Unsatisfactory result... 😥

I did my workout at the gym and when I was about to run, it started raining. I don't like running on the treadmill, but this time I had to. I couldn't run for very long, I felt pain in both calves. I used a hot water bottle to help. The morning stayed rainy and the weather even changed. I slept poorly last night, so I felt sleepy all day... x.x

BigMonster1_2, the Evilking, I finished the edit following the Battler VX Ace details, thinking it would look good, but honestly, I didn't like the result :/.

Not much time to pixelate today ⌚👨‍🎨

Today we swam with fins. If I'm not mistaken, it was 1000m to start, 500m of kicking with a kickboard and 500m with fins and paddles. In total it was 2km, if I'm not forgetting anything else he he. 2km is very little compared to what I'm used to, but when you use fins, the workout gets tougher and the fact that I did 500m of kicking without the fins already left me tired. After that I went to the gym and followed my workout plan. I managed to increase the weights on all the machines and exercises, so I was satisfied, but I still haven't been able to get back to doing 11~12 reps on the pull up bar :/.

WIP_BigMonster1_2, I finished the adjustments to the Battler VX design and started working on the original Character related to VX Ace, but I didn't have much time today to finish it. Maybe I'll be able to finish it tomorrow. So I decided to show two human characters I made some time ago based on the CharSet designs of a famous artist in the RPG Maker scene. Do you recognize them?

Where is the unit's pilot? 🤖👦

Once again I only managed to run 2 laps of 700 meters, I need to improve. I'm not managing to make much progress on pull ups, so I need to take other measures to increase the number of repetitions.

WIP_BigMonster1_2, the Evilking, as I had already written, the larger the character, the longer it takes. Some adjustments are still needed, and I couldn't make a version that's as faithful to the Battler VX Ace, even though the original Character is already faithful in its details. So for now I still haven't finished the Battler VX version, which in my opinion feels more like a final boss than the VX Ace version. The VX version reminds me of something alien+technology, the first thing that came to mind were the EVAs from Evangelion. I did the same as the battler, covering the knee... so if it had the full body, I believe it would be the biggest sprite I've ever made, once again feeling like a final boss from some game.

1min 11s 63ms in 100m with 100% effort 🏊‍♂️🥵

Today I managed to go swimming, but since I needed to buy a few things at the supermarket, I ended up not going to the gym... and yeah, prices keep going up with each passing month :/.

BigMonster1_1, the Chimera, are both different, even because they are a Chimera. The first design refers to the Battler VX and the second to the Battler VX Ace. For both sprites, I followed the idea of the original Character.

MSG:Blocked passage / EV:GATE Switch OFF ⚡ щ(゜ロ゜щ)

The rain stopped on Saturday, Sunday was sunny, but it wasn't that hot. This weekend I was busy, so I couldn't play another game. I'm thinking about playing Sea of Stars, which I bought along with The Messenger a long time ago. I only played for a few minutes, it would probably be better to restart from scratch since I don't remember what happens at the beginning and apparently there's already a new free DLC.

So many animes, oh my @ . @ ...
Golden Kamuy, I don't know which one is more bizarre, Jack or Tokishige. Also, so many deaths. Even in the serious moments of this anime, they still manage to make me laugh with comedic parts.
Shibou Yuugi, this Yuki is pretty scary, apparently.
Jujutsu Kaisen, a very well animated episode. So many things happened that I couldn't miss a single second of it. Also, I noticed the reference to Kill Bill, I just don't remember if the famous Kill Bill scene was inspired by another work of entertainment.
Sentenced to Be a Hero, as I imagined, the goddess appeared to save them, but it was good to see the other two heroes getting some spotlight in this episode.
Sousou no Frieren, the character design in this work is very good. Even for a hero who appears in only one episode, her journey and the flashbacks so far only make me want to discover what her first journey with the group of heroes was like, even knowing that this isn’t the focus of the story.
Gnosia, it was interesting. First time putting an fanatic to vary the repetitions and having a Gnosia sacrifice another Gnosia. I liked the anime and each cycle, but I imagine there isn't much more to get out of this theme. I was left without answers from that princess(?) about the truth of Gnosia.
To Your Eternity, Mizuha is bizarre aaaah DD: You can't hold people forever, they have their own paths to walk alone, on their own two legs.
Trigun, good episode. The group finally comes together, Vash's abilities are exceptional. The good thing about this animation style is that it allows creating these moments. Even so, I saw some fans questioning a few frames in the previous episode. I prefer having a well animated season that adapts the rest of the story that was never adapted than a poorly animated adaptation like Berserk 2018(?) and more recently, One Punch Man, which I didn't have the courage to watch past episode 2. D:

