Bamboozled by the Beach

[Wavelength]

So I thought I was pretty brilliant, using a Field Map (and some very careful work in V-mode) making a resort-ish beach area to explore in Panacea.

After about two hours of work on the terrain, I was finally satisfied. This place was gonna be ballin'. I had plans for lots of bars and food stands, a mini-game or two, and a pier area that you can embark on ocean-related quests from.

I start to set it up, and... whoops. No people. You can't place people on a freakin' field map. At all. For some reason, I thought the limit was 5. Apparently, it's zero.

Without a few beachcombers and people to work the food stalls, the place is gonna feel really dead--to the point where I'm not even sure it's worth including in my game.

I don't want to put all the people in indoor buildings--that just wouldn't feel right for a venue that's literally right on the shoreline. Likewise, I don't think any towns will work--most of them feel too "permanent" and some even have a wall on the outside which really ruins the beachy atmosphere... and besides, I don't know of any good time/terrain setups in towns to create a sandy look.

So, I'm asking you guys for any and all suggestions on how I might be able to work things out. Nothing is too crazy; nothing is too much of a change from what I've got, as long as I can keep that same atmosphere. Much appreciated

[StickFigureLover69]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Maybe you can put a town right next to the beach and use the "Infinity and Beyond" trick by putting them on or outside the boundry line and see if they apper by the beach, don't know if that'll work but its all I got.

[Valkysas]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

whether you use it or not, I'd like to see it.

[Lausen]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Well you could have some kind of castle town near by that rules the area. Then you could use the wooden statues as people. Have the "Knights" (or really the statue) as the vendors. They could be from the kingdom and occupy the area.

[Wavelength]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Thanks for the ideas, guys... I do like the idea of "automation," it would be an interesting feel for a beachy town; I might end up giving that a try. The "infinity and beyond" trick... I don't see it making things any easier in actually getting sandy terrain and humans on the same map, but it might be useful in other ways.

Data Usage is my biggest enemy right now. It's at about 34%, whereas I'd say I'm about 15% done with the content and maybe only 5% with the plot. Field Maps take a lot of DU so unless it adds a lot, things like that will inevitably have to be cut. But should I ever fully complete my game (not in the Demo phase), I'd like to release a file with all the playable stuff that "missed the cut" due to either DU or simple direction.

Again, I appreciate the ideas you guys posted a couple days ago and I'm looking forward to hearing more if inspiration strikes someone.

[Perversion]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

I have the need for a beach inhabited with NPCs myself right now, actually. However, I don't have the same aesthetic needs/goals in mind that you do. I'm gonna make due, probably, with a town model filled with the "tent" building models. It'll suit my purposes, and due to the nature of my project, I have the built-in ability to explain it (or pretty much anything) away.

Also, I LOVE the idea of "deleted scenes." I've also, more than once, thought about doing a "commentary track" for one of my games...which is an idea that may come to fruition sooner rather than later.

Wave, if you do not mind, as I was just inspired by your "deleted scenes" idea, I'd like to include an "outtakes" or a "gag reel" in my current game. Just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't think I was "ripping off" your idea....if I end up doing something like this, it would not even be CLOSE to the same context that you are referring to, actually. But you DID inspire me, so I wanted to receive your blessing first.

Of course, you would receive due props in my game (albeit in a way you would probably never imagine).

To quote Michael Stipe, "Oh, now I've said too much....I haven't said enough."

[Wavelength]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Yeah, it's the aesthetics that are most important to me--probably TOO important to me--but I'm trying to create a very visceral sense of place with each of my maps. That's part of the reason my progress has been such slow going. (The other part, of course, is that I'm an awful slacker )

For anyone who played the Contest Maps, you'll remember Irate Giraffe's "Seascape" town. Full of flowers and definitely felt like a tropical, lay-back atmosphere (and I loved it), but it was also very clearly not on a beach. According to what you said, Perv, something in the same vein as that would probably suit your purposes well.

If I'm clever, I might be able to pull off something like that, combining parts of it with jumps to the "beach" field map (Aurocarn Strand). Again, though, now we're talking about taking a giant DU hit for something that's just an accessory to the "main" town, and I'm still not getting exactly what I'm looking for. I really appreciate that RM3 lets me get this close to pulling off my most fantastic visions, but it frustrates me that a limit like "no NPC's on Field Maps" exists to cut me off short.

