J. S. Deacon
patreon
Sneak Peak - April 20, 2020
🕑 Added 2020-04-20 16:13:45 +0000 UTC
I hope you all had a good weekend. I’ve been hard at work on the next update of The Office Wife. Today, I want to share with you something that I have been debating in the back of my mind for quite a while. One of the biggest flaws of nearly all RPGM games is that horrible default pixel art. That may have been acceptable in the 1980s, but in this day and age, I find it really distracting, particularly when switching between realism-based renders and bright, cartoonish pixel art. Thankfully, RPGM is pretty flexible for a basic game design platform, and much of the art can be customizable given the effort to both understand the process and to actually create the assets.
So, I have been messing around with the idea of abandoning all the pixel art altogether and creating custom, rendered game maps and assets. As a sneak preview below, you can see some a few examples of how this could look. This would require updating a significant portion of the game. I’d have to create all new maps and update ALL of the sprites, vehicles, and other assets. I think the reward, however, is probably worth the effort.
The other issue, which may be a drawback for some, is that the overall scale of the maps would go up since the sprites are bigger (and more realistic, which makes proportions even more important). Due to RPGM’s limitations on map size when using custom images, the amount of movement around the game will increase. For example, I will not be able to fit all of the Business District on one map like it is now. This would force more walking and switching to a different map for the lunch events, transport authority, etc.
The other drawback, of course, is the time it takes to create it all. The good news is, that I already have the basic neighborhood map, both day and night done (as you can see below), the doctor’s office, the home apartment, and the subway stations, although even those maps require many assets to be added to them to bring them to life. It’s hard to estimate the time this will all take and I won’t implement it piecemeal.
Anyway, I’d love to hear your feedback on what you think of these new maps/sprites.
Thanks,
- J. S.
Comments
Geo
I would agree that you should go in the direction that gives you the most satisfaction. I do not have a issue with your current format since you have done a great job on the story and the realism art you have done to date. If you do wish to transfer over to all realism art suggest you take a look at some of these "A Wife and Mother" by Lust and Passion, The Foot of the Mountain" by SerialNumberComic and "A Mothers Love" by OrbOrgins. Not saying these are the only ones but they do a good job of moving MC around without getting hung up with maps and still give good immersion.
ThorMcBalbo
I think dev should always do what they like about a game, so that we can se the love in there too. Keep up the good work
