Another thing, I made the UI a bit better. Now, the timer isn't a box, just a subtitle, basically, and the palette looks cleaner.

Shall0w wrote:

So, if you go in the project page thing, it gives each box a name. I'll explain it here though

Leftmost box: Timer
Rightmost Box: Color Palette
Topmost Box: Drawing Area
Bottommost Box: Original Image (Shown Before and After Drawing)

How it works is you're shown a timer to study the image, which I placed an example one there, and the timer plays again for you to draw it. Then, you're shown a comparison. On the palette is shown every color you can use, so you just click on the color to set your pen color.

Cool, I think I've got it now. What I was confused about was how to check what the player drew against the source image, but I think I see a way now that would work well with typical game mechanics. The player's draw area could be divided into pixels, bigger pixels at first (less resolution) to be easier. As the game/levels progress, the pixels get smaller (higher resolution and the shapes become more complex until they become your pixel art images. This would work well because the game can check the drawn image with per pixel accuracy, scoring for correct placement and correct color, with a % correct requirement for each picture to continue to the next and having a pixel grid would make accurate drawing easier for the player.
Here is a project that uses a grid system like that (although the resolution doesn't change like ours will) and a famous 16 color palette to draw frames which can then be animated. Press “N” and “1” to enter draw mode for the first animation page.

Shall0w wrote:

Also, a question. I posted a collar thread about an RPG game not long ago, and I see you've had a fair share of experience with making them. Perhaps, once we have a full team, that could be a bigger project we make? I think that'd give us a really awesome game to play and lots of reputation.

Absolutely. I've linked some of my old projects but my dirty secret is that one of my best was never shared. I cut my online RPG teeth in games like DragonSpires (isometric tile-based) and Delrith Online (Player Worlds tile-based) and have spent many years learning how to recreate those systems here in Scratch projects. My dream was always to make a really big RPG game world in a Scratch project. My daughter and I drew a big, 3 continent game world on paper and I got pretty far into making the project but I never shared it. Let me do some digging and I will post the map we drew and the project. It uses tiles to draw the map and stores the maps as list data. By using warps you can have a huge game world with towns you can walk into to create a seamless world. The map editor is built into the project which helps development a lot.
Not that we have to use that system. I am open to ideas for sure!

Locomule wrote:

Shall0w wrote:

So, if you go in the project page thing, it gives each box a name. I'll explain it here though

Leftmost box: Timer
Rightmost Box: Color Palette
Topmost Box: Drawing Area
Bottommost Box: Original Image (Shown Before and After Drawing)

How it works is you're shown a timer to study the image, which I placed an example one there, and the timer plays again for you to draw it. Then, you're shown a comparison. On the palette is shown every color you can use, so you just click on the color to set your pen color.

Cool, I think I've got it now. What I was confused about was how to check what the player drew against the source image, but I think I see a way now that would work well with typical game mechanics. The player's draw area could be divided into pixels, bigger pixels at first (less resolution) to be easier. As the game/levels progress, the pixels get smaller (higher resolution and the shapes become more complex until they become your pixel art images. This would work well because the game can check the drawn image with per pixel accuracy, scoring for correct placement and correct color, with a % correct requirement for each picture to continue to the next and having a pixel grid would make accurate drawing easier for the player.
Here is a project that uses a grid system like that (although the resolution doesn't change like ours will) and a famous 16 color palette to draw frames which can then be animated. Press “N” and “1” to enter draw mode for the first animation page.

Shall0w wrote:

Also, a question. I posted a collar thread about an RPG game not long ago, and I see you've had a fair share of experience with making them. Perhaps, once we have a full team, that could be a bigger project we make? I think that'd give us a really awesome game to play and lots of reputation.

Absolutely. I've linked some of my old projects but my dirty secret is that one of my best was never shared. I cut my online RPG teeth in games like DragonSpires (isometric tile-based) and Delrith Online (Player Worlds tile-based) and have spent many years learning how to recreate those systems here in Scratch projects. My dream was always to make a really big RPG game world in a Scratch project. My daughter and I drew a big, 3 continent game world on paper and I got pretty far into making the project but I never shared it. Let me do some digging and I will post the map we drew and the project. It uses tiles to draw the map and stores the maps as list data. By using warps you can have a huge game world with towns you can walk into to create a seamless world. The map editor is built into the project which helps development a lot.
Not that we have to use that system. I am open to ideas for sure!

