Let me start by saying that I am absolutely thrilled to finally be posting here! Admittedly, I had been stalling for a while as I genuinely didn't know when in the game's development would be be best for posting here but I figured that now is as good a time as ever now that I've got a publicly available build!
Allow me to briefly cover what's been happening over the past few years!
The Graphics Engine
In July, 2013, a few months after I graduated with a Comp Sci degree, I thought I would pursue my dream and get started on my very first indie title. Back then, I actually had a completely different game in mind and the decision to work on GODHOOD came later, but either way, back then, I had no experience with robust game engines like Unity or Unreal. I decided that instead, I would make my own engine and on top of that, my own graphics engine to boot!
After roughly 8 months of programming, I capped off FIRE2D, a C++ OpenGL graphics engine built on GLFW 3.0! I chose GLFW because it was what I was most familiar with coming out of school. If I had known that SDL 2.0 was a thing a few months earlier, it might have simplified matters a bit, but working with GLFW, I can't deny that I've learned a ton about engine design!
The Game Engine
After completing the graphics engine (as well as an internship), in August 2014, I decided to evaluate my plans on what game I was going to make, weighing in on my talent as an artist vs a programmer. I decided to stick to my guns and instead switch to a more technical title. All that I needed to decide was what that title was going to be. After a week or so of deliberation, I merged several different concepts I came up with together which, in the end, resulted in GODHOOD!
For as long as I could remember, the mass majority of my ideas, my stories and interactions, all were inspired by some form of music. Every action sequence in my head was typically derived from the music I listened too, often in such a way that the two would sync up perfectly. I found this extended to the games I play and even real life to a degree, attempting to basically orchestrate my actions in such a way that it syncs up with whatever song was playing!
With that in mind, I figured, if my imagination is so inclined to work this way then why not make the game reflect it!
Now, I could get into the technical stuff regarding all the stuff I did to create the engine, but for those of who are interested, I have something much better! Since the game's inception, I've been maintaining a video devlog, a "Let's Program," if you will, of the game's development (skip to episode 6 if you want to get to where I actually have a bearable mic). It features quick explanations as well as incremental shots of the game's progress, as well as first reactions to testing new features!
GODHOOD
After another 8 months of development (and another internship), in August, 2015, I completed the last feature needed GODHOOD's game engine and finally began implementing art. It was an incredible change, switching from almost entirely coding to almost entirely art, it genuinely put my skills to the test, but as a result, I'm now at least a much better artist then I was 7 months ago!
After approximately 6 months of game development (and 1 months of slight panicking before I got some investments) it now brings me here!
What's Next
Now that I have this page created, I can finally start properly maintaining it! Chances are, I will probably update this in parallel with the other devlogs that I have active!
As for the future of the game, right now I'm focusing much more heavily on marketing (which is part of why I'm posting here too). I'm currently in the middle of arranging promotional materials, getting some voice actors to do some quick lines for me and generally getting the word out there!
Because the truth is, in a few weeks, I've got a Kickstarter campaign to run!
Chances are, very soon, I'm going to write up a post regarding what my plans with how I plan on doing the kickstarter because it would probably be extremely valuable for me to get feedback. For now though, this article has gotten long enough!
Thanks!
As cheesy as it may be, I would finally like to add just a big thank you for taking the time to read this! Being the beginner that I am, it's hard to believe that I've actually made it this far in the game's development! There's been a lot of worrying about how long things would take me or if I would even make it to the kickstarter, but alas, here I am!
So again, thank you so much for taking the time to read, and I hope you enjoy the game once it's finished!
