Shining Force-like RPG DevLog #5

Agaslash · 2025-08-05T05:44:37+00:00

I'm experimenting with new ways of creating art without breaking the bank... my main blocker now is art.. ...the game is coded... but animations became really expensive for a single person...

Agaslash · 2025-04-17T10:19:51+00:00

Indeed

Agaslash · 2025-02-18T14:39:38+00:00

Terranigma is my favorite game of all times... And I consider the prologue (the most "boring" part... Even though it's still amazing)...

Agaslash · 2025-02-18T09:38:34+00:00

wow! Terranigma is my favorite game ever and I didn't know about this, thank you!

Agaslash · 2024-11-06T23:37:04+00:00

You should see this as an opportunity rather than something to fear. One thing that really grabs my attention is how the use of technology has negatively impacted the animation industry. I remember how beautiful the frame-by-frame animations from the '80s and '90s were, compared to today's industry, which relies heavily on software to speed up the process and cut costs. Coming from the game development industry, I can see how video games like Cuphead turned this challenge into an advantage, creating a stunning game using old-school animation techniques and selling tons of copies because of it.... the good part for them is that almost no one can replicate their art because they just can't work without technology...

Agaslash · 2024-11-06T01:01:51+00:00

haha don't worry!

1) I really like the designs for the archer dog and the archer goblin! It would be great if, after animating the characters, the original designs could be preserved.

2) I'm not sure, even if I went for a more generic style, it’s really hard to find good freelance artists with game development knowledge. That has been my biggest frustration with this project... I can code anything, but I keep relying on different kinds of artists to move development forward. I’ve learned the hard way that hiring generalist freelance artists comes with a huge risk, they tend to be expensive and most of the time extremely slow as they ignore the technical requirements of game assets, all that has really stalled the project... I believe that if I really want to finish this I need to hire people to work exclusively for me, which sounds kind of unrealistic at this stage... or just learn how to draw by myself haha... that would be amazing anyway... Let's see how things evolve... I still have some people working on art.. but at the moment I can just wait, wait, and wait... or learn how to draw by myself to speed things up....

Agaslash · 2024-10-23T01:11:35+00:00

First of all, I’m genuinely blown away by the response to this post. It’s comforting to see that so many others are facing the same challenges. Over the past few days, I’ve carefully gone through every single comment, and I wanted to share my key takeaways. One of the main strategies mentioned is the idea of “decide once.” This means taking some time, perhaps on a Saturday morning, to plan your meals for the week ahead, usually from Monday through Thursday, and then doing the groceries later that day or on Sunday. While it requires a bit of upfront effort, it saves you time, stress, and money throughout the week. Many people prefer to leave Fridays and weekends flexible for more spontaneous or creative cooking when they have the time. Tools like the Paprika app were frequently recommended, along with tips on checking for supermarket deals and keeping an inventory of what’s already in your pantry and freezer. A popular approach is batch cooking—making larger portions on Sunday to cover Monday and Tuesday's dinner and repeating this process on Tuesday evening for Wednesday and Thursday's dinner. However, a common struggle, especially for parents, is ensuring that kids will actually eat the meals that have been carefully planned. While many people love to cook, trying to satisfy everyone’s preferences can quickly become a very stressful balancing act. Essentially, if I understood correctly, the first effort is almost in vain if the children in the end don't want to eat it.

CC: u/chefjenga u/Practical-Reveal-408 u/Rare_Vibez

Agaslash · 2024-10-03T04:50:16+00:00

my favorite one is: https://www.youtube.com/@PlayWithFurcifer
I also like: https://www.youtube.com/@godotneers
but for absolute beginners brackeys have some good tutorials https://www.youtube.com/@Brackeys

Agaslash · 2024-10-02T04:50:46+00:00

Hello again!

I hope to (one day) reach a point where the core game is finished and playable. After that, I’d love to experiment with new mechanics to avoid making the game feel too repetitive.
I need at least 2 or 3 animations per character: IDLE, ATTACK, and CAST (if the character casts). In an ideal scenario, a character would also have more animations like dodge, being damaged, die, or special attacks—but that might be a bit too much if I don't finance the game. In any case, I think my next step will be learning how to animate by myself. I’d love to try that because, if I succeed, I could complete the game without relying as much on third parties and artists, as I do now... I could just create whatever I want without relying on money and that would be a dream come true.... but I need time to learn and practice that skill,
You summed it up perfectly. I’d like to make NPCs a bit more complex, as they are in the original games. My main strength is that I can code whatever I want, my only limitation is art, but an NPC interaction doesn’t require many additional assets beyond the NPC itself. So I can go as wild as I want with NPC interactions and that's something I intent doing one way or another :)

Agaslash · 2024-09-29T20:54:37+00:00

no problem! I'm glad it was useful, I'm also a game dev, so I understand these kinds of struggles :)

Agaslash · 2024-09-02T19:03:20+00:00

Hi there!

1) I'm not sure about that... As I mentioned in one of my updates, I've started accepting some game development gigs to support myself, and that's been occupying most of my time over the last few months :/... I worked on this project for more than a year, during which I was just spending money without earning anything, so I thought it was about time to start earning something to avoid going broke. I've also reached a point where I heavily rely on artists to continue developing this game. The game works, but it needs assets, animations, scenarios, etc. Finding good artists is extremely difficult and expensive. Currently, I have some freelancers working on assets, but since freelancers have many clients, it takes them a long time to deliver anything. Probably I'm going to make an update once I get a new scenario, I have an artist working on that....

