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[McMutton]

Good good, do what any author do when they don't have an ending though, wrap things up on a cliff hanger by using a small subplot ... and make it a series

Ah, but here's the trick!

I intend to make it a long series of smaller games- just about one story arc per each- in order to make it a full story saga across a series of titles.



Also, here's Gil in color:

[McMutton]

A small test for a potential in-game rendering style:

[McMutton]

Here's a rough idea for Celeste's color scheme:

[McMutton]

Did Van and got the whole crew together




And Van in isolation

[McMutton]

Refining Gil and Ellie's designs:



The way Gil's shirt/tabard thing was constructed didn't make much sense, so this is a lot better. I've also taken the sky pattern from his cape and applied it here, too, on top of making the shape of the hem more interesting.



The shape of Ellie's legs and sidelocks were bothering me, so I made some adjustments. Her eyes also felt too close to the shape of Celeste's, so I redid those as well.

[McMutton]

Been working on a bunch of secret story stuff, so to have something to show I've been doing a bunch of various character concepts.








Had a neat idea for Gil's design one night, as well- this fixes a lot of issues I had with the previous one:




I've also been posting on Instagram, so I've started watermarking everything. So many art thieves on there.

[brainwipe]

These are superb. How do you ensure that all your designs fit the world that you're building? Do you have a contact sheet of all of the character designs so that you can see them together?

[McMutton]

Oh- thank you!

Sort of, yeah- I'll sketch someone up and then compare them to previous characters just to get an idea. A major factor, I think, is that I've been developing this universe for so long that I have an innate sense of what fits in regards to outfit and gear designs.

I've also got a series of stylistic rules that I follow for consistency- hair's always big, chunky shapes with a couple of contour lines, hands are always pretty thick, noses are always a simple shape with little detail, feet are always pointy and simple, folds are always big and sharp with hard edges, etcetera.

[McMutton]

I'm doin' stuff! I hadn't considered coming here and just describing what I'm working on rather than waiting until I had something visual to show...


So I've just created a custom input manager that allows me (and will allow players) to set exactly how every command works- which button you press, if you hold it (if applicable), and if you want to use a modifier key for it (like shift or alt).

It's all done in its own separate object, so I can do all the cool stuff without having to hard-code everything in. Instead, I can just have it listen for the proper X Input trigger. So good!


* * *

Something new is that everyone is now out on the field at all times, instead of just being gone when they aren't active.

This change gives way more depth to the combat and environmental navigation- especially the latter.

Now you'll have to use everyone's abilities in much more interesting ways, and even split up sometimes because the rest of the party can't reach areas that others can. Things like that.


* * *


I've been working on some mode change stuff as well- in combat, you fight in realtime, as you've seen before, but now you can access a Tactical Mode as well.

In this mode, time is paused and you can issue commands to everyone- have them go somewhere, interact with something, engage an enemy, perform a technique, set up for a combination attack, etc.

I totally had the idea in my head before the Final Fantasy 7 Remake was shown off, but it was perfectly timed to act as reference. That and Dragon Age and the Last Story.

Do you guys know of any other games that have a tactical pause mechanic that I should look at?


* * *

Also related to cool, tactical stuff- I want to have a Tactical Huddle option that you can use when you aren't in combat.

It's like a training/testing mode, where you can set up custom encounters, or layout premade ones and try out various tactical options. You'll be able to modify command macros while you play, as well, so this will be a good tool for trying out new formations or combinations or commands.


* * *


And, of course, I have another bunch of character designs:

[gimymblert]

Yeah Last story has been an inspiration to me, I always felt that some stuff from xenoblade 1 and the paradigm shift system of ff13 1 could also help manage party, without having to micromanage in the heat of action, you can still micro manage through a ff7r style menu, but to shift macro role behavior it's cool, and then outside battle a system like ff12 gambit to "create new paradigm", I like the idea of finding and gaining gambit "command" and "slot", as it allow to smoothly increase control as a progression system and not just power leveling. I like that in xenoblade position and "parts targeting" is a thing to deny stuff on enemy, and they could be "command" too, learn enemy increase part targeting. The souls voice of xenoblade x is also cool touch to feel like you are playing with character and not just pawn, if you don't present it as the detach way like in xenoblade.

[McMutton]

I always felt that some stuff from xenoblade 1 and the paradigm shift system of ff13 1 could also help manage party

I do need to play the first Xenoblade game- I haven't found the time or money, but I have somehow managed to avoid any information or spoilers about it. What kind of stuff can you do with its systems? Is there a non-spoilery video I can watch?

What I mainly feel like I want to do here is have the player do all the heavy lifting by switching to the appropriate character and using their skillset to handle appropriate enemies. The role of the inactive characters would be taking commands in order to run interference and set up combination attacks.

I like the idea of finding and gaining gambit "command" and "slot", as it allow to smoothly increase control as a progression system and not just power leveling

I feel like progress-gating commands might feel a bit arbitrary and limiting, really. Increasing complexity over time by allowing the player to use more and more nodes in a single gambit is the best route to me.

Then again, that method works better in regards to Ethios simply because the characters gain more abilities over time- you'll have more at your disposal as they figure new things out, so it's more organic.

I like that in xenoblade position and "parts targeting" is a thing to deny stuff on enemy, and they could be "command" too, learn enemy increase part targeting.

Ooh, that is juicy. Celeste has precision aiming capabilities, and is meant to provide Utility, so that sort of thing fits her role perfectly.

[gimymblert]

Should just probably link the manual
http://m1.nintendo.net/docvc/RVL/EUR/SX4P/SX4P_R.pdf
https://cdn03.nintendo-europe.com/media/downloads/games_8/emanuals/wii_u_6/xenoblade_chronicles_x/ElectronicManual_WiiU_XenobladeChroniclesX_EN.pdf
http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.9594

So you have played the last story? There is an "auto battle" like xenoblade (you just move the character around and when it's close it hit automatically, then major input is done through a menu, basically ff7 like but direct small hit without the atb filling), but you can switch to a direct mode, where you hit stuff by pressing a button.

also xenoblade have enemy "sensory input" they are on the map, and can detect you by hearing, sight, are aggro or pacific, or they are gregarious (join battle if member of group is attacked), and they don't attack if you are many level above them, which influence how you walk around and how you approach them, since the game mix high level enemy even in low level area, it give some cachet, seeing a giant level 80 pacific when you enter the first open area when you are level 5 is humbling and also more organic to have all enemy level to you, there is also some cave with high level enemy that are aggro, but have various sensor, so you CAN traverse it and it become like an unnerving self impose stealth sequence which is fun, it give instant sense of adventure when you traverse a place you are not supposed to be.

I use a lot of the gamefaqs and manual to study battle system as their  section tend to be fairly contain from spoiler stuff, which is harder with video, but possible.

Anyway just making suggestion overall.

[Suttebun]

Been checking in on Ethios since around 2013.
get it

- - -

I just saw your flying demo and it reminded me of SolarLune's flying prototype

[gimymblert]

I'm stilll checkiiing

[McMutton]

Good to see you're still interested!

I don't think I'm technically allowed to keep posting here, though- it's no longer a game project, but an OVA project!

[gimymblert]

oh