Holy crap it's been a while since my last devlog! Alrighty!
So because I wasn't so pleased with the theme song listening to it the second then third and then... thirteenth time, I scrapped it and remade it from the ground up because the old version way too long, a bit too discordant, and the chorus sounded like a knock off of "Give A Reason" by Megumi Hayashibara from Slayers NEXT when I only wanted to make a song inspired by that opening theme. Among many other anime and japanese video game OPs from the 90's. I uploaded the old (and not that bad but not as good) version to my Google Drive for comparison's sake and for the archives, but here's the new and much better version! Also shorter.
So because I wasn't so pleased with the theme song listening to it the second then third and then... thirteenth time, I scrapped it and remade it from the ground up because the old version way too long, a bit too discordant, and the chorus sounded like a knock off of "Give A Reason" by Megumi Hayashibara from Slayers NEXT when I only wanted to make a song inspired by that opening theme. Among many other anime and japanese video game OPs from the 90's. I uploaded the old (and not that bad but not as good) version to my Google Drive for comparison's sake and for the archives, but here's the new and much better version! Also shorter.
Here are all the instruments I used via the (unfortunately no longer available on FL Studio 20) Fruity Soundfont Player
Wonder_Project_J2_Cloro_no_Mori_no_Josette: Celesta
WCW/nWo Revenge: Instr_23
SGM-V2 01: Overdrive Guitar
SGM-V2 01: Echo Drops
PSX: Space Voice
Bomberman Hero: Instr_2E
Bomberman Hero: Instr_5A
Bomberman Hero: Instr_7D
Bomberman Hero: Instr_3C
Bomberman Hero: Instr_16
64 Trump Collection Soundfont: Synth Pad
Kirby 64: Meow Synth
Donkey Kong 64: Boombox (B2-6) (DrumKit)
Majora's Mask soundfont: PERC CUICA GORON
Bomberman Hero: Inst_7F
Extreme G2: Kit2
Ace Attourney soundfont: Discreet (DrumKit)
8bitsf: DUTY CYCLE
Chrono Trigger: Gamelan
Mega_Man_Battle_Network_5_DS_Soundfont: Brass Section 2
PSX: Brass
Super Mario RPG: Strings
vampire-savior-instrument-set: Instr bnk0 num91
megaman2-instrument set: Instr bnk0 num25
Diddy_Kong_Racing_Soundfont: Volcano Drums (DKR)
Mega_Man_Battle_Network_5_DS_Soundfont: Fifth Piano
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: MN64 Shakuhachi
Earthworm_Jim_Dsi_soundfont: Room Drums (DrumKit)
Symphonic Sounds: Percussion (DrumKit)
Hoo baby was reworking this song a hassle!
So, I had initially made a new version of the song a month ago. But for some reason, when I initially uploaded it to Soundcloud on the 17th so I could get this blog done sooner, I noticed it skipped half a minute into the chorus straoght into the first bridge to the second chorus for no reason when I did not compose it like that. I deleted it from Soundcloud and listened to the original, sure as shit FL Studio somehow saved it wrong and I didn't notice before. And I have absolutely no clue as to why. So since I didn't wanna spend forever and a day and a half recomposing this song again, I decided to buy the Producer edition of FL Studio 20 so I can just load the project file and make some major tweaks.
Then I encountered this issue...
Wonder_Project_J2_Cloro_no_Mori_no_Josette: Celesta
WCW/nWo Revenge: Instr_23
SGM-V2 01: Overdrive Guitar
SGM-V2 01: Echo Drops
PSX: Space Voice
Bomberman Hero: Instr_2E
Bomberman Hero: Instr_5A
Bomberman Hero: Instr_7D
Bomberman Hero: Instr_3C
Bomberman Hero: Instr_16
64 Trump Collection Soundfont: Synth Pad
Kirby 64: Meow Synth
Donkey Kong 64: Boombox (B2-6) (DrumKit)
Majora's Mask soundfont: PERC CUICA GORON
Bomberman Hero: Inst_7F
Extreme G2: Kit2
Ace Attourney soundfont: Discreet (DrumKit)
8bitsf: DUTY CYCLE
Chrono Trigger: Gamelan
Mega_Man_Battle_Network_5_DS_Soundfont: Brass Section 2
PSX: Brass
Super Mario RPG: Strings
vampire-savior-instrument-set: Instr bnk0 num91
megaman2-instrument set: Instr bnk0 num25
Diddy_Kong_Racing_Soundfont: Volcano Drums (DKR)
Mega_Man_Battle_Network_5_DS_Soundfont: Fifth Piano
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon: MN64 Shakuhachi
Earthworm_Jim_Dsi_soundfont: Room Drums (DrumKit)
Symphonic Sounds: Percussion (DrumKit)
Hoo baby was reworking this song a hassle!
