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Post subject: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:12 pm 
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My previous update for this game (in my production notes) was March 15, 2012, a V0.55 beta.

Today, I have revised that progress to a V0.56 beta.

(Edit: Advanced to a V0.58 beta later today. I'm FINALLY out of that town I was stuck inside nearly three years ago.)

This means we have resumed work on this game patch. Bongo` has solved at least three major bugs that brought my refinement and writing work to a standstill for almost three years - including a total freeze to the "New Game" command, incorrect direction for the initial Intro dialogue, and a really nasty critter that caused certain strings to incorrectly re-direct at the game's midpoint.

Meanwhile, during this three year hiatus, working through the spring and summer 0f 2014, I have refined and written the prequel - Aretha (I) - to the 100% point in English, creating a bug-free beta patch. However, the A-I story is bare bones, due to the fact that every time I exceeded a certain quantity of dialogue and the game crashed, I was able to make deep cuts and restore the patch's integrity. Bongo` has assured me that we have ample space in Aretha-I, so my re-write will attempt to restore some of the cuts. I will send any resulting bugs to Bongo` for further examination.

Meanwhile, back to Aretha-II, I can start making serious progress again. With Aretha-I still fresh in my mind, I will finish writing A-II with a primary goal of standardization. These two games seamlessly connect. Played back-to-back, to me, they feel like one super-sized game. Thus, one of my other goals is to bring them both to beta testing simultaneously.

When that time comes, coordinated with Draken's schedule, I know he will find 99% of what Bongo' and I missed. If we use additional beta testers, I will ask prospective volunteers to consider very carefully whether they are able to commit to testing both games thoroughly in a timely manner. We may or may not release them together, but I want to get both Arethas out the door in 2015.

In the past, gamers who have expressed an interest in playing the SFC/SNES Aretha RPGs have voiced their disdain for the length of time it takes us to finish and release some of our English patches. Let me remind everyone once more that we do this as a hobby. This means our primary occupations, family responsibilities, and other obligations require most of our time.

Nevertheless, I thought players would be happy to hear that we've resumed work on this project. I have every intention of producing a V0.99 beta of Aretha-II (and SSMS-II) by Valentine's Day. Thank you for your patience.


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 4:47 pm 
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Yay, great news! I'm definitely looking forward to beta testing both of these games, and I'm sure you've done a great job with them. I hope Bongo` got that weird text spacing issue taken care of. I remember that the last time I played the A-1 patch, there was irregular spacing after certain colored text, periods, etc. I'm betting it's gone now, though. Just let me know when it's ready for me, and I'll dive right in giving it as much time as I possibly can!


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:08 pm 
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Draken wrote:
Yay, great news! I'm definitely looking forward to beta testing both of these games, and I'm sure you've done a great job with them. I hope Bongo` got that weird text spacing issue taken care of. I remember that the last time I played the A-1 patch, there was irregular spacing after certain colored text, periods, etc. I'm betting it's gone now, though. Just let me know when it's ready for me, and I'll dive right in giving it as much time as I possibly can!
Super! Regarding the colored text, all fixes will be due to my judicious use and manipulation of the control codes by attempting to place colored text either at the very beginnings or ends of lines. Taskforce pretty much resolved that the spacing issues are strictly a matter of VWF. We can have either fixed font with no colored text spacing issues or VWF with a manipulated solution to make it as "pretty" as possible. It's a lot of extra work to go with VWF, but that's my approach at this time.

When it comes time for final manipulations of screens with colored text glitches, I will need graphics, as usual. However, save-states of these needed fixes would help me speed up the final re-writes. My general policy is to color texts at introductions of people and places but reduce repeats to regular font within given scenes. In later scenes, I may use colored text again if something hasn't been mentioned for a while. In lieu of italics, I can also use colored text selectively for emphasis. I'm hoping to make final form work as tedium-free as possible.


