March 14 Update
Added 2021-03-14 18:39:41 +0000 UTCMost likely, work on OEA won't stop abruptly, it will taper off over a period of time. There are also a number of things I don't want to do, like get screenshots, update the Steam page, and see about a trailer. The plan was to taper the final OEA work out over a longer period while work on TLS 0.56.0 ramped up as my main focus.
That's still the plan, but I'm disappointed it didn't start this past week. The level of feedback has been a lot heavier than I expected, and I'm still anticipating some really long emails. That said, hopefully we're moving away from knotty problems to issues of polish, so I hope the tapering will begin sooner rather than later. This has been a joy to finally finish, but I'm creatively ready to shift gears.
One thing I'm disappointed about was that the game got pirated so early. It had an immediate negative affect on Steam wishlists, and it also meant I got exposed to a lot of tiring opinions. Brought up some past things I'd put behind me. It seems it was a mistake to give this version all the art, but nothing to do except keep moving forward and shrug it off.
Meanwhile, please provide feedback on the maps, if you have any thoughts! I have some of my own for this set:
- Overgrown Sample: This one is trying to mix in some ruins to make this Tale more memorable, but I don't think all the tiles actually fit together. Won't mention exactly which ones, but let me know what you think.
- Innocent Sample: This one is breaking our previous rules by having all the trees fall into a grid pattern, along with some of the smiling flowers. This is intended to show the creepy uniformity of the Tale, and this deep into the game I hope players will understand, but both I and the mapper were unsure if this was too far or not far enough.
- Grimmton Samples: Two this time! Both show the new tiles and dead figures, but they have different styles of shadows. The spiky one is far more work, but I want to do whatever looks best, even if it's something different from either of these.
- New Canisan Slum + Frozen Clearing: Both of these are finished maps.
Anyway, I'll just keep my nose to the grindstone and work on everything. I suppose if people want to be extra helpful they could contribute screenshots, but this is something I fully intend to do myself, eventually.
Comments
Doh - forgot to say, if you're concerned about people not realising that the Cheerful Tale's grid pattern is deliberate, you could always hang a lampshade on it by having one of the party members question it during the first visit, with a suitably withering answer from Hood.
Lamsey
2021-03-17 20:55:43 +0000 UTC/late: Frozen Clearing: looks good to me. New Canisan: in addition to the blue lines on the waterfalls that Decanter mentioned, there are some bright straight lines on the east bank of the river in the far north, stretching from the bridge to the edge of the map. Looks good otherwise. Now that I've reached New Canisan in my playthrough, I can see this one's been rearranged a fair bit - is that Estha's shop in the northwest now? Not sure where the other locations (e.g. party base, smuggler) are, but I guess it'll make sense ingame. Grim Wasteland: the sharper shadows look more creepy, but it's a bit odd that the shadows aren't uniformly sharp, since the trees have no canopy to cast the blanket shadows in the west/east areas. Still, I'd definitely go with that option if it's feasible to get a consistent look across the whole map without wearing out the mapper's mouse, keyboard, and goodwill. Cheerful Forest: I see what you're going for, but I think it would look better with a little bit of subtle variation, such as mirroring some of the trees or subtly varying their placement without breaking the general grid pattern. I'd lean into elements like the evenly-placed flowers along the borders to emphasise the unnatural orderliness of the Tale, while still allowing the forest itself to look a little organic. Overgrown: the open patches of grass could maybe look longer and more unruly, like knee- or waist-length undergrowth rather than a trimmed lawn. Like Decanter and others, I think the blocky wall in the southwest doesn't match the others and looks lower quality, so I'd get rid of it and keep the others, which look good to me (maybe also remove the round columns if you want to be consistent with the lighter square ones). Unlike Decanter, I think I'm OK with the odd-coloured leaves since they give the trees a wilder and more distinct feel compared to those in other Tales with similar canopies.
