Player Template

I started working on the first of a series of templates I'll be making for GM.

I only started today, so this one is limited to the player's basic movement, and an attack.
Basic template WIP

Once completed (Let's call it Platformer: Basic), the template will contain,

- Simplistic player moveset (idle, run, jump, fall, crouch, attack, shoot, hit, knocked down)

- Simple enemy AI (pace, follow, hop, shoot, etc)

- Basic collision detection

- Simple hazards

- Room switching

- Healing items

- Health bar HUD

- Start Menu

- Pausing

- Gameover/restart

- Simple H mechanic

More mechanics will come in more advanced templates down the line. The idea of this first template (when it's done) will be simply to allow you to make a basic game without getting held up by things like basic platforming physics. The foundation will be there, but in such a way that is easy to modify, replace, and build onto with your own content.

(However the file above isn't quite set up to be easy to understand yet, mind you, so it's more for those who are just interested.)

I'll also be doing a more comprehensive video tutorial series later on, to help with the fundamentals of Game Maker itself, so that you'll not only know how to use the templates, but how they work. I've asked this before, but feel free to make suggestions on what you'd like to see in a basic template, keeping in mind that it will be fairly simple.

This will all be free of course, but feel free to make a donation if you ever find any of it useful. (Let's just say that hiring an artist better than myself for the next game will be great, but hiring TWO would be even better)

Music

Did some music today.
https://soundcloud.com/kyrieru/falling-star



To be honest, I'm not really sure if I'll go with this style of music or not. I'm still half tempted to use Snes soundfonts like I did in the old Crimson Brave soundtrack.

While I was messing around in flash today I did some quick fanart. Might do some other H-game characters at some point.

Didn't draw her with a gun because I'm terrible at  drawing guns..

Also, just because pink haired link is awesome.

Blah

Well,

Progress has been somewhat slow. I've more or less been distracted by a bunch of annoying factors. I doubt the game will be done by the end of the year, but once it's finished I'll be hiring an artist and starting immediately, which I'm looking forward to. It will be interesting to see how fast I can develop a game when the main source of my procrastination is taken out of the picture.

On a side note, I'm going to start animating with flash daily. Even though I don't have time for stuff that takes too long, I think it will be helpful to do some 15 minute roughs.

Consider this an accurate representation of dealing with programming errors.

How is Flash for line animation? Fun.

How is it for coloring?

-____-

Animation again.

Took at shot at doing something short animation with color. Again trying to figure out an easy way to animate the head without too much fiddling. Kinda failed -__-

Also, if I had one complaint about raster animation, it's that there are no good programs for it..

How difficult is it really to have a simple pencil tool, onion skinning, basic transform tools, and a timeline? Everything out there is mess..

Rough head turn practice, or boy engrossed by ping pong match?

Either way, he has no neck.

It's always an odd feeling when I start animating characters, because I'm so used to drawing hair different every time. With animation, you have to keep it more or less consistent, so it's a bit tougher. I look forward to doing some animations with actual moving hair, though.

Anyhow, maybe next time I'll animate something you guys would actually want to see, rather than boring 3 frame sketches -__-

Status, Parasite in city

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hand drawn sprite frame

Tried a certain H game today,

Not going to name names but...it wasn't very good. To sum it up, great graphics, decent music..and terrible pretty much everything else..

That aside, it made me want to try doing a hand drawn sprite, to see how viable it would be in the future.

This was the result of my first attempt, which took roughly half an hour,

So basically, it would talk about half an hour per frame to animate, but may vary depending on what animation techniques I'd use. This is somewhat interesting, because doing a polished pixel art sprite can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour for the initial pose, yet takes less time to animate. Which, to my surprise, means it might actually be viable to do hand drawn sprites at some point, which would be neat, and probably a good change of pace.

More music again.

I guess you could call most of these music posts a bit of a warm up. I probably won't end up using them for the actual game.

https://soundcloud.com/kyrieru/shine

Music

This is what an hour of musical brain storming sounds like,
https://soundcloud.com/kyrieru/storm

Tends to be a bit all over the place. (*cough* 00:24 *cough*)

Anyhow, it's at the point where I need to start doing some music as I design levels, since the music actually kind of dictates certain elements. For instance, I sometimes pace the speed of the player's walk cycle and certain movements based on the first song you hear in the game. I'll also design levels around songs, if I've composed something that evokes certain themes.

....

POST ENDING STATEMENT. PROGRESS, ETC. BOOBS, ETC. NOT DEAD, ETC.

Progress on the game is going fine. The core mechanic ended up being completely different than I originally intended, but hey, that's game development for you. 

On a side note, here's a Kuro sprite I did because I was bored.

Hills? MEET GUY WITH BLOOD.

WELL THEN.

After getting exhausted, dizzy, and collapsing from walking halfway to a store that's just down the street, I kind of figured it was time to go to the hospital.

Turns out, the reason why I was in a state of perpetual weakness and fatigue was because my blood count was so low that I could have gone into a state of shock and died at any time. Funny, that.

