Anyway, i’m currently working on something I would call a toolkit to creating shining force game using actionscript (Flash). I’ve offered my help for the community project but a lot of things are going on regarding the Game Engine there so I’m not sure I’ll be useful, and even so maybe some other people might like this.

I’ve got a solid tile engine running and i’m working on the things that matters most, the tools that goes with it, namely a map editor / animation editor / item database etc …

The project can be found at Google Code (shining-fluff-devkit), and contains some important bits and pieces for Shining developers including:

• System and text fonts
• Game state management
• Tile maps and sprites
• Menus
• …and much more!

An example project is also available so you can see what the engine is capable of, and even at this early stage it is looking impressive! It’s well worth checking out if you want to make your own Shining game.

Source: Shining Force game development toolkit

I just finished adding the last of the Shining Force 2 character sprites. There’s 34 in total, which includes some none playable characters and vehicles (the raft and caravan).

Check them out here: Shining Force 2 Character Sprites.

Good news, everyone!

The Java source code from the latest version of B.A.B.S. has just been released. You can find more information on this version of B.A.B.S.  here. It’s the most complete version to date, and features plenty of campaign levels and battles for you to play with.

If you’d to contribute anything (source, images, music or ideas), feel free to drop by the forum and say hello :)

Anyway, here’s the good stuff: Download the source code here.

Here’s some great news for Shining Force fangame developers. Aura4, author of the Shining Force II remake project, has released the source code for the original demo!

You’ll need a few things before it will compile:

• MS Visual Studio 2005 (not free)
  OR Visual C# Express (free) 
• Servicepack for MS Visual Studio 2005 (free)
• XNA Game Studio 2.0 Framework (free)
• Bass.Net 2.4.2 (free)

There’s more information on the download page, including a few tweaks you’ll need to make to get everything playing nicely.

Enough talk, Go get it!

That’s 94 sprites in total.

Or 752 frames.

Or 433,152 pixels.

Check them out here.

Next job on the list is NPC characters, and then the actual Shining Force.

The long task of ripping Shining Force 2 enemy sprites has finally started. There are about 100 different sprites to rip, although some are just  re-colours. There’s also about 30 NPC’s to grab as well.

Expect an update on this by the weekend ;)

This was a silly idea.

Shining Force Characters

That’s it. All of the Shining Force 1 sprites are now complete.

There’s no time to relax though, because now it’s time to start on the Shining Force 2 sprites.

Final Conflict Tilesets

A trio of Shining Force: Final Conflict tiles have been added to Shining Aid. There’s still quite a lot left to do, but we’re getting there.

Audio Files

Newts has prepared some jingles for use in your projects. There are four to download: "Waking Up", "Dead", "Saved" and "Promotion". They’re provided in Ogg Vorbis format, which can be converted to other formats using a tool such as Ogg Drop.

They’re all released under the creative commons attribution licence, so if you use them in your project please remember to say thanks with a link to TSS. I’m sure Newts would appreciate a link to his gaming blog too ;)

To compliment these files, a selection of Shining Force 3 sounds have been added to the sound section.

You can grab the jingles and sound effects from the audio section of Shining Aid.

That’s it…for now

And so ends another lame update. Be sure to join us in Ye Olde Blah, and check out the projects people are working on.

Another week, another fresh batch of Shining goodness for you to devour. There are new character sprites, over a hundred battle backgrounds and several new tilesets to enjoy.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new…

Character Sprite Sheets

Another handful of Shining Force characters were added to the character sprites page, so it’s almost time to start on the Shining Force II sprites. Joy.

Shining Force Backgrounds

The battle backgrounds section has seen the biggest boost, with over 200 backgrounds added!

All of Peter van Dalen’s rendered backgrounds have now been restored, and they’re well worth a look. The biggest increase comes from the original Shining Force backgrounds though, and the site now contains every background from the Shining series.

It should be noted that the Shining Force backgrounds were ripped by Wolfgang Landgraf, author of the Phantasy Star Homepage.

More Tilesets

Both Peter van Dalen’s building tiles and Stordarth’s large tiles have been added to the tilesets section of the site. In addition to that I’ve also added three tilesets from Shining Force: Final Conflict.

Time For Sleep

That’s it for this week. There’s a lot more to be added to the site, and I particularly want to get monsters added. They’re a bit of a pig to rip though so it’ll take a while. There are a few other ideas floating around, such as adding statistics and maps in a reusable format, but nothing is set in stone yet.

We’ll see what happens :)

It’s been a busy week, but I’ve managed to add a few bits and pieces to the site. The biggest additions have been to the Character Sprites section, which is slowly growing each week. 8 members of the original Shining Force team are now available, including promotions, and the rest will follow over time.

The downloads section has also had a slight makeover, but it’s still very much a work in progress. Most of the original downloads are now available, and by next week the whole section should look a little nicer. Seeing some of the older demos has certainly given me a dose of nostalgia ;)

If you have any ideas about how the site can be improved, please feel free to leave a comment :)

Edit: The Downloads section is now a little prettier ;)

You can find the article in Shining Aid > Articles, or simply by clicking this link.