v0.29 Log #3 (Pixiv Fanbox)

Hello everyone,

I know this is the part most of you care the less about (coupled with the music side of things), but this time I'm going to show you maps of the new place to visit in the next update.

As you know, I spent the two weeks during mid-August with my family so work was a bit slower. But still, I spent the majority of my working time on those maps. You have no idea how long is this process. Since I'm doing all I can to avoid using base resources of MV/MZ, I have bought a good amount of extra assets. Everytime something comes out that looks barely usable in one of my games, I buy it. Considering I fantasy content is off the table, the choice isn't THAT wide.

And yet, despite the fact that there's more fantasy content than modern/futuristic content, I'm still overwhelmed by everything I have. So when I create a new place, I better know what I want because every time I have to check ALL the tilesets I have (Which, if I combine stuff bought on Steam, on itch.io, on RPG Maker official site or stuff dowloaded because it's free (and I don't download everything cause I can't use stuff that people forbid to use in commercial games or adult games) means easily more than 300 files. For each file I have to skim if the file can be potentially interesting, and that's how I reduce the amount to something like 30-40 files. And then, for each of those files, I check carefully each square of content to see if it can fill my needs. That is already a long process in itself. But you all know the reason I don't have several artists on the same game is because I like coherency. It's the same thing with maps. If an element looks out of place because the overall style of the artist doesn't match with the others, I can't use it. So I have to check that as well.

Anyway, that whole process of creating a specific A1-A5 and B to E tileset for a specific place is LONG as fuck (and everytime I hate myself for being so nitpicking, especially when said tileset will probably be used a single time in the whole game -_-)

Then there's the mapping. I've started changing something in the game. I'm trying to extand all maps to the minimum resolution (1920*1080). Currently, all small maps are contained in a smaller resolution (usually the 17*13 tiles automatically set when you create an empty map.) But there's a problem with that (two actually.) First of all, when you're in an inside map, there's a problem with walls.

On the top side, you have a map where the walls are at the limit of the map (17*13). On the bottom side the map is bigger (20*20). You don't see the difference but there's one for RPG Maker. Since there's still "map" AFTER the walls, the game draws the walls limits. On the top side, the game doesn't do it since it's meant to be end of the map. There CAN'T be anything behind, so it acts like it's the border of the screen. And I've always disliked this result. Something that ended up killing me, is the inclusion of the new horse sprite. Because it can ALSO be a problem outside.

When I played my bunch of Ero RPG Maker games earlier this year one of things that struck me about mapping was the fact that the map was ALWAYS filling the screen. You could have huge-ass maps where you'd walk only on 15% of it, but having it filling the screen gave a better sense of immersion. I wasn't already fan of the black bars on Jo's farm, but the horse poking his head out of the frame ended up convincing me I had to do something. So I'm planning on modifying all the maps that have this problem. Keep in mind that it's a trickiest problem than it looks though, because it implies map translations (as in coordinate moving, not language change 8D) and events don't like map translations so I have to check those involved to make sure everything's back to normal (read between the lines that it's not impossible I create new bugs with that :x) But at least, when it'll be done, things should look better :)

That was a huge digression I hadn't originally planned, but hey, since it's a post about mapping, I'd be stupid not mentioning it. So... The new place... Well, let's show some pics!

Welcome to Homily Inc. This is a big corporate tower but there's a twist. As you can see in the pics, it doesn't look ruined like most places visited by Kaya. And there's a reason for that. It's because people were still working there until not so long ago. They had to flee for two reasons: Because the roof collapsed on the floors under and people were afraid it could collapse even more. And because it got invaded by the new creature you'll have to catch. That's why things are still looking as new. I took the corporate thing and played around with the stereotypes because it's probably my only chance to do so there are little things like having two clocks in the meeting room because time is money and stuff like that probably 1% of the players will notice but oh well, that was fun to do.

This is where Elizabeth will be trapped. Cause yes. She'll be trapped. I'll develop a bit more this side in another post. Don't pay too much attention to amount I'm showing you. There will be a total of 24 maps just for this section. There are still a room and a corridor I have to finish. Because there's something I haven't mentionned, but when you're doing your maps, there's ALWAYS an element you need (a window, a folder, a computer) that isn't in your tileset so you have to go back to ALL the tilsets and browse them until you find the desired tile (or not -_-). That is also time-taking... And it's the reason the last room isn't finished yet (made too much mapping through those two weeks so I'm taking a break and doing renders instead :x)

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll see you next time o/