"The mistakes we've made shape the beings we are today, and the mistakes we'll make next"


Farewell has been cancelled

2010/12/07

Goodbye, Farewell


farewell, Farewell...
or well, goodbye.

I have dropped the project due to my boredom, inability to finish anything, and because it was getting to big to handle.

Sorry to anyone who was waiting for it (if there was anyone)

Kudos to anyone who actually remembers this project (minus crew members)
-action

2010/09/24

A post out of guilt

I'll bet the only people who read this are me and maybe, if i'm lucky, the team.
I should put it in my siggy, adverise everywhere.
But no one would read it anyways... :( Love me

I added a facebook commenter/like button off to the side, and if you feel like it, which you should, out of pity, like me or leave a comment. I might actually feel better.

Anyways, we have a composer on the team - Jonas. He's pretty good, I'll say. I'll probably be uploading some of the pieces to youtube to show it off. Expect updates.

Also, I gave Jonas the key to the kingdom - you may start to see posts by him appearing on the blog. My dream of a coop blog is fulfilled. I'll give Spook and Blackmask a key too. They can update on their status with mapping.

I've been doing alot of concepting. Asea's outfit has completely changed. Saika is as well, completely changed. And I finally drew a picture of the mysterious girl. Check out the bottom for pics :D (minus asea, not done with him)

The story is really coming together now, thanks to my friend Daniel. Thanks!

That's it for this week.

-Chris

New sketches:

2010/08/03

Ideas, ideas...

:D

Lot's of ideas.

In my head, I've only concepted the story up to chapter 5. Which, relatively, isn't much. But recently I had a chat with one of my friends who's helping out in the game, and with him I came up with a plot, maybe leading to chapter 10 or 12.

My friend and I also brainstormed some boss ideas and level designs that I plan to incorporate. Some underground stuff, and small on-map minigames in the dungeons.

Lastly, I looked back at old RPGs. If you look at the RPG's nowadays, they're a whole lot easier than they were back then. Reason is, limits, and little guidance. In old games, the game didn't tell you "Go to the castle in the west and bring a fat cow," they made you figure that out, following clues, or just NPCs advice. That's something I'm hoping to use in the game. Another is limits, the majority being Inventory size. What if you were only aloud to have a certain amount of items, depending on the party size? I've been thinking about that too, but I'm not sure if I should use it.

Anyways, that's it for now,
-Chris

2010/07/25

AUUUUGH

I'm so miserably sorry for never posting on my blog... I'm not the type of person who can keep up routines...
But here I am, again, writing in my blog.  It's 2 in the morning, here in Germany (I'm on vacation) and I just realized:
'Oh yeah, I have a blog'
I checked the poll, and it looks like I've gotten some visitors! I really hope you guys check and see this post!

I've got some news:
1. We've got a new scripter: Noname. Dunno his name, really. He isn't a forumer, but he checked out my topic, and now he's a part of Element 7 (our studio)

2. I've made some huge changes to story and characters, so you should check out the topic here: http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=66344

3. Acoording to Spook, our maps are turning out great; we're running smoothly. I've got quite a few resources, but I'm still working on a good sprite style.

4. We are still in search of 2 pixel artists who can help with tileset creation, and 1 spriter to work with me on the new, non RTP sprites.
Please email me at kakiro.tree@gmail.com if you are interested in the position, or you can help in any way.


That's it for this update. Check up often. I may just remember have a blog a few times :P

-Chris

2010/03/16

Whoops

Forgot ^^;

Well, not much news I can put out publicly: Spook's back on the team for the mapping position; The game is starting to come along, get moving; I FINALLY GOT MY COPY OF FRAGILE DREAMS (a main inspiration for the game / something I've been getting ideas from for a while); I haven't drawn much lately, so as soon as I have the free time, I'll work on some more concept art for other characters; I've added a SHOUTBOX on the right of the page, so you can publicly share your thoughts about the game or give support. As well, I'm also available by email, as in the ones to the right, beneath the shoutbox.
This is also a way I can see if anyone's really checking this blog; lastly, I'm compiling a list of scripts, and putting them in, making requests, and making them myself. I really want to do something with this game :)

That's all I have for now, sorry!
-abreaction

2010/03/01

Adding titles to these has become pointless... they never relate to the post.

Hey everyone, abreaction here, again, with some news that may or may not matter to you, depending on your position, philosophy, board presence, democracy, support for this game, and religion.

