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Sai's Game Dev Blog


King K. Azo

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, in Cherry Heart, we have multiple guilds, and we need characters to fill them! Would you like your character to be an NPC in the game? Here's a handy dandy app to making a character!

 

[spoiler=NPC App]Name: Give me good names. Nothing like Mike.

Species: This can range from typical fantasy races, like Dwarfs and the like, to anthropomorphic animals. Elves are off of the table, unless you want to have a villain.

Gender: Self Explanatory. 

Age: Anything over 13

Appearance: Give me a decently detailed description. Try to be somewhat original, since this is going to be a published game.

Personality: Just their personality. The more detailed it is, the better, but don't feel like you have to just write random things down.

Kind of Magic: You character can do magic! Is it fire magic? Explosion magic? Summoning magic? Let me know!

 

 

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August 25th 2018

 

Wooo, today has been a doozy. Since I actually finished all my posts in a reasonable manner, I am now doing my best to get work on the games done. However, something has come to my attention...

I need a better computer.

So, while money is still being saved for the RPG, the fighting game savings have been put on hold for a bit... which is to be expected, seeing as that was always a super long term project. Now, as for what was accomplished today...

 

 

Cherry Heart

  • Decided instead of having multiple weapons, we will have one per character, and each weapon will level up along side the character. So every time you level up, your weapon does to, becoming stronger. Each weapon will also have augment slots, so you can do things like add an element, or raise the attack, or things like that.
  • Trying to program random encounters a bit differently. Right before a battle begins, an exclamation point will appear over the player character's head in 3 colors: Green, Red, and Gold. A green one is about your level or lower, a red one is above your level, and a gold one is a special encounter. By pressing a button when you see the mark, you can skip the battle completely. If you don't press it in time, then you have to fight. 

    Also considering adding repels into the game, like in Pokemon.

 

Computer

 

  • I have used some video games funds to buy a motherboard for 129 dollars. Transferred 135 dollars to my checking just to be safe.

 

Gaming Funds

 

  • Took out 135 for a new motherboard. 250/6500
  • Was given 30 dollars for RPG. 150/500

 

Fighting Game Characters

 

Have two new designs to show off. 

 

[spoiler=The fishing kid]SxfM7iX.jpg

 

 

[spoiler=The bounty hunter]zd8ZO9K.jpg

 

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August 26th 2018

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After a half-hour conversation about the improtance of music in video games that started with Sai semi-jokingly suggesting he hire Jonathan Young to do an opening song for his RPG, I was invited to write a post in his blog about precisely that topic. Now keep in mind, I'm not a pro. I don't have a degree, I don't pursue music as a primary hobby or anything, I'm just an enthusiastic scrub who used to funk around in FL Studio and make okay tunes. Anyone who understands the stuff I'm going over better than I do, please, fill me in if something I said isn't quite accurate or if I missed an important detail.

 

"So what's so important about the soundtrack anyway?"

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The soundtrack of a video game is secretly a way bigger recipe to a game's success than it might let on, so it's important to get everything just right with it. The genre of music, scale, instrumentation, and general mood and feel of a song, and even what type of game it is, are all important pieces of what makes a video game soundtrack so important, which is also why a lot of games tend to have really good soundtracks. I'll use a quick example to explain why even the type of game you're playing is a huge factor in how your soundtrack should feel. Those examples are Dead Cells and Touhou. Two wildly different games, from what type of game they are, to the tone of the game's universe. To sell this point, I'll post a final boss theme from each of those games.

I wanted to do timestamped videos of the fight themselves, but alas, the code just wouldn't coooperate. In any case, both of these tracks are really cool in their own respects, but... try to imagine fighting the Hand of the King to Shinmyoumaru's theme, or vice versa. The darker, more destroyed and ruined world of Dead Cells, doesn't lend itself to the same types of soundtracks as Touhou's more optimistic world. Even the tone of your game's world sets the tone of its soundtrack. Which was why when Sai said - even only half joking - that he wanted to give Jonathan Young money to do an opening song for his humor-filled fantasy RPG, I told him, "no, that's a bad idea." Go give his stuff a listen. Does it sound like the kind of soundtrack you'd expect to hear in a fantasy RPG?

