Valrahk

1. Funny you should ask... Turns out I forgot to add some battle graphics in, namely Lauenna's weapons and two status ailment graphics... So... whoops. The status ailment graphics are done and implemented now. Better to find out now than later, I guess... 2. Well, they're not really random encounters, actually - they're enemies wandering around like the others, but they're invisible. As far as avoiding them, open in RPGMaker, hold control, and walk on the walls. That's the only real way to avoid them, other than to defeat every single one in the room, but they'll just respawn once you enter another room, so it doesn't help much.

Next week, unfortunately. I've got too much to do this weekend, mostly homework (a lot of homework) and heading back to college. If it's any consolation, I don't think Act III will take nearly as long, since there's no 95% custom-made chipset to... scratch that, actually. I forgot about that first dungeon... again, no spoilers, except it'll be awesome...

Switch every character you have access to and report back anything weird that happens - as an example that (I already fixed), something like the first elemental ability not being added to the list, or, as may possibly happen, the character's battle sprites look weird (i.e. like the wrong character). I may leave some class debugging information in the game when it's sent to testing, to make things easier (I'll explain later).

For this update, I have a bit of a theme going: Audio/Video. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, for Audio: If anyone happened to find, in the music folder of the mp3 version of the game, the soundtrack, and listen to the music outside of RPGmaker, they might have noticed some strange things in the ID3 tags of the tracks--things like "V[number or letter]" at the end of the title, missing or inconsistent artist information, etc. Well, when the Act II mp3 version is released, I'll be recifying this, with consistent, WIP-information-free titles, and composer & context information (spoiler alerts in advance) for every track, and a bit more. Now, for video: In Demo 1, the opening cutscene was really just text against a black screen. Well, for Demo 2, and all further Demos, that sequence has, you guessed it, video: Now, the reason I waited until Act II to do this was that certain parts of the sequence, including the one above, hadn't yet been mapped, and I didn't want to work myself into a corner or have to re-do the opening movie because of it. Also, just to note: The second half of the opening, after the opening title appears, will be a black screen. It makes sense for that part, because it's very difficult to visualize that part of it without spoiling much of the story, including parts from beyond Act II. In terms of actual updates, the Class Switching System is coded, and partly tested. Because of my workload for this weekend, I won't be able to test it comprehensively, but since most of it is essentially identical, and since I inspected it as I was coding, there should be few, if any, glitches. As a note to Beta Testers (and I'll say this again in the PM): I will ask that you do extensive testing of the class-switch system. Other than that, there's just programming the Act II enemies and a bit of balancing out to do before being able to send the game off to the testers. Demo 2 is almost here!

I sensed that irony months ago... As I learned this morning, it's not so much that it's time-consuming, either--daunting is the best word to describe it. The code manages to get very unwieldy very quickly - I actually saved myself a lot of headaches with some clever tricks (namely, moving the actual coding process away from the event that will house the code, and reorganizing the mechanics behind the character/class selection code), but even with that, the numbers are pretty staggering: each character has about 6 1/2 screens* worth of code to handle the class switching and level adjustment (the place where the time and energy really gets eaten up), and all totaled, there's over 70 variables and switches to keep track of. Right now, I just learned how important going into the programming with a specific game plan (and knowledge of alogrithms) really is, and now I think it actually was a good idea to take that AI class... amazing what can happen in less than an hour, huh... *-A "screen" of code is, here, the amount of vertical space of the event window's code screen. For me, that's about 33 lines, though other screen resolutions may be different. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « Well, you're right, for the most part: Ikuria did live in that tent, at some point (possibly during the events of the game), and at this point, no, Raika (really, everybody) doesn't like Ikuria much at all... I won't say why, but they don't. As for the other two points, I won't say at the moment. You'll just have to find out yourself, soon enough.

Both of those are done. They've been done for... about a week now, I think. The programming here really isn't that hard (especially after a brutal first project in my AI class), but it's more boring and repetitive. Also, my schedule for the rest of spring break here is getting tight. I've got three acts of Shakespearean tragedy left to read in the next three days, plus three other assignments for my other English class, most, if not all, due Monday. I probably would have been done with Act II by the end of February if not for my class schedule this semester...

