Chrono Crisis Tiles Update 2: Xavier's Room 100% Completed

[CronoTriggerfan]

I really can't wait for this to be done! What program did your co-workers use to create the sprites? Could you give me a "sprite-making in a nutshell" sorta thing? It looks really interesting! As a programmer, integrating more art would be cool.

By the way, why aren't you actually coding the game? I mean, RPG Maker is sweet, but the game could be better enjoyed if actually written in code like a C language or VB. Your thoughts?

Thanks,
CTFan

Lena uses Photoshop to make the sprites, and Validus uses Paint to make the tiles. (Lena did apply the floor reflections with Photoshop though.) She has a spriting tutorial available here:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/ChronoCrisis/index.php?showtopic=270
Thanks! And yes, I knew of Ruby. I'm just saying it's not as powerful as some of the other languages out there. But I can't really argue, seeing as what you've done with RPGMXP is simply breathtaking. Can't wait to play it!

CTfan
With RPG Maker XP, there's a scripting language called Ruby, which my programmer is now learning and will be using to make the battle and menu systems. RPG Maker XP is pretty flexible and allows us to do pretty much anything we want to.

[Deathcabkerouac]

i wish i was able to sprite and do that kind of stuff.  then i would get off my arse and help out.  that way, the game would come that much sooner...  alas.

all i can do is wait.

it feels like i'm waiting for a real game.  i mean, it will be a real game.  as functioning as a real game.

[Ramsus]

I really can't wait for this to be done! What program did your co-workers use to create the sprites? Could you give me a "sprite-making in a nutshell" sorta thing? It looks really interesting! As a programmer, integrating more art would be cool.

By the way, why aren't you actually coding the game? I mean, RPG Maker is sweet, but the game could be better enjoyed if actually written in code like a C language or VB. Your thoughts?

Thanks,
CTFan

Lena uses Photoshop to make the sprites, and Validus uses Paint to make the tiles. (Lena did apply the floor reflections with Photoshop though.) She has a spriting tutorial available here:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/ChronoCrisis/index.php?showtopic=270

With RPG Maker XP, there's a scripting language called Ruby, which my programmer is now learning and will be using to make the battle and menu systems. RPG Maker XP is pretty flexible and allows us to do pretty much anything we want to.

Thanks! And yes, I knew of Ruby. I'm just saying it's not as powerful as some of the other languages out there. But I can't really argue, seeing as what you've done with RPGMXP is simply breathtaking. Can't wait to play it!

CTfan

If they decided to write their own game engine from scratch, the game could be a lot better. It could also be a lot worse, take much longer to develop, or never get completed. Unless they intend to do something really different, I think they made a good choice.

Also, there's nothing limiting about Ruby, except maybe the poor performance of the standard implementation. Conceptually, it's capable of many much more powerful abstractions than C, C++, Java, or Visual Basic. That's why Lisp and Smalltalk programmers tend to gravitate towards it, so I wouldn't call it a "less powerful" language.

The limiting factor here is what functionality the engine exposes through the scripting engine. While they hide the low-level functionality from you, it looks like you can still draw graphics to the screen, create custom events, and handle some input. Assuming they don't intend to do something really flashy, then it shouldn't be too difficult to create their custom menus and battle system. It's a lot more than what you'd expect from RPG Maker.

That makes me wonder though... If RPG Maker XP uses Ruby, did they cut the foreign function interface? If not, you could write a Ruby extension for some C code, load it into the engine, and execute it.

[Paradox]

Looks wonderful! Excelent work.

[Lena Andreia]

 Thanks, guys! ^^

 ~A little status update~

 So far, the game is running quite smoothly system-wise. Our programmer is awesome, and Ruby really has a lot of flexibility. Since most of the systems are being built from the ground up, we can avoid conflicts between the default systems and the custom systems. It should be pretty cool. Currently, I'm working on getting some battle sprites completed, so we might have some good screenshots of the battle system coming along sometime in the future. Also, we will have animated monsters, if anyone was wondering. (I shall be very busy next year! XD)

 We also have some more locations designed, and I'll be mass producing PC walking graphics all through August. Getting that done ALONE is a huge step in nearing completion of at least the graphical points of Crisis, as any poses after that are just imbelishments.

 I'm not sure if RMXP works in Mac, but I could have my friend test it. It's possible the game itself might be convertable... Maybe we could find a way.

 Anyway, I'd best get back to work now. I hope that we get a website set up someday (I was working on a layout a few days ago, but let's just say this--web layouts aren't exactly my forte). I think Chains wants to wait until we're a bit further along anyway.

 ~Ciao!

[justin3009]

I'm so excited to hear this news!  I'm really anxious to see your awesome sprites at work! 

[Ramsus]

Thanks, guys! ^^

 ~A little status update~

 So far, the game is running quite smoothly system-wise. Our programmer is awesome, and Ruby really has a lot of flexibility. Since most of the systems are being built from the ground up, we can avoid conflicts between the default systems and the custom systems. It should be pretty cool. Currently, I'm working on getting some battle sprites completed, so we might have some good screenshots of the battle system coming along sometime in the future. Also, we will have animated monsters, if anyone was wondering. (I shall be very busy next year! XD)

 We also have some more locations designed, and I'll be mass producing PC walking graphics all through August. Getting that done ALONE is a huge step in nearing completion of at least the graphical points of Crisis, as any poses after that are just imbelishments.

 I'm not sure if RMXP works in Mac, but I could have my friend test it. It's possible the game itself might be convertable... Maybe we could find a way.

 Anyway, I'd best get back to work now. I hope that we get a website set up someday (I was working on a layout a few days ago, but let's just say this--web layouts aren't exactly my forte). I think Chains wants to wait until we're a bit further along anyway.

 ~Ciao!

You can't run RPG Maker XP or the standalone games it generates natively on a Mac, because they're all Windows binaries. ASCII/Enterbrain have never bothered with any Mac support.

You could probably run it on an Intel Mac using WINE, but that's way more difficult than most fans would appreciate (and a bit geeky -- even I wouldn't bother with it -- but then I don't have an Intel Mac anyway). It wouldn't be fast enough running on a PowerPC Mac using Virtual PC either.

The only way to get it working natively then, assuming ASCII/Enterbrain won't hand over the source code and let you port it, would be to reverse engineer the entire runtime and rewrite all of it from scratch. It's actually not as hard as it sounds, but then you'd need a good C/C++/Objective-C programmer who could write portable code and has enough free time.

I say, just forget about us Mac users.

[FFXSage]

I'd just like to say that I, as a huge CT fan, greatly appreciate what you guys over at Chrono Crisis are doing for the whole community. Without people like you, the Compendium would be baren (no offense Zeality).
The game looks great so far!

[Matt Shadows]

I downloaded the demo and I must say that.... oh shit, Princy you hit the nail on the head.

[FFXSage]

I always do. It's that skill thing coming into play again.

[ctnovelist]

I think it looks great!  Nice job!