Friday Update 2024-02-23

Happy Friday! In Memoria, I’m using stock graphics, sound, and music to express my world – that is, I’m only using assets that come with RPG Maker MV. I’m doing that because I’m not much of an artist when it comes to pixel art, sound design, or music, and that has its benefits and its drawbacks. One one hand, not having to create all those new assets makes game development much faster. On the other hand, not having custom graphics can feel a little limiting, and it can make it difficult for my game to stand out.

Fortunately, the RPG Maker MV engine provides tools for expanding on its repertoire of assets. The character builder is one way to do that: using RPG Maker’s library of face parts, you can build unique face portraits and character sprites for your game. All the characters and townsfolk in Memoria are unique; I created all of them using the character generator. But we can go further! Using RPG Maker’s animation editor, I can build new animations from parts too. One of the party members uses a pair of knives, but the only stock animation available is a generic sword slash. With the animation editor and some patience, I can build a custom double slash animation to use when that party member attacks. Have a look:

Unfortunately there’s one part of the game where RPG Maker doesn’t offer much customization, and that’s the title card. There are around a dozen and a half stock images to pick from, and they all feel pretty generic. All games on itch.io have a thumbnail image for game listings, and a generic title card isn’t going to attract much attention. While I spent a bit of time with an image editor to mock something up for the original Memoria Demo, for the next release I want something that’ll really stand out. To that end, I found a tutorial or three and downloaded a copy of Blender to play around with. I wouldn’t call myself a 3D artist, but I kind of like how the new title card turned out:

Speaking of the next release, it’s coming very soon! In fact, if everything goes to plan, I’ll be releasing the new, improved, expanded demo for next Friday’s update on March 1st! There’s a lot more content in the new demo, so please give it a try once it’s available. See you next week~