Shrine Maiden Shizuka (SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis)

Devlog

• Second optional player
  August 29, 2021 by Kivutar

  4

  #Changelog, #SGDK, #Web

  I just published an update to Shrine Maiden Shizuka. The game was migrated to SGDK 1.65, and a lots of bugs and crashes have been fixed. I rewrote a big part of the scrolling code. The code is now sma... Continue reading

  
• Updates
  August 21, 2021 by Kivutar

  1

  I now have to weeks of vacations so I resumed the work on Shrine Maiden Shizuka. The first thing I did was to adapt the game to the new SGDK 1.65. It was not without efforts, but it did fix some impor... Continue reading
• Bugfixes
  February 15, 2020 by Kivutar

  1

  People have reported that the game intro was crashing on the real Genesis hardware. I've been trying to fix this issue, but since I don't own a SCART TV here I have no way to boot the game on my Genes... Continue reading
• New release
  January 26, 2020 by Kivutar

  1

  This new release includes the new title screen, and the half done first boss battle. There are also new maps and new enemies... Continue reading
• More maps
  January 21, 2020 by Kivutar

  2

  I've been polishing existing maps and adding new ones, including the boss room. The boss AI is not coded yet, but at least I have a clear idea of what the progression is going to be for the first worl... Continue reading

  
• Pause
  January 08, 2020 by Kivutar

  1

  I've implemented a basic pause system, but we now have plans to gamify the pause and use it as a "third eye" mode where it would show hints and secrets. This will be unlocked by an artefact. The pause... Continue reading
• Intro scene, waterfall, spinning attack
  January 04, 2020 by Kivutar

  2

  I've been polishing the intro scene, adding a small part and monolog when Shizuka wakes up in the forest. We spent some time adding a downward attack using the umbrella, but I was not pleased with the... Continue reading

  
• Twitch live coding
  December 31, 2019 by Kivutar#chara design, #dev, #twitch, #sgdk

  Tonight I've setup OBS and twitch to stream the development of the game. No comments on what I'm doing yet, since there are 0 viewers for now. But at least you can see what I'm working on, and how: Wa... Continue reading
• The boss of the forest
  December 29, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #boss, #chara design

  This is what the first boss of the game should look like:... Continue reading

  
• Deep forest
  December 27, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #level design, #mapping, #first level, #tiled, #sgdk

  I'm now working on what will be the first playable level of the game. Shizuka wakes up in the island forest after her fall. Without weapons and psychic powers, and separated from Sanaka, she has to fi... Continue reading

  
• Tanukis, Sanaka and more
  December 25, 2019 by Kivutar#chara design, #scene, #cinematic, #sgdk

  The game introduction is getting some improvements, with better dialogs and a portrait for Sanaka: There is also the new Tanuki enemy that has a nice walking animation improved by my friend Greg: This... Continue reading

  
• New characters and portraits
  December 21, 2019 by Kivutar

  3

  #chara design

  I'm now working on the introductory cinematic scene, and it's going to feature this new non playable character called Sanaka: I've also been working on the portraits: Sanaka doesn't have a portrait ye... Continue reading

  
• Tile priority
  December 19, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #SGDK, #VDP, #Tiles, #Priority, #Mapping

  The Genesis graphics were organized in two plans plus sprites. The most common way of drawing things in a platformer was to use the background plan for some background image, and the foreground plan f... Continue reading

  
• Town mapping
  December 17, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #mapping, #town, #tileset

  The town is slowly taking shape. The trees need improvements... Continue reading

  
• First design attempt for the town
  December 15, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #design, #town, #tileset

  Some draft houses for the central town in Unjima:... Continue reading

  
• Dialog improvements, font and BGM
  December 15, 2019 by Kivutar#font, #dialogs, #music

  Some progress on the dialog feature: I'm still looking for a way to redraw the background PLAN. The new font is a WIP based on the default font of SGDK. It's the same, with a smaller font weight, and... Continue reading

  
• Typewriter dialogs
  December 14, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  Portrait is now drawn in the PLAN_A. Text will appear with a typewriter effect. Dialogs are now chainable... Continue reading
• NPCs and dialogs
  December 13, 2019 by Kivutar

  2

  #character design, #npc, #portrait, #dialog

  Creating a dialog system is hard because the fonts are drawn on the VDP plans. But with a little more efforts, it should be OK. The dialog system is needed for the few NPCs I'd like to add in the game... Continue reading

  
• Ladders
  December 12, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  The ladders are now working, in their most basic version:... Continue reading

  
• Enemies
  December 11, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  Today, a few enemies sprites I don't really like the umbrella one. I'll try to make it horizontal and have two legs and run toward the user like a car. I really like the green one. I've also done some... Continue reading

  
• Cave tilesets
  December 08, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  #design, #tileset, #tiled, #gimp, #cave, #pixel art

  Today I've been experimenting with some cave tilesets. A huge part of the game is going to happen underground. So far the result is not too far from what I wanted to achieve. It's a bit too rich compa... Continue reading

  
• Story introduction
  December 07, 2019 by Kivutar#Changelog, #Ideas

  Since the plot is going to be very simple like the one of Wonder Boy III, the story is now introduced with 3 sentences at the beginning of the game: The name of the island and temple may change if I f... Continue reading

  
• Stability improvements
  December 04, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  The update of today improves the stability of the game. I fixed a few crashes related to map loading and the sprite engine. I'm not sure exactly what caused the crashes, only that disabling sprites al... Continue reading
• Engine fixes
  December 01, 2019 by Kivutar

  1

  #DMA buffering, #SGDK, #VDP, #Scrolling

  Shrine Maiden Shizuka is a metroidvania that targets the SEGA Genesis. Programming for this kind of old hardware is difficult as there are a lot of technical limitations that you need to be aware of... Continue reading