Second Vore Engine: DBS

I decided to try and translate the vore stuff from my ABS into the DBS.  This should be easy since parts of the ABS are designed in Battlers.  But...it did take a while as I had to iron some stuff out.  What I can say is that the DBS version of the Vore Engine is working as I want (at a glance).

Quick Vore Demo Here

Game: Messing With the Messy - Demo
Status: Reworking
Link:  http://www.mediafire.com/file/p96cvrzfxve195i/VABS%20V2%20-Demo.zip

As I said in my previous post, I am considering to change the design of the ABS game, so I might as well show what I was working on up to this point.  Keep in mind that even though many features have been tested, they have not been activated for this demo.

Edit:  Re-uploaded with "digestion" to make the game a bit more interesting.

Differences between 1st and 2nd Demos as a reminder (for this demo):
-Attacks are linked to MP, so mashing buttons only build up your MP.
-Enemies (and followers) attack based on update.
-Your allies will be lost in the wilds if you leave them behind (or die).  You can free them if you find a "nest".
-The damage part has changed, including damage modification.

Keep it Short, Slime

If you're making a RPG, most of us tend to think like Final Fantasy VII, a linear tale that spans 3 discs, me included.  But perhaps I've been thinking about RPGs wrong, and I probably need to take a wider approach rather than a longer approach.

A Monkey for Code

For anyone who cares about what code I put in since the last time (or today since I was busy), here's what I got:

- Attack Range is made for the enemy currently.  Using a modified near_the_player method, I am able to attack the party from a distance.  However, making range for the party is slightly different as my current "single target" method is event_xy (which checks all events at that location) and that the player's attack button also helps allies.
-- In addition to trying out new formations, two other things I should experiment with is changing the current code  for a minimum range and map-specific zones (if you played the previous demo, an example was in one of the rooms.)


- Casting animations can accompany some skills.  There are about 4-5 types of casting animations:
1. Cast animation while attacking.
2. Cast animation when possible to attack, such as if the enemy continuously spews gas clouds.
3. Attack after casting (No Interupt)
4. Attack after casting (attacking resets the cast)
5. (In progress) Attack after casting (attacking removes the cast and thus the attack).


- Some minor adjustments:
-- Corpses stay at the bottom.
-- Followers are prepped to have speed mods, their max based on the leader's own speed.
-- Testing out having followers move towards the current target to make battles a bit more interesting.

---

Anyway, it seems that if I want to continue the demo properly, I need to place the exits and give more state sprites.  Hope I don't get distracted from that.

Slime Just Gained Wait

I apologize for the previous post.  Where I promised an early release, I instead ended up implementing Skills into the ABS.  This means that I can use Skills data from the Database from the damage formula to giving each skill different states to add and remove.  (Which reminds me:  Need to link Critical to item)

While both sides should default to the Normal Attack, the Party should be able to equip some weapons to use different weapons.  Enemies should be closer to their DBS counterparts and be able to use skills and their conditions from their Action Table.  I'm also experimenting with some effects; for example, an attack on a normal enemy can do 50-100-200 depending on the direction you attack from, but 1000 Needles can deal 1000-1000-1000 regardless of direction.

Another thing I did which seems minor is that in most cases, the Animation should reset.  That had been an issue with how I used animations before, where if an enemy blows up, the audio of the animation would play but the graphics wouldn't because they would already be playing the animation from the attack.  And also, because I experimented with high-damage skills and got myself blown up, I did correct an error with party death and tested out a Game Over script.

This should make attacks easier to design for two reasons:  If I wanted to make a spitting flower, my old code would have to use the move route to make attacks, but the new code should let the spitting flower attack like a normal enemy would.  And secondly, the previous code was designed with 1 "skill" so that a scorpion could only attack and poison at the same time, but now it should be able to do a weak attack with poison or a strong attack to slow you down.

Will the Real Slim Slimy Please Stand Up?

Well, I got a bit distracted with messing with the sprites.  On the left was the old sprite from the previous demos.  On the right, some slimming here and there to give what I think is a better shape.  And also, when the previous demo left the Main 4 with the same swimsuit, I gave the girls they own swim suits (and breast sizes) in the new version

In other news, I did manage to craft the placeholder sprites for the first wing boss, so I should be able to "continue" working on the game.  Now, the perfectionist in me wants to put more maps in, but this weekend, maybe I'll have the first wing ready for download.