After the kind reactions and great suggestions in this thread, I'm getting really tempted to open up a Game Forum. Well, I still want to wait until I've got more of the dialogue hardwired into my file, but I'll have that to look forward to for the next several weeks.

Oh, and as far as a gag reel or out-takes segment, yeah, go for it! I wouldn't feel like anyone was ripping me off by using it, and I'm really glad I could serve as a bit of inspiration for you. And while I'd never turn down getting a nod in someone's game, don't feel obligated to do it, either... you don't owe me anything.

[Perversion]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Regardless of whether I "owe" you anything or not, you will be mentioned in my game regardless, due exclusively to the fact that this conversation even exists.


*read my Michael Stipe quote above*

[Pagerron]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Well, one could argue that the "people" on this beach are actually made up of more water than the average human, so they are nearly invisible. Thus, when you walk up to a stand to buy something, a voice is heard with no body attached to it, at least no body that can be seen. Maybe you could use a flashing light blue screen to indicate when you've come upon one of the water people.

Perhaps, for some reason, the sun on the planet has started emitting strange and extremely powerful rays, which are more harmful than usual. As a result, people have had to take refuge temporarily in nearby beach bungalows.

[Wavelength]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Well, one could argue that the "people" on this beach are actually made up of more water than the average human, so they are nearly invisible. Thus, when you walk up to a stand to buy something, a voice is heard with no body attached to it, at least no body that can be seen. Maybe you could use a flashing light blue screen to indicate when you've come upon one of the water people.

Perhaps, for some reason, the sun on the planet has started emitting strange and extremely powerful rays, which are more harmful than usual. As a result, people have had to take refuge temporarily in nearby beach bungalows.

I was actually about to use that second idea and put some tents on the Beach... and then tried it and found you can't put tents on the beach! Damn, so close

I think if I'm going to include the Strand, I'll use a town/field combo setup, but more than likely I'll need to cut it for DU purposes.

I'd love to keep hearing ideas, though. Maybe we can make this work.

[Pagerron]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

I hadn't meant tents. One of the caves (dungeon model) has a mossy look to it. That one would work rather well. That's what I've done for one beach section of my game. It's called the Mossy Bungalow.

[Wavelength]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

I hadn't meant tents. One of the caves (dungeon model) has a mossy look to it. That one would work rather well. That's what I've done for one beach section of my game. It's called the Mossy Bungalow.

That's a cool idea. Maybe not exactly the feel I'm going for, but I'll at least give it a try and see how it looks.

[LunarWingCloud]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Thinking about that: I'm gonna pull an ff7 and allow the character to buy a house in a certain area for X amount of money. Now, I don't quite understand how you make a "storage" per se, but I want to put special features in the house, so it isn't a waste like in ff7. I want it to be awesome. Maybe I should add.... oh, who am I kinding? I got nothin'. Any ideas? Please?

[Wavelength]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Thinking about that: I'm gonna pull an ff7 and allow the character to buy a house in a certain area for X amount of money. Now, I don't quite understand how you make a "storage" per se, but I want to put special features in the house, so it isn't a waste like in ff7. I want it to be awesome. Maybe I should add.... oh, who am I kinding? I got nothin'. Any ideas? Please?

The "storage" can be done by adding a few NPCs to the house that have no other purpose in the game; talking to them lets you add them to your party and I guess as soon as you leave the house they're removed from your party. That way they basically serve as 10 slots of storage apiece and don't do anything else. You need to make sure that the player can get below four normal party members in order to do this, and presumably, if members needed to be removed in order to add the "storage" members, the player should be able to get those characters back before leaving the house.

You could definitely have the house be a place where you can play minigames (see threads all over the board for minigame suggestions) or maybe let it quick-warp you to other places you've already visited in the game.

[LunarWingCloud]

Re: Bamboozled by the Beach

Thanks. I was also thinking... isn't it better when making a warp to use a standard event instead of the warp? I noticed if you use a reg warp, it doesn't tell you where you'll go, but by using the standard event, you can tell the player: "This warp will take you to Dark Chateau. Would you like to go to Dark Chateau?" Right?