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[gimblll]

Log Entry #51

So I did a new tutorial level. It's not really a press this and press that tutorial, but a short introduction. Much better now than what it was. Then I basically redid half of the meta world levels and added placeholders for the few that were still missing. The world structure should be final now. All shops are placed etc. Still needs a lot of scripting so everything unlocks and flows correctly. Also a lot more story dialogue for the friendly NPCs. And drawing, to replace the rest of the placeholders. And sounds. And general polish. And... *sigh*.

Then I finally implemented something I've been planning forever, "memory stones". These are entities in the meta world that show you memories from your own world before you got transported to this strange place. There's no real references to the world where the protagonist comes from but these. They're there just to give you a bit extra depth to the story if you are interested. To unlock these, there's some secret triggers here and there. There's total of five drawings. (one of them is the picture in the first post and I think I posted another somewhere here in some update) I've drawn three and a half of these, the "half" needs coloring and then one needs to be drawn completely. I wish I could animate them a bit, but that would be way too much time consuming.

Next week is a shorter week because of holidays, but I think I'll probably just draw all those days as there's lots of backlog on that front now.

Here's a part of a one memory drawing. Just a gloomy detail as I don't want to spoil them all.


Happy holidays everyone!

[gimblll]

Log Entry #52

This week I did drew stuff to the meta world, simple props mostly and replaced some placeholder art etc. Nothing special. Here's a bad quality gif of a part I've been making.



Next week it's more drawing and start of the "weaponsmith" levels. This is a separate place from the main quests that present you some challenge levels to complete, themed around the different weapons. I still don't have the exact design in my head, so this is likely to take some time and exploration to get right.

Yearly summary and looking forwards!

So the first year of the devlog has come to its end. When I started the log, I was pretty sure that I would finish the game before the end of 2017. That didn't happen.

Now the target is a summer release. And I can't really afford to push it back. And anyway, that would be over 2.5 years making this originally one year project, so it better be finished soon.

I hope that I'm near alpha after 3-4 months. That's going to be hard though.

Major things I need to still do to make the game fully completable:
* 3.5 bosses - Each takes ~2 weeks, the .5 is a simpler miniboss, but it's a lot of work too probably.
* Weaponsmith challenges - Probably a month, need to experiment and need some new level code too.
* 2 worls of levels - A month maybe, depending on how many new enemies I do. Levels themselves are pretty fast to do.

And that's already nearly 4 months of work scheduled right there, so let's see. I could end up having to cut something. And nothing ever goes as I plan it so I guess you'll find out how it all goes wrong on this same devlog! That would leave 2 months for HUD, menus, sounds, polish, final balancing, etc. etc. And I need to start doing marketing at some point too, at least a proper trailer, some web pages, etc.... that's at least few weeks there too. Argh.

Alright, enough of that. If anyone's still reading, thank you for your messages and I hope you got something out of the year's devlog entries. On towards 2018 and happy new year everyone!

[Sundrop]

Sounds like it's gonna be a hell of a half-year! I'm really excited for you and the game!  Also, happy new year!

[gimblll]

Sounds like it's gonna be a hell of a half-year! I'm really excited for you and the game!  Also, happy new year!

Thanks!

Log Entry #53

Alright, first log entry of 2018. This week I made a new story character, the "weaponsmith" and made a level for it to hang out at and where you start the weapon challenges from. I'm going to try to keep the levels really simple so I can get this done fast. I ported a "spawn scripting" system from my old game Trigonarium (twin stick shooter) to use here in these levels. All spawns are dynamic and you just have to survive all the enemy waves. I'm also going to take away your minions and axe, just you and the pickup weapon. I'm not sure if it works with all the weapons, or will it become too boring and repetitive, but let's see.

I'm also not sure if there's going to be any reward from doing those. It would be kind of let down not to have anything, but I don't know what I could yet easily do without having to do a lot of work again. And just giving some loot would be pretty lame. Upgraded weapon would be cool, but that's probably a bit too much work as it would need new graphics, new balancing, etc.... I need to think about that later I guess.