So, I had initially made a new version of the song a month ago. But for some reason, when I initially uploaded it to Soundcloud on the 17th so I could get this blog done sooner, I noticed it skipped half a minute into the chorus straoght into the first bridge to the second chorus for no reason when I did not compose it like that. I deleted it from Soundcloud and listened to the original, sure as shit FL Studio somehow saved it wrong and I didn't notice before. And I have absolutely no clue as to why. So since I didn't wanna spend forever and a day and a half recomposing this song again, I decided to buy the Producer edition of FL Studio 20 so I can just load the project file and make some major tweaks.
Then I encountered this issue...
I then had a panic attack with bewilderment and anger. Especially since I had JUST spent (including tax) $212 GODDAMN DOLLARS just to fix a project and get the full benefits of FL Studio, aaand then my favorite feature bullshittedly gets locked away with no way to get it to work without a tedious workaround.
So, because Fruity Soundfont Player was a trial feature that they no longer support, every time I tried opening the .flp file, it would basically erase everything but the middle breakdown I salvaged from the bad version of the theme song because it's lit. I tried everything I could, but I found one solution!
Just go to the "Project Files (x86)" folder, click the "Image Line" folder cut the "Fruity Soundfont Player" folder from "Generators" under "Fruity" and paste into the "VST" folder under and load your flp. The composition is there but it'll tell you "oh no the thing you used isn't there I'ma ignore it m'kay?" and you click Okay. Since it's ignores the Fruity Soundfont Player, all the instruments will just be empty files with the names of the soundfonts you dumped into the project, and everything's muted because it now has empty files. So then you take the "Fruity Soundfont Player" folder, cut/paste it back to "Generators" in "Fruity" and then go back to FL Studio. Now manually dump aaaaaall the soundfonts if you can remember which instruments from what .sf2 files you used back into your project where you see their names.
If you copy/paste into VST but keep the original in the Fruity folder, it'll still tell you you gotta buy it for $35 to unlock it because it's a trial version and then derp out when you try to buy it and just up and erase your shit again.
So after that tediousness, I fix my composition and export to MP3. Four hours of exporting later right before I gotta go to bed so I can go to my graveyard shift job well rested, I take a listen. The Meow Synth from Kirby 64 (and I have NO idea why it did this) derped out and added an unnecessary whine. Plus I went HAM on the Earthworm Jim DSi Room Drums. So I recomposed it again, fix the guitar solo because the first two go arounds it was phoned in, and voila! What I envisioned in the first place.
Now for the enemies!
Meet Dwezil Bezique's minions. The Pacifiers.
So, because Fruity Soundfont Player was a trial feature that they no longer support, every time I tried opening the .flp file, it would basically erase everything but the middle breakdown I salvaged from the bad version of the theme song because it's lit. I tried everything I could, but I found one solution!
Just go to the "Project Files (x86)" folder, click the "Image Line" folder cut the "Fruity Soundfont Player" folder from "Generators" under "Fruity" and paste into the "VST" folder under and load your flp. The composition is there but it'll tell you "oh no the thing you used isn't there I'ma ignore it m'kay?" and you click Okay. Since it's ignores the Fruity Soundfont Player, all the instruments will just be empty files with the names of the soundfonts you dumped into the project, and everything's muted because it now has empty files. So then you take the "Fruity Soundfont Player" folder, cut/paste it back to "Generators" in "Fruity" and then go back to FL Studio. Now manually dump aaaaaall the soundfonts if you can remember which instruments from what .sf2 files you used back into your project where you see their names.
If you copy/paste into VST but keep the original in the Fruity folder, it'll still tell you you gotta buy it for $35 to unlock it because it's a trial version and then derp out when you try to buy it and just up and erase your shit again.
