To the demo and beyond
June 7th, 2022
OVERALL
Things are moving along and I am really excited and grateful for the engagement online. Seeing people get excited about the project really helps us all feel encouraged to continue and make things even better!
ART UPDATE
I finished the majority of the first pass art and level art! With most of the houses placed in the world (minus some background art) and a lot of the main foliage in, I will be moving on to adding small details and extra little things to make the world feel more alive, personal and detailed.
Next Steps:
First things first, I need to optimize the trees. I originally made them as a placeholder and didn’t expect to use them for more than a few months but they have grown on me and a lot of people have mentioned really enjoying the trees so now they are here to stay!
After those have been optimized, I hope that will increase performance on older machines and allow for an even smoother play overall.
Afterwards, I will be filling in some of the missing details in the level such as background houses and some missing fences. I think I will take a break from the art after that (even though I would love to spend the next year making props) and focus on a few other things in the game that need attention.
AUDIO UPDATE
While there hasn’t been a huge change in the audio since last time, I have been able to implement a few tracks from Eliza as well as some tracks from a few free music libraries (kongano.com and audionautix.com)
These tracks are going to remain in the demo however we intend to replace the free tracks with tracks from local Indie bands in Ontario!
Next Steps:
Upon new funding (not sure when but eventually) we are super excited to reach out to some local Indie bands that match the vibe of the game and license some of their music to put in the game. I am really excited about this because I feel it really brings things full circle and engages the local community and adds to the local Ontario feel that we are aiming for.
PROGRAMMING UPDATE
Gillian has been doing some great work. They have really gotten our systems in to shape for the demo and are working on implementing the next mechanic that will round out the systems and bring a new layer of detail to the game.
Next Steps:
Gillian will be implementing a save/load system as well as a weather system and in-game time. This will really bring things together. We also plan to continue polishing the systems we already have in place, taking note of the feedback we have received so far from the demo.