Game Under Way!

So the last few weeks has begun the process of game development for 3'rd Cloud. I'll briefly write and surmise what we've accomplished over the last few weeks, and particularly, what I've done to contribute.


First of all, our story is still under development. That is to say, me and Steven have yet to hammer out the fine specifics of the plot. Writing a multi-linear story where your actions have consequences is not easy. I had steven produce a primitive decision matrix, but we will be improving on that over the next few weeks.


I've spent the majority of my development time learning the functionality of scripting and how I can use RPG makers primitive elements to produce a skeleton for my game, which I can then plug in the new artwork and story tweaks as needed when the time comes. So far, it's been rather productive.

Marie has provided me with quite a few well-done models for our opening game, and I hope to "borrow" a few (with sources credited) from a few sites later on, once I get into enemy and NPC development in the weeks to come. Using this, we were able to create the first few moments of gameplay. We even had a battle with a snake!

The feedback we recieved from our user testing allowed us to make some alterations to our preconceptions about how our game is to be played. Specifically, we learned that players like it when everything gives them feedback. So every barrel will now say "It's a barrel.." when you click "x" at it. Cool, eh?

Anyway, moving on: Kyle didn't follow through on his promised artwork like I asked, and when he finally did, it was low-grade and the angles were mostly wrong. The textures were nothing like I requested them to be either. I dbout he even looked at chrono trigger, or earthbound. I'm not going to yell at him, it's his perogative to do his part. But if he doesn't, then it's his head that will roll. I'll make sure of it.


I had steve work on UI this week, so hopefully he'll produce something we can implement as a placeholder in the near future. Marie is working on some choice sprites, and Henry is working on sound still, with the added job of looking into how to rewrite the combat system to suite our chrono-trigger knockoff.

More to come!