Hi, last week I got a bit sidetracked by writer’s block, freelance work, personal problems, etc, but I’m back on track now. I have a report of the stuff I’ve been working on and a to-do list of some of the stuff I’ll be getting my hands into in the next weeks.

INVENTORY

Most NES RPG’s had word lists to manage inventory, but Me and myself, like the sun and the moon will have an icon based inventory, which looks better and is easier to access.

There are 3 kind of items:

Weapons:  There are 4 different weapons, each has its pros and cons. Weapons have 4 different attributes. POW (Power), SPD (Speed), SHT (Shots), RLD (Reload Time)

Equipable items: You can only equip one at a time. Some can be used only in battle and others only on the field. Some are automatic, but most are activated with the A button.

Usable items. You can have several of each kind and they can only be used from the menu. They are mostly healing items.

BITMAP FONTS

On the game demo I was using the Arial font to display text, this is not very good for several reasons, but I’m gonna use bitmap fonts now (thanks to a great Multimedia Fusion Extension I just found called Surface -made by Looki- ). Bitmap fonts will allow me to have smaller text that’s still legible, you can see a sample on the inventory screen above. That “I” is just 3×5 pixels!

COMING NEXT…

This is a small to-do list of the things I’m gonna work on next and I’ll talk to you about it next week:

- Shop
- New gun reload system
- Monetary system

Cheers! Thanks for reading!

Hey! This is the weekly update! You probably know that Me and myself, like the sun and the moon is gonna be some sort of homage to many of those old school NES / Famicom RPG games we all love, but maybe you are still wondering what’s so “different” about it. So here, my friend, let me enlighten you a little bit…

Battle System

The battle system is gonna be a weird combination of several things. First you can see the enemies moving on screen but when you enter a battle the terrain is gonna be randomly selected from a bunch of pre-designed levels. Also, there’s no way to know what kind or how many enemies you are gonna face. So in a way this should get rid of the annoyance of random battles while leaving the surprise element intact.

Battles are action based. You are moving and controlling your character all the time. No need to wait turns or choose commands from a list. Your character attacks using long range weapons only. There’s a bit of strategy involved too, sometimes you may run out of ammo, so your best option could be to run away, but if you do it you risk dropping money from your pockets when escaping, hey, that kinda stuff happens! Decisions, decisions, decisions…

I don’t remember any NES or Famicom game with a battle system like this, so, definitively it’s gonna bring fresh air to some…

Plot

Mature themes were scarce, if existent, on the old 8-bit consoles. For many reasons. But I think it’s pretty interesting to see how an 8-bit game, with all of its limitations, could have handled these.

By mature I don’t necessarily mean gratuitous profanity or gore (it’s present, but just as needed). More than anything, I mean complex situations. A storyline that’s more intricate than the average NES game plot.

Audio Design

Audio design is more than composing some tunes and sound effects. It’s about working along the game design and the diverse situations to create a more immersive experience. Rich, in charge of the audio, is doing great stuff in this field. He’s planning on adding situational music as well as location based tracks. He’s making “voices” for every character on the game and awesome ambient sounds too. Of course this isn’t anything radical in games nowadays, but back in the day it wasn’t common.

As you can see, Me and myself, like the sun and the moon is trying to get some current trends and mix them with old school concepts to create something different, and hopefully, awesome too. We aren’t just trying to rip off Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, we are creating something new and special. For all of you, of course.

So thanks for reading and don’t miss our next weekly update!

We got a lot of feedback from those who played the demo and we have been working hard to fix all the issues that were reported before moving forward.

I’m sorry the demo is not officially available (it isn’t that hard to find anyways). But, besides being a bit short, it lacks a lot of “polish”, also it shouldn’t take long for the final game to be released, and being a free game, there’s not much point in having a demo, really.

As you noticed I used “we” instead the usual “I” in the fist paragraph, and that’s because Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) will be joining me in the development of Me and myself, like the sun and the moon. He’s a really talented and skilled guy and he will be mainly in charge of composing the game soundtrack and the sound effects. Check out some of his samples, amazing stuff! Hopefully soon Rich will be posting some preview of his work and all the details behind his creations.

The audio is REALLY important in this game. Since we are emulating the NES limitations, small chubby sprites and limited shinny colors don’t really help setting the right eerie atmosphere, so the music is supporting most of the mood setting and I know Rich is up to the task.

That’s all for now, until the next update, I hope soon we have something for you to see (or listen).

It’s been 5 or so weeks of hard work but a few hours ago I just submitted my entry (just a small demo) to the TIGSource A Game by Its Cover competition.

Me and myself, like the sun and the moon is an action RPG made to look like an NES / Famicom game by sticking to some of this console features and limitations.

The final game will feature an intriguing plot, original sound and graphics and a complete world to explore.

I’ll be posting some game progress from now ’till September 15th, which is the estimated release date.

INSPIRATION

The main source of  inspiration, of course, was the next fake Famicom game cover from some of the Famicase competitions.

The game title, “Me and myself, like the sun and the moon” is a rough translation of this fake game cover name (Taiyou to tsuki to boku toka watashi).

Games like, Zelda II, Super Ninja Boy, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Kung Fu Heroes, among others, inspired some of the game mechanics. While others like Killer 7, Faxanadu, Gabriel Knight, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc as well as the TV show Twin Peaks inspired other concepts like audio, locations and graphics.

I like these competitions, because even when you don’t get to finish your entry (an RPG from scratch in one month is almost impossible!) it gets you started and fuels you with enough motivation to keep you working on your project for months and weeks until it gets completed.

For now I just wanted to talk about of some of the things that inspired the creation of Me and myself, like the sun and the moon, next time I’ll have something different to share. See ya!