Game Update
This week we completed work on a system that will intercept combat and display text. The combat will then continue after the text has been advanced and completed. I didn’t expect that we would get this working so quickly. It’s possible that I didn’t want it to be done. This marks the last feature I promised myself we would build before going into level design to get the game out of early access into full access. I think I’m trying to hold on to what I have again instead of moving forward.
Completing this feature means that I need to go full on into level design, but that means so many things, and it’s been so long that it will take some time for me to switch gears. I feel push back as I make excuses and distract myself with other daily chores. It’s frustrating because I know that this is the best time to be working on this as I don’t have the distraction of my children right now.
I think what I will do is work in multiple passes and try to “batch” jobs. The passes might look something like this -
Build terrain for each stage along with towns/town names
Build movement zones for stage
Choose enemies for stage - build squads
Build plot line/story for stage including boss character
Test stages
I think that some of these steps might be done better in a different order however. It’s possible that I should build the plot line for each stage, while drawing a map and setting town names before I start moving things around in the actual game.
I have so much time, there’s really no excuse at this point not to get it all done. I’m spending some time looking into story telling. Often I found that when I would pitch the game I would say, “it has a bad story.” I need to fix this belief by building something that I can actually feel good about. Now that I can have the boss troops, or even other troops speak prior to combat I should have all the tools I need to make this happen.
One side note however. We do not have the ability to have the boss speak to the player when the stage is completed. If we were able to do this it might open things up to allow for recruiting/sparing the life of the boss after they are defeated. Maybe there is one last feature I should think about, but for now I will start re-focusing on level design.
Personal Update
My oldest son and I have started to bond over the game. He’s sending me all kinds of ideas for achievements and combat functionality. It’s nice that we are able to work together like this. Who knows maybe we will build something successful and he will be able to take over the company at some point. He really likes the idea of “Dark Ritual” from last week. He wants to make an “evil meter” that will replace the reputation meter. I suppose that would be possible, but I’m not sure it's necessary. The rest of his ideas have to do with stats like how many enemies have been defeated etc…
Next weekend I’m spending some time with my girlfriend, which will be a lot of fun. She always has a way of encouraging me and helping me focus more. I’m really thankful to be dating her, although we have both had our trials this year. It always means a lot to me when we have time together. Some recent tragedy’s close to us have made us appropriate of the life we have.