Spawn of Welroth

I didn't think I'd find myself creating a new development log so quickly after 'finishing' the last one, but I couldn't help myself. I like writing and documenting, and it feels like I have something cool brewing inside my mind now.

What I want to do in comparison to the Akiro devlog, is document everything from the start. When I started out on Akiro, I already had gone through the iteration of what theme I was going for. I want to document my thoughts, what direction I want to develop it in, and what the end vision is. So, you guessed it, I have absolutely nothing but an idea right now.

I haven't written down anything, sketched down anything, or planned anything apart from where I want to launch it, and roughly the gameplay. My motivation for doing this is documenting creating the game from the very second my pen hits the book, until it's out on the platforms.

I'm going to be the only one developing this, so it's not going to be a big game. The platforms I will aim for are IOS / Android and hopefully Windows Store.

And one last thing while I remember it; I'm not going to censor myself. Akiro was my first game, and I was a bit scared to wander off and experiment a lot. Akiro was also a shot at creating a "innocent nintendo-ish feeling", while this game, if all goes well, will be the exact opposite.

 

I'm also hoping to seriously up my drawing skills throughout this project. Right now, it's a bit embarrassing, but hopefully this will improve as I go along.



I'm actually not going to explain too much about the game. Let's just explore the idea together, seeing as very little is set in stone.

 

Very cool and good luck. I'm doing the same kind of thing for my new game but not here. lol

I've always found these kind of dev logs to be very interesting so am looking forward to following this!

 

Thank you, thank you.
Yeah, this is going to be a fun dev log to write. It's most likely going to be a tad slow in the beginning, cause instead of jumping head first like I did with Akiro, I want to plan ahead more. The game is also going to be very ... very focused on triggering emotions.

Let's just say, I'm really looking forward to working on the art and sound effects. It's going to be one heck of a challenge to pull of the feel I want in the game, but I'm going to take that challenge head on.

 

I quite enjoyed your last devlog, I will be looking forward to this one!

 

Thank you Raven!

I'm going to like writing this one a whole lot more. Akiro was a lot of fun, but when I started out I knew nothing about programming, and barely anything in the other fields. I also forced myself to only work on that game, while now, I'm going to juggle projects. This one is going to be the "big" project, or at least the project I'll experiment the most with.

 

Looks interesting, is the theme quite dark, I couldn't tell from the sketches.

 

Yes, this is going to be a dark game. The mechanics in the game isn't going to be very advanced (but more advanced than Akiro), as I really want to put heavy focus on the art and sound effects. There's going to be "Cartoon or fantasy violence", as App Store gently puts it (age rating 12+).

 

After further speculation, I might even change genre completely. The gameplay "isn't that important" (yes it is, but bear with me) to this particular game. Of course, there are some limits because of how the characters are going to move and behave, but not much apart from that. I'm just really interested in trying to build that world, and try to convey that feeling - into a game.

So I got two ideas. The first one, you can imagine as a Flappy Bird flying up. Tap on either side of the screen to fly in that direction. Or maybe even divide the screen by 3, so the middle 1/3 flaps up, and either side flaps in their direction.
This was my original idea, and as you can see, the mechanics are very simple. I have this ... gif? video? playing in my head of how the gameplay would be, and even though it's "just flapping", I believe it could work.

idea two: side-scroller shmup. This is way more advanced than the first idea, but I don't mind having a longer project going, especially now that I feel free to work on side projects as well. This idea is probably the one with the most risk and reward, and also the one I can learn the most from.

Most likely, I'll just build some prototypes and work my way from there.

 

Try something to test your skills, even if its pretty basic, the one thing I would say don't try is a game thats too similar to Akiro, that way you get more variation in the problems you will have to solve.

 

You are so right. And to be honest, that first idea might be a tad too basic. I'm really starting to like that shmup idea, as I got several things going in my head that I want to try out.

 

Looks interesting. Downloaded Akiro on my iPhone and enjoyed it. Great job. Definitely be following this one.

 

Consider reading the Made With Unity - Pinstripe writeup. Very much relevant to your desires moving forward.
https://madewith.unity.com/stories/i-work-alone

 

Thank you, WhatMade! I'm glad you found Akiro enjoyable. I just read that made with unity link, and a lot of what he wrote resonates with me. I'd love to write some more, but we've had a flood accident in my apartment, so it's been a hectic day.

 

While I have thought about this project every once in a while, I've generally considered it abandoned. I love this idea, and the atmosphere I have in mind is something I'd very much like to explore, I've just found myself trying to create games to make money. While there's nothing wrong with making games for money, I just can't seem to force myself to develop games that way.

That's why I believe I want to keep this project. This isn't something I wanted to design to be viral or popular, but rather something I would enjoy playing myself, and not the least develop. I've spent some time mentally going over what I want to do with this game, and I think I've decided on having an overworld with around 10 levels. I'm toying with the idea of each level being 60 seconds long, meaning an entire playthrough of the game is at 10 minutes.

I'm also curious about unlockable characters. The first character will move in a manner like Flappy Bird, and the other character will move in entirely different ways - I'm hoping this will give each level a unique feel considering every character has to proceed forward at their own pace.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but I'm feeling very motivated to try what I just talked about.