Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

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Broke Studio
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Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Broke Studio »

After working on technical stuff like 8-way scrolling, IRQs, using mappers, bankswitching, code optimization, etc ... I started to work on a game which is a revisited RPG-style game called (for now) Tattoo Apprentice.

Here's what the game should be about :

You're a young tattoo artist, trying to become a famous one. Starting in a small country village, being an apprentice in a small tattoo shop. Classic RPG-battles are replaced by timed tattooing challenges, and you have to manage your own promotion, visiting bars, clubs, ... and manage your stock (ink, needles, tattoo guns, ...).

For now, top-down maps, 8-way scrolling, map switching, map events, NPCs, NPC interactions, music support (no SFX yet) are implemented. Tattoo challenges are nearly complete (playable though).

Graphics are not the definitive ones, I used free work from a guy named Surt.

For the definitive graphics, I'm currently in discussion with an illustrator which is interested in the project. Waiting for some news to see if it'll happen !

For the musics and sound effects, I got the chance to be a friend of Matt Blatte which is the brain behind the chiptune band Please Lose Battle. It's placeholder music for now, but it should be changed during summer.

Please let me know your thoughts on this project and whether I should keep up in this direction or not.

2016-06-13 - Preview video
My first game : Twin Dragons available at Broke Studio.
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dougeff
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by dougeff »

Cool.
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darryl.revok
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by darryl.revok »

It looks very impressive. I'd be worried about the "fun factor" of the tattoo segments though. I think these could be a turn-off for some potential gamers.
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Broke Studio »

darryl.revok wrote:It looks very impressive. I'd be worried about the "fun factor" of the tattoo segments though. I think these could be a turn-off for some potential gamers.
I'm still working on the tattoo segments to keep things interesting along the game. However I understand what you say, and I hope that the RPG part will balance everything in the end.
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by M_Tee »

Unique setting, plot, and gameplay. Seems like a win-win all around. I like the idea of bringing a dexterity-based element to what is otherwise an RPG. It reminds me a bit of Qix, or more specifically the Qix-esque reveal-a-picture arcade games.

And yeah, something to spark up the tattooing segments, stuff that makes them physically easier to do as you level up, perhaps? Or maybe have a few different minigames (could be multiple tattooing minigames or could be for the promoting or other aspects of the game), and get a little bit of a WarioWare feel with it. Other than WarioWare, games like Bishi Bashi, Cooking Mama and Trauma Center could give some inspiration.

Anyway, Surt's graphics seem totally fine. I hope, that if you plan to replace the graphics with someone else's, none of the work was done specifically for this project.

Small suggestion on dialog: A colon after the speaker's name or quotes around their spoken words could differentiate what is being spoken from who is speaking it.

Look forward to seeing more.
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Drew Sebastino
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Drew Sebastino »

glutock wrote:I hope that the RPG part will balance everything in the end.
I think that part sounds more boring. :lol:
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by tepples »

M_Tee wrote:Small suggestion on dialog: A colon after the speaker's name or quotes around their spoken words could differentiate what is being spoken from who is speaking it.
Colon after speaker's name gets confusing if you don't already know the characters. Because a colon is also a vocative marker (e.g. "Dear Sir:"), it's hard at first to tell if it's the speaker or the listener.

Code: Select all

Tilda: I don't know, but
  it makes me so nervous
  I can't sleep.
Now is Tilda saying this, or is it being said to Tilda? But this is exactly what the preview version of Final Fantasy VII included with Tobal No. 1 does. It uses the colon and indents all lines after the first.

The release version of Final Fantasy VII refines this. It puts the speaker's name on a line by itself (or omits it if the speaker has not changed), surrounds dialogue with quotation marks and indents all after the first line of dialogue.

Code: Select all

Tilda
"I don't know, but it
  makes me so nervous I
  can't sleep."
The screenplay convention is to center and capitalize the speaker's name:

Code: Select all

        TILDA
I don't know, but it makes
me so nervous I can't sleep.
The IRC convention, used in Concentration Room and Thwaite, is to surround the speaker's name with angle brackets:

Code: Select all

<Tilda>
I don't know, but it makes
me so nervous I can't sleep.
Animal Crossing series uses yet another convention, in which the dialogue window is divided into two separate bubbles, one for the speaker's name and one for the dialogue. The background of the speaker's name bubble is colored light blue for a male speaker or pink for a female speaker.