Well, I got a few maps from BlackMask - enough to get to work. My side projects have been holding me up lately - I wish I wouldn't come up with so many good ideas! I'm working on the Plot Script at the moment, planning out what'll happen next. The demo's release date is still extremely abstract - I won't have an exact date until it's close to done. I'm saying maybe this Summer, sometime, late Spring, maybe?

I can see a few more people visited the blog... and plan to return! Yay :D You made me happy, folks!
In return, I made this blog. ;) My thanks to you guys.

If you haven't yet noticed, I also added a page on this blog for screenies. Look to the side bar to see it.

Remember! All help, in any way whatsoever, is appreciated. Whether you want to join the team and use your talent, donate a few dollars to help us pay for scripters, have a great idea you just can't hold in, or just simply want to support the game with a userbar, we'll accept all sorts of help. Email me here: kakiro.tree@gmail.com



Lastly, I've got a screeny...
This is what I'm thinking the menu'll look like.The face graphic is just a filler, FYI.

Well, that's all for this week. I'll try real hard to post next week!

-abreaction

2010/02/24

Liar




Well, I'm a liar. I said I would try to blog every Monday - I didn't :I. But as long as I'm here, I may as well.

I can see 2 more people checked out my blog!!! :D And... one of them doesn't expect to return. :(
C'mon people! Tell all your friends! The thing this game needs most is support... then funds :P

Well, I got in contact with BlackMask., He's got the maps done - I have yet to get them, though. I've been working on a new spriting style, which you can see the unfinished template at the bottom (female). It's sort of a mix between RMXP and VX. It isn't really, since it's not a real XP body, nor is it a fully VX head - but it's the easiest way to describe it.
People are calling it cute, not sure why. Maybe you can find out, by checking it out at the bottom of this post.

I've thrown out all the previous graphics (besides the RTP sprites, and battlers) and have started over with pictures, and such. As well, I've got the new version of ACBS, and have got a much more simplistic menu. I'm hoping to release a tech demo by the end of spring.

Sorry I've got no eye-catching thumbnail at the beginning of this post - not in the drawing mood...

I started writing a script recently - a Scene_Base for RMXP, with all sorts of snippets for making coding Scenes easier. A compilation. ;) Until I realized the SDK and MACL can do pretty much everything I did. The rest was extremely simple and you could have just included it in the Scene's script itself... So I made myself feel better by helping some people out in RMXP general support. (Of course, Dustin came along to ruin all the fun with a "one liner," to simplify my RGSS snippet >.< )

Well, that's all I have to say for now! Until next week   I'll write again eventually, don't worry!
-abreaction

 <- A bad example, since I made this before the template.

<-Template

2010/02/01

Patience



Sorry that I didn't post anything for the last two 3 weeks. I hadn't done anything with NID, so I didn't see a point in making a blog post. But I have made some progress:
I finished the intro, and went a little forward. Then I got stuck. I didn't know what to do next... I figured it out a day later, but then ran into another problem.

The steeple.

The Ulma Steeple, one of the most important parts of the plot. And I didn't have a map for it. BlackMask hadn't even touched on it D: I called up Spook again, no reply yet, but I'm hoping he can help.
The thing about the steeple is that it's tall; extremely tall. This sort of thing is hard to map in RM, let alone done right. First, there's the pasability issue. You need to walk behind it. Unless a body of water is behind it. As well, walking behind such a wide, tall thing, can easily make the player lose position of their sprite, and become distraught, without a clue where the character is on the map. Then there's the tile repition. Nothing but tiles and tiles of bricks (with the exception of the occasional windows). If you don't have experience and skill in mapping, it'll look absolutely horrible! I somewhat regret making a steeple a part of the plot...

I made a new logo for the game though, to fit the new title. There's two: Asea, and Saika. I was going to make a third, but ran into a problem: You can only invert once. So I'm thinking of making two white-blacks, and two black-whites. But at any rate, here they are:



It's definitely better than the old logo. I also changed the header  of the blog's image, if you haven't noticed yet. (if so, get your eyes checked)
Lastly, I have made a few plot changes:
Michael is now an inanimate object.
The story now takes place on land, rather than floating islands.
The story is much more  based off of the bible (especially the last chapter of the game, but I can't spoil the ending for you!)

If I haven't had any progress by next week, I'll just blog ideas, and what I'm doing. Better than nothing!
Till next week!
-abreaction

2010/01/12

Yaaaaawn...

