Topic: Icey games' thread

[monkey_05_06]

Defense is a new stat in your games?

As in, your games have never previously calculated for a defense stat?

...I knew there was something I liked about you.

To be fair, that's how it was handled in most 2d RPGs, it's a perfectly common practice.

And this is perfectly true. It's just a matter of history telling us that if corners are cut here, they'll be cut more drastically elsewhere (for example, making an RPG with no DEF stat).

[Ponch]

Defense is overrated. A real man just charges in without fear or thoughts of self-preservation! A real man also knows where the quick load key is at all times. 

[Ghost]

A real man just charges in without fear or thoughts of self-preservation!

True, but we can't all squirt Manly Salve from out udders, OceanSpirit Cowboy!

About cutting corners (and cutting edges*), why not make a simple, single animation for each sword to overlay over your charaters(s)? The last game I played where no weapon upgrades were ever shown was Septerra Core, and that one's ancient! So, overlay animation: Simple to do, can still look somewhat unique, and will give your players some eye candy.

___
*Sorry!

[Crimson Wizard]

I cannot believe I am actually posting here, but...

A real man also knows where the quick load key is at all times. 

A real man also knows

IDDQD

And something to stay on topic -
Icey, I haven't seen your threads for about a year or so (I wasn't on forums), your drawings have really improved!
I read through this thread (yeah, I seriously did that) and I cannot understand why, why can't you just look for someone to script some small game for you while you focus on graphics? I just don't get it.

[icey games]

Defense is a new stat in your games?

As in, your games have never previously calculated for a defense stat?

Correct, I have my reasons for things like these though. I'm to sleepy to think stright now but I believe the reason behind me not using the DEF stat is cause the games only depend on how high your HP is. This is due to the fact that there is no randomization between ATK damage(-12, -17, -304). The Cross Assault Battle System  v2(PMQ Colosseum) and V4(Miles's Adventure: PMQ) rely on which 1 of the 3 rows you are standing in. Row 1 will be like +3 ATK -3 MGK while Row 3 will be like +3 MGK. So this is why I rather not use that whole RPG damage thingy cause I already made something to use that works for me. So basically The DEF is the HP stat and what matters most to kill your target is how high you ATK is.

A real man just charges in without fear or thoughts of self-preservation!

True, but we can't all squirt Manly Salve from out udders, OceanSpirit Cowboy!

About cutting corners (and cutting edges*), why not make a simple, single animation for each sword to overlay over your charaters(s)? The last game I played where no weapon upgrades were ever shown was Septerra Core, and that one's ancient! So, overlay animation: Simple to do, can still look somewhat unique, and will give your players some eye candy.

___
*Sorry!

Even though that sounds like a good idea. I already have done the animations for the normal sword as Dave is using the model from PMQ Colosseum. That's why If I would do the new swords animation I wanted to make them different...Hum but making these means I will have to have the game check all the time which sword is equipped. Well not all the time but it means more coding...oh what's a bear to do hummm...

I cannot believe I am actually posting here, but...

A real man also knows where the quick load key is at all times. 

A real man also knows

IDDQD

And something to stay on topic -
Icey, I haven't seen your threads for about a year or so (I wasn't on forums), your drawings have really improved!
I read through this thread (yeah, I seriously did that) and I cannot understand why, why can't you just look for someone to script some small game for you while you focus on graphics? I just don't get it.

Thank you sir, I guess the reason cause it's not that I don't like working in teams, it's just hard to do it when your working over the internet. However I had some thoughts about releasing short games that take place in the PMQ world but the game are not PMQ. I don't even want them to be RPG's. Just normal adventure games with the look of a PMQ game.

[Khris]

I believe the reason behind me not using the DEF stat is cause the games only depend on how high your HP is.
[...]
Even though that sounds like a good idea. I already have done the animations for the normal sword as Dave is using the model from PMQ Colosseum. That's why If I would do the new swords animation I wanted to make them different...Hum but making these means I will have to have the game check all the time which sword is equipped. Well not all the time but it means more coding...oh what's a bear to do hummm...

