øAslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&action=profile;u=24;area=showposts;start=60e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/index5773.htmlslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&action=profile;area=showposts;u=24e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/index5773.html.zxXeh^ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÈ0PdÒ¯OKtext/htmlISO-8859-1gzip8:ÖÒ¯ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿWed, 11 Mar 2020 04:29:37 GMT0ó°° ®0®P®€§²ð®Xeh^ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ+&Ò¯ Show Posts - Entroper

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Messages - Entroper

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61
General Discussion / Re: Original Fantasy Development
« on: January 24, 2011, 09:52:54 AM »
Hey there, thanks for the interest!

I did see this as sort of an obvious project.  It was almost surprising to me that no one had already done it, since there are similar projects out there using other games as their base case (like the aforementioned Zelda Classic).  There are things out there like RPGMaker, but nothing that clearly had old-school FF at its roots.

At the moment, this is definitely a solo project.  However, in the future, I may seek help for significant parts of the development.  The map editor in particular is probably the easiest large piece to carve off.  It's difficult to stay focused with everything else in Real Life going on, but I've made changes to the development methodology that I hope will help with that.  I did spend half of last weekend on it and made a ton of progress, so who knows.  This thing may yet see the light of day.  :)

Originally my strategy was to design, design, design.  I had a massive list of features that I wanted, and the best thing to do is design for all of them, right?  That way you don't need to rework major parts of the system if a new feature doesn't fit into your existing design.  Well, that's the old and busted software methodology, and working for two years in a company that does agile development has shown me the new hotness, so to speak.  Reworking code is good.  There are always features you haven't thought of yet, and no matter how much you good your design, you can't think of everything in advance.  So, I'm hoping to get the necessary features done, and then add to them whenever time permits.  It's amazing what a difference it makes to put a product manager hat on once in a while.  :)

62
General Discussion / Tileset loader works!
« on: January 23, 2011, 07:56:10 PM »
And here's the Town tileset rendered on my 1920x1200 screen (attached).  Mmm, bilinear filtering. :)

EDIT: No wonder the screenshot function was crashing.  I should not try to declare 6 MB arrays on the stack...

63
General Discussion / Re: Issue Tracking System
« on: January 22, 2011, 10:55:36 PM »
Aaaaaaaaand we're rolling now.  Next on the agenda is loading tilesets and rendering them in OpenGL.  Finally, a visual result on the screen!  I can't wait.

64
Gaming Discussion / Re: Gaming Progress Thread
« on: December 13, 2010, 12:25:08 AM »
Quote from: Lenophis on December 12, 2010, 07:40:06 AM
Quote from: Entroper on December 12, 2010, 02:00:34 AM
What do you think of MP2 overall, Leno?
It's definitely one of the harder games I've played. Hard enough to the point where the Boost Guardian and Quadraxis become completely unfair fights, and they are ones you will lose multiple times before you even get your foot in. That's just bad design.

Also, the Sky Temple keys are too well hidden. The hints should've been easier to get, cause you literally can explore for hours upon hours and not find anything. :sad: I caved in and used a walkthru for those... :zemogus:

Agreed, the Boost Guardian is one of the most unfair bosses out there.  Don't know what they were thinking putting him in the middle of the game.  I had to break out gamefaqs.com on multiple occasions, because you couldn't survive long enough to figure out a decent strategy against some of the bosses.

I've just gotten to Melmond in FF1: DoS.  This remake is like FF1 on crack, or maybe crystal meth is more accurate.  I love how cheap everything is, but boy do you ever level up quickly!  I remember now how much I wanted to make a version of FF1 that wasn't as unfair as the original NES cart (and with fewer bugs), but also not as much of a cakewalk as DoS.

I love that you can't get silver swords in Elfland, and that the were and rune swords are suddenly useful as a result.  I also enjoy having MP, but I think I have way too much.  Maybe that's just a side effect of leveling at warp speed.

I wish this version had ATB.  Seriously, they put everything else in, and they even use the enemies' speed or level to determine who goes first in battle.  Doesn't seem right.

