#psx producer

[smbhax]

Castlevania Chronicles (PS1)

“Interview with Producer” Koji Igarashi

[plasticfossil]

THORNTON GREY, 2.5K TRIS & 256x TEX

Worldbuilding and cg autism under the cut

This is Thornton Grey, a character of mine I've had for around 15 years now. He's from a more or less retired worldbuilding universe of mine, waiting to be either recycled or refactored. Thornton is one of the dearest characters from that setting (and in all honesty, one of my dearest characters in general) and I tend to keep him in my current brain palette of little men to doodle in various formats.

I've been doing these early cd-3d (aka psx /ps1 etc) styled models for some of my OCs with hopes of eventually ?? learning godot. I guess. I need to get my worldbuilding out to the world so it become property of the grand creative consciousness, aka to affect people with my art the same way people affected me.

The tri count is higher than many people tend to target for this style and i'll probably improve that over time as I make various kinds of assets related to my worldbuilding, but eh who cares lol. The textures are photobashed stock images with details painted over and posterized in photoshop.

Here's some bonus 'march of progress' of my art of him over time.

Lore? Well, many of my characters start out with me being bored or annoyed by a specific trope in media, and he is no exception. He's a few things, but primarily he's my take on the 'little pinocchio robot boy/man who wishes he was a Real human'. Thornton's character addresses more so the preoccupations we as humans have to classify and categories types of people or non-people.

The universe, with the codename Redverse, is set approximately 1920s/1930s alt-earth america. He was child to a pair of grandmaster clocksmiths in the early 1800s whom could not have children of their own, and spent decades producing an analog AI composed of millions of intricate gears assembled with a small cube which composes his brain. He has a small boiler in his trunk that provides power for the various hydraulic systems within his limbs and keeps his brain's clockwork properly wound.

After caring for his elderly parents until their deaths, he took his father's trenchcoat and gun and traveled the country. (why is his gun a german luger? i don't know, i was like 17. it looks cool.)

Computers, robots, ai, etc, are not really a thing in this universe, granted the targeted vague time period. So he's generally regarded by others as an advanced automaton (he basically is.) and as a curiosity. He however has no qualms about being artificial in nature, as he sees it, he has all the makings of the average man -- has parents, has to eat (hard coal for his boiler), and can love. To view him as nonhuman baffles him, and his matter of fact attitude about the issue tends to win over many people he gets to know. Regarded mostly with respect for his kind and empathetic nature within the communities he spends any amount of time in, he's eventually pulled into the underworld of armed resistance forming against the increasing power of a fascist authoritarian regime that has quickly possessed control of the tumultuous american politics.

A tl;dr of this universe is "but what if AMERICA was the nazis". Very clever 17yo me. I'm sure you had a shock of your life when you grew up and learned about america's rancid role in world politics. Thus the retirement and possible refactoring -- I think it can be a compelling alt history universe if I actually learn more about how do to it properly, if i ever revive it. I'm not the first person to do it but maybe I can offer something interesting if at least for the setting of a noir style vibe game.

Anyway, Thornton becomes very involved. So involved, in fact, he becomes essentially the poster child of the resistance movement. And is targeted for it.

Widely hailed as a martyr for his subsequent demise, the resistance movement gets his hands on his thankfully intact head and revive him the best they can. He is unfortunately damaged, and upon revival, starts channeling visions from beyond.

And that is about as far as I got with his story. Perhaps you will see more of him in the future.

[rileryk]

EGX NO NATSUYASUMI [september 2022]

my second year of game art kicked off with a project all about self-improvement, and so i got to work on practicing more environment art - mainly on procreate. (i included a couple of examples of this environment practice at the bottom)

here’s the deal though. in late september, two big inspirational events happened: 

-i went to EGX on a college-organized trip and met kareem ettouney from media molecule for a portfolio review/career advice talk. this was a huge deal for me, as i’ve been a fan of the games he’s worked on for most of my life, so the surrealism of meeting him and his wise advice gave me this unprecedented motivational power that i really still can’t get over. love that guy

-the seventh video in the actionbutton review series by tim rogers, action button reviews boku no natsuyasumi, released a few days after that (EGX was thursday, boku was the following sunday). this video was HUGE for me, as a fan of the channel already it caught my attention and had me hooked, but the subject matter of millenium kitchen’s 2000 playstation game boku no natsuyasumi was itself inspirational. seeing the different background art and intimate portrayal of a mid-70s japanese summer in crunchy PSX pixels and polygons made me wanna try to draw one of its gorgeous environment scenes myself.

and so the following thursday i produced this, all in one straight college day between 10am to 4pm, out of a pure force of passion provided to me by two titans of artistic influence. it means a lot to me, even if the outcome could be a lot better :,)

[furinana]

When I was playing the iOS version of SMT1, nobody could drink. If you tried, there was an extra line of dialogue where the bartender says something like, "Aren't you a little young?" and gives you juice instead. I don't know if it's just an international release thing, if it was added in the GBA or PSX port, or what. Felt a bit like they were trying to weasel out of a 'representing minors consuming alcohol' offense.

