HM-style pixel art Options

[Nurse Fin]

This is what I have so far for indoor tiles...

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/df985d83.jpg)

I still need to make carpet, tile, and decorative rugs. And lots of objects of course :P


Anyway, since I'm not doing too much in the graphics department so far, here are some gameplay details I've been working on...

Total number of characters: 30 (46 if you count rival kids + all possible children)

Festivals: Flower Festival, Cooking Competition, Dairy Festival, Beach Festival, Fishing Tournament, Firefly Festival, Egg Festival, Moonlight Festival, Quiz Festival, Harvest Festival, Snow Festival, Thanksgiving Festival, Starry Night Festival, New Years Festival.

That's a lot of festivals >>; I'm going to try and make them interesting, and not just a day for different dialogue and a little shopping booth.

27 varieties of crops

29 varieties of fish

182 recipes (so far, but I don't really want to make any more...)

4 Television Channels (Weather, News, Local, Variety) -- the Local channel has weekly broadcasts by the villagers, such as interviews, cooking show, farming tutorial, fortunes, and a lottery. The Variety channel has several shows also on a weekly schedule, including Detective Noir and Sci-Fi... some villagers are big fans of certain shows and may talk about them sometimes.

Each marriage candidate will have 5 heart events, a little bit more like traditional HM games.

[pavi]

Ooh, those look awesome.
I love the name & theme you picked for the game. It's beautiful. >w<

I'm so looking forward to this game. <3

[Nurse Fin]

Thanks (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalagrin.gif)

Oh, I finally figured out a way to use larger portraits without it being any more difficult to incorporate into messages. Just a little code tweaking did the trick.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/8d2b3391.jpg)

Oddly enough, it's a lot easier for me to draw the larger portraits, maybe because of their proportions or something. Sprites desperately need some clothing though.

[ZBoy]

Very cool! I'm trying to think up a good title for the project, yet I keep failing. XP

[Harvest Sprite]

Maybe Solstice? Like another moon pattern? Equinox? Blue Moon? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

Solstice: Seasons of Change. :D

[Mizukithepanda]

I'm loving what you have so far, even though ToT/AP's portrait style is probably my least favorite out of all the styles in the HM series. The sprites look decently done and I think that the background tiles you have completed are quite awesome. I know I couldn't make that, but I'm pretty fail at digital art anyway, so... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

As for a name... I'd probably be lame and call it "Ranch Story". Bokuya Monogatari instead of Bokujou... might even replace "物語" with "ストーリー" and then use something vaguely astronomy/flower-ish like "Rose of Orion".

Just to let you know, I also would not mind helping out with story details and character dialogue. I can get into the mind of pretty much any character and flesh them out.

[Nurse Fin]

Thanks :3

I've actually started compiling a wiki that will be available through a password (though I think I'm limited to 10 people...), to keep all the information in one place, especially since the dialogue bank is GINORMOUS, and it's an easy way to post and share ideas for events and things. I'm still working on basic setup, but once I finish adding in all that I have on the characters so far, I'll start PM'ing the interested.

Anyway, I'm going to keep drawing for now and hopefully start releasing information on more of the marriage candidates (yes, I have the town roster all filled up now... just a matter of finishing up designs and filling out character personalities). I've only posted 2 characters so far and a glimpse of the female main with an unfinished sprite.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/cosmos/0271bfe3.png)

Hopefully the next character revealed will be a bachelor instead :P

[pavi]

Ah, how can I say this... You draw beatyfully. :D
<3

I love the character designs~
I've got one question, will we be able to have more than one save?
As in, I'd like to have a girl as well as a boy file. :3

Also, for the name of the project, what is the point in the game?
I mean, for example, for ToT it was to bring the Mother Tree back to life.
Or will it be just for the sake of enjoying the basic features? (Farming, marrying, fishing, cooking, etc...)

[Harvest Moon Rac...]

I'm really liking your work Fin :D

Are you going to make this into an actual game perhaps for RS?

[Nurse Fin]

Yes, once the game is finished I'd like to have it available for download.

As for the story, my friend joked that it's like a marriage between Katamari Damacy and Super Mario RPG. It'll probably be based around putting stars back in the sky, or something like that... probably unlocked through series of small events with the characters. I really liked collecting wishes for the purple bell in AP, which is where the idea first came from. But I don't want that to be the main focus of the game; I'm hoping for a lot of random events too (especially to make up for the simplified farming).

I haven't decided the exact number of save files yet, but there will be at least 4.

