Alora Fane

Not every week can have something worth talking about, I suppose! I started playing a Pokemon Crystal romhack, though.

I've been working away at Dreamons again, though I don't really feel I have much to show in a post! I'm writing this short one mostly for the sake of not missing a week, really.

It's not that I've not done anything, it's that a lot of game dev work just isn't all that exciting to write or read about. For example, I spent hours today changing bits of code so that it's possible for models' body parts (ears, noses, horns, etc) to be different colours, and earlier in the week I revised how equipped skills are encoded into the save data. Wow.

I also spent several hours composing a piece of music for the game which I couldn't get right despite a bunch of fiddling and revising, so that's a bit frustrating. It's just something that happens sometimes.

I'm working towards having a short playable area so that testers can experience the mechanics first-hand, but I don't know when I'll actually get to that point; things take time.

I had another counselling session! It was also mostly unremarkable. I talked a lot about how I feel like I'm pulled in a bunch of different directions, and whenever I try to focus on anything, I just feel bad about not focusing on all the other things I should be. Stuff I've written about in this blog before.

And even though I'm still working my way through Tomb Raider III (almost done now!!), this thing YouTube recommended this to me for some reason piqued my interest:

I've been wondering a lot lately about gameplay-related stuff for Dreamons, like how exactly to design areas, skills, etc, and playing other games for inspiration should help with that. Newer games would be better things to play, but I'd have to decide on one, likely buy it, and I'd likely have to shut all my other programs down and devote my attention to a play session whenever I wanted to play it. Plus I'd be constantly comparing my work to it. It's much easier to get some ROM of a familiar game for free and play it in some little window for five minutes whenever my energy wanes. Less of an investment all round, but still hopefully valuable.

I've also never played a romhack, and normally wouldn't, but decided to give this one a go since the relatively minor changes they've made to a game I'm deeply familiar with should give me some idea of what other players might want, gameplay-wise. Or something like that.

I've not had much time and it's a long game, though, so I've only got a couple of badges since starting a few days ago.

I've been surprised how nostalgic it isn't for me, though. I recognise everything, but it feels almost as unremarkable as something I played last week rather than something where every detail summons up fluffy memories of a lifetime ago. Not sure why that is. Maybe I've seen other videos of playthroughs relatively recently or something? A shame, though, since I would have preferred replaying Crystal so many years since I last did to have felt nicer than this.

Or maybe it's just depression! Who knows.

(My idea of a 'short' update is still way longer than posts I've seen others apologise for the lengthiness of!)

3 COMMENTS

PierceWickstorm29~1Y

I occasionally play Romhacks of Pokemon games, but I can never get into them that much, because there's always something incomplete or it has lazy animations that ruin it for me.

But I do bring good news. I finally finished writing the plotline for my game! I'm taking a break for now, but I will be back on with some work for the design.

Maniafig222~1Y

Ooh, ROMhacks! I've played a ton of Pokémon ROMhacks, these days I play them more than the vanilla games, even.

Regrettably I've not really been commenting on blogs lately, but I am still reading them! Still looking forward to Dreamons, and liking your direction you're taking with it.

Also, the signature at the bottom of this site still says 2004-2022, it's 2023! Almost 2024. How time flies!

Anyway, yes! ROMhacks! I've actually been playing a modded version of MARDEK myself, so seeing you talk about this made me think about that.

Speaking of MARDEK, I recently saw the scene where Meraeador binds the souls into Legion, and I got into a discussion with some people as to what elements those souls are... I always figured the colours of the souls [red, yellow, blue, purple] corresponded to the temperaments [CHL, SAN, PHL, MEL] but others assumed it must be their elements [FIRE, AIR, WATER, DARK]. It made me realise we never really got to know what any soul's element is.

Very important I'm sure, yes! Please do help me win an online argument! What element was the Miserable Martin soul?

Ooh, ROMhacks! I've played a ton of Pokémon ROMhacks, these days I play them more than the vanilla games, even.

Regrettably I've not really been commenting on blogs lately, but I am still reading them! Still looking forward to Dreamons, and liking your direction you're taking with it.

Also, the signature at the bottom of this site still says 2004-2022, it's 2023! Almost 2024. How time flies!

Anyway, yes! ROMhacks! I've actually been playing a modded version of MARDEK myself, so seeing you talk about this made me think about that.

Speaking of MARDEK, I recently saw the scene where Meraeador binds the souls into Legion, and I got into a discussion with some people as to what elements those souls are... I always figured the colours of the souls [red, yellow, blue, purple] corresponded to the temperaments [CHL, SAN, PHL, MEL] but others assumed it must be their elements [FIRE, AIR, WATER, DARK]. It made me realise we never really got to know what any soul's element is.

Very important I'm sure, yes! Please do help me win an online argument! What element was the Miserable Martin soul?

Tobias 1115~1Y

Unfortunately, I can't remember the mental state I was in a lifetime ago when I decided on details like those in MARDEK! I'm surprised their elements aren't mentioned in the game, though. I imagine I must have decided on them, but it was so long ago that I can't recall at all. Your assumptions seem accurate to me though. That was long before I had things like Sorrow or Gravitoom, so I suppose Dark would be the best fit for someone so ridiculously miserable?

This Simpsons clip often comes to mind in cases like this: [LINK]
Not meant in a malicious or dismissive way! I just find it interesting how fans can develop a deeper understanding of a creator's work that that creator themselves, and I suspect it's not uncommon. I suppose in my case it's more a case of the passage of time than not caring about details, though. I definitely would have had a more definitive answer had you asked me a decade ago. These days, my mind's more attuned to the intricacies of Dreamons and Atonal Dreams.

I might as well wait until next year to edit the date at the bottom of this site!! (The About page and Patreon info section are also badly outdated...)

This Simpsons clip often comes to mind in cases like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVgVB3qsySQ
Not meant in a malicious or dismissive way! I just find it interesting how fans can develop a deeper understanding of a creator's work that that creator themselves, and I suspect it's not uncommon. I suppose in my case it's more a case of the passage of time than not caring about details, though. I definitely would have had a more definitive answer had you asked me a decade ago. These days, my mind's more attuned to the intricacies of Dreamons and Atonal Dreams.

I might as well wait until next year to edit the date at the bottom of this site!! (The About page and Patreon info section are also badly outdated...)