My Pokémon map editor (@pokepedia11) may be useful

Locomule wrote:

Absolutely. I've linked some of my old projects but my dirty secret is that one of my best was never shared. I cut my online RPG teeth in games like DragonSpires (isometric tile-based) and Delrith Online (Player Worlds tile-based) and have spent many years learning how to recreate those systems here in Scratch projects. My dream was always to make a really big RPG game world in a Scratch project. My daughter and I drew a big, 3 continent game world on paper and I got pretty far into making the project but I never shared it. Let me do some digging and I will post the map we drew and the project. It uses tiles to draw the map and stores the maps as list data. By using warps you can have a huge game world with towns you can walk into to create a seamless world. The map editor is built into the project which helps development a lot.
Not that we have to use that system. I am open to ideas for sure!

Well, I'm fine with whatever, but what I think I personally would be best with (AlphaAndBeta may think differently on this, now that he's part of the group) due to the fact it's pretty much what my style is made for. Otherwise, I'd have to try learning a new one, and so far I'm only good with this one, but I'm working on creating one more and learning others. The hard part is I waited a while before getting into other ones. This is assuming that when you say map you mean the overworld. If not, well, there's not much to go over on that front. Again, it all depends on what you two want to do though. Jerald's Room (https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/198240569/) is a test of that. I'd actually added a walking animation too, but I forgot to save it. It's only got the A key for it now, so I'll be adding it back soon.

Shall0w wrote:

Well, I'm fine with whatever, but what I think I personally would be best with (AlphaAndBeta may think differently on this, now that he's part of the group) due to the fact it's pretty much what my style is made for.

Best with what? My system is a tiled engine, if you know what that is. But we can use something completely different. The benefit to using tiles is you can build a big world easily, but that isn't necessarily our point. Maybe what we should do is deicde what features we want in our RPG first, then work out engine logistics? I often tend to think “what hasn't been done much at Scratch” and go that direction, hence me leaning toward a big, scrolling game world. But again, that is just one idea. It might be best to start with the both the features we want and the story?

Checking out Gerald's Room I'm guessing you mean non-scrolling, linked backgrounds?

Locomule wrote:

Best with what? My system is a tiled engine, if you know what that is. But we can use something completely different. The benefit to using tiles is you can build a big world easily, but that isn't necessarily our point. Maybe what we should do is deicde what features we want in our RPG first, then work out engine logistics? I often tend to think “what hasn't been done much at Scratch” and go that direction, hence me leaning toward a big game world. But again, that is just one idea. It might be best to start with the both the features we want and the story?

Whoops, guess when doing the note in parenthesis I forgot about the actual thing I was writing about! But, I meant with something similar to my Jerald's Room project, since that's where I think I'd do best. But, I suppose that can wait and we can sort out the other things first. I have two main story ideas that I'll toss up into the air:

1. I was either going to write a story or learn how to program a small game around it, but it's called Runica: The Dragon Isles. Basically, there's this supercontinent called the Dragon Isle that makes up around 80% of the world of Runica. However, after thousands of years of progression and war and such, suddenly, something happens. Nobody is sure what, but it seems…. Bad? Good? Nobody's even sure of that. However, one thing is certain. With it came various new creatures, races, magics, etc. But, with what it gave, it also took away. The Dragon Isle began to crack, to change, to fall apart. After about a year, it was left as multiple continents (Eastmire to the East, Norwyn to the North, Avonlea to the South, Idrynn and Caerdain to the Southwest, Kathran to the Southeast, Kirinrock to the East, Lorell and Eastridge above it, and Iris in the center, resembling the head of the dragon. The conflict is that Iris, Norwyn, and Avonlea are now festering with dark magic and undead, and it is up to our brave heroes to save the world in this dark time.

