I am progressing quickly with Project Skitter, and it seems like I could finish the coding side for a playable beta by the end of the month (or even in as little as two weeks). The problem is the art is going to take me forever. it took me an entire day to paint one background, and it was easily the easiest/most simple/quickest one I'd have to do. I have like 50 more of those to do. And then I have to draw the sprites for the creatures... it took me all day to draw ONE creature's sprite with only a few frames of animation... and with all that, it's not even halfway done for that one creature.
Plus I really don't feel like doing all the art, I just want to code and design the game... I certainly understand why entire teams are required to work on games. Even if I was extremely motivated to do all the parts included, imagine if this game had a story that needed written... I'd have to write that, do all the art, write all the music, etc. (luckily I have a composer for this game!)
Perhaps if the beta is popular enough I could get the interest of an artist who'd like to help, or at maybe even start a small kickstarter to hire one. I mean, even if I did all the art myself, it wouldn't look nearly as professional as other games. I mean, it won't look miserable, but it won't be as high-quality as I'd like. But then again, this is my first "real" game project, so what can I expect?
Hopefully by tonight the training and facility systems will be complete... so all I really have to code is the inventory system (which will be nearly identical to the facility system, but probably even easier?), the town/shop system (should be fairly easy), and then the contests system (which will probably take at least a week working on just that). Then I will have all the core systems complete... and it will just be a lot of linking them together and debugging them and smoothing up the GUI. And then I can apply some art to it and I will have the playable demo! (But like I said, the art is going to take FOREVER). I will prolly throw together some really bad dummy art and get the beta testing underway, and work on the art while that's going on.
I know I haven't put much in the blog yet... I just started it! But I plan on updating with information about each system, what the game is going to be like, and give you guys some screenshots to look at. To those of you following on thefacebook.com, you've already seen the screenshots, but hey :) They'll come with better descriptions and better organization now!
Showing posts with label programming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label programming. Show all posts
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
About SKITTER
Skitter (working title) is an independent video game currently in development. This is the progress blog where interested players can read about how the game is coming along in development and comment with suggestions.
Skitter is a monster-raising game that focuses on the care you give your pet monsters, as well as time management. Most of the actions you make in the game will consume time, and the game's clock and calendar will move forward as you feed and train your monsters, tend to your farmland, and travel around town. Because each monster has a set lifespan, you must use your time wisely to raise your monster before it passes away. In addition, how you take care of your monster will affect its interests, skills, health, and even its total lifespan.
I wanted to create a monster game that focuses on the time you share with your monster, and in which your success is based on how well you take personal care of each creature. I also wanted to separate the player from worrying about stats and numbers by removing a lot of visible numbers from the game, encouraging the player to focus on the monster and not the numbers. It's important to get a "feel" for your monster by seeing how it progresses and using clues, rather than to just watch numbers and try to make them go up.
I also wanted to make a game where every monster is a unique individual. When you play a game like Pokémon, you see something like Alakazam, and you think "This monster will be good at special attacks, bad at physical attacks, and have frail defenses." No matter how much effort you put into training it a special way, you're not going to create a bulky physical sweeper with that monster. I don't like this because your favorite monster can end up useless because its base stats are terrible. In Skitter, I am to create a game where the species of monster is not nearly as important as the individual monster's abilities. Each monster is born with talents and interests, which can also be influenced during its childhood. It grows and changes form based on how it is raised. So every monster has potential to be good at any given area. How good they get is based on your personal skill as a caregiver.
I also wanted to create a game where monsters do not exist for the sake of fighting. Depending on your monster's talents and interests and how you raise it, you may find yourself entering your fast monster in a race, having your sturdy monster help with the farm work, or encouraging your bright monster onto the stage of a pageant. You may try to keep your well-rounded monster happy and healthy in hopes of making it the perfect breeding parent. Of course, there will still be wrestling/sparring matches for those of you who like to battle monsters, but they will not be as complex and RPG-like as something like Pokémon.
Skitter pulls inspiration from many games, including Monster Rancher, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, and even Akitoshi Kawazu's SaGa series. I hope to create a unique play experience that incorporates fun aspects of monster/pet games and role-playing games that fans of those series can enjoy.
Skitter is a monster-raising game that focuses on the care you give your pet monsters, as well as time management. Most of the actions you make in the game will consume time, and the game's clock and calendar will move forward as you feed and train your monsters, tend to your farmland, and travel around town. Because each monster has a set lifespan, you must use your time wisely to raise your monster before it passes away. In addition, how you take care of your monster will affect its interests, skills, health, and even its total lifespan.
I wanted to create a monster game that focuses on the time you share with your monster, and in which your success is based on how well you take personal care of each creature. I also wanted to separate the player from worrying about stats and numbers by removing a lot of visible numbers from the game, encouraging the player to focus on the monster and not the numbers. It's important to get a "feel" for your monster by seeing how it progresses and using clues, rather than to just watch numbers and try to make them go up.
I also wanted to make a game where every monster is a unique individual. When you play a game like Pokémon, you see something like Alakazam, and you think "This monster will be good at special attacks, bad at physical attacks, and have frail defenses." No matter how much effort you put into training it a special way, you're not going to create a bulky physical sweeper with that monster. I don't like this because your favorite monster can end up useless because its base stats are terrible. In Skitter, I am to create a game where the species of monster is not nearly as important as the individual monster's abilities. Each monster is born with talents and interests, which can also be influenced during its childhood. It grows and changes form based on how it is raised. So every monster has potential to be good at any given area. How good they get is based on your personal skill as a caregiver.
I also wanted to create a game where monsters do not exist for the sake of fighting. Depending on your monster's talents and interests and how you raise it, you may find yourself entering your fast monster in a race, having your sturdy monster help with the farm work, or encouraging your bright monster onto the stage of a pageant. You may try to keep your well-rounded monster happy and healthy in hopes of making it the perfect breeding parent. Of course, there will still be wrestling/sparring matches for those of you who like to battle monsters, but they will not be as complex and RPG-like as something like Pokémon.
Skitter pulls inspiration from many games, including Monster Rancher, Tamagotchi, Harvest Moon, and even Akitoshi Kawazu's SaGa series. I hope to create a unique play experience that incorporates fun aspects of monster/pet games and role-playing games that fans of those series can enjoy.
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