Remember when I said that this system is giving me a greater insight on the rpg making process?. Well I'd like to say exactly that one more time. After the main menu my objective is to develop the "overworld" map. But I can't "develop" anything without a map can I?. And  that is exactly the main focus of this third iteration. I'm making the tilemap of the overworld map.

Of course...I could have just taken the original FFI map and use exactly that to create the map right? I could but I won't learn anything about that, and remember that the main objective right now isn't finishing the system. The main objective is providing myself enough experience so that when I try to make a "real" RPG I will know exacty in what I am getting into.Here is a screnshot of what I have right now:

Now...I have to confess that I always thought that the whole mapping process was...well "easy and fun" after all you just open a program and pretend to be an architect right?  what can be  hard about that...right?.
Well let me tell you that making even the simplest map is A LOT OF WORK. I've been working since last week in the map and I have almost nothing to show (well you can add my inexperience with all that kind of work to the mix).

What I do have now is a greater understanding of all the related  to the making of  a RPG. Since I'm always thinking about the project that comes after this one...I can at least tell you  that a mapper will be a CORE member of the team.

I'll keep working on the map...I still need to add A LOT of details to it. Maybe I'll have it finished by next week so I can start programming the tilemap engine for the system :)

:) Sonner than I expected the second iteration of the system is over. Let's see the current class diagram:

That  isn't a 100% accurate diagram. I've changed some things but is good enough so that you can see what is happening :) (If you understand UML).  Also I want to share with you the "milestones" of this iteration:

1. SoundSystem is operational as you can hear ;)
2. Good understanding of AsWing (The GUI library that I'm using for this project)
3. At least now I Know that making a pre-loader in flash is no easy task :p
4. The Main Menu is ready (this was the main objective of the iteration remember?)

:) I'm already working on the System :D, that alone is enough reason to celebrate. I've spent most of the week  refactoring my code. By refactoring constantly I hope to keep my code clean and manageable. I'll continue to refactor even if that "slows down" the project. It will help in the long run.

Besides refactoring I started with the sound system. Remember the use case for this iteration?.The system now plays the classic prelude tune from Final Fantasy when the menu appears. It may seem like something simple...but since I know really very little about audio files and compression all my attempts to compress the mp3 file were in vain.I mean...I "can" compress the file but I don't like the resulting quality...in the end I just left the file as it was and moved on. This is definitely an area where I need to improve/get help for my next game.

Since the size of the system grew from 57K to 1M I decided to add a preloader...that is supoosed to be an easy task right? well I couldn't successfully add a Haxe Preloader :(. I've spent several hours trying to add the preloader according to the instructions from SamHaxe. Finally I tried the SamHaxe movie (I just took for granted that the code worked) just to find out that their preloader doesn't work......X___X

I'll try to add the preloader as soon as I can. I mean... it can't be impossible O_O. I expect the final size of the system to be around 5-6 megabytes so it might be necessary to add one.

Edit
Ok, after using all my google-fu and reading several posts about it... I decided that since the preloader is not my main priority. I'll keep the preloader on stand by. When the system grows too much I'll just use the mochi-loader X__X sigh...after all when I do release a game I'll be using the mochi loader too...

The new version is already uploaded and you can stop by anytime. I hope to finish this second iteration by this Wednesday. If I do I'll post the system that day. The next iteration involves the overworld map...and that is way more interesting than an main menu ;).

About the Flash Game

We have almost finished the design document of the game. I also finished yesterday a small spike to get used to the developing environment (I'll be using Actionscript 3). I'll start the "development" of the game today. I won't be as strict with the development process as I am with the RPG System.

I'll start with a first spike/iteration and keep  programming/designing from there. After all I have to make sure that the game is "fun" O_O. And the best way to do that is to play as soon as I can X_X.

I'm almost on vacation. Now I can FINALLY start working on my projects again. Next week I'll post my work :).

Now that I have about a month and a half "free" I have a very specific goal in mind. I want to play more games O__O. You may think that just because I want to be a game developer I must play lots and lots of games...and that IS NOT the case. This past semester I wasn't able to play (let alone finish) any game at all!. This was mostly because of the crappy schedule that my university forced on me...

