I don't understand if this is top-down or a platformer.
I'm guessing top-down, though, since you said TBS, and just about everything would be flying if it were a platformer.

Yeah, it's top-down.

[most frequently]

It's what you use most frequently, not everything you use.

Low-res monochrome character portraits for my TBS game.

Units can actually move now via a neat interface menu (shown several posts back), and I made the aforementioned flood-filling code a bit cleaner and more flexible so I can use the same function call for the enemy movement, too.

My first-ever flood fill algo! It's for calculating where a unit is allowed to move in my brief Fire Emblem-like turn-based strategy game I'm working on. (I've never done a TBS before)



 

My first-ever flood fill algo!



 

Determining where a unit in a TBS should be allowed to move is surprisingly challenging.

I feel you. I plucked in $25 extra just to get a floppy port on my desktop a couple years ago. Floppies are awesome, and always will be.

Made a visually functional menu and more work on the interface. Next I'll be making it so you can move your units.

You're not talking just about finished games, are you?

No, not really.

I'm having a hard time settling on how exactly I should be doing character portraits (which I feel the game really needs to have)

Tell me, does this look good, and like it fits?



(Screen shown is basically just a mockup. I'm very bad at making mockups. )

This looks radical. How long do you estimate it might take to complete?

Hmm. I dunno, other's opinions? I enjoy permadeath because it requires me to strategize further than just killing the enemy, but also to preserve my own units.

HUD pretty much done (I still need to make some nice menus to work with) and I've got a good start on units.




Right now I'm making radical replayability my main focus - every time you play you'll be presented with a much different set of missions than before. (The game would probably be around 20 separate missions long, with about 4 or 5 possibilities for each one, ranging from slightly varied to radically different)

I need feedback though: should there be permadeath (as seen in the FE series) or should the characters come back at the end of the battle? Right now I'm leaning toward permadeath to make the game more challenging.

I'm familiar with procedural generation, but I don't want to make this too overly difficult on myself. Perhaps I'll incorporate it later, but not yet.

Ah, should have looked more closely - at first glance all that looked like Spanish >_<

I'm planning out the weaponry system. Comments for improvement are welcome.

Each character or unit can wield 1 of a specific item type.

Direct triangle:
Lance > Sword > Axe > Lance
Ranged triangle:
Fire > Arrows > Ice > Fire

Each unit can also equip 1 of any defense type. Defense will cut damage of the specific type to only 25% of normal

Defense items:
Shield: Protects from Sword & Axe
Gemstone: Protects from Fire & Ice magics
Armor: Protects from Lance & Arrows

There will be several varieties of weapons, with stronger ones being heavier.
Each unit will have a specific strength, and if the weight of its equipment is higher than its strength stat (which can be increased thru levelling up) its movement stat will suffer reduction.

The graphics engine and map loading are up and running!

This was shown in-game


using this media:
Font:

Tiles:

Map:


I'm rather proud of my map-loading code.

[1) Is it an Xbox360 Controller?]

1) Is it an Xbox360 Controller?

No, I use a Logitech controller that's identical to a PS2 controller.

2) Which controller are you using and how many buttons does it have?

It has a d-pad, two analog sticks (which can be pressed down), Four shoulder buttons, Four buttons on the right side of the face, and two buttons in the center. That totals to 16 plus 2 analogs.

2) How often do you use it?

Not very.

3) If a 2d game supports both, keyboard and controller, which control style would you prefer?

It really depends on the game. For example, I prefer playing FPS games with the keyboard and mouse setup, but since I first played Star Wars Battlefront II at friends' houses on their PS2s, I absolutely cannot play that game without using my controller. Although those are 3D, the example still applies. whichever way I play it first is the way I'm going to stick to.

4) If the game doesn't support controllers, do you use Keyboard Key Emulators like Joy2Key?

No.

5) Would you still be interested in getting a game that forces you to play it with a controller?

As long as I don't have to spend $20 to go out and get another.