NEPETAQUEST 2011 Thread 5: Journey through Black Endless Despair

[-Benedict]

NEPETAQUEST 2011

There are major characters, and there are minor ones. If you're waiting for someone to fire up NEPETAQUEST 2011... wait no more. We're making it happen. We've taken Hussie's dare, and put together a functioning RPG game engine, loads of sprite assets, tilesets, artwork, music, writing, and more. But we're not done yet, and we need your help to get this finished.

But What is a Nepetaquest?
Nepetaquest 2011 follows the adventures of Nepeta Leijon through the dangerous wilds and not-so-wilds of the planet Alternia, in her ceaseless search for the fabled Fountain of Cute. NQ2011 is a turn-based RPG, which will feature a timing-based attack combo system, variable special moves and character attributes, and a number of partner characters. The player will navigate environments from a top-down perspective, encountering enemies on the field (engine coded by Frost) and moving to a battle screen upon engagement. The game will be split into six major areas- an initial tutorial/beginning level, a final dungeon, and four separate chapters that can be tackled in any order- one for each quadrant of troll romance.

Battles
Nepetaquest's battle system is being coded by the inestimable Geekthras, who's put together a functional stage for the actors to move around in, including a tentative HUD and provisions for dialogue boxes. Player characters will use a timed hits system to use special attacks and increase damage on their basic attack- the pattern of which differs for every playable character.
Nepeta's special attack is called Roleplay, and unlike most specials, its effect can vary widely depending on different conditions- from which partner is active in your party to which piece of armor (or rather, which fursuit) is currently equiupped I mean equipped.
The game will include five playable partners, who will move in and out of your party depending on the stage. You'll be able to pick and choose partners in the final level, as well as possible secret levels or level replays. Party members include:
-Karkat Vantas, who attacks with an elaborate 5-hit combo. His special attack is Rage, which we're still deciding the effect of. It might confer status effects, activate party buffs, or force enemies to flee from battle.
-Equius Zahhak, who fights with brute strength. Special attack ideas include STRONGjump, in which he spends a turn in the air in order to crash down for massive damage next turn, or some other display of unbelievable force.
-Gamzee Makara, who wields his Deuce Clubs to deadly effect. His special is likely to be a grab bag of item or status effects, chosen at random, although a timed club-throwing juggling act has also been proposed.
-Vriska Serket or Eridan Ampora. You'll choose whose side to take in the Clubs level- you can pick Vriska for her dice effects and agility, or Eridan for his charged rifle attacks.
BATTLES on the Wiki

Art and Graphics
The game's sprite-based graphics are the most work-intensive part of the project. The high-detail combat animations form the largest challenge facing our artists, but there are plenty of other art assets we'll need to piece together our levels and complete development.


Through the combined efforts of Cucurbita, Benedict, 8oy Skylark and others, we've completed the walking animations for all the playable or NPC trolls. Some work still remains, though- a few nameless NPCs will need overworld animations, as will the game's menagerie of deadly Alternian wildlife.
OVERWORLD on the Wiki


The game's environments are built from two distinct classes of sprite- the 24x24 tiles that compose the terrain, and a number of individually placed objects that don't stick to the grid. These tiles can always use touching up, since the player will be looking at them for a good chunk of their play time.
TILESETS on the Wiki


Traditional artists, who may not be as skilled with the pixel as they are the brush, can also contribute. Battles will feature long, digitally or traditionally painted backdrops, with a few layers of depth to simulate parallax.

There's a few more assets we can use- character dialogue portraits, HUD elements, menus, inventory icons, et cetera- but that's the bulk of our art production.

Writing
We've got plenty of opportunities for writers to help out. We've more or less finalized our story, and we won't be making any major changes to the script as it stands. However, the actual composition of scenes, dialogue, and flavor text still remains to be done, so there's a wealth of openings for contributions there.
We've also got some long-form journals and background exposition scattered throughout the game- Obselescence and Snuffleheim -okay guys i think those are the main people what did the writing there correct me if i frigged it up- are the folks to go to if that's your cup of literary tea.
LEVELS on the Wiki

Music
Nepetaquest 2011 will feature a large soundtrack! We've got musicians dropping fresh jams and ill beats on us every which way, and it's all pretty incredible stuff. You should give it all a listen on the wiki's Music page!
MUSIC on the Wiki

Credits
Hehehehe, we haven't really assigned titles and credits yet, but we will be featuring contributor pages on the wiki, in order to keep track of whose contributions are whose. Watch this space for contributor pages as they appear!


