Auroran
Genre: JRPG
Platform: PC Engine: Unity Skills Used: C# Development, Scripting, Testing Team: Twodee Weaver (Lead Designer) and Jed Myers (Developer) A JRPG project I am developing under contract for Twodee Weaver. With influences from Earthbound and Undertale. |
Origins
I joined onto Twodee's project shortly after layoffs from Lunar Mare. We had a mutual friend, Samantha Wright, and he hit it off immediately. Twodee had attempted to develop this game previously but without much experience or framework in programming, she hadn't gotten far. Coming off of my previous game, I mostly had experience in platforming, top-down games, and 3D games. I had never attempted a JRPG combat system and it was an interesting challenge to flex my brain with.
I joined onto Twodee's project shortly after layoffs from Lunar Mare. We had a mutual friend, Samantha Wright, and he hit it off immediately. Twodee had attempted to develop this game previously but without much experience or framework in programming, she hadn't gotten far. Coming off of my previous game, I mostly had experience in platforming, top-down games, and 3D games. I had never attempted a JRPG combat system and it was an interesting challenge to flex my brain with.
Initial Prototypes
I started by creating an overworld map which had a basic animated main character sprite moving about the world. I decided on loading and unloading the various parts of the map as the player walked through them using volume triggers on the player and the scenes. The individual scenes would be loaded in additively and and I used placeholder art from Twodee's LDD to build this initial level. Twodee had spent years in her spare time creating art assets, so a nice feature of this development-cycle was that for the most part, I always had placeholder art or close to final art. |
Developing the Combat System
This part was the really hard part as I have never been a particular fan of JRPGs. I will fully own up to being a part of a WRPG culture that tended to look down on JRPGs without really trying them. As a result our first month of combat development was rough. In order to properly develop this game, I had to research JRPG combat systems. I played Suikoden, Tales of Vesperia, Persona 5 and 4, and Final Fantasy VI. After which we came to the combat system in the trailer. Combat is essentially a Pokemon-style game with two health bars: Pacifism Points and Hit Points. You can either take action to calm and placate them or to kill them, leading to a variety of different outcomes and behavior manipulation. All throughout we had a very dynamic, collaborative relationship and iterated through testing at local indie meet-ups. |
Setting Up Tools
One of the most challenging experiences has been work with someone who needs to be hands on with the engine but does not come from a development background. My previous job had a similar situation, but in this case Twodee needed to be able to design levels and iterate at very quick speeds. To that end I have set up tools and provided a look of tutorials and guidance, meaning that part of this job has been as a teacher. And it also lead creating scriptable objects that make Twodee's job of shifting parameters easier. |