Fan Projects Update: Feedback Needed: Chrono Compendium Aegis System
If you look at most modding communities, they consist of a lot of individual people with their own projects working independently. Projects take a long time to develop because talent is spread very thin and personal research is kept private. In the end, the fans suffer because fewer projects are released from the lack of coordination. Now, reflecting on our current fan projects (and I don't mean to offend people), Chrono Trigger + is in limbo, Azala Style is totally stalled, Re-Amped is going very slowly because it's only one guy, Time's Illusion is at a standstill, and Rebirth has a title sequence done after a few months of work. Crimson Echoes has shown significant progress thanks to jsondag2, but even it is having issues due to personnel shortages.
I've always tossed the idea around of designating one fan project "Compendium sponsored", where like all the official faculties of the site are geared towards it. It'd get a prominent button on the sidebar and maybe other places, and clicking any of those would take the reader to an encyclopedia page set up by and maintained by that project's leaders which advertises opportunities for help and open positions. This way, more resources are directed to a single project chosen because of its appeal and likelihood of getting finished. Once it's done, a new fan project can fall under the Aegis.
Still, I wasn't sure how others would feel about this, or whether it would be truly effective. If it went into action, for example, a few people could clean up one map each from Crimson Echoes, and in one gesture 90% of the mapping work will be done for the project. But when one person like jsondag2 is tasked with cleaning up maps, it represents a lot of time and limits contributions to only one vision. If this system works ideally, fan project development time will be cut down and research will be shared among more people. There will also be more "accountability", as an increase in people with a vested interest in a project should increase interest and volunteering. And the small talent thats invested into projects that are stalled will instead be of real use. Anyway, feedback wanted.
Site maintenance re-rescheduled...
Until the Fourth of July weekend. Don't expect to see me around until then either, and don't go crazy.
Site Maintenance Rescheduled
The previously mentioned maintenance to the site is rescheduled again to Sunday, June 22nd, along with the other announcements I had alluded to. In the meantime, consider it business as usual here, and don't forget: it's Father's Day.
Site maintenance
The site may be down and the forums may be locked at some points over the weekend for maintenance. Also, there'll be some big announcements afterwards, so don't go too far.
Cross Models, Techs and Hardtype, Games on Wii, Art
Work continues in earnest on ripping and understanding the models of Chrono Cross. As of this news post, FaustWolf has identified the contents of the OUT files produced by Yazoo's ripper, Unaisis has made a test video using Serge and Dark Serge and aided greatly in other research, and the Luminaire85 has discovered that transparency does work in Blender's render mode. The rest of the gang have all been working hard too! There are still a few problems; go below the jump to read more. Before then, check out the Time Devourer in it's pure, amazing beauty!
Also, check out Unaisis's test video here. All right, let's discuss the problems we face: [1] Blender may not be able to handle partial transparencies, like Starky's helmet, even in render mode. [2] How Cross applies large model textures (like the Time Devourer, which uses two textures) is not yet fully understood, though the models can be assembled manually in another program. [3] Sometimes the UV maps are off by one pixel in Blender, or applied to the wrong vertices in a minor way. Luminaire85 is thinking about these, and meanwhile Unaisis has been using Cinema 4D to check out the models. Hopefully we can nail down the bugs. At this point, already we've accomplished an amazing feat, and so special praise goes out to everyone involved at some point -- halkun, Cyberman, Gemini, MDenham, Yazoo, Sephiroth, and anyone I've forgotten. Follow the project's progress here and check out the ever-updating Chrono Cross File Structure page here.
Next on the Chrono Cross list, ePSXe 1.7.0 has been released. I've tried it out and it works fine, so update if you'd like by clicking here. Now, for a faster computer...
Some new headway has been made concerning Chrono Trigger tech hacking thanks to jsondag2's editor. OmniUnknown has tried some hacks on Crono's Cyclone tech, while FaustWolf. Both made Youtube videos. Starting with FaustWolf, check out this modified Magus Fire-based tech: click here. Then, you HAVE to see Magus's "Disco Bomb" here!! Continuing with OmniUnknown, we have Shining Cyclone, Shadow Cyclone, Fireball Crono, and, best of all, Extended Cyclone. Here's a blooper. Catch the latest developments at the tech editor thread. OmniUnknown also announced he is making a new Chrono Trigger Hardtype.
A fellow by the name of Prince Valmont has carried the good news that a specific Wii game allows ROMs to be injected onto the Wii for playback. Chrono Trigger worked flawlessly! If you want to learn more, click here. They're trying to put in the Retranslation, but this is probably going to be impossible.