Soooooooooo....

A few days and one blood transfusion later, I feel like I've activated some sort of infinite stamina cheat code. I had been like that for so long,  that I had forgotten what it was like to not run out of breath from walking up a hill, or what it was like to be able to wake up early in the morning with energy. An over the counter solution to a life threatening problem is a pretty good deal, if you ask me.

Anyhow.

I'll spare you the introspection one experiences when sitting in a hospital bed. For now I'm just glad to be home. Any long term changes to my life goals are irrelevant for now, since my first step is still just finishing another game. I'll worry about the rest later.

IN SUMMARY:
-Not dead
-Hills are my bitch
-There's this thing called a "sunrise"???
-HEMOGLOBIN

That is all.

Blah...

*What I feel like right now.*



Well then, without going into detail, let's just say that I've more or less been in a state that's made it impossible for me to work up until about five days ago. And now that I've gotten better, instead I've got something else that essentially makes me cripplingly tired all the time. Great.

Anyhow,

I've begun working on another game. Yes, again. What's the dumb reason this time you may be appropriately wondering..

Well, I kind of realized while working on the metroidvania that I'm making a dialogue heavy game despite never actually completing a game with text, and that it's success or failure on DLsite may hinge on having a proper Japanese translation. Two factors that I could see blowing up in my face pretty easily.

So, I'm working on another game, again. (Though not abandoning the metroidvania, considering I'm about 40% of the way done)

The gameplay will be very Mario World esque, focusing on a world map, alternate paths, secrets, and multiple ways to finish a level. The backgrounds are going to be dead-simple, more or less removing them as a factor in terms of development time. I imagine this will be the most casual of the games I've made so far, focusing less on difficulty and more on doing interesting things, or things that are just there for the charm.

(Kind of like the nifty shower scene you get in Lab after you beat a certain boss)

The game will have small amounts of dialogue, since that's part of it's purpose. Mostly just before certain battles, or during scenes in "towns" (by town I mean like two houses). 

My goal is to  release it before the year is up. I don't plan on doing CGs, which takes up a bit of time, but if the game turns out better than I expect when I finish it, I may consider adding them. After that it's back to the metroidvania, perhaps hiring an artist to speed things along.

That's about it, really. I have more I'd like to talk about, but I'm tired as hell, so I think I'm going to go collapse onto my bed now -__-

Done streaming

Well then, that was...exhausting..

For some reason there's something about streaming that makes doing pixel art a bit more difficult. Mostly because you feel obligated to do something interesting, rather than make corrections for an hour -__-

I may do more, but certainly not on a weekly basis. Takes a lot out of you to draw for four hours straight with an audience. Perhaps I'll just have the streaming window somewhere on the main page, and do it whenever I feel like it.

Anyhow, thanks to those of you who tuned in. It was fun.

First Stream

Starting the actual stream soon. For now I'm just doing a little setup, but feel free to use the chat in the meantime.

http://www.twitch.tv/kyrieru

(I'm basically just waiting a bit since the actual stream time wan't really clear -__-)

Will be doing a livestream

Well, I just got Twitch all set up, so I'll be giving it a shot sometime tomorrow, doing some pixel art. ( about 21 hours from the time of this post.)

I might start doing some streams here and there. Of course, the only thing holding me back from making it a weekly thing is that it would be a bit of a spoiler if you were seeing a bunch of things that were going to be in the game. Though I suppose I don't necessarily have to work on stuff for the game every time.

Let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see. (can't be pornographic, though, because of twitch.)

Controls

If there's one thing that can ruin any platformer, it's bad controls. 

The most common problem I run into is that developers divide up the player's actions between too many keys. At most, you should only have to concern yourself with three "action" keys. (non-directional keys that are easily accessible and consistently used during gameplay) Any more than that and the player will either have to use their pinky finger, or move their hand around the keyboard, which can easily lead to missed keystrokes.

Keeping in mind that the jump key should almost never be assigned to pressing "up", this means that you only really have two "action" keys to work with if you want to keep the player's left hand stationary. (And accurate)

In Kurovadis, for instance, melee and ranged attacks were assigned to the two action buttons, rolling was assigned to up and down (which each behaved differently), both ranged and melee attacks had a charged version, and you could do a downward punch by pressing down and attack. In total, that's 7 actions on two action keys, 8 if you count the fact that holding the ranged attack button makes you strafe.

Now imagine if there was a button for melee, a button for stronger melee, a button for a downward attack, a button for ranged, a button for a stronger ranged attack, a button that toggled strafing, and a button for rolling, 7 keys keys all on the left side of the keyboard. As you can imagine, it would get tiring pretty quick, and chances are you would only use the normal melee and ranged attacks, because the other buttons would be too out of the way. Hell, I've seen games where there are five action keys lined up horizontally. It's as bad as it sounds.

Of course, this is all because of the keyboard. With a controller you can get away with a lot more buttons, but there's something to be said for simple and intuitive controls, and for someone like me, I generally need to optimize the control scheme for PC anyway.