A new week starting, but I couldn't work out at the gym or go running today :/. I woke up early with heavy rain, it eased up and I decided to go out, but right after I opened the gate, it didn't want to close and the power had gone out because 2 of the gate remotes weren't working. I can't leave the house with the gate open. I tried using the manual to close it and couldn't, I heard a noise as if a part inside the motor fell into the motor box. So I spent a lot of time and effort figuring out the correct order to fit the 3 small pieces. After that, the power came back and I managed to close the gate with remote, but when I finished, it was already too late for me to go train...

I don't know if I'll be able to keep posting daily during the week. The bigger the character design, the longer it takes to make and after Monster3, it would be BigMonster1... 2 and then the Coffin? By the way, I don't recall seeing a game made in RM using that sprite. But to make the Coffin, ideally I should make the Vampire first, so I can size it according to their height.
Monster3_8, Spider. The original Character design closely follows the Battler VX Ace, I only adapted the palette. I'm thinking about making the spider bigger, like the Scorpion, I'm undecided... The first frame I tried to do according to the Battler VX. I don't know if I represented it well, since the Battler's position is sideways and I tried to add more light to the middle part, simulating that this part of the spider is more prominent and forward in the image, while closer to the head it would go inward or into the background at this angle.

Watch out for the giant Scorpions! 🦂😲

It's been raining nonstop for over 24 hours. The last time this happened, I remember that many houses and buildings started having infiltration problems in places where they never had before. The news says it will keep raining until the weekend and things should go back to normal on Monday. Personally, I like the cold, but constant rain ends up getting in the way and can cause problems in structures and natural terrain, like landslides. Today I did worse on my pull up reps, this week wasn't a good week, maybe next week will be better and I'll be able to progress more in my training.

Monster3_7, Scorpion, I took a while to make this one. It's based on the Character design, but I basically worked side by side with the reference at a larger size and uhhh... I think it turned out too big. The first frame refers to the Battler VX, which seems like a mix of a Scorpion and some kind of crustacean and the second frame refers to the Battler VX Ace, which has purple, black, and red parts. I believe this color effect they gave to the Battlers from RMVXAce doesn't work very well for pixel art with few colors... I'll have to mess with the overall palette again T.T !?

It doesn't even feel like summer with so much rain ❄🌧

It rained before I went to sleep, it was still raining when I woke up and it didn't stop raining at all. Even the feeling of summer heat went away, making it feel like an ordinary winter week, cold...

Monster3_6, Sahagin, its designs are different as well. For the VX version, it's more like a monster that moves by swimming and doesn't stand upright like its VX Ace version, but even so I decided to make this VX version upright too. Its colors and appearance change a lot. This time I decided to make the original Character design version larger, unlike the other monsters, which were already smaller in size and stayed small. But I didn't like how the pixels ended up being distributed on abs.

Ahh great, now the pain is in my calf 😅

I thought I wouldn't be able to run more than one lap. I felt calf pain from fatigue in both legs. Luckily, I didn't feel it in my shins anymore. Maybe I need to stretch more or do a different type of stretching.

Monster3_5, Rat, your VX version looks like a bouncy Rat with dark blue fur, while the VX Ace version seems to be an upright Rat with gray fur. The original Character that represents it, however, "looks" like a normal Rat with white/light gray fur.