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:51 am 
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Draken wrote:
Yay, great news! I'm definitely looking forward to beta testing both of these games, and I'm sure you've done a great job with them. I hope Bongo` got that weird text spacing issue taken care of. I remember that the last time I played the A-1 patch, there was irregular spacing after certain colored text, periods, etc. I'm betting it's gone now, though. Just let me know when it's ready for me, and I'll dive right in giving it as much time as I possibly can!

Yes, WB and TF are correct about the text / syntax highlighting. the text engine using the font
engine which is a built in, dynamic routine, can cause headaches. The Snes uses tilemaps so tha
is why the spaces are the way they are. :(


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:19 am 
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I'm really glad that WB has a solution (albeit an annoying one to remember to consider at all times when writing/editing ;)) in place. I played through a very tiny bit of the early alpha, and those spacing issues were really noticeable, right up through the first town. Looking forward to seeing the colors in there without having to sacrifice format. It must be a real pain, though :twisted:


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 4:33 am 
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Draken wrote:
I'm really glad that WB has a solution (albeit an annoying one to remember to consider at all times when writing/editing ;)) in place. I played through a very tiny bit of the early alpha, and those spacing issues were really noticeable, right up through the first town. Looking forward to seeing the colors in there without having to sacrifice format. It must be a real pain, though :twisted:
Yep, it's more tiring proceeding at about 1/3 to 1/2 my usual speed, and I must fix everyone's "consult" strings every time I change locations, but it beats sitting still and going nowhere all this time.


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:40 pm 
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Image Image Image

.TEXT
[HIDE][PINK]Mamilina:[WHITE][SHOW]Hello, I'm your friendly
[blue]Milbatos Radio DJ,[white][PINK]Mami![WHITE]Say, have
you even heard of radios!?
.ENDT

To put this colored text/VWF issue to bed, here is a typical example of creative formatting.

Notice I have no space after the colon (before "Hello"), after "DJ," and before "Mami!", and after "Mami!" and before "Say". Also, all punctuation has been included with colored text to prevent another potential gap from appearing sporadically. Finally, I have eliminated double spacing after colons and periods in both games to save bytes - same as we did in Chaos Seed.

With further creative formatting and editing, I arranged for the blue text to start a line, and I expanded blue text to include "Radio" and "DJ". Normally, I would have done about 10 strings in the time it took me to work out this one.

The second graphic shows what it would look like normally formatted. The third graphic illustrates an example of that sporadic gap before punctuation that hasn't been included in the colored text. Thus, it's a tradeoff, getting as close as possible to perfect with manipulation in lieu of doing away with either VWF or colored text.

Remember later. The key words are MANIPULATION and TRADEOFF. In some cases a screen will never be exactly perfect, but we can minimize those.


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 2:13 am 
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The first option is definitely the best looking of the bunch for sure. You're doing a bang up job with that.


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:04 am 
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Kudos, WB! Definitely looking much, much better (assuming the first pic is of the format being used in-game). I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for any inconsistencies when you get ready to have me test it out. :)


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Post subject: Re: Aretha-II Production Resumes
PostPosted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:16 am 
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Yep, the first option that you both chose as preferred is the style I am using in both games. Filler's previous translation work is making the actual writing a snap.

It'll get easier in the scene after this string, during the long conversations with the DJ and the "Anime Reporter" (the guy on the right) because I will color-code only the speakers' names and colon, unless someone introduces something new that represents an important clue in the game.

BTW, in the raw script, the "Anime Reporter" has news from the "World of Feda" and "This Aretha-II", as he phrases it. Coincidence that we just happened to translate Feda, too. I'll probably work in a D-D plug here. Seems sort of a natural opportunity.

FYI, the DJ speaks of specific radio stations broadcasting her shows in various cities of Japan. I am thinking about subbing these with radio stations in Korea (or Canada), Oklahoma City, West Palm Beach, Florida, and Richmond, Virginia or Washington, D. C. Thoughts?


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