Dev Log
Things have been moving along. The steam page has been updated with the capsule art including translations. The hideout is nearly finished asset wise, last thing to do is code it, I've already done a pass on gants spirit form and wall detection. Can't wait to add all the animated assets so it comes alive. The level has evolved as well, adding in a wave counter and half way through adding in the victory screen. This past weekend I've been working on a rough cut of a new trailer for the game, I'm aiming to add more captions to help clarify what the game is about. The tower defense roguelite deck builder is an unusual combination game to begin with, people seem to have a hard time understanding you play as the tree -guess people look at a tree and instantly think it's a background asset. The trailer will hopefully bring people up to speed. Deck builders seem generally confusing to people as well, so I have my work cut out for me. I've also been releasing a number of youtube shorts trying to spread the word. I'm hoping the marketing will gain more momentum too when the trailer is improved and people better understand what I'm building. I'll tell you one thing, this is the first and last time I make a game that is an unsual fusion of game concepts. Better to make something people already understand just by looking at it. But I'm using this as an opportunity to learn and improve my communication through marketing. If I can sell people on something as difficult as this, then more typical game styles should be easier to market. Making trailers is difficult, I can say that much. I still think Woods of War will be fun to play and I'm having a great deal of fun building it. One more thing, I changed the manga style eyes on Marians character design to my usual american comic book style. I was never skill at manga and now I'm drawing her eyes like I draw all the other characters -looks way better. I make odd choices sometimes, and sometimes those ideas die and other times they lead to something unexpected and awesome! I'm planning to release the demo this month, that is what I'm telling everyone, and I'm hoping I can hit the mark. What remains to be completed before demo is released is as follows -roughly: Level selection screen, coding hideout, adding two more screens to victory section at end of level, adding the stage overview screen, add settings page, and a bunch of little things. It's a great deal of work, but I'm powering through. Making games is overwhelming at times, especially working solo, but I'm having a blast and I don't intend to stop until I have a finished product one way or another. See you in the next dev log!
After getting sick in late May, I was set back by a few weeks. But I'm healthy again and regaining momentum. I've also decided to rework the mini-map which is another slight set back but I'm sure it's the better direction for the game. I've been consistently adding new pixel art animations which generally eat up a lot of time and I've also done some preliminary work on the game infrastructure, transitioning from screen to screen. It's hard to predict exactly when the demo will be ready as I chase inspiration. I'm aiming for mid to end July at this point. I'm solving issues as they arise and making definite progress. Today I was testing the initial three card deal functionality, making it possible to handle a finite amount of cards. You can actually run out of cards and if you do, game over, or is it? Stay tuned for more updates! And I'll see you on twitch and youtube with live dev sessions and shorts!
I've been grinding on art production and restructuring the game architecture to support the next phase: completing the game loop. That includes the game over screen, victory screen, the level map, and my latest development -the Deck Forge. The game has been taking shape slowly and mostly through experimentation. How else was I going to tackle fusing tower defense with deck building? I've concluded that the structure which solves the most problems is making the game a roguelike with meta progression. The levels have always represented the four seasons -a theme that enables a sense of progression. Instead of physically moving to different locations, you're progressing through time. And now, it's even further consolidated: each season is a full roguelike run. Currently aiming for a 10-level run. If you die, that's back to the start for you. I'm also leaning heavier into the deck-building side by adding what I'm calling the Deck Forge -a grimoire of spells you purchase to build your deck while progressing.
The game concept has evolved a few times, and I never quite expected to land on this path -but I'm happy I'm here with it. I'm drawing inspiration from the early deck builder Dominion, an interesting take on building a deck while you play. As the game structure has evolved, the goal of the gameplay has become a bit vague during this transition. I'm excited to roll out these latest changes and bundle them together into a complete game cycle to express a clear goal and definition for the game. Which in turn will lend itself to a more thorough gameplay trailer.
End of May is the goal to release a demo to close friends, and soon after, to Steam to start general playtesting with the full game concept intact. I recently flirted with the idea of doing Next Fest in June, but ultimately decided the game needs more time to marinate before I make that move -as you only get one Next Fest per game on Steam, an opportunity I don't want to waste. But I'm moving forward with the same intent, acting as if I were releasing a demo by June 9th. This way, I can make significant progress on the core gameplay, start collecting player feedback, and have time to polish before the next Next Fest.
Now I've done it! I've signed up for Next Fest and it's time to put it into next gear getting a the demo together. The biggest task is to finish the game loop and continue on building out whatever features I can before Next Fest on June 9th. But really things need to be done a week earlier for press and steam approval so I will be working tirelessly to complete the demo.