The to-do list for Act II (and there is a file, and it's updated regularly) has just two things left to do before I send the demo off to beta testing: Finish the class-switching code, and finish programming and balancing the enemies. I can't at the moment remember exactly what the other big things are, but they're either done, or I just listed them. Also, one of the things, if I haven't mentioned it here, I'm saving for the next update. And the big ugly monster is in no way related to the plants, with the sole exception that it uses some recolorations of the vine graphics. Other than that, I can't say... mostly because surprise is the keyword with that particular creature...

Drat! My clever vagueness has been fooled by the obvious facts of that location's tent-ness! And not quite - it's a Silver Olmak - to go with the Gold Olmaks. And that particular village wasn't important enough to get a Gold Olmak. Why? You'll figure it out when you get there. Also, as a mini-update, the class-switching system is about halfway done - the actual code that handles the act of switching the classes and updating the levels of the characters is complete. Next is the code that allows you to choose what class to change to.

In the words of a certain aging, lunatic mad scientist from the future: Good news everyone! Act II is almost done. Once again, I have to say I'm sorry for not getting this update out sooner. My workload from school really piled up this past month, which pushed Masks of the Elders to the bottom of the priority list. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze in little pockets of time where I could work on the game, and right now the three big things left to do for Act II are the story sections of dungeon #3, battle backgrounds for a few remaining areas (there's quite a few here - three for one dungeon alone!), and programming that class-switch system, which I hope to get done sometime during Spring Break. Now, to show you all some stuff I was hoping to reveal before the whole issue with the forums happened: Yes… that's an actual sign. Lhii, however, is not in the game. I just couldn't stop myself... Now, here's a more serious screenshot -- even though there's a spoiler tag, I won't reveal where or when this scene takes place. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « I will reveal, however, that the Gold Olmak Post in the corner there is important to the scene. Now, as promised, the character profile for the new character, Lauenna: Lauenna (Low-wenn-uh): A huntress cast out from a swamp-dwelling tribe on Loro-Kava, Lauenna barely survives on her wits and prowess with the spear. She is intelligent, but ignorant of the world outside the trees, and often compares new situations with those of the jungle. Despite her Le-Matoran appearance, she is, in fact, a girl.

The only real answer I can give to that is when it's done. As for a timeframe, I'm hoping to finish Act II sometime in the next month, then have it sent off to the Beta testers. The good news right now is that the pieces are starting to come together, and that'll hopefully speed things up a little bit.

First off, sorry for the long wait this time. Between school taking up far longer than I'd thought and getting sick not long after the last update, gamemaking hasn't been as big a priority. That said, this past week I've made some excellent progress, especially in the second dungeon—in fact, aside from a battle background and an overworld graphic (both of which are set to be done for all of Act II en masse), it's done. Hooray! To celebrate, here's a spoiler-censored screenshot: What's he not saying? I won't say either... I was originally planning on releasing a different screenshot, but that one had an even bigger spoiler in it, and by bigger, I mean several times the height of a Matoran. Also, in case you haven't figured out by now, I'm going to be keeping this dungeon's identity a secret until the Beta testers reach it. Now, in other news, you all may have noticed a lot of choreography in some of the game's cutscenes – everyone walking everywhere, changing places, bystanders wandering out of frame, etc. Well, there's a cutscene in Act II that takes that to an extreme: The script had the entire sequence as a single comment wedged into the script, that boiled down to: Chase scene. It's only about five or six seconds long, but it wound up incredibly complicated, with no less than six characters all moving at the same time. Now when I say moving, I mean running, jumping, changing course, panicking, and one guy that just stands there flabbergasted (he counts as moving, though, since he looks in a different direction ). The entire chase took between 45 minutes and an hour to complete, a lot of which involved re-working the characters' routes so they didn't bump into each other (which actually happened partway through the programming of it—Arikan and another character wound up shoving each other until Arikan got stuck on a fence – which, in the world of game programming, is almost a normal occurrence). Also, here's a screenshot from after that scene (since I don't want to spoil too much about it): For the record, the Matoran speaking is the Onu-Matoran. "Now hold on a minute!" You exclaim, "Who's that Le-Matoran in there (no, not the bassist, the other one)?" You'll find out more about her (yes, her) next time.

