Dev blog!

I don't know if I will have a product finished by the time the jam is over(due to my lack of coding experience, this being my first time making a game, and my unwanted procrastination) but I still think it will be fun! Even if I don't finish a demo by the end of the jam i'm still going to continue making the game to get experience. I also don't know how much it will fit into "horror", buuuut thats what I'm going for!

Now: onto the game description! none of this completely finished, especially the end of the note and you might have to do something different to get the humans back. ​you wake from a painful dream, it felt like you were being struck with lightning. when you turn over you notice a note on your bedside table. its written in a strange language that you have never seen before, yet you understand what it says. 

It reads: You are lucky that you're still alive to read this. No one else is here. the only beings left are things we call "shadow demons".

"Another prank? Jacob must be working overtime!" you say to yourself

​You continue to read: As far as we can tell they don't attack in a pattern. if there is a pattern for when they strike, we have not found it yet. Too many of us have been terminated by them, we can't afford to loose you as well. Don't wait for them to kill you, you must strike first. If you can make your way to us, we will be able to help you bring them back.​

As soon as you read the last sentence, your TV switches on. the screen shows the morning news, but there is no presenter. A pitch black creature with glowing eyes sits in the chair. It looks directly at the camera, unmoving, as if it were watching you. 

"the note can't be true... Can it?"

I wont be posting on itch.io anymore cause,, I'm not making this game for the jam anymore, but I will still be posting here! Wont be able to work on it too much because of how busy I will be, but when things get done they will be posted here :)

​again nothing new about the game today,

*forgot to mention it but yesterday I also got some music+rain sounds with a license that lets me use it commercially or non-commercially which is perfect! I also drew out thumbnails for all the scenes that are kind of visual novel style, before the rpg elements come! its nice to have a reference for the script as well :D

I only got 3 hours of sleep last night then had to be out for 6 hours so I am super tired today. I tried to work a bit on the textbox and transition, but it wasn't going well and I wasn't vibing with the heat (pc is in a non-airconditioned room and it was 38c today-) so I decided to take today off as a break. especially because even though I know that I should, I don't mind if I don't have a working demo finished at the end of this jam. I'll work hard but I don't want to push myself if things just aren't working out and I'm tired! I will absolutely be back on the grind tmr tho hehe!

I'm having trouble with Godot, as after a while of working on the project I can no longer run/play the game from the editor (you know how theres like a button in the top right where you can check if the code works, yea it just doesn't open another window). it says its running from there, but the only way I can test it is by closing the editor, reopening godot, then playing it from the page where you select a project. I'm using mac with godot v3.3.2 stable.official and Ive tried restarting my computer,  closing and reopening godot doesn't help, and this is gonna really make the process harder if it doesn't magically fix itself whilst I sleep-

today has been pretty productive! once again I didn't do what I said I would, and I was actually going to spend today playing other games for some inspiration as I'm still in the process of fleshing out the story. hah, I was so wrong thinking I would relax today cause I got some important things done and now have a better grasp on GDscript!

basically I got these things done:

Place holder title screen with working buttons that send one to the first scene (used the GDscript tutorial assets, but I can just add mine when I make the art)

A *mostly* working textbox

isorfilas (on itch.io) is very poggers and sent some tutorials that really helped so I'm back on track! I've got the animation for walking up and down in the game, and as soon as I make the sprites for left and right they will go in too!

heres how it looks! (its cleaner and but the quality of my recording just isn't the best)

hah,,, I strayed from my plan for today and wanted to add the animations that I made to the player when they walk up and down but I couldn't! I followed the godot tutorial exactly yet I still got errors that I don't know how to fix. If anyone could help me with that(I would give credit of course), or dm me tutorials that work on the latest version of godot I would be so relieved because If I cant figure it out I might not be able to use the animations and that would make the movement look sloppy :(

on a better note I have the code for 8 direction movement written and working!

​​​I got the forward and backward running animations done this morning! i'm super happy with how they turned out- (I used this tutorial for the animating)​

On my list to get done today is

basic 4 direction movement

left/right facing still sprite

MC bedroom map set up in godot​

I know I should already have this considering its day 3 but I've got a dilemma cause I still don't know if I am going to use RPGmaker or Godot-

Godot seems to have plenty of options that would allow me to make the game exactly how I want it, but it takes proper knowledge of code that I don't have and I'm not sure how much I will be able to learn in the 2 weeks. They do have a visual script option which should make some things easier.

on the other hand RPGmaker seems much easier to use for beginners, being able to make a game without any-very little coding. But I still don't understand the interface and if its possible to add my own tile-set and sprites to the game(if impossible then thats a dealbreaker)

I've spent about 9 hours working today- I'm just having so much fun with this (other than the 3 hours spent fixing my programs and re-drawing the sprites I already made) and am quite slow so i gotta use my time well!

still working on the sprites, and I have most of the things for MC's bedroom (where the player will start) drawn which is nice! (also did some more sketching for the mc to get his design down!)

another thing I have is all the writing done up until the player leaves MC's bedroom!!

hah,,, I haven't got anything done today because I spent the whole time trying to get my programs working D:

once again I don't have much material progress to show for, but I figured that I should start with the art as thats what I have experience in.

that means sprites for now! mc's bedroom is started and I have wall + floor tiles >:) I'm pretty happy with what I have cause I've never done pixel art before!

I didn't get any physical results from day 1 because I spent most of my time creating the storyline, sketching things, and looking at engine tutorials! When I have the plot totally figured out I will post a synopsis of the game (like you would see in the game description)

originally the mc was going to be a child:

but after playing with the thought a bit I think he should be a teenager.

and here is how the monsters look for now~ kinda like endermen!