Time for fan art. First is a Kid sketch by Jono, found here, with the colored version here. Next is Luminaire85's Lucca and Nadia sketch; see it here. And now...watch GATO SING! This is Unaisis's creation using audio from the CT OVA; find it here. 'Till next time!
May Mega Update! Cross Models, VC Poll, Trigger Hacks, PLAY!, Fan Stuff
Great news! FaustWolf and Luminaire85, with the aid of others, have cracked mostly all of Chrono Cross's battle model structure. Except for a little UV work that needs to be done, Luminaire85's Blender plugin is essentially finished and is importing all battle models perfectly. An update will follow when it's done as we begin to add high-resolution character shots to the encyclopedia and upload the model files. To see how beautiful these are, click the banner below. You can join the excitement at this thread.
Real world news first. [1] Nintendo Power recently conducted a poll for most wanted Virtual Console games. The winners were 1. Earthbound (screw you, Starmen.net), 2. Super Mario RPG, 3. Chrono Trigger, 4. Mother, and 5. Majora's Mask. Give the people what they want! [2] Luminaire85 discovered that PLAY! recorded its April 23 concert in Prague for commercial release. Can't wait for this to hit the shelves. Find more information here. Next stop, Bratislava? [3] I lost some of my tabbed links in Firefox, and that's how I keep track of things to put in the site updates. If you think something should have been included, reply to this thread.
Now we have a lot of Chrono Trigger hacking news. [1] Aprocalypse has released a zero experience patch for Chrono Trigger which takes low level gaming to the next level. It was designed to make random encounters less tedious and eliminate the need to obsessively micromanage the party to control experience in low level games. Download here. Before you apply the patch, open your ROM with Temporal Flux, hit Expand, and save the ROM. Aprocalypse ran through the game to demonstrate that beating it is still possible with default level characters; you can find the videos here. Provide feedback and thanks here. [2] jsondag2's Chrono Trigger tech editor is coming along nicely, and he's made a tutorial and demonstration by creating two new techs: Haste 2 and Ice Storm. You can view the Youtube demonstration here, read the tutorial here, and download the utility here. Report bugs and comment at this thread. [3] Thanks to MathOnNapkins, Chrono Trigger's SPC commands have been authoritatively documented. Find them here. [4] ROMHacking.net now allows reviews of hacks, translations, utilities, et cetera. I encourage those who play the Compendium's hacks to go add reviews under the new system. For instance, if you wanted to review Prophet's Guile, you'd go here and click Add a Review at the bottom. [5] FaustWolf found a Japanese SMW hack featuring none other than the Mammon Machine. Find it here, I think at the four minute mark.
Now for other Chrono Trigger news. [1] Straafe is virtually done with his Magus render; it's stunning! Check it out here. [2] Triple Triad Advance finished their Chrono Trigger collection. Find it here. In the Compendium tradition of distrusting the hosting of Chrono materials on other sites, does anyone have a convenient way to download all the images (reverse sides included) for archival? Or if someone wants to take that task... [3] Shadow found some custom Magus sprites for Mugen made by MugenTrigger. Specter made a sprite sheet; check it out in the fan art section by clicking here. [4] Check out this ridiculous Chrono Trigger cosplay. Frog is huge! Also, check out this comparatively great Chrono Cross cosplay here.
Fan stuff roundup time! x_XTacTX_x has submitted a surreal adventure covering ZOAH'S QUEST FOR DENTAL FLOSS; find it here. Can anyone identify this Kid art? From Awakened comes a breathtaking wallpaper of Zeal at night, with clouds below and the stars and moon above. Check it out: [ 1024x768 - 1280x800 ] XTacTX then submitted some old Kid fan art; check it here. From Alex comes amazing Harle graffiti; check it here. Next is a new one of Kid from grey_the_angel found here. V_Translanka found a Robo render by an unknown artist; see it here. From Chronomage002 comes a drawing of Serge and Draggy; see it here. justin3009 made a Kid sprite; see it here. Finally, here is a 3D Frog by Evan hosted on the Novel Project site; see it here. We're done for now. I still have to make that annoying music update that's so long overdue. You can thank Virt for making a godawful joke of a site with VGMix X, and not restoring the VGMix 2 remixes.
Fan Projects Update: Guess who back from the dead :/
Well well, It's been a while. Well, as you don't know, one of the major problems with me (outside the little time I get to do anything project wise) is the lack of any place to place this comic. I'm currently working on this issue right now: literally. One of my biggest classes is a self paced Web protfolio class, and basically requires me to make a full up and running website. So while I've been working on that, I've also been working on a space for the comic as well. Granted, I'm not a master of Webdesign, but I'm working as hard as I can to get this site up and running.
