Update 11/14/21

Eesh, sorry about missing last week! Real-life stuff got in the way a bunch, and I haven't had the opportunity to work on making more assets. Not anything big like enemy art, anyway. I've also been brainstorming ideas/scenarios for the game I was bugtesting earlier, which has taken a bit of a productivity toll on me.  That said, for this week's update, we've got two things.

First, the sprites! Anyone who's used rpg maker before should know this, but among the default assets they provide you is a spritesheet labelled 'evil'. On it are bandits, ninjas, an evil lady, and, most relevantly, some kind of purple-robed monk or cultist! There's also accompanying face graphics and enemy art for these sprites. For the person starting out, the amateur (myself included), these are pretty neat. While I initially used the face graphic and sprite of the monk (battler name refers to him as 'mage') for my Fat Cultists, the most recent update had new original face graphics, cut from their new battler art. And, if I was a reasonable person, that'd be enough. Focus your attentions elsewhere.

...

I am not, in some sense, a reasonable person.

So, whilst I was bugtesting and helping brainstorm, I was also making a set of original sprites for the Fat Cultists, in-line with the other original sprites.  They're a bit sloppy, admittedly, yet at the same time, they're slightly more complicated than they have any right to be--like, I made the hood asymmetrical on the smaller-sized sprites, for some goddamn reason. Also, I apparently have no idea how robes/hoods/whatever they're wearing actually work, I guess? They're basically dressed in evil Snuggies!

While I have no intention of replacing all of the default rpgmaker assets with my own--an insane task, i'd imagine--I don't see the harm in making more appropriate sprites for elements I'll be readily re-using. After all, I'll be needing cultist sprites for phase 3, wherein one is either allied with them, or attacking them; plus, whatever else I may do with them. Although, now I need to make GAIN sprites, as well... I've actually already started those, but being that they're *not* "unshapely mass of robe" it's been a bit more irritating.

As for the rpgmaker 'maker' UI screenshots... Well, it's been a while, but I've finally settled on a system I am happy with *conceptually*. The numbers might still need some adjusting, but... anyway.

Previously, one could only gain exp/'calories' by digesting at fixed locations., which converted your mp/fullness into exp. The logic here was to make growing stronger, fatter, a deliberate choice, as opposed to the passive exp accrual that is normal to the genre. But, that proved a bit... unwieldy.  I subsequently upped the passive exp gain from enemies, but not substantially, because I wanted to make eating the primary mechanism.

Which leads me to this: the passive digestion eventing. Now, when a party member's current fullness is >5% of their max capacity, they'll digest that 5% value, every 50 steps. Ish. (Rpg maker loses the count sometimes) And when they digest it, it becomes calories, rather than being lost (as it currently is in the most recent version).

That means, then, that as long as you feed your party, they'll be gaining calories to level up as you're out and about, no digestion spots required.

On top of that, I've added a modifier variable for each character. A new item set, sweets, will raise a character's calorie modifier temporarily if you give character 'X' her favorite; in the example image, Rachel's is chocolate. Giving rachel chocolate will cause her to gain 3 times the exp she normally would by digesting! This modifier will also occur at digestion spots, and will stack; e.g., giving rachel chocolate twice will do nothing, but giving her chocolate before using a digestion spot will give her (currently) 6 times the calories she'd get by walking around!

Once this is all up and running, I'm hoping it'll lessen the repetitive grindiness the game has thus far, although I expect I'll still have to nerf exp needed to level up once or twice before all is said and done. Also, it has been a right pain to figure out the eventing logic and scripting needed to make it work--and I need to do it for 13 other actors. It's easier subsequent times, yeah, but it's still An Ordeal, haha.

Till next time!