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

Post by **D-Rock** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 6:07 pm

Okay, so I played through the correct updated demo.

I didn't have the urge to commit violent acts and actually had some fun with it, so good on you, Cobra. The whole thing felt much better overall.

I do agree, the raccoons in the beginning were pretty weak. They at least put up a challenge (yes, CHALLENGE, not RAGE) in the original demo with only Peanut and Grape. I got everyone to around level 11, though the chimera was incredibly easy. Even in the alpha demo that had Max, the chimera wasn't this easy. I'd say leave this one as is in the actual game.

About the developer's/public game demo, that one felt like rewarding grinding. I barely lost to him my first try, so leveled up a bit, and beat him after a really good battle, which made me make as much use of all of their abilities, buffs and debuffs. I reiterate, the previous Tower build missed that mark completely.

I haven't played through with Team B, but I noticed that King doesn't have a weapon. I had to go into the project files for that. Also, you listed King as using the Staff, so I went ahead and fixed that.

CHAOKOCartoons wrote: That... actually makes a lot of sense . I really like that idea Buster! It would be really interesting Bino joined Nue early on in the game, get's defeated in the nostalgia chapter and is then shunned by Nue and Olde, only to find him in a later chapter being held by Bruno where the party (reluctantly) frees him and that's how you got him as permanent party member. It'd be a good chance to give Bino a bit of character development, and a reason for him to fight against Nue and Olde.

I'm honestly not fond of this idea at all. Seems too much for Bino to initially ally himself with Nue and Olde, and Bino is a partner in the next chapter.

How about we still go for the flashback, but it's something from Bino's point of view about some heroic deed he did, like maybe he claims to always have been aware of Nue and Olde. Maybe make it a short one within a chapter, when it ends, he merely gets incredulous looks from the listener.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 7:27 pm

D-Rock wrote:
CHAOKOCartoons wrote: That... actually makes a lot of sense . I really like that idea Buster! It would be really interesting Bino joined Nue early on in the game, get's defeated in the nostalgia chapter and is then shunned by Nue and Olde, only to find him in a later chapter being held by Bruno where the party (reluctantly) frees him and that's how you got him as permanent party member. It'd be a good chance to give Bino a bit of character development, and a reason for him to fight against Nue and Olde.
I'm honestly not fond of this idea at all. Seems too much for Bino to initially ally himself with Nue and Olde, and Bino is a partner in the next chapter.

I mean I don't think it's too much, I can easily see him not understanding the bigger picture in things and being tricked by Nue and Olde just because he liked the idea. Admittedly, having him fight the party may be a stretch, but we can always just have it be a monster boss battle instead that Bino THINKS he has control over to intimidate people into respecting him, but then it attacks the party. I can't see Bino actively trying to harm the party, that much is true. Perhaps instead of him being shunned by Nue and Olde, he realizes that he was being tricked and leaves on his own volition, but still doesn't join the party out of embarrassment and aggravation.
Also, if you remember, Bino's only in the party in chapter 2 because he wanted to prove he was brave to the Good Ol' Dogs club. He didn't really care about what was actually going on, and runs off to go brag immediately afterwards.

Though even then, I guess it could still be kind of a stretch. Bino's a jerk, but he's not an idiot (or at least not TOO much of one), nor is he evil. Nue and Olde would have to be pretty clever with their wording and promises to get Bino to fall for that. Not to mention he'd probably just be terrified of them when they approached him, he'd know right away that he probably shouldn't associate with them.
Well, we can go either way with it. I like the idea of having Bino be the one behind the distortion (which would make it a main chapter), but if need be we can just make up a villain as usual, and it'd be just as enjoyable as a sidequest. I'd be totally down for either.

D-Rock wrote:How about we still go for the flashback, but it's something from Bino's point of view about some heroic deed he did, like maybe he claims to always have been aware of Nue and Olde. Maybe make it a short one within a chapter, when it ends, he merely gets incredulous looks from the listener.

