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Game Design
Flatwoods - A Post-mortem Pt01
visitorsfromdreams
2 post(s)- 10/18/2016 12:56 AM
- 2118 views
Well, its been a little over a week since Flatwoods was released, and for the most part I couldn’t be happier with how things turned out. Things didn’t go perfectly, and I definitely had some things pointed out to me that I will take on board in future projects, but on the whole I feel like Flatwoods release (more so than its development in a lot of ways) was a great experience.
That being the case, I thought it was time to do a Post-mortem on the game, and the experience of actually making the game. This would be one hell of a huge post, so instead I will be releasing it in small chunks over the next… however many days it takes to write it…
So where to begin. Well, I guess the best place to start would be the games development itself.
DEVELOPMENT Pt01 - Seeds of an Idea
Flatwoods was originally intended to be a short film, but I think its origins go back further than that. Back in 2012 I had started work on preproduction on an animated series called “Shooty and the Catfish” for the youtube channel Happy Hour, this was eventually dropped and picked up by Cartoon Hangover who developed it for a number of months with me before the whole thing was dropped due to changes in the Youtube landscape. You might be wondering what that has to do with a game like Flatwoods, but in essence, the project had an episode dedicated to the Flatwoods Monster. Not just as a tribute to the cryptid, but it also dealt with similar themes to the sequence in The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask which also happened to feature the Flatwoods Monster (or something very much inspired by it). I wouldn’t say it was intended to be a parody so much as a homage or tribute, as the monsters design is iconic and has been referenced in a tonne of media over the years.
Fast forward to 2015 and I am trying to work a lot of these Flatwoods Monster ideas from Shooty and the Catfish into a standalone short, and thus Flatwoods was born.
Not long after work had started on the short RPG Maker MV was announced, not only that BUT it was coming out soon, and for Mac OSX as well! I had dabbled with running RPG Maker VX Ace in wineskin but it had always been a nightmare. Now however, with MV heading to OSX I could finally make games as I had always wanted. I dabbled in RPG Maker back in 2003 when I was in high school, but had not really good the chance to experiment with it since.
The timing of starting Flatwoods as a short film and RPG Maker MV hitting at the same time was what eventually lead to a merge of the two passions of mine, animation, and game development. As I was new to game development (I spend a lot of time watching videos on breaking down gameplay and game design elements but I don’t believe that’s the same as putting that information into practice) I wanted to make something small. I know a lot of indie developers (especially in the RPG Maker community) want to start with a big Final Fantasy tribute, but having the experience of over 10 years animation behind me, I knew that scale is the key to the success of any project. Making a game was new to me, and no amount of passion would save it if I bit off more than I could chew, and so it was decided, Flatwoods would be my first game project, I would aim to make it an hour long, and I would have it out by Halloween. Its only a short game, so that would be easy right? Wrong…
Announcement
Flatwoods Released!
- visitorsfromdreams
- 0 post(s)
- 10/09/2016 05:17 PM
- 517 views
Progress Report
Animation is completed!
- visitorsfromdreams
- 2 post(s)
- 09/27/2016 10:12 AM
- 1237 views
Here it is, the last major blog post I will be making on Flatwoods before its released. Yes, all the animation for the cut scenes (and with only 10 shots left needing lighting passes in After Effects) is now complete, and god damn does it feel good. I estimated these cut scenes would take me around 2 months max to complete, little did I know that due to a crazy work schedule it would end up taking over 5. That’s 3 months longer than the actual Flatwoods game portion took to make!
Its hard to share shots from these final cut scenes without spoiling the ending (endings) so this is all you will be seeing until the day the game comes out (unless I end up using some of the shots in the release trailer).
Since I will be working on things like bug fixes and spelling errors from now until the games release on October 31st any future posts should contain some actual animated gifs of the game in action, of course first I have to quickly relearn how RPG Maker works after being away from it doing these cut scenes for so long, ha ha.
For my next project I will be handling things a little differently, but that’s a story for another time.
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 4/4
Cut Scenes Rough Animation:4/4
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 4/4
Cut Scenes Post FX: 3.5/4
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project. I never expected this game to get as much traction as it has and I still find it hard to believe sometimes. Thank you all.
Its hard to share shots from these final cut scenes without spoiling the ending (endings) so this is all you will be seeing until the day the game comes out (unless I end up using some of the shots in the release trailer).
