RPGM Abandoned Incandescent Shade [v0.01 Alpha] [Slaynee]

NomadMaster

Newbie
Nov 4, 2018
81
16
Sounds like this might do well with futa/herm/transgender and transformation content. Story sounds neat so far.
 

kuraiken

Member
Dec 5, 2017
358
886
Slaynee Looks good. I really like the character drawing (it catches the right balance between male and female) and I think you're using picture overlays in a clever way to enhance the bland standard tileset to make your map pop.

You may, however, want to use tall sprites instead of chibi sprites.
Chibi sprites give you very little to work with if you want to use ingame sprites that correspond to sex pictures (which is usually a good idea - working on both levels blends the map with the more graphic pictures, selling the illusion. Lots of other devs fail at this and, as a result, the sex scene pictures always feel seperate from the actual game)
You may want to check out the tall sprite generator that's currently in the works and already has a prototype:


With it, you can already make a lot of custom looking tall sprite characters and their size actually fits very well with most of the standard tileset (except small 1 tile doors).

Also, don't be discouraged if the initial feedback or number of patreons isn't all too big. A lof of devs release small "demo versions" like you, and while they can be interesting, they usually lack enough content to draw the audience in. They also make people wonder "if that's all the dev's got, maybe this is just going to be abandoned soon".

If you stay at it, maybe get a first plot arc into the game and get a couple of sex scenes done, people will be much more willing to support you because they see not just the potential of your project, but the actual work you've put into it.

Looking forward to your first update.
 

Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
Thanks a lot for the thought-out feedback kuraiken,

I'll definitely check the tall sprite geny, wasn't aware such thing existed. :unsure:

As for the backing(Patreon) - I try not to stress about it. As you said "it's more about the actual work and not so much the potential".

I've had this craving to make a game for quite some time, for about 3 years may be by now? but either school or other things would get in a way. I would make progress and take a break, but when would come back to it I would feel like I've improved in areas(ex.Drawing skills) so much I need to start from scrap, otherwise I'd feel like I'm not putting my best out there. Aaaand this summer came around and I really chose to commit to it this time.

Anyway, thanks again for your comment, as well as everyone else who commented so far. ;)
 

kuraiken

Member
Dec 5, 2017
358
886
Thanks a lot for the thought-out feedback kuraiken,

I'll definitely check the tall sprite geny, wasn't aware such thing existed. :unsure:

As for the backing(Patreon) - I try not to stress about it. As you said "it's more about the actual work and not so much the potential".

I've had this craving to make a game for quite some time, for about 3 years may be by now? but either school or other things would get in a way. I would make progress and take a break, but when would come back to it I would feel like I've improved in areas(ex.Drawing skills) so much I need to start from scrap, otherwise I'd feel like I'm not putting my best out there. Aaaand this summer came around and I really chose to commit to it this time.

Anyway, thanks again for your comment, as well as everyone else who commented so far. ;)
I know that feeling. I'm very much looking forward to see how this game develops and what your plans for it are.

Speaking as a dabbling dev myself, it's often seductive to do everything yourself so things turn out exactly as you want to - but keep in mind that not only can you ask for feedback from the community, suggestions or advice (and often get pretty good advice at that) but you can also check if you can recruit other people to help with your project.
This is a forum section where you can look for free or paid help, and where people offer their services:
https://f95zone.to/forums/recruitment-services.117/

Especially if things often get in the way, that'd be one way to ensure you don't need to do everything.
 
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Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
Here:
This one should work.

Thanks for pointing it out. ;)

*This is not an update, this link is for 0.0.1 ALPHA
 
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Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
All I'm getting is 6 statues around an altar then this: View attachment 407197
Thanks for reporting.
Does this happen exactly at the start as you load in or when you touch the altar?

Update: I can't seem to replicate, nothing of sorts shows up for me...


If anyone has any suggestions of why it occurs and/or how to fix it, please let me know.
 
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Trixpix

Member
Nov 16, 2017
215
262
It happens on game start, I downloaded from a different mirror and the same thing happened again.
I'll have a poke around on my end and see if I can find anything that might be interfering with the game.
 
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kuraiken

Member
Dec 5, 2017
358
886
Thanks for reporting.
Does this happen exactly at the start as you load in or when you touch the altar?

Update: I can't seem to replicate, nothing of sorts shows up for me...


If anyone has any suggestions of why it occurs and/or how to fix it, please let me know.
I've tried replicating the error and failed, but I do recall comming across that at some point, too.

My suspicion is that - in instances where there's already a load on the system (other programs running, background stuff, etc.) and you start the game with plugins that do actions on initialization - small errors can snowball into bigger problems.

My two prime suspects are the 3 autorun events and the parallel process event in the "Hidden Locale" map.
There's nothing that gives priority to any of the 3 autoruns, so the game will try to run them at the same time and give priority to whatever comes first.
That can potentially cause issues.

