Alora Fane

I've been working on Mentales this week! I'll likely also spend the next week on that, and I've been wondering again whether to make official ports of my old Flash games...

There were some annoying setbacks - like an hours-long power cut and some stupid technical challenges while trying to figure out how to get Unity to handle file format stuff for saves - but I got some important things working, which you can see in this silent 5-minute video (half of which is just silly crass dialogue):

A summary of stuff I've added since I last posted about the game:

- Tilesets can be created and areas can have their tiles drawn using essentially the same editor that's used for drawing pixel faces. I showed a clearer video of this on my Patreon earlier in the week.

- It's now possible to save and load Tales. Getting it working was a pain because of technical programming things (each Tale has a single 'library' variable which stores objects of classes like Tileset and Conversation which all derive from a LibraryThing class, but neither XML nor JSON serialisation handled those derived classes properly and I had to figure out how to get around that), but I did get there in the end!

- These things I'm calling 'Quips' can be created and assigned to a character (though currently they're only used by the player):

Each one just has a name and an element; nothing beyond that, and the element only determines the colour of the 'card' display. They're the equivalent of skills, and could be called whatever you want, so you could use vague things reminiscent of skill names like "Insult", or more specific phrases like "You're ugly!" depending on what you wanted to do with your Tale.

- Conversations can also be created, which have a node-graph-based structure. Basic text nodes can be created by right clicking, and speakers can be assigned to them by dragging their 'cards' from the library on the right. The emote faces of assigned speakers can be changed. Dragging and dropping a Quip creates an Entry node.

- Instead of using a basic interact/talk command, you have to hold a button (currently either left shift or the left shoulder button on a gamepad) to bring up this radial menu, then you select a Quip from that.

The conversation assigned to whoever's in front of you then looks for an entry point corresponding to that Quip. If none are found, dialogue doesn't start. Multiple Quips could connect to the same starting node.

- There will also be opportunities to use Quips mid-dialogue for more branching.

- I also plan to have items, which work in the same way as Quips.

- I plan to add 'Quests', too, which are objects created in the library which can have up to 8 states, and some conversations could check or set their states. (Contrasting with AFC, which just had a single global quest state.)

It's fairly simple, but already I've been amusing myself just making those silly test conversations, and I could see how little stories could be made from it once I've added more things like moving between rooms, decorative props, items, specific dialogue actions and checks, etc.

It's heavily dependent on writing though. I keep wondering whether to add some kind of battle system, remembering examples of user-created level things in games I've played in the past (which tend to be low on words and heavy on repetitive combat, if it's an option), though I'm also aware that people who used AFC in the past didn't exactly make standard battle-filled JRPG adventures with it.

If you're actually interested in this project at all - and how I've presented it so far even makes sense to you! - what kind of stuff would you want it to have?

The plan was to take this week off and get back to Atonal Dreams next nweek, tomorrow, but my parents are going away on yet another of their holidays all next week, meaning I'll be looking after the dog and neighbouring community hall thing. That always throws me off mentally and makes it hard to focus on the usual stuff, so I'm wondering whether to just spend the week finishing off the planned features of Mentales since my mind's already calibrated to that and there's not all that much left to do. Seems wise, though I never like not focusing on my primary project.

(Annoying, though; if I'd realised in advance, I might have done an extra push on Atonal Dreams this week and done next week what I did with this one... Though maybe I'm so burned out on Atonal Dreams that would have been a waste anyway.)

Something that's been on my mind while working on Mentales is that I'd like to replay AFC, and a couple of my other old games, but I don't have Flash Player on this new PC, and I've felt reluctant to install it because it kept pestering me to uninstall it on my old PC, what with Adobe abandoning it and not wanting to be responsible for any issues that arise from their neglect of patching issues.

∞ I talked literally years ago about porting my old games to Steam (late 2019) ∞, which led to the MARDEK Steam port, but I never got around to the other games due to a combination of being busy with other stuff and indecisiveness. I know other Flash devs have released bundles of their old work on Steam, but I feel so uncertain about the idea of bundling all my old stuff together in case I'm missing out on the opportunity to port some of them - eg Clarence's Big Chance - separately. But then I wonder whether that one in particular is even worth its own release. I mean, there's certainly worse stuff on Steam, but...