I always thought the Heroine was in her twenties by the present, but since she's the rebel leader and everyone's after her, she never shows anyone her ID.

Enforcing drinking laws might have made sense in the present, but after Tokyo is destroyed, why do the bartenders care? And how would they know that these random travelers are under twenty, if IDs aren't produced anymore?

I think it makes more sense if nobody cared about underage drinking laws by the time you reach bars. If memory serves, Kichijoji only has a cafe, and you only get bars once you reach Shinjuku. By then, things have gotten so bad that bars might start selling to anyone who can pay.

But really, we all know that if anyone's irresponsible, it's the bars of SMT2, for serving alcohol to two-year-old Aleph.

Hah I was very much suspecting it was a retcon. And that's because MT2/SMT2 already had an euphemism for beer which was Magical Fizz. 

So I'm guessing they gave up on trying to be subtle and removed the lore of the protagonist having alcohol altogether for later rereleases? So teenager drinking bad but using guns and killing people still good?

Anyway since we’re at it, let’s compare the 8/16-bit era of mainline games chronologically on the drinking aspect:

In the SNES version of Megami Tensei, while they don’t specify what kind of drink you’re having, from Nakajima’s reaction it seemed very satisfying. The name of the shop is even “Poison Bar”, for goodness’s sake. 

That being said, considering the game is a completely different (and far simpler) take on the story from the original novel, we can easily label Nakajima doing underage drinking and frickin gambling in the Underworld as non-canon. 

ACTUALLY, I skimmed through its NES version and I don’t think any of those features were supposed to exist in the first place. Which means MT2 was where bars started being a thing:

NES and SNES for comparison. Yeah, the exact same English words are written in the Japanese text for the drinks. You know, something I can’t help but get awfully curious for is that while in later SNES titles the main character freely drinks liquor, in the game where this feature made its debut he’s literally the one who can’t have it.

No booze allowed for the MT2 protagonist. Only soft drinks. Even though both of his partners can have beer. It’s never commented why. If there are age differences, it’s not apparent. And they live in devastated version of Tokyo so rules would be far more lax.

It’s funny because this is the same game where the protagonist can go to a drugstore to get high from herbal medicine. Yeah you read it right.

And he can keep going for a LONG time.

...and overdose to the point of falling on the floor paralyzed and unable to do anything, much to the heroine’s chagrin.

On that note, there’s a single instance in the entire game where the MC finally is offered actual liquor. From... a guy that was Satan's disguise.

Paralyzed AGAIN, Takuma? And imagine getting roofied by goddamn Satan. 

Maybe the reason bartenders don’t serve him specifically is because people that are familiar with him know he’s a danger to himself. Considering that [redacted] happens in a point of the game... yeah. You better stop and just fucking listen to what Asuka says to you, boy.

SMT1 is where the protagonist finally can join the fun with his companions. Everyone drinks the same thing. Equality baby! And no euphemisms!

They could drink in bars both when Tokyo was normal and after it got destroyed by the missiles, so I don’t think the excuse of “oh, the apocalypse made people stop caring” work, at least with the same weight as in MT2.

...AND THEN the sequel brought Magical Fizz back. Probably because SMT2 took cues from MT2 and/or they thought the word was still hilarious (I also do, ngl).

This little dialogue of the barman not letting you drink any more doesn’t show up in other games with the bar feature. Makes you wonder if Aleph is a lightweight since [redacted] or if other bartenders are just... irresponsible as fuck. And yes I’m also counting you on this, crazy MT2 drugstore girl.

One of the big highlights of SMT2 is getting Aleph shitfaced so he can temporarily get enough MAG to win the dance contest. Look at this madlad. Aleph must be great at parties.

You know which other infamous drink makes a comeback?

SUPER MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILK

Fairly enough, it’s exclusive to the Center’s bar. You know... the place where the Law side is located. No sinning next to angels, Aleph.

SMT:If is the game where some surprise factor indeed reaches the player since it happens inside a high school (and yet somehow our first-year protagonists can have liquor bottles stored in their pocket to either offer to demons or chug them down themselves). 

Let’s be honest, this would be an unusual thing to keep around even for adult staff! It’s a school goddamnit. Unless they got it somewhere else like... perhaps the Underworld since Hazama connected both places together.