See, that's precisely why we keep telling you off whenever you add window dressing to your games. Because their basic mechanisms are broken.

While it is true that you don't really need a DEF stat if your characters can't equip different armor, the question is, why can't they? And even without armor, it would be trivial to implement spells that increase or decrease the DEF stat of either the player or the enemy.

Regarding the swords, if you create the attack animation sprites by combining the character sprites and the weapon sprites, you can add as many different swords as you like and only have to draw a few sprites for each one. As soon as the character equips a different sword, their base attack changes, which is reflected by a variable increasing or decreasing. That's the only point in the entire game where you have to check which sword is equipped. In battle, the game uses the value stored in the base attack variable to calculate the attack points.

You make it sound like you have to put an eight block long if-else if into every battle (which sadly, is probably what you think is necessary).

[icey games]

Well I don't use spells that increase or decrease the DEF stat. A spell like Shield++ or Shield-- would do the trick but it would be stupid for me to use that spell cause there is no DEF stat. Now what it could be used for is to increase the ATK of the players hits on the target. So if you see what would be happening is actually reversed in a way. The spell would more act like a Sword++ or a Sword--. Oh I don't think I even answered you question. The players can't equip armor cause in PMQ Legends I could never figure out how to get a lot of RPG elements to work. I wanted the DLC costumes to effect you HP/MP/ATK/MGK/ and DEF. The Costume were the armor. But I never found a way to get all that stuff working together for 4 characters.

I think the one thing even thinks is Photoshop is my main art tool. I us the new MS paint to draw up all my sprites and then I animate them in there. It's hard for me to sprite in PS because I'm not used to doing it in there. It would be a great idea to do layer animation but that means I will have to do some spiting in PS.

I'm trying to work out a simple battle system for CABS v4 that'll work in a way I won't really have to do a lot of copy and pasting. So speaking for past experience, yes that was sorta how I was thinking. Remember Khris, I'm still learn how to make RPG games. With each new PMQ or OSD installment that I make I find out more and more ways to do new while making my scripts shorter and shorter.

[icey games]

UPDATE June 28/12

-Commands-

So in Miles's Awakening, there are a total of 32 Commands. However they are not all usable by the player. Some commands a reserved for the different summons and some are for Dave to use. There is a new thing I am adding called world commands.

Some times you will encounter things in dreams that may hault you from continuing your quest.
However don't let that stop you, press Escape when not in battle to bring over the W.Commands menu.You will be able to learn a bunch of W.commands that will help you a lot.Keep in mind that their are secret locations that can only be accessed by using W.Commands.

x1 x2 x3 x4

[Ghost]

I'd suggest a clearer "colour code" for the commands; some simple grouping pattern since they seem to belong to different elements already.
And I think it should be "Gravity"?

[icey games]

Hum good idea. When I Get back home I will try to add more colors to the commands. Yes, I knew it looked odd, I forgot the R which I should have noticed due to the amount of times I said the word.

[monkey_05_06]

I think the one thing even thinks is Photoshop is my main art tool.

I've seen this in Khris' siggy since you posted it, but haven't actually checked out the context. The funny thing about computer programs though is they don't think, regardless of what Tron (Reboot, etc.) will tell you. They have a specific set of programmed commands, and they act upon them. Either you have Photoshop registered as the default editing program for file type X, or there's a setting in program Y (whatever "the one thing is") that says for files of type X not to use the default program registered with Windows, but to use Photoshop instead. There's not a lot of alternatives here, but let me assure you that none of them involve the programs "thinking" about which editing tool they should use.

I us the new MS paint to draw up all my sprites and then I animate them in there. It's hard for me to sprite in PS because I'm not used to doing it in there. It would be a great idea to do layer animation but that means I will have to do some spiting in PS.

Photoshop does have somewhat of a higher resource footprint than other programs, but that in no way means that it's inherently harder to use. You have a pencil tool in MS Paint. You have a pencil tool in Photoshop. You have a paintbrush tool in MS Paint. You have a paintbrush tool in Photoshop. You have an eraser tool in MS Paint, and one in Photoshop. The core functionality available to you is readily available and just as easily accessible within Photoshop. I'm not saying you have to use Photoshop, and as with any new program you would have to learn where each of the tools are at, and what preferences you like, and what have you. I just don't see a benefit of MS Paint over a tool like Photoshop, unless load time and/or resources are of significant concern.