HEY,
To the few who even read this (1 person, most likely) thanks for reading. Even if I forced you too :P Sorry I posted this a day late.




 I promised another map screeny, so here it is:

  A bit bigger than last time, taking the screenies from in the Map Editor now, for more to look at. This, also, is BlackMask's. I like this one alot.

You may not have heard, but Spook has left Team NID :(  He won't be fully in the team, but still available upon request. For now, it's just Me & BlackMask.

I have been working hard on the Prologue. It's really hard to get right, and you need it perfect. I don't want a cliche beginning, too, so I'm going to be as creative and unpredictable as possible with this game - not so much as to make it no sense, but enough so it's not obvious to what's happening next.

That's it for now, don't forget to favorite the blog, and please leave a comment (if you can, that is, google won't let you unless you have an account on google, or another blogging site)
I want to know if anyone reads it.

Suggestions? Ideas? Want to join the team? All help and thoughts are welcome! Email me at kakiro.tree@gmail.com or PM me on RRR or HBG by the username of abreaction !

For now,
abreaction / Team NID

2010/01/07

Hey, Screenies!


Ello,
How's it going, people? If you're just here to check it out, please fave the blog - you can get more on Project NID, extras, and blah blah blah (extra features) just from checking in here every Monday and Thursday (Although I'd recommend Tuesday Friday, since I don't post until late at night)

Today I present you with
SCREENIES :O
You heard me right! Got three screenies here, maps compliments of Black Mask (thanks!) Remember though, as I said in my last post, the screenies will be maps in RTP until the tileset is finished, so just some eye candy:
 [click to enlarge]

 Fig. 1


Fig. 2 

Fig. 3


 
Fig. 1: Here's the hideout(?) or base for Asea - all his extra supplies, a bed, save point, ect. are here. Also shown is a little bit of the save point system - to show we have it
Fig. 2 This one's a little fancy. Got the fog, tone, and sun effect. Had to turn the tone down a bit - someone said their eyes were bleeding (don't know why *blinded* :P)
Fig. 3: I'm rather fond of this map; not sure why, just am. I'm sure I'll use it in the game. Ooh, and a thought I was having was having 6+ frames in the water (wouldn't that be cool)

More screenies to come (including my current favorite)

Nothing much has happened with the team lately - I haven't heard anything from any of them for quite a while now (as in me, abreaction) but I suppose I'm at a point where I can do things myself for a while. Working on the game as we speak, hoping to finish up the RTP Alpha version of Chapter 1 sometime late this spring. Then, I'll go full onto the custom resources, and apply them, and lastly, release the demo to the public mid-summer. Setting it back a bit, I was originally hoping to release Chapters 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously. But then, afterwords, all I have to worry about are maps, and the actual game (for I'll be done with the custom resources) Of course, can't be sure that'll actually go right.

One last thing - like this game, and have a bit of cash on your hands? Please make a donation to Project NID. The money will be used to pay scripters and other necessary help. Even if it's not that much, it will help. If you can only donate 50 cents, that's completely fine. Don't feel obligated to give lots, or anything at all - just saying, it'd be nice:





Well, that's it folks!
-abreaction alone :(

2010/01/03

Mmmph, bored


Hey,

Map revisions #1 are in - Thanks BlackMask! They look great - much better than my maps. Progress progress - I think I can start makin' some events now :D

The tileset is coming along quite well - FINALLY GOT THE GRASS JUST RIGHT, edited it again. The water isn't going anywhere, any time soon. Oh well...


I'm really trying to make these posts as long as I can, but there isn't much to update...
  • Learnin' color theory better
  • Drawing millions of humorous Asea chibis
  • Fixing up maps
  • Brainstorming ideas
  • Playing Vacant Sky
It's all about the theme and atmosphere for this game, so an amount of thinking has to be put into the game. I want it to be as visually pleasing as possible, and also as moving (feeling) as can be done. I'm picking the right colors for the game.

New support bar!

Updated with the new name, and sprite. It looks better, I think - somewhat. My personal one is better though. It's exclusive to me though >:] I might share though.

Lemme see...

I'm going to start by releasing screenies to the public without the custom resources, then have some screenies to show off the resources, and then the two together. I'll have a new Alpha without resources up maybe later this year, early summer.

That's it for now! I'll update soon,
-abreaction / Team NID