CUPdate 28: Stage 1 of the IGMC Project Wrapping Up

So for this CUPdate, I mostly worked on my game more for the IGMC2022! I've been making a lot of progress on the first stage of the game and tried to get most of that finalized by this CUPdate so I could present as much of it as possible before it's finished (which is the goal for the next CUPdate!).

I started out this CUPdate by finishing some character art. I made digital drawings of all of the character portraits. I started with at least one drawing of each of them, then built off of that to make all of the expressions that I needed.

Then I started to work on the dialogue system. I set some things up in RPG Maker and set up the ink dialogue system. Then I wrote the whole first stage of the game (besides one character path). I made a bunch of branching story paths and wrote it all in Ink! This was my first time writing something this in-depth directly in Ink, so it was fun to fully utilize this powerful plugin. I really love it for longer story-focused games, so this was the perfect time for me to use it and test its full potential. I ended up writing a lot throughout the week (~3000 lines).

The transition from Ink to RPG Maker went fairly smoothly and it was honestly maybe my favorite part. It just felt so good seeing everything come together and working with more simple switches and variables to progress the story. I've been working so much on setting everything up with more complex code that I forgot what it was like to do the more simple parts! Those parts wouldn't have been possible without all of the setup I've been doing though, so it paid off!

Then I started to figure out the UI for all of the stages of the game. I used my initial concepts and added color to them so I could start to figure out what I wanted to do with them.

And then I finalized the UI and imported it into the game. Here's my first official final screenshot:

While working on the UI, I made the menu for the game. I wanted to keep it simple and really only include information that would be needed. Right now it's entirely mouse-based, but one of my wishlist tasks is to see if I can make controller/keyboard support too. Not sure if I'll get there, but maybe!

Then I worked on making some sound effects to replace some of the default ones. I plan to come back and make more, but there's at least something there for the minimums now!

And then I made the transition scenes to the second stage of the game. The writing for that is done and I have basic events working in RPG Maker, I just need to make the art so it all comes together. I'm having some trouble with plugins not working well together, so I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the text boxes for the second stage of the game, since my original plan isn't working out as intended. I might end up using more manual coding of window positions than a plugin since I couldn't get them to work well together, or might just stick with something a little more simplified.

So for my next CUPdate post, I hope to have this game finished and playable!

Firebreath's Exploration

This was the first full project that I coded from scratch in JavaScript! It's a short choose your own adventure game where you follow Firebreath, a self-proclaimed dragon, through various scenarios.

Play the Game at this link:

I created this as a present for my brother's birthday. The style was inspired by one of his favorite games, Famicom Detective Club (which the music also comes from).

This was a short project made for fun, so enjoy!

Here are some screenshots from the game:

RPG Maker Games

I've been working on RPG Maker games during my weekends for fun recently. These have been fun weekend projects overall!

I figured out the functionality on the programming side and have been working on the interface/art for one that is supposed to be a psychiatrist simulator.

I've been making progress on my custom Turn-Based battle system for one of my games! The art is still super rough, but I've been working on getting the gameplay mechanics functioning in RPG Maker.

Global Game Jam 2019

Over the weekend, my brother and I participated in the Global Game Jam! This was our 4th time creating a project for this and it was super fun.

Download the game here!

Here's the title screen for our project. Originally it was based on some old VHS tape covers.

The theme for the GGJ ended up being home, which is perfectly themed for The Nays! Our entire series is based around this concept of figuring out what home means to them, so it was perfect.

Almost too perfect. At first, we weren't sure what to do because we didn't know how to tell all of these ideas in such a short game. But we ended up making something we're both really proud of.

We went with a very simplistic pixel art style, which is something neither of us has really explored in-depth, so it was a really fun experiment. We got way more done than I was expecting, and I was impressed we actually managed to fit almost all of our ideas into this little game for the weekend.

I think this sums up our game best. This is my favorite background that my brother drew and it includes most of the character sprites that I created.

This is a screenshot of one of the mini-games I coded and created the interface for. It was based on one that I made back in VX Ace, but I hade to entirely recode it since there were updates and I wasn't entirely sure how I did it at first.

This is a scene from the opening of the game where they're gathered around Shelter 128 in Tag World.

This was an in-progress screenshot we took before the whole interface was fleshed out. This was one of the first mini-games I made.

And this is a sneak preview!

Overall it was a very successful Game Jam and I think it was probably our best! I wrote this post entirely after no sleep for 24 hours, so I'm trying to keep it fairly short.

Just go play the game for yourself and you'll get to experience everything we worked on!

Download the game here!

