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autumn_mnya
hhhrmmm how do people write story stuff for mods?? And characters I genuinely don't know how people do it
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Cibryll
Cibryll
… I just make stuff up as I go along. It's not the best approach, though.
EnlightenedOne
EnlightenedOne
Like most anything, it's a skill you have to develop with practice really. You'll get better with writing a decent story after writing a dozen flawed ones.

I might be wrong and there is other methods but at least for me, everything starts with being struck with a very basic idea and it's up to me to actively "exercise the writing muscle" in trying to continually think about and flesh it out. Even if you don't have the time or willpower to actually do anything about these ideas, the simple matter of thinking about it and making it into a story in your head or outlined in a private document, only to realize the terrible flaws or predictable tropes a year later, is still practice that slowly improves oneself.

The other neat thing about games is that they have A LOT of components (arguably the most of any media). A lot of the time you can combine separate ideas that are swimming in your head—using what appears to be unrelated ideas as a backbone and fleshing out how they connect—or can plan those components in a different order. For example here's a timeline of 4 different game/mod ideas I'm currently sitting on (excuse me for being vague but I don't like oversharing ideas unless they're scrapped):
[1] Made up my own character based on interactions inspired by three "meta" videogames I had played years ago. Separately was inspired by seeing a video of a cheap bootleg videogame product and wanting to make my own. Realized I could combine this character idea and game idea and then later drafted a rough plotline using both.
[2] Wanted to make a turn-based RPG after playing a bunch years ago. I didn't actually have a story in mind initially (which is kind of the point of these games) but I knew how bored I became after the gameplay stagnated in them, so I only focused on how I would spice up the turn-based formula with different "classes" that function differently within the party (i.e. an engineer spawning AI party members, a seer who predicts what enemies will do) and then LATER wrote actual characters to match these. It wasn't until like 2-3 years later I finally came up with a rough plotline for these characters to follow (although who knows I might scrap it again for a new one).
[3] Wanted to make a game using a specific artstyle. Wanted to make a story about robots and a world after human extinction. Really enjoyed a proof-of-concept flash game about spellcasting mages and wanted a refined full version of it. Had a story for just the magic thing but threw it out. Mages/witchcraft and robots share little in common but thought it would be interesting to combine these radically different styles and wrote a very rough story about a robot who learns how to use magic.
[4] Years ago I expressed interest in making a certain type of CS mod alongside an acquaintance, but the idea was only gameplay with no story attached. Unrelated, I had recently did a crap ton of in-depth research on Cave Story for a (now on hiatus) iceberg project. Naturally there were multiple mysteries and unexplained details swimming about because of this. Out of nowhere I had an idea for two scenes in a CS continuation, which had nothing to do with each other and there was no gameplay attached to this. It wasn't until a couple of days later I realized I could combine all three of these things into one project, but there was still only two scenes and I later spent months writing the story just so everything connected. This involved rewriting a segment because of a plothole discovered by a friend and actually deciding that one of those two scenes won't be shown to the player after all, but nonetheless that's the creative journey it took.
The takeaway of those examples is that there isn't a set order to writing, and in most cases you can combine different things seemingly unrelated. Now, I can't exactly help you get those initial inspirations. For me it's kinda an uncontrollable process you have to listen to and explore when it does spark, but if all you have is a game mechanic idea it's fine to start and hone that first in the hope that the story comes later. Tons of games come like that, and stories are easier to change than gameplay anyways.

Also for characters my advice is to attempt to give everyone IMPORTANT (protagonists, antagonists and any character who has a lot of screentime) three things: A strength, a flaw, and a motivation/goal. You don't have to actually explicitly mention these for every character, nor do you need those flaws to be solved or the goals to be reached, but having them helps to have a consistent and interesting character. It doesn't even need to be complex, just one thing they are relatively good at ("being friendly" to "doesn't give up"), something that makes them imperfect ("stubborn/closeminded" to "can't think when flustered"), and something they are trying to do ("seek companionship" to "maintain an effortless life and avoid conflict"). Like I said you don't need to actually show all of these in your project, but it helps to have them written down to reference and brainstorm.
Willow
Willow
I recommend putting yourself on a 5-10 minute timer and writing short stories. It's real easy and good practice
Willow
You are in the middle of an extreme game of Uno. The tension is high unbearable as all players involved wait patiently for their turns.

The silence is broken by an announcement.