Anyways, good news followed by MORE good news?! Inconceivable!
MaggieKarp: a fellow Chrono fan, has done me the favor of making an cute Cover for the comic: though back end or front, I'm unsure of of. I'll have to work on the other half myself.
Anyways: here's the cover itself.
One more piece before I go: I did manage to produce an MSpaint for you guys:
Well, that's it for now. I'll give you updates on as they come up.
Fan Projects Update: Crimson Echoes SKELETON coding Finished
Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to let you guys know that the skeleton code of Crimson Echoes has been finished. I.E. I have played through the game start to finish without skipping chapters/ walking through walls etc.
Please do not think this means the game will be released soon, there is still ALOT to do. All of the battles and most of the text our "placeholders", we haven't added treasures, most of the maps need to be refinished, I want to expand alot of the dungeons, finalize music for specific places add some new sprite work.....
That being said this is a MAJOR milestone, alot of the above stuff can be done in parallel and just inserted later. We've also gotten very organized so expanding dungeons is streamlined. The project is moving like wildfire and well for the first time I see the light at the end of this long, long tunnel.
Anywhos, During my last play through I took some pictures. There may be some MILD spoilers in these I took effort to not take pictures of anything big but there may be NPC's in the background or something.
http://jpsondag.com/CE/
If you are interested in helping we got a few new people with my last request but if you have skills with hacking/mapping/spriting it'll only make it go faster.
Enjoy :D
--JP
ULTRA UPDATE! Tokita Talks, Unglued 16, Retranslation, Magil Patch, CT, Hacks
Welcome to the SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH ultra April update! So much is going on, it's mind-blowing. The Chrono community has awakened from its sleep, and in the space of one month so many things have happened this update is probably going to stretch halfway down the news and update page. We'd better get started. Firstly, Takashi Tokita speaks to Nintendo Power! He was one of the chief directors for Chrono Trigger, and here he talks about a Chrono sequel. Many thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Nintendo Power: You co-directed Chrono Trigger, which is very highly regarded in America. Would you have any interest in revisiting that franchise? Is a DS remake a possibility?
Tokita: Chrono Trigger was a no-holds-barred, swashbuckling adventure that was a lot of fun to work on. Akira Toriyama's characters were great - very energetic and appealing. If the demand is great enough, it's certainly possible. But as a creator, I feel the need to create new titles and not just series installments and remakes. I realize that it's a little strange for me to be saying that in an interview about Final Fantasy IV [laughs]. But I need to remind myself of that too.
Clovis15 has released Chrono Trigger Unglued episode 16, written with the help of Cryo (who disappeared again). He warns that trying to skip to the secret scene will come with a price now. The movie will tell you if you've unlocked the secret scene, and the main narrative covers what happened those three days Crono spent in jail. Watch it at Newgrounds or at CTU headquarters, and give feedback here.
DoctorL has completed a "re-retranslation" of the KWhazit / Chrono Compendium retranslation aiming to improve readability, since the latter was geared to be a more literal canonical bible. It's hot off the press, as he began working on it for three months in January 2008 and released only a few days ago. His remarks: "I aimed not so much for a literal translation, but localization, clear and easily understood text, and the inclusion of any missing elements left out from the US version due to Nintendos censorship policy from back in the day...Perfection is an ongoing struggle. If you find any text related error, make certain you are using the latest version of the patch. If you are, please feel free to email me letting me know about it." Notes about other changes and the development process can be found in his submission thread, which you can also use for feedback. Just check out the links below and congratulate him for adding to the fan world of Chrono Trigger!
[ DoctorL's Retranslation - ZIP - 7ZIP - Feedback Thread ]
Rounding up Chrono Trigger news now! [1] Mark your calendars; Chrono Trigger hits Wikipedia's main page on April 10th. Stop by that day and help revert vandalism! [2] Readers of Dengeki Online in Japan recently voted Chrono Trigger the 8th best game ever made. Find the full list here. [3] Armake21 reported on Youtube his receiving an unlabeled Chrono Trigger disc with his purchase of Final Fantasy Chronicles. He actually added it last year around this time, but it's just now come to our attention. Check it out here. [4] I've finally added RICK'S ENTITIE EXPLANATION ROFL to the Features listing. Check it out here. [5] Someone submitted this site, named Let's Play Chrono Trigger, for perusal. It's now got a permanent spot on the links page; thanks! [6] An interview and demo release from Chrono Trigger + is forthcoming. Get ready!
