Housepets! Tails of Babylon! * Developer's Thread *

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:51 pm

...So is it a bad thing that i can read that with almost no effort?

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:54 pm

YEaaaaah I'm pretty sure Unown text is like copyrighted or something, >_>

Post by **D-Rock** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 8:56 pm

It is not a bad thing, Buster. Unown font was never difficult to read. Except for the letter G.

Never understood that design choice.

Least it ain't Akkadian. Seriously, I considered that but never bothered to look. I would honestly be astonished if it exists AND was grammatically correct and possible.

SuperStar · Post by **SuperStar** » Tue Sep 13, 2016 9:06 pm

There's actually quite a bit of info on Akkadian, so we can bust our brains on it if we want.

Post by **D-Rock** » Wed Sep 14, 2016 12:59 am

But actually write something in Akkadian?

Unusuallynamedperson · Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:53 am

dû hill Sumerian du
erēqu flee Aramaic ʿRQ (root)
gadalû dressed in linen Sumerian gada lá
isinnu firmly Sumerian ezen
kasulatḫu a device of copper Hurrian kasulatḫ-
kisallu court Sumerian kisal
laqāḫu take Ugaritic LQḤ( root)
paraššannu part of horse riding gear Hurrian paraššann-
purkullu stone cutter Sumerian bur-gul
qaṭālu kill Aramaic QṬL (root)
uriḫullu conventional penalty Hurrian uriḫull-

Unusuallynamedperson · Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:54 am

From the origin city of Akkad 2800 BC to 500BC relative

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 4:56 pm

Well, let's see if I managed to assemble something.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:24 pm

Where's the source for that? is there more?

Unusuallynamedperson · Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:53 pm

There is more but its ancient and from some sight that may not even exist anymore, I found it in my studies of Egyptology a long time ago. I don't remember most of it sorry. I saved it because I thought it was cool, never thought it'd have any use tho.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:20 pm

thats a shame. a broader lexicon of words, and maybe a grammar reference, to work with might have been useful.

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:28 pm

...challenge considered. I'd obviously have to write these by hand and scan them to work with them.

I'd have to come up with something different for the slab to say. I have my doubts that "nerd" existed in the Akkadian language, but I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if some sort of equivalent existed.

Speaking of, what should the slab even say? I'm open for suggestions.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:37 pm

"You are a massive nerd for bothering to translate this."
"Dad, it's Sabrina. CALL ME."

Post by **D-Rock** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:46 pm

I really hope that an equivalent for "nerd" exists, I want to write that!

Reminds me of some of the vocal tracks that I heard from Mortal Kombat Deception, which was only the lines played backwards; "If you can understand this, you have too much time on your hands." Or something like that.

By the way, found what looks to be a good starting point.
I'll look more into it later, it's getting late.

It's strange how much work is going into a boss drop, but it should be interesting.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 10:56 pm

actually I got the idea from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwFPHuofoDk

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 2:53 pm

Made some changes to the battle system today while working on that project i mentioned and test running it. I'm having fun with this =)

I should have it up and running by the end of today for everyone to play with. The game makes it very convenient at making dungeons with pre-installed random map designs, so it makes making dungeons for the tower alot more simpler. My plan if i can keep this up is to add an extra 10 levels every month to the tower that will represent the maps, monsters and items we'll get when we make the actual game. When this game gets done, i'll change the whole tower to instead contain unique monsters and items like a traditional bonus dungeon.

You'll be able to play as Peanut, Grape, Max and Tarot initially, but I have it set to unlock players everytime we hit the 10th floor and unlock stuff to buy. The choices i added will be for this month will be: King, Bailey, Fox and Sabrina.

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 5:24 pm

Sounds like a perfect way to do public beta tests, really, before a demo is released. It'll help figure out which moves need tweaking, like Grape Escape, and let us get used to how each character works. Good opportunity to find good combinations, too.

Tales · Post by **Tales** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 9:53 pm

I still have received exactly 0 instruction on what needs to get made art-wise... Sorry for sounding a bit impatient, it's like being left on a perpetual cliff-hanger.

