Hi everyone! I'm pleased to announce college, while time consuming, has not taken all that much time away from working on the game! While programming has admittedly been slow, art, storyboarding and worldbuilding has gone swimmingly. I would like to show you all my progress, give everyone an idea of the general themes of the game, and talk about the gameplay loop in this post, as well as where you can see less important updates and or earlier updates on the game if at all interested. Strap in, this ones a long one!

    (Also, yes, the title is still pending. I'm terrible at names...)

    Theme and Story

    This game is DARK. In this world if you aren't constantly kicking and clawing you won't live to see tomorrow.  You'll start out on the bottom layer of an incredibly wicked and corrupted society, living entirely off of the garbage of people who only have scraps. You play as an incredibly resourceful and indomitable young man, who one day gets his hands on the key to breaking his way up into the world; a power cell capable of powering the robot you've been studying. With this, you're able to power robots to keep you safe from current leaders and "laws" in this land, giving you access to more resources and the ability to safely fight for what you need. Alone you'll build up an army, amass more resources and power cells to power more and stronger robots until you can find your way to the top. Be wary, you will be met with everything the world has to throw at you, and nobodies going to do you any favors. You were not built to rise, so build something to do it for you.

    The World

    The world you'll explore will consist of 5 different zones. All of them have been fully fleshed out by me, but to not spoil too much I'll only give you the first two you'll explore.

• The Depths: Where you were born, the only world you know. A massive, barren dirt filled underground system of caverns. Survival rates are low, and resources are even lower.  People who were fortunate enough to find energy cells usually amass towns or bases to hog resources and keep people away with automated security systems. Everything that exists in this world comes from the giant hole on the top of the caves. Some people treat it like a god, and pray to it in times of need. Others see it as a captor, taunting them by giving them the bare minimum to survive. However, a small amount of people see it as a destination, somewhere they can go to live a better life.

• The Caves: Above the Depths is the Caves. There is plenty of water, and the people who live here perform and understand basic agriculture, however they have terrible ground and no natural light, so food is still not in abundance to say the least. There is an exit to the Caves, however it is heavily guarded by technology so advanced nobody in the caves can even fathom it, and nobody is allowed to leave. Once in a while, whoever is keeping them here brings in supplies and technologies, and with it they build their agriculture, and farms. However just like the Depths, once in a while they bring in a power cell, and those who get these power cells act just as those in the Depths, making cities and bases to take and hoard.

    Art style

    This may seem like a bit of a moot point, but I wanted to point out the art style im using for a few reasons. The first being in my name, SketchyDev. I was originally going to be a bit of a gimmick developer, having all of my art be handmade sketches. However I wanted to branch out, and not confine myself to a single artform even if it was one I preferred. So for this game I used pixel art, and I plan to have rotoscoped cutscenes and close up images for tenser, or more serious moments (I'm also playing around with having them be voice acted, but don't put money on it). Below is a picture I drew up for an example of what this rotoscoping in game may look like.

    If I'm being 100% honest, most scenes in game will look more detailed and coherent than this. I really couldn't wait to make this post any longer, so I whipped this up in about 40 minutes. It's also my first ever drawing with rotoscoping, so I'll definitely have more practice before I put an image like this in my game. For instance the shirt and robot on the bottom right are too flat in their colors, and the crowbar is strangely wide. These aren't mistakes I'll make when time comes to make full animations.

    Here are also some screenshots of my current build (MANY things are subject to change, and are already planned to. this is just to show the general art style, if you like or dislike any aspects please feel free to let me know, you may like something I plan on removing, or dislike something I plan on keeping)!

    Gameplay Loop

     The gameplay loop is really simple. You can collect resources any way you'd like, the most efficient being to follow the story and decommission enemy robots. Doing this you'll scavenge their parts, defeating the same robot enough times will give you access to its blueprints, letting you make it for yourself. However you can also scrounge for parts in heaps of garbage for however long you need, collecting small amounts of resources, some small chances of more advanced parts and incredibly rare chances of finding more useful things like blueprints. It's up to you to decide what you want to do next, and what would be most efficient for your current scenario. Succeeding will take Knowledge, Skill, Planning, Persistence, or Luck. (Also, for people who dislike the idea of having to scavenge for resources and getting lucky, I will add renewable infinite sources of robots when certain milestones are reached).

    Using these gathered resources, you not only create robots, but also modules. Modules are essentially just upgrades to your robot, allowing you to either compensate for their shortcomings, or spec even harder into their strengths. Every robot will be able to hold a certain amount of modules, with more advanced robots having more module slots. 

     Modules will have a variety of abilities. Some will be basic and effect only the stats of the robot, while others may give your robot a whole new move entirely. Some modules may do very special things, like giving you an extra attack on the first turn of a battle if you're faster than the enemy. Some modules may even be specific to certain types of robots, only installing on drone type robots. I may even add a module or two that are robot specific, completely changing how a robot functions. As a side note, I'm currently planning on being generous with module slots; I'm super excited to see what people do with them!

    Where to find more updates if interested

    I recently started a Bluesky account, I've never been a fan of social media but I figured I should give it a try for many reasons. On there I typically post random tidbits of what's going on in my mind at the current moment while developing the game. Sometimes you get random Philosophy, and others you get pre-alpha sneak peeks of the game in its current state, what I'm currently working on in the game, what I'm doing next, and what's finished.  If that at all interests you feel free to check it out at https://bsky.app/profile/sketchydev.bsky.social

     That's all folks!

    Thing's have been on a real up and down motion lately, this is both one of the most fulfilled I've ever felt, while also being one of the most tiring sleepless point's I've gone through (unrelated to the game). I'm just grateful I can have something to look forward to with joy right now. I'm overjoyed with every view I get, and every second I work on this game, every piece of progress I make is a blessing. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, I will make something we can be happy with, and I will not misplace your trust in me.

    With pride to be who I am,

        ~ SketchyDev