This game's controls..

Which brings me to my current game and it's controls. The player has three actions they can perform.
-Weapon 1 (can assign any weapon or spell)
-Weapon 2 (can assign any weapon or spell)
-Back dash

The problem comes with the back-dash. With the two "action keys" taken up by the two attacks, I need to apply it to something else. Here are the options..

-Back-dash by pressing up. (up is not used by anything)
-Back dash by pressing down and jump (will remove the ability to jump while holding down, forcing the player to release down just before jumping)
-Replace one of the action keys with the back-dash, assigning the second attack to up+attack (removes the ability to use this attack while crouching, on controllers)
-In an X,C,V setup, assign back-dash to the spacebar. (won't interfere with finger placement as much because it uses the thumb, but may not be as comfortable for some people.)
-Another option would be to double tap jump. (sort of like Castlevania X/Rondo of blood)

Looking at the options, the up key seems like the most sensible choice, since it doesn't really interfere with anything important (Unless you're using a joystick, maybe). I would have used the up-key to activate objects or enter rooms, but something like that can be assigned to a less important button, such as enter. I suppose I'll see which I prefer as development goes on.


Baaack to work...Currently animating an enemy per-day.

Text engine, 3d sounds

So, updates

I Finished re-implementing the text engine that I had originally made for Crimson Brave. Actually turned out to work in the new GM without much modification. 

I initially planned on having fullscreen character images, but then I remembered that the player might be able to change costumes, so I decided on simple mugshots instead.

Right now I'm working on the intro to the game, which includes a couple cutscenes and a few basic sections before the player reaches the actual map. The good thing about this as a goal is that it includes pretty much every aspect of the game, so once it's finished I can move on to the rest of the game with the entire engine already in place.

Other than that, the game will now also have 3d sounds. Meaning I can have certain background sounds that are louder or quieter and pan based on your location. Neat stuff. 

Other stuff 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mightyno9/mighty-no-9

First of all, I'm pretty sure this is the coolest damn thing ever.

For someone like me who is pretty cynical when it comes to the mainstream games industry, this is exactly the kind of development I want to see. Game designers who made classic games working on projects they care about, free from the financial influence of publishers? Yes please. To be honest, I'm more excited about the prospects of something like this happening more often than I am about the actual game.

Also, just thought I'd give a shout out to CashireCat, who recently finished an adult platformer. Check it out if you have the time.

http://dreamingofcheshirecat.blogspot.ca/

Equipment

I'm currently in the process of creating the equipment screen, and a question I'd eventually have to ask myself has come up. This is basically another one of those "thinking out-loud" and "explaining it to someone in detail to the point where I come to a decision myself" sort of posts. So..yup.

Progressive vs non-progressive weapons

The question is this, should items all be equally powerful, but behave differently (different speed, power, status effects, weaknesses) Or should the weapons get progressively more powerful as you progress, rendering older weapons useless? (but still having different types, that act differently.

With non-progressive weapons, if you find a particular sword in the beginning of the game then that sword effectively becomes an active part of your arsenal and you will use it in certain situations, or perhaps if you simply prefer how it plays. But the trade-off is that you may just end up getting a bunch of weapons you'll never use because of you're preferences.

On the other hand, if weapons are progressively more powerful, then once you find a better weapon you would never use that old sword ever again, because it's too weak. The advantage is that an aspect of the gameplay will always be changing, and the player will have to adapt to it. However, if the player likes a certain kind of weapon, such as a spear, and hates all the other weapons, then they will have to wait until they find that "next" spear to actually use one. Or, they might stick to the old one, which will make the game a lot more difficult.

The other option, I suppose, would be to make it so weapons can be upgraded, meaning you could upgrade an older weapon so that it meets the new standards. Not really sure how that would play into gameplay. Dark Souls is an interesting example, because it sort of fell in the middle. It was very much incremental, but sort of worked in phases were early weapons could still be useful mid-game when upgraded, but you eventually found something better. Not so sure that upgrading an old weapon is as interesting as finding a new and equally better weapon though.

*shrug*

Personally, I think I lean towards non-progressive weapons. Perhaps it's an excuse for bad design to say that players might only use the weapon they like. Ideally, they should all be useful and interesting in some way.

Armor

This also plays into how armor might work a bit. I could theoretically make it so armor effect's your appearance, but doing so would mean I couldn't have as much armor, since it would be too much work too animate. In this case, non-progressive armor would make more sense, because then the player wouldn't be stuck with an outfit they hate just because it's stronger. (though that might happen anyway if they prefer the buffs of one kind of armor)

In that case, perhaps each set of armor could have alternative buffs. For instance, one could have defence+ and health+ from H attacks, but you can only choose one of the two. This might make it at least more unlikely for a player to find armor that they like the look of, but don't find useful enough to wear.

I'll see how viable multiple costumes mid-development, I suppose. The tradoff of alternate armor is that every H animation would have to be nude, because there's no way I'm animating alternate animations for each outfit.

