11/21/25

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Imported Sprites for Three Ex-SOLDIERs Glenn, Matt, Lucia, Adult Sephiroth, and Rufus Shinra. Some of these need editing to fix colors.

Alternate method of gacha pull?

**Not mentioned, but I had a lot of thoughts I shared on Tumblr about it, the Gacha, if enabled, is FREE. THIS IS A FAN PROJECT AND I WILL NEVER BE ASKING FOR MONEY TO MAKE THIS**

Previously used method/current version:

 1.Designate a unique variable for each potential draw result, named after the weapon, and assign a random value 1-99999 to each of them.

 2. Designate a different variable as RESULT.

 3. Use conditional branch: If RESULT < [WEAPON A], set RESULT = [WEAPON A], Else; if RESULT < [WEAPON B]...so on and so forth.

 4. Do this down the line, comparing RESULT with every [WEAPON] in turn to determine which WEAPON variable has the highest value.

 5. Compare RESULT against all weapons again: If RESULT = [WEAPON A], Player gets the corresponding Weapon, else; If RESULT = [WEAPON B]...So on and so forth.

It's simple in theory, just incredibly tedious as each conditional branch needs to be input by hand. That's something like 45 variables to tell the program to check, twice. And that's just the weapons in the game so far! Anyway, just lots of potential for human error because the event gets so long and complex.

I was in the process of naming the Variables after their weapons when a MUCH simpler method occurred to me:

 1. Designate a variable as WEAPON DRAW or RESULT or whatever.

 2. Assign that variable a value from 1 - X, with X being the quantity of weapons available.

 3. Conditional branches:

 If RESULT = 1, GIVE Weapon 1, else; if RESULT = 2, give Weapon 2, else...

Basically, I just assign a variable to the weapons mentally instead of in-program, and it cuts the workload/potential errors in half.

I'm legitimately fucking kicking myself for not thinking of this LAST YEAR when I was working on my Tarot Card program, or when I was programming Blackjack in Chimera Rancher. That was a nightmare, it took me WEEKS to troubleshoot everything lmao!

All is good though, this is actually fantastic, so I'm going with option 2.

Also, realized I can do optional Gacha. On game start, I ask players which way they'd prefer to gain new weapons; Draw or Vendor, and can apply a switch based on their answer. That way, people who want to gamble can, people who don't can use an NPC vendor that only appears for them or something.

Weapons will also be found in chests throughout, just maybe not ALL of them.

Created event to go from HUB to map, which also gives an item that returns you to the HUB when used.

Made the gacha common event with only 3 variables to test. Didn't work for a LONG time. Found out I had one of the conditional branches in the wrong socket, so it was giving weapons and items on wrong results. Opportunity for human error 

It works now. *\(o u o)/*

Added a switch that enables or disables gacha mechanics. This will change the Gacha event into a more traditional weapons vendor. It will also spawn weapons in the world map/treasure/monster drops, etc. This switch can be toggled on/off at will using a "Toggle Gacha" item that stays in player inventory.

Added a Weapon Select Ticket item that is given when duplicates are pulled in the gacha. 10 of these can be given to a vendor (yet to be made) in exchange for a weapon of your choosing.

Also added Memory Crystals as an item, also given when duplicates are pulled in the gacha. These increase each character's stats at different rates. If Gacha is disabled, I will probably include these as a purchasable resource from the weapon vendor as well.

all existing weapons have been added to the draw pool, except for each character's Ultimate weapons, which are gained through the story.

Tickets Vending Machine added to Hub map (sephiroth's cell) to exchange Weapon Select Tickets for weapons and item bundles.

> There is still a risk of wasting tickets, as I forgot to include a conditional event that prevented you from manually buying duplicates. I'll put that in this weekend.