Here's a test of how the dynamic spawns will work in the levels. I fire meteorites that upon hitting ground will spawn a group. (I recycled meteorites from an old discarded prototype test, so I'm happy I could get that reused too)



Next week, I'm trying to get the basic mode all setup. Lot's of small things I need to do, like modify the controls so there's no axe etc. other mode specific tweaks to the rules. And then finish the first proper level (machine gun level).

[Ishi]

I like the sound of weapon-specific challenges, should be a good way to mix up gameplay and encourage the player to get to know the special weapons better.

A reward for the challenge would be good. I forgot, are these weapons just temporary pickups or permanent equipment that the player can use?

[gimblll]

I like the sound of weapon-specific challenges, should be a good way to mix up gameplay and encourage the player to get to know the special weapons better.

A reward for the challenge would be good. I forgot, are these weapons just temporary pickups or permanent equipment that the player can use?

That's what I thought too, easy thing to do to change it up a bit too. I've been making the first challenge and it's pretty fun I think.

They're temporary semi-random pickups. I have a reward I can use for completing all quests, but that's a bit harsh too if that's the only thing. Or maybe not. I dunno.

[Ishi]

The main easy solution that comes to mind is that completing the challenge upgrades the pickup, but just makes it last a bit longer / gives you more ammo. So no need for additional artwork. But that does still provide balancing issues, as it could either feel too short without the upgrade or too long with the upgrade.

Maybe a gameplay reward isn't necessary if you can just display a shiny medal somewhere for each challenge the player completes, with a final reward for finishing all of them.

[gimblll]

The main easy solution that comes to mind is that completing the challenge upgrades the pickup, but just makes it last a bit longer / gives you more ammo. So no need for additional artwork. But that does still provide balancing issues, as it could either feel too short without the upgrade or too long with the upgrade.

Maybe a gameplay reward isn't necessary if you can just display a shiny medal somewhere for each challenge the player completes, with a final reward for finishing all of them.

Yeah... Just a lot of work for me without necessarily being good for the game anyway. I think I'm gravitating towards no gameplay rewards too. I do have that "medal" reward already in there too. I guess I should not over complicate this and just leave it at that.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #54

So the "weapon challenge mode" is now all set up and functioning as intended. I've also completed 5 of the 9 challenges I'm going to do. I think I'm going to do one or two more before moving on. I'll leave the rest of them open, as I still have the main world 4 to do and that's going to require a few new enemies too, so I'll be wanting to use those enemies in the remaining challenges too.

It's hard for my designer mind to keep the challenges short and simple. I have a terrible urge to add different drops and bonuses etc. to make them more fun and elaborate. Especially as it's pretty fast to do and add content to these and there's plenty of tricks I could pull from my last game, but I need not to get stuck doing these as they're not the main mode anyway, just a fun diversion.

Start of the first level (machine gun). Enemies land from asteroids and you shoot them.


And some chaos just for the lols


So next week. I might still spend a day on this mode. There's maybe a weeks worth of work to finish the mode if you count the HUD etc. which I've been ignoring. But then I think it's time to go back to the main mode and do a polish pass on all that I've added in the last few months. I haven't really played the main mode from the start in ages, so everything will be broken and unbalanced, lot's of missing dialogue etc. and I need to get that back in shape. That's going to take a few weeks probably, but then the game should finally be in an "alpha" shape until the end of world 3. Then I'll probably do boss 3. Or maybe I should do a proper first teaser trailer etc. or something finally.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #55

Spent a day more doing the challenge mode, just to finish off one level and a few tweaks. It's good enough for now, just a few more levels needed and I need to write the dialogue for the NPC who's in charge of these challenges. Then I've spent the week going back to the main quest and putting all broken back together. Things like writing proper dialogue for the NPCs where there was temp and fixing all the progression bugs I've done as I've moved things around in the world etc. I also started to do a new pass on all the loot systems so they're consistent, balancing loot drop numbers and shop prices. Basic stuff, nothing flashy to show this time.

I probably underestimated how much stuff I have left broken/temp here I think, it might take longer just next week. Also, now that I've pretty much locked all the features and content I'm going to do, I think it would be a good time to do a pass again on my related "random todo" list, things like improving readability of certain things etc. So that's probably my next two weeks there.