So after that tediousness, I fix my composition and export to MP3. Four hours of exporting later right before I gotta go to bed so I can go to my graveyard shift job well rested, I take a listen. The Meow Synth from Kirby 64 (and I have NO idea why it did this) derped out and added an unnecessary whine. Plus I went HAM on the Earthworm Jim DSi Room Drums. So I recomposed it again, fix the guitar solo because the first two go arounds it was phoned in, and voila! What I envisioned in the first place.
Now for the enemies!
Meet Dwezil Bezique's minions. The Pacifiers.
The ones with orange visors are humans. Some joined willfully to carry out Dwezil's mission to make sure he maintains control and rule over the shattered remnants of Ypos-Erets, and to preserve his twisted idea of purity. Others are slaves captured from the lands he conquered, who have had every bone in their body but the skull and spine broken and have been forced into robotic suits to carry out his mission. Both are tasked willfully or not, to silence, to protect, and to maim and destroy.
The ones with grates for eyes, are robots that Bezique forced his slaves to craft called Pacifier Borgs. They have no emotions, very little sentience, no remorse. They are the most precise and direct of all of the Pacifiers because they have a better sense of awareness than human beings. They are also the fastest moving. Although, they aren't impervious to stealth.
Pay attention to their eyes, their strength in combat and their mannerisms. You either eliminate them by stealth or battle, or you can capture for the sake of purification, rehabilitation and recruitment in the efforts to overthrow Bezique's reign of terror and physically bring Ypos-Erets back together as one round planet again.
So basically this creates a risk-reward system. The ones with the solid visors (the ones who willfully joined) are harder to purify because they're fascist numskulls who wholeheartedly agree with Bezique. The ones with visible human eyes under the visors are the slaves. If they die, they don't care because they're in so much physical and emotional pain that every minute is a waking nightmare for them. If you purify them, they become background NPCs on the citadel and some may give you free recovery items as thanks for restoring their bodies and the joy in their lives. If you capture Borgs, they become disassembled for scrap metal just like the suits for the human Pacifiers. And with Bezique being obsessed with horses, I thought it would be appropriate to make their helmets horse's skulls. Just like Dwezil's chest armor.
I also made a few enemies for the shoot-em-up segments!
Born of scraps falling off of the dead and corroded heart of Ypos-Erets in which Bezique has claimed his lair, infused with his deceit and hatred, and built to defend and counter-attack anybody in the galaxy who so much as passes by the floating flat worlds that used to be Ypos-Erets as they are under his rule.
The ones with grates for eyes, are robots that Bezique forced his slaves to craft called Pacifier Borgs. They have no emotions, very little sentience, no remorse. They are the most precise and direct of all of the Pacifiers because they have a better sense of awareness than human beings. They are also the fastest moving. Although, they aren't impervious to stealth.
Pay attention to their eyes, their strength in combat and their mannerisms. You either eliminate them by stealth or battle, or you can capture for the sake of purification, rehabilitation and recruitment in the efforts to overthrow Bezique's reign of terror and physically bring Ypos-Erets back together as one round planet again.
So basically this creates a risk-reward system. The ones with the solid visors (the ones who willfully joined) are harder to purify because they're fascist numskulls who wholeheartedly agree with Bezique. The ones with visible human eyes under the visors are the slaves. If they die, they don't care because they're in so much physical and emotional pain that every minute is a waking nightmare for them. If you purify them, they become background NPCs on the citadel and some may give you free recovery items as thanks for restoring their bodies and the joy in their lives. If you capture Borgs, they become disassembled for scrap metal just like the suits for the human Pacifiers. And with Bezique being obsessed with horses, I thought it would be appropriate to make their helmets horse's skulls. Just like Dwezil's chest armor.
I also made a few enemies for the shoot-em-up segments!
Born of scraps falling off of the dead and corroded heart of Ypos-Erets in which Bezique has claimed his lair, infused with his deceit and hatred, and built to defend and counter-attack anybody in the galaxy who so much as passes by the floating flat worlds that used to be Ypos-Erets as they are under his rule.
The Deathjester. A common but lowly fleet of ships made to make a fool out of you as they try to shoot you down. Manned by the Pacifiers that Dwezil finds most entertaining, but weakest physically. Some are piloted by fawlty Pacofier Borgs ans may fly eratically.
The Inufantomu. A guard dog beast that unleashes fleets of Deathjesters, and comes equipped with lasers that shoot molten steel. Bezique's native element.