2. The second is Shadowlands, which is much more jovial. The world of Pyxel was attacked by a dark being known as Oblivion, the Devourer. Rocky and a few friends were the only ones who would take up arms against them to begin with. As Pyxel was destroyed and turned into the Shadowlands, Rocky's band of heroes fought together to free the realm, driving their way from brutish Ogres and Spiders to The Four Hoursemen of the Oblivion (based on, obviously, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) and Oblivion himself. However, it seems Oblivion will not be slain so easily. To defeat him, you will need to raise an army to rebel against the shadow. And, spoiler, Rocky is turned into a Rock and sent to the future where he becomes JERALD'S PET ROCK!

As for mechanics, I think we should go with a simple system. Players choose from a list of classes, and get a few abilities based on it. There could also be some locked ones that require achievements and such. Here are my ideas for those:

- Warrior
- Rogue
- Ranger
- Mage

And, you can unlock:

- Bard
- Necromancer
- Paladin/Priest

How does that sound? I'll flesh out anything you go with, if anything at all. (Give classes abilities/write more elaborate synopses for the stories)

PintOfMilk wrote:

Locomule wrote:

Shall0w wrote:

So, if you go in the project page thing, it gives each box a name. I'll explain it here though

Leftmost box: Timer
Rightmost Box: Color Palette
Topmost Box: Drawing Area
Bottommost Box: Original Image (Shown Before and After Drawing)

How it works is you're shown a timer to study the image, which I placed an example one there, and the timer plays again for you to draw it. Then, you're shown a comparison. On the palette is shown every color you can use, so you just click on the color to set your pen color.

Cool, I think I've got it now. What I was confused about was how to check what the player drew against the source image, but I think I see a way now that would work well with typical game mechanics. The player's draw area could be divided into pixels, bigger pixels at first (less resolution) to be easier. As the game/levels progress, the pixels get smaller (higher resolution and the shapes become more complex until they become your pixel art images. This would work well because the game can check the drawn image with per pixel accuracy, scoring for correct placement and correct color, with a % correct requirement for each picture to continue to the next and having a pixel grid would make accurate drawing easier for the player.
Here is a project that uses a grid system like that (although the resolution doesn't change like ours will) and a famous 16 color palette to draw frames which can then be animated. Press “N” and “1” to enter draw mode for the first animation page.

Shall0w wrote:

Also, a question. I posted a collar thread about an RPG game not long ago, and I see you've had a fair share of experience with making them. Perhaps, once we have a full team, that could be a bigger project we make? I think that'd give us a really awesome game to play and lots of reputation.

Absolutely. I've linked some of my old projects but my dirty secret is that one of my best was never shared. I cut my online RPG teeth in games like DragonSpires (isometric tile-based) and Delrith Online (Player Worlds tile-based) and have spent many years learning how to recreate those systems here in Scratch projects. My dream was always to make a really big RPG game world in a Scratch project. My daughter and I drew a big, 3 continent game world on paper and I got pretty far into making the project but I never shared it. Let me do some digging and I will post the map we drew and the project. It uses tiles to draw the map and stores the maps as list data. By using warps you can have a huge game world with towns you can walk into to create a seamless world. The map editor is built into the project which helps development a lot.
Not that we have to use that system. I am open to ideas for sure!

My Pokémon map editor (@pokepedia11) may be useful

That is pretty cool! I build my map editors into the project and usually stamp the screen in 2 or 3 layers. I've done a lot of projects like this.

Shall0w wrote:

Locomule wrote:

Best with what? My system is a tiled engine, if you know what that is. But we can use something completely different. The benefit to using tiles is you can build a big world easily, but that isn't necessarily our point. Maybe what we should do is deicde what features we want in our RPG first, then work out engine logistics? I often tend to think “what hasn't been done much at Scratch” and go that direction, hence me leaning toward a big game world. But again, that is just one idea. It might be best to start with the both the features we want and the story?