Bonus .gif, lioness that I did as one of the first units at the start, but never found a use for it in the end. Decided to purge it from the assets now to save some space.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #56

So first part of the week I spent finishing all levels on World 3, that's now done. It's probably too difficult now, but I'll worry about that later. Otherwise it plays fine I think. Only the boss to do for that anymore. Then I did a bit of polish on everything in the overworld, like rewriting dialogue and making sure all story triggers etc. work.

I also drew sprites for all the shops in the game, so there are no temp shop graphics anymore. Here's some of them. The top two buildings (archer minion upgrade and spirit energy max upgrade) are old buildings I drew ages ago without a specific purpose, but now I just reused them as shops. The concrete cube is new (sells weapons).



Then next, I think I'll spend some time fixing various little issues that've cropped up. Like when you get a lot of minions, the shadows start flickering sometimes as I run out of occluder space and just skip whatever happens to be next. Then possibly boss 3, or something. Not sure yet.

Then there's still one design issue that has started nagging at me more and more, which is the "spirit energy". You gather it from killing enemies and use it to resurrect your own minions. Then you can upgrade the max you can hold from the overworld shops. That's fine and all, but there are no other uses for it in the game. It's really poor gameplay wise, as it doesn't really offer any interesting choices. Usually you just spam the resurrect button as fast as you gather energy. On one hand I want to keep the energy supply constrained, so the player can't have full army on the battlefield all the time. But on the other hand, if I keep it constrained, I can't really offer much "great" things player could use it for, as I do want the player to use minions a lot. So whatever I do fights against player respawning the minions... which sucks. Maybe it could be something passive. Or I don't know. I'll have to see if I can think of something.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #57

So. Last week, I spent a day doing some engine maintainance. Fixed the flickering shadows problem and a few other things. I'm kind of worried now that I've gone overboard with some CPU based features, as I haven't tested the performance on my iOS targets for a while. Should probably do that soon... The rest of the week was spent on doing Boss 3. It's nearly finished, which is good as I expected it to take much longer. I kept the boss really simple, I don't want to spoil it, but I'm a bit worried that it's too simple. But I don't know, I can't really afford to go crazy with these. I'll save the full crazy for the final boss I guess. I always have the urge to do epic multistage bosses with crazy transformations and surprises, but it's just not feasible with my resources right now. And I'm not even sure if it would fit the game. The gameplay flow is nice and compact in normal levels, so I shouldn't probably make the bosses super long anyway.

This week... maybe 2 days more for boss 3. Then I was thinking of spending a few days setting up the visual theme for world 4 (the final "normal" world). I think that's my week. After that, I think I might start doing another pass on the HUD.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #58

Week's almost done again. I finished Boss 3, I'm pretty happy with it. Only audio left to do, but again that's for later.

So then I did some drawing and visual development for World 4, and it's pretty much finished now. Here's a shot of some basic props over there, a bit weirder setting for this one. Cyans and purples. Then I tweaked World 2 look too a bit while at it as it kind of looked stupid now after a time. That's all but one world look done. And the final missing should be pretty easy.



Edit: New treeees.



After that I've been taking it a bit slow, fixing a few little things and doing a bit of studying in general.

I've also received the first samplings of music for the game and damn I like it. Wish I could share it, but it's not that time yet. Turns out my brother is able to do it after all, at least it looks like it for now. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong. Very happy about it currently, no more large unknowns in production!

Next week I think I'll go over some more little things if there's any I should fix now and then I'll do an iteration on the HUD. That shouldn't take too long. After that I think it's time to start setting up some bare bones marketting like building a small presskit website, drawing logos and something. And doing the first trailer and stuff. Making trailers is always fun, finally getting to show some more of your game to more people... so I'm looking forward to that!

[Ishi]

Glad you could get some music started! Looking forward to hearing it. Keep up the good progress!

[gimblll]

Glad you could get some music started! Looking forward to hearing it. Keep up the good progress!

Thanks Ishi!

Log Entry #59

So I started doing a HUD iteration and got that done. It's finished and could be shipped as is, though I'm not super happy about it. I suspect I'll do one more pass at it before finishing, but I'll need to test and get used to this iteration first and see what things are the most important to fix.

