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Ami & Ito

Casual Patrol. Ami.

Just sweeping the streets, checking up on things, not watching you in particular.

Some days I don't feel like putting on the uniform.

Sherry Magpie. Ito.

Definitely giving you a weird look.

gamedevlog #008 - Playable Prototype

I finished the prototype! Last week was soo soo busy adding the final features and cleaning up the entire experience into something a brand new player could play through for the first time. I did get feedback and 1 playtester and that was very helpful to identify what I needed to focus on UX-wise. The new gameplay systems demonstrated here today are the Research, Prizes, Collection, and Story text. It took a lot of iteration to get each one working, especially as I wanted the new player experience to be as clear as possible. There were also so many tweaks to the tuning, I chose to lean into fast upgrades and fast progress. My target of 30 minutes is to make sure anyone can play it in one sitting, and that it would be hard to feel stuck making no progress. What finally clicked in the game for me was seeing heroes complete quests more quickly, and also seeing all the pips on the screen fly towards my resource wallet. It was so satisfying to see a stream of placeholder coins flying and the number going up. And when heroes get high level enough, their quests start clearing within seconds! It gets really crazy and that's core to the fun. I share in this video the final version of the playtest experience. Next up is laying the groundwork engineering foundation for the full game experience. I do have some additional things I want to talk about my prototyping experience, so I'd like to create do a postmortem on the prototype and maybe a video on how to start, develop, and improve a short 30 minute playable game. I know I showed the entire game in the video so there wont be any surprises, but if you're interested in getting your hands on the prototype or want to be a part of future playtests, join the discord and we can chat and get you on the list.

gamedevlog #007 - Stories, Regions, More Heroes

Short snippets of story were added to the game so it talks to the player as they make progress through it. There's an intro blurb and some semblance of a mission objective hinted at to set them on their next task. I play through about 20 minutes of the prototype and voice my thoughts on how development is progressing. Regions are set up with 5 heroes each, unique resources per region, and their own set of upgrades! Now I'm working towards the final stretch of finishing the prototype. I do show the spaghetti code, it's quite a mess but I'll be cleaning up after I move onto the next step! Onwards!

Syx & Pam

Scarfy Elf. Syx.

Collecting stripes for bonus agility.

Novice Adventurer. Pam.

I wanted a heavier fit with a long skirt but let's save that for her level-up!

Nia & Jan

Crystal Caster. Nia.

Drew from my memories of the classic GBA Fire Emblem casters and their signature capes. So many parts to this were challenging to figure out! Would be fun to animate

Moon Huntress. Jan.

Moonlight over shadows. Melding ideas from 2008 to figure out this one.

gamedevlog #006 - Quest Unlocks, Alchemy, and Hero Stuff

gamedevlog #005 - Quests

Axy & Tal

Space Cyberpunk. Axy R.

She has a gun. She has some armor. She shoots in space: Stellar Shooter.

Done with character 1! Had to stop here with b/w version in my process. It's been so long since I've colored that I need a full refresher and some levelling up