Game Journal #66(6) - Leveling up from Battle, Item Drops, UI Improvements

Hey guys! What's up? Got another game journal for ya. Have you noticed that they're coming out more and more frequently? That's because I've been super inspired lately. I'm almost done with Persona 5, and as I said before, that game does a lot of things right in a JRPG. It inspired me to make a lot of changes to my own game. I've also been playing another game called Cafe Enchante. Yeah, it's an otome, so what? Gonna laugh? Doesn't fit my tough guy image? Don't care, sneed if you don't like it. Anyway, both of those games have really creative UIs, so my own UI has been improving as a result. It's surprisingly important to play video games as a developer. For a really long time I didn't play any at all because I thought it would be a waste of time, but it's surprisingly educational. Now I feel fired up to work on my game all the time!

Ok, firstly, life update as per the usual. Not much has happened, really. I've just been going to work, playing games, and working on my own game. Spring break was last week, which was cool. My Bakumatsu Rock fan translation is almost done too, there's only one part left to do. That'll probably come out sometime in April since it's yet another 50 minute video. I've been considering translating the audio CDs too, but... they're still too expensive, so I'll just wait some more. Yeah, that's about it with me.

Here's the changelog.

3/15/23

• Added animation to dialogue screen

• Edited Chemistry Bar layout

3/16/23

• Worked on exp formulas

• Changed exp layout to show how much is needed instead of how much in total

• Added the ability to level up after battling

• Added animations to Victory screen

• Edited Victory screen layout

3/17/23

• Fixed EXP formula

• Added Party Icons for everyone

• Added multiplier for sub party exp

3/20/23

• Added indicator for sub party exp amount

• Added rarity for monster item drops

• Item drops can be acquired from battle, shows none if none gotten

• When leveling up, your current hp and mp percentages are carried over to your new current stats.

Not bad, eh? Now there's only one main function left to add: presenting evidence to advance dialogue (Which is extremely easy to do) and acquiring evidence from the overworld (another extremely easy thing to code.) Basically, all the work that's left is making the game look pretty! Oh yeah, Mr. Krabs. I'm so excited that I've finally reached the point where my game has a solid foundation. Now it's just gonna be mostly art and 3D from now on.

Now you may be wondering, what'll happen to the game journals if it's just gonna be art updates?! I'll tell ya. I'm gonna bring back a long-lost function called the NPC Showcase. Basically, it's just me showing an NPC's sprite and their background, where you meet them, etc. It's been absent for a really long time since I haven't been drawing any dialogue sprites, but now that I'm mainly going to be working on implementing the story mode I'll be drawing them again. And it's not like there isn't going to be any code updates at all. They won't be as big or important as the previous ones, but they'll be there.

I've also got another announcement. When I get done with the prologue, I'm gonna release another demo that you can play. I won't put it on Steam just yet (because the final demo must be compatible with the full game if the player wants to buy it afterwards) but I'll put it up under the Demo page. In the demo, you'll be able to choose Sandbox mode (what the game is now) or Story mode (the introduction of the story.) So yeah. We're moving along, boys.

Here's the video log as usual. I tried to not make it a gazillion minutes, but there's a ton of stuff to show. I hope you find it interesting.

Ignis is the best, btw.