Since I will be working on things like bug fixes and spelling errors from now until the games release on October 31st any future posts should contain some actual animated gifs of the game in action, of course first I have to quickly relearn how RPG Maker works after being away from it doing these cut scenes for so long, ha ha.
For my next project I will be handling things a little differently, but that’s a story for another time.
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 4/4
Cut Scenes Rough Animation:4/4
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 4/4
Cut Scenes Post FX: 3.5/4
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project. I never expected this game to get as much traction as it has and I still find it hard to believe sometimes. Thank you all.
Progress Report
Im back!
- visitorsfromdreams
- 0 post(s)
- 07/24/2016 09:13 PM
- 494 views
Hello ladies and gentlemen!
It has been a while hasn’t it! As most of you know, I spent about 3 weeks in Australia visiting family, so that’s why I was radio silent for so long. What most of you don’t know is that due to the lack of sleep I got while travelling, my immune system took a dive and I spent about a week fighting off the worst flu I have had in years.
Either way, its all good news on the Flatwoods front.
I finally finished the second cut scene for the game this afternoon, including the fixes to framing I mentioned a few weeks back, so next week I can start the third, something that will be much shorter and hopefully far less time consuming.
Second of all I have a list of minor changes to make to the game after getting feedback before I left. Some of these things are simple spelling fixes, others are to help things become more clear for the player with both mapping and the introduction of a particular mechanic. I don’t imagine these things will take more than a day or two to implement.
Lastly, although I guess its not really Flatwoods related, I did manage to make some good progress (the side of the design that can be done on paper at least) on the small game project I plan on making after Flatwoods. Originally it was something I had wanted to do for @pinkuboa‘s current game jam but with Flatwoods in its current state I want to keep it my main focus. This smaller game will be my testing bed for the combat mechanics and leveling system I want to use in Shooty and the Catfish.
Feels good to be back!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 2/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
It has been a while hasn’t it! As most of you know, I spent about 3 weeks in Australia visiting family, so that’s why I was radio silent for so long. What most of you don’t know is that due to the lack of sleep I got while travelling, my immune system took a dive and I spent about a week fighting off the worst flu I have had in years.
Either way, its all good news on the Flatwoods front.
I finally finished the second cut scene for the game this afternoon, including the fixes to framing I mentioned a few weeks back, so next week I can start the third, something that will be much shorter and hopefully far less time consuming.
Second of all I have a list of minor changes to make to the game after getting feedback before I left. Some of these things are simple spelling fixes, others are to help things become more clear for the player with both mapping and the introduction of a particular mechanic. I don’t imagine these things will take more than a day or two to implement.
Lastly, although I guess its not really Flatwoods related, I did manage to make some good progress (the side of the design that can be done on paper at least) on the small game project I plan on making after Flatwoods. Originally it was something I had wanted to do for @pinkuboa‘s current game jam but with Flatwoods in its current state I want to keep it my main focus. This smaller game will be my testing bed for the combat mechanics and leveling system I want to use in Shooty and the Catfish.
Feels good to be back!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 2/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
Game Design
My approach to mapping...
- visitorsfromdreams
- 0 post(s)
- 06/05/2016 07:29 PM
- 710 views
Something a little different this week, mainly because I only got one more shot animated so far after last weeks blogs, I will be doing a few more later tonight, but its quite warm today which can make animating on the Cintiq a little unpleasant.
Instead, here are some map designs I have been working on for my follow up game Shooty and the Catfish. Obviously I don’t want this blog to be focusing on that project until Flatwood’s is finished, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to show you a bit of my process.
I don’t know if I am the only one that likes working this way, but when it comes to maps I like working really small in Photoshop first. I guess its a very similar process to thumb-nailing for comics or doing a rough storyboard for animation. Each single block in this mock up maps represents a 3x3 tile space in RPG Maker MV, this allows for the maps be a little more organic in appearance.
Does anyone else do anything along those lines?
In terms of Flatwoods, as of the blog going up little has changed, so here is where we stand!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 1.5/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 1.5/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
Instead, here are some map designs I have been working on for my follow up game Shooty and the Catfish. Obviously I don’t want this blog to be focusing on that project until Flatwood’s is finished, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to show you a bit of my process.
I don’t know if I am the only one that likes working this way, but when it comes to maps I like working really small in Photoshop first. I guess its a very similar process to thumb-nailing for comics or doing a rough storyboard for animation. Each single block in this mock up maps represents a 3x3 tile space in RPG Maker MV, this allows for the maps be a little more organic in appearance.
