I'd like to get this game done by sometime in November. If I don't update the graphics too radically, I already have most of the game's foundation coded thanks to the first game. Of course, that's not to imply this game will be identical to the first in many ways

That would imply though that you're planning on reusing the 8x8 tilemapping and some of the 8x8 sprites of the first game, unless you just mean the core gameplay. That's good to hear you've given yourself a leg up on completing it, and November sounds reasonable.

More or less, I'm just talking about sprites. The game core, as it is now, supports 8x8 sprites. If I were to, say, make Rika's sprite 16x16 pixels and be highly detailed, I would probably have to do a hefty bit of rewriting of the game's core. And that would take forever because I suck at sprites larger than 8x8 pixels. Metroid: Return to Maridia (dead) and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: Battle Lyrical (on hiatus) are prime examples of my inability to code for larger-than-8x8 sprites

So, Rika will probably have a similar or identical sprite to Nanami, but other than that, there will be plenty of graphical differences

I can reveal one such difference now. Unlike in Yumé where the game's sole dialogue came in the form of Nanami's diary entries, Yumé 2 has text-box dialogue.

Mainly, the reason for this is that while Nanami is more shy and keeps to herself, Rika is more upfront and talkative. There are plot-centric reasons for this, too

I'm sorry to hear that, although I have enough faith in your abilities that I think you could pull off larger sprites with a little effort. I'm sure we'd be happy to help make you larger sprites if you needed, but if you want to save yourself some trouble and stick with 8x8, that seems perfectly reasonable.

Oooooh, I like it! Looking forward to this (and playing Yumé as well, of course) more and more.

I have to say, this and the first Yume may end up being two of the very few Calc RPG's I'd actually enjoy playing. Keep up the good work, I hope it ends up as good as its sounding so far.

I'll give that a hearty second. The problem isn't really calculator RPGs per se but RPGs in general. They just don't grab me the way puzzle/FPS games do.

Indeed, I couldn't even finish Zelda OoT generally considered to be one of the best RPG's evar.

Really?
Talk about motivation to work on the game series! \o/

also, miscellaneous update: Yumé 2 currently has 1 old sprite, 2 new sprites, and 14 new tiles.

There better be a qazz in this one

Very nice! You were talking about something like a 44 or 55 tile limit, I think?

Nope, Merth is in Yumé 2. Qazz is in Yumé 3



Technically, there's no limit to the number of tiles I could implement (well, a limit of like several hundred to be precise). However, I set up Pic variables such that the first n rows are Object Tiles and the rest are Sprites, HUD Tiles, and Miscellaneous Graphics.

In Yumé, the first two rows were devoted to Object Tiles and the Empty and Event Tiles. This allowed for a total of 21 different objects (22 including an invisible barrier tile). It was more or less just due to haphazard tile placement though. I could have expanded it to 30 or 40 sprites but I was lazy. Also, time constraints. `-`

In Yumé 2, I've devoted the first five rows to Object Tiles so I can use 55 different tiles to make up the map. However, not all of them are individual objects so there won't be 55 different objects. I can safely say I will be using the WHOLE Pic this time. I won't use more than one though. I don't think it's necessary, really, to have more than one Pic variable's worth of tiles.

Yumé 3 might use multiple ones though

*bump*

Yumé 2 now employs 4 old tiles (water tiles), 1 old sprite, 29 new tiles, and 4 new sprites

Also, here's a link to the WIP Graphical Map of Yumé 2. I have not yet programmed any of these rooms. I will proceed to program them once the entire map is finished. Also note that the Dream World is now less linear.

http://i.imgur.com/chEVI.png (Non-IMG'd due to size)

Very nice sprite work there, I must say that is well done.

Nice world map! I like the non-angular pseudo-isometric tile style. Does the fact that you're starting to design the map mean that the storyline and such is more or less finished in your mind?

Thank you!


Mostly. I'm still deciding on key items, events, and easter eggs

Ooooh, easter eggs! Excellent, that's fair. I got the impression that the first Yumé didn't have too many items, although I didn't play it yet; is that accurate?

You are correct. Yumé 1 had very few items. Mainly, this was because the first game was intended to be short.

Yumé 2 will most likely have a few more items but mainly I'm focusing on events and a larger map this time around.

And yes, easter eggs. Yumé 1 has a couple of them. Yumé 2 will have even more

Also, slightly off topic, but I'm going to make a double-feature game guide for Yumé and Yumé 2 once I finish the latter. It will serve as a walk-through on how to beat both games, reveal the easter eggs, and go in-depth on the implicit and explicit themes and tones of the games.

Very nice; I feel like the game guide(s?) will be fairly popular. I think it's better to focus on events since you've put more thought into the storyline than some other RPGs.

A double-feature game guide. Two guides in one book (although it'll just be a downloadable .pdf )

Yeah, I'm definitely focusing on events. I'm probably going to drain every last ounce of RAM in making this. I might have to employ xLIB's RunArchivedProg ability

Yeah, that's why I didn't know whether to call it a guide or guides, since it's a double-feature. I hope you do indeed use the xLIB copy to temp / run / delete temp feature, it's a great way to get yourself some free extra RAM. Oh, it's going to be a PDF, not a pair of videos?