcloud.com/turkwise/sets/gais-hunters/


Plot Structure Complete
The plot has finally been completely planned out. All plot holes have been taken care of and story is ready to be evented into actual gameplay.


Map Descriptions
Each Map has already been planned out and I’ve now just added information in the “Setting� subtitle that gives a brief description on each location. There are over 40 locations in total. Here’s an example of one of the descriptions:

"Mount Gai Temple:“ A temple located at the base of Mount Gai. This location has the tightest security in all of Gai. The reason for this is due to it being the only place where it is a well known fact that a Forbidden Tablet resides within. No Hunter has ever been able to read the Tablet and get out alive"€�


Quest System
I’ve essentially finished coding the quest system. All I need to do is add quests to the Quest Database and then find a way to add the quests at specific times during gameplay. Here’s a video of how the quest interface looks like and how everything runs, I’d really like opinions on this:




Interactive World Map
Finally, we have the last feature I’m still trying to implement. Traveling will take place on an interactive world map where you go from location to location. I’m still trying to get someone to make a map for me and I still need to code in paths for the map.


Conclusion
From here on out, progress will be much slower as I’ll focus on school work starting Monday. I don’t want to make a mistake and prioritize this over school, so I won’t be working on this during the weekdays unless I really have free time to do so. I’ll only be working on this during the weekends. That’s all for now!

This post has been edited by The Law G14: Aug 18 2011, 11:44 AM

[Titanhex]

Oh actually what I meant by vanilla was more a comment on using the RTP window base. It looks very plain and not very catchy. So, vanilla in both senses of the word, meaning its both plain and like a majority of simple RTP aesthetics.
However this looks like it's still got placeholder graphics in the form of RTP, that or it's simply content with using the RTP graphics in which case it's fine since that is your objective.

Good luck with the project though! The gameplay looks enjoyable.

[The Law G14]

The window base may change, I'm uncertain as of now, but pretty much all the graphics besides that are placeholder and will definitely change wants our artists finish some custom art. But I will try to do something with the overall feel of the menu however to make it less plain as you said. And thank you again for your comments and support, I really appreciate it

[The Law G14]

Hey everyone, it has definitely been a while since an update. I wouldn't call this a major update, it's actually a pretty small one. Firstly, I'd like to say I'm really sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I've been busy with school and I have a really tough schedule this year so I'm trying to focus on school so I can keep my grades high.

But anyway, I think I've figured out a way to work on this project while also keeping school as my first priority. This update is to mainly show what I've been working on for a little while which has been reorganizing, cleaning up, and enhancing all the code in the project. Not only has this helped me in terms of understanding all the scripts being used, but it's also made things a lot cleaner in the script editor. Adding new features will become much easier if need be. I still have to clean up all the battle-related scripts, but besides that, it's nearly done. Here's some before and after screenshots (The before picture is actually pretty recent, I wasn't able to get an older version which was even more messy xD):

[Show/Hide] Before

[Show/Hide] After

After this reorganization of all the code is complete, I'll work with Holder on making all the Job Classes more balanced and realistic.

Also, Ghalleon has told me that he's worked out fitting in working for this project while doing other things he needs to do so that's good

That’s all for now!

This post has been edited by The Law G14: Aug 28 2011, 04:37 PM

[carnie_natas]

Wow, very descriptive and looks great! Hope everything turns out exactly as you plan (fans included).

[The Law G14]

Haha, thanks man I appreciate the comments And yea, hopefully everything does turn out according to plan

[ipsissimus10]

very nice..... i sense alot of elements from history, like the illuminati , the nights templar, the lost sea scrolls, economics, like demographics, and physcographics..... i have researched them all from business books, the history channel, as well as wikipedia, the only constructive critisism i have would be the name of " The Government ". I believe you could be more creative than that , as you have shown......THANKS!

This post has been edited by ipsissimus10: Sep 1 2011, 11:34 PM

[The Law G14]

Thanks, man, I appreciate the kind words And you're definitely right about "The Government" thing. I was trying to find a better name for it ever since I thought up the concept, so think of "The Government" as just a placeholder name now, I'll try to get a new name by the next Major Update. Thanks again for the feedback

[The Law G14]

Sorry for the lack of updates people

Anyway, here’s a pretty quick one to summarize what’s been going on of late. First of all, to be honest, progress has definitely been slow due to me spending a lot of time towards school, and the rest of the team members busy in their own rights. I haven’t heard from Ghalleon (our artist) for a while so that’s also been a problem.
So what’s been done is that I’ve reorganized all the code in the project. Just to give some stats or whatever, there will be ten scripted systems in use for the game, and only ten. I’m not planning on adding any more as I don’t want to keep going back to this. There are 15 separate script sections in the script editor due to the battle system being separated into four parts and a script section dedicated to a methods and class library. Next, nearly all the scripts have been properly documented with comments and have been ordered properly in logical sequence. After I finish one last part to the documentation of the battle scene script, I’ll easily be able to add any feature or change anything to fit what I need.