But hey! How can I help?
Well! In case you looked at all that stuff up there and didn't notice that it's not complete, here's the lowdown: We still need to do a lot of work, here. And we've... pretty egregiously violated the titular deadline, but I think we can do this if we get people involved. Here's some stuff that you can do!

-Battle animations! We're still looking for complete animated storyboards (such as those for Karkat, Nepeta and Terezi, as you can see on the wiki), as well as a bunch of "reaction" animations- characters recoiling from a hit. Enemy battle sprites will typically use a three or four frame idle animation, plus a number of static attack frames for their different moves, and one "recoiling from a hit" frame. The trolls, however, will be fully animated, so they'll require a lot of work.

-Enemy battle sprites and overworld animations. We'll need sprites that scale to the overworld, in which the enemies move north, south, east and west.

-Battle backdrops- ideally, the sky would be one image, sections close to the horizon would be another, and the rest of the screen would be the top layer, which would stick to the player characters. Parallax! Sort of.

-Music is another need- we've got plenty of general-purpose tunes, but you may want to look at the specific music needs on the wiki before contributing a tune that we've already got something for.

-Flavor text- most or all objects in the game should be accompanied by Nepeta's observations and reactions- in the second person, that is, "You find so-and-so! Purrfect!" or some such description.

-Tilesets and overworld objects are also a need. Tiles are 24x24 with no borders, and we still need some stuff for Eridan's hive, the Temple of Cute, ocean areas, and assorted terrain variances for partially complete levels. Object sprites don't really have size limitations, although we typically use black borders, and you'll want to make sure they scale to player size appropriately.

-Room building! Nepetaquest 2011 features a room editor, used to compose game levels from tilesets, objects, and collision types. It's well-documented and easy to use- download it and see what you can do.

-AND MUCH MORE!!!! Follow the thread and you'll likely get an idea of the current, specific needs that can be filled, some of which may lie outside of these main categories. Your help is greatly apurreciated! :33

Useful links:
Nepetaquest 2011 IRC room
Development blog
NQ2011 Wiki
Game script on Google Docs
Thread 0
Thread 1
Thread 2
Thread :33
Thread 4
Thread 4.33
Nepetaquest 2011 Demo
Nepetaquest 2011 Room Editor

[Dxpenguinman]

Woot! New thread.

I shall be monitoring this greatly.

[-Benedict]

Some things from the last thread to kick off discussion:

EDIT: Okay, added some tilesets and drew up a little thing of collision types we'll still need. We'll definitely need the diagonal split, but the other stuff is more general purpose- it depends on whether it'd be less effort to completely retile Zerovirus' bridge/boardwalk tiles to fit with the standard diagonals and solids, or if it'd be more or less trivial to add some new collision types to make it (and other objects) fit.


Things we already have in blue.

In the meantime, I've thought of a decent solution to the general lack of motivation to update the wiki with work- since everything's usually tentative and keeps getting revised, whether new content gets added to the wiki can be questionable. That's why I'd like each contributor to set up their own page on the wiki, containing all their current work. I'll have a Credits section in the OP linking to contributor wiki pages, thereby avoiding the hassle of categorizing contributors and allowing people to quickly find a contribution by a specific member. I may want to establish some rules for editing other people's pages or listing revisions of other people's work on your own page, but we'll see how it goes before trying to apply constraints.

New thread is go. Let's do this, folks.

Also, please please please let me know if there's anything wrong with the OP of the new thread- I want to make sure it's in peak condition.

And also Frost is back! Allegedly.

[Drillgorg]

Looking good, guys!

[Paul]

Awesome! I can't wait. c:

[Geekthras]

In support of this new breath of fresh air, I've written a suggestion for the vs. Terezi theme. Harpsichord only so far, loops twice in this:

Hearts Boss (Terezi) - unnamed (Legislacerations?)

[Zizzo]

That sounds incredibly good so far, Geekthras!

Just to get me to speed with everyone else, what tilesets and sprites are currently complete/incomplete/are the current focus? Karkat's Lawnring is done, Alternian Wilderness is....80% done? Nepeta and Karkat's battlesprites are....? I know I have copies of the latter from around when the project died down, but I have no idea if they're the most recent.