That is why this vacations I want to play more games :).I already have a list of the games that I'll play, I won't post the list here because I have a serious case of SPOILER PHOBIA...and well that's all :). I'll just say that my list is very diverse, old an new games of every genre live on it ;)

I bought almost all of the "new" games on steam, exactly in the "steam summer camp". Almost 40 of them (gotta love the sales O_O) which leads me to one of the main points of this post. I BOUGHT the games. You may not know but in my country we have a BIG piracy problem. Movies/Songs/Games aren't viewed as art but instead as...I don't know..."expensive garbage?". Basically when I bought the games (and I told my friends/Acquaintances  about it a lot of them said something like "why do you BUY that game! you can download the game from X.com or Y.net"

But...HOW CAN I as an aspiring Professional Game Developer HURT the INDUSTRY that I hope will give me MONEY for my GAMES?.I know the VALUE of a GAME. And I'm willing to PAY for the EXPERIENCE that the game PROVIDES (even if that means waiting for a crazy steam sale because that's what I can afford :p).

So yes ladies and gentlemen :) I've bought lot's of games, I'm buying lot's of games right now, and (guess what?) I'll continue to buy games for the rest of my life ;). And you heard/read it right :p BUY :).Oh..and also :p I don't think that I'm "throwing money". After all...gaming is my oldest and most beloved hobby. :)

Now let's make the "big" announcement shall we?. In this vacation I'll develop a short "complete" flash game :). This game won't be a one time only game. I'm planning to keep making small games starting now. (When I say small I say small in comparison of your typical RPG). Also :) I'm not developing this game alone. Andrea,a friend of mine (a graphic designer by the way) will be working with me :). So you at least you know that you won't be seeing "programmer's artwork".

Does that mean that you are dropping the RPG System?
No, I'll keep working on the RPG System as I always do. Yo could say that the distribution of my working time will be 70-80% Rpg System. and 20-30% these new "small" games.

Then..Why are you doing that! ? I thought you only liked RPGs!
I love LOTS of games. But your question if half true...once I thought that I would only develop RPG games. That is not the case now. I really have some interesting ideas (don't we all have game ideas....they even say that ideas are worth less than a penny) that I want to try ;)

But...What is your real objective by making these games?
Well! you really  are perceptive don't you?...I do have hidden objectives behind all this, but over the years I've learned that I tend to speak too much about my goals...and that I should instead be working on them. I'll be posting about these games here so when the first one is ready to launch I'll start talking ;)

That's all folks :). This blog is again ALIVE :p :)

I know I know...I started this blog with the goal of posting once a week...but this is the end of the semester...please bear with me...I also don't think that I'll be able to post this week (at least something project related...I do have something "personal" that I want to post =D) but I promise that  in two weeks I'll be back with more iterations of the beloved RPG System and an important announcement ;)

I just want to share a video that the RPG Fanatic posted recently....you may (or may not) know about him, I just want to state here that I share some of his opinions and...well just that :p.

Maybe someday I'll be able to work with him in (you guessed it) an RPG :)....maybe :

Ok...I haven't been able to update the site as much as I wanted to...but It will always be like this this time of the year...I'm really busy with the university projects and all that...I managed to start the second iteration..here is the use case:

Main Menu

The main final fantasy tune will start playing after the the vladimirsan.com logo dissapears. the intro will continue as normal. After the final fantasy logo the main menu fades into the screen. The player then can choose between two options
a) New Game
b) Continue Game

::Name:
Main Menu and Music

::Exceptional Courses(s) of Action

That's all :D right now...maybe this week I'll be able to continue working :p. I'm at least pretty sure that I'll be able to work tonight.

Ok, now I'm REALLY busy. I'm on the hardest part of my semester and I won't be able to keep writing "long" posts at least this month. I've maneged to finish the first iteration of the system :), I've also created the oficial RPG System 1 page. There you'll find always the current version.

As I said on earlier posts, right now I just have the intro screen of the "game". In the next iteration I'll be making the main menu and adding sound effects/music to the system.

By the way I won't be able to write often because I spend almost all my time working on a Pushdown Automaton Simulator as an assignment (in C# if you want to know). And almost all my free time I work on the rpg system...so...bye :p