This devlog looks at the steps toward announcing the project officially and having enough material to submit it at various game festivals.

Steps Completed

Not Directly Game Related

• Bitsummit Submission : Sent
• Steam Page : Up
• Tokyo Game Show Submission : Sent
• Tokyo Game Dungeon 5 : Done (More on this one later)
• Flyers : Designed and printed

These tasks were some of my top priorities since they all had deadlines that were out of my control. Each of them also required things in the game to be at least functional and visually presentable to some degree. Game play footage and screenshots being a prime example. Which kind of leads me to...

Game Related

• Base Hub Scene : Done
• Dialogue System: Fixed Some Issues + Functional Translation
• Introductory Scene: Implemented in 2 languages
• One Extra Minigame: Bubble Bliss in a functional state
• One Minigame Prototype: Not yet sure about it.
• Lots of art and it's integration. UI, backgrounds, character sprites, etc.

Like I said, it might have been hard to complete some of the task that required me to submit things like footage/trailers and screenshots if I hadn't sufficiently completed these game related ones. One thing I will say here is that even if art assets take a long time, might require scrapping a few unsatisfying drafts, and then doesn't really do much by itself without some integration, god is it worth it. Motivation is so so so important. And a fully implemented mechanic that just uses placeholders feels a lot less motivating (to me) than a partially implemented one that has some visual appeal even if those might not be the final assets.

More about Tokyo Game Dungeon 5

First off, I'd like to thank my friend Bread who helped me table at the event. Having the flyers really helped explain the game to people but despite being my third time tabling at a Japanese event, I felt like I struggled more this time. I hadn't practice as much as last time being busy with other things, and I noticed.

Putting that aside though, the reception for Elfie was great!! A lot of curious onlookers as people played. Players found it charming and resonated with the vibes it gave off. One of the best compliments it received was that Elfie was "癒し". Healing, soothing, and therapeutic are considered the direct translation but I think a better description is the feeling you get when looking at something cute. Like puppies falling asleep on each other after playing, or any pictures of a quokka.

So all that to say, very good and motivational results. Even if I did take notes of some changes to be made and bugs that only happened when building the project. (Note to self, always plan a bit of time to test out the build outside of the dev environment. This is not the first time I've reminded myself this.)

Next Steps

• Implementing more of the pet simulator aspects
  So far I have focused on dialogue system and minigames. The narrative building blocks are there, and even though I really want at least one more playable minigame for this summer, I have to start implementing more of the pet simulator aspects. But there is a downside to this...
• Storylets and pet simulator testing tools
  One thing I noticed after the opening sequence was that the players tried to interact with Elfie once or twice. Some even skipped her to try the minigames. I need a way for myself, but also for people just trying out the game, to test things like Elfie getting hungry, or tired, or bored. Even things like how she would greet you if it was the first time you saw her that day.
  The focus for getting eyes on the game was never this at first despite it being quite important in my vision for the game. It's just not as easily presentable. But now with the rest of the building blocks being present, it'll make a lot more sense.
• Prototyping 1 or 2 more minigames
  Even if it doesn't lead to something to show by the mid-July, it's still something I want to do and that I should do. Perhaps good moment to focus on a minigame that involves cooking?
• Polishing and adjusting controls of current minigames
  A bit self explanatory, but seeing how I would consider them near completion it seems like the natural thing to do after noting a few things at Tokyo Game Dungeon.
• More dialogue events AND the translation for these
  I was very happy that I translated what I had written so far for the introduction sequence. I think the reception would have still been good, but definitely not as good had I not taken the time to have it. I also just find translating things easier as your writing.
• Illustrations for minigame tutorials
  You know the booklets that came with gameboy games? That's how I want the minigame tutorials to look like. It has to fit on one square page and require little to no words to understand. It's not a top priority but definitely something that would be nice to have.

Phew, that's a lot. Well perhaps the writing makes it seem like a lot. But I feel like this was the perfect time to realign myself and my focus. The extra descriptive bits feel like me convincing myself with my choices of what to focus on.

Devlog really are just rubber duckies for planning... at least for me they seem to be.