Author Archives: JellyPaladin

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of July 21, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Rebalanced HP formula
* Altered battle menu displays
* Rebalanced damage formulas
* Fixed HP displays
* Added elemental resistances to all enemies
* Added remaining enemies and bosses of first and second dungeons: Centaur Warrior, Dryad, Elven Archer, Feligas, Grisly Bear, Slimectric, Slimelter, Slimercury, Slimerime, Sylph Mage, Zanari Arcadian, and the two bosses who I won’t name
* (Mostly) Papered out new attacks, magic, and other abilities: Acid Barrier, Angel Blade, Angelic Clasps, Angelic Protection, Aqua Rush, Archsilk Bolas, Arrow Hail, Ballad of Bravery, Barrier, Blazing Arrow, Chain Lightning, Clarity, Crystal Shield, Defense Command, Divine Intervention, Draw Slash, Dual Slash, Electrical Aura, Enduring Echoes, Fearless Faith, Fiery Cling, Flame Jelly, Freezing Cling, Full Bloom, Harpoon Thrust, Healing Arrow, Healing Horn, Holy Field, Icy Jelly, Inspiring Stand, Intangibility, Intuition, Jolting Cling, Light Healing, Mercury Cling, Mighty Burst, Miracle Healing, Neutralize, Noble Salvo, Poison Jelly, Poison River, Purifying Burst, Reinvigorating Rondo, Remedy, Restabilize, Revitalize, Run Down, Rupturing Quake, Sacred Salvo, Scalding Wave, Shield, Shining Flare, Shock Torrent, Snow Sweep, Solar Arrow, Spinning Spear, Spirit Beam, Stun Jelly, Tangling Vines, Torrential Waterfall, Toxic Brambles, Trample, Unbind, Whispering Wind

Current focus

Battle balance.

Sample stuff

I still have a bit left to do here this week! Green indicates an upside of an attack, such as how much it costs to use relative to how much damage it deals or extra status effects it inflicts; yellow indicates a downside, such as how much it costs to use period or how inaccurate it is.

Not shown, though, is another hidden element of balance: distribution. Flame Spray is all around superior to Fire Wall, but the latter can be used by almost any mage with a fire affinity while Flame Spray is reserved for wyverns, dragons, and other rare fire breathers.

…also, looking this over again, somehow I only now noticed how fundamentally flawed my Power For Tier column is. I’m leaving this picture in untouched, though, as simple evidence that I’m not perfect. =P

Weekly goals

* Make tentative “final” decisions on Jelia’s moves
* Finish papering out damage-dealing attacks
* Implement all the new attacks into the game
* Give the new enemies their AI

Comments

I finally pinned the damage formula to a comfortable level, then wound up creating more moves than expected! Similar to Pokémon, most enemies in Dreamblazers appear in multiple areas at different levels and share from a large pool of moves. For example, the Greatwolf and Feligas monsters share attacks such as Mega Slash and Vital Fang and recur on several continents because wolves and big cats are everywhere. (No, there won’t be any Zubat or Tentacool appearing all the time.)

This type of setup means that move creation is very front-loaded. Since I didn’t have any archers until this point, suddenly five new moves appeared for the Elven Archer enemy—five moves that I won’t need to create again for any of the Ranger enemies! Likewise, the Dryad and Sylph Mage had twelve new moves created between them, but other magic-using enemies will share their attacks.

Again, Pokémon is a useful analogy. If I created moves in Pokédex order, then I’d get through 18 Pokémon with only one Electric-type move before suddenly several show up at the Rattata mark (#019) and even more for Pikachu (#025). However, by the time I hit Gengar or so (#094), I’m guessing that over 85% of moves would be created for only 13% of Pokémon. Not that I’m operating on such an enormous scale, of course, but the ratios are a great point of comparison.

All of this does entail lots of spreadsheet legwork to creating attacks before I can even touch Unity or ORK. I don’t mind, but progress feels more tangible in a playable demo than in rows and columns, even if it’s a playable demo loaded up on placeholder everythings.

