Frozen Ashes V0.2

A new update!!!!

                So I realize that it’s been awhile since I updated the game, and so I’ve been pushing myself to get a new update out. Before I receive a lot of complaints, I would like to point out that I am fully planning on going back through at a later point to fix some of the smaller bugs. Right now I’m merely trying to get the game-breaking bugs fixed. And hopefully I’ve done that. HOPEFULLY.

Changes from previous version (v0.01):

Did the Viridian Forest map.

Did the Viridian Forest City map.

Created Female Viridian Ranger sprite.

Created Male Viridian Ranger sprite.

Did the title splash screen.

Created the Crazy Cultist sprite.

Did the Pewter City map.

Did the route Pewter City to Mount Moon map.

Did the Over Mount Moon Map.

Created Lorelei sprite.

Created route from Mount Moon to Cerulean City map.

Created Nugget Bridge to Bill's House map.

Fixed problem (hopefully) to allow player to choose female gender.

                Please note that when I was first planning the game I was intending the player to choose the male character. Because of that, there are certain comments in the game that refer to the player as being male, or to things only the male character has. They will be fixed soon.

Added animations for attacks.

Created Grizzled Hiker (both male and female) sprites.

Created Rival sprite.

Added in the sprites for Dragados, Maglavix, and Skullgeance.

                If you have any complaints or have noticed small issues (whether they be grammatical or issues with bugs), please comment on this post to let me know. Otherwise I might not notice. It gets difficult to go bug-hunting when I’ve got several hours of gameplay done. But let me know, and I’ll make sure to get them fixed.

Also, if you want to be further informed about what I’m up to, follow me on DeviantART. I have been very diligent about updating my account with various pictures I’ve been working on for both Frozen Ashes AND my future/current side project called “Pokémon: Manifest Destiny”. 

Follow this link to go and download the EXE file to get the newest version!

Or, if that doesn't work, just copy and paste this into your search bar:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/a54g5zybvk86ex1/v0.2Pokémon_Frozen_Ashes.exe

“What? Your skill is evolving!” or: How I learned to draw better

In the month of November, 2013, I was struck with the idea of creating my own videogame. To be completely honest, I have no idea as to why I thought that I should create my own game. I do remember that I realized I could do it because of what I saw with the fan-made game Pokémon Fusion Generation.

                I got a demo of the program RPGMaker XP and then promptly realized that I had a lot to learn. A whole lot to learn. The programming was in a large part taken care of already, but there were still things that I had to learn and I didn’t have any background to draw from. Luckily I stumbled upon the Pokémon Essentials Pack, which took care of even MORE of the programming.

                However, I only had a month with the demo, and so I decided that I would instead work on the drawings or pictures until I could get the actual program. Not having the money to get Photoshop, I instead got GIMP 2.0, which was an open-source photo editing program. Again I realized that there was a learning curve ahead, as I had only used the Paint program that every Windows computer comes with.

                Here is the first picture that I did:

                It is just a basic recoloring of the original sprite. All I did was just take the Pencil tool, switch it to the Color option, and then just move it over the picture until it was all colored differently, and then I tried to make the fire on the tail look like an ice cube. In fact, the ice cube tail came along later, so the original picture was just the recolored image. The actual skill involved in creating the picture was at about the easiest level possible. I did need to have an interesting idea, but I didn’t need to have a lot of technical skill. 

                For the next few weeks, I stayed at merely recoloring. I experimented somewhat with changing up the colors, but I only used the recoloring tool to do so.

                Eventually, though, I made my first “Fusion” sprite. A fusion sprite is where you take parts from existing sprites and then combine them into something else. I like to envision it like Legos. People have created some really crazy and cool stuff from Legos, but they didn’t actually make the Lego bricks themselves.

                Here is the first fusion sprite, or Fuzemon, that I created:

                This sprite was rather simple, looking back, as I only combined the parts from three different sprites. However, this was one of the turning points where I realized that there was a whole lot more open to me. I can distinctly remember thinking about how cool it was that I could take the parts and pieces to make something new.

                As time went on, I experimented somewhat with the fusing of sprites as well as recoloring. I grew to be somewhat more skilled and then realized that I could show off what I was doing on the site DeviantART. Yes, my initial reason for joining a huge network and community for artists was to show off some of the work that I had done. However, looking at myself today, I guess that I still show off what I’m doing. I hope, though, that it’s not being too annoying to those who are watching or following what I’m doing.

                The first pictures that I uploaded were the most complex I had done at that time. 

