I'm still around, but the previous project I was working on is kinda dead in the water but still very much alive in some ways. I stopped working on it due to time constraints and the sheer complexity of building the game in Unity's Visual Scripting system. I still very much wanted to build the game (build games in general, really) but due to the controversy surrounding Unity at the time, the engine just didn't feel right to use. I'd looked into Unreal, and it's a great engine, but really didn't seem suitable for me and what I wanted to make. 

So, I've picked up Godot! This engine is great. I've been using Gemini to help me learn and program (no visual scripting in Godot) and it's going well. I've been at it for a few weeks now and have a solid foundation started, but there's still so much more to do. There really isn't much to share at this point, but the ideas as flowing and I'm working on it daily, 33 separate commits. So far I've mostly been re-building a lot of things I've built in Unity before, but they're better and smarter. 

And the great thing about Godot is that there's an Android editor! This means I can even work on the game from my phone, although it's not exactly the best option, it still allows me to work on it from anywhere. I'm excited for the game and very hopeful for the future. The fact that I've been able to make so much progress in such a short time has me confident that my motivation should stick around. 

I've got real ideas and plans for this game. Things I've been thinking about and planning through for years. At this point it all boils down to execution and so far the coding has been pretty solid. The best part about it is the approach I'm taking on this game. I'm taking things one step at a time, following the path the player will in the world. This will allow me to release playable versions as I progress. Adding new features and functionality over time that I've already got planned. 

Maybe I should start writing up a devlog with every commit, or at least a new one after every session? What do you think?

You know what, let's go big here. I'll talk about what's been implemented so far, just a general overview. I've built a lot of specific components, many aren't anywhere near their final state. Specifically I've got an audio_handler to deal with my background music and global sfx, as well as volume controls. Speaking of which, I obviously have a main menu, settings screen. I've got the beginnings of a save system, very minor with more "loading" and no actual saving yet.  I've got a modular cutscene player, and a game state manager. There's obviously a player character to control, but it's got changeable layers such as clothing and hair. I have a general in-game time system with big plans for deeper usage. And, of course I have a scene (lots of work to do here) for my character to walk around in.

These are completely simplified descriptions, each one of those took a lot of time and effort to get right. Most are nowhere near their final state. I'm happy with the progress so far and hope you'll stick around to see how things go. As with anything I do, I'd be happy to talk about anything or answer any questions you have. Are you working in Godot and need help? Drop a comment and I'll try to help if I can.

For now, there isn't quite enough done to show you anything, but it's close. Okay, how about I share just a bit of my first cutscene. . . It shouldn't really spoil anything. Plus it's still pretty rough and there's a lot of refinement I'm going to do on it. That's it up there, the cover image in the header!