Gave up again -___-

Well, I should have seen it coming by now.

After working on the martial arts themed game for a while, I eventually gave into what I'd now call "high resolution fatigue". When you work with a high resolution, you can end up working on a single sprite for nearly an entire day. Eventually it becomes somewhat tiring, and you begin to dread at the thought of adding anything because of how long it'll take.

So, a few days ago I ended up starting a new game at a much lower resolution, as I tend to do when I cave into high resolution fatigue.

This time around, the sprites are about twice the size of Eroico's vertically, but use much simpler colors and shading. In this style, what took me hours in a high resolution I can do in about 20 minutes. (All the player sprites are already done, as a result)

The game itself is going to be a lot closer to Symphony of the Night than the previous game was going to be, with simple attacks, but numerous weapons and spells and a more rpg-like inventory. Like with Symphony of the Night, all the weapons have different animations but use different frames of the same basic attacking animation, so new weapons can be created in under half an hour. All in all, I'd say this kind of game is going to be more content and exploration oriented, simply because there's more to find, and content is easier to add.

Other than that, we'll see. But development is going fast.

Oh, and as for the game I abandoned, I may pick it up again in the future if I can find a sprite artist capable of making enemies at that resolution. That may make development a bit more bearable.

edit: Also, about the forum, if I start one it will be after I make the h-game template, since a good amount of it will revolve around it and tutorials.

Creating a forum

Today I got an email that essentially said, "you should start a forum".

So, I guess I will. I had thought of doing it before, but I guess it takes the extreme scenario of someone making a casual suggestion for me to actually go through with something. Makes sense.

Forum Suggestions

Anyhow, here's what I need from you. Suggestions. What would you like to see on the forum? My first thought is that it would revolve primarily around H-Game development. Since I'll be releasing some templates and tutorials for making H games, I imagine I'll be getting a lot of questions about using them, and I like the idea of a forum where individuals can get feedback on their work and start projects with other members.

Edit: Based on your feedback, I don't think I'll include a general H-game subcategory, and I think I'll collapse pixel art, art, and sound/music into one board for posting your work for feedback.

Nagai Yamiji

A developer named Kajio completed an action H-game he was working on, so check it out if you haven't already.
http://hkajio.blogspot.ca/p/nagai-yamiji.html

Support him if you can, because the more developers working on games full time, the better.


As for my progress, things are going a bit slow. I'm still running into the same ruts I run into whenever there's story or plot involved (too many ideas), but I'll get through it. I'll try to have a demo out in a month or two, at the very least.

I'll have a bit more to say next time, when I've progressed a it further.

Status update

Well, I've mostly been working on the graphics lately. Creating all the necessary movements and such while I try and figure out exactly what the combat and gameplay is going to be like. As it stands, there will be less emphasis on platforming, and more of a focus on combat and exploration (the game is still an rpg  metroidvania platformer, though, not a beat'em up.).  

In terms of combat, I may go with something that focuses on directional parrying (up and down). Enemies would switch between the two attacks, and if the player parries at the right time, they use a counter attack that strings back into normal attacks. If the player doesn't have the timing, they can duck under a high attack or jump over a low one instead, the trade off being that each state only has a single hit move (a jump kick and a crouching kick). This would also make it viable for the player to fight with an enemy on either side.  

On the other hand, I'm still considering how to implement special attacks. One option would be to have a special gauge that builds up as you parry and avoid damage, maybe having tiers of attacks that can only be used at a certain "focus" level, meaning there would be risk/ reward between using weaker special attacks or waiting to try and use stronger ones at the risk of losing the whole gauge, or at least some of it when you get hit. Or the gauge could raise when you parry and such, but also just raise on it's own. The other option would be to essentially have weaker spell like attacks that are meant to be used in tandem with melee attacks, and it would work like any other game with magic. (spells would be things like shooting fireballs, or stomping the ground causing stone to thrust out of the ground. ) 

Anyhow, that's all for now. Pretty much just standard "I'm working on it" stuff.

As for art, I've been drawing every day, but nothing really worth posting. I've been practising a certain style as a part of the whole character study thing, but I don't think I have a good enough grasp of it yet to actually give you a run down.

Character/style study

For kicks, I was thinking I'd do a couple of character studies. That is, making observations about a particular manga style, creating rules for reproducing it, and then doing a sketch or two with what I learned. (And outlining what I did)

Any artist's styles or characters you'd like to see a character study of?

What would you want in a template?

Well, I'm in the midst of animating the player sprites, and as usual it takes a while. No matter the resolution.

In other news,

Either before I finish the current game, or at the very least afterwards, I plan on releasing a template for making H platformers (for Game Maker Studio). It will essentially contain everything you need to create a basic platformer without any real coding (aside from filling in blanks). Everything will be set up so that all you actually have to do is create the graphics, and make use of available templates for player types, moves, enemy types, etc. I'll also be including tutorials on how to use it, as well as instructions on basic game design, pixel art, and music.

