Valrahk

Well, I'm back from a brief vacation, and managed to get some work done on the game. As far as definite progress goes, I've finished mapping the first Act II dungeon and am about 1/4 of the way through programming it. I'm not quite ready to show a screenshot yet, though maybe next time would be good. There are a few things that have to happen before I'll be ready, but they should happens soon. Also, I've finished spriting all of the Act II bosses, with the last one sprited being the first one encountered. Once again, I can't show too much of it, but I can say it's the ugliest creature I've ever conceived, and considering my self-proclaimed best sketch is of a decomposing zombie dragon, that's saying quite a bit. As far as the rest of Act II, there's quite a bit to be done. There are once again three dungeons (by sheer coincidence—the act after will have more than that), each requiring a unique tileset, and one of them being so big you won't even see all of it on your first visit; there's also quite a bit of non-dungeon gameplay here, so there's definitely a lot left to do yet before the next Demo arrives. Actually, truth be told, the next thing I'll probably do is make a list of the things that need to be done so I can start working on them instead of sitting here overwhelmed. I'll try to get in some more teasers next time, and also I'll try to take less time making the next part of the game.

.....He pushed aside a loose stone, and from behind it, piercing white light shot through, darkening everything else. He threw up his hand, obscuring the incoming radiance enough to regain his sight. "Why are you stopping?" His friend yelled. "We're almost there!" He paused for a moment, then returned to clawing out the rocks that kept him inside. Each stone cast aside brought another color into view, and their journey an inch further. .....Soon, he beheld the beauty of the outside: the skies open and flowing with clouds, the sea wild and unbroken to the horizon, and calm white sands undisturbed even by Rahi. He stopped again, this time to no complaint. Together, they pushed away the last few rocks, and stepped out into the daylight. .....They turned, and found their prize, a heap of rock that could bury a Tahtorak alive, standing proudly above the waves. A quick glance at each other launched them up its slopes, their sore hands granted no respite along the way. By sheer strength and force, they hauled themselves to its peak. While he rested, his friend pressed on, to the other side of the summit. After a moment, he joined him, gazing out over the water. "Hard to believe we actually found this place..." ....."Yeah... Just think... Nobody's ever been here before..." his friend replied. "Never..."

.....The wind howled atop the ramparts, but he kept his gaze steady and silent, fixed on a distant ship sailing off the horizon. He grinned lightly, content in the truth of his wisdom. It seemed but a moment before that he had witnessed that Matoran return from the temple, dazed from the onslaught of destiny. This same being, his finest subject, his protégé, now embarked to finish his mission, their mission. He would return here soon, and with him, the greatest change the world had seen since the elder days. .....The ship faded into the distant clouds, and he descended into his city. Here, on the outskirts, little stirred from his presence. He preferred this quiet to the oppressive roar of his downtown streets. Here, he could hear the echoes of the silence that once gripped the entire island. .....He paused, and sat on the pedestal of a nearby statue, placing a hand on one of its feet. He looked up at it, admiring its aggressive form. It stood strong, clutching its staff as if in combat, its eyes glaring and its mouth wide, its quiet scream almost enough to chill the spines of passers-by. He patted the behemoth's foot, breaking the silence beneath the stone.

.....Early in the afternoon, a figure leaned his staff against the wall, carrying his aged and decrepit form the few remaining steps to his bed. He sat at its edge, and let out a weak sigh, listening as it faded into the waves outside. ....."For so long, we have had this peace," He said to himself, "For so long we have basked in the light of the Great Spirit's grace, freed from the plagues that once ravaged our lands... but still, I cannot shake it, this feeling of dread and terror still haunts me, after all these millennia. Could they return? Could we, even now, be standing at the precipice, blindly marching toward the abyss?" .....He sighed again, and a hand unseen, cloaked in darkness and guided by malice, reached toward him.

This is the last entry in the Project Terra Updates under that name, since the game is now in testing, and should have its own topic by the end of next month, I'm hoping before Brickworld. Now, there is still stuff to do for the game yet, since some non-critical items were withheld from the first round of testing in order to keep things going on schedule. I'll be getting to those within the week, if my new schedule pulls through. Then, I'll be sending the game off to Neya for the second round of testing (with all of the material in the Demo). After that, it's just a matter of making the topic. Now, for the next round of teasers: Here's images of the Overworld tiles for two of the first three towns (the second and third, to be exact). Note the sheer size of the city (relative to the town). I'll be making a unique overworld tile for each town and standalone dungeon in the game, and many (most) of them will be at least two or three charset-tiles across. Some, like the city here, will be simply huge. Also, here's a screenshot inside the second town, Za-koro: That mask on a stick in the corner is actually a save point. This second town, in case you hadn't guessed by now, is located on the eastern half of a rather familiar place in the Matoran Universe: Zakaz. It isn't quite the Zakaz you remember, though. There are still plenty of Skakdi roaming around, but there's been a bit of a truce made since the Matoran began migrating there. Still, the quality of life isn't much better than it was in the olden days... And, as a bonus, here's a profile of one particular Skakdi who resides (part-time) in this town: Varr: Varr has only ever known the world from the vantage of port towns and the deck of his ship, the Takea. He claims to know all the wisdom the world has cast to the seas, but maintains the front of a war-hardened Skakdi when on shore. Unlike his fellow Zakaz-dwellers, he maintains a strong, impenetrable moral core that he claims weighs so heavily on him that it makes the Takea tilt when he walks around on deck. It's only a matter of time now... EDIT: There have been a couple of setbacks, so it'll probably not get released before Brickworld, but the Demo should definitely be out by the end of June. EDIT 2:Well, I should probably note that the setbacks I mentioned earlier are that my non-BZP tester has mysteriously disappeared... I've still managed to get the stuff I need to done with this, and only 3 things remain (on my list) for it to be released to the Beta Testing (for real this time): 2 of them are graphics, and the third is to go through the files and remove any spoiler content so the game isn't completely ruined. Hopefully, I'll have it in a fully test-ready state by the end of the weekend. EDIT 3: I just tested out the last major graphic to be added to the Demo, and realized that I forgot to program the last cutscene, so apparently I have a bit more work left before I can send the game off to the second round of testing. By the way, Neya, if you're reading this, that means you'll be getting the link to the tester's package soon--very soon. EDIT 4: Testing is taking longer than anticipated, but the Demo will be released soon. I've already started working on Demo 2, by the way, so the Demo 1 release delay won't affect the rest of the game.

