04 - Programming Has Started :D

<6/28/2024, 3:39AM>

DO NOT REPOST ANY ARTWORK SHOWN UNTIL RELEASE

So its been a while since I’ve sent a devlog lol. Hope everyone’s summer is going well. Anyways I’ve got alot to show off for this update.

Programming, Art, Textboxes, GMS2

So as the title states, programming has started. I’m using Gamemaker Studio 2 and following so many tutorials lol. I’ve started coding as of May 27th, so quite literally about a month ago. Also as of typing this, June 27th, I have about 45 commits in my Github for this.

Anyways there’s a lot for me to go through so I’m going to just upload a test video with info in its description, don’t worry, I’m still gonna type it all out here too. There is more to this post than just the several things in the videos so be sure to check out the rest of this devlog also.

0:00 | 2024-06-03 9:59PM - First Screenshot

• Programming has started.
• Let’s gooooooooooo

0:05 | 2024-06-03 10:36PM - First Video

• Testing movement & sprites.
• For a bit I actually wanted to try to see if I could make a button so Costel would moonwalk on command. I couldn’t get it to work so I didn’t bother. As of now though, it shouldn’t be hard to do so lol, would I make it an actual thing in-game? Hard maybe but not likely.

0:22 | 2024-06-03 10:37PM - 2nd Walk Test

• Trying to figure out turning the sprite around when changing directions.
• If I can recall, this was some issue on the sprite anchor point not being centered or something.

0:43 | 2024-06-03 10:44PM - 3rd Movement Test

• Nyoom lol

1:06 | 2024-06-05 5:37AM - Timestamps

• Managed to get the current time to show up in-game for these playtest videos & screenshots. (for now, i'm just gonna be typing these without the dates in them since the dates are now built into the gameplay for these test videos).
• Also was trying to get reflections to work but i ended up opting for a makeshift version for the meantime (wanted to try recreating the original artwork).
• For the life of me, the few tutorials I was following were either not working or too laggy for the game.

1:11 | ___ - Testing Textboxes

• The textbox was getting created as of the room size and not the camera's position.

1:37 | ___ - Testing Textboxes 2

• Trying to test option choices and (if I can recall correctly) it didnt read out the actual font so it then defaulted to the first sprite uploaded to the project lol. Enjoy the Costel font showcase lol

1:42 | ___ - Testing Textbox Names

1:47 | ___ - Textbox Animation Testing

• Where is it goin
• Here I’m trying to code in the textbox animations, however it didn’t stop for me when it was triggered lol.

2:32 | ___ - Player Animations & Sprites

• Just showcasing the player animations.
• As of lore, it's just some short bios for Costel and Rianne.

4:36 | ___ - Textbox Animations Showcase + Some Lore

• Just showcasing the textbox animations alongside some of the testing text I’ve made.
• As of lore, it's just some short bios for Costel and Rianne.

By the way, shout out to the following tutorials I’ve been following so far (seriously guys, tutorials are such lifesavers for learning more Gamemaker stuff) (I do wanna note btw, with as many tutorials you can find, you do need to know how to pivot incase parts of a tutorial are outdated or might be unoptimized, tutorials are good as a stepping stone but shouldn’t be a crutch for coding in stuff):

• Branching Dialog System | https://youtu.be/rEYSi0ahC5Q?si=a8RhMejlwgdgbOX0
• Add An Interaction Hint | https://youtu.be/jqMsasH4p6Y?si=gaTNhK9JhUQ9styE
• Use Surfaces For Reflections | https://youtu.be/SuMa-DK71_Y?si=7QjRQmuwaLAJa8-x
  • I’ve had difficulties with this one but I’m still sharing it tho.

UI Concept Art

Outside of all of these few in-game videos and photos, I do have some more concept art (not as creative focused as the last few (drawings of Costel and Rianne) but moreso for stuff on the UI design (aside from what I’ve shown in the prior stuffs)).

I’m kinda gonna just breeze through these. First up, we got in the concepts for document textboxes. Before I rehashed the textbox code for the document textbox, I had this idea of the text sorta appearing similar to Signalis, however I didn’t want the documents screen to take up the entire screen. I liked the idea of showing the object that’s being read to appear behind the text, however, I also liked this idea of showing the player reading the current item - the sprite would change depending on what you are reading, such as a book, a folder, etc. - of course if it was a sign on the wall, then no sprite change would happen to the player. For now, I’m gonna continue with the current use of the textboxes for documents but I’ll debate on changing it if it looks better or something, idk we’ll see.

Next up, we have the concept for the save screen. So in game, I plan on making the save points these laptops you’ll find. It’s not implemented ingame yet so I’ll have to show off the sprites for that come the next devlog.

And lastly, we have the concepts for the in-game menus, both for the inventory and a collected documents screen. I’m honestly kinda iffy on these so know that these are definitely not final.

That’s about it for this devlog. I figure I’ll briefly talk about release dates also. So to preface first, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO GET THE ENTIRE GAME COMPLETED BY MY IDEAL DATE, let alone a demo speaking of which. I want to honestly get this done before the end of the summer, give or take around late August or early September. 

In the case that things don’t seem to be complete by then, like let’s say by early/mid August, I’ll let you guys know if I’ll have something ready for September (a demo, the full game, or simply nothing and that’s ok). Regardless, I don’t want to upload an unfinished full game, or an unfinished demo for that matter lol. I’ll continue to give updates on the progress, if you don’t hear from me as frequently as the prior few updates, know that I’ll be diligently working on this game regardless, and I’ll make sure to post an update by the end of July regardless.

Thx for reading, here’s some more stuff I gotta do soon:

1. Environment Assets & Design
2. Outpatient Logo & Cover Art Process
3. Environment Concept Art
4. Final Latin Font (Needs Lowercase)
5. Costel & Rianne Reference Art
6. Other Ingame GUI (Saves, Inventory, Main Menu)

___ - Dream #182-C Excerpt