Housepets! Tails of Babylon! * Developer's Thread *

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:38 pm

Looking good on the faces! Wow, you really managed to catch the "slimy smile" really well.

Also, felt rather sad seeing the last two faces. I can imagine those being used for after the Shadow Bino encounter.

Also,

D-Rock wrote:I've been thinking about items that instantly boosts stats. Is ToB going to have that as well, and if so, in what direction do the items go, like treats and stuff, or potions?

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:16 pm

When you say instant ly boost stats, you mean permamently?

You can make permament boost items. Infact, the way Grape's Prideland book increased the attack stats permamently was a nifty idea. I haven't balanced out how big the stat boosts should be, but create as many as you guys want and i'll just balance them out later. I plan on giving those items a max of +20 to all their stats in the end so the characters don't go way overboard, but playing The Last Dream gave items like that as high as 100 by end-game... so i'll have to test that out and see how this works. @_@

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:22 pm

GameCobra wrote:The sweating one is nice. Now the question of which one to use for his party face =P

If Bino pouts, I expect it to be a fake sincere pout... unless he's going full on serious in this game.

Still playing The Last Dream. Might take me awhile. @_@

Bino has another set of faces, it was posted a long while ago. I'll post it again if you need it:

GameCobra wrote:When you say instant ly boost stats, you mean permamently?

You can make permament boost items. Infact, the way Grape's Prideland book increased the attack stats permamently was a nifty idea. I haven't balanced out how big the stat boosts should be, but create as many as you guys want and i'll just balance them out later. I plan on giving those items a max of +20 to all their stats in the end so the characters don't go way overboard, but playing The Last Dream gave items like that as high as 100 by end-game... so i'll have to test that out and see how this works. @_@

The stat ups should not give you too much per item, as they will most likely be available for buying or dropped by rare enemies near the end game. They should also be balanced by how far you are in the game, so they don't become useless in the end or overpowered in the beginning.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:34 pm

I like the right-corner face the best out of all of Bino's face. It looks like he's about to have a nervous breakdown. XD

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:59 pm

From what I can gather from the games I been playing, hitting over 1K damage becomes trivial at some point late-game when people's intel and atk are over 200, but that's from equipment. This stops with bosses, whose health exceeds 10K easily. I plan on changing that, but my goal with the items is to ensure that with both gear and stat growth that noone hits 255 ATK easily on items/leveling and caps at 500 with weapons and armor.

Another neat idea, though - Special events that increase stats. The most obvious one? Maxwell goes to the Gym. This only works once, though. =P

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:48 pm

That sounds like a pretty cool idea! It rewards the player for exploring and clicking on everything, and gives us a chance to make references to some of the smaller moments. Another example of this would be the thing Kingfan mentioned with King and Bailey going to a lake or fountain and referencing the "wet dog smell" thing. The more the player knows about the comic, the more the player is rewarded in the longrun

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:16 pm

Think I'm liking one-time events that increase stats a bit.

I recall Golden Sun had quite a few different items that permanently increased a stat, one item per stat. They were surprisingly mundane, though, like bread increasing attack, mint increasing speed, and nuts increasing defense. Can't recall what the others were at the moment. They were mostly all found just by checking pots, but a very small handful were quest rewards or in plain sight. As noted, there were really not too many, and unless the drop rate was ultra-low, I never encountered an enemy that dropped those items.

Reason I brought this up in the first place was because I found a set of free stock art that I thought we could use, but they're all potion colors. Fit the art style much better than the last set of stock I asked about. Found here for your consideration.

...although I'm also veering more towards mundane items and events. Those sound a lot more fun!

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:21 pm

Never been one for stock art, I mean to be fair that's just because I've never needed it but it seems a bit un-necessary when you have multiple kinds of artists on a dev team.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:34 pm

I can see using stock art as placeholders, but I would like it if we could have our own art by final release.
And, you can probably guess my stance on Perma-stat increase items considering I'm the one who added it in the first place,

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:40 pm

Alright, so what item do we want to make for each stat?

Also, took a look at the default files, what exactly is the item for that in the default engine set? King of looks like a powder container.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:44 pm

I think I'll think of some stuff as I work on the next couple areas.

What? You mean the book? It's a book.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:53 pm

We don't have to follow true to the default, we can get creative, as we have with every other item!

Plus I assume a lot of the items will be like mementos to a specific character or moment in the story, much like the special event boosts.
As for the standard boost items (the ones that can be bought or dropped by enemies) I vouch that are variants or Easter Eggs. And by that I mean Plastic Eggs left over from their last or other Easter(s).