Lamsey
2021-03-17 20:52:57 +0000 UTCValid, but I hope this will be fully ameliorated by the context. It won't be used for screenshots, so players will only encounter it after playing the game for many hours and seeing other types of maps.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-16 00:44:11 +0000 UTCThe danger with the Innocent sample on the grid pattern is that it could look like the dev was lazy/cheap rather than deliberately creepy. The pixel art style will automatically remind people of the days when everything always landed on a grid, because it *was* a grid. (Or at least, it will remind anyone old enough to have played games when pixel art was impressive rather than retro…) I imagine this is a thing where in-game context will make all the difference which way it comes off.
colin r
2021-03-15 23:49:55 +0000 UTCThanks! I'll use multiple of those, and you've inspired me to grab a few more of my own. However, I could still use another class of them: screenshots of sex scenes. A nice scene where the text box doesn't cover much, with some decent text. I won't be able to use these on some stores, but they're important for the NSFW Steam side of things.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-15 22:43:09 +0000 UTCHere is a completely randomly organized array of OEA screenshots, hope some of them can be of use! https://imgur.com/a/kTA8zlo
WaxerRed
2021-03-15 19:25:31 +0000 UTCThanks for giving feedback on the maps!
Sierra Lee
2021-03-15 14:39:44 +0000 UTCOvergrown: The segment of wall in the lower left does look noticeably different from the rest. Nothing else stands out as mismatched to me. Innocent: I think the combination of the trees looking like they were planted in rows and smiling flowers conveys the feel pretty well. Grimmton: The spiky shadows definitely look better. Especially for conveying the creepy forest feel.
Trisk
2021-03-15 13:43:31 +0000 UTCIt's possible for the game to just play a music track at lower than full volume, if that'd fix it for you. Personally, I have the whole game at 40% volume, but inconsistent volume level is a problem that approach can't fix.
Decanter
2021-03-15 01:50:06 +0000 UTCMaps look pretty damn sweet. Well done you :) Another thing is battle music in New Canisan and the mines - its waaaaaaaay to bombastic, especially if you take into the account the fact that the player will be bouncing around that mine for a while, trying to figure out the switches. So yeah, if my ears began to bleed after a few fights, I can imagine how a person who did not grew up on Pantera and Sepultura would react. Another thing is constantly respawning mobs in that mine... I get it, it should be a challenging place, but having to fight every single mob again every time you revisit the floor, gets old very fast, So I'd either make those fights un-escapable to make at least some kind of sense out of this constant (and IMHO rather pointless) grind, or limit the respawns quite a bit.
Dark Art
2021-03-14 23:50:04 +0000 UTCDon't forget about us rescuing Mithyn the goddess of magic from Tanurak. She's been hinted at more than any other goddess except for Ivala.
JJS
2021-03-14 23:41:11 +0000 UTCHey Sierra, I know this is a OEA focus update, but I have a question for you regarding TLS. Which goddess are you most looking forward to us getting to? I figure Ivala is the safe bet, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Who knows, maybe the mysterious Zelica is your favorite. Or maybe you're secretly Orilise and are looking forward to the Mother getting plowed.
Taium
2021-03-14 23:33:16 +0000 UTCHey, even if I'm looking for changes, it's always nice to hear when things are working for people!
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 22:43:33 +0000 UTCOvergrown: I agree about the things you felt didn't blend well. The leaf types are actually in the original pixel art, which is seeming like an increasingly bad deal. =/ Cheerful: Yeah, everything is supposed to be smiley. The flowers dance, too! Some sort of increased light is almost certain, and I'll think about potentially lining the paths. Grim: I'm not sure how well it could be done in just sections, but in any case, it's not an impossibility, the map will just be more expensive. Canisan: Hmm, the waterfall is actually animated, so I'm not sure how it will look in game. I'll mention it for now, then we can check later.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 22:43:04 +0000 UTCI'm easy, I like all the maps, lol
Darthjake
2021-03-14 22:07:48 +0000 UTCOvergrown ruins - I feel some of the black pixels on the thick wall and the round column don't blend well with the environment around them. More important is the tree leaves; the red/orange/yellow leaf types don't blend well into the other leaves. I really like those flowers, though, and some ruins seem like a good idea to me (I hope there's flavor text/dialogue for them). Cheerful - does everything have a smiley face? Is it supposed to be like that? Creepy. There are perhaps too many shadows, especially along the path and clearing - I would think the atmosphere of this tale lends itself to oversaturation and light bloom if anything, like a twee children's animated movie. Otherwise, I think it's alright the way it is, though maybe not the best map to showcase in screenshots as it stands, because of the regularity. If you want an idea for making the tale feel controlled without looking like a standard RPG Maker grid, perhaps the trees along the sides of the intended path could stand together more closely packed, as though strongly enforcing your path thru the woods? Grim - definitely prefer the spiky shadows. Very classic menacing fairytale woods. If it's a lot of work, maybe it doesn't need to be in every area and having it in significant locations like this for effect is good enough and makes the effect stand out more? Canisan - lines along the waterfalls' sides seem very bright blue and sharp to me. Frozen - looks good.
