mousetaildeveloper

[mousetaildeveloper]

April 14th, 2022

So update, I've been working on some narrative stuff, but mostly my week was busy with school. That being said, the Winter semester is now over, so I have a couple weeks of free time before spring starts, I'm hoping to get a decent amount of work done then.

Right now I've mostly just been fiddling with Unity, trying to get a feel of the engine before I commit to making the first prototypes of Mouse Tail. So lots of learning right now within the engine.

Still nowhere near actual development, but more progress than I expected in a single week considering it was finals season.

So yeah, I'm basically learning how to prototype a minimum viable product, and it's going okay so far.

see you next week!

[mousetaildeveloper]

April 7th 2022

Hi there, welcome to the start of my development diary for a project I’m tentatively calling “Mouse Tail.” I’m planning on making a Video Game by myself (mostly, I’ll likely outsource some stuff) and this blog will be a log of my feelings, progress, and anything else related to the project. I’m hoping to post here once a week at least, just to try and keep myself accountable, though don’t be surprised if this doesn’t go anywhere.

I'm planning on this game to be a Metroidvania style game, taking inspiration from some of my favourite game settings, namely you can expect influence from Hollow Knight, Bloodborne, and Ori and the Blind Forest.

To get any obvious questions out of the way, I'll try and answer some that I know I have answers to right now 1. What Platform will the game be for? A. I plan on making this game for PC only at the current time 2. How long will it take to make? A. I have no idea, I'm just one person doing this by themselves. 3. Why are you making this game? A. I've always loved games, and I also love programming, so here I am, trying to make the kind of game that I'd like to play. 4. Will you be running a kickstarter/GoFundMe/Patreon? A. Maybe eventually, right now I don't think I have enough material to justify asking people to support me financially, and the engine I currently plan on using (Unity) also has restrictions on my license regarding funding that I'd rather not risk getting sued or losing my ability to develop. 5. How can I support you if not financially? A. For right now, share this blog with others who might be interested! Though try not to get your hopes up too high, as I have no idea how this will go, Just a concept, passion, and some free time.

6. Do you have a plan to work on this, or are you just winging it? A. I'll mostly be working on this project between school and my part-time job, so progress will likely be slow at least at first. that being said below the cut is the development plan/roadmap I've made, It's not comprehensive by any means, but it details my intended process.

Development will be split into 4 phases, Planning, Prototyping, Production, and Polishing.

Planning is where I am now, this is where I'll be figuring out the central elements of the game, what kind of game it will be, what the tone will be, how I want the game to feel, etc. Some of this work is already done, I have ideas about the narrative, and a few core concepts have already been worked out (like the Player Character for example.) The biggest challenge of this phase is knowing when to start the next phase. My fear is getting stuck "overplanning" and never starting.

Prototyping will be where I do the bulk of the coding work, I'll be creating the systems and mechanics of the game. The goal of this phase is to have a playable tech demo by the end of it, that should be able to accomplish all of the features I intend to put in the game. This is effectively where the gameplay will be made. Stuff like movement, Combat, Menus, basically just how everything in the game works under the hood. This is the phase I actually have the most confidence in, though I may find that misplaced as time goes on, we'll see.

Production is the third phase, and this is where I'll be making the actual content of the game. You could consider this phase being where the game is in 'Alpha' as builds may be released to test content, and find any catastrophic bugs, but the focus here is mostly on adding content until the game feels complete. When this phase is done you could consider the game in 'Beta.'

Polishing is the Final phase, this is when all of the intended content has been added to the game, and all that remains is polishing up assets, optimizing performance, and squishing bugs. this is the other phase that I worry about never completing, as I could end up polishing forever, and never releasing. Once this phase is over, I should have a fully finished game!

That being said, I'll elaborate a bit on the specifics of what I plan on accomplishing in each phase.

Planning - You Are Here 1. Establish the overall narrative of the game (40% there) 2. Establish the story telling style (Done) 3. Establish an artistic theme (Done) 4. Establish Major Mechanics (Anything outside basic combat/movement) 5. Establish Game Vibe (What do I want this game to be? How do I want it to feel)

After this I should have enough material to start.....