Thanks. Wait until you see some of the battle graphics (namely enemies). I've worked pretty hard to make sure the colors get preserved in their conversion to the 256-color pallette, which isn't easy with some of these enemies (a Metru-Red enemy with green eyes gave me some trouble, as well as a Metru-Green with red eyes one). Although, in contrast, the battle animations are nothing special, and are mostly default ones (the really spectacular ones are coming much later, and will be involved in that second, super-secret battle mechanic I've mentioned). Also, on the subject of graphics, I've only got one charset left to make (and some story stuff left to do), and then the game'll be ready to go into testing. It won't be long now...

Project Terra Update #11 As far as progress goes, the third dungeon is fully mapped, and all of the puzzle/item finding elements have been added in. There's still a bit of story programming left to do, and a charset to be made for the dungeon's boss, but there isn't much left after that before the game can go into testing. I have to admit that the dungeons, with the exception of the second one, are going to be very same-y in the Demo, but given the locations I've chosen, there wasn't much room for a drastic variation. At least with the last cliff-looking one, you'll get a real sense that you're in a different sort of place, especially by the time you approach the end. Also, as I said in the Piraka Mania topic, there isn't going to be much emphasis on puzzles in Project Terra. There will be a couple of rudimentary puzzles in the Demo, but nothing terribly complex: you'll have to be dealing with enemies the entire time, so brainwork will be kept to a minimum. Besides, you don't see very many opportunities for block-pushing or switch-pressing when you're climbing mountains or wading through sewers (not that I haven't tried that, but this game's supposed to be more serious, so random things like that are a bit out of the question). Now, on to the screenshots (like I promised)! Dungeon #2: The Sewer System Dungeon #3: The Mountain If you're wondering what dungeon #1's big fancy title is, it's The Cliffs. It's not really that big (or spectacular) a dungeon. Also, as I said earlier (somewhere), the main reason I even include it as a dungeon is because it has a boss at the end. And... I just spotted a graphical flaw in the second screenshot... fixing... Seeing as you've seen two screenshots already, I think another character bio would be overkill at this point, so… that's it for this update. For the next update, I'll try to wait until the stuff for the alpha-beta (as Neya put it) is done and sent out. I also think I'll reveal some more substantial information, like the location of the first island in the Demo, and maybe a screenshot of the second town. We'll see. EDIT: It turns out there was a bit more left to do than I initially thought, mostly in little graphical bits that were too small and isolated to make their way onto the official checklist (like a Matoran sprite that needs an injured leg and a boss charset that I'm not too happy with). Still, the Demo should be done and sent out to the alpha-beta testing sometime this week, and the Demo (and topic) will be released sometime before Brickworld. EDIT 2: I may just add in a screenshot of a sprite for the city region (namely the overworld sprite for it). It's looking really good, and will help give a sense of scale for the game, since I may as well include the graphic for the second town for comparison.