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of July 14, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Sent art feedback for Jig (normal outfit round 1), Star (round 1), and Mina

Current focus

Battle balance.

Weekly goals

* Add remaining enemies for the first two dungeons in terms of stats and AI (several enemies in these dungeons also appear on the overworld, so they won’t need to be added), including the two bosses
* Test a range of player party attacks against various early-game enemy groups and vice versa

Comments

One downside of weekly updates is that it might make me look erratic at times. We’ve extended art deadlines for reasons that it wouldn’t be right for me to disclose, so character designs will return to the backseat for a little while and I can get back to balancing the stats of friends and foes!

Taking a break from battles has cleared my head a bit, which was very needed. Right now I’m adapting a similar HP scale to Pokémon and Dragon Quest, but the balance has felt off to me compared to either game. I was just getting stuck on that point when the big news hit, but a little distance has given me some perspective and ideas, so it’s time to run through all of them.

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of July 7, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Sent art feedback for Kelly (final), Lash (round 3 and final), Faray (happy accident final), Jig (alternate outfit: round 3, final, minor revisions), Princess Leaf (final, minor revisions), Telia (round 4 and final), Tango (round 2), Minori (round 1)
* Sent art requirements and references for Eris, Star, and Mina (also coincidentally a model for the Imperial Uniform)
* Wrote but have not yet sent art feedback for Winter (round 1) and Eris (round 1)

Current focus

Character design.

Sample stuff

Click for full size!

From left to right, top to bottom: Kelly, Faray, Lash, two variations of Leaf’s princess outfit, Jig’s magical girl outfit, and Telia. Just try to match up the character classes: Artisan, Berserker, Hero, Paladin, Warrior, and Warrior Mage.

Weekly goals

* Send in art feedback for Jig (normal outfit), Star, and Mina plus feedback for any updates that come back

Comments

Whoops! It’s a few hours past Monday here and I forgot about my weekly devlog. With the one precious transition month we have, my days and nights have blurred together into intense 12-14-hour sessions, so I lost track of time.

As seen above, though, it did pay off! We’re moving along like nobody’s business with six new finished designs. We had a total of thirteen before this past week, so that’s almost a 50% increase—and Eris’ first round was so solid that she’s almost completely done as well. Not only that, but we accidentally stumbled onto a near-finished Misty design during Winter’s process. Even if Flora doesn’t have time to go through with her (Misty), I’m still further ahead with her than I would have been otherwise.

Needless to say, I’m incredibly grateful for this bursting, hectic period of character design. My sleep may be troubled, but my soul is satisfied.

The remaining goals of this month are finishing Tango, Winter, Jig, Minori, Eris, Mina, and Star, then drawing the title screen image if we can fit it in. Because she’s my first artist, I’m giving Flora dibs on the first picture that every player will see.

Even though we technically finished six designs in the last week, all of them were deep into the creation process; out of these other seven, only Tango and Eris are well along. Still, I believe we can do it. Ideally I’d like to cram in one other character, but that’s just my idle hope—it might be unrealistic and I won’t be selfish with Flora’s time.

Only 23 more days of art await.

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of June 30, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Sent art feedback for Kelly, Telia, Princess Leaf
* Sent art requirements for Winter, Jig (normal outfit), and Minori
* Revised art feedback for Telia, Princess Leaf, and Lash

Current focus

Character design.

Weekly goals

* Send in art feedback for Tango, Kelly, Telia, Jig (alternate outfit), and Lash, plus feedback for any updates that come back

Comments

This week has been all about art—and about realizing my entire life has been a battle between the practical vs. the personal. Perhaps everyone’s life is no different. Go to school and get good grades, but make some friends. Get a good job and make some money, but don’t forget your moral values. Keep your business relationships business and your friendly relationships friendly.

As I wrote my character profile for Minori, I mentioned that she’s a great athlete but she doesn’t need to be portrayed as a tomboy; she’s perfectly comfortable with both her “feminine” and “masculine” sides and slightly more with the former. I wrote that Dreamblazers stars “characters just like me who fit into the margins instead of the majorities.”