Does anyone else do anything along those lines?
In terms of Flatwoods, as of the blog going up little has changed, so here is where we stand!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 1.5/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 1.5/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
Progress Report
Cutscene B
- visitorsfromdreams
- 3 post(s)
- 05/30/2016 01:12 AM
- 1589 views
Oh boy, oh boy!
It was a big week this week, maybe not so much for Flatwood’s as a whole, but in general, but that’s not to say a lot of work on Flatwood’s wasn’t achieved. This is also my first blog post on RPGMaker.net, normally I do these weekly on my devblog, so hopefully you guys find them just as interesting as my followers over there do.
First of all, on a more personal note, my Canadian VISA expires in 4 days. Thankfully I have an extension that will last until December BUT im not allowed to work during that period and I am waiting on approval on another application in order to leave the country and come back again. So with all this craziness going on, I apologize if this blog gets a little quite for a while.
I also finished up recording my Lets Play of Nier this morning. While its not a game that has any any direct effect on the development of this project, it is a large inspiration for the direction I am taking my next one, so if thats your kind of thing you can watch my play-through of it over at www.youtube.com/tatltaelgaming.
I have also started doing sprite work for my next gaming project, or test sprites anyway, battlers to be specific (yes, its a classic RPG this time). I will be keeping these close to my chest for the most part, but once I announce the game properly you guys will be first to see it here. I have also decided that while I originally wanted the game to have fully animated cut scenes like Flatwood’s does, creating them is really not economical use of time (I can make 30 minutes of game play in less time than it takes to animate 1 minute of cut scenes). BUT this is what Flatwood’s is for, to learn the ropes for my next big project, Shooty and the Catfish.
As for Flatwood’s itself, this week I finished off the backgrounds for the second cut scene. (For those not in the know, the actual game is finished aside from the animations that play at key moments). I also manage to fully animate and do post fx on 6 of them, you can see some of the results below. Its a very flat animation style generally, but I like the little lighting effects on Lemon by the door and on the owl.
Hopefully I will be able to finish the rest of the cut scene this week. Fingers crossed.
So here is where we stand!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 1.5/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 1.5/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
It was a big week this week, maybe not so much for Flatwood’s as a whole, but in general, but that’s not to say a lot of work on Flatwood’s wasn’t achieved. This is also my first blog post on RPGMaker.net, normally I do these weekly on my devblog, so hopefully you guys find them just as interesting as my followers over there do.
First of all, on a more personal note, my Canadian VISA expires in 4 days. Thankfully I have an extension that will last until December BUT im not allowed to work during that period and I am waiting on approval on another application in order to leave the country and come back again. So with all this craziness going on, I apologize if this blog gets a little quite for a while.
I also finished up recording my Lets Play of Nier this morning. While its not a game that has any any direct effect on the development of this project, it is a large inspiration for the direction I am taking my next one, so if thats your kind of thing you can watch my play-through of it over at www.youtube.com/tatltaelgaming.
I have also started doing sprite work for my next gaming project, or test sprites anyway, battlers to be specific (yes, its a classic RPG this time). I will be keeping these close to my chest for the most part, but once I announce the game properly you guys will be first to see it here. I have also decided that while I originally wanted the game to have fully animated cut scenes like Flatwood’s does, creating them is really not economical use of time (I can make 30 minutes of game play in less time than it takes to animate 1 minute of cut scenes). BUT this is what Flatwood’s is for, to learn the ropes for my next big project, Shooty and the Catfish.
As for Flatwood’s itself, this week I finished off the backgrounds for the second cut scene. (For those not in the know, the actual game is finished aside from the animations that play at key moments). I also manage to fully animate and do post fx on 6 of them, you can see some of the results below. Its a very flat animation style generally, but I like the little lighting effects on Lemon by the door and on the owl.
Hopefully I will be able to finish the rest of the cut scene this week. Fingers crossed.
So here is where we stand!
Maps Designed: 22/22
Maps Built: 22/22
Maps Programmed (Ending A): 21/21
Maps Programmed (Ending B): 21/21
Character Sprites: 8/9
Character Portaits: 7/7
Music: 4/4
Cut Scenes Animatic: 2/5
Cut Scenes Rough Animation: 2/5
Cut Scenes Clean Animation: 1.5/5
Cut Scenes Post FX: 1.5/5
As always, thank you for your support, and feel free to ask any questions at all about the project.
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