                Luckily, there were people on DeviantART who liked them, and I was shown the much larger and much, much more talented groups of people who did art like I did. Being in groups like these caused another revolution of sorts, one where I actually started to create newer and smoother pictures.

                And I definitely had some results that I really, really, really liked. And they were popular. Because of the experience I’ve gotten from creating these sprites, I’m able to appreciate it when they look good and I’m able to pick out the things that work.

                However, I have also had some results that weren’t really that great, and I could see what the problems were. Unfortunately, I still lack the patience and ability to be able to go back and correct the mistakes.

                It became really evident when I decided to go back and redo some of my earliest drawings with the skills I have now. Here are the comparisons, with the older version on the left and the updated version on the right:

                I really hope it doesn’t sound like I’m trumpeting my own horn, or bragging about my own abilities. The nice thing about being on DeviantART is that I’m constantly exposed to those who have so much talent and skill that it makes me look at my works and realize that I have a long way to go. But I’m willing to make the steps needed to get to the top of my mountain. One should never look at another’s art and criticize themselves to the point where they fail to progress further. You should never look at something and say “Look at that! I’ll never be able to do that.” Also, DeviantART is a rather unique place (in my experience) in that almost everyone there is incredibly positive. I have very rarely received negative comments, and most people leave criticism in a positive manner.

                You cannot compare the works of Van Gogh to Picasso and say that Picasso never reached the same level of skill and talent as Van Gogh. You cannot look at the works of Beethoven and say that they are superior to the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. If there is one thing that I have learned from this entire experience, it is that there is beauty in most everything as long as you are willing to see it the right way. 

                Sometimes I'm just really lucky with what I've done, while at other points it just falls flat on its face. As a last example, here are two pictures that I worked on at the same during and finished them around the same time. Even though I was working on them at the same time and with the same skill, they didn't turn out the same quality:

“Still Alive” or: How I learned to love the fan-created music of video games

              Make sure to put your headphones on, or to turn of the volume by quite a bit! But don't do both at the same time, as it might hurt your ears.

             Have you heard this song before? 

             If you don't know the story behind this song, then you should go out and play "Portal" right now. Seriously do it. If you DON'T have the time/patience/guts to play this incredibly good game, then I'll just tell you that this is the game's main antagonist singing about how in the end, even though she lost, she really did win. All the while she does a great job of being passive-aggressive with her insults. But what is the significance of this?

             Music is an integral part of being human. No matter where you go, there will always be music developed by the culture in that area. In fact, it is likely that music has existed in human culture ever since we developed the ability to talk. With our ability to talk came the ability to listen to the pitch, tone, and speed of the voice. Should it be any surprise that music is a part of video games as well? It shouldn’t be, if you’ve played or watched someone else play.

I would argue that some of the most memorable and popular early video games had very catchy songs attached to them.

For example, we’ve got the theme to the first Super Mario Bros:

And then the theme for Tetris:          

  

                As the technology advanced, we started to get music that was more complex as well. Frogger was one of the earliest instances where the music actually changed according to the actions of the player (like with getting a game over).

                Over time the technology improved to the point where we could get music like was shown in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

                Also, compare the music from the original Super Mario Bros to the music in Super Mario 64:

                Then, of course, we have the iconic music from GoldenEye 007:

                Jump ahead another few years and we have the music of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , which uses a full orchestra and choir:

                If you feel like I’ve been speeding through the history of video game music, then you’re right. I mostly want to focus on something that I’ve discovered within the last year that has become a major part of my music library.

                With the emergence of the internet, and more importantly websites like YouTube, it allows people to upload the music they’ve created. We have the example of Justin Bieber to show that you can become really famous, but even people like Peter Hollens, Pentatonix, Eli Lieb, and Linsday Stirling can gain a substantial fan base.

                And with any type of entertainment, you will have fans who love it so much that they go out and create their own content for it. I myself am one of those fans. If you check sites like DeviantART, you can find a huge collection of art and stories. You can find fan-made video games.

                Another part of the fan creation area would be the mods. A mod is a file that you can download that either adds in extra content, changes a part of the game that already exists, or removes a part of the game. In fact, some companies (like Bethesda) have recognized the importance of mods and provide extra programs along with the actual game so that it makes it easier to create mods.

                There are a lot of different things that fans have done to show how much they love a game, and I know that I only covered a few of them briefly in this post.

                If you haven’t heard some of these songs and musicians/singers who I’m going to talk about, then you really do need to go listen to them. Like right now. Or, rather, after you’re done reading the post.

