Sorry for the lack of updates lately, my life has been a bit of a mess (changing meds, money problems, etc), but things have stabilized for now and this post is long overdue so here we go.
This is a project I’ve had bouncing around in my head for several years now, and I’ve experimented with it in several forms. But with the help of my wonderful friends, I am ready to finally make it a reality.
It’s an open-world adventure action game, inspired by games like Breath of the Wild and FF XV. It has a focus on exploration and discovery, and more environmental storytelling than direct exposition.
The game takes place on an archipelago of floating islands, fragments of a world torn apart by a disaster a few hundred years ago. The calamity released a wave of magical energy, imbuing ordinary creatures and places with new power. The security golems that used to keep the people safe are now malfunctioning, adding to the foes you’ll encounter.
Each island is fairly large, and they’ll be full of places to explore, people to meet, creatures to discover (and battle), Zelda-style dungeons, and more.
Each island will be a unique environment, a microcosm devoted to exploring a single theme. There are some basic ones like the hilly fields above or the rocky desert below, but I have plans for much more fantastical regions to develop later.
You play as this critter: a robot kobold, hacked together with scrap parts (they’ll look scrap-ier later, I haven’t finished the model yet)
They have a screen for a face, and it’s actually the only way they can communicate. The dialogue system in the game will be a Mass Effect-style choice wheel, but with options for facial expressions instead of words!
Their piecewise form also has big implications for gameplay. Each of your limbs will become damaged and break over time, and they’ll need to be replaced with new parts you find along the way. The parts you chose will differ wildly in capabilities, and the pieces you choose will have a big impact on gameplay.
Here’s a couple weapons I’ve made up until now (some of them quite a while ago):
Combat will be similar to Breath of the Wild, but possibly with a bit more intentionality.
Some of the beings you discover aren’t quite what they seem… don’t let your guard down.
Platformaker
A side project I’ve started working on recently is a level editor kinda like a cross between Mario Maker and Knytt Stories. It will come with a few small games to show off its functionality, but the real fun will come from user-made games. Unlike Mario Maker, but like Knytt Stories, the editor will be extensible with custom tiles, music, and eventually scripting. I plan to make it available for free, and it will be available to the public during development as a git repository, with occasional prebuilt releases. The repo is here. (There’s not much done right now, it just draws some tiles at the moment.)
Here’s a little tileset I made to use during the early stages of development:
I’m quite proud of how it came out, considering I’ve basically never done pixel art before, but I did copy heavily from Super Mario World…
Here’s an example of what the tileset looks like in context:
It’s available at the repo above right now, but there isn’t a whole lot to see just yet, so stay tuned. I’ll make an announcement when I release the first prebuilt beta version (hopefully not too long from now).
And that’s it for what I’ve been up to lately. As for what I have planned, I want to get a super basic gameplay prototype done for the adventure game ASAP. It’d be nice to have something more concrete to show people than a couple of screenshots. I’ll also be working on Platformaker on the side, but I’m trying to prioritize the game for now, since I did tell y’all that it was what I’d be focusing on next. I just have so many things I want to make and so little time in the day to work on them!
Speaking of which, If you like what you see and want to support me, I have a Patreon you can pledge to! [Note: my Patreon page is marked as adult but there’s no longer any adult content there. I’m in the process of trying to get that status removed] Once I have the preliminary releases done for each project, I’ll likely move back to the two-week delay model, where $5 patrons get releases as soon as they’re ready, and the public gets them 2 weeks later. Also, if you don’t want to use Patreon, I also have a Ko-fi. For the time being, there’s not a lot to show, but I appreciate your support immensely.
Thank you for reading! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot of work to do~
♥