Posted March 19, 2022 by QuentinWH
It has been a year since Sinathir got released to the public, so I decided to talk a little about what has happened through out the year, about the future of the project and also about the newly released version.
When Sinahir got released, it was in highly unfinished state (And it still is). I have been working on this project several years before it even got released to the public. Development was and still is, very slow. I work on it in my free time and only when I want to and it is most likely going to stay that way.
I work on the game alone. I have a few people who playtest the game sometimes when I ask them to, but that's about it. I don't mind working alone, the only thing that bothers me is the amount of time I have to spend testing the game before each release to catch as many bugs as possible. And even then, many bugs still get through.
Release of the initial version of Sinathir went nicely. No technical problems on my or itch part, the game worked and those who played it and wrote me back said they liked the game. The game didn't get extremely popular, which I expected and don't really mind since it is not my goal to make new fortnite. People are still viewing my page daily and through out the year, the game got downloaded roughly 200 times. I think this is pretty good number all things considering. Game doesn't look very good graphicaly speaking, it is still very clunky and the premise is very niche. On top of that, I'm not advertising the game anywhere (except few posts here and there on image boards). Comments and e-mails are not as common as I'd like them to be, but they happen and that is good enough for me.
It is obvious it would have been better to released the game in its finished state. Sadly, I don't think this was an option. Development is really slow and it will take years to finish it. On top of that, I don't want the game to end up like for example "cube world". Developer of that game was making the entire thing by him self without any outside input and the result was a game that almost nobody liked because of its flawed mechanics. This could have been prevented easily by allowing people to test it while he was still working on it. Creating game and putting everything people suggest in it is not a good idea, but doing the exact oposite and developing it in a vacuum is not a good idea either. I really wanted to get some feedback so that's why I released the game early.
The game is moving forward. Slowly and surely. I keep on improving alredy existing features and I also keep adding those that are still missing. I released a roadmap for this year some time ago. Nobody complained yet, so I will continue doing in the direction I set out.
I mainly want to focus on finishing the unfinished features and slow down with adding new stuff. Missing dialogue, items, quests, maps, hangouts,... There is still plenty to do.
Once I'm happy with all the futures in this limited map size, I will simply start adding new maps and expanding the game. Three main factions will be added, main story line with multiple endings, many new NPCs, jobs, quests, dungeons,... I have great plans for Sinathir. Hope I can finish it before I die though.
And for those who are new to the project, here is one of the first screenshots I ever took with with newest one. Just so you can see how much the game progressed and how I improved in pretty much every way.
When I started working on this project, I had zero experience in programing, 3D modeling and everything else related to game development. Except for working with RPG maker. I had some experience with that.
This version SHOULD be compatible with previous version. There will be some weirdness before you skip one week, but everything else should be alright afterwards.
I wanted this anniversary to be a little special, so I worked a little more on the curent version. The main goal was to add more functionality to one NPC. Roman can now follow you around, has improved shop inventory and also has a proper schedule like other NPCs.
As for the other things I worked on, plenty of bugfixes, visible muscle definition, new outfit, reworked light control system, more static enemies, lipstick option and more.
Visible muscle deffinition is in its first stage. Graphics for it are not great, but they are serviceable for now. I mainly wanted to implement the calculations for it.
Game now calculates the average strength you should have. If you go above this average value, the muscle definition sprite will change in opacity. The bigger this difference, the higher the opacity. This means that you can gradualy see your character getting stronger, but also getting "weaker" if you stop training for longer period of time. This is only a cosmetic feature, but I want to add some events that will be affected by it.
I also added one new event that will award you with new outfit and a lipstick. Simply using the lipstick will give your character black lips. Using it again will turn them back to normal. Another cosmetic feature, but an important step in adding more future customisation options, like make up, contact lenses and so on.
Random encounters in caves are now disabled and are replaced by "static" enemies like in other areas. They randomly walk around and have a cone of vision. Dungeons are untouched for now. This means that you can actualy run from your enemies on the map or avoid them completely. As a trade of, you can't run away from fights anymore. They respawn every week.
Lastly, I reworked the lighting and weather system. Old system was really buggy and barely worked. It was raining in the interiors, lighting and weather changes didn't save properly and setting light up was very time consuming. So I finaly decided to rework this system. Now it is much better and easier to control. There might still be some minor bugs though. Transitions not playing out correctly, interiors being too bright, raining in some buildings and so on. This is because I forgot about that specific instance and is only a question of finding out about it and fixing it. I tried to check everything but you never know.
Those are the main points I wanted to talk about. Full changelog is below. Next version will focus on basic animal husbandry. I will most likely write another post before releasing next version. And as always, be sure to report any bugs you find. Either here or write me an e-mail.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who played the game and enjoyed it. Hope you end up liking all that is to come.
Full changelog:
Changes for 0.14.1