You probably know by now that I enjoy recreating maps from older games. Partly for nostalgia, partly for rote experience in putting maps together (to hone my skills for when I create my own maps), and partly just because it's hypnotic, and I tend to "fall into it" easily, and it's a good way to log hours working in RPG Maker when my creative juices aren't flowing so freely. Suffice to say, it's monotonous work, but I do enjoy it.
Anyway, I worked out a makeshift floor plan for the Tower of Zot from Final Fantasy IV a while ago, but that was just an appetizer. What I think I really wanted to work on was the even greater Tower of Bab-il from the same game. I love this dungeon for so many reasons. It's so epic. Not only is it a tower tall enough to bridge two worlds - the Overworld and the Underworld - but it actually forms two mostly separate dungeons that you encounter at different points in the game. So the first time, you think to yourself, "this place is huge", and yet there are still parts of it you can see across walls and such that you haven't accessed. Then you come back later in the game (starting from the top instead of the bottom this time), and you think, "oh cool, I'm back here." And you imagine that you've explored most of it already, until you realize just how much more was left. And then there's all kinds of cool stuff going on in the tower - mad scientists, and dramatic transformations, tricks and traps; and you finally escape the second time by hijacking an airship that's docked. Going back through this tower, I'm realizing how much it has influenced me, in terms of bits and pieces of ideas that I have planned for one or more dungeons in Dragonfaith.
Well, if you're tired of just sitting around talking about it, I invite you to explore the tower yourself. I've recreated it in RPG Maker MV. I used parallax mapping for the first time, because, although low-res, the original graphics have much more character than what RPG Maker provides. The treasure chests aren't operational, there are no enemy encounters (so explore to your heart's content), but I did manage to pull together a Paladin Cecil sprite for you to lead around. I figure it's worth at least a walk-through, for old time's sake.
Tower of Bab-il: Win | Mac (130 MB)
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
A Crash Course
I just had quite a fright. I was actually started thinking about releasing the next stage of Ascension (after the one I posted just this past Friday). I was finishing some stuff up tonight, and while working on it, my computer crashed. Don't know why. Wasn't doing anything I'd expect would cause my computer to crash. But I restarted, and re-opened RPG Maker MV, and when I went to open up my project, it wouldn't open. Said it couldn't read some of the data files. Apparently, they'd been corrupted (whether by the crash itself or whatever caused the crash, I don't know). That's when I started to get scared.
I replaced each corrupted file in succession (determined by trying to open the project after each one and seeing what other file the program couldn't read) - which included all of the JSON files in the data folder (minus the specific maps), as well as plugins.js - from my last backup, which I copied before I renewed work on this project at the start of January. (I know, obligatory warning about backing up your work - but I got enough shit to do and keep track of, both with this game and the rest of my life; I can't make backups every single day).
Finally got the project to open, but now I was looking at having to repeat all the work - essentially my whole adaptation effort - I've put in since the start of the New Year (and I've been working on this game almost every day since January 1 - the only exceptions being the couple of weekends I've been out of town). I won't lie. In the back of my mind, I was entertaining the thought of giving up game development for good. But then as a last ditch effort, I remembered the releases I've posted here on this blog (they've had a purpose all along - even if nobody plays them - that I didn't even know about!).
Thankfully, I was able to re-copy all the corrupted files from as late as the version of the game I released on Friday. (The first thing I did after that was backup my whole project). I'd be annoyed that now I'm going to have to repeat all the work I've done the last three nights, but honestly, most of that work has just been porting the next stage from one engine to another, and not any significant modifications or new content (thank god this stage has very little dialogue!), and compared to the devastating implication of repeating all the work I've done since the beginning of January(!), all I'm doing now is counting my lucky stars, and hoping something like this doesn't ever happen again...
Update (2/13/18):
Unfortunately, my relief was a little premature. Although I did manage to salvage the data, I realized when I tried to playtest last night that the game wouldn't run. Not sure why, and I have no clue how to fix it. So now I have to copy all my data (again...) into a new, fresh project. Maybe one of these years, I'll actually reach the end of the game before some act of god causes me to start over from the beginning. I feel a bit like Sisyphus, trapped in my very own special stage of Hell.
I replaced each corrupted file in succession (determined by trying to open the project after each one and seeing what other file the program couldn't read) - which included all of the JSON files in the data folder (minus the specific maps), as well as plugins.js - from my last backup, which I copied before I renewed work on this project at the start of January. (I know, obligatory warning about backing up your work - but I got enough shit to do and keep track of, both with this game and the rest of my life; I can't make backups every single day).
