#indie dev.

Mahou Go Devlog diary #15

Ok, I'm a little late, but Tumblr won't uploaded my post, haha. Well, there's little updates on this project, so here we go!

My life's still a mess. I'm mentally sick, depressed, fighting against myself to keep working on this game and, eventually, living. I want to finish it, and I'll do it. So, after my new computer was arrived, it was time to move the project to it. Now, it's already okay to go back to development. Maybe I'll start fixing some light maps, textures and 3D models.

For now, I've made a rain system. Tumblr won't let me put a video here, so, there's a screenshot.

And some other pics that I've got to Meet the Dev hashtag on Twitter.

I've noticed that colors look less vibrant on Windows. I'll work to get the same visual as I have on my MacBook because I like how it looks. 

Mahou Go Devlog diary #14

Firstly, I have to say sorry for this long time without a post. After months away, here I am to talk about what happened and, of course, the game.

Since the beginning of the year, I've suffering with some health problems due to my excessive work. I had lost the purpose to work on Mahou Go, and the demo was not made the way I planned. 

I've caught by a deep depression. My days was spent on a bed for a couple of months and I've quit my job. It was hard to open the project and develop a single line of code. I haven't made a single sketch since January. And, the worst: my father was in the hospital due to his bad health. Also, he's still on a hospital bed fighting for his life. We (me and my mom) doesn't know if he'll come back home...

There was no reason for me, anymore, to keep working on the game. I'm not well. And my father, the one who inspired me to love games, is not well, too. My world collapsed, I'm struggling in pain and my mind is a mess right now. For many times I thought that maybe i should end my life...

The demo was released. I got some bad reviews that made me feel so sad. But, recently, some nice people played the game and they say that they loved it. Every kind message telling me that made me smile again, and little by little I'm trying to get back to the development. I won't let this project die, there's so much I want to say through this game! So, please have a little patience with me. I'm doing some therapy to feel better. I'm trying to get some inspiration to draw again.

I believe that things are getting better now. Thank you for everyone that sent me a little message, a little piece of love and care.

Well, about the game, a little progress was made. I started to use a simple Debug Room to test all the mechanics and things that I'm implementing right now. This is better because it's quickly to test all the stuff.

I'm started to do the first cutscene, where the player will know a little about the plot. I'm working on dialog lines right now.

My MacBook isn't a good computer to work with Unreal Engine. I bought a Windows, and now I can test the game with better results, yay! 

And, as always, I'm focusing on correct bugs. All the feedback I've got will be useful to polish the game for a upcoming demo and, of course, the final product.

So, that's all for now. Thank you very much for being here for so long time. And thank you for playing my game. You guys makes me feel better!

Mahou Go Devlog diary #09

I haven't done much on October, since my work started to consume all my time again. This makes me feel depressed, because I can't do what I really want to do. I tried to get some vacation, but got no answer until this moment... So, enough of this, let's get started what really matters!

I keep working on various improvements to develop the best demo that I could do. When I'm testing the game, I'm always feeling that there's something is missed. Some friends have played the game and they loved it so much, but... There's something more that I can do. And now this is my focus: found a way to make things better and more fun.

A new enemy to cause some trouble for you, guys, hehe. He looks so cute.

A lot of improvements was made on the levels, trying to make them more fun to play. The ice level, for example, got some moving platforms and there's more coming! I'm planning to do some falling rocks and traps, hehe.

And there's a bird enemy! He deserves a better animation, though. I'll work a little more on this guy later.

On the first town, some NPC was added to give a little life for the level. They're so adorable. I'm modeling the sales guy, too.

Little changes on the characters sprites was made.

... The main menu changed, too.

Mahou Go Devlog diary #08 Birthday Special

Two years ago, on this day, I started the Mahou Go development. All began with a sketch of Lucca...

Okay, I've told this story a couple of times here, hehe.But I'm extremely glad seeing how much the project evolved. And this devlog diary is about that evolution. So, let's see some screenshots of stuff that I've working this whole month!

A new colorful stage, with new assets and enemies! Look how beautiful the visual got! As you can see, several improvements on graphics were made, so the toon shader looks more interesting right now.

And a water stage is in development! I liked this water so much, so, why not a whole stage covered by a sea? So, the idea here is to develop a stage with a gameplay a bit different, like Mario games do (for example).

The first town is already finished and playable. It already have a cutscene and one NPC character. Now I'm working on other NPCs to put in the town, like a shopkeeper.

Here's a sneakpeak for a new monster in production.a And, of course, I've been working, too, on new drawings and arts.

Some studies that I've made days ago. Purchasing a new tablet made me draw a little more. I got a Pablo Mast10 and I'm loving it! Drawing directly on the screen is fantastic!

...And some WIP for the chibi/SD models.

Well, that's not all. I am capturing some footage to finish the trailer and there's the website too. The Tumblr page got a new header. Maybe I'll do some little anime-style animation to add as a cutscene on the game.

Mahou Go Develop diary #07

Here we go!

After all the work to optimize the coding, it's time to develop some levels and modeling stuff. The first town is in progress!

Here's some screenshots:

Phew! I need to work more. I've added a weather system as I said before, and now it's working. So, let's get back to work.

Mahou Go Devlog diary #03

After a month of a break/vacation, I am up now to continue working on the game. Let's check the news!

It's been a while since the last post. There's few changes now, but little by little we are going. As always, the main focus is aiming the best experience for the players, so, the gamepad input is something on my priority list. Right now, the game supports joystick and needs a little calibration to works perfectly.

Another novel: a dialogue system. It's so hard (for a beginner like me) to make a conversation in Unreal Engine. This fact drives me crazy and frustrates me. Right now I'm gonna test a few things to see if it works. God, help me, please.

And, as always, I like to improve and works on visuals while I can. I made a staff for Lucca. Looks good, I liked it.

In action works well, too.

For now, I want to finish the dialogues. After that I will create some levels.