Status Thread Categories

[Amethyst]

Much like with the 14.5 goals topic, this thread exists to elaborate on the categories outlined in the E15 Status Thread.

It comes a bit tardy due to my own compulsion to prefer not to talk about development as much as actually developing things (which incidentally is why we had no sort of devblog before). Nonetheless, this topic differs from the previous in that whereas I am not talking so specifically about the goals (because I have so many!), as I am categories of goals as represented in the status thread. The categories can be elaborated upon as such:

Previous Updates:

Field Updates:

This, of course, refers to changes to existing Field Effects. These changes will most often be bugfixes, balance tweaks, or altered functionality (usually to solve a problem such as the Cave collapse, or to add a move that makes sense to have an effect there). These changes tend to be very quick to apply, with occasional exceptions. Incidentally, one such significant exception is lumped in with E15, which will put a damper on progress here.

Event Updates:

This does not refer to 'Event Pokemon' as many might expect, but RMXP's Events, which are basically tiles that make anything in the game do anything. Because of that, this is a very broad category (and also contains the most number of changes to make, of anything). However, RMXP is a freelo machine, and these changes are often easily made within minutes. Unfortunately, exceptions to that statement are frequent, because some changes may require a notable amount of deliberation before deciding the best approach, and/or may be sweeping changes, affecting many parts of the game. Further, since To-Do's are often added to the list mid episode-development, the volume of work is subject to increase at any time (which could, for instance, result in the current % progress to go down from what it was)

Graphic Updates:

While I do not consider graphics to be an especially high priority, I do believe in quality standards, so I am often picky about what goes into the game. Regrettably, past-me was not so picky, and as such there are a number of poorly-made or lazily-applied graphics (particularly early parts of the game). Over time I will be revisiting these and bringing them up to par. Because spriting does take a while, this will likely be the slowest category (although, that might soon be rectified in part by my newly adopted spriter, who it occurs to me I still need to have introduce himself)...

Misc Updates:

I've included this as a catch-all for things that don't really fit into any of the above categories, need to be added later, or otherwise just need special attention. Some examples in this in the current case includes replacing some problematic music, designing a couple new trainer classes, and creating a new sidequest condition that doesn't fit snugly into either the scripting or event categories. Progress for this section is likely to be relatively volatile.

Scripting Updates:

Arguably in some cases, this will not constitute a 'previous update', but with all battle content implemented, most scripting goals also will not necessarily be 'new things' (exceptions apply, as usual). This will largely include bugfixes and things like AI improvements, as well as the occasional larger project. I am primarily leaving this section to others, so I'll allow them to report on progress at will, sans items being completed.

New Content:

Mapping:

In RMXP, 'maps' refer to the areas you, as a player, are able to walk around in and explore. While creating them is mainly just a matter of clicking around a few thousand times (or so it feels like), the process can be rather time-consuming. I also include in this section designing areas to be mapped, as well as making any necessary new graphics for these areas (I find it is often most helpful to integrate the mapping process with graphics creation, as each necessarily informs the other). This category will generally take the second-longest, although with E15's light content, it has already been done.

New Field Effects:

While self-explanitory, there are several parts to this. First, outlining what kind of changes the new fields will have. Second, creating graphics for them. Finally, the most extensive part is implementing them. Some ideas may prove impractical during implementation, or otherwise it occasionally takes me some time to work out details of how to implement something, so this can sometimes be a rather slow section. ...Other times, I can implement all of the new fields in a day. This one is really in the air until I get down to it.

Eventing:

In line with the previous comments about RMXP Events, this step is a matter of adding functionality to maps. The previous 'Mapping' step for me is strictly making the visual component. With Eventing, we bring it to life. This section includes making things like NPCs, teleport events, hidden items, as well as laying down puzzles. Puzzles are almost always difficult or tedious to implement, but the other usual suspects for this category are relatively quick.

Sidequests:

Another straight-forward section. The amount of total work here can vary significantly based on how many sidequests are being implemented, and how involved they are (Numel event? Two minutes. Pangoro/Scrafty event? Two days). Depending on the needs of each sidequest this could potentially include additional graphic creation, mapping, or even scripting. As such, this will be another volatile category. However, to be honest, despite acknowledging their value, I find making sidequests very demotivating (a lot of work for what ends up feeling like no progress), and as motivation is significant factor in development speed, I sometimes work slower here.

Story:

Finally, the meat of the episode. This includes battles, dialogue, and basically anything necessary in terms of the player completing the episode. I often save this section for last because it is very easy for me to get in flow with this and tear through it quickly (pretty much the opposite of doing sidequests). However, this process will sometimes be interrupted by a need for new graphics, such as the helicopter in E14. This will certainly be the case for E15 in creating multiple new trainer backs, and a certain character's attacking animation (spoilers?), but sans these falling points, Story tends to be a rather quick endeavor.

Hopefully with all of this reviewed, the Status Thread is a little less engimatic and players better know what to expect in terms of progress and the length of development.

Now to try and knock some of this stuff out of the way...