Anything to do?

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:08 pm

You could get them to send you the existing sprite sheets and fill in any existing (in the comic) pets that haven't been given sprites yet?

Trying to get basic sprites of the full cast made was what i was working on before i left. It gave me something to do when there were no requests coming my way.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:30 pm

If anyone can help me, i can't find Fox and Bailey's photos in the game.

I was about to send this tonight, but found out the game i have doesn't have the face photos for Fox and Bailey. wanna add them myself before i finalize the game in tomorrow morning.

Post by **D-Rock** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 10:54 pm

Okay, this will require a lot of digging. I'll post the updates when I have some compiled. Tales, I guess for now, you can start on updating North Star's sprite sheet to match his current appearance, as well as make the rest of the available characters; Jess, Itsuki, Ptah, and Satau. Boris is also in need of updating. The Halloween demo contains the old North Star and Boris sprites.

We could also use the boss sprites soon. I made Blue, so don't worry about him (unless you guys never downloaded that) and Jenny was made by Chaoko, so sprites for Efran, Reinhardt, Photos, Tybalt, Teox, Lacert, Nevermore, Ophois, Bruno, The Apparition, the rival band and Nue and Olde.

Maybe try to make human sprites that would fit in with the style already set, as the mall is supposed to be coming up.

Cobra, I do have one face set for Fox.

: fox_faces_a_by_chaokocartoons-d994nuw.png (100.54 KiB) Viewed 10118 times

I don't know if there's another, and I don't have Bailey's, though it does exist. I'll get back to you when I find it.

Saturn381 · Post by **Saturn381** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:06 pm

D-Rock wrote:Cobra, I do have one face set for Fox.
fox_faces_a_by_chaokocartoons-d994nuw.png
I don't know if there's another, and I don't have Bailey's, though it does exist. I'll get back to you when I find it.

Yeah there is another set.

Tales · Post by **Tales** » Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:21 pm

Buster wrote:You could get them to send you the existing sprite sheets and fill in any existing (in the comic) pets that haven't been given sprites yet?

Trying to get basic sprites of the full cast made was what i was working on before i left. It gave me something to do when there were no requests coming my way.

Can someone send such a sheet my way?

Post by **Obbl** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 12:50 am

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 1:32 am

I have been thread-digging.

Since I last posted.

Non-stop.

Searched 56-83 for Bailey, nothing.

Searched backwards from 55-30, nothing.

Realized, I used a rough cut of a Bailey face for a chart I made, because I remember smiling when I saw that Chaoko used that same face for her set.

Looked on my DA page for when I posted it in my Stash, posted March 14.

Looked for the page that was around that time, 107.

...I was way off, looking in the wrong places, for almost two hours.

I have work in the morning...

There you go, Cobra.

And Tales, a good amount of the sprites are in the files for the Halloween Demo. Don't have it? It's at the end of the demo release thread. Here's a start for the Zach sprites, as they're not there.

Another list of characters to help.

Most of the Wolves
All the Humans
Fiddler & Keys
The Bigglesworths
The other ferrets
Cory
Falstaff & Truck
Daisey
Ducchess
Boris
Yeltsin
Devo
Sten
Griswold

Good luck, and good night.

And I see that Obbl beat me to this post. Let's not use "Nightmaregangers" for the Shadows, can't believe that that stuck.

Post by **Obbl** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 4:50 am

D-Rock wrote:Let's not use "Nightmaregangers" for the Shadows, can't believe that that stuck.

Hey, I's just writin' what I was seein'

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 6:16 am

Thanks, guys =P

Also, we could definitely use a cory sprite and photo.

Update: Finished the first 10 levels here - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxfyY ... Fk3bE1RWkE

Some notes:

Had trouble creating a gateway back and forth between the first and tenth floor, so left it as it was. if you click on the crystal ball on the 10th floor, you will be sent back to the first floor, but all your gear will still be intact and chests still opened.

upgraded the Ancient Gargoyle. expect some surprises. played with the scripts a bit, but found it amusing when you didn't have Grape, Max and Tarot.