Swimming in the Rain 🏊‍♂️🌧

Tuesday, swimming and gym day. Today I swam in the rain, warm body and cool rain falling over me is a really good feeling. We did some intervals, 3x50m at light intensity, 2x75m at medium intensity and 1x100m at 100% intensity, all on 1:30 intervals. On the 100 m, I couldn't believe I did it in 1:15. I was really tired and thought I wouldn't be able to do many reps on the pull-up bar, but I managed up to 9. After getting a bit of rain, I was sneezing all day... hopefully I don't catch a cold this summer. D:

Monster3_4, Jellyfish, I made the Battler VX version, which to me looks like a slug, while in the Battler VX Ace version I increased the size, changed the color palette, and I'm thinking about changing the top of this Jellyfish a bit more.

A feeling of discouragement hit me... 🙅‍♂️

This is the second gameplay of "Adventures in Sandland: Al and the Underground Labyrinth ( 砂漠の国の冒険記～アルと地底の迷宮～)", from Stage 6 to Stage 8, the end of the game. I died so many times that I had to cut out many of my deaths, otherwise, the video would be too long to upload to YouTube.

Now, speaking about the game in general. Its art is beautiful, the maps are varied and well designed, making progression through the game difficult. You go through all kinds of dungeons with distinct enemies, some of them can be quite irritating if you're in a hurry to finish the game/stage. It's a game that I consider difficult even on the normal mode, which is the one I played. I'm used to fast paced games, where there's always a time limit to meet or the gameplay itself gives you the freedom to land many hits at all times from different angles, but that's not the case in Adventures in Sandland. You must play calmly and patiently, without worrying about finishing the stages as fast as possible, especially because there are places you can only access once and you only get another chance if you reset the stage or die. However, besides losing a life, you also lose what you collected, making it necessary to collect everything again to achieve a high rank and stay well equipped to face enemies that become harder to deal with toward the end of the game.

The author himself tagged me on his social media regarding the first video I made. I thanked him and he replied that he based the difficulty on the NES. I didn't have many opportunities to play NES games and if I did play any, I don't remember anymore hahaha 👨. So it's expected to be a challenging game. That said, I replayed it again without recording anything and at my own pace. Calmly, I went through the stages without difficulty up to Stage 7 and on Stage 8 I ended up dying only a few times compared to when I recorded the gameplay.

I managed to get Rank S in all of them, except for the Bonus, which doesn't appear in the image above. The change I noticed was that the star on the title screen changed from gold, the first time I finished the game, to silver now and 2 of the 4 remaining artworks that were locked after clearing the game the first time were unlocked. I don't know if they are unlocked if I clear the game a third time.

Now, onto the anime... and lots of anime D:

Golden Kamuy, even in serious situations, they manage to add touches of comedy. The plan didn't go as expected to capture the assassin, everyone ended up splitting up.

Shibou Yuugi, a minefield, it reminded me of a Windows game. It seems this anime will go back and forth in time showing the games the protagonist went through. It will be interesting to see her personality change over time or how she became the way she was in the first episode after so many games.

Jujutsu Kaisen, I was as confused as the protagonist with the explanation, I think I'll need to rewatch it later @.@ .

Sentenced to Be a Hero, if he needed the goddess to defeat the plague, how is he going to win without one? I think she'll appear at the last moment and save him.

Sousou no Frieren, apparently, you can't win every battle...

Gnosia, first time with all participants, I hope the truth is revealed in this game... That's what the previous episode suggested, but nothing yet...

Trigun, thankfully it didn't take long for him to regain consciousness. I hope the main group meets up in the next episodes and it's a shame that Vash couldn't save another life.

Today I couldn't finish the three 700 m running laps, but I did go to the gym as usual. I was very discouraged today and ended up making only 1 frame for today 😔.

Monster3_3, Hornet, this time I included a comparison with the Monster using a human of average height in the RTP VXP style. A common insect wouldn't appear on screen and this Monster is already quite large when compared to the RTP VX Ace style. So I decided to make only the Battler VX version and in the Battler VX Ace version I only changed the colors to better match the Battler and because of the color palette. If I did the same thing I did for the Slime, I think it would end up too large, maybe it would become useful as a Boss Hornet 🤔.

Another Friday... 📅

I woke up at 5 a.m. and went to the gym earlier. I ran after the gym, but my time for the three 700m laps ended up being big than Wednesday's, with 11:04.

Starting a new set, exclusive to RTP VX Ace.

