#mod serpy updates

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

If you've been keeping up with my recent posts, you've probably noticed there was a mysterious triangle in some screenshots. I'm happy to officially say that the game's control scheme has changed. It's now a point-and-click! You can use the mouse to interact with things! I've wanted the game to play this way since the beginning. I found a great plugin to do it with.

The arrow keys no longer work in standard scenes, though you can still navigate Mementos with arrow keys if you wish. Otherwise, as seen here, you can use the mouse to move around.

I was hoping to show this off in a standard scene before I posted more about Mementos, buuuuut pixel art has been easier to get done as of late, haha.

Last week I was pretty depressed about having to drop some art I spend quite a bit of time on. It was related to the game's cursors. The plugin I'm using has a built in way to change them when hovering over interactables. Long story short, because I'm using pictures for dialogue, they don't work properly. These three are the only cursors that survived in the end.

Mementos, Default, and the Battle Cursor

Under the Read More are the cursors that were cut from the game. I need to mourn all that lost work somehow.

The Go cursors are the ones I'll miss the most. I made one for each scene transfer in the game, and there were a lot of them. Sometimes you just have to let it go and move on though. That happens a lot in game dev, haha.

Instead, I plan on doing some color theory on the standard scenes to make it more obvious what the player can select in each scene. I already applied this idea to Mementos, since I knew I would never be using the hover cursors in the area. Everything you can interact with uses cool, bluish colors, to contrast the warm reds that make up everything else.

That's all for now! Next update I'm hoping to get more progress done on finishing the background of a scene. I want to show off a fully functional standard scene sooooo so badly.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Mmmmm to get something out sooner rather then later, I've decided that Lesbianbreakers Mode definitely won't be available for any pre-alpha and alpha builds. I don't want to worry about double dialogue sprites until I've got the basics set up. It's still coming though, don't you worry.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Alright, I'm doing some optimization stuff that's mostly uninteresting and will take a week or two (fingers crossed it's not longer), but maybe I can show an update soon. There will be a few minor changes and one BIG one.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

It took all day, but I diiiiiiiid it. I found a replacement plugin and pretty much got back to where I was. No more crashing yaaaaaaaay

I'll probably ask for as much feedback as possible whenever the next build comes out...I need to know if I set the cache limit too high and if it still crashes on older computers. I have a slightly older PC and Mac, but others might still suffer from MV's memory leak.

But for now it's not crashing while I'm working so I fall asleep peacefully tonight.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

I've finally beaten Persona 5 The Royal.

(Spoiler thoughts in parenthesis?

How dare. How dare they. I think I've made it obvious I'm a Goro fan. The gods giveth back my boy and then taketh him away. The post-credits scene wasn't enough, I would like him back forever please and thank you.

Goro Akechi feelings aside,)

probably not changing much about the content of the game based on this. May include some little bits of 3rd semester. Finishing was useful for other purposes though, like refreshing my memory of events the game will be centered around.

I've got some reference points for this version of the game too. Hoping to finish drafting some drawings of the last few areas in the game after I find that replacement plugin.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Okay I finally figured out the width of null error. Unfortunately it's from a plugin I really need. Shit.

I think I need to shop around for a replacement...which bites, cause it was working great for a while there. But the problem is a memory leak. Eventually it crashes because it never unloads pictures and there's a upward limit...and I use a lot of pictures.

Thing is, I really needed the layers options from this plugin so I could do idle animations through sprites...which was probably what was keeping it from crashing any sooner. Rats...

Well, I'm going to search for the replacement. Guh...

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Aight, so I overestimated how well I'd feel after surgery. Been very barfy on these pain meds and struggled to stand at my desk. So I gave my myself a full week before attempting to work again.

Gonna try bringing my tablet to my bed and slowly get back into it. Probably going to draw for an hour at a time for now. I really do want to draw, but don't expect my stomach to cooperate. 6w6;;

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

IIIIIIIII was going to make a real post for the holiday but. Refantazio. Here's a screenshot of a spooky skeleton from the game. Happy Halloween!

