So that's that. This week marked my last two streams of 2019! I'm off work next week, and I won't be back at Scirra HQ until 2020. I'll still be about, just enjoying working from the comfort of my own home!
And what does that mean? Well, I guess I have more free reign over my game for the next couple of weeks. I can tackle all the really boring, non-stream stuff, like more refactoring and testing out ideas for mechanics. So with any luck, I might have something interesting to talk about when these blogs kick up again next year.
But what have I done this year?
Well, I started building this game in June, and since then I've:
- Created a basic game structure so that I know roughly how large it'll be, give or take a few layouts
- Designed four maps for the first city, built them in Construct and have created a transition system to handle switching between the areas
- Created NPC objects with unique styles of movement, some of which are capable of challenging the player to a fight
- Built a Random Encounter feature so that the player can 'encounter' different creatures on select tiles
- Using the same idea as the random encounter system, I've built a respawnable, random item object. The player can collect an item, and within a set amount of time, it will respawn
- Using arrays, I've built readable signposts with unique text
- I've begun to build a JSON-based dialogue system to control all of the dialogue for my NPCs
- Not to mention artwork and design aspects for the creatures themselves!
So, thinking about it, considering I was a total C3 beginner a few months ago, I feel like I've come quite a long way! Plus, I've also written tutorials for the transition system, NPC types, player challenge, random encounter and item mechanics and a whole course on adding dialogue to games! It's hopefully more than just me benefitting from building this game.
Looking ahead to 2020, there's plenty to be done with the game itself, so I'm hoping to be able to share more of that with you next year. The streams will continue but we'll be shaking things up a bit, so keep an eye on the Construct Team social media accounts for details on that.
In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful end to 2019, and a merry Christmas/Happy New Year if you're into that sort of thing.
See you in 2020!