But the biggest culprint is probably the parallel process event you use to set the light layers.
You do two if condition checks with plugin commands, but since this is a parallel process...it'll do that all the time, any time, non-stop. That script will run multiple times every single second.
A better way to fix this is to add a wait event at the end. (e.g. wait 60 frames = 1 second; 1 second is good for events that don't require perfect timing but timing is still important. For events where things have to happen immediately, even a time of 10 frames or 1 frame still helps)
That would still let the script run every second to ensure the timing is spot on - on the second - for the moment the light layers should come into play - but it won't be running an endless amount crammed into a single second.

I imagine that especially on not so cpu-strong computers, that can take up a lot of processing power and could potentially cause conflict - especially with 3 simultaneous auto-run events.
With auto-run events, it's probably a good idea to not have more than one without conditions on any map. Any further auto-run event should have a condition attached to it that'll define when it runs.
e.g.
Your Starting Trait Points etc. script runs on auto
behind the gold increase add +1 to the variable HL_Initialization (or however you want to name them)
Your next autorun event has the condition "HL_Initalization" = 1 and afterwards increases the variable.
That way you can lead your map through any number of autoruns in a controlled fashion.
Additionally, aside from using a wait event in the parallel process event, you could also put the parallel process event on a condition, so that it only runs after the initalization has been finished. That way, you can be doubly sure they won't conflict.
 
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Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
I've tried replicating the error and failed, but I do recall comming across that at some point, too.

My suspicion is that - in instances where there's already a load on the system (other programs running, background stuff, etc.) and you start the game with plugins that do actions on initialization - small errors can snowball into bigger problems.

My two prime suspects are the 3 autorun events and the parallel process event in the "Hidden Locale" map.
There's nothing that gives priority to any of the 3 autoruns, so the game will try to run them at the same time and give priority to whatever comes first.
That can potentially cause issues.

But the biggest culprint is probably the parallel process event you use to set the light layers.
You do two if condition checks with plugin commands, but since this is a parallel process...it'll do that all the time, any time, non-stop. That script will run multiple times every single second.
A better way to fix this is to add a wait event at the end. (e.g. wait 60 frames = 1 second; 1 second is good for events that don't require perfect timing but timing is still important. For events where things have to happen immediately, even a time of 10 frames or 1 frame still helps)
That would still let the script run every second to ensure the timing is spot on - on the second - for the moment the light layers should come into play - but it won't be running an endless amount crammed into a single second.

I imagine that especially on not so cpu-strong computers, that can take up a lot of processing power and could potentially cause conflict - especially with 3 simultaneous auto-run events.
With auto-run events, it's probably a good idea to not have more than one without conditions on any map. Any further auto-run event should have a condition attached to it that'll define when it runs.
e.g.
Your Starting Trait Points etc. script runs on auto
behind the gold increase add +1 to the variable HL_Initialization (or however you want to name them)
Your next autorun event has the condition "HL_Initalization" = 1 and afterwards increases the variable.
That way you can lead your map through any number of autoruns in a controlled fashion.
Additionally, aside from using a wait event in the parallel process event, you could also put the parallel process event on a condition, so that it only runs after the initalization has been finished. That way, you can be doubly sure they won't conflict.
I see :unsure:
Thanks a lot Kuraiken for breaking it down.
I'll attempt to do the auto-run events as you suggested from now on, never knew that that's how they work or that they can straight up break the game for some people. :eek:
I'll try to upload a hotfix today to see if this fixes it for you Trixpix.
 

Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
Incandescent Shade (0.0.1 Alpha - HotFix 1)


Trixpix or anyone else who had this issue, let me know if this fixes it for you.
 
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kuraiken

Member
Dec 5, 2017
358
886
I see :unsure:
Thanks a lot Kuraiken for breaking it down.
I'll attempt to do the auto-run events as you suggested from now on, never knew that that's how they work or that they can straight up break the game for some people. :eek:
I'll try to upload a hotfix today to see if this fixes it for you Trixpix.
There's actually multiple ways to handle multiple auto-runs. You can do them like I said - a variable that ensures you run seperate events in sequence, or you can put them all into one event on one page, or one event with multiple pages where you use variables or switches to let it call one page after another.
If you prefer self-switches or would like to use self-variables, you can also increase the number of these through Yanfly's self-switches and self-variables plugin. Those, of course, only work in a single event.
I just thought you wanted to keep the events seperate (due to your naming conventions) and gave the methodthat allows seperate auto-runs in sequence.

It's not just how auto-run events work, though, it's more like how the entire engine works. It's just not something that anyone needs to know most of the time, and for pratical reasons people give easy to remember advice: Make wait events in parallel processes. Don't do simultaneous auto-run events.
Most users never need to know more and everything will work.

But there can still be moments when crashes or bugs pop up when not knowing how the scripts work. This can, for example, happen when you've got a map loaded with many multi-page events. (20+ pages)

To illustrate how the game engine works, let's show that with a simple example:

Our hero stands in front of the room with the evil wizard. The door is locked. To open this, he needs to go over to the switch on the wall. He presses the switch, the door opens.

