RPG Unknown/Hiatus Malise and the Machine - Public Demo Available Now!

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

File format is irrelevant - game will still treat it and display as RGBA.
Don't know if and how you changed this, but in vanilla, battle effects (blink, flash, etc.) are applied to sprite, so if you include part of background in boss graphic, effect will also be applied to this part. Besides, it doesn't matter if boss is not using whole part of the screen (right/left with full height or top/bottom with full width) as overlapping area will still be used by both graphics.
Let's say for the sake of argument that limit is in fact 1,5GB, this bitmap alone uses over 20% of available memory, and you still need shitload of memory for other graphics - tilesets, spritesheets, tilemap, transitions, backgrounds, battler sprites, etc. Don't know how long it takes to load such monstrosity (354MB... fuck...), but I wouldn't cache something that big, unless it's used very (and I mean VERY) often - if it loads in 1-2 seconds, displaying simple "please wait" message before boss battle should suffice and nobody would hold it against you - at least that's my opinion.
Inconsistency may be related to ruby garbage collection, which cleans unreferenced objects at fixed(?) periods of time. During change between scenes using lots of graphics, there's a chance that objects disposed/cleaned in previous scene were not yet garbage collected and they still use lots of memory. You can manually call garbage collection method - This will probably cause lag, but at least it will minimize chance of "Failed to load bitmap" crash.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:
It's still bothering me - 1024x768 RGBA bitmap uses around 3MB of memory, with 16 frames that's ~48MB... so how big is this boss spritesheet, that it uses 354MB?

Good call on the sprite effects-- I felt like I was forgetting something. I guess it doesn't matter though if RPG Maker treats it all as RGBA. But yeah, what makes the sheet so big is the multiple poses (multiple rows). I made a version with fewer frames that would work fine for this release and still look good. The file size is only 6.05 MB after compression (3.6 MB for the one with fewer frames).

I think the answer here is modifying the animation script to be less generic, and I can hardcode the poses for each enemy and save a lot of pixel area by eliminating the blank rows from the PNGs. I also may make exceptions and pre-cache big sprites like this before battles. There's a small load time, but at least it's during the transition.

 

[Scherzo]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

I'd imagine that same issue would extend to large dimension parallax maps.

FYI, most current "Paralax Mapping scripts" don't actually use the map's Paralax layer. As such, the "Paralax layers" used by the script can be made up of multiple pictures, and you don't necessarily have to make them span the whole map. So, you could make a map overlay in 4 pieces and offset them to cover the part of the map you need. I've never actually needed to do that, but it'd be simple enough with most of the layer mapping scripts I've played with.

I don't know if simultaneously loading multiple smaller paralaxes would be any better than just loading one larger one though. If they're just overlays with some shadows or a few extra environmental details (cracks in walls, graffiti, etc) on the tilemaps, it shouldn't take as much memory as fully parallaxed maps, I would think.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

FYI, most current "Paralax Mapping scripts" don't actually use the map's Paralax layer. As such, the "Paralax layers" used by the script can be made up of multiple pictures, and you don't necessarily have to make them span the whole map. So, you could make a map overlay in 4 pieces and offset them to cover the part of the map you need. I've never actually needed to do that, but it'd be simple enough with most of the layer mapping scripts I've played with.

I don't know if simultaneously loading multiple smaller paralaxes would be any better than just loading one larger one though. If they're just overlays with some shadows or a few extra environmental details (cracks in walls, graffiti, etc) on the tilemaps, it shouldn't take as much memory as fully parallaxed maps, I would think.

That's good to know. It would actually be better due to the problem AltairPL and i were talking about, which is basically that images which are really really big (even if they have small filesize) can cause RPG Maker to crash. It would also potentially allow me to load them on the fly instead of caching them. Once I spend some time figuring out the best solution I'll give you a heads up if I find I need someone to help paint the maps.

 

[AExMachina]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Nope. Not for NSFW projects. Paypal on Patreon only works for SFW - Paypal notoriously hates anything adult, so any payments using it on Patreon will automatically fail.

Huh, didn't know that. It allowed me to set Paypal as my payment source so I thought it would work - guess I need to go back and switch it to my credit card then.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Huh, didn't know that. It allowed me to set Paypal as my payment source so I thought it would work - guess I need to go back and switch it to my credit card then.

Ouch, that's a goofy bug. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll definitely make a big bold warning not to set it to Paypal in the post with details on the release.

 

[Anon42]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Ouch, that's a goofy bug. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll definitely make a big bold warning not to set it to Paypal in the post with details on the release.

'Tis a good idea. With my campaign, I wait a few days after the release of a new update and then send out a mass message to patrons with declined cards to let them know that paypal doesn't work, just in case they're new to patreon and didn't know about that. There's no way to tell whether someone is using paypal or not, so you can't do it preemptively unless you want to keep detailed records of who pledged to you in the past so you don't send it to someone twice.