65
Gaming Discussion / Re: Gaming Progress Thread
« on: December 12, 2010, 02:00:34 AM »
What do you think of MP2 overall, Leno?  It's kind of the black sheep of the series.  I couldn't get into it the first time I played it, but the second time I got far enough that it became interesting, and I think it keeps getting better and better as you go deeper and deeper into the game.  Definitely the creepiest of the three.

I recently finished FF II (IV) on Virtual Console, after playing The After Years through to the beginning of the final chapter.  I didn't do the challenge dungeons at the end of all the character quests, so my party is terribly underleveled.  Still, I've managed to put down Baigan and the Magus Sisters, and levels are rising rapidly.

I think I'll be starting an FF1 run soon on GBA.

66
General Discussion / Tileset Specification
« on: December 09, 2010, 06:43:10 PM »
This document describes how to create a tileset for Original Fantasy.  Since development is in early stages, these details are subject to change.

  • Tilesets are stored in <installation directory>/Quests/<your quest>/Graphics/Maps.
  • Each tileset gets its own directory, so a tileset called "Overworld" would be in Graphics/Maps/Overworld.
  • In the tileset directory, there is a text file with the same name as the tileset; e.g. Overworld.txt.
  • The text file is a list of tile IDs and image filenames separated by tabs.  Each line should contain one integer, a tab, and one filename; e.g. "5<tab>Tile005.bmp".  These files are very easy to edit in Excel or other spreadsheet programs.
  • The IDs are important, because map files store tile IDs.  It is possible to re-skin a map simply by replacing the tile images, and keeping the IDs the same.  The IDs can be any integer value less than 2^31, and different tilesets in the same quest may use the same IDs.
  • If you want your map to have rooms that are blanked out when you are outside of them (like FF1 does), you will need two tilesets, and they will need to use the same tile IDs.  The second tileset will be shown when you are inside a room.  The editor will make sure that your inside and outside tilesets are using the same tile IDs.
  • Currently, only BMP images are supported.  This will definitely change in the future to include GIF and PNG, and possibly more.
  • 64x64 is the preferred image size, but they can be any size.
  • Tiles within the same tileset may be different sizes, but they will all be blown up/shrunk to the same size on the map.  So if you want a tile that's just a solid color, a 1x1 image will do.
  • FF1's tiles are 16x16, so it's recommended to use at least that size.  Larger than 128x128 is definitely overkill.
  • Tile images should be square and their size should be a power of 2.  If they are not, they will probably still work, but older graphics hardware/drivers might not support them.  And of course, non-square images will be square on the map and appear stretched.

I'll keep this updated as things change, or if I need to clarify.

67
General Discussion / First code update since 2008!
« on: December 08, 2010, 11:19:11 PM »
 :omg:

Yes, I actually wrote (more like modified) some code tonight.  :)  Just two bug fixes for now.

More importantly, I fleshed out my immediate-term goals in JIRA (see the issue tracking system thread).  My first priority is to get maps on the screen.  Once that's done, there will be plenty to do, feature-wise, but most importantly, there will be a testable product that I can play with.

68
General Discussion / Issue Tracking System
« on: December 05, 2010, 10:06:37 PM »
I've set up an issue tracking system called JIRA to manage my work on this project.  Details below.

URL: http://entroper.zapto.org:8080 (this is a temporary location)
Login: slick
Password: productionsRslick

You should be able to view the open and in progress issues, as well as an activity stream.  There's not much there at the moment, but it's ready now to be filled out with all the tasks I need to accomplish.

69
General Discussion / Re: Any progress?
« on: December 05, 2010, 12:37:40 AM »
My web domain has been taken by a squatter.  :wtf:  I've opened a support ticket with no-ip.org to see if I can get it back, but I'm thinking it's not likely.

I do have the server up and running, with JIRA installed, and a project set up for OF.  I'll post a link once I get some content going and the server issues worked out.

70
General Discussion / Re: Google Chrome
« on: December 04, 2010, 11:33:09 PM »
Quote from: I.S.T. on December 04, 2010, 02:15:48 PM
Quote from: Deathlike2 on December 02, 2010, 06:53:58 PM
Chrome 8 is out today.

The key feature IMO is the PDF reading support that is built into the browser. This is a vast improvement than the Adobe plugin of fail.. which consistently was slow, unstable, and made the browser very crash prone... at least the last time I recall using it.

