Behold! Monica's Battle Character Sprite Sheet

Characters in typical RPG Maker MVs come in three forms, really. The first is the walking animation sprite for overworlds and dungeons. The second is a face for portrait images in the game menu and in dialogue. The third and final is in battle sprites. Not all characters need all three, some can even be spared to just one if necessary. However, for a party member in a game like Legends of Adrigal, Monica needs a combination of all three.

I'm pleased to present Monica's battle character sprite sheet, edited from a RPG Maker MV base character in the program's character generator. All the poses remain the same among all characters, but I do think I might change up some for special characters in the future. Regardless, this was all done in GIMP 2.0, which I found very helpful in editing the sprites, copying bits and pieces from frames I already did, and pasting parts to new frames. As I said in the article headline, behold!

This sprite sheet based off an RPG Maker MV custom creator sprite was worked on in the wee small hours of early this morning and finished this afternoon. What do you think?

The Enemies of Legends of Adrigal - Part Two

After some major victories, such as me FINALLY graduating college and walking across the aisle (more on that later), Legends of Adrigal is back in development! Between real life and working on SuperPhillip Central, my time was limited. Regardless, I'm back with another batch of enemies from Legends of Adrigal to talk about. Get ready, hunker down, and relax, because we have some foes to read up on!

If you're interested in part one, look no further than this link!

Note: Don't mind any imperfections in the enemy art: The enemies are much smaller in-game, making things like imperfect lines impossible to see unless you zoom in to crazy amounts!

BUSHYTAIL 

Many enemies in Legends of Adrigal are based off real world animals. As you can probably tell by both the design and the name of this enemy, Bushytail is based off a squirrel. These foes are quite mischievous, always causing trouble, ruining crops, and just resulting in hijinks for the people of Adrigal. They're not the strongest of enemies in the game, appearing early on, but as the adage goes, don't judge a squirrel by its tail. Or something like that.

GIGANT

Another enemy based off a real world animal, this time an insect, Gigant is a portmanteau of "giant" and "ant." Wait. It's a GIANT FREAKING ANT!!! Gigants appear early on in Legends of Adrigal just like Bushytails, and they come in various varieties. Some are Fire Gigants, analogous to the fire ants in our world, but even more dangerous and painful! Their bites are quite harsh to feel, so steer clear of their mandibles! Then again, in a turn-based RPG, you can't really dodge unless you're lucky with the RNG, so just take your pain and try to just survive the battle!

BATTY

Not just the name of the enemy, but it's also what this wing-flapping creature will drive you-- Batty! But let's first focus on its cuteness. Look at those eyes. Look at those teeth. Look at that adorable, little bow-tie it wears! Swoon... But wait. What is it doing? Why is it biting me?!! GODDD, someone help me!!! Yes, Batty might appear cute at first, but like any monster that gets bugged (or batted in this case), it will turn on its enemy quite quickly. They're relatively weak, but they fly in packs.

RATFINK

These little cheese-eaters scamper about within the Dorter Mine. They don't usually cause too much of a problem for the workers and miners there-- maybe occasionally chewing on wires and such-- but lately they've gotten more rabid and vicious. Does the recent cave-in at the mine have something to do with that? While they won't try to eat their enemies, they will bite them like teeth tearing through cheese. Uh... the holes are supposed to be in the wedges of cheese, not Casey and his party! Watch out!

HOLEY MOLEY

Hiding in their holes and then popping up to cause travelers trouble, Holey Moleys aren't as mischievous as Bushytails, but they can be one pain in the you-know-what. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't cowards who play a trick and attack passersby, but instead they play a trick, attack passersby, and then hide in their holes. You little scamps! Holey Moley's design is based off of a non-RPG enemy this time around, the Monty Mole from Super Mario World. 

BULLUBUBUNNY

An enemy with a name as fun to say as the creature is to look at! Bullububunnies are normally docile and sweet creatures, but for some mysterious reason, some in the Adrigal Kingdom have grown hostile, just many other ordinarily harmless animals. Bullbubunnies are as big as normal human beings, and their curved ears can help with wind resistance. Plus, they're just so darned cute!

SLITHA

"I think I can, I think I can! I know I can do it!" That's what small Slithas say to themselves as they slither around the Dakhar Desert. They might not be the biggest or most dangerous snakes in the desert, but Slithas are able to survive in the harsh climate and sandstorms Dakhar delivers onto its inhabitants, snakes and humans alike. Slithas usually attack merely because of being afraid, and many have partners to go scouting with. Be a pal and don't bully these little guys and gals!