Actually, such “is this allowed?” age aspect is even commented by a NPC but for the gambling feature:

Considering the type of people you partner up with in SMT:If (and subsenquently the P1/P2 cast to some degree), the protagonists displaying delinquent behavior might very well be what they went for compared to the more ambiguous “left-to-the-player” interpretations for MT2/SMT1/SMT2.

With the exception of our good glasses girl, look at the rest of these hooligans!

Anyway I stick with my interpretation of the main cast of SMT1/2 being on their twenties (or looking as such like Aleph) while the rest are just teens playing with their luck.

[natestah]

Story time

Adam brought to my attention in the last article some of the early goings on at 2015 with MOHAA, We didn't really get to sink our teeth in for some time. He reminded me that we spent time doing a prototype for a second game, which went no where. It was, Scrappy, but I did eventually get to settle in on some work. Trying to Jog my memory a bit by googling Screenshots lead me to this great walk-through Blog, which I am going to borrow some things from (Super Adventures In Gaming Blog)

Out of the gate, when you get past the training you are treated to some of my "fine" terrain work. Couple of things about this, We had developed a dynamic terrain system for the game that was rich in features but could not draw this darned road that curved and bent like this, not without us Flagging a lot of the vertices around the road to not LOD, which subsequently created a ton of polygons and also left terrible lighting artifacts and z-fighting where the curved road and the on-the-grid terrain met.

Only an insane person, would ever go these lengths. If you're keeping up on my articles, you'll recall I had a "Blob" Method in Unreal for creating organic shapes (Story Time About Unreal PSX). That wouldn't apply here but with only convex brushes it looked different! So how do you paint an organic terrain shape using only convex brushes? The secret is in the Cylinder brush, three sided cylinder. It produced the triangle that would be the the terrain surface that you see here. That top triangle could bend and go anywhere I wanted it too, the other surfaces were simply discarded as "No draw" textures.

This would become my bugaboo during MoH:AA and later games too, I worked on many levels but every one that I was assigned to would get a framerate treatment. I wasn't a fan of sub 60hz framerate. Anyway, this guy's commentary on our 2001 game from 2013 is spot-on if not hilarious. He mentions the music early on in his walk through, which I could say was one of the highlights of all of the games I would work on. That first drop of the music, a single line of script placed and suddenly it was "Go time".

During MOHAA times, a level designer was responsible for EVERYTHING in the level. The initial focus was creating the Geometry, and then you had to make it go with some scripting. Mission 2 consisted of 3 levels (some were broken down to a,b,c sections ), they were all my work.

M2L1 was the infiltration of the German Sub-pen, everything was covered in snow and needed some fancy texturing work. The snow was created with No-clip so the feet could go beneath. This area was challenging the engine for me. 60Hz was hard to do on this very "open" space. Once again, insanity led me to a solution where an engineer gave me a technology that we had no term for other than "Manual Vis'ification Technology". I would connect spaces and declare them not visible for the compiler. I remember the engineer coming to my desk, with a grin when He saw how I was breaking the space up,it was a grid of blocks that would get smaller as needed for details, Dude you're basically creating an OctTree.. Huh.. k. Whatever smarty engineer dude. Not much else to say about this space other than there being a time when I wanted to try and introduce some 3dsMax modeling chops and do better rock formations, Quake3's curved patches were very limited. This game had an in-house developed Continuous LOD (Level of Detail) that fought me, On a scale as big as a rock-wall the Rocks would slowly and very visibly morph in. I ended up throwing out that Idea.

M2L2 was a place where I got to exercise some scripting, It was the first place where any kind of programming would take a foothold. Another designer had a very complex state machine setup for managing the interactions. I ended up throwing it out. All the area needed was some dudes patrolling around that would simply ask you for your papers if you got close, In certain area's you'd have to get close. If you didn't comply, the alarm would sound. It was an opportunity to set up unique scripted animations, We had these dudes at a card table, then we had a guy welding one of the docked subs. The ambient sound did the rest, there were all kinds of details in the sound to suggest more was going on in here.

This U-boat was created for me by the art team, Unfortunately we'd hit by the fact that the engine kind of just took one point as the receptor for the lighting, Submerging the boat too much meant the whole thing turned black. There was a lot of Jiggling the boat to get it to take the light just right ( or right enough )

The entire inside of this boat was donated by the art team. Really cool stuff, unfortunately it was hard to move around in. Players in these games are bound to a box, We had to cheat a lot an make certain things ( the door ) non-clipping. I made sure the scripting inside here was brief.

The sub is pretty basic but I wanted to have some details and I didn't get the full attention of the art team, I don't think we had created map "Prefabs" yet, looking at those wires and things on the ceiling has me recalling a lot of painstaking copy-paste operations, and Re-wiring when I wanted to change the style. The lamps on the ceiling might just be curve brushes. Even when things were simple I wanted go hard. =)

M2L3 isn't captured here, but I remember starting in a ventilation system, We had a cockroach run away at the start that was scripted. the rest is simply set up as shoot-em-up cover is blown escape. Nothing to it.