Good news: Progress is happening! The first dungeon, in case I hadn't mentioned it earlier, is almost done, and just needs enemies to be inserted. The second dungeon's chipset is FINALLY complete (after all these months), and needs its earlier puzzles programmed. The third dungeon... it's a bit lower in terms of progress, but it's getting there. It needs three more puzzles designed and implemented, so it's getting there. Now for the bad news: I've misplaced the design document detailing the puzzles for the second dungeon... Hopefully I'll be able to find it tomorrow. If not, I'll try to reconstruct what I thought up for it. Also, speaking of the third dungeon, I will spoil what the first puzzle will be: That old standby from Piraka Mania: The ice slide puzzle. This one's shaping up to be a doozy, but hopefully won't be too overwhelming. I also have one of the last puzzles of that dungeon done, and while I can't say what it is just yet, it'll probably stump you for at least a minute or so. Once you figure it out, though, it's fairly straightforward. Last week, I did some programming on the class-switch system, and quickly realized something: Programming class switching is extremely boring and repetitive. Essential, but boring... and repetitive. So far I've gotten to the point where one character can get his level to where it needs to be, and where all playable characters, including those not available yet, can be initiated. I will probably go insane by the time I'm done with this system. Each character requires a huge chunk of code for this system, especially with the specifications I've placed on it regarding levelling and skills--in fact, the levelling alone is enough to use a Common Event to handle that, because the event where you'd actually switch classes would have an unwieldy amount of code, and would be nigh un-debugable... and on a lighter note, I may have just invented a word there. Sorry about not having a screenshot. Hopefully next time I'll have one. For now, here's some insight into the design of the game: » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « I'm trying something new with Elders that I haven't done before: Making the puzzles part of the atmosphere of the environment. If you're wondering why you haven't seen any block-pushing or switch-pressing puzzles in Act I, that's why--It doesn't make sense to be pressing switches in the middle of a mountain range, or pushing blocks in a winding cavern. In the second and third dungeons, such things will make more sense. Also, there's another bit of logic going on. With each dungeon, I have to ask myself "What is the logic behind this? Who is attempting to bar your progress, and why?" For example: The Mountain wants to bar your progress because it doesn't want you to reach the top, because it doesn't want you to take the Reverser Seed. Naturally, the puzzles there are about barriers of entry: Not being able to get up to the next cliff, go down the next tunnel, etc., without the proper equipment. Then consider Dungeon 2 from Act 2: The makers of this place are much more benevolent (as seen in their staircases), so why would they want to bar your progress? They want to make sure you are worthy enough to proceed, so they will test you with knowledge and skill. They do want you to proceed, but only if you are worthy of the prize ahead. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « Moving on to Act 3, there will be a dungeon built by the villain, who has an entirely different motivation: He simply wants you dead. This dungeon, once created, will be entirely differrent from the previous ones, with much more focus on combat and making it to the next area alive. This dungeon will make you very, very grateful for save points. Okay, I think I've jabbered on enough about design philosophy for now... Time to get back to work.

I'm sorry, but your Christmas present will be very late this year... Don't worry, though. I haven't forgotten. It's just that this particular present takes... a bit longer than most to prepare. It also is a bit big, so instead of wrapping it in paper, I've had to wrap it in a building. Specifically, this one: I will be giving out the key to it just as soon as it's ready. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays from all of us. Signed, Garten, Royal Aide P.S. Please, don't mind the noise under the castle. Construction is going to be... a bit loud for the time being.

Sorry about the long wait this time--Finals week was crazy. Essays here, projects there, madness everywhere else... so, I haven't gotten that much done this week with Elders, but something did pop up today: That is a screenshot from the Abandoned Island, the first area in the game. It's been completely re-mapped and revamped. I've also spruced up the Middle Island, the optional one near the exit to the Tunnel Network, but it's not as drastic and not as interesting. Then there's the Tunnel Network itself, which is only partway reworked, and here, the map itself is staying the same (except for expansions), but the floors and walls will be getting extra decorations. I'm thinking some Lightstones would look good there... As far as total progress for Act II goes, I think I'm at about 50%, probably more. That second Dungeon is mostly mapped, and needs to have its puzzles put in place, the first Dungeon is finished, and the third has its chipset made and I just now, as I was typing this, thought up some puzzle ideas for it. There's two "town" areas (I don't want to spoil it) that need graphics, but they'll be easy, and then it's mostly mapping and a pair of tutorials (one for multiclassing, which needs to be programmed, the other for an alternate use for those Olmak posts). There's a lot left, but a lot of it is connecting the pieces of what's already there. Oh, I probably need to finish programming and balancing out the enemies too. Also, with Act II, I might be able to put some visuals into the opening cinematic.

