BLOG ENTRY 43 - 4.13.2023

DEV STATUS

It’s been QUITE the first few months, I unfortunetly got the ‘Rona after the holidays and that severely hindered my progress and flow that I had going. It took me about a month to get back on my feet properly, afterwards I was in a post sickness haze and it took me a while longer to refocus and pick up where I left off. It’s a challenge to figure out how to proceed when everything is important and close to completion. How to you decide on what to work on first? I had to take a step back and figure out exactly why I was feeling everything was a mess when before when I felt like I had a plan that was clear as day.

RETRACING THE BEGGINING

I decided that I needed to think about how I wanted to present the game. What the Intro looks like, the famous First Time User Experience. So I made a list of steps one takes whenever you start a new game. How are you introduced to the game? What sets the tone for the story as well as your part in it? What do I want the player to feel once they’re selecting their first character?

So I set out to put the idea that I had in my head for a while, an updated version of the Diablo 2 Bonfire introduction. I always wanted it to be something akin to that intro but Sci-fi, and making it tone appropriate has been my main concern during this whole time. but Ultimately I think I came up with something awesome.

THE CREW IS ASSEMBLED

It took me a few attempts but I was able to come up with something that I am really proud of. The opening scene with the entire crew and captain, the Holomap of the actual places you’re going to visit during your time playing the game. Every one of the playable characters is presented properly. I am currently working on coding it so when you pre-select your class to check out their skills and story, the characters will step forward and play an animation, with their into card flickering in like a hologram. It’s not science fiction if you don’t have Holograms. And once you select it or decide to check out another class that they return to their original location and pose.

NEXT STEPS AND BEYOND

Captain Varya and the Blackstone Survivors

Once I’m done with the entire intro sequence I’m going to work on finishing each classes kit to the best of my abilities and hope I don’t have to rework them too hard later in the future, we never know what works until we test it, and sometimes, it just doesn’t work. So I’m working really hard on figuring out how each classes kit should work with their passive and active skills. What is the skill ceiling for each character, and of course, PRESENTATION! Showing off the characters personality through their skills and animations is key to making a good RPG experience, Especially when you don’t get to customize their backstory or kit beyong a certain point.

Afterwards I want to finish the loot system and begin introducing gear, However If I am unable to finish that by june I’ll have to keep the inventory system simple for the vertical slice, as it is by all means the terciary loop of the game, feeling like you’re playing the class you selected is more important, and if weapon switching works I don’t think Gearing will be that important for the prototype slice.

For now I’m going to keep working on making sure that the first impression a tester/player gets is that of “Fuck yeah! Playable Expanse!”.

Approaching the Milestones and Nervous as hell…

Daniel “Freaky” Aguilar
Game Designer
Plasmapunk Studios

The difference is... PRESENTATION!