Whoops, guess when doing the note in parenthesis I forgot about the actual thing I was writing about! But, I meant with something similar to my Jerald's Room project, since that's where I think I'd do best. But, I suppose that can wait and we can sort out the other things first. I have two main story ideas that I'll toss up into the air:

1. I was either going to write a story or learn how to program a small game around it, but it's called Runica: The Dragon Isles. Basically, there's this supercontinent called the Dragon Isle that makes up around 80% of the world of Runica. However, after thousands of years of progression and war and such, suddenly, something happens. Nobody is sure what, but it seems…. Bad? Good? Nobody's even sure of that. However, one thing is certain. With it came various new creatures, races, magics, etc. But, with what it gave, it also took away. The Dragon Isle began to crack, to change, to fall apart. After about a year, it was left as multiple continents (Eastmire to the East, Norwyn to the North, Avonlea to the South, Idrynn and Caerdain to the Southwest, Kathran to the Southeast, Kirinrock to the East, Lorell and Eastridge above it, and Iris in the center, resembling the head of the dragon. The conflict is that Iris, Norwyn, and Avonlea are now festering with dark magic and undead, and it is up to our brave heroes to save the world in this dark time.

2. The second is Shadowlands, which is much more jovial. The world of Pyxel was attacked by a dark being known as Oblivion, the Devourer. Rocky and a few friends were the only ones who would take up arms against them to begin with. As Pyxel was destroyed and turned into the Shadowlands, Rocky's band of heroes fought together to free the realm, driving their way from brutish Ogres and Spiders to The Four Hoursemen of the Oblivion (based on, obviously, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) and Oblivion himself. However, it seems Oblivion will not be slain so easily. To defeat him, you will need to raise an army to rebel against the shadow. And, spoiler, Rocky is turned into a Rock and sent to the future where he becomes JERALD'S PET ROCK!

As for mechanics, I think we should go with a simple system. Players choose from a list of classes, and get a few abilities based on it. There could also be some locked ones that require achievements and such. Here are my ideas for those:

- Warrior
- Rogue
- Ranger
- Mage

And, you can unlock:

- Bard
- Necromancer
- Paladin/Priest

How does that sound? I'll flesh out anything you go with, if anything at all. (Give classes abilities/write more elaborate synopses for the stories)

I'm best with games sort of like my 3rd Person Shooter, but can program what you were talking about fine. This game idea sounds cool.

Ok, I think I have a plan on the Matching game, so I will get started on an alpha of that probably tonight.

Shall0w wrote:

As for mechanics, I think we should go with a simple system. Players choose from a list of classes, and get a few abilities based on it. There could also be some locked ones that require achievements and such. Here are my ideas for those:

- Warrior
- Rogue
- Ranger
- Mage

And, you can unlock:

- Bard
- Necromancer
- Paladin/Priest

How does that sound? I'll flesh out anything you go with, if anything at all. (Give classes abilities/write more elaborate synopses for the stories)

On the RPG, I like all your story ideas but lets get some basics out of the way first.
Lets talk basic mechanics…
So far, as I understand it, we are planning on using a non-scrolling engine with pre-drawn game screens that the player runs round on.
We are using classes and abilities with unlockables.
So first off, the non-scrolling engine will free up a lot of overhead for other game features and make coding simpler. As will using abilities instead of stats.
Will there just be two layers on the game screen, the background and then everything on top of that or will we also use a top layer so the player and creatures can walk behind stuff? We don't have to decide this now but with our simple engine it is definitely an option.

Now, features..
Will there be an inventory and if so, how fancy? I've done everything from pop up list inventories to full blown thingee rolls out and you see the items which you can drag around. Obviously the first example was much easier to code and left far more overhead than the second. I really like the minimalistic direction we've gone so far. Like I keep saying, we should focus on a less-is-more mind set and put the oomph in where it counts. In this case, the story and the graphics. Maybe a 3 slot inventory or something like that might work well?

Which leads me to another point, gameplay. How does the character interact with the world, as in.. Do they fight creatures and if so, is it a live action type fight or a cut-scene style fight? With the minimalistic elements we have so far, I'm really liking the idea of action style fights right on the game screen.
Are there drops from fights and if so, how do those work?
Are there stores with buyable items?
How does currency work, if there is such?
Will their be a magic system and if so, is it just for combat? Is it just spells or are there magical items and such?
How do payers talk to npcs? Cut scenes, word balloons, text at bottom of screen?

