Chaos Project

Doodle Quest is not the first game I've made, but will be the first I'm taking seriously. Well, seriously as in I'm actually going to make it to completion; the story itself is not really serious at all. One interesting thing about this game is it does not require any RTP to be installed.

Title Screen


Concept

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Story

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Scripts

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Characters
(Note that the names are in all lower-case on purpose, in keeping with the theme of the game, with the exception of Pablo. Also note that all of the character's names are based on their appearances, as Pablo, their creator, never game them actual names.)

guy


girl


goth


hat

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Screenshots

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I hope to have a playable demo up in the next week or so! Please share your opinions on what you think so far. Thanks for looking!
--WhiteRose

EDIT: Added author of UMS script to credits. Project's coming along on schedule; expect a demo soon.

Hmm it looks pretty interesting, I can't wait to see how to first demo is  ;)

I think...I just fell in love.

Something about your art is just so freaking epic. I would totally play this game no matter how shitty it is (No offense if it happens to turn out this way, but from what I can see, it is awesome.)

Amazing concept, I give you large points for creativity, but the only flaw I see is the battle. Try to make the enemies stand out more from the background, they look kinda merged in. I know it's hard on paper, but see if you can just make them darker :P
If you can, just make their image non-transparent so the background lines don't appear to go through them.

Ahahaha... this is pretty funny :)

Story reminds me a liiiiittle bit of Animator vs. Animation.
http://alanbecker.deviantart.com/art/Animator-vs-Animation-34244097

Anyway, I'd like to see a screenshot of the map D:

Also, perhaps make the facesets not cut off so abruptly?
girl and hat look like they can fit inside nicely if you moved them a bit to the right

Quote from: Aqua on January 30, 2010, 05:52:45 pm
Anyway, I'd like to see a screenshot of the map D:

That's exactly what I was thinking. :P

Quote from: Lore on January 30, 2010, 05:51:45 pm
Amazing concept, I give you large points for creativity, but the only flaw I see is the battle. Try to make the enemies stand out more from the background, they look kinda merged in. I know it's hard on paper, but see if you can just make them darker :P
If you can, just make their image non-transparent so the background lines don't appear to go through them.

I know exactly what you mean. What I'm trying to do is find some way that that I can make the enemy sprites non-transparent for the background lines, but not for the lines on the paper. Unfortunately, I've had no luck with this so far, so at the moment it's a toss up between the background lines going through them, or the paper lines not going through. Fear not, though; I'm hoping to come up with a solution sooner or later. Making them darker actually isn't a bad idea, though I wouldn't want to make them so dark that they wouldn't appear to be "drawn" like they should be.

As for the menu, at the moment I'm just using Simple Facesets from Tons of Add-Ons; I'm either going to adjust the coordinates of the pictures, resize the faces, or just come up with a entirely different menu system. I considered using the Stormtronics CMS, but the way the windows fly in from the sides and stuff is cool, but doesn't entirely fit the style of the game. This is one of the problems I'm hoping to fix before releasing the demo.

Here's a screen of the map:

At the moment, the character sprites are in a top-down view while trees and stuff are in a slightly different perspective. I know this isn't quite realistic, but hey, it's a doodle, right? I may or may not change the character map sprites.

I thought the characters were rocks until you said they were in top-view

A suggestion on the enemy battlers, what you could do is on the pic itself draw it over the crumbled paper, so the paper is part of the bg, and the background lines are invisible. lemme know if i didnt explain that clearly :P

Quote from: C.C. rOyAl on January 30, 2010, 08:51:10 pm
A suggestion on the enemy battlers, what you could do is on the pic itself draw it over the crumbled paper, so the paper is part of the bg, and the background lines are invisible. lemme know if i didnt explain that clearly :P

That's not a bad idea, except that battle scenes are drawn on the lined paper instead of the crumpled white paper used for windows. I would have to line up each enemy's lines with the lines on the battleback. Thanks for the suggestion, though; I'll keep it in mind.

Quote from: Aqua on January 30, 2010, 08:49:29 pm
I thought the characters were rocks until you said they were in top-view

It helps when they're moving. I actually tried putting the characters in the same perspective as the trees and stuff, but the animations didn't look natural so I scrapped the idea. As you can probably imagine, it's rather difficult to properly animate stick figures walking along the Y-Axis. I understand though that the current situation also isn't ideal. Hopefully, I'll come up with something. Suggestions are most welcome!

