Its been a while. I'm sorry, poor lonely devlog. While engrossed in making a game, its hard to make time to write about the dev process. But apparently fresh insight is highly valuable after the game is done and the process is forgotten (like childbirth - there might be very good reasons for forgetting the pain of making a game, I might never make another. And I did birth two kids...). And devlog is a course requirement.
So to recap nearly ...oh dear...two months. Under orders I made an asset list. After being revived with smelling salts, I was forced to trim asset quality and scope. The asset list is still terrifyingly long. The scene has most of its 3D assets and basic functions errr functioning. Drawers open, lights turn on, buttons click...and 3D notes turn into UI notes. With nice stationery! Textures! Fonts!
Playtesting showed players didn't want to read screeds and screeds of text on the UI, so my goal now is 'show not tell' - which means making props, creating images and recording audio.
I recorded myself (cringe) voice acting. Found that players didn't want to listen to long audio either! Pesky players! Back to the drawing board - trim the audio, trim the text even further. When players started the game they wanted to know quickly where they are, and what the rules of the 'world' are. The design of the intro is going to be very important, given that they didn't want a long exposition.
A big part of story game design is 'gating' players so they don't get story spoilers too soon, but feel like they have choice about where they go and what they read. To encourage players to read notes, when players pick up a note, they sometimes find under it, the key that unlocks the next clue. Hmmm reminds me of treasure hunts, in long ago childhood parties.
So to ramp up that mechanic a notch, I have locked drawers and doors, and have created gated areas within the room.
Oh that reminds me! Apparently its an 'Escape Room' game, I discovered today. Who knew their genres?
Some another in-game screenshot for your viewing pleasure:
I hope you see progress over two months. In that time also, life happened.
I learned that doing 'research' playing other games is risky - I got captivated by a game, so progress almost halted 'til I tore myself free. Pesky games!
My fellow dev has been absent for 3 months, so this is solo work.
I was thrilled to interviewed for a job with Weta GameShop (didn't get it, but even so!) and invited to be a playtester for another game studio. Life options after study suddenly became very real. I made a showreel of a couple of my earlier games - and learned how to spell Hamster slightly too late...
And this one...
So that's my devlog. Until next time, my thousands of super excited fans, fellow crazy devs and wild and woolly gamers!
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