RPG Maker: The Rai Caves
Posted: 5-10-17
So, with Chapter 3 scripted, it’s finally time to venture into some new story and environments. This also means we need to create a bunch of new assets and art for various situations.
The first of these assets are sprites with closed eyes. We need these for a few situations, but mostly because there’s a scene coming up where the characters will be sleeping. This week, though, I only needed to finish the sprite for Jin, so that’s who I worked on.
And then I made sure the new edited sprite was lined up properly on the same sprite sheet as the original sprite like this.
With all that done, I was able to move forward in coding some of the new scripted parts!
Lighting the Caves
This story eventually takes the party to a place known as the Rai Ancestral Caves. This is an important place to the clan to store supplies, and because a network of hot springs run through them. This makes a welcome resting point in a cold, harsh climate.
I knew I wanted to work with lighting and atmosphere in the Rai caves, mostly some glows and maybe some steam/fog. So I went on the hunt for a plugin that would help me create these effects, and I found Khas’ Advanced Lighting and Fog. It was a small learning curve, but by the end of the afternoon, I had a grasp on making crystals glow, torches flicker and water have a somewhat magical look.
Next weekend, I’ll work on the steam effects. I also need to figure out how we’re going to depict bedding (like animal skins and sleeping rolls) for the party. But I’ll tackle that when I get to it!
Another exciting thing — Syn and I have been talking about a logical place to make a story break for this introduction part of the game. It looks like after Chapter 3 seems to be the best spot. This means we’ll be able to release the actual first part of the game itself soon! So, if you want to play it, rather than watch it on video (the actual game looks so much better in person), you’ll have that chance!
Just have to get through this section!