Alora Fane

I'm still going! Potion levels! Uncertainty about how to transition between the nightmare intro and Sprouting Isle, and how the world map should work! Chrono Cross remaster!

The views counts for these posts are really dwindling to the point where I wonder who'll still be paying attention when I finally get around to the next alpha test! Hopefully it's not too far off now... I'm still working through the list of tedious remaining tasks, and I managed to get some fairly big ones out of the way this week.

One was a simple blocking reaction system that I've been meaning to add (or re-add) for ages, so that's done, finally.

Most of the rest of my time was spent chipping away at a bunch of unexciting but important bugfixes etc. Some took five minutes or less, others took days! That's how it goes.

I mentioned potions last time, and how their acquisition could feel rewarding and their use encouraged. I've added something that I hope might help with that:

Potions now have a level value. When you use one, you get glitter equal to the level x 10, then the level is increased by 1 (the levels are specific to potion types but not to characters). So the more potions you use, the more XP/currency you get. I don't know whether it'll work out, but it was easy to add and I'm curious to see what players make of it!

You might also notice a singular 'power' value there. This is similar to the power ratings I've seen in other games with multiple forms of statistical progression to summarise them in a single figure with no other use. I may or may not keep it depending on how useful it feels!

One remaining thing I need to fix is the world map, which currently looks like this:

Broken, basically, after some change I made somewhere. I need to fix it... but I keep wondering whether to even keep it at all because I don't feel happy with it.

Currently, the game begins with the nightmare in Collie's Psychepelago, and that section ends with Collie awakening astride this Mysteed behind the 'real' Savitr, who she addresses as her Master (because she's his apprentice). They exchange a few lines of dialogue, then you select a location to land - the only one available - which makes you appear on the beach in front of Pierce. You take control and can silently run around a bit, but talking to Pierce to begin the scene with him is really the only thing you can do.

An alternative that I've been considering for a long while is something like this: Collie awakens - or is awakened - in her bed in a small dorm of the Cloud-Clad Castle, the base of the Seraphim and Cherubim; kind of like Mardek waking up at the start of MARDEK 2. She might realise that she's overslept or something and that she has to report immediately to one of the 'warp rooms' in the castle. To save on asset creation, it could just fade cut to that room, where Savitr is waiting. Collie comes in, they meet for the first time, and then they warp using a crystal - or maybe it could be some kind of portal or something - and arrive on the Sprouting Isle, where Pierce spots them immediately and the battle begins.

(I also like the idea of her waking up with a book about the 'Splendid Savitr' that she fell asleep reading, to partially explain some of the dream content and hint at her real interest in him and his genuine renown.)

I could even make the entire castle - and you could wander around talking to NPCs - but that'd be much more work (unless it was just like a couple of corridors, with NPCs blocking other paths...).

For whatever reason, I started a lot of my old games with characters waking up in bed like that! I'm not sure why. Maybe I just like the feeling of being able to explore the protagonist's cozy 'home' before going off into an adventure, or something.

I'm uncertain what to do here, for a few reasons! Adding this brief castle section would create some padding between the climactic end of the intro nightmare and the action of the Pierce scene, which could be either seen as breathing room, or an annoying delay depending on your preferences. It'd mean some additional asset creation - a couple of rooms in the Cloud-Clad Castle - and some new scene writing, but it might be a less jarring transition between the dream intro and the battle with Pierce?

In a world where figmon are a thing, it seems natural to use one as a mode of transport... but I feel that'd require some additional animation where Savitr summons his Mysteed when you select to fast travel, which is something that feels annoying to make. Plus I've found the animations for them riding it over the world map awkward since I added them.

Being able to travel between crystals - or maybe stargate-like portals - directly though could be explained lore-wise as something to do with another concept - concords - which plays a role in the story/setting ('psychic links' develop between minds which can be traversed in some mental sense), and it might be snappier gameplay-wise... though I suppose I'd still need to make some way of selecting a destination which would essentially be a world map. Maybe it could just be entirely abstract, though, made up of minimaps - those grids of rooms - arranged next to one another... But that feels less immersive and doesn't give a good idea of how the lay of the land looks, so...

I'm indecisive, anyway! Whatever direction I take will require work.

I've loved world maps in games since I first encountered the one in Mario World as a child, and I do like the idea of including one in some form... Modern Pokemon games use this abstract form of world map, and I've been wondering whether to take inspiration from that:

Or maybe something more like old Final Fantasy (or what I see as 'old school JRPG') world maps, where you directly control the flying Mysteed? But I'd need to decide how the areas were represented, in that case...

I still like what I had for Taming Dreams - which was essentially similar to what I had in MARDEK - and something like that would create continuity with my other games, kind of...

Ehh, I'm unsure. Ideally I want something that's easy to make and easy to change as I need to, which feels solid to use but not a nuisance to traverse.

I spent some time yesterday re-reading ∞ this monstrous post I wrote at the end of last year summarising my 2 years of progress on Atonal Dreams ∞. Mixed feelings, again! I'm proud of where I've come with it, but I'm annoyed it's been taking so long when I intended the whole thing to be done in six months. Bothers me every day, that. All I really can do is keep at it, though.

I realised from that that it's been almost exactly a year since the last alpha test. I hoped after that that I'd only be spending a week or text fixing reported issues before another test, but that didn't happen! I feel much more secure about the mechanics and point of the game now than I did then, though.

I've still not set up my new PC!! Pfff! I'll do that tomorrow, hopefully... I would have done it last weekend, but got too distracted.

I also got the Chrono Cross remaster yesterday. Cheaper than I expected; I thought they'd try to charge at least £40, but it was only around £12, or something?

It includes a version of a game called 'Radical Dreamers', which I remember reading about with some curiosity years ago: it was a text-based prequel or something to Chrono Cross which was only released in Japan for some obscure device. Seemed odd, and I wondered how their stories could even be linked. I thought it'd be a good idea to start with that, but I ended up dying in it and didn't enjoy the text-based experience at all! Made me think about how I never read books these days because they feel so lacking compared to media which engage more senses, particularly games which are directly immersive. I feel I have to endure it to completion before I can start on Chrono Cross though. Hopefully it's not too long. Ugh.

I played Chrono Cross once many years ago, but barely remember it. When I look back, I feel like I barely understood the stories of RPGs I played in general? I don't know whether that says more about their shoddy writing or my then-undeveloped mind though; probably more the latter. I only really recall how there are tons of (mostly optional?) bizarre recruitable characters - things like a skeletal clown and a talking voodoo doll - and a system which adjusts general dialogue to fit their quirky accents (meaning they're literally interchangeable), some plot event where the protagonist inhabits the body of the antagonist which can optionally be made permanent, a major battle which requires you to play some melody I hadn't picked up on and had to check a guide for, and some kind of musical concert or something?

I loved the music in general though, and have listened to the OST way more frequently and recently than I've touched the game itself.

I'll be curious about how I perceive its story with my adult mind, and its battle mechanics after spending so much time thinking about Atonal Dreams.

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