I also don't know whether the effort to do a port compilation would be worthwhile. Maybe I'd end up spending a month or more on it and only ten people would buy it? It's not really something I'd want to do a big publishing campaign for like I'm hoping to do with Atonal Dreams...

One thought I've had is that I could create maybe two bundles, with the first being pre-MARDEK stuff like Deliverance and Beast Signer, which I'm mostly embarrassed by, and the other being post-MARDEK stuff like AFC, Miasmon and Taming Dreams, which I'm still proud of. They do feel like they're from very different periods of my ~artistic journey~ or whatever.

I'm so unsure, though. Maybe I'll look into trying to create exe files of some old Flash games just for my own personal benefit over the next week - alongside working on Mentales - and see where things go from there.

(I know there are other ways to play old Flash files, but I'm interested in having 'official versions'.)

7 COMMENTS

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Maniafig222~2Y

Something I'd been working on today impromptu was a dumb quest idea where you're an Ogre on a quest to "hug everything to fix the world". Having a separate hug action would be useful for that!

What happens if someone uses a quip/item and there's no designated reply? Having a custom catch-all "That won't work" or "I'm not interested in that" for such cases would be useful.

Something the remaining AFC users agree on is that the game would benefit a lot from having a library of stock sound effects that could be played as actions, right now we mostly just rely on spell flashes to do that (one of them works surprisingly well to simulate blood loss!)

Being able to put in your own music would be great to have too, Telepath Tactics's module maker has that. It'd give people a lot more control of what mood they want the quest to have and reduce the need for you to compose things that aren't your intention but might still be made anyway, like sci-fi stuff or somesuch.

If you are ever in need of user-made quests for AFC just let me know on Discord! I have a whole folder full of stuff you can try if you want to see what other people (mostly me) made with the engine.

I think making two compilations might be the best way to do it. I do wonder however how to sell a lot of these unfinished games, AFC for example is quite buggy in its current state despite all it has going for it! I think Taming Dreams, CBC and Raider 1+2 are the most polished ones of the ones listed. Miasmon is polished too, but does have some missing art assets for some of the evolutions.

Something I'd been working on today impromptu was a dumb quest idea where you're an Ogre on a quest to "hug everything to fix the world". Having a separate hug action would be useful for that!

What happens if someone uses a quip/item and there's no designated reply? Having a custom catch-all "That won't work" or "I'm not interested in that" for such cases would be useful.

Something the remaining AFC users agree on is that the game would benefit a lot from having a library of stock sound effects that could be played as actions, right now we mostly just rely on spell flashes to do that (one of them works surprisingly well to simulate blood loss!)

Being able to put in your own music would be great to have too, Telepath Tactics's module maker has that. It'd give people a lot more control of what mood they want the quest to have and reduce the need for you to compose things that aren't your intention but might still be made anyway, like sci-fi stuff or somesuch.

If you are ever in need of user-made quests for AFC just let me know on Discord! I have a whole folder full of stuff you can try if you want to see what other people (mostly me) made with the engine.

I think making two compilations might be the best way to do it. I do wonder however how to sell a lot of these unfinished games, AFC for example is quite buggy in its current state despite all it has going for it! I think Taming Dreams, CBC and Raider 1+2 are the most polished ones of the ones listed. Miasmon is polished too, but does have some missing art assets for some of the evolutions.

Tobias 1115~2Y

I should definitely have an 'unrecognised quip' case!

Sound effects are a good idea too, though a tricky one, as making sound effects is in general for me. One of the remaining things I've been putting off for Atonal Dreams is particle and sound effects for skills, because it's not really possible to create them 'from nothing' like I can with things like music, visuals, or writing. I'm still not sure about the best way to make them!

I'm very unsure about having user-specified music, though, for a bunch of reasons. I can understand why people would want it! Back when I used Neverwinter Nights, I tried to get new music into my modules in that. But I just stole copyrighted music, as I assume everyone else would too; the chances of people using music they made would be very low. And how much of a concern that'd be would depend on how - if at all - the tales would be 'officially' shared with other people. Currently they're just small text files - like the AFC ones, I think? - which I think I could set up some in-game way to collect in and access from a database or something... though I'll need to look into what other Steam games with user-created levels do. Adding music would make the files exponentially larger in terms of file size, but more concerning would be any potential legal issues from stealing copywrited music.