Patreon definitely has some problems on both the Creator and Patron sides, but they're generally easy to work around. Seeing as how you've got your shit well-collected, I wouldn't be surprised if you've thought of this already, but I suggest you find a way to distribute the update manually to only the people whose pledges were successful - it's very likely you'll have a load of declined cards and people who join up just to snatch the update then leave. Personally I just take advantage of the Patron Manager and send the download link in a message to all successfully processed patrons, then mark them as 'completed' so they don't show up in the list anymore, so I don't send it to the same guy more than once.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

I received the test prints for the $35 tier reward today. They look faaaancy. Sorry for the garbage phone pic!

You must be registered to see the links

'Tis a good idea. With my campaign, I wait a few days after the release of a new update and then send out a mass message to patrons with declined cards to let them know that paypal doesn't work, just in case they're new to patreon and didn't know about that. There's no way to tell whether someone is using paypal or not, so you can't do it preemptively unless you want to keep detailed records of who pledged to you in the past so you don't send it to someone twice.

Patreon definitely has some problems on both the Creator and Patron sides, but they're generally easy to work around. Seeing as how you've got your shit well-collected, I wouldn't be surprised if you've thought of this already, but I suggest you find a way to distribute the update manually to only the people whose pledges were successful - it's very likely you'll have a load of declined cards and people who join up just to snatch the update then leave. Personally I just take advantage of the Patron Manager and send the download link in a message to all successfully processed patrons, then mark them as 'completed' so they don't show up in the list anymore, so I don't send it to the same guy more than once.

Thanks for the info! We're definitely sending it out manually, but will likely do it through email unless there's a reason not to (Patreon's messaging center is kinda ehhhh). I just made a post on there about the Paypal thing, so I'm waiting to see how many people this is news for, heh.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Hey guys!

The first test release will be on or around April 1 (as soon as Patreon processes payments, basically). You must be pledged by March 29 to be eligible for rewards!

For those of you that contacted me previously about having no other choice but to use Paypal, I'll be messaging you later today with some information.

Please check out the following post for details:

You must be registered to see the links

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[AExMachina]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Hey guys!

The first test release will be on or around April 1 (as soon as Patreon processes payments, basically). You must be pledged by March 29 to be eligible for rewards!

(underlining mine)

So, the whole game project is an elaborate April Fool's joke? I knew it looked too good to be true!

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

(underlining mine)

So, the whole game project is an elaborate April Fool's joke? I knew it looked too good to be true!

I actually meant to make a joke about that but completely forgot. Hngghh---

 

[SoulBreaka]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Now the we have a date, the wait is even more real. God dammit 1-2weeks to go. Aaaaaaaaa just before I leave for Japan for a year as well so I can't get it straight away.

Now that I mentioned that, I wonder if cops in Japan are gonna arrest me for dling dlsite games...since they have been enforcing pirating laws on anime, music n TV shows n stuff. Heard that streaming is ok though. (Well not sure about illegal streaming).

Sorri for off topic but it just came to mind when i saw the date lol.

 

[DarkMist67]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Now that the demo is coming out, can you elaborate on the H-mechanics? H-attacks inflict lust, that much we know, but does it damage your HP, or something else that eventually makes you lose? High lust makes you more susceptible to advanced H-attacks as well making it easier to break clothing, but whats to stop an enemy from just raping over and over?

TLR what are the long term consquences of losing struggles and failing H-attacks repeatedly/what is the incentive to not get raped?

 

[cavecricket48]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Well, thank god this wasn't another Duke Nukem Forever...

 

[PM21]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Well, thank god this wasn't another Duke Nukem Forever...

What even gave you that idea? The tumblr, blogspot, and this thread have had regular updates in the last several months detailing the progress leading up to this release.

 

[cavecricket48]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

What even gave you that idea? The tumblr, blogspot, and this thread have had regular updates in the last several months detailing the progress leading up to this release.

As to the actual demo, it took three months for it to ship. The updates- yes they were decently frequent- haven't mentioned an alpha since the beginning of January; maybe I was being delusional, but I was under the impression that when the Patreon first went up the foundations of the code had been set or at least been in a workable form, and honestly, considering the scope of the game and after I realized that outside of concept mockups the game hadn't been worked on, I expected a May demo release.

 

[Anon42]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

As to the actual demo, it took three months for it to ship. The updates- yes they were decently frequent- haven't mentioned an alpha since the beginning of January; maybe I was being delusional, but I was under the impression that when the Patreon first went up the foundations of the code had been set or at least been in a workable form, and honestly, considering the scope of the game and after I realized that outside of concept mockups the game hadn't been worked on, I expected a May demo release.

I can't say for certain, seeing as I'm not the developer, but I really don't think the game "hadn't been worked out (outside of concept mockups)" once the Patreon went up. Eromancer is a crazy hard worker, and he's been chugging away at this game for quite some time now if I remember correctly. The reason it's taken a while for release is because of the sheer amount of effort he's taking to bring everything up to quality. This is essentially a triple-A H-game, and AFAIK it's mostly a one-man operation. Cut him some slack, game development already takes a long while and a lot of effort, even when you aren't going for this kind of quality.

