Friday Devlog!
Most of what I did over the past few days was figuring out the battle animations and fixing up the graphics to have a more consistent visual style. I also got a few more models done. It’s gonna be a shorter devlog because it was more involved, but I feel like I’m getting closer to being done.
Onto the battle system!
So the very very first thing I wanted to do was fix Velma’s design so she looks closer to the show. I also had to fix her skin / hair color to be much different because of how the visual effects change colors. She looks really cute though.
Next I did an idle animation for her and really made sure it was finished so I could make sure I could do animations. It looks really good. Originally I was gonna try learning animation and then just picking from a consistent area, but I think it’d look better stylistically if I hand-animated each of the frames. I pretty much started at making sure the bounce was good, then animated from her skirt up. I love how it looks tbh.
After this I wanted to do a rough draft of each of the attacks.
First one was her ass attack. I was inspired by fighting moves where the character hits with their ass lmao. I also wanted to make it more cartoony where she flies back and stumbles to get her footing back. it’s really cute. I think eventually I’ll have it to where there’s a small chance where if she misses she gets nommed for a turn or two.
After this I wanted to make an “attack” for Sasha where she falls on her face and it takes a while for her to get up. This is a more direct way to showcase that she’s more of a support unit and can’t attack, also emphasizing how she feels powerless in her own head. Starting with her preparing herself, then swinging and missing, then stumbling to get up, then fidgeting a bit afterwards. Also yes that is the Family Guy death pose lmfao.
The numbers / colors are for me to see what part of the battler sheet grid I’m working on.
Here’s a slowed down version of it so you can see all the frames.
This part of the animation also ended up being pretty good for a low HP animation. Though it being flipped is sort of annoying cause she’s got heterochromia. I think if I animate with Dragonbones in the future I can make animations more varied and tight.
Rounding this section off I also made a short use item animation for her.
In the future I’ll probably use ren’py to test out animations because it’d be a lot faster than running rpg maker for every little alteration.
After this first release, I’m also gonna probably figure out how to use Dragonbones to make more varied and better timed animations cause I think it would make me able to make the combat feel a lot nicer.
Onto the texture fixes
So I wanted to start with Sasha’s room. I got a lot done. Lighting’s off for these.
I ended up settling on a darker wood for the doors / moulding and her walls being a soft pink. I think it contrasts extremely well. I also wanted to make most of her room’s aesthetic be either brown or pink. I think making all the wood a different type gives it a nice touch tbh.
One of the things I feel really proud of is the CRT model though. I ended up going for vertical lines instead of horizontal lines for the vents and I think the texture warping makes it look cool.
Also I added a bisexual flag above her bed cause it’s my game I can showcase Sasha’s bi if I want to lmao. I also wanted it to actually have stitching that you can see if you look close enough.
For Sasha’s closet I wanted to give her a bifold closet because it’s more visually interesting but it also signals to the player that it’s different than her main door.
Onto the library
So for the library I ended up doing a 60’s/70’s style wall panelling for the walls. I might still mess around with the colors but I feel like it really goes well with the artstyle I’ve been going for. Originally it was gonna just be HSV noise like in the bedroom but I feel like the straight lines help the walls from becoming a confusing mess. It looks super nice. I also started texturing everything so that it’s more consistent. There’s only 2 shades, and instead of doing black lines for the lines, it’s a darker variant of the color, so it’s /almost/ black. I think it adds a lot, and really showcases the visual style I’m starting to develop for this.
Then the last thing I did I actually started this morning, but I had an idea where for boss battles there’s an inital phase before the actual RPG battle that involves dodging attacks. I feel like it’d make the boss battles more interesting and distinct from the regular battles.
I think I’m closing in on finishing up with the initial demo. In other news I actually have the ending figured out. I’m obviously not gonna say what it is but it’s a good one. I think over the next few days I’m gonna work on adding the rest of the animations and beginning to finalize them. Also working on finishing up texture mapping / texturing the models.