Considering you've set the record for longest reply to a Project Terra post, and are the only one to ask so far, I'll say... yes, but with one condition: You'll be getting a different beta from the one I'm going to be sending to a friend here (where I am right now, not BZP). The difference is, due to time constraints, he'll be getting a version that won't have some non-essential bits (battle backgrounds, miscellaneous NPCs, opening title animation, etc.), and you'd get a version that (probably) has those in there, so it will take a bit longer to get it out to you. Also, prepare for the longest first demo of your life. By the way, I'm training to beat Red right now, so there won't be as much intensity with Pokemon after that (I'm thinking Saturday I'll go and scale Mt. Silver to face him. I don't need to get Moltres since I already have it, so it'll take less time). On the other hand, my Dex is only 1/4 of the way full... Oh, here's one thing against them: grinding. So... much... grinding... clock... at... 88 hours... and... rising... Oh, and I've got a screenshot (actually saved on my computer right now), and I'll post it in the next update. I've also prepared for making the chipset to that second dungeon. On a tangent, I realized that, technically, there are four dungeons in the Demo (depending on how you look at it), but two of them are small,one-map transitional dungeons (one actually leading directly to a larger dungeon, and one that everyone here should find more than a bit familiar). The logic behind calling it three dungeons is that one of the transitional dungeons has a boss at the end. Otherwise, it's literally just a path with some items on the wayside. Oh, I should mention that the early parts of the game approach FF13 levels of linearity. The difference is that Project Terra actually has you change direction every once in a while . Also, there are towns in this game. On that note, I should probably get to bed and stop teasing this thing. I want to be refreshed for my gamemaking class (a.k.a. Astronomy) tomorrow . Edit: Is that banner in your sig... your team? Remind me not to battle you... Gira is level 52, everyone else is in the 60's. Yep. Currently trying to grind on Gym Rematches and find Ditto so I can get a Synchronizer with a good nature. Occasional Pokeathelon. And with the aid of my Arcanine's Intimidate, Morbuzakh's (Victreebel's...) Sleep Powder (with a Choice Scarf as a speed booster,) and Vezok's (Feraligatr's...yes I named my entire team barring Steelix [Violet City link trade,] and Arcanine [named for a puppy I have named Marco,] after Bionicles...Gira is named Gorast, Yanmega is named Matau,) I beat the E4 rematch with no pokemon higher than Level 58 at the time, and without forcing any of Lance's team to use Struggle. So your friend gets an "alpha-beta," I get the "beta-beta" after he's revised a few glitches and such. Okay, I can do that, and I have some experience already from Piraka Mania. The XP computer is back up and running, and I should be able to get on it for at least an hour a day... Neya Out. After I wrote that last part, I looked back and realized... wait a minute... I have a Giratina! It's level 1 right now, though. I need to get its move sets and everything figured out before I start training it, though. That's for summer, though. I should probably try to get a Riolu between now and then... maybe by breeding from a Lucario from the GTS (I really don't like the safari zone...). Yeah... the summer's going to be about team-building and dex-filling, at least with Pokemon. On a random note (as if this wasn't just one long one anyway), I've only named one of my Pokemon after anything Bionicle, namely Spherus, the Electrode I used to fight/catch Latios (who I call Picard, one of three Star Trek-named Pokemon in my box right now (the other two are Data, my Magneton, and Lore, my Porygon). If I ever catch a Latias, I've decided I'll name her Troi.). Wait... I just remembered--My Tauros is named after the second main boss of Piraka Mania, Kahne... Wow, that's an obscure reference... Also, I've beaten Red and gotten all the legendaries I can catch at the moment since then... My Feraligatr, Kraid, has now reached Lv 81, with most of the rest of the Red-beating team not far behind (except Dood, my Golem. He's been at Lv 72 since before the Red Battle). Also, just to randomly brag about this incredible stroke of luck: I caught Groudon in Soulsilver in 6 turns, first try, and no, I didn't use a Master Ball (that'd be for my Mewtwo). Anyway, yeah, you'll be getting a "beta-beta," though the differences will mostly be additional, non-essential graphics, like battle-backgrounds. I say non-essential because they aren't necessary for testing the game, at least not at the moment. By the way, I should be getting Update #11 up tonight.

Well, here's big news: The second dungeon, which I will now reveal was a Sewer dungeon for a large city (and, if anyone remembers Taluka Book 2, is far, far superior to that dungeon in just about every way), is sprited, mapped, programmed and populated; in short, the dungeon is DONE. There's another huge step toward releasing the demo completed. As far as content goes, I've got the rest of the Demo all basically planned out, and should have the game in the first round of Beta testing by the end of the month, likely sooner. So what exactly is left? Here's a basic list: -Dungeon #3 -Battle Backgrounds -Some minor stuff to fill in (huts I haven't mapped or coded yet for the second town, mostly) -Musical touch-up (not much left here, though one dungeon theme is still way too quiet and the mandolin in the title theme is too high-pitched) -A couple of sprites, including the Save Point graphic and the overworld sprite for the city (I have it sketched already, and may have a scan of that uploaded soon). -Programming the Dojo in the second town. That's most of what's left. So what's this about a Dojo? Why is there a Mandolin in the title theme? Why is there a city and why are you going into the sewers? I'm not going to say much more yet, except that the Dojo is a place you will want to visit both now and later, and that you should be sure to go in and learn a thing or two before heading off to the second island. And now, for the obligatory teaser. I was originally going to post the bio for the third playable character, but it spoils too much (namely the name of the city, and by logical extension the identity of the second island--yes, it is a familiar place from the Matoran Universe, and the third dungeon even more so). This time, it's an NPC, but an important one for the story, especially the Demo. Turaga Kohlni (Coal-nee): One of only two remaining Turaga, Kohlni has taken up residence in the village of Cho-koro. He is wise from his travels, and willing to share whatever knowledge he has to whomever it may benefit. He speaks little of his experiences directly, but many believe he was part of the final ousting of the Banished Ones. And I've fulfilled the purpose of a teaser: to answer one question (that you likely didn't ask in the first place), and raise more questions in the process. Until next time, I'll be gamemaking... ooh... 8:00. Time to evolve that Eevee... Update: It's 11:00, and wow... The third dungeon's looking amazing. It's only a small part of the overall dungeon, but the first map actually just impressed me. It's not even done yet, either... there's hundreds of tiles worth of detail and the entire outer edge regions left to map, but... I wish I could show you, but that'll have to wait. Once it gets all its details and features, then... then it'll be awesome. Update 2: Well, it's tomorrow now, and I've decided two things: 1. Forget the mandolin (turns out it was a Dulcimer anyway), and 2.I'll be posting a new screenshot of the second, and possibly third, dungeon with the next full update.

