Entering week three, I did some soul searching on the scope for the project and realized I had (unsurprisingly) bitten off a lot more than I can chew. In the spirit of the challenge though, the response to that is to refocus the project scope instead of crunching to death. I won't cross-post the whole update on features and scope that I wrote for the project website, but the key points from that post are included below for you all to see.
A Shift in Focus
This past weekend marked the start of week three of the Crunchless Challenge. When planning the tasks for the week, it became clear that a lot of the ideas I have for Shift are not achievable within the time constraints of a single month. The challenge facing me now, then, is… using what has been built so far, how can I get the Prelude project to the point of being a full-fledged game (if even a short one)?
The features I have built in the first two weeks include: UI components, map generation and exploration, monster behavior, rudimentary combat, simple loots system, and support for quests. The above post has more detail, but I've included some images at the end of the post. So, all of the elements of an RPG are clearly present, but there are two problems nearing the end of the the challenge. First, the game systems aren't robust/interesting/challenging enough to be actually *fun* for more than a few minutes. Combat is flat, the systems don't allow for interesting loot, tactical choices are limited, etc. And second, there isn't enough time to write and script any sort of grand narrative.
My solution to the above is to blend both elements (gameplay elements, and the story) in "snack-sized" quantities. Basically, use the systems to build just enough gameplay to be novel, but make sure that the experience ends before players realize that there's not a lot of "meat" yet. Similarly, try to do something interesting with the story without getting wrapped up any sort of epic saga. In short, create a short and tight and polished experience that justifies a nominal cost of entry, rather than an epically bloated mess that doesn't really do anything.