I will go take a look at the code you have so far for Jerald's Room.

I took a look at the Tick based system, and it seems easy enough to pick up on, I remixed the project to edit and dissect it, and really learn how it works.

1. There will be 3 layers - Background, which you walk into, a “Collision/Objects” layer, and the Foreground, which is something that goes over the player but can be walked through. The order on the screen, from top to bottom, is: Background > Collision > Player & NPCs, etc > Foreground > UI
2. There will be an inventory, using 6 equipment slots and that pop-up inventory system you were talking about, where it kind of just fills in with what you pick up. If we want, we could, in addition to that, have a Skyrim system where there are weight values and maximum carry weights you can have. Though, that would take a lot more coding as far as I'm aware. Another thing we could do, to go with the 6-slot equipment, is a 6 slot inventory which can be increased with levels, maybe every 3 levels is 1 bag slot?
3. Everything is in the overworld. They fight creatures in it, so it's live-action.
4. Enemies will drop items, for instance, a Goblin might drop 1-3 Cloth Strips which can be sold or used for crafting items. They'll also have rare drops, like, for instance, “Legendary” items which there will be 1-3 of per slot and grant a special bonus.
5. There are a few stores, which sell rudimentary things, like materials, basic weapons, etc.
6. Currency will work in a very simple sense. Each enemy drops a bit, and each thing you sell gives a bit. This can be used to buy from the stores.
7. Magic will just be for combat, to keep things simple.
8. Players will talk to NPCs via text at the bottom of the screen and normally two answers, like Yes or No for quests.

None of what I just said has to be final, it's just what I was thinking. If either of you want to change something, feel free to ask/change it!

AlphaAndBeta wrote:

I took a look at the Tick based system, and it seems easy enough to pick up on, I remixed the project to edit and dissect it, and really learn how it works.

Awesome! Not too tricky at all, although looking through Griff's stuff, especially his multiplayer stuff, I can see how the system can grow pretty tricky when needed. But this basic version works great for just about anything I've used it with, and that is a lot. My current plan is to start the RPG project using this system, then we can develop it however we need to.

Please add your thoughts on the RPG too. We are just getting the basic elements figured out right now.

I'll also explain the basics of the classes.

Warrior focuses on dealing direct damage to enemies and being defensive. They use Rage as a resource for abilities.
Rogue focuses on dealing high damage over time to enemies and being sneaky. They use Energy as a resource for abilities.
Ranger focuses on dealing high damage from afar and being at constant range. They use Ammunition as a resource for abilities.
Mage focuses on dealing medium damage from afar and using utility. They use Mana as a resource for abilities.

Bard focuses on dealing low damage and buffing themselves over time. They use Tempo as a resource for abilities.
Necromancer focuses on AOE damage, dealing more damage to groups. They use Sanity as a resource for abilities.
Paladin focuses on dealing low damage, tanking, and self-healing. They use Light as a resource for abilities.

Locomule wrote:

AlphaAndBeta wrote:

I took a look at the Tick based system, and it seems easy enough to pick up on, I remixed the project to edit and dissect it, and really learn how it works.

Awesome! Not to tricky at all, although looking through Griff's stuff, especially his multiplayer stuff, I can see how the system can grow pretty tricky when needed. But this basic version works great for just about anything I've used it with, and that is a lot. My current plan is to start the RPG project using this system, then we can develop it however we need to.

Great! this should work out great. I'm continuing to look at it now, and learn the in + outs of it.

Shall0w wrote:

I'll also explain the basics of the classes.

Warrior focuses on dealing direct damage to enemies and being defensive. They use Rage as a resource for abilities.
Rogue focuses on dealing high damage over time to enemies and being sneaky. They use Energy as a resource for abilities.
Ranger focuses on dealing high damage from afar and being at constant range. They use Ammunition as a resource for abilities.
Mage focuses on dealing medium damage from afar and using utility. They use Mana as a resource for abilities.

