Splice The Hedgehog: RPG Fangame.

I loved the new violet

Much to my regret, the things I had planned for today's update are not even close to being ready due to various unfortunate delays--some I admittedly could have prevented while others being completely out of my power to do so.

However, things have been getting done, albeit very slowly.



Starting with the smaller things, the character portraits in the main menu are being updated to a more standardized, consistent style. So far only three are completed but it's a good start.




Leaving things in the Mystic Ruins only at the most basic of functionalities, I decided to put my time into the only thing I really had any motivation for: Making Greenflower Zone playable. And by that I mean actually getting it to run properly. I don't know what i did to that map before that caused it to lag so horribly, but I seem to have found a solution so I've begun making new areas to progress the zone. If I hadn't already mentioned it before, GFZ is the next place you visit after the Underground Base. Not much to show yet, however it's still got a bit to explore. It's worth bringing Speedy along.

(For the record I did create the interior of Tails' workshop, and you can access it regularly in-game but it's really just an empty room until I can figure out how I want to go about it.)



I've also begun juggling the very next area at the same time. Techno Hill's tileset was a mess when I came back to it, so I've been hard at work trying to make it look presentable. There's a lot less to explore here than GFZ, but it's arguably been more fun to work with.



This update serves as a happy reminder to me that very soon after I finish these two zones we'll get to delve into a very long-awaited dungeon I got a head start on ages ago.

Spoiler:

Good job, my friend

I think Splice needs a new voice.

I suppose an update is in order. Though unfortunately I have very little to show for the past month and a half that's gone by. I've only recently gotten back to work on the game about two weeks ago, and since then I've mainly been doing bug tests and catching up on things I've been neglecting to do. Fixing up old dialog, updating certain scenes still using old sprites, allowing time to pass in ruined GFC after leaving and coming back for the first time, etc.
Nothing major yet, but I've been making plans for some big additions on the side as far as characters go. But once I've finished cleaning up what I have down now, I'll focus on both progressing Greenflower Zone as well as some updates to Speedy and Violet, our two new party members at this point. Crystal will need some attention too.

Leônidas wrote:

I think Splice needs a new voice.

I've known that for literal years now, but I have not found one fitting enough.

Well, I have some things to explain.

Progress has admittedly been very slow these past few months. But as of some few weeks ago, I hit a roadblock when a DiVX update caused the RPGmaker 2k3 to malfunction. A minor, yet very inconvenient glitch which caused any music that had played once to never play again without closing and reopening the program. This extended towards any and everything made in it--including SpTH. Of course, the reasonable option would be to try and undo the update, but that got me to thinking. I'm using a very, VERY outdated program. It's already been acting finicky enough as it is. (An annoying 2 second pause between music changes, random tracks giving a "Not Implemented" error out of the blue, screen flicker in full screen mode, etc.) If mere updates are causing problems, how can I be sure the game would even be playable on other computers? But even if these problems weren't present, I knew that the sheer file size was already pretty gigantic since RPG2k3 can only use Midi's, Wave's, and MP3's. And I refuse to use Midi's. I thought that I could compress the files to make them smaller and not take up like, an entire gig of space...but that only caused the "Not Implemented" error to start up again. (To explain, the error happens when you try to play a track that RPG2k3 for some reason can't read and will rapid-fire error messages at you. If you're too slow to get rid of them all and stop the song, you'll have to force quit the program. If it happens in-game then the whole game just crashes.)


Basically, all these negative thoughts had put me down in a slump. I tried to get my mind off of things by doing some spriting, but the frustrating process of getting Splice's palette fixed only served as a temporary distraction before I really felt depressed again. I was successful however, as you can see here.



I am pretty much satisfied with the outcome, and I will try to apply these updates to all his sprites as soon as I can.

But I digress. With those issues with the RPG2k3 lingering in my head, I've been basically out of commission for nearly a month. Fortunately, however, I may have come to a solution. I was suggested to try and port the game to a newer RPG Maker. I've had my concerns about the new versions: While they do a lot of things I sorely wish 2k3 did, they also kind of skimp out on the things that ultimately sold me on 2k3. I am of course, referring to the battle system. Most of them don't even have side view battles as an option anymore--you have to write a script specifically to enable them. Otherwise, battles will all be in first-person view, and you won't be able to see your party members at all. But even then, the scripts I had seen before had all been very...restrictive as far as character animations go. I had looked into this ages ago, way back near when I first began SpTH, and I decided that 2k3 would allow me more creative freedom. (of course I didn't know the first thing about scripts back then, either.)

HOWEVER
I've found a script that may just be what I need, in the RPGMaker VX Ace. I don't want to get too hopeful, but If all goes well, the sky's the limit. I'm fairly excited to try and learn more about this, and see if it really will work as advertised. If so, I would like to attempt porting the game over to VX Ace. Of course, none of the RPG Makers are backwards compatible towards 2k3, so...that would mean I would have to start over. But if it means that I can do all this and more, then it'd be more than worth it.



Before I start to get ahead of myself, I would like to try and work with what I have NOW and aim to release a demo of the 2k3 version. To be honest, SpTH Demo 2 is something I've been wanting to try and release for a couple years now, but life and creator's block both tend to hit me where it hurts when it matters most. Still, here's hoping for the best!

So the fan game goes to a new engine?
And you already have a date for the demo?

That's the plan.
As for dates, no. I do not have a date for the demo. I'm not good with dates unfortunately.

All I can say for now is "Soon".

I think Marth's voice from Fire Emblem (Yuri Lowenthal) matches with Splice

Heck, that's some clean-looking shading. Also, my condolences about the struggles you're having with RPGMaker. As useful as the program is, sometimes it feels like you're fighting against it if you try to get creative. I've had my own problems with VX Ace, since if you want to do anything outside of the box, you generally have to go out of your way to find the options you're looking for, or simply script it yourself. It is still a good program, though; I've seen some of the stuff people have done with VXA, and it's pretty solid (I have seen side-view VXA games before, so I hope that you can get those to work). Good luck in your attempts to port the game over!