Monster3_1, the Bat, I was unsure whether I should increase the Character design to 1.5 pixels and modify it the way I did with the Slime. Between the two versions, for me the Battler VX is scarier if you run into it in a nighttime environment, it looks like it came straight out of a dinosaur movie. The Battler Ace version, on the other hand, with that white pixel in the eyes, ended up making it cute, hahaha.

Monster3_2, the Gayzer, the versions are quite distinct, the Battler VX has several eyes and thin tentacles, while the Battler Ace has one big eye and a slimy flesh that supports that eye.

Between 33s and 40s, I need to lower this time even more ⏱

Swimming classes are back. Today we did 50 meter sprints, 4 sets of 6 sprints. It was really intense, I was very tired. It had been a long time since I last trained short distances in swimming, so at the beginning my times were around 33, 33, 34, 34, 35 seconds and they kept increasing until the last sprint of the last set reached 40 seconds... I need to train more. After swimming, I went to the gym and had trouble with pull up, I was too tired to do many reps. At least today I managed to do the 3 sets of 60 sit ups that I was already doing before the holidays. After tidying up the house, I went downtown to take care of a few things. Today was a tough day, but a good one, I felt willing all day and had energy to burn.

Monster2_4&8, the Succubus, I made the three versions. The original one seemed to me to have too few details for a tall sprite. I revised the Battler VX version, making it more faithful and detailed, with dark blue colors on the outfit, but I kept some details from the first version I made of the Succubus with green hair. The one in the center is the VX Ace version. I tried to represent the effect the artist gave to her light blue hair, but I feel it doesn't work very well for pixel art. I'm unsure whether to keep it or remove it before making the other sides...

"Gelatin", tutti-frutti and lemon flavors 🔵🟢

I managed to go to the gym and run without any difficulty. I still haven't been able to get back to doing 12 repetitions on the pull up bar, but I already did 11 reps. As for sit ups, I do 3 sets of 60, I still haven't gone back to doing 180 in total, but with a bit more persistence in training, I'll be recover. I was satisfied with today's run, since I did 10:40 over 3 laps of 700m without stopping, last time I did it in 11:30.

Monster2_3&7, the Slime, there isn't much to do with this monster. For me, the original Character works for both Battlers in the VX and VX Ace versions. What I did was increase the size to 1.5 pixels or 150% scaling and rework the distorted pixels to end up with a larger Slime.

Good water, strong sun 🏊‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

Today I had difficulty working out at the gym after swimming. I still haven't returned to my normal condition and I also need to adjust my sleep cycle, I've been sleeping poorly over the past few months.

Monster2_2&6, the Dragon, a version based on the Battler VX design. This one gave me a bit of work. I could have made the version following the original Character design, but I believe it wouldn't match the other characters in this taller version. The "hands" I made for the Dragon left me in doubt, I tried to follow the design, but it still feels strange to me.

The mosquitoes are back 🦟🎾

I didn't manage to sleep very well from Friday to Saturday, so I preferred to rest rather than do any physical activity. Anyway, the new anime season started in January, with some continuations I had been wanting to watch, and there will still be more throughout this year.

From the 2025 seasons that continued:

Gnosia, returned with Part 2, focusing on Setsu and Yuri's concerns about their mission to collect information that connects the various characters. It ended on a cliffhanger where the truth will be revealed. I think Gnosia will be treated as something created by humans and that this "cyberization" mentioned by one of the earlier characters is similar to the Gnosia attacks at the end of each voting phase. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to find out.

To Your Eternity, had a good episode. It was about time to show how people from other eras are trying to survive in this modern world, and how each person wants to follow their own dream or path in life. This seems to affect Fushi a lot, since he doesn’t understand this human side.

Now for the new seasons and returning continuations:

Golden Kamuy, had a very good episode and the situations remain funny and over-the-top.

Shibou Yuugi, surprised me. I didn't even know this work existed. This episode is very well constructed and really managed to hold my attention.

Jujutsu Kaisen, is finally back. I had to watch a recap of the previous season. I almost felt like rewatching it because it’s such a great arc, but I've been short on time lately.