I also wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot more content per update than most other games, such as my own; Ero's going for a small amount of updates and a lot of content per update, rather than lots of smaller ones.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Now that the demo is coming out, can you elaborate on the H-mechanics? H-attacks inflict lust, that much we know, but does it damage your HP, or something else that eventually makes you lose? High lust makes you more susceptible to advanced H-attacks as well making it easier to break clothing, but whats to stop an enemy from just raping over and over?

TLR what are the long term consquences of losing struggles and failing H-attacks repeatedly/what is the incentive to not get raped?

Currently the plan is to use the lust system in a way that makes it your critical parameter for continuing through a hostile area. You can heal your HP, your SP will recharge over time (at least that's the plan for SP down the road), but you can't get rid of lust while in the field (there will be story elements to explain this). Basically, high lust develops into various stages of what I'm currently calling "lust sickness"... kinda like radiation sickness, but with more surprise boobage.

Lust sickness will probably have negative status effects of its own in later releases, but it also makes characters vulnerable to more status effects or H attacks that can result in negative effects. While some H attacks may do direct HP damage, it won't be the usual case unless it gets balanced to be that way. It's useful to note that high lust makes it harder to get out of enemy holds, and if you aren't doing damage or interrupting enemy skills you'll probably be receiving HP damage from some source. In short though: as lust increases, characters become weaker and enemies become more badass.

 

[DarkMist67]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Currently the plan is to use the lust system in a way that makes it your critical parameter for continuing through a hostile area. You can heal your HP, your SP will recharge over time (at least that's the plan for SP down the road), but you can't get rid of lust while in the field (there will be story elements to explain this). Basically, high lust develops into various stages of what I'm currently calling "lust sickness"... kinda like radiation sickness, but with more surprise boobage.

Lust sickness will probably have negative status effects of its own in later releases, but it also makes characters vulnerable to more status effects or H attacks that can result in negative effects. While some H attacks may do direct HP damage, it won't be the usual case unless it gets balanced to be that way. It's useful to note that high lust makes it harder to get out of enemy holds, and if you aren't doing damage or interrupting enemy skills you'll probably be receiving HP damage from some source. In short though: as lust increases, characters become weaker and enemies become more badass.

Only asked cause if there is only one or two enemies in the battle theoretically they could just plug away for infinity and you would never lose. As long as there are actual consequences to H-attacks that matter for gameplay and game difficulty thats perfect for me. There are a lot of games where the H just kinda happens and it literally doesnt do anything, so it becomes something that eats up time while you wait for it to finish, but when it is a core mechanic it really adds to the game and longevity for the H itself. MaiDenSnowEve is a great example, it has very little in the way of H-content, but what is there holds up for a very long time because it is an integral mechanic that heavily affects your gameplay and game difficulty .

What you have planned sounds great, but you can always make H-attacks more punishing (along with everything else) should you decide to add higher game difficulties like a hard mode or something down the road.

Either way, crazy stoked for the release! This game is going to be a true gem.

 

[Eromancer]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

Only asked cause if there is only one or two enemies in the battle theoretically they could just plug away for infinity and you would never lose. As long as there are actual consequences to H-attacks that matter for gameplay and game difficulty thats perfect for me. There are a lot of games where the H just kinda happens and it literally doesnt do anything, so it becomes something that eats up time while you wait for it to finish, but when it is a core mechanic it really adds to the game and longevity for the H itself. MaiDenSnowEve is a great example, it has very little in the way of H-content, but what is there holds up for a very long time because it is an integral mechanic that heavily affects your gameplay and game difficulty .

What you have planned sounds great, but you can always make H-attacks more punishing (along with everything else) should you decide to add higher game difficulties like a hard mode or something down the road.

Either way, crazy stoked for the release! This game is going to be a true gem.

Currently the enemies have a probability ratio used to select an H attack (if it is available to them to use for a specific target) or combat skill from their skill table. Balancing that and the likely addition down the road of some more advanced AI to change their behavior as the enemy count lessens is definitely going to be taken into consideration since, as you say, you get a distinctly different situation when the enemy count is above the number of actors.

It's also worthwhile to mention the targeting algorithm is really basic at the moment, and mainly covers the basics of making the H system functional (for example, not beginning an H attack cast on a character that can't receive said H attack based on conditions or being 'busy'). That will get improved as well.

So yeah, right now you can probabilistically get into a situation that feels like you're just getting pinned down with H attacks, but that's something that will definitely get smoothed out as the AI gets built up, character skills are added, and systems are refined.

 

[Hawko]

Re: Malise and the Machine (New RPG!)

I did not now you were here Eromancer! i am a fan of your artwork and i am looking forward to the game as well, looking forward to the chance to play it.

well i guess ill see you here and on patreon.