A Heart of Gold

[Prpl_Mage]

Yeah the last finished chapter is mine. I'll just send the two of you the chapter I made and we can discuss what to do with it later.

The UK has been in a lot more lock downs than other places and it sounded like Moose had a couple of things going in in life (I have a faint memory of him mentioning building a house?). So not sure how progress is going.

[Momeka]

Yeah, I think everyone doing a final chapter would be fun.

But if no one have time I'm willing to try and wrap it up. But don't expect too much, I really don't have that much spare time to work on so it will be something short and pretty straight forward.

Edit:
I beat the game, nice work everyone!

I also started looking at revamping the companion following system since it's causing a bunch of issues with puzzles and movement. I got this so far:

They shouldn't be blocking other events with this. The only thing is that it can look a bit weird with they standing inside pushable blocks etc. But it's a pretty small price to pay.

Anyway I need to update all the maps with this system, that's going to take a while.

So if we're doing the thing where everyone makes a final chapter it would be good to hold off on that until this is in.

Edit 2:
Turns out the companion events are used in cutscenes and stuff... This may be way more of a headache than I thought. But I'll give a try.

[Moosetroop11]

Hi guys, sorry I wasn't checking charas out of shame >_< Do you want me to send what I have? The enormity of finishing a game sort of hit me, and with the other stuff I had going on I only really managed to get through a regular chapter's worth of stuff : (

[Archem]

No, your inactivity has become something of a tradition that we uphold. If you break it now, I'm pretty sure the youth will have nothing to look forward to, and society as a whole will likely break down into chaos.

[Moosetroop11]

: p Fair enough! Well so everyone knows, my part sets up the final boss and takes the player from where prpl left off back to a place where you could basically go about and do things, and prepare for the final dungeon, though I admit I was finding it difficult to figure out the momentum of the story.

[Momeka]

: p Fair enough! Well so everyone knows, my part sets up the final boss and takes the player from where prpl left off back to a place where you could basically go about and do things, and prepare for the final dungeon, though I admit I was finding it difficult to figure out the momentum of the story.

It sounds like you're almost done!?


Edit:
Random edit, but I think the biggest issues in the chain game comes from scoping. I have a feeling most of us try to do too much with our chapters, if we just try to keep it shorter I think we would end up with a tighter game and less likely to burn out and not finish things. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff you've all made so far. Like purples chapter 4, it's great but I also think that it could have ended after finishing the temple.
Yes, it will result in shorter games, but like I said before (for me at least) an "epic" 20 hour game isn't the point of the chain games.

[Moosetroop11]

Yeah I agree, and maybe I could have just made them go straight from where prpl left off into the final sequence and that's what a chain game should be, but because we'd set up the world and exploration it always feels like it should be more than that.

But yes you're actually right, I guess I am almost done - if you prefer I can bash out the final dungeon in a couple of weeks and stop moping around - the advantage of that would be I get to make the final dungeon / final boss music, which is the bit I like the best. Ok I'll do that, cut some corners and stop being an idiot.

[Prpl_Mage]

I can bash out the final dungeon in a couple of weeks and stop moping around - the advantage of that would be I get to make the final dungeon / final boss music, which is the bit I like the best. Ok I'll do that, cut some corners and stop being an idiot.

That sounds like a good plan Moose

Like purples chapter 4, it's great but I also think that it could have ended after finishing the temple.

And I agree.
All of your chapters had a good length and then I went overboard like I usually do. I kept it to one dungeon as planned but instead forced the player to go around the entire world without any real reason beyond fleshing out the open world feeling.
I skipped the murder mystery part of the train and made it more linear but I could just as easily have let the next person do the train part as well.

[Momeka]

-

Sorry, I did not mean to make you feel forced to finish it or anything like that.

but because we'd set up the world and exploration it always feels like it should be more than that

Yeah, I agree. But I think filling up the cave systems and finishing/adding side quest is something we could take turns to do after the game is finished. If no one wants to I can do it, I find that stuff fun.

All of your chapters had a good length and then I went overboard like I usually do.

Length wise I think they might be an okay size, maybe a bit on the shorter side. But I feel I might do too little to advance the plot which make it a bit hard to follow up on. I just tend to find building cool environments to explore more fun than plot stuff.


Also Moose let me know if you want help with art or something to take some of the load off.

[Moosetroop11]

Thanks Momeka, don't worry I didn't feel forced, more galvanized haha. I worked on it last night and got to a position where I literally just have to do the final dungeon now - I have a strong idea for what I want the final dungeon to look like so I feel like I should probably make the chipset myself, but having said that, that is the most taxing graphical thing to do. Ah actually I do have a graphic you'd find fun that you'll do a lot better than me, the actual boss. I'll PM you.

And yes I feel like we could all contribute to the cave system once the game is finished and make it awesome : ) I was playing a lot of FF12 when I did my first chapter and the caves in that game entranced me

[Momeka]

Since we're doing an open world game how would it be if you are returned to town after beating the game and can continue exploring?

That way we can also add post game content when doing the side quests stuff after moose is done. All we really have to do is just add a switch with like PostGame and check that for the post game specific events. We would also have to keep in mind disabling any potential side stuff that has with the main story to do.
It would be some extra work but I think it could be fun. I was kind of thinking of adding some extra boss rush thing where you could fight the final bosses from the previous chain games. But it would only sorta make sense if it's post game : P

[Moosetroop11]

Yeah that sounds good I'll do that : )

[Fisherson]

No sense sending me the game. My wonderful laptop is dead. Taking it in tomorrow to see if I can fix it but I'm not hopeful. Ohh I love how Alienware preforms but I hate the replacement cost.

[Moosetroop11]

Hey all, I thought I'd better give you an update since I'm notoriously tardy at this point (sorry if you thought this was the 'I'm done' announcement lol)

I've been working steadily on this, and am almost done, I'll make another push this week and see if I can get it finished.

[Fisherson]

Moose for the win! Go for it man. I'm playing through Purp's work without using the cheat menu, at least trying not to. So far not bad at all! Nice to see all the spirits I had as place holders actually on the map and the few dialogue bugs fixed. For almost two years work it at least shows in this.