3/7/2023
Hello, everyone! I'm HermitBear, a beginner game dev hoping to make more games in the future. I've been watching tutorials* and have been applying what I've learned to begin working on my first project!
*Shoutout to Brackeys, Pandemonium, Blackthornprod, Bendux, and GameDev.tv (The list of shoutouts will increase over time, I'm certain :) )
The name of the game is "Street Shinobi: Out of Body, Out of Minds"
The game is going to be a 2D hack-and-slash adventure, with the theme of staying true to yourself and the importance of self-love.
The game is inspired by “Samurai Champloo”, “The Boondocks”, and some personal thoughts that I’ve managed to overcome.
Background:
The story takes place in a world where the arts of Bushido and Ninjutsu have been rediscovered and reinvented for the modern day now known as "Street Bushido" and "Street Ninjutsu".
In this world, ninjas, samurai, and civilians coexist with one another and try to maintain balance in each district of the area. Both the samurai and the ninja have clans, but because they wanted to stay as true as they could to the Bushido, only the ninja clans are capable of harnessing and using Chakloa (combing "chakra" with aspects of voodoo, "loa").
Not everyone in this world is a ninja or samurai. The ninja clans are comparable to vigilante gangs that step in when the samurai don’t. The samurai aren’t fond of the new ninja because they knowingly chose not to adopt their ideals of honor and pride. The samurai are the self-proclaimed law enforcers of this world but don’t fight the ninja since they stay out of enough trouble. There have been some ninja vs samurai fights in the past, but they always end quickly since the ninja clan leaders and samurai clan leaders are always trying to passively maintain the peace. They all want their world to be safe, they just disagree with how they should go about doing it. Some ninjas become samurai and vice versa, but both transitions are highly disrespected from their previous occupations and once you switch, you can never go back. If you were born a civilian you can still become a Street Ninja or Street Samurai, but in regards to clans, you have to show some real talent to get be able to join. Because of the requirements of becoming a Street Samurai and the consequences of acting like one without a clan, more civilians end up choosing to become ninjas if they do. (Street Ninjas are only allowed to have 1 Chakloa ability and each one varies depending on the clan. This ability is the only ability that they're allowed to use and can't switch from ability to ability. If you were born in a clan, then the ability is decided upon birth, and can begin training when they're young. For the civilians, they must join a clan and learn the Chakola from their mentors.)
The ninjas have this one tower called the Zenith of Zen which is full of struggles that will test a warrior. Within the tower, anyone who attempts to reach the top will not only fight and defeat the clan leaders that previously led their clans, but they'll also have perilous traps and puzzles to get through. Legends say that at the top is the ninja comparable to the god spirits. If you can get to the top and defeat that ninja, then you receive enlightenment (from the ninja spirit) and become the top ninja clan. As of when this story begins, nobody who tried to ascend to the top never made it back out.
Speaking of the story:
The story will follow a young Shinobi who's the clan leader for his area. The clan this shinobi resides from is very rare, as no outside members were ever able to join or learn their Chakloa ability. The ability itself is "Separate Soul", where the user can split their personality into two, and fight alongside the user. The problem is that for the protagonist, his souls don't get along at all. One soul is more aggressive and wants the shinobi to be more reckless to have more fun. The other soul is patient and wants the shinobi to stay alert for the sake of his life, and for the clan. One day, the aggressive soul convinces the shinobi and the other soul to try test their skills in the Zenith of Zen. A few floors into the Zenith of Zen, the shinobi is killed by a mysterious person who doesn’t fight like a ninja or samurai. Once dead, the two souls argue about who got them killed. They decide to go their separate ways from here on out.
*Names for the shinobi, and the two souls are currently a work in progress*
Currently, the story’s beginning, middle, and end are done and I have to work on the dialogue next.
As of right now, I have basic movement and some extra actions for the player. Extra actions include double jumping, wall climbing, and dashing. As time goes on I plan to add more actions for the player.
Once I finished Pandemonium’s 2D platformer tutorial project, I branched out so I could learn other mechanics for my project. As of right now, the character for this project is able to double jump, wall climb, and dash. More will be added over time.
I’m going to try to provide updates as often as I can from here on out. Also, because I’m still learning the ropes for being a game developer, I’d love any advice about how to make better devlogs in the future or if you have anything to say about the project!