Bard focuses on dealing low damage and buffing themselves over time. They use Tempo as a resource for abilities.
Necromancer focuses on AOE damage, dealing more damage to groups. They use Sanity as a resource for abilities.
Paladin focuses on dealing low damage, tanking, and self-healing. They use Light as a resource for abilities.

This looks awesome so far, and the different types of energies for abilities is interesting. This should be fun to make.

Shall0w wrote:

…None of what I just said has to be final, it's just what I was thinking. If either of you want to change something, feel free to ask/change it!

Cool, if we need to change anything we can later but all this nfo gives us a great idea where to get started. We still need to get AlphaAndBeta's input on the ideas we have so far.
Or, for that matter, since this is basically the evolution of your Jerald's Room idea (I think?) maybe AAB would like to do something similar with one of their projects, like the 3rd Person Shooter which I think is basically an action platformer at the moment?

For enemies, most use 1-3 abilities to attack. Usually consisting of a Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, and a Utility. Though, bosses may use more to make them unique, like a charged AOE, Defense Up, and a more unique mechanic. One I'd like to use is a mechanic where the boss, rather than using your Health as a gauge for when you die, it uses whether you've died 5 times. So, it could be a necromancer-type boss who raises you from the dead five times before ACTUALLY killing you.

Locomule wrote:

Shall0w wrote:

…None of what I just said has to be final, it's just what I was thinking. If either of you want to change something, feel free to ask/change it!

Cool, if we need to change anything we can later but all this nfo gives us a great idea where to get started. We still need to get AlphaAndBeta's input on the ideas we have so far.
Or, for that matter, since this is basically the evolution of your Jerald's Room idea (I think?) maybe AAB would like to do something similar with one of their projects, like the 3rd Person Shooter which I think is basically an action platformer at the moment?

I could definitely continue making the 3rd person shooter or make something using the basic mechanics of it, though I can also help with this new idea if needed

Shall0w wrote:

1. There will be 3 layers - Background, which you walk into, a “Collision/Objects” layer, and the Foreground, which is something that goes over the player but can be walked through. The order on the screen, from top to bottom, is: Background > Collision > Player & NPCs, etc > Foreground > UI
2. There will be an inventory, using 6 equipment slots and that pop-up inventory system you were talking about, where it kind of just fills in with what you pick up. If we want, we could, in addition to that, have a Skyrim system where there are weight values and maximum carry weights you can have. Though, that would take a lot more coding as far as I'm aware. Another thing we could do, to go with the 6-slot equipment, is a 6 slot inventory which can be increased with levels, maybe every 3 levels is 1 bag slot?
3. Everything is in the overworld. They fight creatures in it, so it's live-action.
4. Enemies will drop items, for instance, a Goblin might drop 1-3 Cloth Strips which can be sold or used for crafting items. They'll also have rare drops, like, for instance, “Legendary” items which there will be 1-3 of per slot and grant a special bonus.
5. There are a few stores, which sell rudimentary things, like materials, basic weapons, etc.
6. Currency will work in a very simple sense. Each enemy drops a bit, and each thing you sell gives a bit. This can be used to buy from the stores.
7. Magic will just be for combat, to keep things simple.
8. Players will talk to NPCs via text at the bottom of the screen and normally two answers, like Yes or No for quests.

None of what I just said has to be final, it's just what I was thinking. If either of you want to change something, feel free to ask/change it!

All of this is great. This should be fun to make.

Locomule wrote:

Shall0w wrote:

…None of what I just said has to be final, it's just what I was thinking. If either of you want to change something, feel free to ask/change it!

Cool, if we need to change anything we can later but all this nfo gives us a great idea where to get started. We still need to get AlphaAndBeta's input on the ideas we have so far.
Or, for that matter, since this is basically the evolution of your Jerald's Room idea (I think?) maybe AAB would like to do something similar with one of their projects, like the 3rd Person Shooter which I think is basically an action platformer at the moment?

Jerald's Room is more of a test of how it would play.