LordArioch
patreon
Sprite-stravaganza
🕑 Added 2016-10-06 09:29:41 +0000 UTC Hey all,So I just got the sprites back for the castle NPCs back from Keidi, so I thought I would share them with you guys. Some of them you've seen before, some you haven't, but you'll be meeting them in the next release. :)
In other news, I'm thinking of ways to overhaul the way the player encounters events, it just feels a bit disjointed to me at the moment with the jarring shift between the VN style and the walls of text. It is also looking like it'll still be a good while before I can hire Hikari as well, which means a lot of black screens until then. I'm thinking of moving to a grid based exploration system that combines random events with fixed event nodes. Cost wise, it'd be a lot cheaper to buy exterior backgrounds and sprites than a CG for every event, and they'd have also have more reuse value. There'd still be CGs eventually when money allows, but they'd be for dramatic moments like in the prologue, as opposed to every event.
Need to have a good think about this, as while it would allow for what I think are some really cool features (NPCs who move around the map on their own, narratives that play out with or without the player taking part, and nodes that are shaped by player choice and/or affected by passing of time being the ones that most interest me), it also throws up a few conceptual problems (how to limit how much a player can do each turn while allowing progress over time, how to create replayability with fixed map, etc.). Anyway, in the meantime I'll be working on new scenes (Rowan receiving his orders, tour of the castle, reunion with Alexia, etc.), just wanted to let you all know what was going on in my head.
Comments
Yron Vol
Already told you but love the sprites. Excited to see them in action when the time comes.
Curtis S.
I'm guessing the lady on the left is Cliohna, based solely on the tome adorning her hip. I wonder which one is X'Zaratl. It seems like an eldritch name, which makes me think it is either the lich or the four-armed sorceress. I suppose I should actually go through the posts from before I became a patron. I'm sure there's a ton of juicy information there. I could hardly wait for the next release before, now the wait is unbearable. Good job. I look forward to being introduced to all these characters properly. I do have one question though: will the castle NPCs have stats? I know you won't be able to train them like the Core NPCs, but it might be interesting if they had an Approval stat or something. For example, a martial NPC's approval would be raised by training troops or building defenses. A more fiscal NPC's approval would be raised by maintaining a large treasury and lowered by large expenditures in a single week. That approval rating could then affect the tone the NPC takes with Rowan during conversations. As for revamping the system, for the record, I do not find the current shift from VN to text jarring. That being said, I do very much recognize this as a work it progress, and I am much more likely to hold off judgement, both consciously and subconsciously, until such time as I have a better picture of how the pieces fit together therefore something I'm fine with now may become something I have a problem with at a later date. That being said, I think what you're proposing sounds interesting and look forward to what you may come up with. As for replayablitiy, if you are taking into account what happens if the player never shows up as all, as well as what decisions they make when the do, and the passage of time, including the difference in a mid-game encounter with a particular NPC depending on whether or not and how Rowan has interacted with that NPC prior, and there'll be a great deal of replayability. If anything, I think it might be more difficult to plan for the different combinations of variables and keep it from growing too complex. You'll probably need quite the flowchart. Time to go through the older posts on the stream and see what I've missed.
Yron Vol
Really feeling these sprites, can't wait to see them bring the castle to life :)