Sorry about making everyone wait, but I have a good excuse, or two: 1. Things are getting busy around school, what with finals coming up and all, and 2. I've managed to get some serious work done on the game, including the code for one of the important systems (more important later, but it's necessary for the next Demo): The Character Select screen. I'd show a screenshot, but it's as exciting as watching grass grow (especially this time of year…), and you won't actually see it until the very end of the Demo, since it requires one playable character to be outside the party in order to reach the screen. If you're confused, well… the explanation is arriving in 3, 2, 1… I've also mapped out an area you've been to before, but haven't had a chance to explore: Varr's Ship. After Loro-Kava, you'll be able to roam around on deck, use the save point below, and tell Varr where you'd like to go. At first, that's really about all you can do, but at the end of the Demo (and after), you'll also be able to talk to the characters who aren't in your party, and you'll be given a prompt to switch party members then. This is a actually test screenshot; you won't actually see this exact one until all the characters are unlocked. Before that, you'll either see one or the other (or the third character who's near the bow off-screen). I've also been mapping one of the sub-dungeons from late in the Demo, and as an early Saint Nicholas Day* present, here's a screenshot of a nice forest area… I'm sorry. I meant an Ice Forest area (and I swear that's the dumbest joke I'll tell in this post). I'd been mapping it, and was about to finish up the area when I realized… I couldn't. The story elements for everything before just weren't assembled, so I had to start going back, so… the Loro-Kava dungeon is all but complete (just needs enemies), and I've been working on the Varr's ship stuff right after. I'll either be mapping the stuff around Na-Koro or working on finishing up that secret Second Dungeon next. Oh, and before I forget… Here's the Demo, with Enhanced Soundtrack! Hopefully it'll take less time for Demo 2's enhanced soundtrack to get released, especially since around half of it's done by now... Anyway, two things to note before you start up the game: 1. The music doesn't technically loop, but instead goes to an ending then re-starts from the beginning. I tried to make it loop, but the software I used won't allow it, and 2. The filesize is pretty big (around 55 MB), so if you have a slow connection, it'll take a while. *-I just remembered it's the 5th, not the 6th. And yes, Saint Nicholas day does exist, for those unaware... which means that Saint Nick actually has two holidays to his name... and the Easter Bunny's getting jealous...

I was hoping to get the topic at least back up before then, since Act II's still quite a ways off (at least a month, if I'm lucky, and Finals are coming up soon, so... yeah...). Still, you do make a good point. I may start up the topic just before the Beta goes out, though, to hopefully recruit some more Beta testers. I think, maybe (BIG maybe) I might put the link to the updated Act I in the Blog somewhere. Maybe. Not now, though. With Thanksgiving coming up, and lots of people travelling and shopping this week, very few people (especially in America) would have time to download, much less play, the game. If I do release it on the blog (or in an updated topic), it won't be until next Sunday or Monday, even though it's done and in a zip file as I type. Actually, any music that's going to be updated is basically being enhanced from the original MIDI versions of the soundtrack, and speaking of which, it's mostly complete, at least 80%, right now, with a few gaps here and there, mostly late in the game. I should keep some Sonic stuff in mind for some later boss themes, though. There's one I have right now that isn't quite working out (mostly because of tempo issues), and I can't say any more than that because even the title is a massive spoiler.