See that guy above? His name is Magil, and he'd like to make an appearance in Chrono Cross. Well, FaustWolf and a crack team of contributors in Kajar Laboratories have made it possible to play as Magil in appearance by changing his skin, eye color, and weapon wielded (it's Lynx's scythe now) through a simple patch. But I'll let the Guru of Time himself explain: The CC Magil Patch is a lightning-developed hack that literally came out of the blue in early March. FaustWolf suggested that we "give Guile a scythe" and suddenly BROJ, maggiekarp, and Thorn submitted recolored artwork for Guile's model textures and various portraits. Then, sha-ZAM, this patch took form, just like that. DarkSerge and The Gundanium Alchemist served as bugtesters and Gemini provided the technical advice necessary to make this a truly polished hack. DOWNLOAD THE PATCH HERE. Read the readme, because patching is a little tricky! Now for some background information:
In its current state, the "CC Magil Patch" only alters Guile superficially so that he resembles Magil from Radical Dreamers. Making Guile resemble Magus - pointy ears and all - hinges on further development of the Chrono Cross Model Project. Inspired by the Springtime of Youth, FaustWolf experimented with dialogue editing and produced a short film to show off what is currently possible in regards to Chrono Cross editing. See its segments at the following Youtube links [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB4JGr353wU - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NezPDndMyHA - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Js-n2VomM ]
Provided that certain obstacles are overcome, the Magil Patch team hopes to expand this hack over the coming years to produce a whole new dimension for Chrono Cross fans to enjoy; already, the team has begun producing portraits for previously-inaccessible party members, and the future Magus edition patch will feature a maskless Magus thanks to BROJ's artistic talents. Who knows what the future may hold? To find out, and perhaps join the team or otherwise offer advice if you've got some spare time, check this thread.
Let's get to other hack or fan-game news! [1] The bulk of coding for Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes is FINISHED. Thank jsondag2 when you get the chance. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the frame is now there to be fleshed out. The project needs a sprite editor! Apply here. [2] darklink898 recently posted a gameplay video of his work-in-progress Super Mario World hack, "Ayla's Quest". It features Ayla scampering around places created with Chrono Trigger graphics. Watch it here. [3] Ahruon and Specter stopped by to talk about "Card Sagas Wars", a fan project involving dueling cards with characters from several franchises. Crono will be a playable character in this game, and other characters will make an appearance in his fights as allies. Check out the characters from Chrono in so far by clicking here. [4] Anacalius has named his project to give Crono dialogue and Trigger a little more depth: "Chrono Trigger Re-Amped". Inquire about it in the new fan project forum of the same name here. [5] Inspired by Lenophis's Pandora's Box hack, which now will allow font selection for Final Fantasy VI, Vehek successfully tested a font switcher for Chrono Trigger using two fonts. It replaces the window style functionality (like, it doesn't add a new part of the menu or anything yet). It's a good technical demo, and if you want to try it, click here or watch this:
Time for music news! [1] An artist named The Specialist is remixing Chrono Trigger songs to Jay-Z's vocals from American Gangster to make a collection called "Chronological Gangster". He's put up a trailer at Youtube here and has put up a preview song sing Chrono Cross's burning orphanage music on his Myspace, found here. Can't wait to see more! [2] Two guys named Mitch Regis and Gord Hagen (sounds like the second coming of a Hall & Oates, eh) recently performed "Radical Dreamers" for their school talent show. If seeing the Chrono series out in the open and getting represented musically makes you warm up inside, then turn on the heat by going here and watching the performance. Many thanks to you guys for the song; give feedback here. [3] tssf, musician for Chrono Trigger Resurrection, recently updated his Lavos's Theme + Zeromus's Theme song on Youtube to prove that he created it. Check it out here.
Time for the fan art and fiction roundup. [1] On suggestion of Rushingwind, I've added a piece called Forever Zero FlyingArrow by Echo the Insane to the fan fiction section. It's a short piece about Serge. Find it here. [2] Fan art time! First is EdwardTiv's Black Tyrano battle painting. It's pretty cool and even features the CT menu; check it out here. BlackArts at the Crisis forums drew Crono in the style that our "beloved" Tetsuya Nomura might; check it out here. Also from the Crisis forums come these humorous Lavos images - [ Deltona WTF - Lavos UK - Lavos World Tour - Polaroid Lavos ] I've also added two Guile pieces I've had on my hard drive for years. The artists are unknown. Check it out here and here. Here's a Zeal printout wall I found somewhere; find it here.
( Read more... )
Fan Projects Update: Chrono Crisis March Update
Hello all! Lots of good news, so let's get right to it!
The artwork for Raia Ashtear (Formerly named Lutania) has been finalized and completed!
