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Developer / Art / Re: The many facets of art snobbery [Really Image Heavy]
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on: July 03, 2008, 05:29:46 PM
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Made some progress on the paintings. Got all the characters silhouetted in there. Eyeglow was added with photoshop.  Also, if anyone is feeling generous, could someone maybe offer up a little webspace for a mini portfolio for me? Or if that's not feasible, maybe help me work out a portfolio/blog combo? Plz?  |
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Developer / Art / Re: The many facets of art snobbery [Really Image Heavy]
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on: May 20, 2008, 03:25:34 PM
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I really think it'd be great if you tried the kind of detail you put into the encircling wreath on something more of a full costume.
Xion: I'm working on that trust me. That piece was just sitting around and needed to be finished. I really wanna work more complex outfits, but I've been having trouble brainstorming something wacky and original. Haha, I'm glad you think my pieces look epic. I really think they kinda fail at that, although it is what I was going for, so maybe not. Thanks for the kind words guys! |
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433
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Developer / Design / Re: The designer's workshop: JRPGs
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on: April 26, 2008, 04:28:11 PM
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I unfortunately came into this thread a little late and don't have the time to read through all these thorough posts, so if I come to copy a person's idea well.. I guess that goes to show that something like that should be done!
First, I am a fan of HP and MP systems. I think some games however take it too far, such as Final Fantasy series. The amount of HP you gain as you level seems to increase far too fast, and as a result, you end up with that problem of there being no difference between 525 and 510. That's definitely a problem. In my opinion though, that's a very hard thing to fine-tune. Having all enemies and players with the right HP throughout the entire game, forcing players to think about their attacks, plan a good time for healing etc. and really just THINK about whether that last 10 hp is going to hold out until the end of the battle is such an ambitious and daunting thing to balance. To me I think the flaw in numerical battle systems isn't in the actual concept, but moreso in the inability to get it absolutely right. Perhaps game designers who work on multiple titles (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest), instead of reinventing every time, try fine-tuning what sucked in the last one. If it was too grindy, make the levelling more streamlined. If there was no point in status ailments, make it so they are important or get rid of them. I think it moreso comes down to that ADD approach to RPG making.
One more thing I really think would benefit here would be some examples of what kinds of inventive additions to and RPG system has worked.
There are a few I can think of, and I'll go through them by title. These are mainly games I played that stuck with me as something that stood out in the genre, and I've played a lot of RPG's
Super Mario RPG: Secret of the Seven Stars: This to me took a simple jRPG style battle system and just kicked the shit out of it in the best way. The crowning achievement of that game (in the battle system) has to be the timing system. One thing jRPG's lack in battles is interactivity. There's no oppurtunity to affect your attacks or your enemy's attacks on you. You're left helpless to see whether you've hit or not. SMRPG is one of the few games where I loved to battle, it was just cool to see that you pressing buttons during an attack could actually affect things, or block an attack to make it do less damage. There was something inherently natural to me about pressing buttons in reaction to attacks. I really wish more RPG's used this system. It would take the boring grindy shit out of it (in my humble opinion). There's also just a certain charm to this game that remains with me.
Final Fantasy 6: I'd just like to quickly note the sheer number of characters you could be. That was an awesome way to keep the story interesting. Also, the intertwining game stories, where your party gets split up and you play overlapping "missions". I've yet to really find a game that does this as well, if at all.
Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross: This has been mentioned I think, but it has a lot of appeal to it. Multiple endings, Cross had a HUGE list of playables that made you go through at least 3 or so times to get them all I think. Both took a basic battle system and turned it on its head too. Combo attacks in Trigger was great,and such a unique idea. Suikoden did it too, but I think CT did it better.
Earthbound:There's a lot to say about this game too, but one thing that speaks to someone else's point about battles, is that the game didn't force you to fight certain enemies once you were strong enough, you automatically won.
Secret of Evermore/Secret of Mana/Kingdom Hearts: These three would fall more squarely into Action/RPG, although it really highlights how a leveling,hp and magic system can be implemented in a unique and engaging way. Although these may not be considered traditional jRPG's, they still hold true to a lot of the basic outlined qualities they hold as seen in Guert's first post.
So those are just some games that I think illustrate how a cliched battle system can be taken to new heights.
Story-wise, I'm going to say that it's hard to break out of the cliches simply because they do make the most sense in terms of needing to span an entire world/fight an ultimate evil etc. I think the cliches provide a solid foundation to the story. Although, the downfall comes in when those foundations aren't built upon.
AAAANNNNNDDDD my last point to make, about the so-called "Customization of Avatars" thing. This is probably one of my biggest gripes to the game, and that is that there isn't really ever customization. You often have only ONE choice of weapon or armor to upgrade to, or else you're stuck with a weaker weapon. It makes it seem as though you're customizing, but really, this is probably the most horribly linear aspect of the RPG genre. There should be a better way of customizing so that you once again, have to THINK about what you choose to buy. There obviously has to be some linear upgrading of that nature, but I think the equipment systems in jRPG's need a lot of work.
FFXII kind of did something cool by making each person able to use all weapons, but they needed to work towards getting licenses for them first. This could be easily abused, which is where the downfall comes, but I think it's an interesting start towards better cusomizability in equipment systems.
Fug this is long. sry guys and gals. :S
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434
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Developer / Technical / Re: Trixels and Voxels
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on: April 24, 2008, 01:26:46 PM
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To jump in quickly, I would say the thing making those "voxels" look like shit would come down to colour choice, NOT the technical side of things. Anything can look good with the right artistic prowess behind it.
Perhaps I shall conver to voxel artist, see how that goes. Or maybe trixels! Then we'll see how much suck is in them.
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435
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Developer / Design / Re: The designer's workshop
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on: April 22, 2008, 07:39:48 PM
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So, can I start here already?  I've been meaning to discuss about traditional JRPG-style character progression/leveling systems, its many flaws, qualities, how it affects the player and how it can be improved and made into a more thoughtful mechanic than what we see around the place. I second the discussion of jrpg's, since (in my eyes anyways) they've become their own genre, separate from other RPG's. I think there's a lot to learn from picking those apart, or RPG's in general. I'd also like to discuss indie group dynamics, and how to develop a better group mentality online, a la Aquaria. How a long distance team etc. can be formed successfully. |
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439
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Developer / Art / Re: show us some of your pixel work
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on: April 16, 2008, 08:09:34 PM
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 Made some random robot and character parts, trying to make a (fake) mmorpg/rpg equipment dealer. Basically I just needed an excuse to avoid studying. And I like pixelling and haven't done so since the VGNG |
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Community / VGNG / Re: VGNG: Results!
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on: April 09, 2008, 10:45:20 PM
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ROM CHECK: FAIL definitely felt like the most coherent and finished game in the bunch, in my opinion. OH THE IRONY!
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