Question: How on earth does the door know it now needs to be open? How could the game possibly know that among two independent events, the door and the switch, one can actually affect the other?

Answer: It doesn't know. It needs to check. Anytime you change a switch, any time you change a variable, the game will run through every event on the map, from back to front, and check whether the condition for it to be run now apply and ensure the now applying pages are displayed. (e.g. the door open page for the door instead of the door closed page)
It will keep attaching and running all other scripts in existance on that map to the script currently being executed, to ensure that any change is actually translated on all other events.

So if your map is loaded with insane amounts of events that could be run - or if it has simultaneously running scripts - all those scripts extend the code that's being run again and again. Since computers can handle a lot of code, that's not a problem most of the time. But if many things come together, it can start to cause issues that are more engine related than code related, especially on taxed or weak pc systems.

Take for example the game "My Girlfriend's Amnesia". Some maps have so many multipage events, that the developer had to make a new map of the home after a certain day, because it caused crashes ingame and even in the editor. I assume that "Lilly of the Valley" for a similar reason has a new basement map after day 12. Too many events being checked every time something is run.
 
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Trixpix

Member
Nov 16, 2017
215
262
Okay so I've been poking around and found some bloatware called yourphone which Microsoft had shoved onto my pc in the last update dont think that would have been interferring but I did everything before checking again so figured I might as well mention it as an extremely slim possibility.

Microsoft Audio enhancements had been re-enabled yet again by windows update which conflicts with my sound card. I'm pretty certain its just the microphone it borks but if it isn't just the microphone it could cause a conflict.

My graphics drivers had also been downgraded by the update which could have been the issue but total war warhammer was still working so not entirely sure.

Indexing had also been turned back on for all hard drives so could have possibly been taking priority on cpu or disk access.

I would normally have done 1 thing at a time to test properly but I get so annoyed with Windows 10 changing all my settings and installing things I dont want every other update I completely forgot why I had started checking things in the first place.

The original version seems to be working fine now that I've been through fixing what windows update broke but if I have the time and patience I'll go back through 1 at a time trying with audio enhancements on, indexing on etc to find what was specifically the problem and compare it to the hotfix version.

Other changes I found and corrected like storage sense settings wouldn't have any impact on the game so it seems to be one of the above that caused the issue.
 
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kuraiken

Member
Dec 5, 2017
358
886
Incandescent Shade (0.0.1 Alpha - HotFix 1)


Trixpix or anyone else who had this issue, let me know if this fixes it for you.
I've checked the script and everything should now be working fine.
I certainly haven't gotten any bugs.

On another note, I've taken a glance at the talent distribution system.
I think it's got interesting potential, though it of course remains to be seen how it works in the game. But I like the idea behind it.

I'm guessing that you probably only implemented it in a makeshift way to provide the ability to pick them so it can be tested in the demo and it's far from finished.
Still, I think that it can be a lot more accessible and fluid with a few small changes.
Right now, it's pretty tedious to distribute the talents.

I've attached the Map036, throw it into the data folder and replace the old one. (This is your fixed map in today's hotfix)
I've made a few changes that should make the menu a lot easier and faster to navigate. Check it out, see if you like it. :)
There's a couple of improvements that I can think of (e.g. window size changes of the message at the top) but I didn't implement them because they'd require an extension plugin from yanfly to the message core. But if you don't want the line at the top to have 4 rows and to be less wide, that can be done with one of the two extension plugins to the message core. (The message core only allows the function as plugin functionality, which comes with a problem that can't be fixed - the message would have to be closed before the choices are shown. Thus the extension would be required.)
I've also added a plugin check for Allure 3, it currently didn't have one and thus was always unlocked.
 
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Slaynee

Newbie
Game Developer
Aug 23, 2019
15
24
Okay so I've been poking around and found some bloatware called yourphone which Microsoft had shoved onto my pc in the last update dont think that would have been interferring but I did everything before checking again so figured I might as well mention it as an extremely slim possibility.

Microsoft Audio enhancements had been re-enabled yet again by windows update which conflicts with my sound card. I'm pretty certain its just the microphone it borks but if it isn't just the microphone it could cause a conflict.

My graphics drivers had also been downgraded by the update which could have been the issue but total war warhammer was still working so not entirely sure.

Indexing had also been turned back on for all hard drives so could have possibly been taking priority on cpu or disk access.

I would normally have done 1 thing at a time to test properly but I get so annoyed with Windows 10 changing all my settings and installing things I dont want every other update I completely forgot why I had started checking things in the first place.

The original version seems to be working fine now that I've been through fixing what windows update broke but if I have the time and patience I'll go back through 1 at a time trying with audio enhancements on, indexing on etc to find what was specifically the problem and compare it to the hotfix version.

Other changes I found and corrected like storage sense settings wouldn't have any impact on the game so it seems to be one of the above that caused the issue.
Big thanks and sorry for taking your time. I also been having some win 10 update issues in the past, probably still do tbh, but too dumb to find them out. I'll read thoroughly your post later, since it's possible I have similar issues. o_O