Her info here on the forum has also been updated.
In addition to Raia's finalized artwork, a finalized design has been made by DodgingTires for Calypso. It will later be redrawn by Dice to match the Crisis style, but I'd really like to show off this amazing art of Calypso in her concert attire.
Check out her cute little sprite, too!
I signed a new Ruby coder onto the team and he's gotten right to work on the battle system! That said, I decided it was time to finalize its layout and structure. We decided to stick with the smaller sprite size, BUT battles will take place on the map just like in Chrono Trigger. Lena created a mock up which you can see below.
Keep in mind that it has NOT been skinned yet and this is just a basic layout. However, there will be several different themed skins that you can change at will for both the battle system and message window. Onto the mechanics!
"How will it work?" you might ask. Well, it's pretty simple. Battles are fought in ATB (hence the gauges). Once a character's turn comes up, a ring of commands (Attack, Item, Support Tech, and Tech List) will appear around them. You select your choice by pressing up, left, right, or down, whichever commands corresponds to that direction. If Attack is chosen, you will choose an enemy and that character will run up to them and you will then have to enter button commands consisting of A, B, and Y (Space, Shift, and Enter for you keyboard users). Each attack will reduce your Stamina, indicated by the number in the circle on each character's info box.
Simple enough, eh? Things get a little more fun with techs. In Crisis, techs work just like a combo attack (as they always have). Each one has a combination of keys you have to hit. Techs consume more stamina than a normal attack (each has a base cost on top of the cost of reaching the tech with your successive attacks). If you don't have enough stamina left to perform the tech after you've built it up, it won't happen.
The "tech list" button is a list of your available techs. Scroll down to the tech you want to view and press accept. This list also tells you the base cost of each tech. If you hit left or right on this screen, you will be taken to your learned double and triple techs. Clicking accept on these items will display who the techs are to be preformed with, what each combination is, and how much it will cost with each character.
How do dual and triple techs work, anyway? Just like in Trigger (and Cross), double and triple techs become available when two or three characters have all learned certain prerequisite techniques that they can combine into a coordinated strike. Also, in order to activate this move, both characters have to have turns available at the time. In Crisis, the idea is the same, but the payoff is a little higher. Of course, because of this, it's a little more difficult than just picking what you want to do out of a list.
Basically, your techs build on each other. Say you want to perform a double tech that requires Xavier and Matison. First, you'd take your lead character (we'll say it's Xavier. It could be either one, really), and begin your attack. Your first goal is to set off the single tech that builds into the dual tech. Once you do that successfully, Xavier will perform the single tech. This is your chance! During the single tech, if a dual is possible, you will see a "L" or "R" over your character's head. If you press L (or R), you'll get a notification that you've set a dual strike. The action will freeze, and you will have a set time limit to enter the command for the second character. If you can't remember your tech, you can call up the tech menu (probably with select, L or R) and view the list. There's a time limit though, so don't dawdle too long. Enter it correctly, and your dual tech will begin after the damage from the single is dealt.
Triples are the same as this, only you have two characters involved. You would see "L" over the head of one character, and "R" over the head of the other during your single. First you'd select a character just as though you were going to do a dual tech (and enter the commands). During the dual tech, you have to select your third character in the same way, enter their commands, and sit back and enjoy the chaos that ensues.
It's sort of complicated sounding when written out, but it'll make for battles that are a little more interesting than the everyday "point and click" variety. It should also make for some really cool combination attacks as you're literally attacking 3 times (single, dual, and finally triple).
Aside from Attack and Tech List, Item is of course selected in order to use whatever items you possess in your inventory, and Support Tech is for using healing Techs/Magic and stat raising Techs/Magic. These don't require button inputs like weapon based techs. And there you have it! There will be a more in depth explanation with pictures on the forum sometime soon, so if you're confused on something be sure to check for that in the near future.
In other news...
Roe has completed a nice heap of songs, and a new clip has been uploaded! It's a remake of a previous clip representing the "Boss 2" theme, The Enemy Intensifies. Feast your ears on "Good Will Triumph" below:
http://www.chrono-crisis.com/im/mp3/good_will_triumph.mp3
Lena has made good progress on the battle sprites as well as other in-game sprites! (Also redoing the whole character section without breaking the site! Wooo! -Lena)
I've made significant progress on the game script as well as finalized the lyrics for the song to be performed by Calypso during the Millennial Celebration!
Xenith has made progress on designing and coloring more weapons!
That's all for now! Be sure to check out the forum for a lot of new information on the 1999 AD characters as well as profiles and sprites for newly revealed minor characters!