Global Game Jam 2018: Complex.net

I finished my Global Game Jam entry for this year! This was my third year participating, and this year we said "we aren't gonna dedicate as much time to it," and yet I ended up staying up for over 24 hours straight from Saturday into Sunday, to make sure it was as finished as it could be. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy with how our game turned out.

Download the game here!

(alternate link)

And then of course, here are a bunch of screenshots/progress shots:

Here's the title screen for our game!

Here's a still from our choose a character screen. I think this is my favorite interface design I did for this year's game, even though it seems so simple.

And then here it is animated!

The in-game dialogue!

The intro for our learn Japanese mini-game.

And this is the mini-game itself!

From the scene with Gair and his friends in #Tazlure

This was an initial concept, figuring out interfaces.

I only created the text box here, but my brother made a really cool background for one of our mini-games!

I only drew the face images on here, but I really like how this screen came out.

GUI Tests!

Since I finished DanganRonpa V3 the other day, I've been doing some visual novel interface tests. I love making interfaces, so these were a lot of fun!

Thinking about making a Lie City game in RPG Maker MV for a contest maybe??

This is just a concept/look test to try and get something down. I'm not sure if I'll be too busy to actually dedicate enough time to creating this, but I thought it might be a fun idea.

And I thought that this would be a good opportunity for me to draw backgrounds, because I don't draw those enough, and I really need to practice them. I still need to spend more time looking at fonts too, since this was just one that I threw in there last minute.

This one's just another idea for the personal project I would do for myself instead of for posting. Mostly as a project to easier read stories.

I wanted to do a little test to see what a visual novel interface would look like if it were set up like mIRC. This might be something I'll think about using for a personal visual novel game involving Eventures, but I'm not sure. I still would need to think about what I'd use for backgrounds, since that's my weakest point. This is a project I would probably do on the side and possibly not even post, since it would be just for myself, but we'll see. This test is from the Hillside Manor Eventure when Cipo is writing an email to his friend about their vacation.

Terra's Dreams Remastered

Over the weekend, I made a quick opening to a game and made some resources from scratch. Sometimes it's fun to take a break from games and projects I'm currently working on and just make something new for fun. It's not anything serious, more of just a little activity I did for fun!

Also this game was based on a really old RPG Maker 2003 game that I made over 10 years ago, so it was fun to re-invent the basic ideas using my updated art and an updated game engine.

Some screencaps!

And then these were some of the new faces I drew for this game.

Global Game Jam!

After 30 to 40 hours of hard work and little to no sleep, I finished my second Global Game Jam! This time me and Steve created a game in RPG Maker MV, but we used entirely our own art. No pre-made stuff this time! We spent a lot of time on the art, and were also able to make a few puzzles. This game's definitely a lot more polished than last year's. And it was a lot of fun to make!

Download the game here!

Alternate download link here

Here's the final menu screen that I created for our game! It was entirely made from pictures, and no pre-made menu.

This was the final text box that I created.

Here was the title screen that I made. 

Steve painted this background for our jungle maze! I created the character sprite and menu button. 

 Another background by Steve. I created the UI elements. I was also the one who programmed this part to function in RPG Maker.

And this is another shot of the same map as above. I created the sprites of both Mr Dude and Mar.

And this is another shot of the same map as above. I created the sprites of both Mr Dude and Marr. I also made the UI and Marr's portrait drawing.

I drew a bunch of mushrooms for our cave puzzle! 

And then this was our splash screen. I created the text based on the font we used in our game, Bubblegum Sans. And that was a picture of The Gek that I drew awhile back that I decided to incorporate!

Game Jam Progress!

I'm participating in the Global Game Jam again this year with Steve Rakar! This year's project has been a bit harder for me so far, but we're getting a lot done. I'll post our final game tomorrow or the next day, but this is the progress! Check out my Twitter for more frequent live updates!

This is a sample of what the GUI and character portraits will look like. I did this test in Photoshop, so the text and BG is not final.

And then this was a test that I did for how our menu might look. We'll probably end up using a bunch of pictures instead of an actual menu plug-in.

And here's what I spent the majority of last night on! Mr Dude is our main character, so I made sprites of him walking. I'm a bit out of practice on animation, so this was a lot harder and more time consuming than I was hoping for. But now we have a walking character!

Nays Doodads Game!

So I started working on another RPG Maker project last week. It was only after I read up on Yanfly's Grid-Free Doodads Plug-in that I got super inspired to make a new game using it! It was really useful to be able to place objects without having to worry about them being stuck on a grid. I didn't make more beyond the opening, but it was a fun activity for one night.

Here's a quick interface that I put together!

And then this is the temporary title screen that I made just to have something in there.