Lurker > LostForest

There's no real conclusive answer on what's going on with Pauline and the timeline. I think Nintendo (questionably) left so many clues pointing in different directions to make people reach their own conclusions.

My personal interpretation is that Pauline Jr. here is either the daughter or niece or something, of regular Pauline that we've always known. Mostly based on lines about how her grandmother was a singer, the family dress, etc...

Bananza 100% unequivocally takes place after all the mainline DK games though, that's pretty concrete.

Robot2600 posted...

that is a long time away.

id play this tho

edit: i love the art

I appreciate the compliments by the way! I'm very particular on the artstyle and have had pushback from people on it in the past, so I'm glad to hear some positive feedback on it.

It's a long time away but I've also been working on it for about 7 years now >_> so relatively speaking, is not TOO far off haha.

There's a possibility I might be able to push the release date up to late 2026, but I'm trying to take a slow and steady approach to building up interest and audience.

Actually, a big reason why I've already debuted publicly, is because there was a big art festival in my village last month, and I wanted to show it off publicly there for the first time. So the cat had to be out of the bag.

Watch and enjoy! And have a Happy Halloween!

https://youtu.be/XZaQdeTt5fU?si=Q6WrA-K5szq7JUnn

If you're interested in wishlisting, it's got a page on Steam as well!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3975190/Dracanea_The_Ragtag_Regalia/

Thanks again for all the well wishes and wishlists everyone! This all means a lot to me, seriously. I'll definitely let everyone know when I have a demo ready.

Bringit posted...

I really dug the music in that trailer, took me back to the PSX era of fantasy games. Vandal Hearts vibes for sure.

This means a lot to me, since one of the things I'm proudest of is the music. Before I decided to work on this game, I wrote and played music with friends.

a-c-a-b posted...

Looks cool.

Unfortunately I don't have any way to use Steam, but if that changes I'd totally be down to check it out.

I have been considering getting a Steam Deck at some point, but not sure if and when that'll be.

I'm 100% planning to look into getting it on consoles as well, but that's easier said than done. Of the big three, Xbox is the most likely, but I can't say anything for certain at this time. Fingers crossed though!

Starrky posted...

Just a heads up that there's a typo in your Steam description.

In the Overview section it says "Dracanea: The Ragtag Regalia takes cues from takes cues from oldschool 2D RPGs while playfully subverting classic tropes"

Oh shit, thank you for the heads up!

Thanks so much for the support guys! That really means a lot. Part of the reason I don't post here much anymore is because I spend basically all my free time working on it lol.

I really appreciate the wish lists. I'm thinking of getting a demo up soon, so hopefully that's not too far out!

I've been working on this game for the past 7 years, and I'm still about a year and a half out from my estimated release date, BUT I'm excited since I finally made it far enough to start showing it off publicly!

https://youtu.be/7MWy5YN0lO4?si=NY-mPjDw4iWWyv12

It's up on Steam as well, if you'd like to read up on it or check it out!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3975190/Dracanea_The_Ragtag_Regalia

Work has been really slow-going because I'm doing it all by myself, aside from a few commissions for art assets/animations. Plus I've been working full-time at my day job as well. But I'm proud of the work I've done, and am pretty confident I'll have it done by Summer 2027.

If anyone was interested in subscribing on Youtube or other socials, that would be super appreciated! I know I don't post much on CE anymore, but I still wanted to pop in and show it off to everyone.

Considering how close the vote is, my impression is that it's really mixed, and that it depends on each individual mini game.

Probably going to lean towards removing the ones that feel phoned in and eliminate it as a recurring gameplay concept that gets its own splash screen, and just keep a handful that naturally fit into the story.

It's interesting cuz I always kinda felt like no one enjoyed them really, but I stand corrected!

ssb_yunglink2 posted...

I mean to be fair thats been demon slayers thing for the entire series

Like Im not sure if theres a major demon kill that doesnt have some sort of flashback or something

No yeah, I know. But the movie absolutely did not need to be 2 hours long lol. Akaza's sob story could've easily been 5-10 minutes, and the movie could've been under 2 hours then.

Nah I'm talking more like, going through a game with action or RPG gameplay, then you hit a story beat where it switches to some sort of different gameplay for that plot beat, and you can't progress until you clear it.

Arcanine2009 posted...

how many minutes are flashbacks? like half the movie?

I shit you not, literally 45 of the last 60 minutes of the movie are one big flashback.

I love the setting and characters of Demon Slayer but holy shit I absolutely LOATHE the "This villain is about to be defeated. Here's their entire life story." trope that every shonen seems to include now. It legit made me go from really enjoying MHA to legitimately hating it and not wanting to watch the final season this Fall.

I understand the apparent reason for it, but it absolutely sucks and ruins some anime.

Well, reason I'm asking specifically is because I'm about a year and a half out from releasing an indie game I've been working on for a while. The story/script is trending to be far too long, and I've been spending a lot of time trimming story/dialogue out in between programming.