Finally got the project to open, but now I was looking at having to repeat all the work - essentially my whole adaptation effort - I've put in since the start of the New Year (and I've been working on this game almost every day since January 1 - the only exceptions being the couple of weekends I've been out of town). I won't lie. In the back of my mind, I was entertaining the thought of giving up game development for good. But then as a last ditch effort, I remembered the releases I've posted here on this blog (they've had a purpose all along - even if nobody plays them - that I didn't even know about!).
Thankfully, I was able to re-copy all the corrupted files from as late as the version of the game I released on Friday. (The first thing I did after that was backup my whole project). I'd be annoyed that now I'm going to have to repeat all the work I've done the last three nights, but honestly, most of that work has just been porting the next stage from one engine to another, and not any significant modifications or new content (thank god this stage has very little dialogue!), and compared to the devastating implication of repeating all the work I've done since the beginning of January(!), all I'm doing now is counting my lucky stars, and hoping something like this doesn't ever happen again...
Update (2/13/18):
Unfortunately, my relief was a little premature. Although I did manage to salvage the data, I realized when I tried to playtest last night that the game wouldn't run. Not sure why, and I have no clue how to fix it. So now I have to copy all my data (again...) into a new, fresh project. Maybe one of these years, I'll actually reach the end of the game before some act of god causes me to start over from the beginning. I feel a bit like Sisyphus, trapped in my very own special stage of Hell.
Friday, February 9, 2018
Ascension (MV) Alpha 4.0
Shortly after my last release, I posted an update in the sidebar quietly, without any fanfare, featuring the next stage (now with a full library!). And I'm glad I did, because the one after that has been taking a long time. I've had to rework the torture sequence a bit, hopefully to improve it a little. The new mechanism was inspired by the torture sequence in Metal Gear Solid, because I remember how nerve-wracking that was. (Call me a sadist, but remember that the very premise of this game is that you're in Hell! :-p).
Ascension (MV) Alpha 4.0 (incl. all stages up to Pandaemonium & Nastrond)
Download (~82 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]
Next up is Chaos - another one of the stages that testers have told me is among the most challenging in the game. Although I don't know yet if that means it will take a long time or not. Depends on whether and how much I decide to tweak it.
Ascension (MV) Alpha 4.0 (incl. all stages up to Pandaemonium & Nastrond)
Next up is Chaos - another one of the stages that testers have told me is among the most challenging in the game. Although I don't know yet if that means it will take a long time or not. Depends on whether and how much I decide to tweak it.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.1
I was very eager to post my release last night, but today I took the time to play through it, start to finish. I mostly made a few minor tweaks, mainly to improve the consistency of text. But I also mitigated to some extent the difficulty of Har Megido, which has proven to be one of the most frustrating stages in this game to play (along with Chaos and Labyrinth), as much as I like it. So this version should be a slight improvement over the last one.
Edit: Funny how a few tweaks can turn into a full day's work. I forgot to modify the menu (which has lots of RPG-related info that's completely irrelevant to my game). I couldn't find a satisfying plugin to make it simpler - not much more than a classic pause screen - so I just figured out how to code it myself. I might work on it some more in the future, but it's much closer to what I want now.
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.1 (incl. Limbo, Tartarus, Sheol, Har Megido)
Download (~76 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]
Edit: Funny how a few tweaks can turn into a full day's work. I forgot to modify the menu (which has lots of RPG-related info that's completely irrelevant to my game). I couldn't find a satisfying plugin to make it simpler - not much more than a classic pause screen - so I just figured out how to code it myself. I might work on it some more in the future, but it's much closer to what I want now.
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.1 (incl. Limbo, Tartarus, Sheol, Har Megido)
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.0
To make good on my previous promise - I've been busy as a beaver - and since I haven't released nearly enough playable material in the past few years(!), I'm putting out a sort of demo of what I have so far. A day hasn't gone by since the start of the new year that I haven't made significant progress on Ascension. Let's see if I can keep this pace up, at least until this game is finished. There are certainly some hurdles to overcome in the future (Labyrinth, I'm looking at you).
There may be bugs. There may be inconsistencies. I could easily have overlooked some things even in the sections that should be "finished". And it hasn't been tested nearly enough. (I guess this should all go without saying). But, as far as I know, the first four stages (out of thirteen) should be playable. They are mostly as you would remember them (if you've played them before), but with a couple minor gameplay tweaks (and the semi-significant splitting of one stage into two), and some superficial updates (particularly in the framing narrative). But now on MV! Give it a try.
