Week 24 -- Basic fighting and more

I have a longer post to make at some point, but for today it's past my bedtime. This last week I got obstacles to block you and created a test enemy for you to bounce off of.


This dialogue window looks cooler than it is -- it's totally hacked together and hard-coded. Just a prototype.

I'm thinking about changing my concept for the battle system significantly. This is mostly because I've been on a kick with the old Ys games lately, and I'm intrigued by the idea of running into enemies to attack them. (But I'm not going to use the Ys combat rule of off-center = you win, head-on = you lose. I suppose that's a decent player skill mechanic, but it's just zonky.) I have a couple of ideas that I'm waffling over that I'll post more about soon.

(Digression: I can't believe that I've gone all this time without playing the Ys series. Oh wait, I remember why: My only previous experience with it was with renting Wanderers from Ys on the SNES, which by all accounts is the black sheep of the series. I quickly decided it was insanely difficult and not that much fun and resorted to a cheat code to plow through it. I did try Ys I briefly, but I think I ran directly out of town, died immediately because I didn't know the zonky combat rule, said, "Wow, this sucks," and forgot about it. Oh, little did I know!)

Coming as soon as I'm not too sleepy to write about it: New plot, new title, battle system ideas, and the lesson I learned recently. And a video, if I can get a decent one captured.

Week 23 -- First look (ahem)

Brief and belated post from last week here. I've started on the game proper, and so far have the player running around and facing four directions. Woo! She's not bumping into trees yet, though; I'm missing something with the tiles.

More news to follow soon. For now, I'll leave you with the very exciting very first screenshot of the real game, with very pretty stick-figure/scribble placeholder art.

Week 22 -- Nothing, nada, nashi

Nothing happened last week. Too busy.

Well, I did have a general idea that I'm liking a lot. I may put my Last Ancient story idea on the back burner for now and instead make a game with a much simpler plot, in the same world and setting. Same gameplay design, but a smaller scope that I'll be more likely to actually finish for the contest (without having to totally butcher the story idea that I've gotten attached to).