Another week, another chunk of progress. Like I mentioned in the last update, I've completed the enemy graphics for Act II and have started programming them (I'll get to balancing them a bit later). However, I've also been doing a bit of other graphics work, and got all three of the remaining characters' battle charsets DONE! Next in that department is to finish off the weapons graphics, which have the added benefit of not having to do any more of them for the rest of the game, since all the weapons are already planned out. Also, with the battle charsets, the Class System material in the database is done, though I need to make the class-switching code, which will end up being quite the undertaking. Now, that's the good news. The bad news is that none of this progress lends itself to screenshots, so I'll just have to make an update without one. Now, that said, I've been moving closer to re-opening the topic, which means that I've been working on Act I's updated soundtrack. Here's the other good news: As of this writing, there are only four tracks left to update: "Among the Sewer Rats" (Xi-Metru Sewers theme), "Never Sway, Never Stray" (Arikan's theme), "The Epic Fight" (the Boss Battle theme), and the one that's given me the most trouble, "Theme of the Ancients" (the Overworld theme). Also, as a side note, whenever I mention specific music tracks from the game in this blog, I'll refer to them by their in-program titles, in quotes, with parentheses explaining their context, as I just did up there. EDIT: 11/19: Just one more track to enhance... the boss theme... and it's putting up quite a fight. Hopefully soon I'll be able to re-start the topic.

It's actually a sizable town, not nearly as big as Xi-Metru, but one of the bigger ones (maybe third largest), and I will say now that I might be using those PM house designs for a later town, though maybe with a more castle-ish variation. You'll see later. As for Rahi, plenty of classics ('02 technically, from the Master Builder set) will appear on the Northern Continent, but there will be other places where they appear. Speaking of which, I've got all but one enemy for Act II sprited, and the last one I can't reveal, since it'd give the second dungeon away. As for events, I'd rather stick to a more traditional approach, especially for the overworld map. For the outside dungeon areas (cliffs, mountains, etc.), maybe... but not right now. I need to get the essentials down first. Also, tears of joy... well, there's one classic (classic-ish) Rahi set to appear as a 'normal' enemy in Act III, and it should make people cry... just not for joy. Kraawa and RPG mechanics can be a brutal combination... That Mata Nui rock... it's actually a way to not have to repeat the whole Rainbow Pass going-under-the-bridge effect (excellent when it works, but frustrating until then), and there's more nearby, just out of view--talk to the guy next to them when Demo II comes out.

I was going to post an update on Friday, but I'm glad I waited--I've gotten some really good stuff done in the past hour or so with graphics, and ALL of the enemies for Loro-Kava and the last island of Act II, Icosa Nui, are sprited. and they are looking great (some of them ugly--the good, mutant-monster kind of ugly). I should probably mention that, just in terms of regular, non-boss enemies, Act II will have considerably more varieties than Act I, almost twice as many, in fact. There will also be enemies that you probably wouldn't expect (and that I won't spoil here). There will be some more familiar Rahi, though, particularly when you reach the Northern Continent... and I'm just giving out the information freely here, aren't I? Now, that's not all I've done. I've also done a bit of re-mapping of Na-koro to make it more Bionicle-y, and it's turned out great. Have a look: That screenshot was taken about one screen to the left of the last one, and is the transition point for the town's differing areas. I also started working on one of the sub-dungeon areas, the Ice Forest area (because this is an RPG; it must have an Ice Forest) of Icosa Nui. I'd post a screenshot, but it's just a couple of trees, a rock formation with a hole in it, and a random rockface sitting on the ground for no reason. In other words, I haven't yet gone beyond the test map on that. And as an unrelated aside, this weekend I went through my CD collection, and found something I'm a bit surprised I hadn't put on my mp3 player yet: The old Bionicle Power Pack, all the way back from 2001. Now, you young 'uns today may think "Bionicle Music" and hear Cryoshell in your head, but in my day (because apparently 19 is the new 70...), Bionicle Music meant three awesome techno tracks, by Lewa and Gali themselves (or some obscure, uncredited, probably Danish techno artist), and the granddaddy of them all, "The Bionicle Music." I remember my mind being blown to smithereens when I heard that track remixed for the Rama Hive fight in MNOLG, and how awesome it was when all the Vahki animations featured that track, in its finest form, driving their dark, mechanical personas home as they policed/oppressed the Matoran of Metru Nui. Good times. Okay, enough old-man ranting. Time to get back to work! Mini-Update (11/10): And just like that, all the enemy graphics are DONE! Nineteen of some of the ugliest Rahi, etc. you'll ever meet. Now to program them...