(One possibility is to have a built-in simple composition tool, but that seems like it'd be unavoidably less accessible than the visual pixel texture painting because music's more abstract, probably? Maybe with limitations, like you're stuck using the scales in MSS, hmm... My mind is filling with ideas! Probably not worth the effort though.)

There's also the potential for way more horrendous stuff in sound files than what you could draw with the strict limitations of the pixel art tool... (though I suppose you could say creators could write all kinds of offensive drivel in the text because that's even less limited, hmm...)

How does the Telepath Tactics thing handle that? Or sharing modules in general, actually? Is there an 'official' way or is it just like how you're presumably sharing AFC quests? I have a hazy vague memory of that only being accessible from the dev's own site rather than Steam, though?

Speaking of AFC quests, I probably should play some of yours, and I did think about that! I'd want to set up the exe version of AFC for myself first though, whenever I find time to focus on that...

I should definitely have an 'unrecognised quip' case!

Sound effects are a good idea too, though a tricky one, as making sound effects is in general for me. One of the remaining things I've been putting off for Atonal Dreams is particle and sound effects for skills, because it's not really possible to create them 'from nothing' like I can with things like music, visuals, or writing. I'm still not sure about the best way to make them!

I'm very unsure about having user-specified music, though, for a bunch of reasons. I can understand why people would want it! Back when I used Neverwinter Nights, I tried to get new music into my modules in that. But I just stole copyrighted music, as I assume everyone else would too; the chances of people using music they made would be very low. And how much of a concern that'd be would depend on how - if at all - the tales would be 'officially' shared with other people. Currently they're just small text files - like the AFC ones, I think? - which I /think/ I could set up some in-game way to collect in and access from a database or something... though I'll need to look into what other Steam games with user-created levels do. Adding music would make the files exponentially larger in terms of file size, but more concerning would be any potential legal issues from stealing copywrited music.

(One possibility is to have a built-in simple composition tool, but that seems like it'd be unavoidably less accessible than the visual pixel texture painting because music's more abstract, probably? Maybe with limitations, like you're stuck using the scales in MSS, hmm... My mind is filling with ideas! Probably not worth the effort though.)

There's also the potential for way more horrendous stuff in sound files than what you could draw with the strict limitations of the pixel art tool... (though I suppose you could say creators could write all kinds of offensive drivel in the /text/ because that's even less limited, hmm...)

How does the Telepath Tactics thing handle that? Or sharing modules in general, actually? Is there an 'official' way or is it just like how you're presumably sharing AFC quests? I have a hazy vague memory of that only being accessible from the dev's own site rather than Steam, though?

Speaking of AFC quests, I probably should play some of yours, and I did think about that! I'd want to set up the exe version of AFC for myself first though, whenever I find time to focus on that...

Maniafig222~2Y

I believe a lot of games just use sound effects from stock sound effect libraries. That seems common for indie games anyhow.

If you are putting AFC on Steam then it'd make sense to use the Steam Workshop to upload quests to, that's what the Workshop is for after all! That's also how Telepath Tactics does it, and how most games that feature usermade content or official mod support do it.

I suppose that if a player bundled music with their quest, it'd need to be uploaded as package to be available for download, I guess that can get sticky if it's copyrighted music. That sort of thing wouldn't be an issue if the host was an external site, such as is the case for a Rayman level editor I've been using a lot.

I will make a shortlist if things you can play! It turns out that making things for a closed audience of 5 people makes it so not all of these quests are necessarily good or accessible to anyone but those 5 people, so I'll pick the ones that are, or at least do interesting things with the engine.

I believe a lot of games just use sound effects from stock sound effect libraries. That seems common for indie games anyhow.

If you are putting AFC on Steam then it'd make sense to use the Steam Workshop to upload quests to, that's what the Workshop is for after all! That's also how Telepath Tactics does it, and how most games that feature usermade content or official mod support do it.

I suppose that if a player bundled music with their quest, it'd need to be uploaded as package to be available for download, I guess that can get sticky if it's copyrighted music. That sort of thing wouldn't be an issue if the host was an external site, such as is the case for a Rayman level editor I've been using a lot.

I will make a shortlist if things you can play! It turns out that making things for a closed audience of 5 people makes it so not all of these quests are necessarily good or accessible to anyone but those 5 people, so I'll pick the ones that are, or at least do interesting things with the engine.