THAT I also really like, it's absolutely something Bino would do

. I can see that being a side quest in the epilogue, either that or a chapter focusing around Bino that takes place after the events of the second chapter where he runs back to brag to the Good Ol' Dogs. It'd be funny if after he told the story, monsters or feral actually invade the clubhouse and they expect him to defeat it. That'd bring up another interesting reason for him to fight against Nue and Olde; he's just doing it so he doesn't look like a coward. Which, again, makes a lot more sense for Bino. Yeah, let's not have Bino be the one behind the nostalgia quest.
Though we'll keep the visuals unique to the nostalgia quest, Bino's story can still be in the regular shader. Though if there's anything unique we can do for THAT quest since it's Bino's exaggeration of the game's events, I say we go for it.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:20 pm

Maybe when we get to a Bino-centric chapter, it starts in this nostalgia style retelling the end of the second chapter, but with GREATLY exaggerated events and dialogue (maybe a more intimidating version of Blue, which is ironic considering that we're writing Blue as a "competent coward"), pointing out how awesome Bino is at taking care of the problem. The player would play through it, then culminating in a fade-out of Bino telling everyone this at the club, which they wouldn't believe him. Then a feral would show up, enacting a solo battle, and we can figure out the rest of the chapter from there.

Hard to decide which sprites to use. Love the GameBoy ones, but the Classic Comic would make more sense. See how it looks with a black outline, first.

Beat the tower with Team B, by the way. Wow, they curb-stomped everything. Didn't even get much trouble from the chimera. It took out Sabrina, but nothing a Wonder Grass and Milk couldn't fix.

By the way, a lot of descriptions need rewriting. They either don't fit or don't give a CLUE as to what they do.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 10:04 pm

I'll work more on those next month. Those are actually quite old, but i was meaning to get those finished sometime. x3

I like them both as well, but my vote would be the first, comic-like choice. however, for Bino's version? the 8-bit style :3

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:02 pm

Bored again. What should be the boss drops for Ophois, Activist, and Lacert?

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 11:42 pm

As far as boss drops go, I like to give bosses special accessories for their boss drops. Quest drops will be up to you guys.

On another note: Daisy's talking now. I love how a quest plan comes together.

EDIT: Starting tomorrow, i'm going to start working on the next 10 floors, which are the mall monsters. already got the mice. just need to find the other mobs we added earlier such as the angry mobs.

This floor will have alot of chests, but i also thought about adding multiple bosses since i noticed we have a huge boss list. any suggestions?

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:00 am

Daisy: "That's not my collar."

That's what I remember last about that.

Not sure on adding more bosses per set of floors, honestly.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:37 am

This is just going by my knowledge of the story we got so far, so the focus will be the mall for now.

I been thinking: What would be after the mall?

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:40 am

Last I recall, after the mall would be when Nue and Olde would appear, though to what extent is still not nailed down.

If I could get off my lazy tail-end, I'd try writing out a rough outline.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:45 am

Try to get on that before November. That's an order!

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:49 am

Eh, might not be enough time.

....sad part is, I'm not entirely joking. Several things here have taken quite some time from my end.

CHAOKOCartoons · Post by **CHAOKOCartoons** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 1:58 am

It was assumed that after the mall, the story would either jump to King, Bailey, and Tarot where the first time Nue is encountered, or it would jump to Fox and the K-9 unit (minus Fido) at the zoo. At the end of the mall chapter, Peanut and Fido (taking Blue with them) meet up with Max and Grape and head to Sabrina to talk to Tarot about Blue. From that, they learn a bit about Nue and try to locate Tarot. Sabrina figures out that Tarot is located at the Wolve's house at the moment, and the party heads over there.
If Fox's chapter came after that, it would lead to Fox eventually heading over to see King or go look for Fido, but this can easily happen after King's chapter.

Actually, I'm pretty sure we have a script of the first 3 chapters somewhere...