Trigun, my favorite anime, is back. It's good to see a different approach in this post destruction arc and to see Milly showing up. I'm curious about the new human colonial ships, because if I remember correctly, Earth was already gone and the Seed project was the last hope in the 1998 Trigun. I still haven't read the manga to this day, but I know it's different from the 1998 and 2023 anime versions.

Among the ones I've already watched, I'll also keep watching Sentenced to Be a Hero. That makes a total of 7 anime... but Frieren is still coming, so 8 anime, and I might be forgetting one more... ah, Fire Force. That one I'll leave to watch the final season later. There's already too much anime for me to keep up with... ah, this cycle, the eternal cycle. D: 

This time I didn't manage to play much either. I wanted to get through Stage 6 all the way to the end, but I only managed to play up to Stage 8 with many deaths. The normal difficulty level of this game is already hard.

This set also originates from the Tkool Blog, a set created for the Battler versions for RMVX that was later added to the RMVX/Ace RTP.

Monster2_1&5, the Plant, both Battler designs in the VX and Ace versions are very similar, so I thought about mixing details from both designs into just 1.

No pain while running... for now 🏃‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

Today I managed to run after going to the gym. But I still haven't been able to do the 12 repetitions on the pull up bar again, I'm having trouble even reaching 10 reps. Taking a break from physical activities is not a good idea.

Monster1_7, the Death 💀, across its four designs always has these red details around the dark cloak and carries a scythe. I left only the Face/Bust version without the scythe. Among them, my favorite, the one that conveys the strongest sense of presence and fear, is the Battler VX version. However, I should have extended the cloak further downward when pixeling it, because when I compare it side by side with the other designs, him looks like a small.
Monster1_8, the Maō or Devil King 😈, appears in the Battler folder as Darklord. He has interesting variations, I liked all of them. For me, the Battler VX Ace version is the most imposing. In fact, in his Battler image, he is posing on the throne with a dragon or some creature behind it. What bothered me was the horn, even though it does make him unique.

I still haven't gotten back into my rhythm 🏃‍♂️🏊‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

I'm still having a hard time when training, staying inactive for a long time because of the end of the year isn't good. I don't want to miss a single day so I can recover the rhythm I had.

Monster1_5, the Fire Demon 🔥 according to her, or Ifrit in the Battler folder. He has "small" differences between his designs.
I'm thinking about deleting the 1st Battler VX Ace design or changing it to make it more unique, maybe more muscular.
The 2nd design refers to the Battler VX , where he has a light yellow to orange beard, the same color as his skin.
The 3rd design is the Face/Bust, which looks like an Ifrit with skin burns and remnants of hair...
The 4th design, to follow the original Character, I run into the same problem when turning a Chibi into a tall sprite. I followed the flame pixels at the top and bottom to edit later and gradually filled in what was missing in my own way, trying to keep the same proportions as the original Character. I actually liked the result hmmm.

Monster1_6, the Ice Queen ❄ according to her, or Icelady in the Battler folder. She already has more interesting differences. The order of the designs is the same as always, from left to right:
1st (Battler VX Ace), I tried to give volume to her butt thighs and then slim them down with the tight dress, which then flares out to the sides. Her skin is dark blue, her hair is light blue and the tips are a pink/purple tone that gives her an interesting highlight;
2nd (Battler VX), she looks like a different character, with ice on her hands and legs as if she’s ready for battle;
3rd (Face/Bust), she almost looks naked, but she isn't. Her skin is white leaning toward blue, just like her outfit, but I ended up making the skin more bluish to create contrast with the outfit and her curves... *cough *cough 🤭;
4th (Character), I followed the original details and it was only here that I noticed the hair below the shoulder. This outfit without details ended up looking like a jumpsuit with boots :/.
Only after finishing the 1st one did I notice that a detail was missing, the white fabric that runs between her shoulder and forearm. I'll change it later and check if it looks good. For all of them, except the 4th, I had to keep the standard human RTP skin first and only then change it to blue, so I wouldn't get confused during the pixel art process.

No creativity for a title 🙃

I woke up, looked out the window, and saw heavy rain again... D:

I decided to leave my workout for later and get ahead on my work and studies.