Buffing King's attack to make him more melee orientated than Tarot and Sabrina.

Also adjusted the prices of the collars to make it fair enough for everyone to buy, but require a good grind outside of finding chests in the dungeon.

Goals for next month: The mall monsters. will add Fido and Res to the mix. Will also add Class D weapons and hope to add accessories to the game, or just up the list of collars.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:45 pm

First few minutes in, did you nerf Tarot and Grape? And why do most of them need to go up a few floors just to get their basic weapon? Since only Tarot has a weapon to start, why did you set an incredibly irritating six enemy group on the first floor, with half of the enemies having just-as-irritating evasiveness? Why do they not keep their TP gains? That was a bit of a headache to put in just to have it gone all of a sudden.

Honestly, it feels WAY too tedious.

Now nitpicks that really don't matter; maybe more neutral faces for King and Bailey? They kind of emote too much for a standard face. Peanut HAS to stay in the party? No way to change that? I was thinking of seeing if a type of Character select screen. I've seen that in another game.

Alright, now I'll try to actually power through it.

UPDATE: Did you nerf Peanut's defense?! Grape took more of a punch than he did! And Tarot faints from two hits from BATS ON THE FIRST AND SECOND FLOOR?!

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:27 pm

D-Rock wrote:Peanut HAS to stay in the party? No way to change that?

Generic protagonist syndrome strikes again?

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 10:31 pm

At least that was fun in this situation. Trying to remember how FF6 handled it when you get everyone together. I think you spoke to one character, at which point the character select screen showed up. How about we do that when we get to the endgame and everyone is available?

BTW, only reason I know of how the top of the tower works is because I opened up the project file, after way too much frustration.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:17 pm

Just to let you know, D-Rock, i'm glad to get some feedback - good and bad. =3

I can't recall if i mentioned this, but i made quite a bit of nerf changes. The nerfs were necessary after testing it out in this tower during the week. The scaling on their abilities i learned was going way too high with their magic and Grape was hitting just a little too hard. I also found it interesting once i started making this tower that the monsters had way too much health at the early level, so if anything: Magic and monster health got nerfed. I especially had to scale down the healing Tarot's Spirit Guide was giving off, but i made it up with Spiritual Presence at level 10 that gives off a great deal of healing. you'll notice a significant change to the healing at that time after you test it out.

I don't recall making Grape tankier than Peanut. However, i did start their health at level 1 at a very low level, but grows significantly faster to make the raccoons early on more tougher. I forgot to remove the group of bats in the first level for testing reasons, but they honestly were not causing much of a problem when i was playing it.

As for the weapons, they were added like that for testing reasons. I wanted the characters to find their weapons in the tower for now to see how this works. if you want me to try something different, i'm open for suggestions :3

As for Peanut being the main leader: I honestly didn't know this until a few minutes ago, but i been trying to figure out a reason to remove Peanut safely and opted to just make Peanut the default leader for now. the game can, infact, remove the party leader and replace them with the second person if you choose to directly remove the party leader. I found ways to quickly remove everyone from the party, but it wouldn't remove Peanut safely (and literally walk around as ghosts. fun!). That being said, all you gotta do is give Peanut the same "Yes" and "No" questions I gave the other characters, but instead of opting to not recruit them, you give them the option to remove the character instead. Just don't accidentally remove everyone doing this or you'll be a ghost again. being a ghost is a pain. I'm trying to find a way to avoid running into this problem.

As for King and Bailey: It's a matter of taste, but i felt Bailey's energetic portrait for fighting was nice. everyone else has the usual generic smiling and happy face while King has mostly exasperated looks. I figured his indifferent look felt nice with his character.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:37 pm

In short, I didn't like any of the stat changes, though I think Tarot got hit the worst. Poor stats coupled with incredibly slow experience gain brought her down from "squishy wizard" to "outright brittle" in my eyes. That big group of enemies royally ticked me off, too, as there was next to nothing to do against them, as running was never guaranteed, even less so without weapons. At least make them unlockable in the first floor.