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 8:30 am

Alright, so Zoo animals. The game has placeholders we could use for now, so that's a bonus. i'll do that in November.

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:54 pm

Story outline STARTS over here. A lot was brought up.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:02 pm

so from what Superstar said, we're suppose to encounter Blu'e before the mall. So now i got a couple of important questions:

Where at?
What kind of monsters show up?
is there a boss fight?

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:13 pm

Blu-e being the second chapter was decided long ago. It would take place in a different part of the forest. I suggest a few new animal types at this time. We briefly mentioned lone wolves and coyotes, but never finalized that. It starts with Peanut and Grape going to Tarot's house to learn more about the night before, only to be told by Sabrina that Tarot was out looking into things and suggesting that the two of them go about with their normal days for the time being. Peanut heads to a meeting at the GODC headed by the K9 unit, while Grape goes with Jill to the mall to meet up with Max for a Pridelands event.

Once Peanut's side is over, we go to the Mall chapter.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:39 pm

so Blu'e is the final boss of the chapter, eh?

Got some placeholder snakes i can add. tried looking for wolves, but found none. going to use the CityFeral drawing that someone added. Good time though to add some different type of wolves. I could add Blue along with Jenny. Jenny will be the 15th floor boss, Blue as the 20th.

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:44 pm

I recall finding pages dedicated to RPG maker resources by a user named Granny Deb. Quick Google search should give you a few different pages the person hosts. Since they would be placeholders, I wouldn't worry about a fitting art style. They just still need accreditation, which I would imagine only need a text file saying the source.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 8:07 pm

I did it, a VERY rough outline.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6zzdH ... sp=sharing
Now, it's still filled with gaps, but I tried, even threw in some of my older and newer suggestions in red.
Let me know what you guys think.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:26 am

It's not so bad. At least now i can see an idea on when and where we meet these characters for later on. :3

Never was a fan of hopeless boss fights, but i wonder if we can sneak in some extra dialogue incase someone is savvy enough to see what beating some characters would be like?

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:36 am

The battle against Nue at the beginning is meant to show just how out of there league the cast is. Being able to beat him there is kind of a downer. Only way I can see that working is when he gets low on health, he sarcastically yells in defeat, only to one- shot the entire party.

Also, realize that I forgot to include a chapter for the extremist activist group. All we have on that is that it's an idea.

So thoughts on Barghest appearing as a normal wolf at first?

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:31 pm

I'm thinking more of a easter egg for somehow beating him. :3

The Nue that i planned for in that event will be a taste of the final boss, as per tradition. but i'm just open to the possibility of someone beating him somehow. it'll be nearly %0, but it would be fun if a player somehow beat him and we put a surprise in there just incase someone went through the effort.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:01 pm

well, you could give him the exact same stats, level, and move set in both encounters. but since it's balanced for end-game gear, powerups, and levels, he's an absolute curbstomp when encountered early, without being impossible (just extremely improbable) or an unrealistic representation of how he'll be 50-some-odd levels down the road.

If you get close to winning, he just complains that this isn't right then shouts "uh... well... CUE CUT SCENE!" and cuts the battle short all of a sudden with no win or loose screen. just 'battle suddenly over' while you're bombarded with a distraction, and when you fight him later he's stronger than he's supposed to be, all semblance of balance out the window, which he claims is because "I had to level the playing field after SOMEBODY was clearly cheating earlier."

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:49 pm

Alright, I like Buster's suggestion.

And because no one answered, I made concepts for Barghests' proposed "mortal" forms.

: Baskerville (Normal).png (6.24 KiB) Viewed 12823 times

How he would look like when encountered.

: Baskerville (Revealed).png (6.66 KiB) Viewed 12823 times

How he looks when confronted in the True Ending after learning of Barghest. I was thinking a reveal along the lines of Izanami in Persona 4 secretly being the gas attendant that showed up at the beginning of the game and during rainy days who didn't even get a character portrait until she was revealed.
Also decided to give him a different name. I recall a page on Barghest saying that the stories were used as the basis for the Sherlock Holmes story, "Hound of the Baskervilles."