Doing low/no-budget indie is a constant struggle in compromises, like for example this new thing in the HUD. It's a "rage meter" that shows how much rage energy you have gathered (and glows once it's available). I would love the bar to go along the spiral and/or have a much cooler or appropriate icon there instead of a spiral (like a cool vector bear head), but every day is a compromise and you have to constantly think where you're going to spend your time. Let's see if I have the time or the energy to do that at a later polish pass.



After finishing the HUD, I started improving the rage mode a bit further too. Previously it only changed the minions to their rage form, but I think it might be more clear if the bear gets a little boost too. I drew this little change to the bear hat when it's on, gave a little damage boost and am adding other fx. I hope players realize that the point of rage mode is still that you get a huge boost to minions instead of the player.



I'm now adding more effects to the rage mode to make it feel more powerful and clear. Next I decided I'll do a pass on enemy units, some minor tweaks and effects... fix a few bugs on the player too. Mainly things so there's no obvious problems when recording trailer footage. So that's a few days of next week. Then I'll do some playtesting myself, check that everything works in the first 3 chapters, and send some test builds maybe. And then it's time to spend some time setting up some simple marketing stuff and doing a trailer (fun)!

[gimblll]

Log Entry #60

Not much to report this time. Did lot's of little things, fixing mostly tiny problems I've been ignoring. Added and tweaked a lot of effects etc. too. Setup everything so that I'd be happy to show the game in public, so I can do a trailer with this version. Quick little tech change too, changed the music system to use .mp3 on Windows instead of .ogg now that mp3 patents expired and there's open source mp3 decoders. Saves a tiny bit of trouble, as on iOS I'm using .mp3. Also played through the content a few times and tried to balance things again. Then sent test versions to few friends now that I have a good version again. That's about it.

Next week is all marketing, I'm redoing my own web page and building a small landing page and presskit for the game. Also drawing a logo for the game and all that stuff. I'll take a few "official" screenshots to put live too probably. Then maybe a Steam page and so on. At some point I'll do that trailer finally too, but might be the week after next.

[gimblll]

Log Entry #61

Unfortunately another short update in a row. No work on the actual game. I refreshed and cleaned up my personal website (www.gimblll.com) and prepared things for the game landing page. I've also drawn the logo for my game, also an icon. Then I've been working on the trailer, which is nearly finished now. Enormous pain in the ass to work on that with my old computer. Trying to cut things in Premiere when it manages to show one image per a few seconds is no fun... Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it. Had a bit of trouble capturing game footage, as Fraps didn't manage to do 60fps 1080p on my computer, and then neither did Dxtory and Bandicam, but fortunately OBS Studio worked great! And it was free and open source even. Nice!

Next week. I'm going to continue doing this marketing material. Still have to finish the game landing page, setup a Steam coming soon page, do the screenshots, write some sales texts , etc. etc... So let's see if I can finish all that next week. Looking forward to finally showing some video of the game in action!

[gimblll]

So here's a short trailer finally!





Also www.barbearian.com is finished and you can now wishlist it on Steam too.

And yeah, I settled on the Barbearian name for the final game too. Not perfect, but it's the best I could come up with and that'll just have to do. (Also randomly found a game called Bardbearian on Steam... and there's that Bearbarians too... I'm never going to get any Google hits am I )

Happy to have those finished, and now it's time to get back to working on the actual game. Time to dive into world 4!

[Platy]

 

Looking great as usual !

It's amazing and inspiring to see how far you've come with this project.
Can't wait to see the end result and to try it out for myself.

Good luck with the final stretch (Luck isn't really what you need the most of right now but saying "Good perseverance" doesn't roll off the tongue as well).

[gimblll]

It's amazing and inspiring to see how far you've come with this project.
Can't wait to see the end result and to try it out for myself.

Good luck with the final stretch (Luck isn't really what you need the most of right now but saying "Good perseverance" doesn't roll off the tongue as well).

Thank you! It's been a long road and there's certainly a lot of perseverance and hard work needed yet if I'm really going to get this out this summer...