Western Destiny [Humor/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

NaNoRenO is an event where creators make a game from scratch during the month of March.
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Western Destiny [Humor/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#1 Post by Rated Z »

WESTERN DESTINY
Hello there. Total newbie here. I've dabbled in programming off and on for decades now, and always dreamed of making a real game. Hopefully NaNoRenO can push me to complete my first one and finally learn to make the kinds of games that I've always wanted to play. There are a lot of very talented people on these forums, and it will be quite a challenge to try and keep up.

The title for my NaNoRenO 2015 game is "Western Destiny." It is set in the old west of America. It will have as much gunslingin' action as I can possibly pack into it, but otherwise it should be okay for teens on up. I already have the concept for a short story, and telling that will be my initial goal, but the details might change a bit as I experiment with different aspects of game programming. Believe it or not, I tried to write it once 15 years ago in HTML. It didn't quite work out, so this will be a nice second chance. Working on this game is really more about learning to program and getting to a completed version than anything else.

Other than the title and the concept, I am starting from zero right now. One person development team, too!

Ready? Get set...

GO!
Last edited by Rated Z on Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#2 Post by Googaboga »

A western adventure sounds like a lot of fun. I can't say much right now but I'd like to wish you good luck on your first project c:.
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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#3 Post by Rated Z »

Hey, thanks very much, Googaboga! I appreciate the support.

UPDATE!

Okay, after posting last night, I worked for about three hours. I planned out the game flow, characters, and backgrounds. I figure I will need eight backgrounds (including the title menu), and will have seven main characters with three expressions each. I'm not planning on making the player a visible character on screen at this point. I started sketching out two of the characters.

MUSIC!

I also began work on the music, writing and recording three short themes and planning out a fourth before I turned in for the night. I'd like to have at least eight pieces of music in the final game. It's very interesting writing a piece of music designed to be played in a loop. I don't know how seamless my music themes will really sound when they loop back to the beginning. I struggled a bit making the third piece loop cleanly, but I think it works.

INJURY!

I'd like to point out that in the process of writing the fourth musical piece, I was pressing my middle finger against my worn acoustic guitar, in order to steady my other fingerpicking fingers. The worn wood of the guitar gave me a nasty splinter on the tip of my middle finger, and I believe that this splinter acquisition may qualify as the first serious injury sustained during the production of this year's NaNoRenO. I will contact the forum administrators immediately regarding any possible medals they might want to present me with at the conclusion of NaNoRenO 2015.

NEXT?

After work today, I plan on sketching out some more characters and begin work on the backgrounds. Hopefully next I will be able to post some of the stuff I've already created. It's really great and interesting to see the material from the other projects on the forum already, and definitely a different experience for me to do a creative project in public.

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#4 Post by Rated Z »

Okay here is the first background image.
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Western Destiny Background 1
Western Destiny Background 1

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#5 Post by Hazel-Bun »

Looking good!
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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#6 Post by Rated Z »

Thanks very much! :D It took about three hours to complete.

Here are the first three music cues I wrote and recorded last night, all music intended to be looped.

Music cue 1 will probably not be the theme song.

https://soundcloud.com/denny-zartman/western-destiny-1

Music cue 2 will be for the big fight scene.

https://soundcloud.com/denny-zartman/western-destiny-2

And music cue 3 will be for the main female character.

https://soundcloud.com/denny-zartman/western-destiny-3

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#7 Post by Rated Z »

Some early character designs.

The Kid - I like this one, probably will stick with this.
The Lady - Still working on her. I'll try different hair, dress, and poses with the parasol.
The Mayor - I like this one too and will probably use this design.
The Deputy - Not excited about this design, I have to make him a little more colorful and distinctive, I think.
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Western Destiny Characters 1
Western Destiny Characters 1

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#8 Post by Rated Z »

Trying to figure out an approach to the bad guy. I'll have to work on this some more.
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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#9 Post by Rated Z »

Bartender and Bank Guard.

Bartender design came very easily, and I think I will keep it. He looks like a friendly fellow.

Bank Guard - Difficult to figure out. A young guard looked too much like the deputy, so I may use some of the young bank guard designs here and redo the deputy. I think I will use the old bang guard in the lower left hand corner.

- I'm not planning on doing much more work on the game tonight. I'll try to crank out a background every day until they're done. I think I will tint the backgrounds sepia and keep the characters in full color. I'm looking forward to making the final characters and getting started programming!
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characters3.jpeg

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#10 Post by Rated Z »

UPDATE!

Stayed up and started background #2 last night and finished it this morning. Tinted it in sepia, and it looks a lot better, I think.

HISTORY!

The outdoor backgrounds in "Western Destiny" are based on pictures that I took while working as a background extra one day at Melody Ranch, a famous movie studio set in California. So, this game will have some genuine Hollywood production value! Woo hoo!

NEXT?

I have one more outdoor background to complete, and I will likely start work on it tonight. The next step is figuring out a strategy for creating the indoor backgrounds. I'm eager to start programming, and drawing the character sprites should be fun too.
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westernbkg2.jpg

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#11 Post by Awesomepigman »

Wow those backgrounds are breathtaking! I'm looking forward to this game and the western take of it!
Happy NaNo-ing!

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#12 Post by Auro-Cyanide »

Wow you are making excellent progress! I'm loving the wild west theme and the backgrounds are great. I can also tell you have a sense of humour so I look forward to your final work XD Good luck!

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#13 Post by ketskari »

I like the pen and ink wash look to the background art. Are they going to stay black and white? Also, I love the music! Good luck :)

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#14 Post by Rated Z »

Thanks very much! I really appreciate the support. I am going to keep the backgrounds sepia and the characters will be in color.

UPDATE!

March 5th was a big work day for me, so my progress slowed down a bit. I should have more time over the next two days to work on the game, hopefully.

Since the last update, I completed backgrounds 3 and 4, and composed music cue 5. I also created the first artwork for the menu screen, which is a colorful western sky. I plan on having a cowboy on a horse in black silhouette at the bottom, and the title taking up most of the upper left majority of the screen, with the menu in the usual bottom right. But this works for now.

NEXT?

Recording and uploading Music cues 4 and 5.

Though I am naturally inclined to complete all my artwork first, I'm seriously considering making temp images of the characters and starting my coding right away, just in case I feel the need for different poses or expressions. I would rather do all the character art at the same time, but again, that's just my gut instinct. I'm probably already ready for a break from the artwork, since the backgrounds have taken a lot of time to draw.

Thanks again, everyone. This has already been a blast, and I look forward to seeing everyone's games/VN's!
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westerntitleearly.jpg
westernbkg4.jpg
westernbkg3.jpg

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Re: Western Destiny [Action/Adventure] [NaNoRenO2015]

#15 Post by YossarianIII »

Hey, I don't know if this is the place for it, but I needed to comment somewhere that the hair on your avatar is magnificent!

Also, I am so on board for a Western action/adventure game. That's easily one of the most underrepresented genres here, which is a shame, because gunslingin' has a lot of good story potential.

And those art sketches are pretty cool! I'm a big fan of more cartoonish styles, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.


Best of luck!

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