It's a momentous day! Observe: I finished the storyline for Rorasuketo. The last map was a roller derby montage in chapter 4. A nice way to wrap things up. The game is... in its most raw form, "finished." Now the tweaking and fixing begins in earnest. I've got a few testers lined up, but first, my husband and I are each doing a playthrough to ensure there are no major game-breaking glitches that will stop everyone in their tracks. My first export actually gave an immediate error upon launch. (RPG Maker scans for used and "unused" images upon export, with the option to exclude the unused ones. However, employing an image through a third-party plugin, like a HUD, can apparently appear as "unused." But the file is actually used, and RPG Maker only figures that out at launch. That's my best assessment, anyway.) I have found a few missing screen fade transitions and unwarranted outfit changes. Things like that. So... I think we're going to b...
I was happy to come across this article today. In it, the creator of To The Moon , Kan Gao, talks about the process of making games, specifically within the confines of RPG Maker. He even used XP, one of the more "basic" editions. One of the things about using RPG Maker for a commercial title is that there's a huge stigma - this idea that if you are using a certain tool, your creation is bound to, well, suck. I will leave it to the player to determine if Rora specifically sucks or not, but even if it does, I don't think this stigma is fair. Anyway, here's a piece of the interview that stuck out to me: And one practical advice would be that while you should know where the game’s going – its spine and ending – don’t plan every detail out in advance. Planning and details are fun and creative; if you get all of them done first, what’s left is pure grind. Save some fun for scattering throughout the project, not all upfront. Yes! This happened organically with me, par...