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We have the best soundtrack in the world!

You can check out some game info and the entire Rorasuketo soundtrack by Michael Chadwick here . It's absolutely divine. When I said I wanted to pay homage to the Super Nintendo games of my youth, he went to town and grabbed some soundfonts from games like Final Fantasy IV, Earthbound, and Battletoads . I am so happy with the results. The battle tracks are head-bangers, and the emotional lows are perfectly bittersweet. I wouldn't change a thing. I've known Mike since the boom days of of LiveJournal  — which is a long time, for the kids following along at home. He's an immensely skilled guitarist and songwriter, and has a really impressive catalog of work . Originally, I was going to write the music myself, but Mike has far more experience. And in creative projects like this, doing everything yourself has the potential to turn out an inbred, constipated piece of art. Collaboration adds depth to the work that you might not have realized before. It lightens the workload....
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Check me out on Hacking the Grepson!

Cam here! I was interviewed by Matt and Mike of the Hacking the Grepson podcast. They're two hoopy froods who know where their towels are, and do a lot of programming - and a lot of talking about it! They have well over 100 episodes you can listen to. So go check them out! I even got a special version of the intro song in Super Nintendo soundfonts! It was so fun and cool to do a podcast, especially with these fine gents. Some of the things we talked about were: The process of starting and finishing projects, and the "juicy" in-between How roller derby is played My experience with coding The importance of limitations in the creative process What I use to make the game portion of  Rorasuketo,  as well as the art I give a lot of unsolicited advice Thanks so much for having me on the show! And tonight is the night for the big webcast ! Join the chat at 8 pm E/5 pm P/midnight GMT to ask questions of Cam, Mike, and Tiffany, and see how  Rorasuketo  is made. We'll be takin...
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Webcast and AMA March 20, 8 pm EDT/5 pm PDT.

  It's official! Yours truly (Cam), co-writer Tiffany, and composer Mike (of Hacking the Grepson ) will be streaming on YouTube on the evening of March 20 for the US (8E/5P), and the wee hours of March 21st for those in and beyond Greenwich Mean Time. I'll boot up RPG Maker MZ, make some maps and NPCs, and do whatever other tasks come up. We three will answer questions as we go! The webcast will be on YouTube. Save the link!
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Webcasting soon?

I have purchased a webcam (apparently Linus Tech Tips says it is good) and created an OBS setup that is looking fairly decent. Once the Tibbs-Babu Publishing YouTube channel has all its permissions set, I will start thinking about a date for a webcast. I will probably do things like make pixel art or even build a few remaining RPG Maker maps while answering questions from chat. Thrill! As you observe the great shower curtain (from PONY ) we mounted on the wall that cats have  definitely  not been climbing on for years, plus some other clutter. Also, my keyboard is greasy and I have to remedy that. But we're keeping it real around here. That's how we roll. Also, I will be appearing as a guest on the podcast  Hacking the Grepson  (yes, that is a play on a Hackers reference), which is co-hosted by our very own soundtrack composer Michael Chadwick. Release date TBA, but we'll be recording the episode soon. Matt and Mike are working on their own video game right now, so w...
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To date or not to date?

One of the first things Steam has you do as a developer is tag your game. Here's my first go-around. Note that these tags are selected from a list:   The risk with using the "dating sim" tag is that my game may be miscategorized as pornographic, either mechanically by Steam, or by human passersby.  Rorasuketo  is not pornographic in any way. But affection is a core mechanic, and I want people who like affection mechanics to be able to find and enjoy that aspect. No one's taking off their pants, but you do choose who you take on 1:1 social outings to get to know them better. In the gaming world, you call those "dates." And while my game has sports as a backdrop, I'm not totally comfortable calling it "a sports game." I would reserve that kind of thing for an actual simulator where you have more control over plays and so on. There is no "roller derby" or "roller skating" tag. Just "skating." Similarly, there is a lon...
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Affection Mechanics in RPG Maker: Gifts.

This is the post where someone says, "Wow, this person made this  way  too difficult for themselves, even for a rookie solo dev with a garbage workflow." Or even: "That is a lot of stuff I'm definitely not going to read." Well, what can I say? I'm trying to use as few plugins as possible. Plugins are code inserted by a third party on "top" of the preexisting RPG Maker structure. Don't get me wrong: Plugins are amazing. There are a lot of incredible programmers out there doing even more incredible things with the RPG Maker framework. I think I've paid for 3 or so plugins and used several other free ones. The two big ones are Hakuen Studio's font manager and the  Heads-Up Display Maker from Some Random Dude (no, that's his name). But what I'm afraid of is stacking 100 plugins on top of each other and getting to the dreaded point of "something's broken, and I have no idea where or why." This is something that  does ...
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You cut him!

Bout 1 is done. This is a big achievement! I have been putting it off for ages. It is starting to feel like Rora is finally coming together as one unit, not scattered into bits and pieces. It feels like it's really happening. I will stitch together these pieces into a whole. I find that being visible on Steam is holding me accountable and giving me the energy to work on the game every day, rather than my usual fits of starts and stops. At some point, I will need to tend to my homework more faithfully, but the game must march on as well. There are  expectations now. He's worried! You cut him! You hurt him! You see? You see? He's not a machine! He's a man! - Duke, Rocky IV
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Affection mechanics in RPG Maker: Dialogue.

We're getting into the weeds now. This is not for the faint of heart! And for aspiring game makers, I can't guarantee this is the easiest way to go about this, but it's what I've cobbled together during my time in RPG Maker MZ. First of all, I establish some variables. These are numeral integers that you can set, add to, subtract from, multiply, whatever - and then apply to any other variables or game parameters you like, like gaining or losing a very specific number of HP. I name one variable per teammate.   The idea: whenever you encounter a teammate for the first time, you can talk to them to raise their Affection variable a little bit. Let's say I want to plop the skater Wreck on a map. I create a new event - one square on the map. This will be Wreck. She will be hanging out, doing squats.   I open the event's details. On the left side of this window, I specify her image, that she'll be "stepping" (animated), that she doesn't change directi...
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