Devlog

Generally you can get pretty good ideas from getting as drunk as possible and thinking very hard (I’m lying to you). You can also get a good aneurysm. So I’m writing this after skulling 8 Kronenburgs on a hot weekend in May. I won’t be publishing this until I’m sober and I’ve proofread it thoroughly though. Let’s just say I don’t expect my spelling to be of a caliber I’m comfortable with sharing while I’m this drunk. I also couldn’t think of an idea for the thumbnail design, but I hope to turn the devlog thumbnails into game assets when I can. I have come to a few conclusions with my ideas on gamedev. I’ve got a very rough story in mind, which I won’t expound upon, and some rough ideas, which I will.

I’m going to make a visual novel or RPG. It might not create the best game, but I have 40 years minimum left to live, so there’s more to come after this. I know I could write a battle system, a platforming game, anything code related with ease. I’m also not too worried about writing dialogue or prose for a game, I used to be no pushover at writing before my indefinite academic hiatus and I have enough literary knowledge to make a decent story. It’s very easy to create this logical architecture which facilitates all of the features I need, but I’m not going to find it easy to make an aesthetic and atmosphere which will fit the microcosm I have in mind.

Art and music are major failure points for me, and I want them stitched up. I think my main goal with this project will be to get good at art, and to at least have decent piano/keyboard scores for the game (inspiration from the more minimalist soundtracks for games). I can’t draw and I can play tin whistle with tabs, that’s the absolute limit of my skill. I just don’t want to make a chiptune platformer about a little cube/pixel sprite running through a 2D SMB clone world, and I’m not comfortable making a game with janky art. I primarily see games as the next step after movies, the point where we add interactivity to a story with accompanying art and music. The main goal isn’t to create a game system as balanced as chess, just to produce a cohesive piece of art with a view to certain aesthetics, emotions, themes and motifs that a player can immersive themselves in. For now, I just want there to be enough input for someone to feel like they can influence the world.

I have been looking at Ren’Py with a very serious eye and I might be happy using it. I need to look over the license requirements, although I honestly might just release the game for free on a donation basis with open sourced code if that’s all that’s allowed. I am so fucking sick of code licensing and IP law at this point, it’s made me completely fall out of love with programming. A lot of people love to believe/pretend FLOSS software is a good way to fight it, I don’t really buy it anymore, but at least the option is there and it’s the best we have.

“So you’re going to throw away years of your life just to become good enough to make the game you want?” Yes. This is about the only meaning I can find at the moment.

So how’s life?

I’m probably going to buy a bike and go on a long camping trip. I think the goal is just to take out some money, buy some food and see how long I can last away from home. No strict plan, just go away from civilization and chill for a bit. It’ll probably be very good for me. I’ll probably shave my head so I don’t need to worry about shampoo and conditioner because my hair is LONG right now. I’ll take a sketchbook and my tin whistle and learn while I’m out. This trip is probably going to be a few weeks in the future, I still need to visit some family in the hospital, and I want to do that before I go off, it could be anywhere between mid June to late July.

Sober addendum: I planned to have this out on Monday. It’s now Thursday. Some week.

Last modified on 2022-05-17