As it is, I figure I'll start off with something simple. Something that allows you to make something like Megaman or Castlevania, basically. Not only because it will be easier to create in such a way that will be simple for anybody to use, but also because I feel like too many developers attempt to create massive complicated projects despite a lack of experience.

That being said, I'd like to know what kind of stuff you'd like to see in such a template. Keep it simple, for now, stuff like RPG elements can be added later, if people can actually finish some basic projects.


Anyhow, time for sleep.

Color

Before I start animating, do you think I should change the shirt color to orange, or do you prefer the white? (comment or vote in the poll on the right)

\

As for the design being less revealing, keep in mind that like in the jump kick frame below, the clothing will move during animation, and will give the impression of being fairly loose.

Plan change

In case you were wondering, the game will no longer be sci fi themed. A lot of what I had planned would have overlapped with Kurovadis 2, so I figured I'd do something else for this game, and save the sci-fi related concepts for Kuro. 

As you may have guessed, the combat will be based around martial arts, and dbz/street fighter-ish super moves. It will mostly be fantasy themed, with some possible steam punk elements. It will still be a metroidvania with rpg elements.

And yes, you will be able to do a hadouken.

Pants, pants, pants.

Thought I'd give her some pants after all. Just looks less ridiculous. Though, I guess her kicks just got a lot less interesting.

Which folds do you think look better?

Edit: and some variations on the shirt

Also, any other complaints or comments about the design?

Subtlety is a douchbag

So, which of these looks better?

The answer is that one.

Sprites..

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Square one, we meet again.

Well then, finally got a hold of GM Studio, aaand..

Nothing in my template works. Or at least, a lot of it doesn't. So I'm basically starting from scratch again.

Which is fine, really. The important thing isn't carrying over the code, but the ideas behind it all. How I'll handle collisions, how top handle the player's actions, etc. Important stuff like gamepad compatibility, saving/loading, and a couple other things will be carried over, but for everything else, I'm probably better off starting from scratch with what I know from Eroico.

Time to get back to it.

Edit: Actually, it turns out they removed a lot of stuff I sort of relied on. Looks like I've got a bit of figuring stuff out to do -___-

Starting soon

Well then,

I'll be starting the next game on the 1st, and development will last around four months.

To put it simply, my goal this time around is to make something great. Short and simple isn't going to cut it for me anymore. I've reached a point as a developer where the challenge isn't really technical, but rather it's holding my attention with work I can actually be proud of.

I've also decided to put off hiring other artists for now, so I'll still be developing by myself, as usual.

There will also be a few other changes in terms of development,

Game Maker Studio
I'll be switching from Game Maker 8.1 to Game Maker Studio, which will mean a couple differences,

The first is the possibility of Japanese language support. Thus far, I've made sure to avoid including dialogue because it would have been impossible for me to display a Japanese translation. However I've confirmed that this is now possible in GM Studio, so the doors are open for text, if the game calls for it.

It's also come to my attention that GM will include Ouya support within the Android module, so I'll be developing with Android in mind (in terms of compatibility, that is). Keep in mind that even if Android stores don't allow adult content, that doesn't prevent me from selling .apk files. Though I may consider releasing all ages versions of the game, as well.

Daily art and music practice

In other news, I'll also be doing some daily content.

For the last few years I've pretty much stopped practising art entirely in favour of game development. To remedy this, I'll be doing artwork everyday, and posting it on the blog. I'll probably start with random hentai sketches, and then move on to drawing manga again, if I get a bit more consistent. Hopefully this will benefit CGs, when the time comes.

Also, though it may not be daily like the art will, I'll also be posting music. Mostly improve to simple melodies using what instruments I have.

New Payment Method

Aaand last but no least, I've begun using a free service that makes the checkout process easier when buying games. In addition to saying something more obvious than "back to Overture Interactive", it will also send the customer an email address containing a download link.


That's about it, really.

Good one, DLsite.

For fuck's sake..

So, Eroico is up on DLsite, but they removed the config.txt file from the game's folder, meaning the game starts in a messed up screen mode for some players. I guess they just remove random shit from creator's submissions in addition to stealing from them through incorrect exchange rates. Brilliant.

I've emailed them asking to have the file put back in, so hopefully it will be corrected by tomorrow. It's a wonder it's selling at all, given that a good number of people won't ever get past the menu screen.

If you do happen to run into window related problems up starting the game, press F4 and then go to the options screen, which will fix the problem.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Updated Demo(V10)
Putlocker link

Buy the full version
(Make sure you download the updated demo first, since it's required anyway, what you're buying is an unlock file)

Buy on DLsite

Alternatively, the game can be purchased from Dlsite.

http://www.dlsite.com/maniax/work/=/product_id/RJ115470.html

Eroico Demo update (V10)

Updated Demo(V10)
Putlocker link

In terms of length, I'd say Eroico is shorter than Kurovadis. However it has more CGs, 15 to Kurovadis's 9. There are a total of 3 levels, and 15 enemies with animations. Use that to consider if you feel like buying it or not, but also keep in mind that it will be funding the next game, as usual.