I recall that one of Peanut's abilities drew enemy fire to him, but now his defense is significantly worse and not worth the effort.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:51 pm

I see your point there. in the game, she was already level 5, where here she's level 1. Blink Bomb is one of her bread and butter abilities for taking out groups of monsters and starts at level 3. I usually used her magic for bats since it's also a guaranteed hit.

As far as her defenses go, i agree she gets hit hard... when it's not magic. however, i might up her starting defense to reflect her slow growth and increase her max defense as well to make up for it so she doesn't seem like a push-over. gearing up her defense is the way to go.

Post by **D-Rock** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:45 pm

Another thing, while I'm not asking for Tarot to have a strength stat comparable to the others, don't make it near worthless. I hated that in FF4 DS. Once you were out of magic, the character was as good as useless in the beginning. I've always been a conservative magic/ability user in games like this. How she was in the original demo worked rather well in my opinion; not strong enough to replace Peanut or Grape, but still had enough impact if we didn't want to use up all of our magic quickly, as one may not always be able to rely on items and she leveled up slow enough to not count on that, either.

I'll go ahead and post a link to this tower demo on my DA page, see if we can get more feedback.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:04 pm

Tarot since day one was designed to have a much more powerful sustaining presence as everyone in the game in terms of magic. Tarot and Bailey will therefore have the strongest growths in Magic and Attack respectively outside the other characters. the only weakness of course is the amount of EXP they require. The exception if we get there will be Satau and Ptah i believe.

that being said, though, i should throw in there that Tarot's spirit mace ability got a huge buff compared to last time. before it had the worst power increase, so i gave it a flat 150 damage boost which falls off as monsters get more DEF. The mosnters currently have an average of 50-80 health, so take that to your advantage :3

I'll look into Tarot's growth rate further, though.

EDIT: Another plan i look to add for next month as of now is make some more monsters for level 1-10 ~ Mainly the Forest raccoons and the Garbage Raccoon. The Garbage raccoons will be like trap monsters, but loaded with EXP. easy levels!

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:23 pm

...okay, okay...

Peanut starts with the second-to-worst defense?

And slimes, one of the most basic of RPG enemies, is immune to physical attacks, and they can one-shot Tarot.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:48 pm

Slimes have 40 Defense. You need at least 40 attack to hurt them. Try using Tarot's mind spike on them or get Max to grin at them to lower their defenses. they have really crappy health, so it's easy to murder them once you get past them. And yes, they hit hard. it's to make up for their crappy speed.

I'm not sure exactly what part of Peanut's defenses are bad as you say. He's got the high health and the best defense out of everyone, but i didn't give him so much at the start that they can't dent him. Once his defense hits a certain point, he starts bringing up NULL everytime they hit him.

EDIT: Ok, so i found an error with the slimes when test running the game i uploaded ~ somehow their defense is the same as their MDEF. it's suppose to be much lower than that. i'll update the newer version to fix this ASAP. Also, i decided to upgrade Tarot a little just to be safe with this. I didn't have trouble with her, but i wanna try something: her default level is 5 to prevent any headaches for newer testers and give her all her good moves early on. She got a little extra Health and Defense very early on in addition to a buff to her healing spell, which went from 50 + %5 to 100 + %5. This is just to prevent her early game from being extremely frustrating . also gave Peanut Challenging Shout along with his normal shout at level 1. This should make him able to steal attention much easier.

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:11 pm

Worst part about beating Tarot in one hit was that she had full health AND the Heavy Collar. I really don't think a regular slime needs any special stat buff.

Max took less damage than Peanut did at level 1 and 2.

GameCobra · Post by **GameCobra** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:27 pm

Probably the one point difference in his Defense at level 1. Max has only 1 Def more than Peanut at first, but Peanut will outgrow that very quickly.

Going to also change it so that Peanut can be removed. I'm going to upload a new copy tonight.

Post by **D-Rock** » Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:30 pm

I'll try to get further, as I'm not worried about team management at the moment, just getting to the end.