BLOG ENTRY 41 - 8.18.2022

DEV STATUS

Nanoweaver ready to use alternate fire mode.

I have attempted to sit down and write a couple of times but I am freakin’ beat. There is no shortage of world events going on in real life as well as smaller but time consuming events going on in my day to day life. So when I do get inspiration and time to code properly I binge, it’s probably not the best work method but it’s been the most productive lately. Burnout aside, I have gotten so many things done in the game that I will keep this post short as I think I’ll have more stuff to show for the next post. I just hope I don’t forget it.

The most important thing to note, is that I see the horizon, at the very least the end of the prototype phase. Most systems are in place and working. Most classes have at least their base abilities and some have their ultimates ready. If I wasn’t so aware of how high quality games release every day I’d put it on early access, but in order to be the best game that it can be, I have to be patient and diligent with my attention to details. Little problems always become bigger further down the line.

ANIMATIONS AND SKILLS.

Dynamic Enemy Health bars and Functioning Hardlight Shield

So the big problem I had with getting more things done was the fact that I have very little experience with animation, and besides coding it is another discipline I had to really study in order to understand what the heck I’m supposed to do. And the thing is I have seen a bunch of tutorials, but usually they fail to stick. I get bits and pieces here and there but I never get the full picture.

Sometimes things click and I’m able to string things together, and that’s when I go on my binge coding sessions. Solutions to long standing problems become clear as day, and I have to ride that epiphany wave as long as I can. It is with great pride that I can say, that animation montages are working as intended. I still need to tweak some more stuff, but soon, I’ll be able to do active reloads, combos and hopefully Close Quarters Combat (doom style Glory kills).

NEXT STEPS

I will attempt to polish the base mechanics before introducing new ones as I want to make sure that nothing new breaks old things, or at the very least try to prevent it. I also need to rework the cover system slightly in order to allow for vaulting and more fluid movement. once I finish with that segment I will begin giving AI more moves in order for them to become a threat.

And last but certainly not least will be the dialogue and NPC system. These are core to the experience of the game we’re trying to make, and therefore needs a lot of attention and polish. There are many different ways to do dialogue, but we need to find the one that is right for us.

Once the main mechanics and dialogue system are in. I will begin developing the vertical slice, do some internal testing, and then send out into the publisher wilds.

I can see the event horizon. I need only to steady my course.

Daniel “Freaky” Aguilar
Game Designer
Plasmapunk Studios

Preparing to thread the needle.