                The way that I would like to describe the types of music based on video games would be like this: There is a line where on one end you have the music that is dependent on the listener being really familiar with the game, while on the other end you have music that is completely independent of the game and can be enjoyed by anyone. However, very few songs are on one end or the other. Most fall somewhere in-between.

                There are benefits to a song being further towards one end of the spectrum than the other. If a song is really connected with a game, then it helps recall your memories and enriches the game for you. However, if the song is more independent from the game then it allows people who haven’t played the game, or who don’t play video games at all, to enjoy the music and maybe be teased into playing.

Here are some examples of songs that are closely related to a game:

"Commander Shepard" by Miracle of Sound

"Beauty of Dawn" by Malukah

"Khajit Like to Sneak" by Miracle of Sound

"Life in Bullet Time" by Miracle of Sound

     You see (or rather hear), each of these songs requires that you know about the game enough to get what they are talking about. They are enjoyable only if you understand the game behind them.

Now, here are some examples that I would argue are more independent from the game: 

"What I Used to Be (Revan's Song)" by Starwarspunk (Dani the Girl)

"Reignite" by Malukah

"The Savage Side of Me" by Miracle of Sound

"Frozen Sleep" by Malukah

            

             With these songs, you can appreciate the music even if you haven't played. In fact, "Reignite" by Malukah was the reason that I bought the entire Mass Effect Trilogy. The song got so ingrained in my head that I just had to know WHAT she was singing about. And boy am I ever glad that I did. 

             In the end, you should really know that music matters. As the years go by, we'll probably remember the really great moments we had while playing a game. We'll probably remember the characters if they were really good (or bad). But you can't really hum a tune from any of those things. It will be the music that brings those thoughts to our minds. It will be the music that we will continue to create for our favorite games. It will be the music that will be our memory. 

Here's one more song, just for the road: 

"Dream of the Sky" by Miracle of Sound:

“Arguing with Stop Signs” or: How I learned to love Iron Man 3

                When I look back through history, I see that today we actually have things quite a bit better when it comes to treating those with mental illness. From around the 1840’s to the 1950’s, the main model for treatment of those who were deemed “mentally ill” was to institutionalize them. The patients of those institutions were often severely neglected due to these hospitals being desperately underfunded and understaffed. It also caused a mentality in the wider American mind about how mental illness was something that could be sent away and never thought of again.

                According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), around 1 in 4 people over the age of 18 suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. In fact, I remember learning in my Abnormal Psychology class in college that about 50 percent of Americans will suffer from a mental disorder at some point in their life. However, only 6 percent are diagnosed as having severe mental illness.

                It’s probably very likely that at least in some point in your life you will suffer from a mental disorder. It is then unfair to think that we still have a stigma against admitting that we are suffering from it. I have examples of this from my own life. One of the best is the fact that I have a mild case of Tourette’s Syndrome. Tourette’s Syndrome is defined as a combination of motor and vocal tics. According to the website tsa-usa.org, this is what it takes to be diagnosed as having Tourette’s:

• Have both multiple motor tics (for example, blinking or shrugging the shoulders) and vocal tics (for example, humming, clearing the throat, or yelling out a word or phrase), although they might not always happen at the same time.
• Have had tics for at least a year. The tics can occur many times a day (usually in bouts) nearly every day, or off and on.
• Have tics that begin before he or she is 18 years of age.
•  Have symptoms that are not due to taking medicine or other drugs or due to having another medical condition (for example, seizures, Huntington disease, or postviral encephalitis).

Since I was diagnosed with Tourette’s, I have discovered that there are very few people who are really aware of what it is. Heck, even I didn’t know what it was until I had a younger brother who was diagnosed with it (which then led to me being diagnosed). While my tics aren’t very noticeable, unless you know me really well or watch me to the point where it might be uncomfortable, I do feel it necessary to inform teachers and prospective employers about my tics. Sometimes I can’t stop clearing my throat, which is awkward if I’m sitting in class while the teacher is lecturing.

Most often when I inform the teacher, they will ask me if Tourette’s is the one where you swear. I then inform them about how there are only a small percentage of those who suffer from Tourette’s who do that (the exact name for it is called coprolalia), and that I don’t have that particular tic. I have also been in experiences where people have told me that it’s all in my head, or that I shouldn’t go telling prospective employers as they may be wary to hire someone who is “retarded”.

Quite creative of you. Do you also happen to create fake handicapped parking permits to use?

With all of this in mind, I have two different examples that I have noticed of mental illness in the more popular media.