Buy the full version
(Make sure you download the updated demo first, since it's required anyway, what you're buying is an unlock file)

Bug fixes: Fixed a major bug that caused an error message when clicking through menu's quickly (can't open file). A bunch of other stuff.

Bug fixing..

.........*Sigh*

Basically, when I added the gallery to the latest version (V4-V7), a lot of bugs started popping up that I didn't notice. Bugs I can't really sell the game with. The problem is that of the two error messages that have been reported so far, I can't reproduce either of them.

So, I have a favour to ask of those who have already purchased the game, if you'd like to help me out.

Gallery version test

Download this version, and either do a run-through from scratch or just use it with a previous save and tell me what bugs you encounter. Any error messages, and especially CG or enemy gallery progress being reset (As you encounter enemies, they should appear in the enemy gallery room). Some errors may occur by restarting the game. (Note that you can also change your progress through editing the prog.dll file)

Hopefully I can fix these issues soon and release it on DLsite sometime tomorrow, so I can finally be done with Eroico and start the next game.

Buying the game
If you don't care about the enemy gallery (the CG gallery is still there) and want to buy the full game before I finish these bug fixes, you can go back a few posts to V3, which doesn't have the bugs I'm referring to here.

Eroico Gallery update (V7)

Down temporarily, fixing bugs -____-

Updated Demo(V7)

Putlocker link

In terms of length, Eroico is shorter than Kurovadis. However it has more CGs, 15 to Kurovadis's 9. There are a total of 3 levels, and 15 enemies with animations. Use that to consider if you feel like buying it or not, but also keep in mind that it will be funding the next game, as usual.

Buy the full version

(Make sure you download the updated demo first, since it's required anyway, what you're buying is an unlock file)

Notes

I really messed up V4, so hopefully I fixed the problem in this version. If you downloaded V4 and lost progress, simply go into the prog.dll file with a text editor and set all the 0's to 1's.

Status update, concept for next game.

Updated Demo(V10)
Putlocker link

In terms of length, I'd say Eroico is shorter than Kurovadis. However it has more CGs, 15 to Kurovadis's 9. There are a total of 3 levels, and 15 enemies with animations. Use that to consider if you feel like buying it or not, but also keep in mind that it will be funding the next game, as usual (I won't be using offbeatr, for now).

Buy the full version
(Make sure you download the updated demo first, since it's required anyway, what you're buying is an unlock file)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Status update

I've more or less been taking a break for the past few days. And by taking a break I mean casually fixing bugs and implementing the "gallery" for enemies, which I finished today. (rather than working all day like a maniac). The game will be uploaded to DLsite after I finish fixing a few more bugs.

Next game

I've also been thinking quite a bit about the next game, things like the theme, and general gameplay. Nothing is really all that certain at the moment, but I can say that I want to take a step towards making something more complicated. Or at the very least, something different. Though still practical, if I can manage it.

Some things I'll get out of the way about the new game, before I begin,

1. It will be sci-fi themed.

2. It will have a female protagonist.
3. It will be an action platformer Metroidvania.

The concept I've been juggling in my head goes something like this, (without spoiling the plot I have in mind)

You are on a foreign world, which is inhabited by monsters and beasts of various kinds, ranging from biological horrors to local (but alien) wildlife. Aside from basic stats, your advancement focuses on two things that are central to gameplay,

1. The first is technology, such as guns, traps, jet boosters, etc, which are created using parts you find in the world.

2. The second are biological enhancements and skills, such as health regeneration or special powers, which you gain by studying/learning from enemies,

To study enemies, first you have to capture them through various means, putting them into a designated area for containment. However you also have to make them happy, and keep them alive over time to learn more. There are a number of basic ways to keep them happy, but needless to say, some of them don't mind "alternative" means.

Among the basic methods of keeping the creatures happy is feeding them the correct foods or giving them certain items, which you can find scattered across the world, by killing enemies, harvesting plants which appear at random in certain areas, or fishing. 

The game would work on a day cycle, with the state of each area changing daily, switching enemy locations and randomizing things like plants, or other useful items.

In addition to the changing environment (exploration areas), which would be based more on advancement and acquiring items, there would be other more important areas which do not change, which would fill the role of more traditionally designed levels. These levels would be the primary reason for advancing your character and acquiring certain technology, as they must be overcome to unlock new areas. The basic layout and game flow would be like this,

Notice how I didn't spell challenge correctly. Not once.

You have a base of operations, where you begin each day, and keep contained creatures (home). From there, you enter exploration areas, where you find parts and items. Once you have the necessary technology, such as a weapon, you would hunt down enemies you are strong enough to defeat, or have the necessary items to capture.

The day ends after a given amount of time. Areas are randomized again.

You begin a new day, and start at home. First you try feeding the creatures, or try something else entirely. You once again begin exploring, and discovering new areas and technology, becoming stronger, possibly farming certain items each day in order to level up creatures or make healing items.