TANKTUSK

Tanktusks are enemies that can also be found in the Dakhar Desert, but these are way more of a challenge and a threat than Slithas. Armed with twin titan cannons and hardcore shelling, this mammoth-inspired monster is quite the enemy. Still, all a Tanktusk would rather do is march slowly across the desert. It will leave you alone as long as you leave it alone in turn. Though that may be hard to do if the rumors of the rare drops that defeated Tanktusks give victorious warriors are true...

 ===

Thanks for coming along with me on this second look at more enemies from Legends of Adrigal. I gotta keep working hard to create even more enemies while keeping a good variety of types and designs! I hope you enjoyed these enemies and will continue to be interested in the progress of my game!

What we as game devs can learn from LEGO City Undercover's open-world design

Many fears from Zelda franchise fans and perspective buyers and persistent hype-rs of the upcoming Nintendo Switch launch title and last big Wii U game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, were extinguished recently by Game Informer magazine. The magazine's website is running a series of themed content revolving around their March cover story, Breath of the Wild. So far, this has included, unknown details about game mechanics and the story, exclusive screenshots, as well as an adorable interview with legends in their own right, Shigeru Miyamoto and Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma.

One of the fears of this historic, first open-world Zelda game was that the world would be empty. I don't mean devoid of objects and scenery in the environment, rather a design kind of empty-- lacking notable things to do and places of note worthy of exploring.

Too many open-world games boast huge, expansive landscapes to venture through, yet are pretty barren content-wise. What's the point of all of these great expanses if traveling through the world is just a means to get from point A to point B, a means that just takes longer to do because it's an open-world game!?

I'd like to bring up an example of a game that I think did open-world design really well before I jump into how I'm relating these concepts to my game, Legends of Adrigal. This is a game that you wouldn't think would have such an impressive (well, by my standards) open-world setting with a lot of content to be found. I'm talking about the current Wii U exclusive, LEGO City Undercover, (The game will be coming to other platforms including the Nintendo Switch later this year, so I'm really happy more people get to play this great game.)

He might be yellow, but LEGO City Undercover's hero, Chase McCain, is no coward.

LEGO City Undercover not only is the best LEGO game on the market to date (a fact supported by yours truly... possibly some gaming outlets somewhere... and of course, GOD), but it offers a sizable world to explore.

Do you think a ball drops at New Year's Eve or a sparkling LEGO brick instead?

What makes this world work well is that: 1) It's quite varied. There are specific districts in LEGO City, from the San Francisco-inspired Cherry Tree Hillsand the adjacent industrial district of Auburn to the Times Square-inspired Bright Lights Plaza and Miami Beach-esque Paradise Sands. Each has its own unique personality, aesthetic, and character. 2) There is no shortage of things to discover and collect.

"Ah, Venice..." Sorry, I slipped into a line from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade just now. Regardless, this district is modeled after the famous Italian canal-centric city.

This is where LEGO City Undercover greatly succeeds in executing a dense world. While Grand Theft Auto V is a tremendous, living, breathing world to explore, there isn't really much to do in the actual world. There's a gigantic attention to detail, whether it's how meticulously crafted each building is and how much personality is displayed through this. However, you can't really interact with these buildings or have a real excuse to explore them in a way that separates them from just eye candy.

Grand Theft Auto V's Los Santos is a mightily impressive, detailed beast. It succeeds in being varied, but falls short in having reasons to really explore the world. Though, I do just love driving around anyway, so maybe with this example that isn't so important.

LEGO City Undercover avoids this through placing an abundance of collectibles and tasks to do. You see, each district in the game has the same set of tasks for our hero Chase McCain to perform. Optionally, of course. Whether it's chasing aliens, stopping vehicle robberies, extinguishing out of control fires, planting flags as if he conquered the district on certain buildings, destroying ATMs, or a myriad of other tasks, there are genuine reasons to meticulously explore every inch of the city. That's not all the player can do, as hidden in the various districts are secret character and vehicle tokens, unlocking new skins and cars to play with, as well as special free run obstacle courses to complete. All of this adds to the overall completion percentage of the game.

Exploring the city's alleys and such reveals spots to perform
platforming stunts to reach otherwise inaccessible areas.

It's difficult to remember any block of LEGO City that DIDN'T have something to do or something hiding around a corner or in a secret alcove or compartment. Sometimes you need to perform special tasks to get tokens to appear, like painting a series of special flowers-- all near one another, or build three sand castles out of broken LEGO blocks. It's fun and provides a satisfying sense of discovery without being too overwhelming.

Yes, you can even channel your inner Michael Jordan to earn a nifty collectible upon a successful shot.

So, how does this all relate to Legends of Adrigal, and how could it perhaps relate to your games if you ever find yourself wondering this?