“Being A Malkavian”

I was first introduced to the video game “Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines” while watching a series of YouTube videos called “Marik Plays Bloodlines”. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the game, which is probably a good number of you, Bloodlines takes place in the modern world of California. You take control of a vampire who was recently ‘sired’, and are then set up with a list of tasks that you need to do.

                One of the things that makes the game really interesting is how you can choose what kind of vampire you will be. Just to name a few, you have the Toreador (Who are really like a better version of the “Twilight” vampires), the Nosferatu (Vampires who are extremely ugly, but excellent at sneaking around), and the Gangrel (who really look like what you would get if Tarzan was a vampire).

For some reason, George of the Jungle doesn't fit as a vampire as well as Tarzan.

                However, the one I’d like to talk about is the Malkavian. The Malkavian is defined by being insane. The Malkavian is a vampire who is characterized as being forced to speak in riddles by the strange visions they see and the voices in their head. Interestingly enough, though, is the fact that the Malkavian are extremely perceptive. They are able to see into the future at times, or see into things that were long ago hidden from the eyes of others. All-in-all, it makes for a very interesting character to play.

You at least can't fault him on his fashion sense.

                One of the more hilarious aspects of being a Malkavian (and there are many) is the fact that on occasion while you are walking around you will move past a stop sign and suddenly hear it talking to you. You can even have a heated debate with it. Also, sometimes if you watch the television you’ll notice that it’s talking TO YOU, and not just AT you. You can even have a conversation with the anchor on the news show.

                But there is something that is slightly unsettlingly about the powers of the Malkavian. Mainly it is the fact that you have the ability to drive other people insane. In fact, there are occasions where you are talking to someone, and you can confuse them to the point where they think you are a pet turtle they had in their childhood, or even themselves.

                While this was hilarious to play through, it didn’t occur to me until later that it seemed like a really strange portrayal of insanity. I get it that the game is all about supernatural beings with magical power. But why have an insane vampire who can spread their insanity? You can even KILL enemies by inflicting them with severe insanity.

                In real life, you can’t ‘catch’ a mental illness from someone. Sure, they tend to be genetic, meaning that if you had a parent or ancestor with a mental illness you are more likely to develop one, but you can’t get schizophrenia from the guy you met on the street. Phobias don’t spread like some sort of mental virus. It just doesn’t work like that.

                “Iron man 3”

                In case you haven’t been participating in the extremely clandestine world of comic book heroes in the last 5 years, then you might not have heard of Iron man. If you haven’t heard of Iron man, then I’m not going to even assume that you’ve seen Iron man 3.

                If this is you, then you should go out and watch Iron man 3 NOW. Just go. Now. I’ll be waiting for you.

…

…

                Okay, I’m done waiting.

To be honest, I really loved Iron man 3. However, after going online and looking at reviews people posted about the movie on YouTube and basically everywhere else, I realized that my love of Iron man 3 wasn’t that popular. Many people pointed out how the movie basically made a big joke of one of Iron man’s biggest enemies (The Mandarin) and about how Tony Stark destroyed everything that made him Iron man, which would mainly be all of the suits that he had made. He even went and had the iconic endless green energy arc reactor taken out of his chest and the shrapnel in his heart removed. How would he be Iron man in the next Avengers’ movie??

The movie would basically be like this.

However, one of the stranger criticisms I heard that were leveled at the movie was about Tony Stark suffering from PTSD (or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). In case you don’t remember, Tony bravely sacrificed himself at the end of the first Avengers movie and diverted a giant nuke missile through a magic/scientific portal just above New York that led to an alien armada awaiting in outer space. As a result of doing this, he very nearly died, draining his suit’s power and almost falling to his death. However, thankfully the Hulk managed to jump up and grab Iron man (in a move that should have broken nearly every bone in Tony’s body) before he hit.

Iron man 3, which takes place shortly after The Avengers, shows that Tony never really recovered from that fight. In fact, he developed PTSD, suffered from insomnia, and would have severe panic attacks when reminded about what happened. One scene shows Tony having a full-blown attack while out in public. He rushes to get into one of his suits and has it run a diagnostic on his body to see if he is having a heart attack or something (which is actually a fairly common thought among those who have a panic attack for the first time), only to discover that nothing is really wrong with him.

I’m sure that other people have come to the same realization that I have. In fact, I really wouldn’t be surprised if this was the ultimate goal of the movie. But before you go and accuse me of plagiarism, I want to tell you that plagiarism is for those who are too last to do their own work. I, however, am too lazy to even get up the effort to go out and FIND other people’s work.