"Thanks for the sub!"
Eli
i'm sure this has been asked before countless times but what's up with all the bots targeting this forum
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Eli
Eli
oh shit not our doritos
Cibryll
Cibryll
… Great, now I want Doritos. ;-;

I'm guessing adding questions to registration (like "who is the boss of the Labyrinth" or "which Mimiga is not a Mimiga" or something) wouldn't be of any use in deterring the bots? Or is that a more complicated issue?
DoubleThink
DoubleThink
Realtalk though I've never been able to figure it out, at some point we must've gotten classified as a "target site" or something and now they just keep coming here out of habit
Cibryll
Progress… five maps.
The sixth one (about 126x80 tiles) seems to slow BL down, but probably better to take my time rather than a rush job at making the map.
I wish there was a "flip map horizontally/vertically" option, haha.
X-Calibar
X-Calibar
Huh, almost thought there was something like that? Probably my imagination if you didn't see an option for it.
And nice, don't forget to backup!
Cibryll
Cibryll
Well, I'm stuck with version 0.4.5.0 since my mobile devices won't let me download Java for Windows and I can't open version 0.5.0.0…

Having to flip the maps by hand isn't easy (as an example, think something like First Cave, except the Hermit Gunsmith is to the lower-left, and that enemy door is to the upper-left).
Origin Cave was inspired by First Cave, but instead of doors, there'll be H/V triggers.
I'm putting more effort into Origin Cave than the mod it would've, er, originated from. (Though the Solar Soul Castle would be visible but inaccessible, probably.)

I'll remember to make back-ups! (Just have to find those CDs I back stuff up on... how I misplaced those I don't know.)
Dredged Crusader
might start using this to post shit about mods im creating, but first i have to actually figure out how to use this website
minecraftstorymodefan
Last night I dreamt about watching a TMF episode with time travel in it, couldnt find a thread for weird dreams so i'll just post a text file on my profile instead

Attachments

its
I actually have no idea where else to ask this hence I could not find a significant thread in Music, so I thought I would ask here.

Is there a way to convert a traditional MP3, WAV, or OGG file to an ORG file for use in the freeware version of Cave Story? I really want to add custom music to a mod I am working on using Resource Hacker, but I can only import .ORG files, otherwise the game would crash.

Does anyone have any idea?
AlmaHexie
AlmaHexie
HaydenStudios
HaydenStudios
Converting a complex sound file like MP3/WAV/OGG into the specific format or ORG is no simple task. In order to automate this, it requires a complex machine learning algorithm that can recognize sounds in an MP3, and translate them into the equivalent ORG file. There is actually a program that can do this though, but it's very expensive. The name of the program is GIRakaCHEEZER.
its
mxOZfY9.png


Days of working on the mod, fucking Windows does this shit. Unbelievable. I guess all I can do is recover most of the Stage and NPC files, along with the TSC files and copy it all in a new Cave Story directory.
Cibryll
Cibryll
Er… forgive me for asking (I can't view images on my mobile device :-/ ) but what did Windows do?
its
its
Apparently, Windows corrupted the main game file ('Doukutsu.exe') and upon opening it says, "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." Since nothing loads up in the game (because I cannot get that far with that error popping up) it does not output an 'error.txt' file to view what the problem is.

Quite unfortunate, I have been working on that mod for days, but it is all okay now - I restored it by copying all the TSC files and all the Stage files from the 'data' folder into a fresh Cave Story directory, then applied the appropriate tileset for some modified maps, and it was good to go. One of the TSC scripts got corrupted (and it was an extremely important script) on one of the maps, so I had to try my best to rewrite it all.

So, yeah, that all happened.
HaydenStudios
HaydenStudios
One of the reasons it's so important to constantly backup your mod, you never know when the whole thing might get corrupted.
U
Cave Story's 17th birthday is at hand.
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U
Usar
well they really should update cs+ although it would also be nice to see something special besides bug fixes but then i'm asking too much lol.
its
its
I definitely see your point, though, a ten-year special would definitely be a great surprise after all these years. For instance, maybe a new character? Or more seasonal art for the special? I am sure they can whip something up.
U
Usar
Yep, I think they really should because of the importance of Cave Story to the indie game industry.
Ya-boi-mees
back again to mod me some cave story because I havent learned from last time
its
its
Never too late to mod some good ol' Cave Story, eh?
its
Banner looks pleasingly beautiful, I must say.

Edit: Kinda.
HaydenStudios
HaydenStudios
Not bad.
AlmaHexie
AlmaHexie
If you wanna put space backgrounds, I'd consider putting skyboxes from games or Unity asset store, they're pretty good and except if there is a limit for the pic, they flow pretty well because of how vaste the thing was thought for.
Infinityβ
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EnlightenedOne
EnlightenedOne
Don't know how good this long self-indulgent perspective will do but, you remind me of myself. The overbearing feeling that this mod you are working on determines your entire future. I was thinking the same thing at an older age and it took me awhile to realize these feelings just aren't true to reality.

I joined this place when I was 15 with no experience in the things you listed (programming, art, CS Modding), and I didn't complete any* of my mods for four entire years. Everything I made was eventually abandoned due to indefinite procrastination and panicking about "how old I'm becoming without anything to show". During these early years I also faced my own controversies and "agony":
[1.] At 15 I staged a boycott over my own mods over some dumb petition to (in summarization) get the forums to "stop swearing", which resulted in me becoming the laughing-stock of the moment and getting humiliated over my young stupidity.
[2.] At 16 I released "Cave (No Story)" (*the only technically complete thing I released during this time). It was something I made over a weekend without much thought; something I would have rather went under the radar with more attention put to the bigger things I was working on (which as stated before, ended up getting abandoned anyway, but at the time it felt like my future depended on them). Inconceivably, somehow this got sent to Vinny of Vinesauce streaming fame, someone I look up to, and resulted in one of his most painfully boring and cringey streams of 2014. It was a complete embarrassment, and if you find the recording of this stream on YouTube you'll see it's filled with hundreds of comments all pointing and laughing at my expense. I was essentially a joke, and I still feel somewhat responsible for possibly ruining the image of an entire community in the eyes of another.
[3.] When I was 17 I canceled everything I was working on, vented here on the forums, and then left for almost two years.

