Hello everyone! Its been a little over a week since the release of Shooty and the Catfish’s demo, and while I haven’t recieved much in the way of feedback, the little I have gotten has all been incredibly positive, so thank you to everyone has downloaded the demo! If you are new here, its available right here: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10357/



So where do I go from here?

Well, as you can probably tell from the images featured in this post, I have started working on the final level design for the game. At this point I feel like the demo I released really works better a proof of concept, and going forward, while the mechanics will be the same, the level design will work a little differently.

As you can see from these images, each area is broken up into a series of single map screens (which work out to be 10x9 tiles, these images have been increased in size 300% but at actual size 1 pixel = 1 in game tile), these should be familiar to anyone who has played through The Legend Of Zelda: Links Awakening.

This might seem like an odd way of working considering that the demo released had scrolling map design but the modulated level design will hopefully eleviate some of the issues people had.



First of all is the number of enemy encounters will drop significantly. While I am happy with the way combat feels in the demo I do feel like it gets old quick, due to the number of enemy encounters and especially due to your llimited weapon options earlier in the game.

Of course I could just remove a lot of the enemies but than you have an issue of unused boring space. The solution I feel is to contract the maps and put a limit of 2 enemies per map screen.



Another plus side is it will allow me to make each individual map space distinctive easier because I will always know exactly what is on the players screen at all times.

Some of these areas will be quite maze like in terms of design (Newfolk Castle 1-1 and 1-3 for example) and having each map be visually distinctive should help players make a mind map of each of the games zones much easier.

This should also make telegraphing easier as well, for example in Newfolk Castle 1-1 there will be a switch above the castle gates, this will be visible as you stand in front of said gates and hopefully let the player know how to open them without having to verbally say anything.

It also means the player will see the gates open when they activate the switch (a lot of RPG Maker games have doors open off screen and its something I have never been a fan of).



All of these things “should” come together to create a more well paced and speedy experience. Im not interested in telling this games story in 10 hours if I can tell the same story in 3 hours without sacrificing anying other than padding. Time after all is a precious commodity for most people.

The final upside of designing maps in this lego like structure is on the effect on the design process as a whole. I am wanting to have every map in the game mapped out in this manner before I open RPG Maker again to continue work, and at this rate that shouldn’t actually take that long. If I can get each of the games other 4 zones mapped out in a day each the game should keep on track for release next year.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this insight into Shooty and the Catfish’s current design process. I dont see many level design posts on here regarding RPG Maker so I hope you found this insightful.

The next 4 posts will all be about the level design in each of the games other 4 areas, none of which featured in the demo, so I hope you will join me for then!

Well... it took me almost 5 years but Shooty and the Catfish is finally live with a demo! For those who follow my game development tumblr (which is here for those interested) this will actually be where you hear about its release first, for those who are unfamiliar with the project... well, welcome!

Rather than my usual blog fair I thought I should just talk about the demo itself. After sending Shooty and the Catfish out for testing I found most people were completing the demo in around 30 minutes. The demo essentially covers the games tutorial and the first zone of the first area. It features all original (though some quite derivative) artwork and an original score by my friend Jim Hort who composed music for my animated series Nimbin in the early 2000s. I dont know what else to say really other than that I hope people enjoy it and the less you know going in the better.

What I can say are planned differences between this demo and the final game release.

I plan on reworking the colour pallet a bit to make objects on the map easier to make out. I also plan on reworking a lot of the mapping so its all single screens as opposed to scrolling, this is so I can make more intricate dungeons while making each individual screen memorable to help people create mind maps. Outside of these major changes I don't see a lot of things being different. I am happy with the games mechanics and characters so far and I am looking forward to seeing where I can take them.

Thank you again for taking the time to check out my game and I hope you choose to follow me and the games progress going forward.

- Daniel