finalbossblues
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Poll: Which Asset Pack next?
🕑 Added 2025-01-20 15:00:10 +0000 UTCHello! This morning I am asking for your insight into our next project.
(I have a little explanation that leads into the poll. If you're not interested in my reasoning behind the process here, then feel free to skip to the "patron poll" part)
Where are we right now:
I had an idea for a perfect little Christmas bonus release: complete the TF overworld series: finish up the last missing biomes in a week and get it all compiled as a little freebie for patrons. It would be a little project to do on the Christmas break and then get back to the Elements plan.
Then I figured: might as well use this chance to get it all working with the ultimate overworld tiles that I started a while ago.
"This will be easy. I already made most of the tiles; I can just spent a couple days re-arranging them on sheets." 😘
But then I sat down to do it, and I found myself staring at an absolutely huge amount of complex tilesets that I'd have to pull together onto limited tileset sheets.
It's no secret that I've spent multiple weeks fighting with RPG Maker's autotile system, and really struggling to find the perfect way to combine and organize the Time Fantasy terrains and cliffs. I'm not just blaming RPG Maker here-- certainly I made it worse for myself by trying to force it to do things it wasn't designed to do.
A few recent patreon releases have been born of this work, and I do think that the pixel art is some of my best-- but it has become clear that this will not be a simple mini release.
Ultimately I think that I was trying way too hard to make it "perfect/ultimate" and this sort of obsession ended up making it an unmanageably-ambitious idea.
Plus, now I want to make this ultra Time Fantasy tileset remaster. Originally I wanted to stay away from that and just focus on the new style...
Which leads us here:
the Time Fantasy Ultimate World Map will be a large-scale project throughout this year. It'll be a full sized asset pack (instead of my little bonus pack idea)
Since the original idea was just "fill out the world to match every biome", I'll release these add-ons here as I make them; and I'll check the patron request thread to prioritize what you need first-- hopefully you can help me find everything that we need to fill out the whole world.
This does significantly change the plan though...
My original plan was for the Elements Castle and Catacombs beta to have been finished by now. Clearly didn't happen.
Here's some options of what we can do. Since I feel good about all of these; I figured that this is a good place to get feedback from patrons.
Note:
I want to help ongoing projects cross the finish line.
This is why I've been so obsessed with the ultimate final time fantasy idea lately, even though good business sense would have me trying to go wide for new customers instead.
I've been making Time Fantasy for a decade now and I know a lot of projects that have been going on for a long time (rpg dev is a marathon, not a sprint!)-- it's my responsibility to see this collection to the end.
But maybe these projects have what they need? It's very likely that I am overthinking this.
I'd appreciate your thoughts on this subject if it's relevant to your project-- and especially if it's not!
PATRON POLL
Which of these would be the most useful now for projects you are currently working on? Which would be the kind of thing you are more likely to search for in an asset store?
Which release should be the first of 2025?
OPTION 1: Elements Castle and Catacombs Tileset
Priority remains with the original focus on elements: new tilesets, then more character. The TF+TE world map will be finished throughout the year as a side project that draws from patron requests. Other TF tileset remaster will be ignored for now.
OPTION 2: Time Fantasy+Elements World Map
Prioritize a quick finish to the world map set just to finish up the biome additions, and then move onto the original Elements (tileset then characters) plan.
OPTION 3: Elements Character Parts (*)
Prioritize the expansion pack for more Elements action character pieces. A month or two jamming elements pieces before shifting focus to a larger tileset plan for the spring/summer.
* this option would suggest restructuring the future of the asset series.
And the more I think about it, the more I dig it...
Elements future expansions would be purely for the characters (and compatible monsters and such)-- and two existing elements tile packs would be a considered a complete base for the style.
And instead; remaster, re-organize, and combine all of this TF and TE stuff into a master collection.
The Castle and Catacombs Elements set would be cancelled, the content of which would be replaced by remastered castle and dungeon stuff from various TF tilesets and patron releases.
I'd rework a lot of the older TF tiles to the modern tileset style I use that's somewhat of a bridge between TF and TE, and solidify this into a single TF+TE complete tileset. The world map set would be the first part of this. It will include both color variants.
This would be consistent with most of my releases since the TF stuff was "finished" with the Final Tower pack-- and many patron releases too.
Let me know what you think, comments to explain what you need for your projects are helpful to me too in addition to your poll vote.
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I'll be back later this week with something fresh for you. Since today's post doesn't have any new assets; I'll find some time to make an extra bonus release later in week too.
Thanks for everything!
Comments
DavicusTV
In my opinion, there are just not good overworld tilesets available at all in really any style, anywhere. I'd like to see the overworld tilesets completed. It's a benefit to both TF and TE users and if it's just a quick thing, it'd be easy to cap TF off with that, get your base for TE and then be able to work towards TE as your next full-time project. And when making new biomes for TE, expanding the TE overworld tiles as needed. Just my two cents.
Thais W Nielsen
As a gamedev which started out with TF, I have been in love with colors, and art of which you have been given us, I have managed to convert all of the TE generator part to TF Colors and living high on that one, but I have alway felt a few TF things were missing mainly catacombes, gaves, slabs characters could lay on, demon signs, sout, broken things, half broken stone pillers, and more writings on walls, you know evil stuff, blades, knifes, on the ground, so... If the TE comes in TF colors for the catacombs stuff pack, I will be fully on-board with any new stuff TE, I'm also currently learning to recolor tilesets. 🤗 Keep up the good work!! 💪
finalbossblues
This was my thought too; it's basically the plan if the Gen parts win priority. I suppose that there could be a fourth option to do this but prioritize the TF dungeon remaster set for the year's first release before the characters.
Arron Simpson
i feel like for me personally more element parts and and having different mobs and maybe a few more attack animations like sword slashing or spin attack or etc for the sword and things like that for weapons, would round this set out (witch would help wonders for my game that's using solo this pack for my games development
Ragnarok Aesthetic
Elements gang
Alan (Celadorado)
I'm in the non-RPG Maker TE camp, and I find my current bottleneck being the tilesets more than the TE character part options. I've tried following the guide to convert TF sets to TE but I can't find something that feels right to me even with manual color replacements. It would be awesome to see the TF tile packs "officially" converted to the TE style (beach, jungle, etc) as an ongoing (occasional) project, regardless of which of the above options wins out.
finalbossblues
That's right; Final Tower was the end of the major asset pack releases for the TF style. There's no new large biomes for Time Fantasy, and no more character expansions. The only thing left is to compile everything that's been done and arrange it into a consistent collection while filling in any missing pieces. Also this collection would allow me to have a bridge style that we could use support future projects that use the TF tilesets with the more flexible Elements characters.
Taylor Jeude
I'm all for more Elements stuff!
VillainouSoup
Believe time fantasy to be what the majority of us still use. I personally have tried to make the ultimate world tile set And I come up with hiccups thanks to rpg maker. Also, whenever you post about time fantasy, I tend to see what you have made and am baffled how I forgot about the concept and sometimes immediately add it to my projects
Dark_Ansem
I thought the Final Tower was considered to be the end of the TF experience? And (i may be misremembering) you were thinking of a tutorial to match TE to TF style (so like the other one, but in reverse)