This isn't going to be as long an update, but it's still significant: The chipset for the second dungeon, the biggest thing that's impeding progress right now, is about halfway done. There was a minor setback when I realized that the new tiles for the "walls" facing the screen were a full tile too short. I'll have to re-sprite those (these new tiles are unlike anything I've done before, and the results should make this a very interesting dungeon indeed), but that shouldn't take too long. For now, though, I've got a double dose of teasers for you. First, it's a screenshot of the not-quite-a-dungeon on the second island: Second, it's another character bio, this time from the other character in the elevator: Raika (Ray-kuh): Arikan's best friend and, by his own account, bodyguard, he never ceases to be amazed at his friend's personality. Having lost his home and former life to a volcanic eruption, he stays in his Cho-koro almost exclusively to keep Arikan in line. Whenever his fellow villagers ask him of his past, he shrugs them off, claiming that the present is all that matters. On a side note, I have the two remaining dungeons planned out and ready to be made. The biggest thing keeping me from doing them is that tileset, because the dungeons make more use of the storyline variable than anything I've previously done, and I don't want to go ahead and do anything more until I make sure I know what value that variable will be by the end of the dungeon. It's just a debugging thing, but it's significant. Random Update (5/4): Well, the chipset's now mostly done, and the basic rooms and structure of the second dungeon are mapped. The game is now continuously playable up until the point where you're supposed to meet the second boss. Also, as a random aside, I think I'll begin to divulge the true title of this mysterious project, but not all at once: You'll get the first word in the next update And no, it's not "The" or "Piraka," but I think you could've guessed that by now. EDIT 3: Never mind. I'll just keep the title a secret (for those who hadn't seen it in the screenshot) until release. EDIT: WHOA! Speaking of titles... turns out the screenshot had it in the window frame... Deleted for now... EDIT 2: And just like that, it's restored... here's hoping nobody noticed that...

Considering you've set the record for longest reply to a Project Terra post, and are the only one to ask so far, I'll say... yes, but with one condition: You'll be getting a different beta from the one I'm going to be sending to a friend here (where I am right now, not BZP). The difference is, due to time constraints, he'll be getting a version that won't have some non-essential bits (battle backgrounds, miscellaneous NPCs, opening title animation, etc.), and you'd get a version that (probably) has those in there, so it will take a bit longer to get it out to you. Also, prepare for the longest first demo of your life. By the way, I'm training to beat Red right now, so there won't be as much intensity with Pokemon after that (I'm thinking Saturday I'll go and scale Mt. Silver to face him. I don't need to get Moltres since I already have it, so it'll take less time). On the other hand, my Dex is only 1/4 of the way full... Oh, here's one thing against them: grinding. So... much... grinding... clock... at... 88 hours... and... rising... Oh, and I've got a screenshot (actually saved on my computer right now), and I'll post it in the next update. I've also prepared for making the chipset to that second dungeon. On a tangent, I realized that, technically, there are four dungeons in the Demo (depending on how you look at it), but two of them are small,one-map transitional dungeons (one actually leading directly to a larger dungeon, and one that everyone here should find more than a bit familiar). The logic behind calling it three dungeons is that one of the transitional dungeons has a boss at the end. Otherwise, it's literally just a path with some items on the wayside. Oh, I should mention that the early parts of the game approach FF13 levels of linearity. The difference is that Project Terra actually has you change direction every once in a while . Also, there are towns in this game. On that note, I should probably get to bed and stop teasing this thing. I want to be refreshed for my gamemaking class (a.k.a. Astronomy) tomorrow . Edit: Is that banner in your sig... your team? Remind me not to battle you...

All right, it's been WAY too long since I've posted an update here, which is both good and bad. The good news is that the battle system I've been talking about is programmed, and most of the stuff left to do is in those two dungeons I haven't yet gotten around to. The bad news is that progress has been slower than I'd like, because of schoolwork escalating and the remarkably addictive phenomenon known as Pokemon Soul Silver… so I guess I'll say I've switched from "Development" to "Research" modes, which is a bit fitting in this case, since I have a rather pokemon-esque element chart printed out for use in making this game… and no, it's not a Pokemon clone. Now, as for the Demo's release date… I'm not entirely sure at this point, but it is coming, and sometime hopefully within the next couple of months. School 's only going to get more intense for the next few weeks, but once June hits, I'll have a lot more free time. I may send a Beta of the Demo out to BZPers, but we'll see how things go between now and then. In light of the delay, I won't release another character profile until next time. I will, however, say one thing that is perhaps more revealing: The status screen is to the game as Buffalo were to Native Americans: Nothing will go unused.

Well, work on the game has slowed lately, but there is still progress being made. The exteriors of the two remaining towns are mapped, and the game is theoretically playable from the start to the time you reach the second town continuously. I need to program the story elements for the second town and make a ship (which will likely end up a placeholder until I can make/find a more fitting graphic, since it's really not supposed to be a ye olde pirate ship, which is what's currently available). The lower half of the largest town is still fairly barren, with only two buildings and some basic elements that mark where important events are to take place. For the underbelly of an enormous city, that's really not quite enough As far as graphics go, I still haven't made that one dungeon chipset, or that enemy skill animation. There's a little more I'd like to get done this week as far as the game goes, but I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to finish before then. Oh, and I know this is April Fool's day and all, but this is just a normal status update. If it did have something to do with the day, you would probably see a download link somewhere in this post. Also, I think I'll hold back on the teasers, since anyone reading this won't believe them anyhow.