Well, let's talk about my first point on LEGO City Undercover, and that had to do with how each district was varied in form and function. Again, one district was an industrial one, one was similar to San Francisco, one to Miami Beach, and so forth. My game doesn't feature a world map like many JRPGs do. Instead, it's a series of interconnected areas. Many of these are open routes to other areas. Think of it sort of like Pokemon's various routes. The important thing to consider here is not just how you design these structurally, but how to make each route distinguish itself from others.

I remember in Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow, there was a route south of Lavender City (the eerie town with the tower dedicated to deceased Pokemon) that was surrounded by water and made up of various docks-- a fisherman's paradise, if you will. (Had to double check, and thank goodness I did because I thought this route was originally north of Lavender City.) Earlier in the game there is a rocky road that leads to Mt. Moon. Thus, we have two routes that distinguish themselves from one another. One being a watery route while the other is full of mountainous terrain.

If I recall correctly, a Snorlax lazily laid about at this intersection. Reminds me of my Sunday mornings as a child, sleeping in the intersection of Manchester and Big Bend roads.

What I want to do with Legends of Adrigal's routes is similar to this and similar to the different districts of LEGO City. Each needs to have its own personality. I haven't fully explored this to the level I want yet, as I have two routes so far: Mabel Road and West Adrigal Road. The one is a vertical road with a small river running through pretty much its entirety, while the other is a horizontal one with a large river running along its north end and a plateau running throughout most of its middle. A modest farm rests to the east adjacent to the protective walls of Adrigal City.

West Adrigal Road. Don't mind the bare north section. The player won't be able to reach that until later in the game, and I haven't a good idea on what I want there until I reach that point in development.

While there is some variety here, I want to do more on later routes. Perhaps make one more forested, one with lots of elevation differences, something that neither current roads have as they're both flat. There are a lot of things I can do, and I want to do them to make each road feel special and unique.

Moving on, for the second and final point regarding density in LEGO City Undercover's open-world setting, I want to have plenty for the player to do on these roads and routes in Legends of Adrigal. It's pretty easy to do this initially in this type of setting for now, as I've sprinkled treasure chests throughout the maps, though at strategically placed locations. (As a side note: Make sure if you do treasure chests that the player finds what they receive from them [typically] worthwhile. If it's just a worthless doodad most of the time, they may not have the desire or motivation to keep searching for and opening treasure chests... unless they're a staunch completionist.)

However, there is more that can be done to make for a dense map other than littering it with treasure chests. I want to (but have not come to this point in development yet, however) have plenty of side attractions. Perhaps secret caverns off the beaten path leading to interesting mini dungeons or worthwhile locales. Perhaps characters that initiate quests for the player to interact with the world even more. There is a good deal of ideas I have. It's just that working by myself, I don't want to overwhelm myself or make too much work that I never finish the game.

Wrapping things up; 1) Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma are adorable in that Game Informer interview, 2) Many open-world games may not fit your project's scope, but you can very much learn from the best open-worlds themselves to generate ideas and inspiration, 3) LEGO City Undercover's world features a multitude of unique districts each with their own personality, character to them, and aesthetic to distinguish them from one another well, 4) LEGO City Undercover's open-world also features an abundance of things to collect and do in its world, and 5) Myself and GOD both agree that LEGO City Undercover is the best LEGO-branded game ever made.

I hope this article helped generate some ideas with you, helped you get an idea on how to build your game worlds with distinct areas to them as well as filling them with enough content to make them interesting and fun to explore. By no means am I an authority on this, so I'd love to get your thoughts on what I've shared. For now, take care and thanks for reading!

Tips & Tricks: Let's design a room in Legends of Adrigal!

Game development is a learning process. You're always learning something new and improving in some way, whether in small gains, big gains, or somewhere in between. As I started designing the Mines of Dorter dungeon, the very first major dungeon in Legends of Adrigal, I didn't really have a rough idea of what I wanted it to look like design-wise. I knew I wanted to have something that distinguishes it from later dungeons in the game, and I also knew that I didn't want to just have place to trek through with no notable gimmick, if you will.

The gimmick, again if you will, for the Mines of Dorter is a series of mine carts and tracks where various switches change the course of where the mine cart will go. This turns into a modest puzzle where hitting the correct series of switches will bring our heroes Casey and Nemus through to the deepest portions of the mines.

When I do levels, I don't draw a rough sketch or plan. Now, that obviously isn't something that I recommend you do, but it's something that just works for me. You see, when I'm actually placing down tiles, the ideas of how the dungeon is designed fall into place like jigsaw pieces. Eventually, I have a finished placement of walls and floors.

However, getting the floor plan of a dungeon is just the start of the "work." I put work in quotes because it's more fun than actual work. Of course, as a cave, there are some natural elements to consider, just like an outdoor area as seen in Mabel Road. However, simultaneously, since humans have occupied the mine, there is a man-made element as well, where miners have chipped away at the walls of the mine to create new passages and such.