Falcon64~2Y

I personally would enjoy a simple composition tool a lot!

phsc57~2Y

I think you should port old games, I'd buy a few of them considering I had the money, Deliverance is one I did not play when you released and it was very interesting playing it and seeing how many things evolved into MARDEK, while it was in general a fun experience, it was rather unpolished.
Clarence and Raider and such, are very playable and I think you could get some sales out of curiosity, who knows if someone played them during their childhood in some obscure website set in their local language and they really liked it and then they'd find it on Steam and be super happy? unlikely, but it would be interesting.
Beast Signer was also very interesting, and all of these I'd probably buy them at some point, depending on the cost and a few other things, like how much money I have and such.

Now, the more modern ones, Alora Fane Creation I know very little about it, and would be interested in playing it, but since I don't know about it I am unsure, Miasmon looks very cool and solid and I'd probably buy it as well, but still rather unsure, since I don't know anyone who played both of these.

Now, Taming Dreams is a controversial one, right? didn't you get a lot of hate from it? I remember seeing it instead of MARDEK: Chapter 4 and getting a bit sad really, but maybe it is a solid game, but the one I am least likely to buy out of these, I'd probably try to find... alternative means of playing it and if I enjoyed it, I'd buy it, or maybe watch gameplay videos on youtube or something, but as far as I know it is not very long so that would take a decent part of the experience away.

Anyway, go for it, whenever you are a bit creatively tired (if this is a term) you could do boring activities such as porting them.

Also thank you for porting MARDEK to Steam, if I had to make a top 3 flash games I've played, chapter 3 probably would be included in that and now I can easily play it on Steam without much trouble, and in case you are curious, the other two also are on Steam, sort of, the best probably is Caravaneer 2 which is a very different sort of game (while a RPG, it is sort of a... trade-based economical but also war/battle in turn set in a post-apocalyptical world mad-max style... RPG, which is a very unique take and it is very interesting, I like how mostly early on your decisions actually REALLY matter, and the game has a very hard learning curve that feels very good to understand, and it is very interesting) and the other one is hard to say, but the Submachine series (soon to release on Steam, remastered) is a like, atmospheric dark-mysterious point and click puzzle game series, and if I h ad to pick one from them, it would be Submachine 4.

One thing I don't know if you've mentioned, but, which flash games did you enjoy back in the day? if any at all?

Now, the more modern ones, Alora Fane Creation I know very little about it, and would be interested in playing it, but since I don't know about it I am unsure, Miasmon looks very cool and solid and I'd probably buy it as well, but still rather unsure, since I don't know anyone who played both of these.

Now, Taming Dreams is a controversial one, right? didn't you get a lot of hate from it? I remember seeing it instead of MARDEK: Chapter 4 and getting a bit sad really, but maybe it is a solid game, but the one I am least likely to buy out of these, I'd probably try to find... alternative means of playing it and if I enjoyed it, I'd buy it, or maybe watch gameplay videos on youtube or something, but as far as I know it is not very long so that would take a decent part of the experience away.

Anyway, go for it, whenever you are a bit creatively tired (if this is a term) you could do boring activities such as porting them.

Also thank you for porting MARDEK to Steam, if I had to make a top 3 flash games I've played, chapter 3 probably would be included in that and now I can easily play it on Steam without much trouble, and in case you are curious, the other two also are on Steam, sort of, the best probably is Caravaneer 2 which is a very different sort of game (while a RPG, it is sort of a... trade-based economical but also war/battle in turn set in a post-apocalyptical world mad-max style... RPG, which is a very unique take and it is very interesting, I like how mostly early on your decisions actually REALLY matter, and the game has a very hard learning curve that feels very good to understand, and it is very interesting) and the other one is hard to say, but the Submachine series (soon to release on Steam, remastered) is a like, atmospheric dark-mysterious point and click puzzle game series, and if I h ad to pick one from them, it would be Submachine 4.

One thing I don't know if you've mentioned, but, which flash games did you enjoy back in the day? if any at all?

Alberto13~2Y

I am agree with re-realising of your old games.
I will wait to play again Deliverance but this deserves to be finished in future.
I want others games like Fig Hunter Online, Clarence's Big Chance, Miasmon, Alora Fane Creation, Taming Dreams, Beast Signer, Alora Fane Regression, Yden, Raider Zero, Raider episodes 1, 2 and 3, Fig Hunter old game, Clarence RPG, Timid Cervid and Chamealeon.