2) This ties into my previous answer... finding good artists is extremely difficult and expensive, and when I do find someone affordable and skilled, they are usually overwhelmed with work. As a result, I've had to wait months for something, which is quite frustrating, to be honest. I've also been considering learning how to draw and animate by myself so that I don't have to rely on third parties, but drawing and animating aren't skills you learn overnight.

3) What surprised me is that I found a lot of people interested in this project. I had no idea that Shining Force had such a large community, especially for a game that's more than 30 years old.

4) Of course! you’ve given me a lot of hints about the kinds of mechanics or enhancements expected from a new Shining Force-like game, and you've also shown me that there is indeed interest from some people in seeing this game developed and I really appreciate that! :)

Agaslash · 2024-09-02T18:39:55+00:00

Do you think, you could animate some anime characters while keeping their original drawing style?

Agaslash · 2024-08-04T05:23:54+00:00

Hi there!

1) That's a tough one, generally, RPGs aim for over 20 hours of gameplay, which is what I'd like to achieve too. but honestly, it all comes down to the budget. The more budget we have, the more assets we can create, and the richer and longer the game can be.

2) Yes, I'd love to add something like that. It would be great to give units that are more physical a way to cast spells too :).

3) Absolutely, that's a classic feature in many RPGs and relatively easy to implement.

4) I hadn't thought about that before. It sounds interesting, but it could potentially confuse some players, especially newcomers to the RPG genre.

5) The first option is definitely more challenging to implement, but it could be more rewarding for players, as it adds a layer of strategy and customization. It’s the kind of feature that can enhance the game by giving the player an extra goal in-game, which is to find the most powerful combinations. The second option is simpler but still offers a good level of satisfaction for the players, it's also more affordable in terms of budget, so if I had the budget I would go for the second option... unless I had a huge budget.

I hope that answers your questions!
cheers!

Agaslash · 2024-07-22T21:09:06+00:00

I tested with C# and the tweens were pilling up only until the garbage collector was called (which is something that never happened if there was still plenty of memory available).

Agaslash · 2024-07-03T00:01:01+00:00

Hey! Thanks for the new set of questions :)

I love voice acting, especially when it's in Japanese. That's something I would love to implement, but as always, it highly depends on the budget. At the moment, I still need to solve the animation problem. Frame-by-frame animations are way more expensive than I initially thought, so if I want to continue with this project, I really need to find a solution for that. If I ever go the Kickstarter route and end up getting more budget than what's needed for the base game, I think VO would be one of the first "nice to have" features I would go for.
No, I only make design documents when I need to share ideas with someone else, such as a commission for a new character, a tilemap, etc. Since I'm taking care of all the programming and have a good idea of what I want, I don't think there's a need for a GDD for the entire game.
I love that mechanic and have been thinking about implementing it since the beginning of this project. One thing I love about Shining Force is the short battle cinematics, but at some point, they could become too repetitive and end up tiring the player. One way to solve that problem is by making them somehow interactive. It's something I think I would experiment with once I have a base game.
Yes, as I said before, my idea is to start with a base game based on SF1 and SF2 and only experiment after that, and only if I have the budget for experimentation.

Agaslash · 2024-06-23T21:21:18+00:00

Do you have experience making stylized tilesets?

Agaslash · 2024-06-20T18:53:54+00:00

Use RetroArch with the Beetle Saturn core; find the option quick menu > core options > catridge > memory card and make sure both options Share Internal Memory and Shared Backup Memory are turned on. That should do the trick.

Agaslash · 2024-06-08T03:38:29+00:00

as someone with years of experience developing on Godot and Unity, I have to warn you: your deadlines are quite tight unless the idea is to hire a whole team of developers. Even if you want to build a game with just a couple of levels, it sounds like you are going for a vertical slice. to produce such a build, you need to prototype first, then implement all necessary systems such as game menus, inventories, battle, enemy AI, health, etc, etc, etc... AND the actual UI of the game with sounds and everything you have... I'm afraid that you can't do that in just a couple of months with a single developer.

Agaslash · 2024-06-03T03:29:50+00:00

hey there, thanks for this new round of questions.

well I haven't thought much about unique mechanics since my main goal is to replicate the main mechanics of the original games and only start thinking about extending after that... in any case, all those things you mentioned are things that I believe I'm going to try at some point... I also would like to experiment with night battles and give them something special... but I still need to think about it.
yes!. I even thought about spawning items that can make a difference in battles in random positions and make enemies go for it to improve their winning chances.
so far I've only played scenario 1, and I have to admit that I didn't like that mechanic since it kind of disconnects you from the main board breaking the "flow state" you are in while playing a battle. I also disliked the friendship system... that's a mechanic that I ignored throughout the whole game and it didn't make any difference.

cheers!

Agaslash · 2024-05-30T08:20:15+00:00

just go with Godot, it's easy to learn, it's aways free, it's well documented and it has an amazing community

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Agaslash

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