I can’t believe I finally started after so many months of learning, but here I am. The first steps are always slow, and I spent the initial couple of days just coding the basics: character movement and interactions.
That’s the kind of thing that’s hard to show because it’s basically just writing code and testing if my character will walk or fly.
There is so much ahead of me right now, but I’ve also accomplished a lot in these first few days. I promised myself that at the end of each week, I’ll sit back, relax, and write a blog to document my progress. Let’s do it.
The very first thing I started working on for actual gameplay was the flashlight logic. You might think it’s something basic, used in almost every game, and should be easy to implement, right? Wrong! Coding the light to activate with a specific keyboard key was easy, but making it work and look aesthetically pleasing took a full Sunday. I wanted the flashlight to hide when the character runs too fast, since the protagonist is supposed to be an elderly man who doesn’t run quickly.
But I made it work in the end, around 5:30 in the morning if I remember correctly. However, the idea of hiding the flashlight while running made me think more about the character. Not all ideas worked as I wanted. For instance, because the character is old, I wanted to code a stamina bar. When the player reaches zero, the character would stop, grab his chest, and take his heart pills out of his pockets to regain stamina.
It sounded hilarious to me; however, I figured out that it would only slow the player down and break the flow of the game. Also, when I started to think about all the animations I’d have to make for this ‘joke of the game mechanics,’ I just dropped it completely. But I have some other perks to talk about; I’ll leave it for another day.
By the end of the week, I was tired of coding and wanted to focus on design. I had two ideas in mind: designing the house where the character lives and where the game starts, or designing the character itself. Since I planned to have animated cutscenes in the game with talented voice actors, I chose to focus on the main character’s design. I set aside the Unreal Engine for the last two days and began designing him. Here’s what I came up with:
I mean, it’s pretty good for the first character I’ve ever made. It’s still an early concept, but I’ll continue in this direction – not super realistic, but not overly stylized either. Something in between. There’s only one (well, not actually only one, I’m just trying to be dramatic) thing missing: his name. In the screenplay, I refer to him as ‘Main Character.’ I would like to come up with a really nice name for him.
Maybe you can help me name him. I would be really happy if you dropped some ideas and/or thoughts in the comments. It would really boost my creative stamina ;-)
Anyway, I’ll post another entry next week. I’m currently designing the house, and hopefully, I will have something new to show you. I purposely try to avoid talking about the game’s name and storyline for now. The reason is that I don’t want to spoil anything. I’m the kind of guy who can’t keep anything to himself and has to speak up about everything. Unfortunately, this would ruin all the surprises, so I have to be extra cautious about what I say.
So here we are at the end of this short insight into game development. I really hope you enjoyed reading this and would be happy if you continue to do so in the future. That would mean a lot to me. Perhaps you are also a person who wants to adapt their vision or story into a game or any other medium. Just go for it. If there is any lesson that I learned this week, it’s probably ‘Why the heck did I not start much earlier?’ I was just too scared to start, not confident enough. What irony; I am still scared and not confident enough. I just want to move forward. I feel like I’ve been stuck in one place for far too long. And if we fail, we will start over
Alright, if there’s something I’m particularly bad at, it’s saying goodbye. So, have a nice morning, day, or evening, wherever you are in the world. Stay safe and creative. Čau.