Layers could even benefit you if you chose to actually show the currently equipped weapon in the attack animations. The animations themselves could (within reason) remain largely the same. From what I've seen all of the weapons are swords, so there's no need to create entirely separate animations. Do the animation once with a sort of "default" weapon, then you can create each separate weapon on a different layer, and then switch between them. Layers are, IMO, one of the biggest missing features of MS Paint (there are other things that would vastly improve its usability, but this is rather a big one).

Yes, I knew ["Gavity"] looked odd, I forgot the R which I should have noticed due to the amount of times I said the word.

..seriously, is this a joke? Because if it is, then well done, because I can't stop laughing at it. I only have to say "GRAVITY" one time, and I can realize that there's an 'r' in it.

I'm not sure I can let you just play that off so nonchalantly.

Edit: I also wanted to comment on your whole "Cure", "Cura", "Curaga" format for your games' spells. To be fair, you've come a long way since you were actually including the Square Enix logo (etc.) so blatantly in your games and insisting that the reason why was because they would see the "quality" of your games and hire you to come work for them. Still, I can't help but wonder how closely you can stray to their iconic format and still claim to be producing an original product. I have never seen the naming style (as seen in "Cure"/"Cura"/"Curaga", etc.) that you're using in any other games than Final Fantasy ones (Kingdom Hearts absolutely counts as a Final Fantasy subseries, and I love it to death ). Other than just emulating what you've seen, I really want you to think about this - WHY do you name your spells like that? Why not "Cure 1"/"Cure 2"/"Cure 3"? Why not come up with your own ideas on how to name the various levels of spells? I do understand that you are FFFanboy#1ToTheMax, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. There comes a time in every aspiring game developer's life though when they have to stop and ask themselves, in all honesty, what it is that they themselves want out of the experience. Emulating someone else's greatness is rarely the answer (although aspiring to their level of greatness is not the same). P.S. If you don't respond to this paragraph directly with an actual answer (as opposed to some generically worded non-answer), then I will find you, and I will stab you...with my fist. And your lack of DEF will make you powerless to stop me.

[icey games]

I think the one thing even thinks is Photoshop is my main art tool.

I've seen this in Khris' siggy since you posted it, but haven't actually checked out the context. The funny thing about computer programs though is they don't think, regardless of what Tron (Reboot, etc.) will tell you. They have a specific set of programmed commands, and they act upon them. Either you have Photoshop registered as the default editing program for file type X, or there's a setting in program Y (whatever "the one thing is") that says for files of type X not to use the default program registered with Windows, but to use Photoshop instead. There's not a lot of alternatives here, but let me assure you that none of them involve the programs "thinking" about which editing tool they should use.

I us the new MS paint to draw up all my sprites and then I animate them in there. It's hard for me to sprite in PS because I'm not used to doing it in there. It would be a great idea to do layer animation but that means I will have to do some spiting in PS.

Photoshop does have somewhat of a higher resource footprint than other programs, but that in no way means that it's inherently harder to use. You have a pencil tool in MS Paint. You have a pencil tool in Photoshop. You have a paintbrush tool in MS Paint. You have a paintbrush tool in Photoshop. You have an eraser tool in MS Paint, and one in Photoshop. The core functionality available to you is readily available and just as easily accessible within Photoshop. I'm not saying you have to use Photoshop, and as with any new program you would have to learn where each of the tools are at, and what preferences you like, and what have you. I just don't see a benefit of MS Paint over a tool like Photoshop, unless load time and/or resources are of significant concern.

Layers could even benefit you if you chose to actually show the currently equipped weapon in the attack animations. The animations themselves could (within reason) remain largely the same. From what I've seen all of the weapons are swords, so there's no need to create entirely separate animations. Do the animation once with a sort of "default" weapon, then you can create each separate weapon on a different layer, and then switch between them. Layers are, IMO, one of the biggest missing features of MS Paint (there are other things that would vastly improve its usability, but this is rather a big one).