 

No, right? It would sound out of place, wouldn't it? Now try Adrian von Ziegler's work. That feels more in-place with a fantasy RPG's typical look, feel, and mood, right?

 

"Well I'll make sure to get the right genre of music for how I want my game to feel then, Yui."

Well that's only the start. You've also gotta consider what scale should a song be in for what type of scenario (I'll come back to this), lyrics if your soundtrack has them, and even the time signature (I'll very briefly come back to this too)! Now I don't have time to cover all of that in as much detail as I just did with general tone, and my tiny pea brain can't comprehend and count time signatures that aren't 3/4 or 4/4, let alone talk about their importance beyond "it feels different," but bear with me! Every seemingly minor detail, down to what instrument's playing that chord in the background during the intro, can totally change the way a song sounds.

 

Let me just go over the ones I can at least demonstrate with existing tracks. Let's start with the scale.

(we'll miss you Stefan)

Just give these a listen. We Are Number One is written in the minor scale, but just by changing it to major scale, it already feels like an entirely new song. Want an example that works in the other direction? Major to minor? Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc0gYbTNctU

Hopefully you get the idea that the scale of a song is a pretty big deal. Because it is! As a general rule, the major scale is the "happy" scale, and the minor scale covers other types of emotions. That's why a lot of metal songs and stuff are written in the minor scale. And no, A minor and C major are not the same thing. But that's got nothing to do with this blog, so now that I've very quickly demonstrated how important a song's key is, let's talk about the time signature.

 

Now, there happens to be a song that very clearly switches between 3/4 and 4/4.

Give Clattanoia a listen, and see if you can find out where it switches from 4/4 to 3/4. It should be pretty easy. I'll leave the answer below in case you can't find it.

 

 

 

Did you find it? If not, Clattanoia changes from 4/4 to 3/4 during the pre-chorus, then changes back to 4/4 for the chorus. If you've ever wondered why the pre-chorus felt so distinctly different from the rest of the song, that's why! It's probably a rookie example, but hopefully this song paints a clearer picture on the difference in feeling between 3/4 and 4/4. Also, waltzes are written in 3/4 if that's worth anything.

 

"That's great and all, and I might have learned a couple things about music, but what are you getting at?"

What I'm getting at is that, at least in a lot of games, music is meant to take the scene and elevate it by keeping your sense of sound even more stimulated. Rhythm games are the exception to that rule. I guess the thing I want you to take away from this post if you're trying to do game dev stuff and actually read all this (in which case, thanks a lot, I spent like an hour and a half working on this thing), it's that the music is molded by the moment, not vice versa. As a result, I'm of the mind that - bar minor bugfixes - the soundtrack of a game should be the last thing you handle. So remember, if the tone of your game and the tone of the music don't line up, it'll be weird. In fact, to demonstrate precisely that point in a more direct fashion, I have a homework assignment for everyone.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsNnee5ID0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwshHsUG-ls

Reread this post again a couple of times, playing one of these songs each time you do. You'll feel the difference, trust me.

 

And that just about wraps up my lesson on why music is so important. Hopefully you've learned something from this post, and hey, maybe I'll learn something when somebody who understands music better than I do inevitably quotes me and is like "whell, *snort*, ACKTYUALLY..."

 

Happy game developing, you glorious bastards.

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  • 2 months later...

November 3rd, 2018

 

Wow, it's been a while, huh? I apologize for that. I got so wrapped up in bills, my job, cleaning, and enough posts to drive a man insane that I barely had time to post here, or really even work that hard on my games. As a creator, that's on me.

So, today, for the first time in a long time, I did some work again. What was it, you ask? 

Listing out the animations I need for the five characters we're planning to put in the demo for Prismal Helix.

 

I always knew it would be a lot, but it was A LOT. Like, here's a link to the doc to give you an idea how much it was.

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W7MAZZR3IQKOMZU5G9lU4ShNGxKSHobWhUsMqVQDfx8/edit?usp=sharing

 

And it's really not even done. I still need to finalize Rou's move list, since her moves are still under construction. 

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