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.0 (incl. Limbo, Tartarus, Sheol, Har Megido)
Download (~76 MB): Windows | Mac [see sidebar for latest release]
Next stop: Pandaemonium!
There may be bugs. There may be inconsistencies. I could easily have overlooked some things even in the sections that should be "finished". And it hasn't been tested nearly enough. (I guess this should all go without saying). But, as far as I know, the first four stages (out of thirteen) should be playable. They are mostly as you would remember them (if you've played them before), but with a couple minor gameplay tweaks (and the semi-significant splitting of one stage into two), and some superficial updates (particularly in the framing narrative). But now on MV! Give it a try.
Ascension (MV) Alpha 2.0 (incl. Limbo, Tartarus, Sheol, Har Megido)
Next stop: Pandaemonium!
Friday, January 5, 2018
The Resurrection of Ascension
As you are no doubt aware (or have surely suspected), development on Ascension has been on hold for awhile, despite my initially over-optimistic plans to have it released by Halloween 2015 (or even 2014 before that). The reason for this is that I got so caught up in what Ascension hypothetically could be, that I lost sight of what it is, and I buckled under the pressure of the anticipated workload.
As a perfectionist, this is, unfortunately, a common problem that I have. But a wise man once told me that any project is a product of its moment, helping me to realize that it's better to make a statement with the possibility for improvement, than to withhold expression of one's talents until some hypothetical (and probably never-to-be-reached) point at which ultimate perfection will, hypothetically, be achieved.
Ascension is not the first project I started on RPG Maker, but it deserves to be the first project I finish, given the sheer scope of the RPG I am working on. I cannot even envision completing a project like Dragonfaith, until I have realized the completion of a smaller effort like Ascension. And I'd rather put out a complete project - imperfect and flawed though it may be - as an expression of what I am capable of at this point in time, even as an amateur game developer, than to withhold it until it satisfies some impossible rubric of professionality that exists as a vague, ideal form in my head, and that I cannot hope to reach at this time (indeed, if ever).
At the end of the day, I know I can't compete with the professionals out there. And I don't want to. I haven't dedicated my life to that path, and I'm not sure it isn't already too late if I even wanted to. But I don't. All I want to do is learn what I can - whatever bare essentials are necessary - in order to tell this story I have in my head that I want to share with the world. I don't need to make a flawless, groundbreaking game. It's just a delivery mechanism for my creativity.
So with that in mind, I am recommencing work on Ascension, with the goal of creating a complete (not perfect, but complete) version for release in the not-too-distant future. I'm not going to set down a date, but I'd like to say that I should have it ready before the year is out. Certainly I don't intend for it to take longer than that. After all, I still have much work to put in on Dragonfaith (which I'll probably continue to work on off and on, as I have been all this time).
As a perfectionist, this is, unfortunately, a common problem that I have. But a wise man once told me that any project is a product of its moment, helping me to realize that it's better to make a statement with the possibility for improvement, than to withhold expression of one's talents until some hypothetical (and probably never-to-be-reached) point at which ultimate perfection will, hypothetically, be achieved.
Ascension is not the first project I started on RPG Maker, but it deserves to be the first project I finish, given the sheer scope of the RPG I am working on. I cannot even envision completing a project like Dragonfaith, until I have realized the completion of a smaller effort like Ascension. And I'd rather put out a complete project - imperfect and flawed though it may be - as an expression of what I am capable of at this point in time, even as an amateur game developer, than to withhold it until it satisfies some impossible rubric of professionality that exists as a vague, ideal form in my head, and that I cannot hope to reach at this time (indeed, if ever).
At the end of the day, I know I can't compete with the professionals out there. And I don't want to. I haven't dedicated my life to that path, and I'm not sure it isn't already too late if I even wanted to. But I don't. All I want to do is learn what I can - whatever bare essentials are necessary - in order to tell this story I have in my head that I want to share with the world. I don't need to make a flawless, groundbreaking game. It's just a delivery mechanism for my creativity.
So with that in mind, I am recommencing work on Ascension, with the goal of creating a complete (not perfect, but complete) version for release in the not-too-distant future. I'm not going to set down a date, but I'd like to say that I should have it ready before the year is out. Certainly I don't intend for it to take longer than that. After all, I still have much work to put in on Dragonfaith (which I'll probably continue to work on off and on, as I have been all this time).
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