What’s that mean? In most demographics, I’m one of the only people I’ve ever met who’s like me. Faith? I grew up agnostic and Christ found me later. Gender? Don’t know, don’t care, maybe even don’t have one. Sexual orientation? None: I’m asexual. Race? Mixed and one of them is such a minority that even Street Fighter, the most diverse series ever, doesn’t represent it.

I choose to be me. Not a statistic, but me. Not a cause, but me. Not even a set of beliefs or values, but me.

So I’m shedding one more element of society. I’m becoming even more me and even less everyone else. And this time it’s on purpose! After nearly thirty years of false dichotomy, no, I will not separate the personal from the practical any longer. I am not my money, my career, or anything less—nor anything else—than a person who loves and feels. A practical relationship isn’t worth having. Flora means a lot to me and I told her so.

With that said, what does it mean for Dreamblazers?

“Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Truth be told, nearly all of my characters are self-inserts, including ones who I didn’t intend to be. Cotelle is my battle between kindness and pride; Leaf my curiosity and unending questions; Ardis my distinctiveness and disdain for the mundane; Jelia my fluid identity and inner child; Sakura my conflict between individual and collective priorities; Evelyn my unseen tension between actions and feelings; Hikaru my defensive response to utilitarian angst; Celty my social uncertainty and desire for ultimate freedom; Astrid my proactive response to utilitarian angst; Telia my self-importance and ego; Tango my love and idealism; Kelly my latent resentment; Jig my eccentricity and faith; Minori my creativity and warmth.

Because they all mean a lot to me, seeing a designer go hurts deeply and personally. However, it’s also because of this that after a rough week of tears, reflection, and prayer, I’m confident everything will be alright. I’m the spirit of my characters and I’m always here.

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of June 23, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Added hit rates to all existing damaging attacks
* Added critical hit rates to all existing damaging attacks
* Tweaked EP costs of ~80% of attacks that cost EP

Current focus

Character design.

Weekly goals

* Send in art feedback for Tango, Telia, Kelly, and Princess Leaf; pending Flora’s availability, send in requirements for other characters, title screen art, or ending screen art

Comments

Positive battle progress for sure, but…

This week’s big news is that my wonderful character designer Flora informed me last night that she’s changing careers and will no longer be freelancing as of some time in August (approximately). Obviously I wish her all of the best! I’ll be hoping for her success in whatever she does and I’ve already prayed for the same and will continue to.

On a personal level, this hits very, very, very hard. As I write this sentence, it’s 11:33 AM; usually I don’t even wake up until 2:00 or 3:00 PM, so I can’t post these devlogs until 4:00 to 6:00, but I didn’t have the energy left to stay up late last night and I didn’t have the inner peace to not wake up early today. Drained and unsettled!

Flora will get a mega farewell email from me, that’s for sure.

On a professional level, I spent a few hours assessing how to move forward and we’re actually in about as good a spot as can be imagined given the circumstances. She and I finished (or will finish) designing various “groupings” of characters from the same social circles, so the foundation is at least 90% there and we can be very happy with that.

On the flip side, the groupings who we didn’t finish either didn’t start or pretty much didn’t start: we never touched the characters of a certain alien-like species, we never got to any non-humanoid creatures, we only did one of the serious antagonists, we only did one of the comedic antagonists, and we only did one of the superhero characters.

In other words, we focused extremely well on primary protagonists and important NPCs. Even if art style discrepancies creep in between Flora’s designs and another artist’s designs, any dissonance should be diminished because the characters themselves serve different roles.

With all of that said, Flora’s still here for now and she’s giving herself a transition month of dedicated freelancing to find fitting cutoffs with her clients, so I’m devoting all of my efforts to getting as much done with her as possible. I’ll do game dev stuff during any lulls between sending feedback and waiting for new drafts, but my main goal is to close out this artist relationship in the strongest way.