KickStarter zeds Holiday game 2016 (merry xmas) (rpg?) (learn a trick or two!)

[Zed]

This is the thread for my holiday game. It's not holiday-themed, it's just that I'll be working on it (a lot?) this holiday!

I'll be using the only game dev tool I know, multimedia fusion, cuz I can create things fast as zip-zap-rap.

Themes and (buzz)keywords: silly, dungeon crawler, largely automated combat, main character, ripping off Wizardry IV, dark UI, low REZ, randomly generated hirelings

I'll just be dumping pictures and stuff as I go along. Drop ur ideas, and let me know if you want your codex name as a variable for the randomly generated hirelings.

the first thing I've done is set up the rez: 320*240. I'm upscaling it 4xtimes. I'll be working with a 8x8 grid.

now I'm working on the UI elements. I want them to be re.usable and scalable, so instead of having premade boxes, I'll build them from components

like this:

with this simple gfx i can now make boxes of any size i want

next up ill make a placeholder portrait (maybe) and start build on the hiring process of hirelings which is what im ripping off from wiz iv and which will be the main thing with this game.

 

[Zed]

I want the text to be predictable (in length and layout) so I've made a bitmap font where each character fills a 8x8 grid

the yellow font (for static text) borrows colors from the UI box elements

A hireling has these attributes
name, class, race, trait
Name is randomly picked from a list; Class can be stuff like Warrior, Thief, Priest, Mage -- I don't know, keeping it simple; Race consists of one random adjective (for fun) and race; and Trait

You'll be able to have a few hirelings, at least... 5 (so a 6 char party with main character).

Class affects the hirelings primary function. your main character will be a spellcaster, so you'll want a warrior hireling to soak damage for instance. there should be one key utility aspect for each class.
Races will have strengths and weaknesses (the adjective is just there for flavor). For instance Troll could have a slower attack speed, but better defensive stats.
A trait could be "Blind", making the character useless at attacking but you may still want to pick that hireling because maybe it's a Priest and you need someone to heal your party? *

* = a scenario like this is the whole point of the game.

added some finishing touches on the static text font

 

[Snorkack]

Saddest christmas tale ever

 

[Zed]

To generate a character with class/race etc, I randomize a number for each attribute and pick a corresponding string from an ini file (which is one of the very few external file types multimedia fusion accepts)

I'll populate this with funnier stuff later

I accidentally attached the adjective to class instead of race and it works much better IMO so I'm gonna roll with that

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Multi-colored fonts are the best.

Spoiler

Until you get to animated multi-colored fonts.

 

[Zed]

ok I'm back at it

for exploration im gonna go simple, but with a faux isometric perspective to keep it interesting

simple 2 width : 1 height ratio

first draft tile. wooden indoors floor, I guess. I add 3 pixels of height to give the tile a bit of a pop-out effect. I'm considering skipping walls entirely.

first draft main character (spellcaster type - I'm thinking magi, alchemist, or something else that isn't "wizard" but still is)

I'm doing these first to check if I like the proportions (how big are characters to tiles, and tiles to window size), contrast between character and background

eh, it's an okay start

 

[Zed]

spent half an hour iterating main character

finally

I'll probably play around with skin color but I think I'll do basic movement next

 

[Excidium II]

Add a secret animation where he pops genitals out.

 

[Zed]

Add a secret animation where he pops genitals out.

animation is hard work.. I hate hard work!

this will have to do. this might end up being the only animation in the game. fuck it!

(not final animation tho)

 

[CryptRat]

This animation is actually pretty good, this character is interesting.