Just like I said, I'm back with an update before another month has passed. I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I'd like, but considering the circumstances, it's a decent amount anyway. First, there's that window effect I'd posted last time. Remember how I'd said I wasn't quite satisfied with it? Well, I've pulled out all the stops, used all four graphical layers (outside of Pictures) and made a stained glass window that's about as realistic as RPGMaker will allow. Ah, but quit listening to me babble, and take a look: I also decided to map the next town area after that dungeon, Na-koro. I went a little overboard with it, though, and started filling it with a few too many Piraka Mania references... I guess that's what I get for repurposing those graphics... Speaking of which, I'll be re-mapping the entire town portion of the map, since I'm just not happy with the houses. They don't quite fit in with the rest of the gameworld. So, ignore the Toa Town-esque houses in the next screenshot. One thing I will keep, however, is this little cameo. Yes... it's that band. Also, if I haven't said it already, I'll be switching my plan up a bit, and I'll be mapping the rest of Act II first before I go back and do all the programming and such. Here's hoping it'll speed things along a bit. I almost forgot about the staircase! Whoops... Anyway, I first have to explain the logic behind it: When creating this dungeon, I had a thought that it should be bigger than something a Matoran would build (because it was built by a certain faction of Titan-sized characters), which led to the idea of the larger bricks. This, however, led to a slight problem: How does one handle stairs? If I used the Piraka Mania stairs, it wouldn't make sense, because the Titans' feet wouldn't fit on the steps, and that just doesn't work, but... if I went with stair made from the brick tiles I'd made for the dungeon, it would fit the scale of the environment, but then would be too big to climb to other floors. So... compromise--These Titans care about Matoran, and have accomodated them by providing smaller stairs on the edges of the larger ones that they use. Observe: It's amazing how much thought has to go into something as seemingly simple as a staircase. Oh, and Happy Halloween! I'm actually watching the Nightmare Before Christmas as I type. They're currently taking Santa to Oogie Boogie's.

Pokemon, and Brawl, except Pokemon didn't happen (3 people signed up, we all knew each other's teams, and it would have been no contest--I was the only one who put a significant effort into my team). As for Brawl, I lost. That was just for fun anyway. Also, on a side note, I'll try to get the next update in sooner than the last few.

Sorry about all the slow updating. Things are just moving that slow on my end here. Unfortunately, as I predicted, the death of the game's topic really dealt a blow to my motivation, so I'm still on the same dungeon I was last time. Thankfully, I did manage to force myself to design the dungeon's sub-basements, one of the big roadblocks keeping me from completing it. I've also come up with some interesting puzzles to accompany this mysterious dungeon, but I won't spoil those either. One thing I will say for sure is that there are going to be some cool lighting effects going on here, something a bit more sophisticated than "Walk down a flight of stairs and things are suddenly darker." There will actually be spots where the lighting changes as you walk through the room. I've programmed and tested this little bit already, and it really adds to the atmosphere. I still have to add furniture, though. Also, I've got a lovely screenshot of this strange place right here: Note that this doesn't include much in the way of furniture (intentionally to avoid spoilers), but it does include a stained-glass window, complete with transparency to the outside—see those clouds? Those were moving when I took the screenshot. Depending on how ambitious (or OCD) I get, I may make the non-transparent parts of the window translucent… Actually, I probably should… Just for the record, the next dungeon (and town areas in between) won't take nearly this long, because I can modify some graphics I made for Piraka Mania and they'll work fine. For the second dungeon, though, I really had to make my own chipset because of the sheer scale of it (as you can see). Next time, I'll post a picture of the stair design I came up with. It's brilliant! Now, I do plan on restarting the topic before Demo II is released, but it won't be just yet. I've decided to go with an idea I had initially been hesitant about: I'm making an updated, mp3 version of the soundtrack for the game. I'll also be making the enhancements myself, so it'll take some time. I'm actually about halfway done with the Demo I soundtrack, though some tracks are a bit trickier to work with (the overworld theme for one). The ones I have now sound really good; the opening story theme now blends much better with the title theme, with some slightly different instrumentation. The game over theme sounds better too. I'll try to release the updated version of the Demo once the soundtrack for it is completely updated, unless I finish Demo II first (not likely). Once again, sorry about taking so long to post this. Midterms were this week, and between that and a gaming tournament today, I've been rather busy studying and preparing.