Well, there's good news: I've programmed that battle system to the exact level I wanted to for the Demo, which means it's fully operational as long as nobody levels up past Level 16. Beyond there, the programming's incomplete, but you shouldn't need to go past there, especially considering one character in the Demo can't go past level 10. That said, work on the battle system really isn't done, since I'll be testing and balancing everything out over the next few weeks. Right now, I'm tweaking the first "scene" of Act I, since it was a bit too hard to finish, which isn't good, considering you need to get through that before the game's story ever really begins. But like I said, I'll be fixing that as I go along. Also, for the first Demo, I won't be hiring any Beta Testers from BZP. I've got a friend around here who's seen the game as a work-in-progress and wants to test it, so I don't think it'll be entirely necessary at this point. Besides, it would ruin the surprise when it's eventually released. However, at this point, "eventually" is looking like it'll be sooner than I expected. There's still a lot to do, so it'll be most likely sometime in April, but most of what's left is split between mapping and graphics, with the latter category being quickly eroded. Right now the biggest hurdles are the battle backgrounds and the chipset for a Sewer System area. There's also the chipset for the second village, but I think I'll downsize my ambitions for that one, since recoloring those Bonesiii huts is a real pain with all the different colors used. Now, since I'm getting to the point where it'll only be 2 or 3 more updates before the Demo's done, it's time to start some more definite teasers. First up, here's a profile for one of the two characters you've been seeing in those screenshots from earlier (the pronunciation guide will help for other characters): Arikan (AH-rih-kahn): A bright, optimistic explorer from the fishing village of Cho-koro, he has always wanted to leave his humble roots behind him. His fellow Matoran usually go along with whatever ideas he has, within reason, and keep an eye on him when he's around town. At times, his enthusiasm and naiveté get him into trouble, but he knows that someone is usually there to help him. Now, back to gamemaking!

Well, this was a bit later than I expected, but I've made some good progress lately. In short, with the exception of one weapon that won't even appear until much later in the game, the battle graphics for the heroes are DONE! – for the Demo, at least. I've also gotten all of the enemy graphics done, with some minor revisions necessary to make the quality more consistent. In that department, that only leaves the backgrounds and some battle animations. That said, I still have yet to really delve into the battle system enhancements, and I'll have to program them completely for all of the available characters before the Demo is released. The good news on that front is that one of the characters has this enhancement locked, so there only needs to be that one version programmed. After all that, the only thing remaining is to make the chipsets and map the towns and dungeons (and ship—there will be a ship) and add the necessary map events. Since it might be a while before my next update (I hope to have that battle system programmed before next time), here's another screenshot, by coincidence showing the one enemy graphic that needs to be redone. And yes, I know it's the same background from Piraka Mania. I'll address that when the topic opens. Actually, I'm already working on that battle system, and while I'm on it, I may as well say that, while reading around on the forum, I discovered that the system is being worked on by other RPGmakers here independently of my own efforts, and it seems we may even use similar methods to solve the problems with the system. In any case, it's looking like the programming aspect of it will take less time than I thought, even though I've revamped my original plan for the specifics of it—it was all in the stats, though, so revamping wasn't that hard.

Well, considering I have very little experience with the genre (both making and playing), it'd be pretty hard for me to make one. Although, now that you mention it, an early idea for the game was to make it an RTS; the folders where I keep work-in-progress materials still go by its original codename, Project S1 (S for Strategy). Somewhere along the line, though, it melded with another idea and transformed into its current form. That's actually how a lot of my really good ideas come to be: they start as separate, not-quite-as-good ideas and get mixed together, forming an amazing super-idea that eventually gets put into production. I think this was the first time it's happened to me for a BZP game idea, though.

This is an unexpected turn of events: things are getting done, at a very good pace no less! Anyway, the battle charsets for the first two playable characters (the ones in the screenshot from earlier) are done, quite a bit sooner than I anticipated, and I even finished an entire SET of weapon graphics, so all the disk-based weapons are essentially done for the rest of the game. That means that as far as battle charsets and weapons go, I'm halfway done for the content of the Demo!--Wait, I just remembered that some status ailments need custom graphics... those won't be in the Demo, though, so it's not really an issue right now. As for everything else, the enemy graphics are done, and the enemies for the second region need to be programmed. The mapping, which I'm waiting until later to do, is still very much incomplete, especially for that second region (though the elevator in the screenshot is done and works perfectly). The biggest thing standing in the way of that part is that I need to make one chipset from scratch and modify at least four others, a part of the process I'm not looking forward to, in all honesty. It'll be worth it, though. The world presented in this game is going to be... just epic. I'm not sure I can quite describe what I have in store yet. All I can say right now is that the later parts of the game will completely blow away anything I've done before on BZPower. On a mechanical note, The first battle system just got a hitch, but I think it can work to my advantage, because while it means I have to program each character's attributes for this system separately, it allows for some continuity. I can't explain right now, but you'll get it once you see the game yourselves. By the way, I'm really hoping for a March/April release date for the first Demo. It might have to get pushed back until May, but I'm really hoping for sooner than later, but there's too many factors at play right now to accurately say when it'll get finished.