Decanter
2021-03-14 21:50:24 +0000 UTCThanks for giving feedback on the maps!
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 21:21:20 +0000 UTCYeah, diversity of setting was one of the reasons I commissioned custom tiles and paid for parallax mapping. Hope it's successful. For screenshots, any format in the appropriate resolution is fine. My general aim is to show various new maps, emphasizing the quality of the mapping and the diversity of the settings. Some showing pure maps, some showing dialogue between main characters. Some battle screenshots too, ideally in mid-action. Maybe a screenshot of the "equip skills" menu to show that system exists.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 21:21:07 +0000 UTCOEA work will definitely decline over time, and as that happens, I will work increasingly on TLS 0.56.0. But the work didn't decline enough last week to really accomplish much on TLS.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 21:17:10 +0000 UTCThanks for the feedback! I think you make a very good point about the lines and shading for the innocent Tale, we'll take that into account.
Sierra Lee
2021-03-14 21:16:41 +0000 UTCBased on your comments, it's probably better for you personally to wait for the balance to be more final.
Decanter
2021-03-14 20:45:03 +0000 UTCmaps look good, without looking over the overgrowth with a fine tooth comb it blends well and feels very foresty. I think the symmetry will work well in signaling something is off as long as people don’t spend too much time there. the grimtown looks great and the spikier shadows definitely evoke horror/classic fairytale grasping roots and thorns. keep up the great work!
androidK
2021-03-14 20:38:28 +0000 UTCMaps look pretty killer, both figuratively and literarily in the case of Grimtown. The maps show great diversity of settings, which is perfect for the tale hoping aspect of the game. The new overgrown tale and Cheerful tale both look pretty good by my eyes. For Grimtale I really like the shadow effect on the second of the two pictures, with the way it casts over the bodies. And for screenshots is there anything you had in mind? Which elements in particular to focus on and what format them being in?
WaxerRed
2021-03-14 20:24:27 +0000 UTCFor what you said about tapering off with OEA? You mean to say you were going to put this as secondary and start focus on TLS? But it didn't work out cause you didn't start last week? I think I know what you mean but don't fully understand.
JJS
2021-03-14 19:55:20 +0000 UTCI am a bit divided by the opinions because in some way I know that they are not rational opinions, because there are fans,haters,supporters, casuals etc. So I am gonna ask: As someone who hates FFV systems, it is worth to give a chance right now? Or is better to wait? And I am aware of the "if you want to do something, do it yourself" thingie but because my job and the things happening to the world, I dont have so much free time that I would like. Hope everything is okay, happy week.
BleBle
2021-03-14 19:32:21 +0000 UTCProps to whoever made the grimmton samples, that is some really good gore considering the pixel limitation. I really like the ruins in the overgrown tale. It's an area you have to travel through a lot, so making it look unique and interesting is a great idea. As for the innocent tale, I think that the hard lines and dark colors are a little out of place. If you are going to keep the yellow filter over the tale, thinner lines and a brighter shade of green would give it a more cartoony and less dark heart of the woods feel. You have to wonder how pirates can steal stuff so quickly with those hook hands and peg legs. You'd think the missing eye would make them worse at finding treasure, but noooo...
Runcible Technician
2021-03-14 19:31:37 +0000 UTC