EDIT: Alright, I just came up with an idea for the enemy battlers. What if I drew each of them on a piece of lined paper with edges that looked like they were ripped out of a larger sheet, so they would each be on their own piece of paper, and then placed that on the battleback? I don't really like the concept as much, as it seems less like they're being drawn then and there right before each battle, but it would probably look a little nicer. What do you all think of this idea?

OMG, this looks awesome. But I think your torn out paper idea sounds good. Maybe add a piece of tape to the top of them :D

This looks epic. I can't wait to try a demo.

Quote from: WhiteRose on January 30, 2010, 08:57:24 pm
EDIT: Alright, I just came up with an idea for the enemy battlers. What if I drew each of them on a piece of lined paper with edges that looked like they were ripped out of a larger sheet, so they would each be on their own piece of paper, and then placed that on the battleback? I don't really like the concept as much, as it seems less like they're being drawn then and there right before each battle, but it would probably look a little nicer. What do you all think of this idea?

Thats a good idea! go with it!

Epic.

think you just struck gold :P

Looks awesome 8)

You know, I might be able to fix your non-transparent problem in Photoshop. PM me your email or anyway I can get a hold of you, and I'll talk to you about it, I have a few ideas how to make it work.

i'm not sure but your project is so interesting that probably everyone from CP is willing to help you with problems :P

Alright, here's the first draft of an enemy sprite reworked to appear on a torn piece of paper taped to the battlefield:

Here's a picture of it in battle:


I think I might need to rework the edges of the torn paper a little, but overall I think it doesn't look half-bad.

Looks great!

Love it :D This game looks SOOO freaking awesome.

Those two pieces of tape are waaaay too similar if not the same.
Try changing them up for a little bit more "realism"

This is really cool, actually.

Oh hey, just noticed you're using my script :D That makes me that much more excited to see the game :D

-edit

when I was looking through your screenshots, I got an idea about how to make your windowskin a bit better. The solid black boreder looks a little out of place, with the style of the rest of the game. So, following the motif of the cut out enemies, you could eliminate the border and make the body of the windowskin (the crumpled paper part) have torn edges. That might look better.

Just a suggestion though, this game looks freaking AWESOME!

I think the main aspect that attracts everyone, including me, to this game is just the creativity. It's a concept never done before, so it looks fresh and new compared to the hundreds of other projects.

And your drawing ability isn't that bad either :P

Yes. We're all also jealous that we didn't come up with the idea ourselves and make it before you did :P

Quote from: legacyblade on February 01, 2010, 12:06:06 am
when I was looking through your screenshots, I got an idea about how to make your windowskin a bit better. The solid black boreder looks a little out of place, with the style of the rest of the game. So, following the motif of the cut out enemies, you could eliminate the border and make the body of the windowskin (the crumpled paper part) have torn edges. That might look better.

I noticed the same thing when designing the windowskin, actually. The only problem is coming up with borders that don't look too perfect, if you know what I mean. I'm sure it's possible, though. If you'd like, I could send you a copy of the windowskin file if you'd like to take a crack at it.

Sure! I don't know how well I'll do, but it'd be cool to help out on such an awesome project. Send her over scottie! I shall tear her pages with my pixie sticks (sugar highs make me better graphic artist, but worse scripter)

Alright, I've been working with Lore on the battlers, and we've come up with two options: either place the paper lines on the battlers directly, and then align those with the battleback, or use my previous ripped paper idea, which I've updated as per Aqua's advice, changing the tape on one side and making the torn edges a little more visible. The only problem with the first option is that due to a restriction in RMXP, it is impossible to get the lines to line up perfectly, though they can get fairly close. Here are some screen shots of each option:

Option 1 (Lines on Battlers):


Option 2 (Ripped Paper with Tape):


Which do you think looks better?

The tape looks cooler. Though I think what aqua was saying was to make the enemies not both be taped in the exact same spot (make different battler graphics). Though it's awesome how you were able to improve the tape, it looks really good.