Well, it's been entirely too long since I've gotten a blog post in, but there's good reason for that (well, sort of...): I've been waiting until I finished the first dungeon. So... Dungeon 1 is complete! Don't hold your breath in anticipation just yet, though--There's still 2 more dungeons left to make, and they're both longer and more complex than this one. One of them will even require a custom-made chipset, one that I've been wanting to make since Piraka Mania was still only a couple of Demo's old, but haven't had a definite place for. As for what I'm currently doing, I'm finishing off the last of the enemy graphics for Act I. As of right now, only one needs a significant amount of work done on it (since the sprites I'm using don't have the right combination of poses for this particualr graphic), and one just needs recoloring. The rest are all basically either done or near-done, with the first half of the enemies already implemented and programmed. After that, I think I should start on some of the battle animations for the characters and skills. Now, about those two battle-related systems I mentioned a while back. I won't say what they are yet, but I will say that one of them (the one not available in the Demo) has not, to my knowledge, been used in any RPGs here on BZPower before. The other likely has, but perhaps not to the level of sophistication and customizability as what I'm working on here. Oh, and you'll have ample opportunity, by the time the game is done, to use both of these systems, which I've been working from the beginning to integrate into the gameplay on a very deep level, to their full advantage. With that, I should probably get back to work, so it doesn't take another month for me to update the blog...

Things are moving along on Project Terra, admittedly a little slow for my liking, but they are moving along. The good news here is that I'm getting past one of the major hurdles in the design process, namely the fact that I hadn't yet gathered the necessary chipsets, meaning that I couldn't map any further. So far, I've got one of the two remaining town chipsets mostly done, with mostly interior stuff left to add (mostly furniture), one of the three dungeon chipsets in about the same condition (missing some miscellaneous rocks and stuff), and another dungeon chipset only about halfway done. That just leaves one dungeon and one town chipset that currently have yet to be made, in addition to one that I don't really know how I'm going to make, considering I have nothing on which to base it in my gamemaking experience. As for other progress, I've got the bosses for Demo 1 done, with only some tweaking left to do when I work some more on one of the two big battle-related systems. In case I didn't say this before, one system will be available from Demo 1, while the other will not. I'll also take this opportunity to say that the two systems are independent of each other, so working on one will not affect progress of the other. Now, on to something a little more interesting than game production babble: the first screenshot of Project Terra: For reference, Raika is the guy on the right. As for the other guy... you'll find out when the time comes... For now, though, there's quite a bit of work left to be done before Demo 1 is ready for release.

Actually, no. The one that, at this point, is pretty much canned is one nobody here on BZP has heard of, and I do mean nobody. Actually, I shouldn't say "canned." Maybe "shelved" is a better term, because I may reconsider making it once I'm a bit more skilled in the required programming areas.

Since I won't start a topic for Project Terra until it's ready for the Demo to be released, I'll be posting status updates here. As far as progress goes, the gameplay, excluding enemy encounters, through the first section of Act I (a.k.a. the Demo's contents) is basically complete. The same goes for the story up until that point. The other two sections of Act I are only about 10% done each, with most of the work done on them so far being in story planning and enemy programming. Once I decide what graphics to use, I'll start mapping those areas. Right now, though, I'm working on the Boss battles, and making sure those are up to the standards I'm placing on this game. Two of the bosses are complete, and the third battle (second chronologically) has yet to be programmed. Speaking of boss battles, I should probably mention that this game is not going to feature the Auto-battle ability Piraka Mania did, in part because of the bosses. These are designed to be more challenging than most RPG bosses, and the Auto-battle system would basically be a one-way ticket to the game over screen. The bosses of Project Terra are going to be a real challenge, and a place to put the other combat systems in the game to the test. What are these combat systems? That's a post for another day... All I can say is that they are coming along smoothly, and one of the two big ones will be featured in the Demo. The other... that's for later in the game, and it's too critical to the story of the game to spoil right now.

It's a strange thing I've noticed about myself: I have, especially recently, had to make decisions that defied normal classification. They weren't, as one would expect, hard decisions. They've stared me in the face, making the results obvious, and just waiting for me to accept that that choice was the obvious one. Another such decision has presented itself to me over the past couple of weeks, and I don't think anyone who's been waiting this whole time will like what I'm about to say. For the time being, and for the foreseeable future, I will stop working on The Taluka Chronicles. That's not to say I'm canning the entire project, but I can't at this moment say if I'll go back to it within the foreseeable future. Now, I have to say this was not an instantaneous decision, nor did it spring out of nowhere. If anyone reading this goes back into the blog entries, they'll notice that, in the beginning of the Taluka Book 1 Gold production period, they came around rather frequently, once a week, with new content each time. Well... look back at the last couple of entries and you'll see they're about three weeks to a month apart. The reason for this is that I've gotten stuck in the game's production, about a quarter of the way through the first dungeon, and have been there for about a month. Mostly, this is because I've lost the will to keep making that same game I've already finished... Also, remember Book 1 Silver? Well, the reason for the naming scheme back then, with Silver being a quick (and it turns out sloppy) re-skin of the original game was that I was planning on making Gold just as soon as Piraka Mania got through its planned quick production cycle. That was 2007, meaning the game had been slowly building to the brief Demo I released last year for two full years. It was getting horribly stale to me, and I couldn't really see myself continuing with the project after realizing that. Add to that the fact that I got stuck on dungeon number 1 and it looked like it would take another Piraka Mania-long eternity to complete. There is another reason I stopped, a more proximate reason. If anyone remembers (or goes back to read) my last blog post, I mentioned four codenamed projects I had cooking up. Well, one of them, Project Terra, is the big reason I started questioning whether I would continue with Book 1 Gold. I've been working a lot with it lately, at least comparatively, and I realized that if I pushed through with Taluka and let this one slide to the wayside for a year or two, I would risk having the same thing occur with that game, and I really don't want that to happen to it. So, this brings me to the good news of the new year: Project Terra is now entering production as my next game project. I'm not ready to say too much about it yet, though, including the official title, as it gives too much of the story away, and that's the part I especially want to keep secret until the topic opens. However, I will say that it's a traditional RPG, more traditional in its gameplay structure than Piraka Mania was. Also, it's shaping up to be the biggest adventure I'll ever make for BZPower, spanning a world that is, at this point, too epic to describe (and would give away too many spoilers). In short, this game should more than make up for Taluka Book 1 Gold's postponement. That said, I don't think the topic will be ready until at the very earliest later this month, more likely early/mid February, since I'd prefer to have the full first Demo done before I start the topic, and that Demo will, with the current plan, contain about 1 to 2 hours of gameplay. Right now I'm working on enemy character graphics and writing dialogue. More information will come soon, once it becomes available.