Next, the database is pretty much finished on my side. All I need are the custom icons and portraits being made by our artist and later on the custom sprites being made by Holder.

I’ve also changed “Black Mage� to Wizard and “White Mage� to Healer to not copy directly from Final Fantasy. I’m still looking for a better name of “The Government�, but what I’m thinking is that the improper name (what common people refer to it as) will remain as “The Government�, but a specific and proper name will be developed soon.

Finally, the plot has been completely planned out and all plot holes have been taken care of. From this I’ll begin planning and writing all the dialogue. This will be in order to prevent grammar mistakes as well as have the story even more planned out.

Thanks for your time

[Legacy]

Woah, cant believe i haven't noticed this before now. Im really liking the amount of work put into this project, im eager to see more screen-shots, and some more of the pixel artwork.

keeping my eye on this, and keep up the hard work

[The Law G14]

Hey thanks thanks man, I appreciate it Since all the scripting, story planning, and database stuff is pretty much done, we can now focus more on the visual stuff like mapping, artwork, and pixel art so screenshots will be hopefully be around soon

[The Law G14]

Time to revive this thread lol, I’ve been working in the battle system lately, mainly the visual aspects of it. Here’s some screen shots, criticism is welcome

[Show/Hide] Images

The main battle control screen

Display of a skill animation and its help window

Scrolling through the skill window

Animation that plays when swapping through battle windows

[supercow]

nice, ill definitely look out for this when its ready
is it a tactical battle system or a mix of tactical battle system+action (kindda like ff 12) ?
i think the hud behind player faceset is distracting , it covers quite some area and kindda plain looking sorry , oh and the faceset is cutted wouldnt it be better whole?
for me i have a bit of trouble seeing hp/mp in the corner when playing tactical game , maybe have like hp/mp bar on top of player when push some button? , that would be cool

[The Law G14]

Thanks for the comments man I'm not too sure how FF12 works but this only a tactical battle system. As for the faceset that's just a test face I got from the internet, our artist will be making custom faces that won't be cut off like the above face. As for the HUD, I was trying to get an FFTA2 feel but if it's too distracting I'll try to find another way to represent the information. Thanks again for the comments!

[amerk]

Definitely holds a lot of potential. It seems you have quite a bit covered, including the creation of your own world's government/politics behind the story, which helps to give it life.

The story seems written well enough to capture my interest, and I particulary liked the character sprites used in the screenshot.

[The Law G14]

Thanks, I appreciate it! I specifically spent a lot of time creating the world and being very detailed about all the little parts in it like the Government, place locations, etc. Also, the character sprites you're talking about (I believe the Ragnorok ones) unfortunately will most likely not be used. This is because Holder when he gets the time will be making custom sprites or making custom parts that can be built in a character generator that fit the custom tileset he's creating. Anyway, thanks again for the comments, much appreicated

[The Law G14]

MAJOR UPDATE

Haven’t had one of these in a while but quite a lot has changed recently, largely because I became involved with the National Game Development Month event so I’ve been spending more time with this game over the past month.

Battle Aesthetics
Battle aesthetics have been completed a Little while ago. I was able make background images for all the windows in battle and everything looks pretty nice now.

Organized Game Folders
Game folders have been organized so that I’ll be able to fit my resources in the appropriate places and also allow them to fit the directories I had set in my scripts. I will also be writing up a document with all the resources I’ll need for the game so I don’t waste my time.

Scripts Cleaned
This also happened a while back during this month, I was able to finish cleaning all my scripts, including battle scripts. So now I’ll be able to add features a lot more easily. Right, in fact, I’m working on implementing a battle result screen that will fit the battle system.

New Government Name
I had a critique a while back for this game that the name “The Government� was to plain. So with some careful consideration I found an appropriate name and the thread has been updated with it. The politically correct name for “The Government� is the UGC or the United Government of the Coasts. This has a direct meaning with the past of Gai which will be revealed later on in the game. Additionally, commoners just refer to the Government as “The Government�.

Biographies and Story
I changed the biographies around a little bit. Most notably the fact that Damien knew Anito and Heather when he was a kid. Also, since I’ve been dialogue writing lately, I’ve been doing slight changes to the story, nothing major though. There are still a couple things I need to tweak though to make sure the whole story makes sense.

That’s all for now!