Here we, good old YouTube! There's actually a lot more detail in this than I remember doing, it really did turn out good: Have a walk down memory lane in this walk-through of Mission 2.

I was NOT involved with DDay, It was glorious. This is where the artists went. My first E3 had us demoing this to people in a bunker with a long line. Too be fair my memory of E3 blends with Call of Duty so I'm not sure which, but it was awesome to be the surprise hit of the show. I also remember Snoop-dogg himself walking right by. How cool!

There are other missions that I had a hand in, There were some non-technical Level Designers that I would go offer some scripting to and some missions that I would help create destroyed buildings for.

I helped with the Gas Mask sequence of this mission, Creating a timer, overlaying the gas mask, scripting the fog ( gas ).

I don't know which one's but I got involved with some of the war-torn missions and helped bust up a lot of buildings. If you see a rubble pile, there's a good chance I was in there.

I can't remember, if I was involved with Tanks, I think I may have helped with the geometry for the missions with tanks. Not to reveal too much about CoD, but tanks were my missions there so things are murky, if you remember please do chime in. I'd love to hear.

I think that's it for MOH:AA stay tune for more stories!

[syphonfilter3fans]

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[tyravenholme]

So, decided to get back into game development and have been inspired by various PSX/N64 styled games like Legend 64 and Bloodborne PSX / Bloodborne Kart, and the last one produced a series of thoughts that I had to share.

First is brief and it was about how cool it was that there are devs out there who are making games in these sorts of styles, including those who take existing modern games and give them a classic retro spin in the form of a demake of some kind.

But the big one that got me and the one I want to expand upon because it's so much fun is Bloodborne Kart and how the dev, Lilith Walther, initially made an April's Fools video where they were going to make a Bloodborne Kart out of the Bloodborne PSX Game they were making. It made me wonder just what other games could you not only do a demake of but also somehow give a Kart spin off, and because I've been on a Metal Gear kick, of course my brain started to wonder

"What if Metal Gear had a Kart Combat Racing spin off?"

Immediately, I thought about all the different Metal Gears and their pilots as being potential drivers with karts.

Liquid Snake drives Metal Gear Rex.

Liquid Ocelot drives Metal Gear Ray.

Col. Volgin drives the Shagohod.

Those feel like the obvious ones, like the Hunters in Bloodborne Kart driving motorbikes, of which there are a few and is very fitting given the aesthetics of Bloodborne, but the Dev went above and beyond by also including other characters with karts that are a little more unique and fun. Gerhman uses his Wheelchair with a booster as his kart. The Doll uses a Carriage. Mergo, the invisibile baby, uses it's own stroller which is not even the most insane one in the game (so far) because I feel that goes to Micolash who just straight up runs.

So, going the same route in this fun brainstorm, what silly options are there in the Metal Gear universe beyond the obvious "villain drives a Metal Gear"

Vulcan Raven rides a Tank in MGS and I can't help but think of a super fast tank flocked by ravens being a really cool visual for a Kart.

Raiden in his cyborg ninja get up from Rising Revegeance just screams to me that he doesn't even need a Kart, he could run super fast on those robot legs of his.

Snake is tricky because he doesn't really drive many vehicles in game, not to mention there's like several versions of him. Solid Snake. Naked Snake. Old Snake. Phantom Snake.

So let's do all of them because why not.

Solid Snake? Well, he does ride a Snow Mobile at the end of MGS 1 so that's an option and there is a joke ending where Otacon rides with him on the back of it so maybe we can pair them together as that would be funnier?

Naked Snake? Little harder, the only thing I can think of is him riding shotgun with EVA in her motorbike with sidecar, him just standing on top of it and helping make hard turns by leaning on one side or another.

Old Snake? To be honest, I haven't played MGS4 yet so I don't know if there's a land vehicle he drives.

Phantom Snake? This one is a no brainer. D-Horse. Just has to be, come on.

What about any other villains beyond the finale bosses and some obvious ones like Vulcan Raven who is already driving a vehicle?

Well, taking a cue from Bloodborne Kart and German, there's The End from MGS3 who briefly spends time in a Wheelchair so now we have an excuse to have an old man in a hyper fast wheelchair in this hypothetical Metal Gear Kart game.

I honestly can't believe it took me until after all of these others to remember this character even existed, but Fatman from MGS2 on his freaking Roller Blades I think is a perfect fit for this sort of concept. He's already ready to roll for goodness sake.