I have a gameplay feature where every time a character joins the team, you need to pass their "Hero Challenge". And while I think a few of them are decent (a crop-picking game, a hide-and-seek game) I kind of ran out of ideas as the story went on, to the point that the final character doesn't even get one, due to where it takes place in the story.

So part of me is considering just chopping them all out, altogether. Possibly sticking them in as a side-mode somewhere? But either way, it would cut a small but decent chunk of dialogue out of the bloated story, and also remove a small bit of programming labor as well.

Basically, trying to read the room on how people feel about them. if it's a thing where generally people see a mini-game area and roll their eyes, then it would seem like a fair idea. but I also understand the point of them (breaking up repetition) so that's why I'm not really decided on it.

What are your thoughts on when action/RPG/adventure games feature a small mini-game as part of a plot beat, which breaks up the normal gameplay? Typically, I mean in the form of a required mini-game, where you must pass it to progress the story.

For example, stuff like:

-Island Challenges in Pokemon Sun/Moon, gym leader challenges in Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet
-Cucko wrangling or horse racing in Ocarina of Time
-Any of the dozens of random overworld mini-game QTEs in the Mario & Luigi series et al.
-Motorcycle escape in Final Fantasy 7
Etc...

Do you moreso appreciate these sections changing up things, or do they mostly feel like a burden preventing you from progressing through the story?

That Direct actively convinced me to not get a Switch 2 at launch. What an enormous disappointment this game is looking like relative to its price.

Here's hoping Bananza lives up to the hype.

cadcrafter posted...

You could do something like phenoix wright, which is a happy medium between basic text sounds and the babbling maybe?

I thought about just using generic typewriter or bead noises, but then again the Ace attorney game still do have stock lines, even in the older games. Mostly just in the courtroom, but it was there to give characters a voice.

Here's an example of what dialogue looks/feels like, though this is just a casual party chat skit for demos, not part of any overall storyline.

https://youtu.be/p7AG8hUn4gE

I'm personally leaning towards canned lines since I personally don't know how well babble works for human beings.

For context, if it's an indie game with too small of a budget to have full-on voice acting, does that change your mind at all? Is complete silence better even when there's long swaths of dialogue than babble or stock lines?

Asking because I'm working on an indie game that leans more into the cartoony side of things, but is still grounded in reality with an all human cast. But our team doesn't have the money to get VAs to record thousands of lines of full dialogue, unfortunately. But I think in 2024, story driven games with dead-silent characters really don't hold up well.

Which do prefer for video games that don't have full-on voice acting for all of its dialogue?

Random voice noises being played in typewriter fashion for the dialogue's duration
I.e. Banjo Kazooie, Thousand Year Door Remake, etc.

OR

Occasional voice acting for certain dialogue lines, but supplemented with mostly generic phrases/vocalisms that may or may not actually match up to the current dialogue? Stuff like, "Hmm..." and "Okay!" or "Let's go!", which matches the tone of the current dialogue?
I.e. Pokemon Masters, older Tales Of games, etc.

voldothegr8 posted...

Leon making the Kramer parallel observation was great lol, Jerry was awesome in every scene.

100 million percent lol. Leon's commentary was great. And honestly, Jerry sarcastically gaslighting Leon about the porn tapes was the hardest I laughed all season lol.

Liked it! I thought it was cute how Jerry swooped in to save the day.

Honestly, the whole discussion surrounding it being a meta look at Seinfeld's finale had me worried. But the bait and switch was a commentary I guess of how, contrary to the show Larry not learning his lesson, IRL Larry was willing to listen.

Tbqh for a second I thought the ending was gonna be him being found not guilty, but then Richard Lewis's girlfriend showing up with a gun and pointing it at him after he leaves the courtroom, with him looking just kinda mildly surprised by it, which then cuts to the ending song/credits lol.

Never read the manga but for me personally, Season 2 felt like they noticed My Hero Academia blowing up and tried its best to replicate it, but with absolutely no heart whatsoever.

Got prescribed antibiotics about 2 weeks ago and the last week and a half or so I've been really on edge, getting really angry at small everyday obstacles. Like, earlier today I was driving, and my bag started sliding off of The passenger seat, so I pushed it back, and it almost slid off a second time, which really made me really angry like I wanted to throw the bag out the window.

I've read that apparently antibiotics can occasionally cause mood swings and anxiety, but it's very uncommon. Anyone here ever deal with something like this?

I know I know, I should speak to my doctor, but \_()_/

Karovorak posted...

Everyone in the US is accquainted with Fahrenheit.

Outside of the US, EVERYONE is accquainted with Celsius, no cartoons involved.

I said everyone is acquainted with a scale of 0-100 and what it fundamentally symbolizes. Even the metric system itself is based on a system ten.

Have you ever taken a test before? Do you not understand the idea of 0 being an upper limit and 100 being an upper limit?

For weather, Fahrenheit makes more sense. It's based on a scale of 0-100 which EVERYONE is acquainted with.
Temperatures can occur outside of them, sure, but 0 and 100 are extremely natural upper limits.

Roughly -20 to 45 are cartoonishly arbitrary, provided you're not extremely invested in knowing if water is going to freeze or not.