PixlBit

I know I talk about this on my blog, but I wanted to set up a thread to kind of track development and stuff.  Today is March 3rd, and I've been working on Forgetter again for about a week.  I have the central hub level all figured out, but I'm still working on the battle system and the menus before I get to the first "zone" of the game. 

It's taken me about six hour of work, but I have a menu screen today:

Yes, I know it looks like shit.  There's a lot of blank space.  I need to recoordinate the text so it fits better and stuff.  But it took me hours just to get this working.  Graphic design isn't my strong suit either, and while I like the background image, it's only temporary.  I'm leaning towards doing a sort of orange menu screen, so this is how it turned out this time.  In a couple hours I'm going to post the updated version, and hopefully you'll see what I mean. 

This is a lot of hard work, but I really enjoy it, and it really puts me into a higher state when I'm focusing on it.  I don't think about anything, I'm not nervous, I'm not worrying, I'm just working on my game. 

I'm hoping top get more sketches out of my friend today for the model of Forgetter, I'm anxious to get the model and start working with it, which will let me put it in the main game and the battle animations and what not.  It's exciting. 

Anyway, I'm taking a break from the game to sort of sort out what I'm doing and I thought I would post this.  I'm going to post some more posts soon about the history of Forgetter and what it used to look like, etc. 

Originally, Forgetter was a side scrolling Beat Em up made in Gamemaker Pro, and I started doing it because my other game ideas seemed too difficult. So it kind of came out with me using limited resources and building ideas out of that:

Pretty funny, huh?  I made the characters out of a Stick Figure program, and I did all the coding in Gamemaker using tutorials I found on the web.  I had used Unity before, but it was difficult, so I tried something simpler.  Unfortunately, Gamemaker was too simple, and I had to retype a lot of code to do stuff.  Eventually I got frustrated with it.  Here are some more screens. 

I did know in the beginning of the game that it would involve a ghastly city, and I decided to use the familiar trope of Amnesia for my character, but to take it the next step:  he was a ghost, but he couldn't remember his previous life. 

Here is a really old screen shot.  Forgetter looks funny here.

 At first I made the flies enemies.  But then I realized they were friends.  I hate flies in real life, but when I had my psychotic break seven years ago in New York, I believed I was communicating with the ones in my back yard, which looked like they were coated in golden armor.  I know -- I'm crazy. 

Hippo Town:

I don't know how I came up with Hippo town.  I just knew I needed a town, and I found some pics of hippos, and I decided to combine the two.  Hippo town will exist in the new version, you go there after the city, and it's going to be an interesting trip.  It's kind of your typical RPG town but of course there is a secret of some sort going on that u need to figure out, and the hippos are not what they seem. 

and here is the day's work done.  this looks better, a lot better, but I don't know.  I think I'm going to fill up the other areas with information like a journal and the menu will have more buttons, etc.  I'd also like to have a pic of Forgetter in here. 

Okay, got my menu screens a little cleaned up:  Here's the basic screen for now:

quest log:

status:

Today's screen.  Mostly just a cleanup of a previous screen.  Looks better now though.  I posted screens on the forum of the makers of the RPG-Kit I am using, and people seemed quite intrigued.  That's good.  I hope people like my game.  I'd really like to make something unique that people can enjoy. 

here is a sketch of the first real enemy of the game, a Rhino man.  These will be prevalent in the city zone in the Northern world of the game.  You'll also eventually confer and otherwise deal with them. 

and here is the latest model for Forgetter.  It's pretty much set now, and my friend is workingon  bone structure and animation now. 

Level Design. 

Level design is relatively simple:  Four Worlds consisting of three zones each, and a final dungeon that caps off the whole game.  It seems small, it seems big, there are multiple ways of looking at it. 

WEST:

I'm going to start designing the West first.  It consists of these three zones: 

1. The City - This will be the first level I design after the initial Chamber of Winds hub.  I have an idea how I'm going to do it and the original game started here, so I decided to stay with tradition.  The city won't be too large, but there will be a number of things you can do there:  fight rhino monsters, talk with stray flies and the Monkey Trader, and discover treasure and some clues to who the Forgetter is.  The end of this level will see u on the rooftops as you face the rhino boss and solve his problem. 

2. Hippo Town - Hippo Town sounds pleasant, which it is, but there is also sadness here.  You have to discover their secret.  At the center of Hippo Town is a large Castle, and that is your third destination. 

3.The Castle - Inside the Castle, you will meet the royal court and the Princess Iguana, a majestic reptile the legends tell of. 

NORTH:

North is the second area I'm going with, and it's a lot more barren and wilderness than the other areas.  There's a quiet here, unmistakeable.  But there's also monsters to kill!  ARG!

1.Snowfield - First you will encounter the majestic snowfield, which is easy to get lost in.  There will be a lot of whiteness here, snow, fog, cloudy skies, and a bit of a puzzle. 

2.The Blue Forest - Then you will come to the Blue Forest, inhabited by a bunch of kobolds who are sometimes nice, and sometimes not. 

3. The Mountain.  - Finally, you must brave the mountain.  Atop here is the Wind you must fight. 

SOUTH:

1. Desert Canyon:  Welcome to the desert, yo.  Blinding light and wind, yeah!

2. The Cave:  Only the bravest enter... and only the strongest exit. 

3.  Goat Town:  What is goat town, and what does it have to do with the Southern Wind?

EAST:

1. The Caravan -  Heading East will lead you to a caravan of nomad giraffes heading West as they escape rumors of an evil wizard to the East. 

2. The Swamp -  The Swamp. 

3. The Wizard's Tower:  What lies at the top????

Then there's the final dungeon.  These levels aren't big, but I will try to fill them with activity.