Is there a point to all of this, like am I gonna make this game? Heck no, I only just got back into game development and I am still very much a beginner, but it's sort of stuff that makes me excited, having an idea and just rolling with it and seeing it get bigger and bigger and everything just sort of works, fitting perfectly together like a jigsaw puzzle.

The idea is dumb and silly, but it's super fun to think about and it's fun to think about other games/franchises and just wondering "what if this game had a spin off that played like this" doesn't even have to be a Kart racing game. Could be anything and making it work is the fun part.

I've rambled enough now and I should probably get back to learning stuff because I really want to make some games and get them out there in the world now -- obviously not gonna be for a long while before that happens, but hey, gotta have goals, y'know.

[princess-pengy]

Strange Gaming Diaries: THE ENIGMA MACHINE, by ENIGMA STUDIO

so, bit of context for this one: a few years ago I bought itch.io's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, all of the games from which proceeded to sit tragically unexplored in my library until very recently. more recently, I decided to scroll through each and every single one of the hundreds of games included, find the ones that seemed interesting, and give them a shot! it seemed like a great way to get introduced to games on the fringe, and I've been very happy with the results.

THE ENIGMA MACHINE (which, yes, I will be capitalizing exclusively like that throughout this post, because I'm not about to enforce sensible typography on a game that so consistently refers to itself in all-caps) was one of these games, and holds the distinction of being the very, very first horror game I've ever played. not for lack of interest—I've always loved horror to bits, but for someone easily panicked and incredibly noise-sensitive like me, engaging with the genre is like russian roulette with about as much risk for damage to my brain.

however, the premise of this was an incredibly alluring one, with THE ENIGMA MACHINE (I warned you!) promising a trip into the murky, ambiguous, low-poly worlds within the mind of an artificial intelligence. mindscapes and synthetic life have always been some of my favorite narrative concepts, and it's clear that this game was made with its own love for these ideas. it's a bold and passionate opening statement from this developer, and the game that truly solidified how much I wanted to keep playing these kinds of abstract, heartfelt experiments.

in its opening minutes, the game did a nice job of setting up everything it needed to with its narrative: the player is taking part in a training exercise for the ENIGMA corporation's DREAMSCAPE software, which allows users to enter the minds of artificial intelligences—which ENIGMA is also the leading producers of, alongside the lifelike android bodies that house them.

and speaking of AIs, the chipper companion called demOS responsible for delivering most of this information is an incredibly well-written character! their constraints as an artificial being and lack of understanding of humans is consistent and sometimes charmingly awkward, but the dialogue still felt alive in a gripping way.

of course, this is a horror game, and once you actually enter the simulation, that fact becomes immediately apparent!

to be clear, another first that this game gave me was my first experience with the whole psx low-poly Thing that's been sweeping the indie horror scene these past few years. and y'know what? I get it now. the environments had me more unnerved than I've been in a while. with how slow your walking speed is and how frequently your surroundings plunge into inscrutable darkness, you spend a lot of time in this game staring into empty, silent space. each ring of dimming light is starkly visible along the walls, and there's a subtle flickering to both the framerate and the way the polygons catch the light at a distance that not only draws unavoidable attention to the artificiality of these settings, but gives an impression that they're only barely held together. it's wonderful. I fucking loved it and it made every single corner I turned into a surreal nightmare.

ultimately, though, the gameplay and relatively simplistic puzzle solving are vehicles for the impactful little plotline the game has going on, wherein you're given all sorts of cryptic talk about "decontamination" and AI sapience. but to talk more about that, we need to…

⚠ ENTER THE SPOILERZONE ⚠

"decontamination" is a word the game likes to throw around without explaining what it means. it's apparently what you're meant to be doing to AI by accessing their minds, but the game leaves the identity of what exactly is contaminating them enticingly vague.

and perhaps counterintuitively enough, things start getting MORE fucked up the less contaminated the testing AI is. the menu interface starts glitching out, demOS starts diverting from its programming, and the worlds you explore start changing. in one particular sequence that still sticks with me, the sky is replaced by a distorted view of the menu screen. it's haunting.

not only that, though, but the levels start merging. through various passageways and corridors, you start finding old levels, and thus the lie of these being individually simulated environments is revealed.

the game's final scenes (wherein you get a gun, only for there to be a stress-inducing lack of any enemies) contains many of these kinds of revelations: not only is the "contamination" you're tasked with cleaning out the essence of an AI's sapience, but you're also poking around in the brain of your friend demOS--or Red, as they're otherwise called. you and all the other agents like you are constantly lobotomizing this AI right as they realize what's happening to them.