Just a note: This entry isn't going to be a very fun one. It's more of a history lesson. Also, there will be some bad news, but also some good news, toward the end of this post. Now, to all those aspiring gamemakers out there who haven't been on the forums very long (if Piraka Mania was the first game of mine you noticed, listen up): Good gamemaking takes lots and lots of practice. It may not seem like I've had much at a casual glance, but go a bit deeper, and you'll realize just how much I've had over the past five years (yes, I've been gamemaking that long). Here's a brief list of those games of mine that made it to completion: Taluka: A Ta-Matoran's Tale (2005): Yes, there was a Taluka game before the current iteration, meaning that Gold is a remake of a remake (more on that later). This one was fairly simple, though it was just starting to get interesting when my hard drive got wiped in the spring of that year. The Taluka Chronicles: Book 1 (2006): I got right back on the horse, though, and with a new plan, a new set of programming skills, and a bold new vision, The Taluka Chronicles began its epic journey. The Taluka Chronicles: Book 2 (2007): Immediately after completing the first, I began on the second, an even more ambitious game that, unfortunately suffered from overzealous design and generally being too big for its own good (500 maps and fields that frequently went over 300x300 units each). The Taluka Chronicles: Book 1 Silver Edition: Not a real remake, just a re-skin and some extra challenges added and some revamped dungeons. This is a lesson to everyone: NEVER RUSH A GAME PROJECT! This was rushed, and it shows. It's also half the reason I'm going with the total remake approach with Gold. Piraka Mania (2009): Two years in the making (read: delay), this is my most recent game, and the design clearly has improved across the length of the game, as the early challenges are far less interesting, in my opinion, than the later ones. It was also my first time in a long while that I attempted to use the classic-style RPG battle system. Now, that may seem like a lot, but there's more. The games I'm about to speak of have never been fully released. For one reason or another, they just didn't make it. This is the hall of the Canned Games. Taluka: A Ta-Matoran's Tale (2004): My first real attempt at RPGmaking, it started with RTP tilesets and crude charsets based on the Rayge Kit 2.0 masks. It never got very far, because a virus found its way onto the computer, and the hard drive had to be wiped. It managed to escape, though, on a CD with the compressed .lzh file from saving the gamedisk. Unnamed Takanuva RPG (2005): This was a direct precursor to the second version of Taluka, and it was set in a post-Mask of Light Mata Nui, where Takanuva went around the island performing various quests. It didn't get very far, since I realized the things I was having Takanuva do were better fit for a Matoran than a Toa, so I re-worked the setting and character and Taluka rose again. Taluka: A Ta-Matoran's Tale Part 2(2005/6): I originally planned a sequel to the first released Taluka game, which went along with the flashback story of the time, telling Taluka's story from the beginning. That aspect was revamped and started as Book 0 Taluka: A Ta-Matoran's Tale Part 3(2005/6): I just couldn't stop... This one was barely formed, and was supposed to put Taluka and co. on Voya Nui, where they would somehow have adventures and become Toa. It progressed to a point where you could walk up to a crude map of the island in the middle of a cave, and that's it. TOA (Unknown): This was actually two games. One was in Gamemaker, and barely worked (you had to jump in order to move, and the best you could do was run around and try not to die). The other was in RPGmaker, and was set to feature linear levels, each one contained on a different map. Level 1, Tahu on a beach, wasn't even completed. TOA 64 (2006): So I tried again, modelling the quest of the Toa off Mario 64. I had just gotten into the swing of production when the hard drive crashed, wiping the computer. I tried again using the coding techniques I had learned from Taluka Book 1, but projectile code was still new to me, and it didn't really work right. The structure of gameplay may yet... maybe... come to fruition. I shouldn't say anything more on it, though. INIKA (2007): This project was one that only two people on BZPower knew about: Me and co-conspirator 401K. The plan was to make a hybrid RPG/Shooter in either RPGmaker (what it was decided to be on) or Gamemaker. It was set to be dark, gritty, and generally an awesome game. It even had a moral choice system planned that yielded both different endings and different semifinal bosses. It got to the point of making a basis map from which the maps with enemies would be copied and modified, and some graphics were made, but the tech demo part of it didn't quite materialize, and when 401K disappeared, the project quickly faded. Unnamed RPG with Moral Choice System (2007/8): This was another ambitious project, recycling the moral choices from INIKA. It faded primarily due to lack of interest on my part and the imposing force that was Piraka Mania. Certain aspects of it, though, including a world-spanning quest, a global disaster and a late-game tragedy among the heroes, are still in the mix for another project, which I won't name right now. The Taluka Chronicles: Book 2 Silver/Gold(2008): I had originally planned to remake both Books 1 and 2, but neither materialized. It's a shame, too, because there was an awesome idea for an arena-esque minigame planned for the remake. The Taluka Chronicles: Book 3 (2007): Yup. Here's the bad news. I've decided not to make Book 3--as a game. The reason is that the gameplay structure felt too stretched and stale to be worth making in that way, and didn't allow for nearly enough story. I may decide to make the game in a radically different form, or write it as an epic, but the version which was teased back in 2007 (before Piraka Mania caught the delay bug) will not be finished. Look back at that there: Counting all of the iterations, that's twelve games cancelled: That means that those games I've made are a pretty exclusive club. Now look at the number of iterations of Taluka: Not counting Silver, Gold is a fourth-generation remake. I think I can call myself a perfectionist now... Now for the good news I mentioned in the beginning: Part of the reason for Book 3's canning was another project, one that is still very early on and very secretive, but already, it shows remarkable promise. It has so much potential that I'm afraid it will eclipse Taluka in its epicness. All I can reveal right now is its codename: Project Terra, and it's one of four codenamed projects, each one at various stages of production. One of them isn't likely to come to fruition, but the other three... oh, it's going to be epic. BZPower had better last long enough to release these games. They are too amazing to be left by the wayside of the internet.