Yes, I knew ["Gavity"] looked odd, I forgot the R which I should have noticed due to the amount of times I said the word.

..seriously, is this a joke? Because if it is, then well done, because I can't stop laughing at it. I only have to say "GRAVITY" one time, and I can realize that there's an 'r' in it.

I'm not sure I can let you just play that off so nonchalantly.

Edit: I also wanted to comment on your whole "Cure", "Cura", "Curaga" format for your games' spells. To be fair, you've come a long way since you were actually including the Square Enix logo (etc.) so blatantly in your games and insisting that the reason why was because they would see the "quality" of your games and hire you to come work for them. Still, I can't help but wonder how closely you can stray to their iconic format and still claim to be producing an original product. I have never seen the naming style (as seen in "Cure"/"Cura"/"Curaga", etc.) that you're using in any other games than Final Fantasy ones (Kingdom Hearts absolutely counts as a Final Fantasy subseries, and I love it to death ). Other than just emulating what you've seen, I really want you to think about this - WHY do you name your spells like that? Why not "Cure 1"/"Cure 2"/"Cure 3"? Why not come up with your own ideas on how to name the various levels of spells? I do understand that you are FFFanboy#1ToTheMax, and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. There comes a time in every aspiring game developer's life though when they have to stop and ask themselves, in all honesty, what it is that they themselves want out of the experience. Emulating someone else's greatness is rarely the answer (although aspiring to their level of greatness is not the same). P.S. If you don't respond to this paragraph directly with an actual answer (as opposed to some generically worded non-answer), then I will find you, and I will stab you...with my fist. And your lack of DEF will make you powerless to stop me.

You guys are killing me when you wright a lot XD. Ok, I'm gonna do my best at replying cause I don't have the DEF to withstand your sharp fist. Very soon and most likely after PMQ Colosseum I will switch over to PS for sprites and such. I will most likely stop using the pencil tool for a bit and switch over to the hard brush 1pt to draw lines. Now as for those weapons, I still think it would be nice to draw them in different positions and stuff. However I think if I just make of copy of each Dave sprite that is holding a sword then just erase the old sword and replace it with the new one then that would still work in the same way you guys are telling me to do it, by using layers.

No sir, I'm afraid I am serious. See, the way I say Gravity is through the way I talk like how English don't say the T sometimes(which for from some reason I think is cool) as if it was silent in a word where it's not. I say Gravity as if the R was silent, but not only silent, as if it was apart of the G. G(r)-Avity is how it comes out which is way every time I said it I always had this feeling it was spelled wrong but I just could grasp why. I know I didn't say that the last time but I had just figured it out today.

Now for my Fanboy Fantasies, I'm starting to break more and more from just making my games look like they came from a FF Template made for AGS. There are some things that remain in the the PMQ Legends universe that belong to FF that are slowly fading away such as Magic spells and Summons. I still use Cure, Cura, Curaga but things like Fire have been turned into Piro. Cure 1, Cure 2, Cure 3 are also used in earlier FF Games but I didn't use those cause they just felt so--simple.

I don't really know what I want out of the experience. I think it's just to have a game that feels like a FF game but it is not one. It is it's own game that was inspired from FF but doesn't mean that it's just a fan FF Spin-off. However the problem is that I don't really look back on that and then I end up making something that takes 1/4 it's things from FF.
 

[NickyNyce]

I have never bothered to post here before, but I've always wanted to say...

Never in this world would I want to be known as someones stunt double, or be in someones shadow. When people would say, hey...you look like "This person", I would say, NO...That person looks like me!

There are so many people in the world doing the same things, what a shame. I play a lot of sports and growing up all my friends would wear jerseys with some famous Baseball players name and number on it. Not me...I wore MY number, with MY last name. Do I respect these great players?...Yes I do...I respect them so much that I want people to remember MY name the way they do theirs.

How awesome would it be, if one day, I saw someone wearing MY jersey, with MY name on it....Pretty awesome....but only for me, not for anyone else.