Let's look at this screenshot I took of just the basics of a given room in the mines:

We have a basic outline of the walls and the floors. There aren't many straight lines on the walls and edges, so that we have a bit of a natural look. At the same time, there's an element here of the miners carving into the walls to produce what we see here. However, as this room currently looks, it's awfully sparse. Boring, even. Let's try to fix that!

Okay, we have the start of something interesting going on here through the addition of gems sprinkled along the walls. It gives some contrast and color to the room as well as some added definition and depth. We can do more, though!

Ah, some crystals and gems stemming from the ground. Like the wall gems, we have a natural looking placement of the objects. Still, the room continues to look a bit sparse, a little dull to look at. Maybe we can improve this some more...

Ooh! Some pillars! Me likey! Oh, God. I'm slipping into baby talk. Sorry about that. Talking about game design gets me excited and all silly. Anyway, the addition of six pillars not only brings new color to the room, but it fills it up a little more nicely! I'm glad I didn't overcrowd things because that's a thing to consider. You don't want it too sparse, it don't want it too crowded. Like everything in life, strike a nice balance. Maybe we can do even more, though!

Water some nice things about adding pools of water here (and some more gems) is that it enhances the look of the room. It's not just some sizable patches of bland floor. It gives the room some more personality and character, making it more visually attractive. Of course, we can't leave things like this. We're missing something absolutely vital. Can you guess what that is?

Bridges! How else do the miners get through such a room? I doubt they can get big air like Michael Jordan in his prime to get across these watery gaps. Instead, not only do the rope bridges again add personality to the room, they look quite nice to boot! Form and function, ladies and gentlemen! Now, we have a completed room.

So what have we learned here? Well, maybe you learned nothing, and that's okay! You read my ramblings, and that was fun enough. For others, maybe you got an idea on how to make empty spaces more interesting to look at and wander through! If you add objects (especially if you make them add some contrast to the level, area, or room) and depending on the type of environment you're working on (man-made, natural, or a combination of the two) place them appropriately, you'll get some satisfying levels to look at and play!

Happy New Year from StortzumSOFT!

A new year brings new possibilities, and hopefully lots of new progress on Legends of Adrigal! For now, let Casey, Monica, and a nameless Gooey ring in 2017 with this quickly done artwork to celebrate a new year!

A new song joins the Legends of Adrigal soundtrack: Miners in Major

The play-on words in this new song has to do with this song being used for the Mines of Dorter dungeon, the first major dungeon in Legends of Adrigal. The dungeon's central gimmick has players entering mine carts to travel between points in the dungeon, occasionally using switches to change the path of the tracks.

Miners in Major is a 5/4 time theme that features steady percussion once the initial moments occur.

Check out the new song here.

Fun With Flavor Text - Legend of Adrigal Dorter Edition

This past June, I introduced the concept of providing flavor text to get players to investigate the world and the items and objects inside it. If you don't recall what I'm talking about or never read the article in question, here it is. 

Today I'd like to delve into some more flavor text fun in Legends of Adrigal. Last time I showed some examples from the beginning of the game at Casey's home and in Mabel, the first village of the game. This time we're taking a look together at flavor text examples in Dorter, a trading town in West Adrigal on the coast.

For a review from last time, as a part of some world building and to encourage interacting with the environment, Casey, our hero, can walk about to certain objects and investigate them. This will usually provide the player with Casey's thoughts on a given object. This is just one form of flavor text that can be found in Legends of Adrigal. Other forms will be featured on the site at a later date. 

Ah, the pun. Not even Casey can escape its catastrophic effects.

There you go again, Casey. Another pun, another feeling of personal shame.

Hmm! How interesting... Or maybe it's nothing.

Well, I'm sort of the one having to think about things for you to say, Casey!

Primo. Strategy Guide. Totally Unauthorized. What is this, gaming in the '90s?

Our hero takes a quick look of himself in the mirror.

Volume 12 of a 24-part collection of books.

Slipping into verse happens to me all the time. Especially when I have to rhyme!
...Dammit! I did it again!

At least Casey's honest about it.

Realistically, if the player investigated this food 30 times, Casey would have eaten it completely by taking multiple bites out each time just to say this line. 

 And as a refresher from yours truly for providing this type of flavor text:

"To recap, DO be consistent with your flavor text and what objects can be examined by the player.. DO introduce the concept early to get players investigating objects as early as possible. DON'T lack personality in your flavor text. DON'T have some rooms being full of objects to read info on while having others being completely empty."

Stay glued in to StortzumSOFT for even more news, articles, and behind-the-scenes goodness on Legends of Adrigal and more!