[Nurse Fin]

Sorry 'bout the early bump, but more characters as promised.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/cosmos/127cfe95.png) (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/cosmos/5266c92e.png)

I had fun making up the hairstyles for these two. Such a contrast in color (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalatounge.gif) Wahaha it's so easy to tell in Harvest Moon what a character does just by the way they look (even though this is "not" HM *cough*).

I have 2-3 sketches that are more or less completed... so yeah, more characters will be coming soon. At that point I can start releasing more bits of actual info about them...

[Alhanalem]

I simply love all the characters so far...
But I think Ill pick...
That blonde girl on the other post...
But don't they have a name?
And you're doind this project all alone?
Well...if you need any help about names and things like that, we could make a poll to decide things...
Anyway, it's really impresive that the idea didn't die, and I think that if it didn't die up to now, it won't anymore
So if you do need any help just ask me ok? I'll gladly help with anything I can (not much but...I guess I'm ok with maps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif) )

[Nurse Fin]

Yes, they all have names, I'm just being kind of secretive so far. The blonde girl's name is Sylvie.


And I've made so much progress that it's pretty much impossible to give up on this project now xP

The only main things left to do are
- Get all dialogue for every character (will take a looong time, but there isn't any rush)
- Finishing the graphics (probably the second most time consuming)
- Finish sorting likes and dislikes for the characters (this is easy peasy really)
- Work on heart event, "story" event, and random event content, and scheduling
- Complete shop stock data and item pricing
- Work out all the festivals

Those are the main priorities now.

[Alhanalem]

Hmmm...
Interesting...
From that list I think I really could help with...

- Get all dialogue for every character (will take a looong time, but there isn't any rush)
- Finish sorting likes and dislikes for the characters (this is easy peasy really)
- Complete shop stock data and item pricing

Specially with the item thing, I once did a 1000 itens list (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)
With the price and description (since it was an RPG it had effect and "powers" too)
Well if you need someone to help you with that you just need to send me the game with all those things...
I think I would get in your way if I tried to help you with the frist 2 things, but I could at least help you do some items if not finish it all...

[Andy]

Hey Nursefin I really love all your project. It´s interesting and hardworking one. If you need help on sth such as the art graphics, please ask me if you want. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalagrin.gif) It would be an honour to help you.

[Alyrax]

Aww.. this forum has been dead for over a month now :< Well.. I don't know how I could help besides character designs. I'm good at drawing, but not good with PC art.

[ZBoy]

Hey Nurse Fin! I was thinking about this the other day, and I was wondering if you were still working on this?

[Nurse Fin]

[massive necropost.. heheh..]

Actually, I still am (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif) ;; When I put a lot of time and thought into something it's hard for me to give it up.

However, I did take a break from it for quite a while since I got a new computer, and I just booted up and transferred some of the files *last week*... I started running the game on debug mode to figure out what I've got, and I forgot what I was doing with it, basically. Like when you load a really old save file from a game and can't remember what side quests still need to be completed and stuff.

I don't know how it'll turn out in the end, because I've been changing a lot of things (trying to cleverly figure out how to deviate from the HM norm, so it's not just a clone (ie. my programming skills SUCK)), but I'm still plugging along. Mostly working on characters, and trying to refine the cast. At least they are pretty developed now.

I may scrap the 2D sprites in favor of 3D sprites, for the sake of convenience (instead of having to draw 50 sprites of the same character at different angles, 3D is all a matter of building a base model and rigging animations). I'm actually busy building models right now. But I dunno, I'm still trying to figure things out.

[ZBoy]

That is so great to hear you're still doing this. I was afraid you had given up on it. I wish I knew how to do this, I would lvoe to make my own.

Edit: Aso, I was rereading older posts and I noticed that you mentioned a Wiki for this. Did you ever make it?

[Nurse Fin]

Sooooo, this is what I've got so far in the 3d department... I've never worked in 3D before, and I spent the greater part of the day looking up low poly blender tutorials.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/rinfin/foundationtest.jpg)

Looks kinda like ToT/AP graphics, but stumpier.

I deformed it to have shorter arms and legs from my original reference, but I might have to deform it even more... when viewed from the overhead angle, I still want the face to be visible. It's kinda hard to figure out what kind of proportions I need for that until I've built something. But at least it's easy to make alterations. Once I get that right, and have some animations rigged, I'll make a manlier version (and a kid size, etc). Then I can make meshes for hair and clothing and stuff.