Really, you guys can just point me at a to do list and tell me to get cracking, if you like :|a

[Moon Redeemer]

Ah, I remember seeing this a while back, and I thought "this sounds like an awesome idea". As such, I'm really happy to see that it's become really fleshed out now, and it seems to be taking off. Can't wait, I'm going to keep watching this closely. :33

I'd help out with stuff but I'm a bit useless. Blah, curses.

[-Benedict]

That sounds incredibly good so far, Geekthras!

Just to get me to speed with everyone else, what tilesets and sprites are currently complete/incomplete/are the current focus? Karkat's Lawnring is done, Alternian Wilderness is....80% done? Nepeta and Karkat's battlesprites are....? I know I have copies of the latter from around when the project died down, but I have no idea if they're the most recent.

Really, you guys can just point me at a to do list and tell me to get cracking, if you like :|a

Okay, so there's a few swooshy attack effects on the Nepeta animation that need doing, which we've been delegating to you for consistency but we can probably do regardless. The Nepeta animation is unfinished save for... let me check the current version (on wiki)... the first attack, really, if you want to do some of that. As tilesets go, the Hearts tileset needs its colors tweaked- it will be set during the day, but the current tree coloration is this horrible blue and I can't really get it to look right. It's a pretty simple environment, though- with a few custom objects it can be more or less complete.
Other things- Spades has no tileset components so far- we'll need some worn wooden teal/blue walls (Reference), floors, regal finery (carpets), etc, as well as a number of decorative sea-dweller adornments. The Murdeer needs a recoiling frame and an idle animation, and all enemies need idle animations, attack frames, and recoiling frames.

Thanks!

Ah, I remember seeing this a while back, and I thought "this sounds like an awesome idea". As such, I'm really happy to see that it's become really fleshed out now, and it seems to be taking off. Can't wait, I'm going to keep watching this closely. :33

I'd help out with stuff but I'm a bit useless. Blah, curses.

Everyone says that! Are you sure you're useless? What kind of stuff can you do?

In support of this new breath of fresh air, I've written a suggestion for the vs. Terezi theme. Harpsichord only so far, loops twice in this:

Hearts Boss (Terezi) - unnamed (Legislacerations?)

ooh okay i gotta listen to this hang on kinda juggling things

EDIT: holy goddam cow yes this is amazing, titlewise remember that she's in disguise as a dragon for the battle so something about that also maybe add scary drums

[elementalpenguin]

Hello. I am the lurker apprentice of the Nepetaquest irc.
Also I did sprites one time or something?
In all seriousness, after sC showed me this thread I decided to actually do some work. We'll see if this work ethic holds. It never has in the past.

[-Benedict]

Nice, dude. And thanks for the support, Dxpenguinman and Drillgorg and Paul and Moon Redeemer and anyone following in a noncontributory capacity- knowing there's interest is one of the big things keeping us going.

Incidentally, this is my Nepetapost 2011. Hee.

[cameoCellist]

Hey, this sounds great and I would love to help!
Unfortunately, I can't really do anything that would be of use to this project.
I'll be around though, so if there is anything that needs to be done thats simple, I can do it!
Good luck with Nepetaquest
:33

EDIT: Just looked at your main post again. Maybe I can help with writing? Flavor text, etc. I dunno.

[Zizzo]

Okay, got it. All of Karkat's attacks have been shaded, his first and second have been cleaned up, third's getting there and I hadn't yet touched four and five, it looks like. Is Alternian Wilderness' cave tiles complete? They seem a bit lacking.

I also have a unfinished use item Nepeta animation, some water tiles I think were going to be shoehorned into the Spades level and two pairs of grass and dirt tiles which I have absolutely no idea about:

[-Benedict]

Cave tiles were Zero's thing, and are mostly finished- what needs to happen now is- the diagonal walls don't tessellate with the normal walls when concave (the arrangement you see on the sheet being convex, not sure if I've explained myself properly), and the sandy floor texture from outside needs to be darkened a bit, and the south borders for the cutaway view need to be a thing... well, okay, there's still some work to do, I'll get on that when I get the chance.
Also use animation is nice, good work.