These enemies and more will try to stop Raziya's quest dead in it's tracks, but not if you have the might and determination to conquer the colony and both save and restore the planet Ypos-Erets.
As for environments, I finally made some scenery! This has no objects yet, but this is the base room for the medical ward on the Archangel Citadel. (It's low-poly because this game is supposed to be a PS1/N64/Saturn era throwback.)
These enemies and more will try to stop Raziya's quest dead in it's tracks, but not if you have the might and determination to conquer the colony and both save and restore the planet Ypos-Erets.
As for environments, I finally made some scenery! This has no objects yet, but this is the base room for the medical ward on the Archangel Citadel. (It's low-poly because this game is supposed to be a PS1/N64/Saturn era throwback.)
There's a loooong story tot this one...
So, because I wanted to make some graphics real fast but with the same amount of care I always give, I went searching around on YouTube and found this Blender add-on called Sprytile. I used to hate Blender, but I learned so much from 3DSMax that I gave it another go and tried Blender 2.8. I loved it! So I figured out Sprytile, and within a matter of a week and a half i made my room. But there was one problem.
Transparent walls only showed some walls on the opposite side, the rest would go invisible.
I tried to add an opacity layer in Blender, that somehow made the texture go awry. Don't know if it's because I used Sprytile, probably not but whatever.
So I decided to save it as an FBX and edit it in 3DSMax, and then I found this issue. The dreaded one sided normal...
So, because I wanted to make some graphics real fast but with the same amount of care I always give, I went searching around on YouTube and found this Blender add-on called Sprytile. I used to hate Blender, but I learned so much from 3DSMax that I gave it another go and tried Blender 2.8. I loved it! So I figured out Sprytile, and within a matter of a week and a half i made my room. But there was one problem.
Transparent walls only showed some walls on the opposite side, the rest would go invisible.
I tried to add an opacity layer in Blender, that somehow made the texture go awry. Don't know if it's because I used Sprytile, probably not but whatever.
So I decided to save it as an FBX and edit it in 3DSMax, and then I found this issue. The dreaded one sided normal...
At first I'm thinking "Oh all i gotta do is up the opacity and add an opacity layer, and it should be fine!" but then OH MY GOD.
So from here I was raging like "WHAT THE FUCK I DIDN'T BUILD IT LIKE THAT!!" and spending days upon weeks having panic attacks trying to figure this shit out. This screwed woth me big time. Especially whenever I'd add an opacity layer, it would just go haywire!
I was flipping normals, reflipping, both individually and in groups, wondering why FBXes don't save double sided normals, changing the size of the entrance walls as well, trying to figure out why are the normals wrong. Even saving new FBX files and taking weeks of my time trying to get it to appear right, (since I work a graveyard shift at the Blue Chip and I have to balance game development, working out and sleep with my 8 hour job,) exhausting every option I could find in every forum thread I read and every tutorial video I saw. Only to figure out it wasn't the model, but my shader that was fucked. So I switched to the High Quality shader and voila! I did not fuck up!
(Mind you the windows may appear grainy, but yay! It isn't how the textures loaded but just a glitch!)
So with that, I dropped it in Unity and saw the same issue as before.
So with that, I dropped it in Unity and saw the same issue as before.
I tried every shader I had previously, nothin' doin'. But then I went searching for double sided shaders, and found one that's perfect. And holy moly that looks great!
Now I just gotta code some collision and code the sprites to face the camera but move in and out of thee model areas, and for the camera to follow the player at all times, and this will be as right as rain.
I've also been perfecting attack animations for the physical attacks int he battles. The bulk of y work besides modeling that room has been downloading physical strikes and wrestling moves to rotoscope into attack animations. Here's Raziya doing a superman punch in her high heat area armor
I've also been perfecting attack animations for the physical attacks int he battles. The bulk of y work besides modeling that room has been downloading physical strikes and wrestling moves to rotoscope into attack animations. Here's Raziya doing a superman punch in her high heat area armor
There will be more moves and of course sprites for her highly armored forms too.
I also started work on extra poses for the cut scenes. To round this blog out, this is Raziya's new signature pose.
I also started work on extra poses for the cut scenes. To round this blog out, this is Raziya's new signature pose.
I'm still making more stuff so wish me luck!
Tell me what you think, and as always I'll see you soon.
Tell me what you think, and as always I'll see you soon.