Concept made using a sketch of Poncho that Rick has on the Facebook page.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:17 pm

I like both ideas, the Nue easter egg, and this Barghesterville thing(:P). But I think we need to be very clever with Baskerville. Either make him not stand out, or give him enough focus(not like main character, but like helps you with something at some point) to make the reveal worthwhile. Also, speaking of something this big should probably be done in secret. We really need a more private development thread for stuff like this, xD

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 6:38 pm

His full involvement besides final boss, I really don't know. As mentioned with Izanami, there was very little throughout the game hinting to her nature, if anything at all. The little thing (singular, by the way) that hinted at that only became obvious in the second playthrough.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:22 pm

Pretty much Buster's idea is what i was aiming at as well! :3

Forgot about Barghest. I'll have to come back to him, but i think the way you made him is good so far.

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:26 pm

You forgot about the one behind it all?

Anyway, I did a search for common portrayals of Barghest, seems we have quite the open path in his design.

GreatKitsune · Post by **GreatKitsune** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:57 pm

So I had a thought. I've improved immeasurably since the last time I had something for you, so Do you think I should replace the old BGMs. We would have fewer overall, might have to use the outside BGM for the houses as well, and maybe consolidate a few areas (like Babylon Gardens and the Forest) and just make one night theme and one day theme per area group, but in return they would be high quality, professional tracks. Think it's worth it? (I'll keep the main theme, but remaster it)

Also, my harddrive died in June ad took most of the old projects with it so I can't really remaster them.

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:59 pm

Interesting idea. If they'll be better, give it a shot.

GreatKitsune · Post by **GreatKitsune** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:04 am

D-Rock wrote:Interesting idea. If they'll be better, give it a shot.

Okay. I'll try to get an example done by the end of the week. Also, I'll make sure these ones loop properly, unlike before.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:40 am

D-Rock wrote:You forgot about the one behind it all?

To be fair, the story feels at times that there's multiple villains that i'm not sure who is behind who sometimes. though thankfully the rough copy you made helps with that. x3

Post by **D-Rock** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:11 pm

Kitsune, it's really too bad that you lost the files. I'll admit, my favorite tracks so far are Divine Intervention and Moonlight Breeze. Even when they were played backwards in the Halloween demo, they sounded great! You know, you could probably release an "Alpha Compilation" with the old music. Chaoko did that with Thread Bound when new software and story direction were chosen so that the old tracks could still be enjoyed.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:28 pm

I do like the BGMs you created so far for the mood of the game, including the boss battles. I say keep them! :3

If i had a small recommendation, i would recommend a different random battle encounter theme for the battles. I'm going to ponder examples while at work today, but the one we use seems a little too soft, even with the upbeat around the 5 second mark of the battle theme.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:35 pm

I'm pretty much satisfied with the current tracks, but I still wanna give this new idea a try.
By the by, didn't we bring on a second music-guy to help you?

Unusuallynamedperson · Tue Oct 04, 2016 7:22 pm

Yeah that's me and then he also hired someone, but I have other priorities right now. Maybe I'll see if I can come up with something soon here, I dunno.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:03 pm

GameCobra wrote:To be fair, the story feels at times that there's multiple villains that i'm not sure who is behind who sometimes

i thought that was the point...

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:43 pm

Buster wrote:I thought that was the point...

I don't recall, but it feels weird when a game based on a comic suddenly has so many villains. I kinda expected everyone to follow a single villain x3

Post by **D-Rock** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 9:30 pm

Nue and Olde: Main Villain
Almost everyone else: N&O's minions
Reinhardt: Avatar
Barghest: Mastermind

That help?

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:20 pm

I'll admit, I don't really like all the minions, but they're only there to be bosses, they don't have to much of story effect. So it doesn't bother me.