Prototyping - Function over Form 1. Implement Object types (player, enemy, npc, terrain, boss, etc) 2. Implement Basic Movement Mechanics (Walking, Jumping, Camera) 3. Implement Player Status Mechanics (Health, Mana, Damage, etc) 4. Implement Basic Combat Mechanics (Normal Attacks, Dealing and Receiving Damage) 5. Implement Basic UI/HUD Systems (HUD, main menu) 6. Implement Basic Enemy AI (Have enemies fight back) 7. Implement Advanced Movement Mechanics (Dash, Dodge, Double Jump, etc.) 8. Implement Advanced Combat Mechanics (Projectiles, special attacks, Healing) 9. Implement Screen/Room Transition Systems 10. Implement Map Systems (Update Player Map with exploration) 11. Implement Player Menu Systems (Inventory, Map, Journal Menus) 12. Implement Fast Travel Systems 13. Implement Visual Effect Systems (Animations, Attack Effects, Etc) 14. Implement Sound Effect Systems (Enemy/Player/NPC/Interaction sounds) 15. Implement Ambient Sound Systems (ambient background sounds, background music) 16. Implement Global Trigger Systems (Story event triggers, Boss defeats, Collectibles, Upgrades) 17. Implement Save Game Systems 18. Implement Perma-Death Systems 19. Implement any other systems needed but not listed (means I don't know about them) 20. Optimize systems to best of ability

Ideally at this point I now have a fully functional tech demo that is capable of housing all the features I want in my game, Which means now I can move on to the next phase.....

Production - Content is King Production is a bit special as it has a few loops to be repeated, so I'll detail the design loop for Enemies and regions, and then anything outside that scope will come after. It's also important to note that the order is flexible, and is just a basic guide to help if stuck

Enemies - Oh the Misery 1. Define Enemy type A. Basic, No AI, does not deviate from set routine. B. Simple, Targets Player, has simple attack like running at the player C. Complex, Targets Player, Has 1 or more abilities that it can use D. Boss, Challenging fight, typically protecting a story beat or major upgrade 2. Design Enemy Appearance 3. Design Enemy Movement (How does it move? fast, slow, erratic, predictable, jumpy, flies, etc.) 4. Design its Attacks (How is it trying to kill you) 5. Design its sounds (What sounds does it make when it moves, when it attacks, when it's hit, when it dies?) 6. Design its Strength (HP, Defense, how often does it attack) 7. Implement Design

NPCs - Anything not trying to kill you more or less 1. Define NPCs purpose (Merchant, Companion, Lore, Storytelling, etc.) 2. Design NPC Appearance 3. Design NPC Interactivity (Do they run from the player, do they talk to the player, etc) 4. Design NPC 'Inventory' (For merchants what do they sell, for companions how do they fight, etc.) 5. Design NPC movement (if applicable) 6. Design NPC sounds 7. Implement Design

Regions - Put the Geo in Geography 1. Define the Purpose of the Region (Every Region should contribute to the narrative or player progression.) 2. Define the Theme of the Region (Every Region should be visually distinct, this will also help tailor enemy design to the region) 3. Design the Layout of the Region (How is it shaped, what rooms go where) 4. Design Region Rooms/Screens (Make the rooms) 5. Design Regional Enemies (Design region bosses, and regional enemies) 6. Distribute Regional Enemies (put the enemies where they're supposed to go 7. Design Region NPCs 8. Distribute Resources (Place Upgrades, Collectibles, Fast Travel Points, NPCs, etc.) 9. Implement Region

Design Priority - What to do first 1. Design and Implement UI/HUD (HUD, all menus, Icons) 2. Design Upgrades (All possible player upgrades) 3. Design and Implement Regions

Ideally here the game is "complete" all the planned content is now implemented, the game can enter 'beta' and we move on to the fourth and final development phase.....

Polishing - Try not to Cyberpunk it a.k.a. Beta builds galore 1. Eliminating catastrophic bugs first (things that cause crashes, or PC errors) 2. Eliminate Severe bugs (things that cause the game to become unpleasant to play, stuff like broken global triggers, softlocks, hardlocks, etc.) 3. Eliminate Moderate bugs (things that keep the game playable, but are still annoying, misalligned hitboxes, movement errors, etc.) 4. Eliminate Minor Bugs (things that are difficult to reproduce, highly specific bugs, etc.) 5. Optimize game performance (try and reduce resource load on the system)

So that's the roadmap/plan/guide I plan on using for this development journey, at least at first. My plans may change as I dive into things, but I can't predict the future. if all goes to plan, then by the time I've hit this point I have a completed game! which means I can go to the secret fifth phase of development.....

Publishing! - Congrats, you made it! The game is done, you've done your best to make it, all that's left is putting it up on your platform(s) of choice, and letting players do the rest. (though you are likely going to need to do a few patches)

If you've read this far, thanks, I hope you'll keep checking in, and I'm excited to document where I'm going with this! See you some time next week maybe!

#Mouse Tail Game #game dev #indie dev #indie game