#rustanddecay

We've been brain storming some ideas. We have started work on trading system and brushing up the inventory while also discussing 3D backgrounds. Using PSX/SDK Half-Life level graphics for 3D backgrounds means we can have really fun things happening while still using 2D character sprites.

I've been hand drawing ALL the textures for these tests and we are also going to apply some shaders like a watercolor/thick black outline ink shader to really make it fit in with the sprites! No telling when that'll actually be completed but the actual progress on pre-production idea spinning has been going really well!

I've started a project with some people to make a survival horror schmup. It's inspired by my love of horror games but also a recent game called Fear & Hunger.

I started out just figuring out how @gamemakerstoolkit worked again first by messing around building simple schmup mechanics.

Once I had that figured out I roped @skarikafterdark into helping me start really chopping into the work I wanted to do while also working on developing the art style I wanted to go with.

My own style while taking cues from Fear And Hunger proved to be a winner. So I started really pushing into the vibes I wanted. So far we've really made progress on making the project feel tangible.

The spouse is currently working on getting hex grid type map working. They walked me through how to set up a hex in game maker over the course of a day.

We've been cleaning up some of the more appearance related things to the game while also tinkering with the background mechanics. It's a lot harder to talk about some of this stuff because it's just a mile long wide string of code after code. Frankly most of the time it's just that for hours on end. It's always nice to have something to show off once in awhile though. Even if it's kind of boring.

Even got the basics of the last SCHUMP section written. Every game needs a fishing mini game after all. I like how my fish came out quite a lot. Although it's not a major section of the game it still feels important to give it my best. Also got a lot more UI working to help the player know what's going on while they play. Might need to make a full length video soon on everything that we've worked on so far!

Been taking it easy on working on this so we don't burn out. Want to make sure the first half of the game has a enough content while also moving ahead with going toward how the 2nd half is going to play. Right now it's been a lot of back and forth of how the game loop is going to feel.

Finally got in more art as well which means the game is looking more and more 'professional'.

I was setting up the menu with these new sprites for the playable characters and became possessed by the need to have a fourth. The aesthetic was just off. So now there will be 4 characters to choose from at the start of Rust and Decay. The game is designed to be playable about twice for fresh content. Each character has some unique scenes that help build the world but isn't required to see if you don't want to!

Working on the 2nd game loop of the game which is tower defense. The code is very tedious and I want to perish.

It's going really well its just really boring. Still I did get isometric blocks working I guess so there is that. I'm actually learning code much to my distress.

I feel like my head isn't big enough to contain all this information. I don't know how my spouse does it most of the time.

The artist I've commissioned for keyart is doing a bang up job as well. It's gonna be a really good title screen. I'm hoping it'll really boost the quality of what we've got so far.

Also got another Wario ware job mini game layer out. Stuff is getting easier as we build more systems. Honestly with me coding as well most of this is going really fast.

This weekend ended strong. We had a Pre-Production Game-Jam with a friend. We were able to finish up a lot of tasks that would get in the way of beginning actual Production on the game! Now that we've been able to move on from all that we can really get a move on.

A this point we actually have one of the game loops in the game working! You deliver pizza to a nearby mining station. There is a decay mechanic that if you take to long all your pizzas will rot so be careful! The spouse also juiced up the dialogue system with justify text and other tweaks. I can't stand when text isn't justified so it was considered a really important add.