Well, progress has been painstakingly slow right now, but thankfully I've managed to get a decent chunk of time in to get somme serious work done on the first dungeon, the Pirates' Holdout. So far, the top two floors (F1 and B1) are fully mapped, with some programming left to do on them. Floor B2, however, is still only a sketch on paper, and is a bit more complex (and interesting) than the previous two floors (especially considering F1 consists of an empty cave and a staircase ). In all seriousness, though, it will be easily one of my best dungeons, and will be hopefully easily navigable even without a map to look at (not that it's necessary for a dungeon this small anyway). Also, I'm taking a bit of a different approach to how I map the dungeons, mostly to conserve programming time when it comes time to make the enemies work properly, in that I am putting multiple rooms on one map. Not all of the rooms on a given floor will be together, though--only those that are somehow related, like those that connect with each other along jagged or uneven lines that the square maps can't really work with very well. As a bonus, this makes the programming process easier to manage, since there are about half the number there would be otherwise, perhaps less in some of the larger dungeons (especially the last one, which currently has a rather large and dense labyrinth-like area for its middle basement. Note the words labyrinth-like. There will still be plenty to do there besides attempting to navigate the 150-by-120-unit... middle basement).

Well, here's a bit of a paradox: I go to college for a game design degree... which takes up so much of my time, I cannot design the game I'm working on... It's a miracle my head is in one piece right now, given that puzzle. Speaking of puzzles, I have good news: I finally managed to retrieve the dungeon plans I made for the first two dungeons of the game, which inexplicably managed to stay home when I came here. Anyway, let the dungeon-making commence! I may as well reveal a few details on these dungeons, even though only one will appear in the Demo. Dungeon 1: Pirate's Hideout This is the new dungeon of Hoi Island, a pirate-infested cave on the mountains of the isle. The puzzles here are going to be rather basic, and the emphasis is more going to be on combat and navigating the terrain (since Pokonas is not in the group, you can't jump over the ledges that separate parts of the rooms). It's going to seem a bit big given how early in the game it is, but it's also dense and going to have lots of little details (sort of like the various rooms in Rahkinni's Hideout from Book 2). Now, why are there pirates? I can't say yet. It's... a big surprise. You'll just have to see when you get there (and after when taking on Onuka's Side-Quest). Dungeon 2: Forbidden Caves In Silver, for those who had the patience to proceed, you found a rather familiar cave in Mount Vatuka. Well, it's back, complete with the Kraata chamber, but again, it's bigger and more dungeon-y. This will also likely be the creepiest dungeon in the game, given the (new, so no spoilers yet) story elements that take place here. On the gameplay side, the puzzles will be more interesting than the previous dungeon, since you will, by the end of it, have two different projectile-based tools to work with, in addition to your party. When I get the opportunity, I should probably take a picture of the model I'm using for the mid-boss of the caves. And, just because I'm in the describing mood... Dungeon 3: Abandoned Mine This will be off the path you follow to reach Onu-koro, and will be hidden away in the tunnel labyrinth. This dungeon will have a much more unified structure, based around a central shaft with tunnels going around it. There are actually some interesting side-rooms planned which will house various tools of the trade, and, if I recall, explosives... or not. There doesn't appear to be any, but that probably won't stop me. There's also a Kanohi-based puzzle and a link to another dungeon (I won't say which) in the design. Note that these designs are a bit old (at minimum six to eight months), but they're the best designs I've come up with. Well, I should probably get to making these instead of yakking about them, huh? That's it for this week.