Liquid Pencil

@Cloyd The tilesets used here and in your previous maps work out wonderfully to get that sfi-fi feeling, and the layouts seem very natural. I will say, though, that for rooms meant for relaxing there should be more lighthearted colors, say a soft blue, green, or even white. Having stainless steel everywhere might look good at first, but it would also seem oppressing for anybody who has to stay there for extensive periods of time. Y'know, color psychology and what not. It looks very good, though, and I can tell quite a lot of planning that went on with it. @Galv But that's just a part of the town's atmosphere! The naked guy was just there for size reference XD

@Shoya I like the layout of the island and the basic set-up for it. However, everything looks rather samey. There's very little variation on the island, everything seems to be the exact same grey-ish color. I feel that the floor below the cliff should be made of sand instead of rock, since that's usually how erosion works. Additionally, there really should be some sort of vegetation dotted around the island as well as cliff variation. It just seems empty right now as it is, but for the basics it looks very nice. @Galv I have to say, this cartoon style you shot for works out really, really well. The darkened, blurred trees and bushes put in front of the map really does give a very nice illusion of space. A few of the things should probably have a bit more contrast in its shading, like the grey rocks that are poking out here and there, since there's a lot of contrast with the trees. @Shaddow The style really does resemble Earthbound, and it works out wonderfully. The only nitpick I have is that the bottom of the cliff should have some sort of grass poking out at it like what you have at the top of the cliff. -- And now for my two images. So at the end of the day, I'm only going to be choosing either one of these two maps for my game. The first one is meant to be outside of town entirely, so that's why it's kind of empty. In-game, chances are you'll only really see this map once. The second one is, quite clearly, meant to be in town. Which one do you find is better, and what do you think?

After doing some rather quick digging I've found that Yanfly DOES happen to have a sideview-ish battle system in its Visual Battlers script. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the sprites in that script don't have much visible movement... In terms of compatibility between VE and Yanfly, a few of them are able to work together properly provided they work on separate game objects (I'm using pixel movement and platforming from VE and Yanfly for most everything else). I don't really know what you're using, plus I'm not a scripter myself so I can't really help you there.

I've actually been lurking around here for a while now looking at scripts to use for my game, but I haven't really been active until now. So! My name is Liquid Pencil, though for sake of simplicity you can just call me Conor if you'd like. I'm a hobbyist graphic designer, and I've been working on two games on RPG Maker and RPG Maker VX Ace respectively for some time now. The VX one is on hiatus until either my friend or I get a sudden inspiration rush. The VX Ace one I'm currently working on right now. I'm more of an artist than a game designer, though. I have a deviantART account that I use a lot, so go check that out if you have the time. http://pyrofiend324.deviantart.com/ So...yeah. Hello everyone!

It's certainly possible to make an enemy sprite out of a picture. The only issue I can think of is quality reduction due to resizing. If you can find a way around that then go straight ahead.

So for my game, I'm using a painterly style for the maps, as shown below. I'm taking huge inspiration from Bastion, and I really hope that I can pull it off. What I'm concerned with for the game is that the style of the sprites and the style of the maps won't sync up very well. I posted the basic male sprite I'm gonna be using as an attachment. Any critiques / suggestions for blending the two will be greatly appreciated.

The resizes are very well made, good job! I'm not too sure how to say this, but the sizes of the pixels are uneven. Like, in the tree and tent the pixels are obviously smaller while in the cannons the pixels that make up the object are far bigger. This is more an observation, though, and I'm sure it can work in a game!

This definitely fits the VX Ace RTP quite well. Good job on that! In terms of hair I've seen FAR crazier in terms of color and style, so I definitely like it very well. The only suggestion I would make is to have the hair flair outwards nearer to the base of the neck, sort of like how you have already. The collarbone seems like it's either projecting forward or is shifted a bit too much to the left. The shape is good, but the placement seems off-center to me. This is a bit of a nitpick, but I think the neck could be a bit thicker as well. That's just my opinion though, it looks fine on its own.

As a lot of people have said, there's no such thing as a perfect game. Now, what I find to be qualities of a good game are such: Gameplay and Story integration Large, expansive, explorable worlds full of life and its own little mysteries Gameplay that provides variety and doesn't get dull as you go along My favorite game as of right now is the Indie game Bastion. Gameplay and story are blended wonderfully in it, and I feel like I'm contributing to the story as it progresses. Also, the narrator's voice is hypnotically brilliant. The world, while not necessarily very explorable, definitely feels large and expansive, with each area holding a story of its own. While the gameplay gets a bit tedious at times with an uneven difficulty curve, there's certainly tons of variety offered with different weapon combinations and strategies towards defeating enemies. The only problem is that certain weapons are designed so that they're more effective on certain enemies than others... But yeah, no game is perfect.

@Tatsuki Yanfly has a Skill Restrictions script that might help with that. You need to have a slight bit of scripting knowledge to be able to properly make use of it, but I'm sure you'll be able to find it out if you do a little digging. http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/gameplay-scripts/skill-restrictions/ I'm not too sure if you have your basic system set up already or not, but I do have a suggestion. Take it into consideration, but if you don't have time to do it then don't worry. Another one of Yanfly's scripts is the Input Combo system. Basically, the script makes it so that certain skills open up a button input. Each button is assigned its own skill of differing power, effect, and what not. You are allowed a certain number of inputs (I believe the maximum allowed is five.) If you input certain button combinations, you will be able to pull of an additional skill. For example, say there are buttons A, B, and C. If you press them in the order BAA you use a new skill. The video explains it a bit better than I do... http://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/rmvxa/gameplay-scripts/input-combo-skills/ Now, based upon that script, here's a possible way of using it: Have it that the basic attack opens up a combo, and skills can be used through the basic attack through button inputs. Certain weapons can give you another skill that allows you to open up a different combo, with each button pulling off stronger hits. This system would play into the idea of the heavy aggressive combat by making battles more interactive instead of the usual 'scroll through menus, press button' way of skills. I hope you find this to be some help!

@Avvy The HUD and ABS seem like they're in working condition. I like the placement of the keys and the HUD, too: you see enough on the screen without having the placements seem cluttered. Admittingly the HP/SP hud IS rather bland, but that can be easily fixed. As for the map itself, I kinda feel it to be too...green. Kinda like with what Shaddow said, it'd be nice if there were a bit more variety in color. Like, say, alternate the colors of the trees or add in patches of grass that are browner. You can take this as you will, but one of the things I've noticed is that underneath a lot of really big, really tall trees not too much grass tends to be around it. My suggestion for the map would be place the trees under a dirt tile instead of under a grass tile. -- Also, here's my map. There is supposed to be a bus stop in the middle of an area full of apartment buildings. I've taken a big inspiration from Bastion in terms of the style (SO PRETTY!!) I can only hope that the style works out well enough without too many people not liking it... So just say what you think! Also, this is meant to have 2 tile high characters, so if things seem a bit big that's probably why. Also, I know the sign is really ugly compared to everything so I'll get to fixing that.