and this is all paired with visuals that are haunting on a physical level as well as a glitchy metaphysical one. you find yourself in a courtyard with a beautiful starry sky with rain falling down, but everything's wrong. the vertices of the level geometry are mutilated in a way that constantly leaps out at you and obscures your vision. the rain is frozen in place. and, all the while, Red is recounting to you the experience of being torn from one's body and made to die over and over again, forever.

then a horrible humanoid figure walks towards you from behind one of the many , you shoot it, and the game crashes.

honestly, part of me almost wishes the game ended there. sure, the following sequence where the courtyard becomes a swirling hellstorm and you have to go through all the past environments while avoiding shrieking manifestations of an AI that wants to live is kickass, and far from unearned!

but THE ENIGMA MACHINE was so affecting for me because of how slow of a burn it was, and how gradually the tension and dread escalated. the crazy explosion of action at the end was almost a release of tension more than anything else, and while that wasn't unwelcome, it makes me wanna see the version of this game that stuck to that slow-paced dread all the way through to the end.

isn't that the best part about small little games like this, though? they set the mind ablaze and propose neat little ideas that, even if they aren't seen all the way through or have some quirks about them, are presented in an exciting enough way to get you thinking. the lived experience of an AI and how their senses operate so differently from ours despite having the same level of sapience is such a fascinating thing to dig into, and the way this game does that is so visceral that I found it utterly inspiring. can't wait to play the other games from the studio!!

Support the Developers! Buy the game on itch.io! Buy the game on Steam! Buy the soundtrack on Bandcamp! Keep up with Daniel on Twitter!

☆ Return to the Masterpost? ☆

[project-rising-hearts]

Project: Rising Hearts

Hi, and welcome to my game development blog for Project: Rising Hearts. In this JRPG-styled experience inspired by games like Grandia, Arc the Lad, Final Fantasy, and other PSX-era games, you assume the role of a girl named Turk Montagne, a 19-year-old Chaser, (a sort of jack-of-all trades adventurer) as she uncovers the mysteries of the lost nation of ancient Arethusa.

I won’t lie: I’m a bit of an amateur hobbyist at best. While I would like to make this game in something like Unity, chances are I will be using an RPG Maker VX Ace build to produce this game, as many of the features I’m looking to implement have already been implemented into a prototyped version of the game in that program (quest system, a usage-based skill system, 8-way pixel movement, etc.).

In this blog I’ll be exploring, discussing, and building on various gameplay, story, and worldbuilding elements. And, with the advent of AI Image Generation, I’ll have images that I can use that will help convey my ideas more clearly.

These images were made using Dall-E 2

Now, a little background on my beliefs regarding AI Generated Imagery: first, I don’t really consider it Art (hence why I use the term “AI Generated Imagery”), nor do I consider it stealing from artists. That said, I also do not believe that AI Generated Imagery has a place in any final product in and of itself. I consider it a tool for artists with actual skills, a way of streamlining the conception process. At most, I believe that AI Image Generation can be used to produce stock assets for backgrounds, although that might pushing it, ethically.

If you have any questions, concerns, or criticisms, feel free to send them, and I will gladly, obligingly, or reluctantly respond depending on which of those you send. Please keep criticisms constructive.

[ad-cn]

Localisation QC really was neglected back in the 90's like you had to go from FFVI on SNES to PSX FFVII and Tactics. like it seems that producing for Sony back then meant losing key connections to the good localisation teams Nintendo had and Square just let it happen until FFVIII.

Like, the original VII and Tactics were horrendously bad. "Outright-telling-you-the-opposite-of-the-actual-game-mechanic" bad.

[techi001]

Steel Prices Hit New Peak After Another Hike of Rs. 8,000 per Ton

The domestic prices of steel products have spiked for the sixth time since December 2022, as procuring raw materials is becoming increasingly difficult due to import restrictions. Domestic steel producer Agha Steel Industries Limited (PSX: AGHA) increased the prices of its steel rebars by Rs. 8,000 per metric ton effective January 16, 2023. Retail prices now stand in the range of Rs.…

[transmorolians]

i can't find a scan of the japanese manual for the psx, nor anything that references it—what i do see are a lot of listings for the jpn psx version of silhouette mirage, which i would be tempted to buy if the ps2 wasn't region-locked and i wasn't saving my money for something else.

i am also reading developer interviews and i am amused by the fact that one of the favourite video games of the producer, kōichi kimura, is nights into dreams. his taste definitely shows within silhouette mirage itself kasjsjjskandjaksjd

hidden boss time

[ask-captain-faris-archived]

Hello Princess Salsa, how has your day been?

Faris did the biggest spit take she’d ever done the second the Greyface called her by that name. “WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT?” It was quite clear that even though she preferred being called “Faris” rather than her real name, she still liked “Sarisa” more than “Salsa”.

[christianstepmoms]

My streaming schedule has been turbulent lately, and this week is no exception.

