Preliminary Feature Mechanic: Skits

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Among the things I did over the week, I actually got started on a possible skit system. Now, the above screenshot is not final, as the image used is a placeholder; and depending on how the eventual character portraits look, I'll need to make a separate black-bar picture and work out where text goes and such. At the moment, this is what I have to get this to work.

How It Works

Similar to the Sorcerer's Ring event, Skits are triggered through button press. Every map has an event that calls a specific event on one single map that (when skits are enabled) will put a title of the skit on the lower left (will add a button/key icon later as well).

Then, once the button is pressed, it will set up the scene and play like a normal event. While that's going on, another Switch will turn on and another common event will play alongside the main one. This second common event is Parallel is the one that I'm currently struggling to really decide on how to work out.

...yeah...so, this common event would check which Skit we're on, and then as each text box finishes, it changes the variable for the animation set and act accordingly. Of course, that takes up a lot of space, which is why I'm considering using another plugin by Moghunter.

When I first tried this, I got scared because it didn't seem to want to run. Though a fresh save file fixed that. Then, I found that the talking animation only really works if the dialogue goes on longer than a second, but with how fast the text currently is, it would end before anything would show. Which is also why I'm considering having the text boxes play automatically, and then do my best to try and time when their lips move so it isn't just constant talking. From the tests I've done, it seems doable, and when I do get art for everyone, I can definitely see this working for me. In the meantime, I can always start writing out skits for each area of the game so I'll be ready when it's time to properly program this.

Other Progress

In terms of progress this week, I've added what I think are enough side-quests that would be fine for the prologue. Nothing too complicated or overly long. Helps me get familiar with the quest log plugin so that later on, when I have to come up with more complex questlines or whatever, I'll know what to do. Also, since I'm going to have to provide an update to the Arena Demo, I started going through that again so I can make adjustments to enemy attacks and balance out their stats.

For instance, I lowered the health of the Local Stars from 500 to around 320. I also made sure to give them a "Taunt" to indicate when they're about to perform their Star Rush arte, which now has one less hit to it due to how I have it animated. I'm also thinking of reducing the amount of damage it can do, either directly on the skill, or through the attack since I can change the damage formula through commands.

Other enemies have had their stats lowered so it feels more like a natural progression instead of it being all over the place. I still need to finish the playthrough of the Arena Demo before I can consider adding a trigger event for adding Vera, since I've yet to give her any of her own artes and I want to give Corrine functionality as well. As a late-demo addition, they would give players a chance to try them out while I work on other things.

Wrap Up

Like before, other projects may keep me from doing any meaningful work, which is definitely going to be happening a lot this November. But if not, hopefully I'll have something to report that isn't just a plug.

Art References