Code: Select all

 ,--------.
(  Tilda   )
 `--------'--------------.
  / I don't know, but it  \
 |  makes me so nervous    |
  \ I can't sleep.        /
   `---------------------'
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Myask
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Myask »

tepples wrote:
M_Tee wrote:Small suggestion on dialog: A colon after the speaker's name or quotes around their spoken words could differentiate what is being spoken from who is speaking it.
Colon after speaker's name gets confusing if you don't already know the characters. Because a colon is also a vocative marker (e.g. "Dear Sir:"), it's hard at first to tell if it's the speaker or the listener.

Code: Select all

Tilda: I don't know, but
  it makes me so nervous
  I can't sleep.
Now is Tilda saying this, or is it being said to Tilda? But this is exactly what the preview version of Final Fantasy VII included with Tobal No. 1 does. It uses the colon and indents all lines after the first.
Because hey, that's what the [US versions of] FFIV, and FFVI (doesn't indent), and Chrono Trigger did, y'know, what they'd been doing up to that point.

Quotation marks make it easier, though, 'tis true.
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Bregalad
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Bregalad »

darryl.revok wrote:It looks very impressive. I'd be worried about the "fun factor" of the tattoo segments though. I think these could be a turn-off for some potential gamers.
Me for instance. Especially considering I find it incredibly dump to draw something on your body that you cannot remove anytime later.
na_th_an
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by na_th_an »

Technically impressive. Plus I love the idea, it's so original and fresh.
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Alp
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Alp »

This seems like an interesting game mechanic. It reminds me of a minigame from Mario Party on the N64. It was either the first or the second game, I forget.
Bregalad wrote:Me for instance. Especially considering I find it incredibly dump to draw something on your body that you cannot remove anytime later.
I love your temporary tattoos! Temporary, in that one day, you will die. -Oglaf Webcomic
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by tepples »

The Crazy Cutter minigame was the first two Mario Party games.
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Broke Studio »

Thanks for the kind words !
M_Tee wrote:Anyway, Surt's graphics seem totally fine. I hope, that if you plan to replace the graphics with someone else's, none of the work was done specifically for this project.

Small suggestion on dialog: A colon after the speaker's name or quotes around their spoken words could differentiate what is being spoken from who is speaking it.
No, Surt's graphics are free and available in the topic linked in my first post. So nothing has been done specifically for this project (yet).

And yes I'll add something in the dialog box to emphasis spearker's name.
Bregalad wrote:
darryl.revok wrote:It looks very impressive. I'd be worried about the "fun factor" of the tattoo segments though. I think these could be a turn-off for some potential gamers.
Me for instance. Especially considering I find it incredibly dump to draw something on your body that you cannot remove anytime later.
Unless I misunderstood your message, I thought people here were open-minded ! No one is asking you to tattoo yourself in real life, it's just like refusing to kill someone playing GTA just because you wouldn't do it in reality ! It all seems a bit farfetched to me, it's just a game ! :)
Espozo wrote:
glutock wrote:I hope that the RPG part will balance everything in the end.
I think that part sounds more boring. :lol:
What do you mean ?
My first game : Twin Dragons available at Broke Studio.
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Bregalad
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by Bregalad »

Unless I misunderstood your message, I thought people here were open-minded ! No one is asking you to tattoo yourself in real life, it's just like refusing to kill someone playing GTA just because you wouldn't do it in reality ! It all seems a bit farfetched to me, it's just a game ! :)
Sure, I get that. It still sounds boring to simulate tatooing other people on virtual screen, when you could be saving the world instead.
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mikejmoffitt
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Re: Tattoo Apprentice (WIP)

Post by mikejmoffitt »

Bregalad wrote:
Unless I misunderstood your message, I thought people here were open-minded ! No one is asking you to tattoo yourself in real life, it's just like refusing to kill someone playing GTA just because you wouldn't do it in reality ! It all seems a bit farfetched to me, it's just a game ! :)
Sure, I get that. It still sounds boring to simulate tatooing other people on virtual screen, when you could be saving the world instead.
Even though I'm very much not into tattoos, it's absolutely okay to have an unusual driving theme in a game. It's just a game; the character doesn't always have to represent the player inserted into a world. It sounds like you have a lot of technical elements already implemented, plans to make a fun game and details to flesh it out, so go for it.
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