The Adobe plugin does that no matter what browser you use. Sadly, the Foxit plugin does the exact same fucking thing.

My solution for the past several years has been to configure Firefox to open PDFs externally rather than using the plugin.  You basically disable the plugin in FF, then go to Options->Applications and set it to "Use Adobe Reader" everywhere it says "Use Adobe Plugin".  The plugin is pretty much guaranteed to crash your browser, but the standalone app seems to work just fine.  Even if it did crash, it wouldn't take FF down with it. :)

71
General Discussion / Re: Any progress?
« on: December 04, 2010, 12:48:17 AM »
So, I went wayyyyyyyyyyyy overboard and decided to try and get my web server back up and running, and install JIRA on it (which is an issue-tracking system that a lot of open-source software projects use, and that I use at work).  It's not just for this, I plan to use it to keep track of house projects, too.  :)  Still, this will hopefully be useful when/if I want to get going again.  I'll probably create a JIRA user for members of this forum and allow you to view the backlog of work items.  That's assuming that the web server and my internet connection play nicely, of course.

72
General Discussion / Re: Battle Stats
« on: December 03, 2010, 04:10:20 PM »
I just realized you could add achievements based on these stats.  You could, of course, get achievements for lots of different things.  One more feature to file away in the suggestion box.  :)

I really need to get an issue-tracking system and develop a backlog for this.  Just keeping all the steps somewhere would help me pull small pieces off to work on in my ever-shrinking free time.

73
General Discussion / Re: Any progress?
« on: December 01, 2010, 06:30:06 PM »
Quote from: Entroper on June 20, 2009, 11:48:08 PM
...the job I got in April 2008 has been extremely demanding of my time (50+ hour weeks every week).  It's looking like that might change soon, but it also might not.

...yeah, that still hasn't changed.  Also, my girlfriend and I bought a house this year, and it's needed a ton of work.  I barely even have time to play videogames, let alone make them.  :(

I still have the source code for this project.  The good news about my job is that it's been a really great job, and taught me a lot about the process of developing software.  I had plenty of programming talent before, but didn't really have any experience in managing a software project from soup-to-nuts.  So, in the future, if I decide to pick this up again, that experience will help tremendously.

74
General Discussion / Re: Any progress?
« on: June 21, 2009, 06:48:42 PM »
Quote from: JCE3000GT on June 21, 2009, 12:15:14 AM
That C&D for Crimson Echos was a fake--and proven in a topic about it.  Don't let that stop you from doing your project.  Just keep it private. 

Yeah?  Well, that's good news, if true.  I wonder why they would make that up, though.

I plan to keep working on the project as long as I'm interested, which will be a very long time.  If Square ever contacts me about it, I just won't be able to distribute it.

75
General Discussion / Re: Any progress?
« on: June 20, 2009, 11:48:08 PM »
There hasn't been much, unfortunately.  It's hard to believe I started this project a year and a half ago... the job I got in April 2008 has been extremely demanding of my time (50+ hour weeks every week).  It's looking like that might change soon, but it also might not.  Regardless, this project is still of great interest to me, and I do poke at it from time to time.  Most recently I've been fleshing out the format for map files.

Also, some recent events have bothered me quite a bit: http://crimsonechoes.com/

Crimson Echoes didn't even have the ability to play the original game -- it was basically a ROM hack of CT with a completely new quest written from scratch.  Clearly, Square doesn't look kindly on these kinds of projects.

In light of this, I've been considering NOT including the ability to generate a quest by ripping the original graphics/maps/etc. from the NES ROM.  Unfortunately, I think this will greatly diminish the interest in the game, especially because I think just about every FF fan with time and creativity would love to hack around in the quest editor and do their own spin on FF1.  There are already generic make-your-own-RPG engines out there -- the point of this project was to use the interest in the original game as a basis for a community, much like Zelda Classic.  It worries me to release the game without a good, solid, recognizable quest -- if there isn't great content, people won't be interested, and if people aren't interested, they won't create their own great content.  It's kind of a chicken-and-egg scenario, and having an FF1-like quest was going to be the egg.

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