Monster1_3, the Orc, the design versions are quite diverse. The Battler VX Ace version has a head very similar to the Character version, with the difference that it wears leather armor and uses a ring on the exposed tooth. The Battler VX version looks a lot like those Dark Fantasy or Tolkien style orcs. The Face/Bust version is the most different among them, it looks younger, has hair and has two exposed teeth on each side, in addition to the outfit having other details. The Character version, however, suffers from the same issue where, when the design is enlarged, some details seem unfinished or empty.

Monster1_4, the Imp, unlike the Orc, there are few differences between its designs. The first is the Battler VX version, the second is the Face/Bust + Battler VX Ace version. And... for the first time, I didn't make a version similar to the Character one. I believe there wouldn’t be much difference due to the sprite’s height, so it's unlikely that I'll do it in the future...

Getting back to normal 🏃‍♂️🏊‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

Today I managed to get back to training, I swam and worked out at the gym. But I had some difficulty, I felt more tired today.

Now I'm going to start with the Monster sets, in the VX Ace version, 2 Monster sets and 2 $BigMonster sets were added.
Monster1_1, the Ghost, the most noticeable design difference is the Face/Bust compared to the Character/Battler. In the Battler VX Ace, the Ghost wears a hood, in the Face/Bust version it does as well, but with a different shape and color tones. I'm considering keeping only 2 versions, the Face/Bust and the Character with an extra layer on top to add the hood 🤔.
Monster1_2, the Skeleton, for this character I made all the versions, the expression of the first sprite is creepy hahaha. The difference among the four designs is the head...

A very rainy morning 🌧 ... no training 😑

Instead of writing and constantly taking screenshots of the gameplay, I thought about using my YouTube channel again to release the gameplays. It's more practical, I don't need to pause all the time, and it's better than describing every single detail. This time it will be a game I really wanted to play, but unfortunately the software or engine it was made with was specific to the East, so errors happened when trying to launch it because the Windows locale didn't recognize the changes between "." and ",". However, the developer released a version on the Godot Engine and I ended up postponing the gameplay, so much so that it has already received a few updates 😅.

I died so many times on Stages 5 and 6... I almost gave up... the video was over an hour and a half long, I had to chop it all up and removed my many deaths on Stage 6... 😭

Game: 砂漠の国の冒険記～アルと地底の迷宮～[ Adventures in Sandland*: Al and the Underground Labyrinth ]

Author: 瀬加井 勇 (爛漫堂) / Isamu Sekai (RANMANDO)

Available [Version 2.10]: http://ww5.tiki.ne.jp/~ranmando/sandland/index.htm

*Name of site is Sandland, so, I thinking adaptation of "Desert Kingdom" or "Desert Country" for Sandland sounds better, for me. If that's wrong, edit later.

Gnosia, the episodes are now focused on each character, it looks like the season will take a while to end...

To Your Eternity, these last episodes have been very interesting, debating life and why some people wish to give up living even with so many things available, but unfortunately it's a cruel world where certain material goods and services are far from being accessible to many of those people who think about giving up.

Spy x Family, I hadn't commented on the latest episode, but before its premiere I ended up going to Shueisha's Manga Plus and read the rest of the arc that the anime adapts and a bit more, which made me even more excited for new chapters. Since I'm reading the manga, I'll stop commenting because of spoilers.
The problem with seasonal anime releases following the seasons of the year is that new interesting ones always appear, like Sentenced to Be a Hero and other long awaited continuations, making the cycle of watching anime series or live action shows endless 😅. Speaking of real people, I watched the latest season of Stranger Things and honestly, I didn't like it. I was expecting a well made series conclusion, but it felt like they didn't respect the very rules of the world they created during the great previous seasons.

Since I already posted the Horse because of the Riding set, I'll continue with the Animal set. Because the animals are reduced or have a Chibi like appearance due to the 32x32 frame of the set, I had to adjust some sizes, such as the width of their heads and their length as well. Like the Butterfly, I tried to add detail to the black color following the reference of a real blue Butterfly. I ended up adding the bell to the cow and other changes to differentiate it... maybe I'll remove these detail later.