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Sub menus I finished this week. Option and Close Game were easy to complete.

Stats isn't technically finished because it doesn't change based on the player's social stats yet, but I wanted to get it done visually so I can move forward with something else.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

I'm SO CLOSE to getting this area's art done, but I need another day or so to finish the line art and color. So small update today, I thought I'd show everyone how things function in standard areas with the test assets. There have been some touch ups to the dialogue art as well!

I made a post talking about redundancies in the UI after last week's update. Now I've made it so you can select the MENU and MAP UI highlighted in red, or use the right click on the mouse to open the main menu. I'll have a more thorough example of how this all works once I have the café area ready.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

How much of the game is finished? Can you give us a thorough answer?

I could write thousands of words writing up a thorough answer for you, but I think it will be more fun to see where I'm at. Give me a bit more time, I have something cooking.

But I can give you a bullet point list for now. Check under the read more.

TL;DR it's less then 10% done, but most of the base functionality had to be revamped. Most of that is finished. I like to go back and forth, and I'm currently focusing on the art direction.

I've learned a lot about game dev that I couldn't wrap my head around when I started. I redid the project in a new file so I could optimize, organize, and cut the fat. The time that took set me back a bit, but it was worth it. A lot of bugs and crashing that plagued the game are no longer an issue.

Base functionality so far:

✔Mouse Functionality (New)

✔Date Time and Weather

✔Dialogue Events Base

✔Map Menu

✔Basic Scene Transfer Events

-Main Menu (Everything technically works, but there are no graphical changes in the Stats and Confidant submenus yet)

-Shops

-Stats

   ✔Stat Tracking

-Graphical Displays/Animations

-Confidants (Started but not complete)

   -Confidant Point Tracking

   -Confidant Rank Tracking

   -Graphical Displays

✔Gift Giving

-Gift Preference Tracking

-Battle

Battle is something that came prepackaged with RPGMMV, but it's still on the list because it takes work to make it fun for players instead of a chore.

In terms of writing, every confidant has at least a broad outline written up. Ryuji and Akechi are the most fleshed out stories thus far. I'll probably use one of their confidants for functionality testing.

I go back an forth between drawing, eventing, and writing. Before I continue with base functionality, I feel like I'm in a nice spot to get the art direction finished, which is what I've been posting about as of late.

It's definitely less then 10% done if I were to put a number on it. I'm hoping soon I'll be able to make a big jump in progress after the art direction is solid.

Thank you for this ask, anon. Sincerely. It got me to make a list of all the art assets I need so far, which I've been meaning to do for a while. It always feels like it's endless when it's just floating around in my head, haha.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Sorry there hasn't been an update in a hot minute, got obsessed with Baldur's Gate 3 (still am but like. Ya know. I'm not staying up til 5am playing it anymore lol).

There will be a slight update to the FAQ, Mod Bedhead is no longer part of the project. Personal reasons. Won't be answering on the matter, it's not pertinent to the game nor something that sets development back.

Starting September 15, I'm going to make an effort to post an update on Friday every two weeks. Not all of these updates will be big, but having low-pressure deadlines keeps me motivated.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Made Date/Time/Weather much simpler to work with now. I've really come a long way from when I first started using this engine. A lot of what I've learned was through trial and error. But now I think I'm decent at working in it.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Now that I'm done optimizing, I've been back at re-implementing visuals, the stuff that's actually exciting to post about lol. Gonna show off some new stuff the next couple of days. ;3

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

As of now, the main menu and all of it's sub menus are entirely functional. It's not visually appealing yet, so I won't be showing it off right now, but everything -works-.

I ended up not eventing any of the menus myself...and thank goodness for that. I repurposed some plugins meant for other things, including the pre-packaged plugin "EnemyBook" for one of them.

Truly, I can't program beyond moving windows around.

[persona-5-the-gaybreakers]

Hm, may have to skip the next post update on 11/24. Have some commission work and some drawings to get done for the holidays. Maybe if i make good progress between all of that, I'll switch it to 12/1. Might have to wait until 12/8 for the next update though.