Current Development Logs:
Devlog 1 - Intro & Level Editor
Devlog 2 - Minimap & Character Stats
Devlog 3 - Pre Alpha Gameplay Video
Devlog 4 - Taking Stock
Devlog 5 - Papercraft Remake
Devlog 6 - Artist Introduction
Devlog 4 - Taking Stock:
I originally felt I could get a good chunk of this game concept done back during my Christmas / New Year holiday and I'm happy with the progress I made. While I didn't stick to any rigid 2 week schedule, I'm technically still under my time limit. I've made a few prototype games in Unity before and this one has moved along even faster than previous experiments. Overall, I'm still motivated to work on this. I keep adding features and I'm having more fun playing the game with each update.
Assets:
I gave myself a budget of zero dollars when I started this project and I've stuck to it. I'm using placeholder "models" I've made in unity from primitive shapes, and free stuff from the unity store. I found a set of 4 skeletons that are my only enemies at the moment. I'm using all their equipment as loot drops. I made a temp barrel, key, scroll, and potions from primitive shapes in Unity. I did the same to make the 3D dungeon tiles. I found a free model of a treasure chest and a set of free boxes (among which were 3 wooden looking crates that fit the theme). While I will replace the temp stuff with real assets eventually, I'm happy with the amount of gameplay I've been able to create with just these assets. Here are all the current assets posing for the camera:
Features:
Regardless of the meager assets I'm working with, the game is starting to shape up. Almost all the core elements are in place. I consider "alpha complete" to be when I have all the major features in place. After that, I will re-theme and start creating and purchasing final assets.
Editor
The basis for the level editor has been written which I'll be using to create sets of dungeons with variations and random elements (breakable spawns, and easy enemies). It supports placing specific enemies and loot as well as the entrance and exit.
Game Flow
There is a main game flow from the main menu to the success / fail screen. The next major feature is to add the overworld where the player can sell their loot and choose which dungeons to enter.
Enemies, Combat & Drops
I have 4 enemy types working with dynamic attributes (attack and health ratings) which scale to the player's level upon entering the dungeon. The turn based combat system is working and the player can battle the enemies, defeat them, and die from them. The enemies now have a chance to drop any of the items they're equipped with when they die as well. This will be the beginning of the loot/sell loop once the overworld is in place.
Containers & Breakables
There is a system for containers which supports opening chests and breaking crates and barrels. I love breaking crates and barrels. I could do it all day. Breakables are randomly spawned on any empty tiles in the dungeon when it is loaded. Currently they have a random chance of containing nothing, gold, health, or mana potions. I will be removing health and mana potions from containers when the overworld is in place and they will be the main item the player purchases from the spoils of their loot selling. The chests are placed in the level editor and contain gold, keys, or scrolls depending on what is set in the editor. They are for special loot only.
Inventory
Everything the player collects is being tracked in an inventory and there is an inventory screen (just a list at the moment) where they can be viewed (tap on the character stats section to view inventory)
Map & Mini-map
There is a working mini-map that can be expanded to a full map by tapping on it. From there, the player can teleport to any tile in the dungeon that they have already explored. In the future this will cost 1 scroll if the player is currently engaged with an enemy (so it's free to teleport around to avoid backtracking, but it costs a scroll to flee from battle).
Potions
Health potions and Mana potions are collectible and usable. They restore full health and mana.
Scrolls & Keys
Scrolls and Keys do not do anything at the moment. Keys will be used for the locked doors which haven't been implemented yet. In addition to being used for fleeing from battle, scrolls will be used for teleporting to town mid dungeon crawl to sell inventory and buy potions.
Abilities
The player currently has 3 abilities. A physical attack, a magical attack (will be fireball when I add some temp effects), and a heal power.
Experience & Leveling Up
The experience gaining and leveling up system is in place and working as well. They player starts at level 1 and the xp required for each subsequent level slopes up gradually. The player receives "ascension points" each time they level up (3 of them) which they can spread between 5 attributes of their choice: max health, max mana, physical attack, magical attack, magical heal.
The Future:
Things have been going well so far. I've been planning to replace my old pc with a laptop again. It's been a while since I've had a laptop and I feel I'll work on this more if I'm I little more portable. I hate sitting at a desk when I'm at home (I do that all day every day at work). With the addition of the overworld, the game will be nearly complete (alpha complete). At that point I'll probably take a step back and decide what I want to do with story/theme, and then look into replacing everything with more permanent assets.
Thanks for following along. Next update is going to be a video update to show the Editor (it's ugly, but it functions and it functions within Unity so I may rewrite it soon so it will also work on the phone).