Presently my only Capy Shack related plans are AEW in the Discord on Wednesday and Friday Night's FUCKING Stream at 8pm.

In the meantime, feel free to come hang out in my Discord:

And also be sure to check out the other Capy Shack pals who also stream!

twitch.tv/throkgaar

Ambient fantasy music producer, avid Puzzle God, and de facto Bungie historian.

twitch.tv/latenighthamburgerman

Veteran Tumblr All-Star. PSX Horror King and Premiere Frief Prince.

twitch.tv/brangversion

Pokemon, Tamagotchis, peculiar Wii throwbacks, and creative writing prodigy.

twitch.tv/cottoncandywlw

Roguelikes, Pokemon, PS2 Throwbacks and digital art sapphic imp extraordinaire.

twitch.tv/knuckleschaotix

Fight game throwbacks and incredibly chaotic randomized Kingdom Hearts sessions.

[ffsteel]

Listing of Frontier Foundry Steel

Karachi: 27 September 2021: Frontier Foundry Steel (FF Steel), one of Pakistan’s leading and fastest growing steel manufacturers and Financial Advisory Consortium held a signing ceremony for the award of mandate for the upcoming listing of FF Steel on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).

A Financial Advisory Consortium (FAC), comprising of HBL, Bank Alfalah Limited, AKD Securities Limited, and Alfalah CLSA Securities Private Limited, has been engaged to advise the Company for listing at the local bourse.

Nauman Wazir, Chairman — FF Steel, Zarak K. Khattak, CEO — FF Steel, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO — HBL, Atif Bajwa, President & CEO — Bank Alfalah, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Chairman — AKD Securities, Ali Ansari, Chairman — Alfalah CLSA, and other senior team members of the FAC were present at the ceremony. The FAC together holds strong credentials with access to deep-rooted capital market investor base, both domestically and internationally.

Incorporated in 1986, FF Steel produces top quality Grade-60 steel bars having plants in Peshawar and Lahore and ranks amongst the top three rebar manufacturers in Pakistan. The Company also intends to explore different opportunities in the South region. FF Steel, with its focus on achieving efficiency and capturing growth opportunities, has undertaken backward integration at its Lahore plant. The Company has also heavily invested in its IT infrastructure and boasts state of the art ERP system.

Furthermore, FF Steel, due to its superior quality and strong brand value has already started exploring diversification into copper export business and steel bars export avenues regionally due to its favorable positioning (proximity to Central Asian countries), which can potentially unlock significant value for the Company in the future.

Commenting on the occasion, Nauman Wazir, Chairman — FF Steel said, “Over the past 3 decades, FF Steel has built strong foundations through its systems and policies, team and market penetration; I am confident of a prosperous and secure future of the Company and its stakeholders. With the assistance of such a strong and professional FAC of HBL, BAFL, AKD and Alfalah CLSA, FF Steel will, Insha’Allah, be making a historic and one of the largest ever private sector IPOs in Pakistan”.

[mrslittletall]