It wasn't until I was almost 19 and already graduated from High School that I came back here, and months later finished a mod for once. That's how long it took for me to see something to completion. It wasn't a magical switch in my abilities or personality either. During that time away I spiraled into a depression deep enough to require therapy and medication. When I had finished that first mod (Enthology) in 2017 I also promised that I would go back and finish another called Carnage Clash. Guess what, I never did and canceled it a 2nd time. Late that year (4 years ago) I started a mod called "The Booster 8.0". This 30-minute mod is 95% complete and just needs bug fixes for the most part. Guess what, I haven't touched it 3.5 years. You may know me as the guy who runs Doukutsu Club, that website where most CS mods nowadays are uploaded. I started that back in 2018 as an unfinished prototype, and I want you to take a wild guess how much actual development and updates it has seen in the past 3 years.

What I'm trying to point out with all of this is that the comparisons, the embarrassment, the "lack of progress" that your brain is inventing don't actually matter. There's a saying that "the harshest critic is yourself", as only you know your entire life story and are able to spend the time to pick apart its flaws. It's a biological evolutionary habit that our brains do in an attempt to better ourselves over the competition for food and shelter and finding mates etc. Now that our global population is all connected online we are all comparing ourselves to billions of others, which isn't healthy because even if you could quantify happiness/success/fame (you can't), basic math says that there will be billions to millions of people who are better than you. It's literally improbable to be perfect in all regards. You said you were ashamed about being banned and doing something years ago but I'm gonna be entirely honest: as an admin in one of those places I don't even really remember what you did, nor do I think any of it matters. Teenage years are called "the awkward years" for a reason, everyone does several humiliating things and then grows out of it, that's why those bans are temporary. I can't lie and say "nobody dislikes you" because I can't read minds, but personally I haven't seen anybody say anything negative about you for years and I view you as just a normal dude in the active community. Did you know all of those embarrassing things about me or how many years I've procrastinated on working on all that stuff? No, nobody remembers or keeps track of that except for myself. Time erases all of that and normal (non-egocentric) people are concerned about their own flaws 100 times more than those of others.

You stated that you feel like you should be "at least decent at programming, scripting, illustrating, pixel art...fluent in speaking Japanese or...Cave Story Modding". There's a chance that you, like many others do, see me as some adult figurehead in this community that is "just better" at all of this and free from any embarrassment/controversy, but the truth is that I'm at least 8 years older, had my own embarrassing moments, and I can script cave story mods with adequate-at-best programming and that's it. I can't do any of the other things you mentioned. You aren't expected to just be a toolbox of skills (nobody in this community is). If you want to mod CS right now, take your time there isn't a rush. If you want to step away and follow another passion, go for it there isn't a rush. If you currently have no ambitions to do anything right now due to depression ((hey, did you know seasonal depression is really common during the winter? Guess what season it is.)) than take a break, I promise that your ambition towards something will come back later I guarantee it.
HaydenStudios
HaydenStudios
Very well said Enlight. Ah yes, I remember that boycott. What I always found so ironic about that whole thing was that BLink was the one who really spearheaded it, and yet you seemed to be blaming yourself as the primary instigator, which I never quite understood.
EnlightenedOne
EnlightenedOne
Well yeah it might not have been my idea initially, but I doubled down and made the loudest impact with my signature banner and posts and everything. It proves the point that it was something dumb that I actively took part in, something I got flack and was laughed at for, and ultimately doesn't matter (most everybody forgot or isn't here anymore) and I can laugh at it myself now years later.
Willow
If you're told to find your own truth by herding information from multiple sources, how can you trust fortune cookies?
EnlightenedOne
EnlightenedOne
I surely don't trust them. Every fortune cookie I've ever had contained confetti or some crap inside and it tastes gross. How the hell do you bake something completely wrong like that wtf.
AlmaHexie
Wake up mommy, I just missed the bus.
its
its
You can't keep doing this son, I am so disappointed in you.
Cibryll
My birthday's tomorrow, on 21 November…

(Or today, or yesterday, depending on time zones. They can be tricky at times.)
its
its
Well, it is actually November 21st right now at 2:40 AM as I am writing this reply. Happy belated birthday!
Cibryll
Cibryll
Thanks~ :D
its
Hello everyone that is lurking on this site. Just a question: What are the recommended resolutions for a profile banner on this forum?
HaydenStudios
HaydenStudios
Heh, good question, I don't think most people here even use it. We didn't have that feature before we switched to Xenforo in ~2017, and I'm not sure if we even had that feature until a while after that switch, and nobody seemed to really care for it.
its
its
How interesting. I was customizing my profile and ran into that setting, but sadly no recommended resolution was noted. Probably not going to use it.
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