The world would be a pretty boring place if everyone was wearing the same number with the same last name. Don't ever want to be like someone else, always want people to be like you.

[Khris]

You quoted the entire 30 lines post directly above yours? Are you retorted?
Also, "G-Avity"? Are you kidding me? That has to be the second lamest excuse I've read from you yet.

On a more productive note, coming up with unused, good names for spells is hard, and I wouldn't mind playing a game that uses the same or similar names as FF. They are kinda hard to read though, why don't you use white for the text color.

[Anian]

So the post starts with:

You guys are killing me when you wright a lot XD.

And continues with how misspelling is cool...I'm sorry, I guess that should be "kewl".

Sometimes the best solution is to keep it simple and understandable, maybe make it with some prefix just to indicate the level of the spell without the numbers and yes, use some more unusual name for a spell, like pyro instead of fire, but for heavens sake don't misspell stuff and think it's cool and creative.

Also in Photoshop you won't get a 1 pixel with a 1pt brush even on 100% hardness, unless you turn of anitalias, which I don't know if you can still do, but even if you can it's complicated. Even in PS you can use the pencil tool, though when you apply effects and filters it still might antialias it, that's why the software made specific for pixel art is better for it.

[Frito Master]

I always like the spell names from ff, Though I've only played 3,7,8,10.
I like the graphic for the spells not to much going on but not boring. Though I think the background should be lighter and the gradient you used for "Commands" goes a bit to dark, imo scale it back a bit.


@Anian

I haven't ever looked for a turn off aa option for brushes since there is the pencil tool, But stuff like fill and magic wand tool all have the aa option and the effects can be tweaked to look decent for pixel art.
The only thing I don't perfer photoshop that well for is animation.

[Ghost]

I use Photoshop all the time for pretty much all my graphics. I also use cannons to shoot sparrows.

[icey games]

@NickyNyce: Well put, I understand your point.

@Khris: Khris, you do understand that the way you speak is based on where you live? Not even so much of the country or state, just area. I don't say Gavity cause it sounds like G AAvity. I say G(r) Avity. Like the R is apart of the G.
It's not excuse and I have no need to lie to you about how I speak. As long as others can understand me when I speak to them in person then I am cool with that.

@Anian: In PMQ Legends I used Lv.1 to Lv.3 for Magic. So Curaga would be Cure Lv.3 which is the equivalent to Cure 3. However I'm starting wonder if there is anything else in the commands that is spelled wrong cause I just noticed now that Piro is spelled wrong. I don't spell things wrong cause I think it's cool. It's cause there is nothing to tell me I spelled it wrong.
Also I never men't a taking of the anitalias, I still want that on but if I wanted a pixel brush then I would use the pencil tool.

@Khris & Frito Master: The Command Boxes are ok(at least I think so) but if they're too dark then I will consider that when I make my next command boxes.

[WHAM]

No sir, I'm afraid I am serious. See, the way I say Gravity is through the way I talk like how English don't say the T sometimes(which for from some reason I think is cool) as if it was silent in a word where it's not. I say Gravity as if the R was silent, but not only silent, as if it was apart of the G. G(r)-Avity is how it comes out which is way every time I said it I always had this feeling it was spelled wrong but I just could grasp why. I know I didn't say that the last time but I had just figured it out today.

Well that's just G'EAT, good for you mr 'ETA'D! We should all just D'OP a LETTE' from our W'ITING cause we all talk funneh!
...A'SEHOLE!

[icey games]

Bad language removed. None of that here please Icey. Take it to PM/keep it to yourself. WHAM, stay out of the thread if it bothers you that much. - Mods

UPDATE July 2/12

In other news, my friend wanted to work on a comic with me that would be apart of the current PMQ Legends story line. He came up with the idea of having two scenarios each for two characters. So his character Noxus will have 2 comics and Dave will the same treatment.
One f Noxus' scenarios is already finished and the second one will follow after I finished my comic. This way we can discuss what are we going to do for the the second comics.

My Cover art:



I will be posting the pages here, but you can see'em first at the Ultimate Square Enix