Tag Archives: Pokémon

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.

Tales of Symphonia Text Review and Story Breakdown: Part 4

Originally a script for a video review, so some parts may stick out and, without visual aids, I recommend having played the game already! Note: this is for the original Tales of Symphonia, so if anything changed in the re-release, I haven’t touched on it here.

Quick links to other entries:

Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5

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18) Plot Pretzel

Before we set off, Raine delivers the final dungeon disclaimer that there’s no guarantee they’ll return. She and Lloyd get the slow dragon and are last to arrive, while Martel and Kratos are already inside. The others move in and find Remiel, who explains that Martel will lose her heart and memory to become a true angel. Raine also knows a few new details. She promised Martel earlier not to say anything, but now reveals that she’ll die.

Oh, that Martel and her web of lies. To think Lloyd actually believed he found out the whole truth.

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Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of March 3, 2014

Last week’s achievements

* Restructured some hidden stats in a more logical manner
* Set up various aspects of the equipment system
* Preliminarily finalized stats for 201 (yes, 201) fashion-based “status effects”
* Implemented ~40 of those status effects

Current focus

The equipment system followed by battles.

Weekly goals

* Finish off implementation of the remaining fashion effects and test all of them
* Write flavor text for at least 60% of the fashion effects
* Begin testing battles: damage formulas, battle text, etc.
* Order new computer

Comments

Even though—no, because it’s fully optional for the player, my fashion system ranks high as one of my favorite ideas. At best guess I’d say I thought of it in late 2012 or early 2013, but in any case, it’s certainly my newest large-scale idea.

One uncommon element of Dreamblazers that I’ve had in mind since at least 2010 is that equipment never becomes irrelevant; even starting equipment can be used until the end of the game. Like so many of my ideas, this was inspired by Pokémon (with a huge hat tip to The World Ends With You). The average player simply blasts through the game with their favorites, but a competitive player like me will reset twenty times until that Bulbasaur from Professor Sycamore has the right nature.

I aimed to appeal to both. A casual player never needs to look at a character’s outfit—and yes, I’m calling my equipment screen the “Outfit” screen to stress this point. The serious player, though, might look at Astrid, see that all of her stats are great but none are exceptional, and give away her Trailblazer Tunic, Agility Anklet, and Enchanted Earrings to, respectively, Power-centered, Speed-centered, and Magic Power-centered characters.

Could I do more, though? Could I create a middle ground between ignoring outfits and having the most intense optimization experience since Monster Hunter? Could an equipment screen be… fun? Maybe so! Each piece of clothing has at least one theme, like Cool or Playful, and piling on similar clothing gives the character a theme and boosts her Style stat. If you give her two or more themes, some have natural synergy, such as Sporty + Swimmer or Girly Girl + Princess, while others oppose each other, like Innocent + Military or Everyday + Formal, increasing or decreasing her Style.

In the end I sifted through 433 theme combos and wound up with 201 ways for players to change their Style. My hope is that seeing status effect names like “Disco Knight” or “Ribbons, Lace, Angry Face” or “Sparkles and Swag” pop up as you change clothes will be as fun as opening the menu in Dragon Quest IX and seeing what myriad of new titles Stella would shower on you.

Dreamblazers Devlog: Week of February 24, 2014 (Cosmic Coincidence Edition)

Unusual edition today! Didn’t get much accomplished but took a master course in RPG design—in a sense—so this is in blog format below the jump. Lots to say!

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