It's been a while since the last blog post, and sorry about that--been busy with life and stuff. There hasn't been too much concrete progress, but what's there is going really well; that second dungeon's chipset now has two floor patterns and a rotunda with a compass rose in the middle (which will feature prominently in the gameplay of the dungeon). The rotunda still needs a bit of work, mostly in the form of decoration and bits of simulated age, but it's coming along very well. After that, there's the pieces of furniture for it that are too spoilerific to reveal (but other than that aren't particularly interesting), some little bits around the rest of the architecture (stairs, tables, etc.), and then... the lower floor variations of all of those. It's going to be a big dungeon, both in sheer size and in scale (its concept is that it was constructed by certain large beings, who wouldn't even think of using the small building materials Matoran would). As for teasers, nothing this time. Hopefully next time I'll be able to show that first Act II dungeon, and maybe throw in a related character profile as well.

First, I'll take care of the status report: I switched gears for a bit, and got some database work in, and all of the playable characters are fully programmed—that includes one that doesn't appear until Act III. All that's left to do with the characters is battle graphics. I'll be a bit busy with college-related stuff for the next couple of weeks or so, so progress will continue to be a bit on the slow side. I'm hoping soon to gather up the motivation to make that second dungeon chipset soon, though I should probably finish up the first dungeon first, shouldn't I? As for teasers, I've already showed the re-mapped Cho-koro, so that doesn't need to be re-shown here. However, I must note that the screenshot shows an incomplete version, and since the screenshot, I've added all of the building-entering events. I should still probably put in some décor, but that's later. Also, for those who may or may not be concerned, you are able to save in the old Cho-koro and switch Demo's, since I kept the original map as-is. To leave it, simply enter either the caves or one of the huts, and re-exit into the new village map. I've also been working a bit on enemy sprites, and I think I'm ready to reveal what that super-ugly boss I mentioned last time looks like… sort of. Here's its silhouette: It's even uglier in color… Also, I've started planning the teaser short stories for Act II (though chances are nobody noticed the ones for Act I…), and the plans are quite something. They'll follow the same style, with three semi-unrelated parts to the story, the third leading into the events of the game. The title of the next round will be "Another Destiny," and I can say that Part II will be much longer than any of the others before it (possibly after), and will involve characters you probably didn't expect to hear from in Elders. One of the stories will also shed more light on Xi-Metru's history, and why exactly there are no Vortixx left there. Also, for those who have an interest in things like this, "Another Destiny" does have a musical inspiration: » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « "Anakin vs. Obi-Wan" and "Battle of the Heroes" from Star Wars Episode III But no—that does not mean it's set on Mustafar

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « 1. It's an idea, but I'm probably going to work on the above-ground maps first, since those are substantially worse. As a side note, those early, pre-Zakaz maps were some of the first made, before I managed to really find my mapping style for the game. Actually, I think I'll be re-mapping all three islands completely, possibly even re-designing Cho-koro. 2. Actually, the lack of Vortixx on Xia wasn't entirely[i/] the result of lacking specific sprites. Their absence is actually part of the lore of the game. There's going to be a place in Act II that, if you look around a bit, will shed more light on the subject. As for why the Skakdi survived and the Vortixx didn't... The Skakdi were insignificant to the powers that be, and it was assumed long ago that they would destroy themselves before they posed any threat. The Vortixx... you'll find out about them. 3. It's a possibility, but I think my gamemaking plate is full at the moment. Right now I'm staring down the daunting challenge of making the chipset for the second dungeon, and it will have to be custom-made, at least to a certain degree (possibly entirely), to have the kinds of details I want it to have (like shiny floors and possibly a chandelier reflected in them). I'll still consider the idea, though. Actually, after thinking about it, having a shiny floor wouldn't be the best idea, since it would require too much effort to be worth it. So... I guess I'll have to go with plain marble, instead of polished marble.