Hey gang! The weeks sure do fly by. Hard to believe it’s been almost a month since my last update! Here’s what I’ve been up then:
At the moment, by far the largest part of my workflow is adding more content to the game. This includes writing more story, dialogue options and puzzles, and putting them into the game. It feels like quite an overwhelming task sometimes given that I’m doing everything on my own apart from audio, but I’m trying to focus on milestones – it’s very rewarding to add each new scene and see Jack’s story unfold. Jack really does feel like a different person depending on what choices you make, so it’s nice to see that part of the game come to life as well. As always, I’m going to err on the side of caution when it comes to spoilers, so I’ll just share a couple of new characters with you to give you a small taste of what’s coming:
This brings me to the subject of game art – I had previously decided to just use placeholder art until I’d finished a draft of the game, but I’ve found that making art assets actually helps me generate more ideas (e.g, I get a lot more inspiration for a given character’s personality and dialogue once I’ve decided what they’ll look like), so I’ve re-introduced art into my workflow (albeit still using placeholder content occasionally so I can focus on core story and gameplay).
Music’s already coming along nicely – I’ve heard some stuff that Tom’s been working on and not only does it fit really well, but it enhances the mood greatly. He’s doing more than just making a few tunes – he’s programming little riffs to be triggered at various points in the game where a musical transition works. I don’t feel like I’m explaining it very well, but trust me, it sounds good 🙂
Some good news – remember ‘Coffee Quest’, the Ludum Dare game jam game that I mentioned in my last blog post (I made it in 3 days with a couple of friends)? The game’s been really well received by the Ludum Dare community, ranking 30th out of over 1,500 games overall, and ranking 9th for ‘humour’! If you haven’t played it yet, you’re welcome to do so 🙂
A small request: I’ve discovered that if my page on Indie DB gets more views, then the game’s ‘popularity’ on the site increases! If you have time to click on this link to go to the page, that’d be awesome 🙂
That’s all for now! I plough on. We’ll get there. Thanks so much for joining me on my little adventure 🙂
All the best,
Daniel