v0.2.3 - Initial Demo

This is the first public playable version of my latest game (exciting!).

This version is basically a tech demo. All UI, music, sound, and core mechanics should all be pretty polished and work well. However, there's only one demo level to play at this point.

I wanted to share this for a few reasons. One, to see if anyone finds any bugs (yay free game testing!). Two, I want to hear people's opinions on what direction this game should take.

I originally had the idea to make this a combination of something like House Flipper and Surgeon Simulator. The idea being that you would go through a level, smash everything to bits, perform wiring puzzles, and complete jobs as quickly as possible in a chaotic mess. I still think this could be really fun.

Another approach that my wife suggested was to do something unexpected. Turn these core mechanics into a narrative story with puzzle mechanics. Sorta like The Stanley Parable meets Portal. I love this idea though it's super ambitious. I'm great at many parts of game development like programming, UI, sound design, organization...but I'm a rookie at narrative and level design. If I took this approach, it would be a much larger undertaking and I'm not sure if it's what I want to do just now

If you have any thoughts, please share them!

Anyway, this build version 0.2.3 is focused on these features:

• FPS controls with MKB and Gamepad input options
• 4 primary pieces of equipment
  • A hand to interact with items in the environment
  • Hammer to smash walls
  • Patch kit to repair walls
  • Wiring kit to connect nodes to each other in order to transfer power from power sources to target nodes. This would then power on the attached devices
• Functional UI Including:
  • Start menu w/splash screen
  • Level Start Menu
  • In-game UI with button prompts that update based on input device (gamepad or mouse + keyboard)
  • How-to-play menu with in-game instructions on how things work

To anyone that actually read this far, you are a fantastic person and people like you

That's all for now! 

-Ken Rampage