Quote from: WhiteRose on February 01, 2010, 09:55:28 pm
Alright, I've been working with Lore on the battlers, and we've come up with two options: either place the paper lines on the battlers directly, and then align those with the battleback, or use my previous ripped paper idea, which I've updated as per Aqua's advice, changing the tape on one side and making the torn edges a little more visible. The only problem with the first option is that due to a restriction in RMXP, it is impossible to get the lines to line up perfectly, though they can get fairly close. Here are some screen shots of each option:

Option 1 (Lines on Battlers):

Spoiler: ShowHide

(http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/5044/doodlescreen8.jpg)

Option 2 (Ripped Paper with Tape):

Spoiler: ShowHide

(http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/8449/doodlescreen11.jpg)

Which do you think looks better?

I'm not sure...the taped version gives the same kind of "misaligned" illusion that bugs me for some reason.

Quote from: Lore on February 01, 2010, 10:22:44 pm

I'm not sure...the taped version gives the same kind of "misaligned" illusion that bugs me for some reason.

Maybe if I got rid of the bottom piece of tape and added a drop-shadow, so that it would seem the taped on enemy is "floating" off the paper a little, it would get rid of the "misaligned" feeling. I'll give it a try when I get some free time and upload a screenshot.

looks really cool :D and btw the UMS was made by Ccoa^^

Quote from: Zare on February 02, 2010, 10:09:52 am
looks really cool :D and btw the UMS was made by Ccoa^^

Ah, thanks. I knew it was something like that. I'll update the description right away.

omg it so ql!
it's brilliantly, original and funny. :clap:
i mean, i laugh even now.
and about battle sprites, option 1 is better, or at least i think so.
cant wait for the demo.

Quote from: impulszero on February 05, 2010, 10:16:12 am
and about battle sprites, option 1 is better, or at least i think so.

Duly noted. I've been working on the demo all week, so hopefully I'll upload it soon. Keep a weather eye on the horizon!

Just to throw in my opinion I like how the battlers are setup in this.

WOW.  Awesome.

In regards to your map, I LOVE the top view of the sprites, I think it fits the game well.  I've made some stick figures usin the y-axis, and you're right, it's rather difficult tryin' to make it "realistic" movement.

Someone had mentioned drop shadows on the enemy battlers.  I think that'd help.

What's the back story on the enemies though?  Is there any consistent "evil" in them or somethin?  Maybe a dark aura around them with transparency so you can still see the magnificient battlebackground?

Just a thought.  Anyway, yeaah, get that demo up, I'd love to test the game out.

Alright, I have once again gotten back to work on this. I've revamped my current demo and made it much better. The main thing I have to do now is finish up the first dungeon (which actually is complete, though it at the moment is much too large, so I'm shrinking it a bit to make it more player-friendly,) and then I'll upload a demo for you to try out. For the time being, I've just gone with my original battler design for the enemies.

Also, I never answered your question, Hex; the enemies' back story is that they are drawn by Pablo to fight again guy and his allies, mainly to keep Pablo himself entertained. (He probably won't see this reply for a month or two, but I figured I'd answer since he asked.)

EDIT: Question for everyone. Right now, I have it so you can only class change at save points. Should I change it so you can class change anywhere via the menu?

EDIT 2: Actually, I just fixed a typo in this edit. Stupid typos. -_-

Personally, I like the taped battlers better. Also, I'd say changing class would be better from the menu, since that way you can actually change your class to adapt to the situation at hand.

I personally like it better when class changing is done from a specific location. I mean when you're walking along, do you think "I'm sick of being a computer nerd, I'm a football player now!" since that'd help get the girl you want? Even if you do, does it suddenly change your skill set and what you're better at? Didn't think so. That's why I think class changing should be reserved for specific places (and there should be some justification as to why you can change it there)

That being said, it's still fine if you can do it from the menu.

Quote from: legacyblade on June 16, 2010, 02:00:06 pm
I personally like it better when class changing is done from a specific location. I mean when you're walking along, do you think "I'm sick of being a computer nerd, I'm a football player now!" since that'd help get the girl you want? Even if you do, does it suddenly change your skill set and what you're better at? Didn't think so. That's why I think class changing should be reserved for specific places (and there should be some justification as to why you can change it there)

Agreed. Its not really fun to take/change something wherever/whenever you need. Or at last i think so.

I'm so excited to play it!!!!!  :xD:
BTW, I have doodle based fonts in my sacred archive if u need one.

Thanks for your input, everyone. I think I'll keep class changing the way it is now. SK72, I already have the fonts I'm using, but thanks for the offer.

dude this is the most original and awesome game, idea, concept EVAR!!!!!! can not wait for a demo/game!