City of Amnesia

Well, as the title states I want to make a Big O RPG, but not just any RPG will do.

I want to make an 8-bit, final fantasy, episodic RPG. Good ole NES style.

I just have one problem: I'm not to good with the 8-bit art. Sure I can do it, but it isn't great. It'd be easy enough to code an 8-bit game using an old RPG maker and a Final Fantasy NES editor, but sprites would be a problem. Plus world mapping. I can use a map editor to change some tiles, but have trouble making tiles.

Another thing I had in mind was to use Megaman 1 and change enemies into various Big O megadeui and Beck-mechs. Making Megaman into Big O would be no problem. he could keep his same attacks, and jump ability, only the sprites and story would need changing.

So now I ask a favor of you all here; help me make 8-bit sprites and Big O style tiles to use in an RPG or old style shooter.

Note: I may use Final Fantasy 2 as a base. Seeing as 2 allows for party members to leave, die, and be removed from the story line it would be better for making a Big O RPG.

Let me just say a few things before you go too far.

1: I can make 8-bit graphics. Hell, if I'm motivated enough, I can make more 8-bit graphics than you could ever find any practical use for. But I think I'd have a hard time getting myself psyched up to do Big O sprites (since even writing a fanfic didn't work out for me).

2: RPG Maker, you say? Well, if you wanted to talk about GameMaker (anywhere from version 5.3 to the current 8 series) I could do that as well; I used to make games all the time, including RPGs.

My only issue with helping out with this is that we're dealing with a property that belongs to someone else-- namely Sunrise, and whoever else had their hand in producing Big O. It's not ours, and the production of a game is a lot of work.

If you could dream up your own concept-- even if it was a lot like Big O, but different enough not to be immediately compared-- I'd be much more interested. That said, if you seriously want it to be The Big O, I may still lend a hand, just in a smaller capacity.

Yeah, I want it to be the Big O. I am mainly doing this as a fan game. Nothing to showy to get it noticed by the higher ups, and nothing incomplete, just a nice little graphic and story line hack.

As to the megaman thing. You could just edit the 8-bit megaman sprite and edit the tiles and that would pretty much be the whole game. Well, Doctor Wily would have to be made to look like Alex Rosewater, but if your good with the 8-bit then this should be easy for you Randolf.

I was also going to use Hamster RPG. It's a free-ware game making program that allows you to make 8 and 16 bit RPG with little to no knowledge. So it's easy to use and free.

Well, I guess I can contribute a bit to a fangame at least this one time. Never heard of Hamster before, but if you can do what you have in mind to with it, I guess there's no problem.

Frankly, I'd much prefer to make the graphics from scratch; it makes it easier in the long run, I find. Also, edited Megaman materials are just about done to death; I did those for years back at the Bob and George boards. If it's all the same, I think I'll work on some originals.

Now then, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to need some specifications. Size, frames, angle and so on. In fact, if you could tell me exactly what sprites and tiles are needed for what purpose, that'd help a lot. Also, I'm assuming you want to stick to the 8-bit four-color limit.

The more info you can give me, the smoother it'll go.

You can do original graphics if you want Randolf. The nes palette system will work just fine. This is the palette http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/256colour.png . It works with nes games so this is preferable.

As to size. A 120x120 pixel picture would be nice to start with. Try doing characters first. As to tiles, I'm still figuring out what I need, but I will definitely need some tiles that look like they have been hit be explosions. If Big O shoots a wall it should look damaged.

Okay, I apologize for my delay in thinking about this. I got distracted with some very important things.

All right, 120x120? Wait, what? Why so large? I guess I was assuming you were going to use a screen size somewhere in the usual 256x240 NES range. Or are you? For the record, most NES games use 32x32 portraits, sometimes a bit more.

More details please. I still don't have enough to go on... if you're still serious about this. It would be especially helpful if you had a mockup of the screen or playing field these graphics will be displayed on.

As for damaged walls, that'll be easy, even more so if there's no shading involved (which there may or may not be, depending on what you need in terms of detail).

EDIT: That palette does not remind me of the actual NES palette whatsoever. I should know, I used it on a number of projects. I've got my own copy of it, so no worries there.

Ok, a 32x32 will be fine. And not a lot of detail is needed, just some mild shading.
Um, and what do you mean about a mock up? Do I need to tell you the game I am actually going to use? If that is the case I mean to use megaman 1 or 2 as a base to work from there.

I was thinking about editing the megaman stages to look like Paradigm city. So building tiles and dome tiles would be a good start.

Well, to be more exact, I'd like to know what the screen would look like more or less exactly as it will be in the game; it'd give me some perspective.

As for "mockup", it just means some placeholder graphics put together in imitation of what the game screen will look like when completed. I.E., any kind of status bars, readouts, message boxes, etc.

I'm not totally sure what you mean by using Megaman 1 or 2 as a base. I'm hoping this Hamster program isn't some kind of ROM hacker or some such; I'd rather not sully my hands in that field. Also, I'm not sure how any platform game will translate into an RPG with any ease. But, I'll leave that you, I suppose.

One way or the other, I'll soon work on some 32x32 character portraits. I suppose I'll begin with Roger, then perhaps either Dorothy or Big O itself. I should have something to show by tomorrow evening.

EDIT: WHAM. (http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy33/Gemeshnekaur/th_8bito1.png) (http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy33/Gemeshnekaur/?action=view&current=8bito1.png)
A crude 48x48 Roger portrait (32 was too small for details after all). Not finished; for some reason his hair looks more like Beck's, but I'm not sure why. Also somewhat unnecessarily smug.

I was planing to use a Megaman style RPG (there was a Japanese Megaman RPG for the Genesis, I don't remember the title, but you walked along in platform style and when you got in a battle it went to the standard Final Fantasy battle screen.) As for the field, Do you remember what the original megaman looked liked, well, that what I'm planning to do. I'm not sure how to show you what I'm thinking of background wise.

As to status bars, I was planning to make the health bar the usual RPG green, text in white with the nes font, message boxes to be red rimmed, special attack bar the standard purple and the MP (mech points in this case) the standard blue. I was also thinking of making a cash like thing so you can buy upgrades and better things for your characters.
I'm going to work on them after work today.

I was also going to make a Final Fantasy style RPG, and then which ever I liked more I would use as the official unofficial Big O rpg.