Wow, actually keeping to targets?

Well, tbqh I actually typed this blog up over a week ago, which is most of the reason I can post it today.

So, especially given my last update was very bare bones, I'll put what writing I lost in this update. Let's start from the top.

Early Era (2012-2015)

The VXA build of the game and the demo that still remains up. At the time I was in uni and this is also around when things started going pretty downhill home life wise. There were a few compadres in this era - NewBlack, who assisted with art and design as well as narrative ideas. Happy, who was brought on for music, but wanted to be involved in other things (which resulted in a bit of headbutting). MakoInfused, who was lead programmer and fantastic to work with.

And, to be frank with you, I was at the "" last section"" of the first "disc" before the VXA version was dropped.

So what went wrong?

Me, of course-- home life and mental health being on a downward spiral doesn't exactly make for a game-development friendly mindset. But there's a bit more to that.

Basically my own inconsistency meant that by the time I was no longer in contact with the aforementioned people, for various reasons, I didn't feel comfortable contacting them again. So in the interest of doing it myself, I ported to MV to rebuild the systems using existing plugins.

The MV era 2015-2019

Let me preface with 2015 to 2019 was a complete wash for me productivity wise. I got very little art, games, or writing done due to home circumstances, though I did try. Often.

After the port, I ran into intense (unplayable) lag. Realising I'd have to rebuild from there I began listing out exactly what systems I needed, what I wanted to have, and what I needed to do to make progress. Around here was also when I realised that 48x48 was better for the existing SLH sprites, and went "I could just rebuild a few maps I guess". Hah.
Along with using Hanzo Kimura assets (bleh), I hadn't tracked anything I was using. Sourcing and crediting has become progressively more difficult. And, at that stage...I shelved the project, as I was not able to continue any of my passions.

The Revival - 2019 (documentation) into late 2020 (MZ releases and the new build begins)

Here's the thing about the VXA build. It...was boring. It felt like the beginning of a JRPG, rather than actual progress through 1/3rd of a plot. Not to mention that you only had access to ONE permanent party member and were holed up in a single location for the whole time. Scope-wise, fine. Fun-wise? Bleh.

So I did a revision that made that 'one' into 'four' and the 'one location' into...well, a lot more, knowing that I'd have to address my mapping speed along the way. Which is fine! Because...

Critical Change 1: Streamlining

Gone are the cowboy days of only documenting a select few things. I've got a lot of documentation now (which is what a good chunk of 2019-2020 was used for). This includes making the sprites into templates, more cohesive use of 3D models for reference, and...splitting and sorting map tiles.

I'll go into the way maps are handled being different later, but it was handled poorly.

I also have a trello and a google drive to keep track of things.


Critical Change 2: Gameplay Flow
Of course the move from 'one location' to several is a pretty big thing, but the reality is it's not as much as you would think. The added locations are Balamb Garden, Balamb, and Timber. The permanent playable cast is four members, and you'll find out fairly early on why not everyone is available. You'll also get some of the development you do for the temp members carrying over, so it feels less entropic to actually work on your PAE and GFE builds during Part 1.
In the original version you would see glimpses of the other parts of the plot during sleep, but I've instead reversed it to ensure certain plot points are addressed earlier and give a better idea of the plot unfolding for SLH.

Although this build is a lot more work than 'hang out in Winhill for 6hrs', this is 50x more interesting and conducive to the game as whole.

Critical Change 3: Map Handling

Now heres the thing with this game: my maps were...mostly accurate, thanks to lots of flubbing with parallax and tiles. But the trade off for that accuracy was of course, time. But we are talking hours and hours and hours and hours and HOURS AND HOURS and hours and hours of scrolling through the tilesets I had collected (with no credits like a dummy) to find the perfect tile that I KNEW I had seen at some point (and this is for things like, a couch. Or a globe). This was for every single map I made. We are talking 10-15+ hrs per map with 10 of those being spent looking for items.
Unsustainable, as I'm sure you can agree, especially when the first part of the game is currently sitting at approximately 160 maps.
So I am slicing every tileset I have (now with tracked credits) and sorting into specific folders based on their form and function. Globe? Astrology. Knife? Tools/Utensils. Windows? Do I need round, curved, arched, square? Programs and utilities to speed up scale, animation, and isometric conversion when needed
It also means I can move to using actual tilesheets and plugin light as opposed to parallax and baked light. The filesize of the VXA version was already beginning to bloat, and that was without animations being considered.

The other change in this regard is moving to 'greyboxing' maps before I try to build them with final tiles. This involves using very simple, grey tiles to outline how the map will look in the engine and to give myself an estimate of map scale and the tiles required. From the 'greybox' version it will be much, much easier to build into a "real" map, even if I have to leave it barren initially. Greyboxing is also damn fast to do. Getting so much into the engine so quickly has actually been driving me quite a bit these past few weeks.

Critical Change 4: Development Process.

SLH Disc 1 is currently divided into five phases, ones that I can move sideways across, but deliberately not too much.

There are Phase 1 Scenario, Phase 2 Gameplay, Phase 3 Graphics 1, Phase 4 Graphics 2, Phase 5 Polish into release.
Why scenario first? Because nailing the scenario of this game is the most important aspect. While all of it is important, if the writing doesn't feel right, everything else will fall apart. Presently I'm about halfway through the Scenario phase, though I had to take a brief pause as I updated the phase to include greyboxing each area as it comes up.
While Gameplay is Phase 2, this does not mean no systems are in place. In fact, aside from a few aesthetic pieces and things I need to event, the code base of SLH is implemented and ready to go, as are the formula functions. Gameplay being in Phase 2 is for things like puzzles, dialogue trees, detailed boss mechanics, dungeon exploration, etc.
There's no need to go into the future phases yet, but I will keep you updated on them.

In terms of having something playable by May, I'll need to make the maps, then I'll use a lot of existing assets-- but I think its important to have something palpable for you as well as for myself. Programmer assets are one thing but actually getting a ghost of how the game will actually be...feels very special.

There's a lot more I could go into regarding the gameplay design, what got cut and what's still here, the streamlining I've done, but I think this blog is plenty big enough. On the next bi-weekly update, it will be more specific progress details, though my speed will slow as I am moving house over the 22nd to 24th, as well as uh...well...I work in healthcare admin. So work's kinda busy these days. Doesn't stop me from working on the game, but does take a few energy notches out of me at times. I'll definitely have something for you by then however.

Sorry that was such a big read! But I like being as transparent as possible and the biweekly updates are a part of that. If you have any questions please ask - I am happy to answer.

I will also be planning to upload a few screenshots so keep an eye out for those, but keep in mind due to the way the phases are set out, I won't often have graphical majesty to show off until a bit later.