Finally, you learn an ability from a monster or gain technology which gives you access to a large important area, or a small area with a significant challange. At the end of the important area, you find an item that gives you access to higher level exploration areas, which in turn gives you access to more parts, items, and enemies to capture. You would be advancing in every regard, by the end of each day.

Considerations

Being more complicated, there are some considerations I may have to make in order to make it more practical. Here are some things I would want to include, but would probably leave to a sequel.

1. No day night cycle. There would simply be an "end of day", and the character sleeps at night.

2. Only certain creatures could be captured, not all of them.

3. Creatures would only have one enhancement each, and the happiness level would increase it's effectiveness, rather than giving new enhancements. The nature of the creature's happiness could effect the enhancement, but might be better left out.

4. Could only save at the beginning of each day, so that harvested items and locations don't need to be saved. (thousands of variables)

5. Possibly leave out leveling up, leaving progression to technology and enhancements instead,

6. Each enemy merely needs to be defeated and captured with a certain kind of trap, rather than having unique circumstances for each.

Anyhow, that's enough brainstorming for now. I've gotta get back to fixing bugs.

Eroico Finished

Well, here it is. I'm sure I've missed something dumb, but have at it. I'm sure I'll hear about the ridiculous bugs or mistakes I've made tomorrow.

Updated Demo(v3)
Putlocker link

In terms of length, I'd say Eroico is shorter than Kurovadis. However it has more CGs, 15 to Kurovadis's 9. There are a total of 3 levels, and 15 enemies with animations. Use that to consider if you feel like buying it or not, but also keep in mind that it will be funding the next game, as usual (I won't be using offbeatr, for now).

Buy the full version
(Make sure you download the updated demo first, since it's required anyway, what you're buying is an unlock file)

I'll be adding in a Gallery/arena esque thing in a future update (within the week). For now there is only a gallery for CGs. Feel free to bring up any bugs you encounter.

A major change from the previous version is that the upgrades do not increase attack power. It would have been unbalanced for players who missed them, so instead it increases your range, and gives the ranged attack various effects.

Bugs fixed: Screen continues to scroll in desert third area, last CG not viewable in gallery, other misc bugs.

Testing

The game is finished.

I'm currently fixing some bugs that I noticed during testing. It's mostly stuff you wouldn't normally notice, but I figure I may as well save myself the trouble and fix them now, rather than people taking the time to make bug reports about problems I'm already aware of.

Almost...

What little remains to do will take me anywhere from 3-6 hours to complete, meaning I'll probably finish sometime after midnight tonight. In other words, I wouldn't count on seeing a release today, but unless I get shot in the next 24 hours the game is basically done.

Offbeatr Project?

Just as DLsite proved to me that making Hentai games for a living was financially viable, Offbeatr has proved to me that adult crowdfunding sites are a potential method of producing games. (I'm looking at you, Fenoxo)

Here is the site.
http://offbeatr.com/

However, why use crowdfunding when I sell games already? Well, the main benefits of using crowdfunding would be,

1. The ability to work on games that I would otherwise consider too risky or time consuming to make; games with things like character customization and equipable clothing, alternate H-animations, branching pathes etc.

2. It would allow me to include a story and dialogue in English, without worrying about Japanese sales or translation.

3. I would have the money to hire other artists from the beginning, rather than using money from previous sales, which can be a bit risky, financially. (I don't think I'll be able to afford it for the game after Eroico, for instance)


Bottom line, it's an option. My question to you is, how, and when, would you like for me to go about it?

I can either finish Eroico and begin the next project as planned, which will still be a game far more complicated than Eroico or Kurovadis, or I could take a shot at creating an Offbeatr project. The input I'd need from you would be,

What would you like to see as pledge rewards? (The lowest amounts would be that you get the game)
What would you like to see as stretch goals? ( I imagine stretch goals would include hiring more artists or CG artists)


That's about it, really. Obviously I could just start an Offbeatr project and see what happens, but I thought I'd see what you guys think first.

Last progress report for Erocio,

Well, I more or less planned to just wait until it was finished, but I may as well give you an update anyway, since a few of you are wondering what the hell I've been doing lately.

The game is essentially done. As in it can be played from start to finish. All I have left to do are,
1. The ending (less then a day)
2. Remaining CGs (10-ish days or less)
3. Last couple H animations (day or two)
4. Add the gallery (less than a day)

Bottom line, it will be released before the end of the month.

This game's development was essentially prolonged through a combination of procrastination and a lack of enthusiasm, for some reason I just wasn't as motivated as I was with Kurovadis. However, Starting with the next project, I'll be hiring two other artists, so this isn't something that I'll ever allow to happen again. Procrastinating is fine when when it's your ass on the line, but when other people are involved, it isn't an option anymore.

The next game

Unlike last time, I'll be starting the next game almost immediately after finishing this one. I can't give any specific details yet, but I can say for certain that it will be a metroidvania with RPG elements, it will be higher res than Eroico, the protagonist will be female again, and it will be in a futuristic setting.