EDIT: WHERE DOING THIS MAN
and yeah that was the tagline of the second thread for a while i think, also it's speled hapen you fat nasty tarsh

[Dxpenguinman]

WE'RE MAKING THIS HAPPEN

[-Benedict]

I did some fixing up of Zero's cave tileset- the diagonal walls didn't really tile with anything except their convex link to the flat walls, so I tinkered with that and rearranged the tiles to be efficient with space and then recolored the sand stuff to serve as a cave floor. I still need to do some cutaway border stuff- basically the south borders when the cave is viewed as a cross-section- and then it should be done.



Also, I have a general request for anyone who's been following the project but doesn't think they have the skill to contribute (besides just "please try, you can probably do something if you just give it a shot")- I just got a new computer that's running Windows 7, but Windows 7 MS Paint is such a colossal piece of shit I can barely use it. I've been working with the old XP paint which is widely available, but Vista's iteration is by far the best for pixelart (XP paint only allows three undo commands and a handful of fixed zoom levels, which messes with workflow). If any of you are running Windows Vista, please upload a copy of your mspaint.exe and send it to me via a file hosting service- it'd really help me out.

[Dxpenguinman]

I would but I dont have access to a computer right now, posting this via phone. If it isnt done in 6 or so hours, I'll have access to a comp by then and can upload it.

[Dxpenguinman]

Doing it now.

And here is the URL:

show spoiler

hide spoiler

http://www.mediafire.com/?a73ba8q75s55h0a

[Geekthras]

Posted an updated version of Legislacerations with drums added in:

http://soundcloud.com/geekthras/legislacerations-wip

[-Benedict]

Okay yes that is super sweet. Drums are really well-done, can't wait to hear the completed piece.

Thanks for the upload, dxpm, but it turns out... I guess like Windows just has some evil little coding in there that won't let you open Paint unless it's the right version installed in the right directory under the right name, so I kind of HATE that but there's nothing I can do besides stick with XP's version.

Also, konec0 sez he'll be happy to help out once the Sburb OST is done, and he'll be remaking a bunch of his old songs since the old files aren't compatible with his new music software. So that's exciting!

also hey listen to this isn't it diabolically clever

As far as release goes, Frost's crisis and the ensuing general collapse during the summer set us back quite a bit, so... we probably won't be able to deliver the full product on time. I do have this really clever plan, though- since we have the Wilderness and all of the stuff for Nepeta and Karkat mostly finished, I was thinking we could cheat the deadline a little and just complete the wilderness, and then drop the Fountain of Cute at the end, instead of getting started with all the quadrant keys and partners and stuff. We'd release THAT as NEPETAQUEST 2011 to hopefully get under Hussie's formspring skin, and then continue work on the original project, billing it as a sequel to Nepetaquest 2011.
am i really sneaky or what, huh

[OrangeAipom]

I'll try to edit the bottom three to match the style of this.



welp i hope i didn't make them worse

[secularZoologist]

I wouldn't trust myself with animated sprites, but I would be happy to help out with battle backgrounds or the head shots!

[Super_lightning_wolf]

I wish I had those drawing skills. Quick Question(s):
1) When you draw your trolls/fanart, do you draw it on paper, scan it, then rework it in Photoshop? Or is it JUST photoshop?
2) What's your document size/pixel dimensions when you do your art?

Thanks!

[OrangeAipom]

I wish I had those drawing skills. Quick Question(s):
1) When you draw your trolls/fanart, do you draw it on paper, scan it, then rework it in Photoshop? Or is it JUST photoshop?
2) What's your document size/pixel dimensions when you do your art?

Thanks!

Zizzo, the one who made the Nepeta talksprite, used the former technique.

I don't know about anything else.

I wouldn't trust myself with animated sprites, but I would be happy to help out with battle backgrounds or the head shots!

You don't need permission or anything. Just do it.

Maybe NQ2011 should have a thread in Group Art Projects.

[Super_lightning_wolf]

I wish I had those drawing skills. Quick Question(s):
1) When you draw your trolls/fanart, do you draw it on paper, scan it, then rework it in Photoshop? Or is it JUST photoshop?
2) What's your document size/pixel dimensions when you do your art?

Thanks!

Zizzo, the one who made the Nepeta talksprite, used the former technique.

I don't know about anything else.

The former technique, as in draw then scan?