Ok, then, a post that rates all the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons fall themes coming up:  SNES - Actually, I find this song to be a bit annoying. It is too repetitive and too loud. It also didn’t help, that for some reason, SNES didn’t had crops for fall, so that fall was more like a winter where you could collect mushrooms.  GBC - It is the same as with the SNES, but in the Game Boy sound font. It actually is a bit more tolerable like this, but still not much. 64 - Now that’s a good fall theme! The melody is just perfectly aligned with how busy fall is and there is the sense of an underlying hurry in the theme, probably because winter is creeping up. It also sounds like a remix of the SNES fall theme, but one that was done very right.  GBC2 - This one is nice. It tries to get the best out of the limited GBC sound system. It has a very nice melody, a bit melancholy, but overall catchy. If someone would play this with actual instruments, it probably would sound amazing. BTN - One of my favourites actually and not only because I love BTN. The song is just catchy, it goes in your ear and it certainly makes you think of a sunny fall day. It repeats the first notes a few times before changing it a bit and repeating. The low notes in the background really let the song shine and the constant rythm doesn’t make the song boring.  GBC3 - I still can’t find a video which points out which seasonal theme is which, but it is still pretty yikes overall.  AWL - Because of the lack of traditional season themes, we only have the records. The fall theme is a remix of the N64 one. It is still the same awesome melody, just cleaned up and played with different instruments. It sounds really good.  What a bummer you can only get this records by trading with FoMT.  FoMT - The same as BTN, but in the GBA soundfont. It definitely sounds better on the PSX. It is fine for the GBA, but too much chiptune for my taste.  MM - This theme has a bit of music that would play in a lounge. Where you would go and hang out with a fancy cocktail, just relaxing after a hard day of work. The melody is definitely catchy and I enjoy listen to it. The song also is coherent, unlike the winter song, and makes me want to sway to it. Though, I have to admit, MM songs are pretty long, unusual for HM music.  STH - Aw, this theme is fun. It tells you that a busy autumn day lies before you, where you stroll along the leave covered street to town to hold conversations and sell your hard earned produce. All while you sway to the tact of the music.  Sadly, I can’t find the town theme.  DS - Woah! Just woah! This sound starts out with a few very elegant notes and it only gets better. The song is almost creepy in a way, but it is thoroughly beautiful, with a piano melody as the main melody. Always only a few notes, and then they leave room for the background notes, but the song wouldn’t be complete without this three notes.  It definitely is one of my fav fall themes.  HoLV - Oh, that sounds like medieval folk music ^^ It is very cute and catchy, a very cheerful song. Certainly gets you into the mood to work on the fields and harvest your crops.  ToT - Elevator music! That is straight up elevator music! Who composed this song?! The song would probably be higher in my favour if the first part wouldn’t sound so much like elevator music, but the second part is pretty good.  Thanks at jake-marshall for providing a link to the night theme. I agree with them, this one would have been perfect for the day theme. A nice piano in the background and the melody is played with a violin, sounds very much like a chill fall day and more importantly, doesn’t sound like elevator music! IoH - The OST of IoH continues to convince and starts with a cheery little melody, but it very much culminates after a few seconds with a key change, which makes the music sound higher, as if floating in the clouds. Only downside again, it’s too short. AP - This song carries a sense of melancholy, but a good one. The sweet memories of the picnique you had with your crush, thinking about sitting around with your family and talking, thinking about just having dumb fun with your friends. It is a very emotional song, in a good way. A song that warms the heart, a song you want to roast sweet potatoes to.  The night version is a much more calmer version of the day version, with a piano in the background and a flute for the melody. It sounds like it wants to coax you to go into bed.  I defnitely get tired from it.  SI - A nice song, another one that makes you think of a busy autumn day, but the same as the winter theme, it feels a bit not coherent and a bit too chaotic for my taste.  GB - That is a fun fall theme! It starts with a nice little jingle and then changes into the general melody. The jingle continues as the background and the melody gets played with different instruments that complement each other wonderfully. It culminates into a medium fast version and is just fun to listen to.  ToTT - I am not going to lie, this is another one of my favourites. The song just slaps. It makes you think of a busy fall day right away and you just have to sway in the melody, especially when the second part starts.  ANB - Ah, ANB, you are just a source for fun and good music. The autumn theme very much reminds me of HoLV, a very medieval folk sound, with a lot of violins played in that very cheerful matter, ready to harvest the crops to. But the best part is the second part of the song, it is such a nice melody, I want to sway to it.  TLV - I actually rather like this track. It sounds busy and conveys a fall day pretty well. It is also catchy and I remember not getting tired of it when listening to it in game. The melody is coherent and not grating, but it is a bit too short. The night theme sounds like someone put a blanket over the theme, it is very slow and quiet, as if it doesn’t want to disturb the night.  SoS - “You are the ocean’s grey waves.” Wait a moment, Fire Emblem Fates only came out AFTER SoS. Huh, but the melody sounds very very similar to “Lost In Thoughts All Alone”. To be honest, the SoS OST is a bit too generic for my taste, it isn’t too catchy. The Fall theme is the same, only that it sounds so similar to a famous Fire Emblem song makes it stand out.  SoS actually brought the night songs back (I think I forget this in the winter rating list). The night theme is very calm and sounds like someone played the main melody on a harp. It seems to say “good night”.  SV - I can only find a whole video with the OST without time stamps and not the fall theme on its own, so I have to skip on this one.  SoS 3oT - That one is fun. It has this usual busy melody and carries around a certain autumn wind with it. The song starts with a cheery melody and then in its second part gets to a climax.

LoH - What a nice melody. Cheery and playful. It is fun to listen to, but a bit too short. The beath drop after the beginning is done really well though. SoS FoMT - It is again, the same as from BTN, but actually... I prefer the BTN one! The SoS one is a bit too... chiptunes? I guess. I prefer the much more cleaner version we got for the PSX.  This one has an alternate version that plays on the weekends/festival days. I actually really like this one. It is calmer than the usual one and uses a piano for its main melody. It has a very nice section with high notes in the second part of the song.  SoS Doreamon - I actually forgot about this game in winter! But let me make up with the fall theme. I am actually not too sure about it... it sounds fine, but a bit too broken up. It has a bit of a western theme to it also, probably because of the harmonica that is used in the background. It is certainly very calm and relaxing.  If I forget a game or you have a link to the songs I couldn’t find, please tell me.