Anyhow, back to work.

Progress, looking for an artist,

Well then, progress report.

Things are going slow, as usual. The programming is easy because it's mostly a bunch of copying and pasting of stuff I already finished in the beginning as a template, so it really just comes down to finishing all the graphics. In other words, it will be done when it's done, and when it is I'll be happy that I can finally work on something else... (again, as usual.)

The biggest difference this time around has been that I had no issues planning out the game. Hopefully next time the planning will be easy and it will be something I'm a bit more enthusiastic about. (This will certainly be the last linear and low-res game I ever make.)

Looking for a pixel artist for H animations

I won't be working with a full team until I've finished a few games by myself. However there is one aspect of development I'd like to have covered by somebody else once I start my next game. H-animations. Specifically, any in-game adult content. (Not CGs, just pixel art)

It's more or less the one aspect of developing H game's that I'm rarely enthusiastic about, and most often procrastinate over. I need to find an artist who can put more time and effort into the adult content than I would, so that there's more variety and detail. I figure the content would be much better off if someone who enjoyed making it was responsible for it, rather than just trying to work economically myself.

So, if you think you can match or exceed my skill level in pixel art, then email me at the following address with some examples of your work, and a rundown of what your skills are, etc.
kyrieru@overtureinteractive.com

The pay would be weekly based on the number of hours you worked, starting at $20 per hour, and then moving up from that rate based on the quality of the work and how fast you are. (for instance if the quality was good and you finished everything quickly, then it could be as high as $30-40 per hour to make up for it)

I'll be starting my next game in the next two months or so, so just keep in mind that you wouldn't be starting immediately. However, once I start I can pretty much guarantee enough work for it to be a full time job.

Edit: For now, I've found an artist. On the following game I may hire more.

File Hosts

They all still suck.

Goodbye Mediafire, you were pretty good until you sucked.

Well, it's been a good run, but Mediafire has begun taking down my files.

So, I've made the switch to some paid file hosting. This means I have to pay for outgoing bandwidth, but it also means you don't have to go through any BS external websites to download my files, and I don't have to worry about takedowns. In other words, everybody wins.

Edit: Well, that didn't last long. I'm now looking for another file hosting site. Certain things about the one I chose just didn't cut it. Though I'll probably keep using it for the Unlock files.

We'll see how the next one I'm trying goes.

Updated demo (difficulty)

Edit: Tweaked the difficulty again. There is now hard, normal, and easy. (Also fixed an oversight that prevented the easy difficulty from being saved)

Demo download 

Alternate Link

Controls are,

Spell: Up + Attack

Dash slash: Down, Right,  Attack

Downward spin: Down + attack in air

Downward stab: Double tap down in midair.

Block: Hold down on ground.

Dodge: Spacebar is the default key

Known glitches:

- The options aren't fully implemented yet.

- The blue crystal things are wonky.

- Apparently Rocks are capable of feeling love.

- A bunch of graphical stuff.

Things that will be in the game later:

- Animation for jumping and using spell.

- Gallery

- Enemy arena

- Unlocked CGs as higher-res files, free of gameover text.

- Missing graphics and music. (such as when you run out of health)

- Working options

- Timer for speedruns

- Beginning and end of stage graphics

- Boss H animations

- H animations will have affects (thus the red and blue bar)

- Other stuff

Take note of when you die the first time, if you do at all. I'm interested to know how difficult the game actually is for other people (for me it's just too easy, and thus hard too balance). If you want to take the time to screencap your first playthrough, that would be even better.

Demo for mini-game

Alright, here's the demo. Keep in mind that it's still pretty rough around the edges since I just wanted to get something playable released for now. There's still quite a bit of graphics, sound, and music missing. Some of it is temporary, like the boss music, which was slapped together in around 15 minutes just to have something there.

Demo download

Mediafire link

Controls are,

Spell: Up + Attack

Dash slash: Down, Right, Attack

Downward spin: Down + attack in air

Downward stab: Double tap down in midair.

Block: Hold down on ground.

Dodge: Spacebar is the default key

Known glitches:
- The options aren't fully implemented yet.
- The blue crystal things are wonky.
- Apparently Rocks are capable of feeling love.
- A bunch of graphical stuff.

Things that will be in the game later:
- Animation for jumping and using spell.
- Gallery
- Enemy arena
- Unlocked CGs as higher-res files, free of gameover text.
- Missing graphics and music. (such as when you run out of health)
- Working options
- Timer for speedruns
- Beginning and end of stage graphics
- Boss H animations
- H animations will have affects (thus the red and blue bar)
- Other stuff

Take note of when you die the first time, if you do at all. I'm interested to know how difficult the game actually is for other people (for me it's just too easy, and thus hard too balance). If you want to take the time to screencap your first playthrough, that would be even better.

Also, keep in mind that this is supposed to be simple. Very simple. If you're expecting game of the year, you're going to be disappointed.

Now, sleep time. I'm exausted. -___-