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:57 pm

I meant this, Star. The default icon for stat-increasing items.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:59 pm

CHAOKOCartoons wrote:We don't have to follow true to the default, we can get creative, as we have with every other item!
Plus I assume a lot of the items will be like mementos to a specific character or moment in the story, much like the special event boosts.
As for the standard boost items (the ones that can be bought or dropped by enemies) I vouch that are variants or Easter Eggs. And by that I mean Plastic Eggs left over from their last or other Easter(s).

Hrm... I was thinking it would be cool if each stat increasing item would be unique, but maybe that would be too hard on D-Rock...

D-Rock wrote:I meant this, Star. The default icon for stat-increasing items.

Oh. Yeah, it's a powder.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:03 am

Are we able to change those little icons BTW? It seems like something to consider in the long run (but not now cause it's not necessary)

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:07 am

CHAOKOCartoons wrote:Are we able to change those little icons BTW? It seems like something to consider in the long run (but not now cause it's not necessary)

Yes we can change the icons, it's just that we need them the exactly right size and everything if we want to make new ones.

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:09 am

I don't mind the extra challenge, Star. Yes, I'm tired at the moment, but I'm enjoying coming up with art to implement. But I draw the line at character art

Seriously, I think I've only drawn three animals on my page to date. One used a step-by-step, one took almost an hour and a half just getting the freaking beak to look right, the third was born from a failed attempt at an axe.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:18 am

I see...

Well then, could you try writing up a "Glories of the Pridelands" Book?

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:40 am

SuperStar wrote: Well then, could you try writing up a "Glories of the Pridelands" Book?

...oh, carp, that's right, the cover...

I may have a way to cheat that, though. Let's see how it goes.

Also, attempts at icons. Doing these made me realize why I'm not a spriter.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:55 am

Those are all beatings sizes, unless I'm mistaken the icon is suppose to be(in order to fit) 32 by 32.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:17 am

S'okay D-Rock, it takes time to get used to

. So something like this?
EDIT: Also can the game hold enough icons to have one for each unique item? If not, I recommend doing something like in Kingdom hearts, where weapon types, consumables, key items, ect had one icon to represent it in the menus.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:23 am

The second one looks the best, and yes it can hold as many icons as it needs.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:27 am

scratch that about Max - First time is just a callback to his bad training. woo! one attack strength! =P

Second time it's a serious buff for him, but he won't do it until past a certain chapter when the serious monsters hit the scene. +5 attack!

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:41 pm

Really nice job on those balls! I just love how they have came out here!

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:49 pm

I'm liking the idea of stat events changing with time.

Also, I thought I could cheat making the Pridelands book by using and editing one of the strips, but it's proving harder than I anticipated. Decent progress, though. Can't draw hands to save my life, though, so I'm needing help on that. Quite honestly, I was surprised I managed to do the gloves for Max.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:52 pm

Wow! I now know why Grape has a crush on Parnok! He DOES look like a hunk!

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:43 pm

Can we get a screenshot of how the icon looks in-game?

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:25 pm

I would be interesting in seeing how the icon is also!

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:27 pm

D-Rock wrote:Can we get a screenshot of how the icon looks in-game?

Do you mean the item picture or the item icon?

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:28 pm

I would say both for me, just to make sure it all looks good.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:01 am

Well, apparently 32 was the wrong size. 24 is the right size. I think, I checked the internet this time

Also, here's the Pridelands book

: pridelandsscreenshot.png (48.08 KiB) Viewed 6632 times

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:09 am

Uh...yeah I was talking about the Fun Ball sprite...oh, well.

And about the Pridelands image...

Dude, that wasn't finished! I merely posted it to hear out tips on finishing it. Hence the missing hand. I intend to place it on the book template I saved from working on Tarot.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:10 am

Oh... Hrm... I was wondering about the severed hand, the unfinished title, and how come it looked like a magazine more than a novel.

My bad.

Saturn381 · Post by **Saturn381** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 1:13 am

Nice job, guys.

Amazee Dayzee · Post by **Amazee Dayzee** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:54 pm

Well at least we know that it will look nice when finished.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:58 am

SuperStar wrote:Well, apparently 32 was the wrong size. 24 is the right size. I think, I checked the internet this time

The one time I thought they had a NORMAL sprite size...

Here's the 24 version:

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 5:33 am

It fits perfectly...

Eh... could it be a bit rounder though?

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 2:14 pm

The Pridelands cover... you could try giving him a bow. the hand could have an arrow in it. :3

KingFan202 · Post by **KingFan202** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 3:02 pm

Seems like everythings back on track

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat Aug 22, 2015 6:55 pm

Well, Cobra, it's still the issue of "I can't draw hands." I had to get rid of a lot of text bubbles, and sadly they covered a decent chunk of the poster.

And Kingfan, still taking a break, just that this is a simple edit, not a full-on design. I do have a weeks break from work coming up, I might end my break from this then.