When going back and thinking about the Iron man movies, I realized something. Let me give a brief history of Iron man:

1) Tony Stark is a big jerk who seduces women and then leaves them. He also happens to be an insanely brilliant inventor who designs weapons for the military. During one of his demonstrations, enemy soldiers kidnap him and force him to build them weapons. During the kidnapping, he is mortally wounded with shrapnel that is slowly working its way into his heart.

2) While being forced to build weapons, he designs a piece of technology that keeps the shrapnel from killing him. As a byproduct, it also produces insane amounts of energy that he uses to move really cool suits of technological armor.

3) Tony breaks out of prison, teaching his captors a lesson about keeping Americans prisoner, and then flies off into being an awesome superhero.

Incidentally, this also jumpstarted Robert Downey Jr.’s career.

                In the first movie, Iron man has to defeat his corrupt uncle who wants to develop the Ironman suit into being an ultimate weapon (an idea which wouldn’t really be used until giant monsters invaded and humanity was forced to create the Jaeger in Pacific Rim). With Tony proving that his way is better (mainly by killing his uncle), he then goes on to become a huge jerk in the second movie. He gets drunk, nearly kills people, and eats donuts while in his suit.

                In The Avengers, Tony has improved slightly. He doesn’t really go out and get drunk and nearly kill people with his Ironman suit, but he DOES enjoy trying to provoke Bruce Banner into becoming the Hulk. At the end of The Avengers, Tony proves that he is a real hero by trying to sacrifice himself to save everyone (or at least everyone who isn’t an alien trying to invade Earth).

                But there is actually an undercurrent that I hadn’t noticed until a couple of days ago when I was thinking about it. It could be that I’m just really dense, which is likely, but I thought it was pretty cool. When Tony gets back to the United States in the first movie, why doesn’t he seek medical help to remove the shrapnel? I think someone in the movie mentions the fact that the shrapnel is too close to the heart to remove safely, but don’t we have the ability to do full-on heart transplants? In the Marvel Universe, you have some freaky amazing technology. Wouldn’t it be really easy, in a modern hospital, to just remove the shrapnel?

                I think that the reason Tony doesn’t have it removed is because he is scared. He is terrified of having something go wrong when he doesn’t have control. In fact, he really makes things worse for himself by relying on the arc reactor in his chest to not only keep the shrapnel at bay, but to also power his very hungry suits of awesomeness. And he constantly pushes his suits and arc reactor to the limits, which doesn’t make much sense seeing as how that is really the only thing keeping him alive.

                In the second movie, Tony spends quite a bit of time in his suit. He really doesn’t leave it all that much. In The Avengers, he kind of goes the next step and builds a suit that can be summoned to him from anywhere. It basically builds itself around him in a couple of seconds. And in the third movie, he goes to the extreme by installing implants into himself that make it much easier for him to summon his suits from pretty much anywhere in the world so that he’ll never be without one.

                In fact, the third Iron man movie shows us that Tony has really gone overboard on building his suits. He has designed dozens of them. It’s not even that he has designed a different suit for specific occasions. It’s more like he has made sure that he has a backup for the backup for the backup for his backup.

                In my mind, Tony Stark doesn’t create the Iron man suits to fight evil. Rather, he created Iron man to protect himself, and then he realized that he should probably try and help others. Iron man isn’t the result of Tony Stark being awesome. Rather, Iron man is the result of Tony being afraid.

                That’s why I think Iron man 3 is fairly great. Sure, Tony spends a good portion of his action time outside of the Iron man suits, but he still shows that he can be awesome.

                At the end of the movie, he destroys all of his suits and has the shrapnel removed from his heart. In my mind, Tony made the move from using his Iron man suits as a shield to protect himself to honestly realizing that he needs to be Iron man to protect others. He literally removes the doubt from his heart, and shows his love interest that he has decided to move on from his paranoia by destroying all of the suits he had built as a kind of safety blanket for himself.

                So while there may be a lot of people out there who strongly disagree with me, I don’t really care. I think that Tony Stark will be a stronger Iron man in the future Marvel movies. At least as long as he doesn’t get bitten by a Malkavian vampire. Which could happen. You never know.  

I mean, they DID do a zombie Ironman. You never know. 

Link to NIMH: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml

Link to tsa-usa.org: http://www.tsa-usa.org/aMedical/whatists.html

Interesting article on mental illness in video games: http://kotaku.com/nobody-wins-when-horror-games-stigmatize-mental-illness-912462538

Link to a YouTube video I did on my own tics:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDDUbrCLNdo