This is an old thread, but a thought of my own:

Another set of references that you might look at is the "big side-scrolling mansion" class of adventure (often horror) games. Things like the original Clocktower, or the more recent Whispering Willows.

In these the game-world can still feel somewhat large, I daresay--but perhaps less so than in the games previously mentioned. And yet I feel that they can nevertheless provide some enjoyable exploration of a space.

Thus they might provide a more-moderate approach to designing such a game.

[Blog post (18th of July, 2022)Rune Begone!]

Blog post (18th of July, 2022)
Rune Begone!

Summary: In which a major item is removed; a new combat-spell is spun off from that removal; the liche boss-fight sees further work; textures are more-sharply rendered; and the appearance of room -edging and -covers is adjusted.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows the boss-fight against the liche--and in that, newly-sharpened graphics!



The week just past was perhaps another slow one for me, and one primarily of changes and tweaks:

Perhaps the most salient change of the week just past follows on from a matter that I believe that I discussed in last week's blog-post: The matter of the Rune of Power.

Specifically, it has now officially been cut from the game.

This did incur some concomitant changes, such as the replacement of the Rune as a spawned or dropped item, and the removal of related tutorial elements.

Naturally, the extant combat-spells have now been stripped down to only their "base" forms--although in one or two cases I may consider using their "empowered" forms, instead.

Conversely, this change also freed up those "empowered" forms to potentially become newly-separate combat-spells. For most, this will likely not happen--but I have begun work on adapting one such spell (which is proving fun already), and have concepted a new artefact for it. This is, however, very much a work-in-progress.

The first screenshot above shows the boss-fight against the liche, and indeed, that encounter did see further work in the week just past--in the encounter itself, and also in polishing the death throes of the liche.

That first screenshot also shows a change to the game's aesthetics: the textures are now much sharper in their rendering!

I mentioned in last week's blog-post, I believe, that I was unhappy with the look of a number of objects in the game. To this end I asked for advice on the GameDev.net forum, and one suggestion made there was to take more-direct control over the texture level-of-detail--to circumvent the automatic handling of textures at range, which I fear was causing my textures to become somewhat muddy.

And indeed, I do think that this change has helped! There's more to be done, I do think--there's some visible jagginess now, for one--but I do also think that it's perhaps a solid first step. ^_^

Remaining with aesthetics, in the week just past I adjusted the appearance of room -edging and -covers: it's now a little less uniformly straight, thanks to the application of a noise-texture.

The effect is somewhat subtle--and I may adjust it yet--but even so I think that it helps.

(In the following screenshot, it's perhaps most visible on the long, straight, horizontal sections.)

I've also made the gradient of these somewhat narrower, although I'm not sure that I'll keep that change.



And of course, there were various tweaks, fixes, and changes that don't seem worth detailing here!

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

[Blog post (11th of July, 2022)Battles and Dilemmas]

Blog post (11th of July, 2022)
Battles and Dilemmas

Summary: In which the Crystal Moon encounter is worked on further; continuous attacks may now produce continuous damage-effects; to that end, the game's particle system now supports continuous emission; the liche boss-fight gains a new attack and other changes; the Stone Guardian enemy has a reworked death; quality-of-life changes are made to the selection of combat-spells; the tutorial sees a minor change; and two questions, one of design and one of art, are pondered.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a new attack in the liche boss-fight:



The week just past was perhaps more full than the one preceding it--and involved work on a variety of things!

I reported last week, I believe, that I had made some changes to the encounter in the Crystal Moon. In the week just past, then, I continued to do so: the crystal creatures now have collision shapes that should be more efficient, if less precise; the crystal creatures now all turn at a uniform rotation rate; and the patterns of the encounter's waves were revised.

You may recall too from last week's blog post that the crystal creatures now wield continuous-beam attacks. At the time of that blog post's writing, such attacks yet prompted damage effects in the same manner as did non-continuous attacks. Which was a problem: continuous attacks have their effect on every frame on which they apply, which could result in the spawning of a huge number of damage-effect objects.

So, in the week just past I addressed that: Now game-objects can optionally have special "continuous" effects that are applied for such attacks. At the moment only the player has such, as current only the crystal creatures have continuous-beam attacks.

But the player's damage effect is a particle effect--and as of last week's blog post my little custom particle system only supported instant, "burst" emission of particles. Thus, in order to have a "continuous" damage effect for the player, the particle system was extended, modified to now optionally provide continuous emission!

Here below, then, you should see the results of this work on damage-effects:



And, as shown in the first screenshot above, the encounter in the Crystal Moon wasn't the only one that saw work in the week just past: the boss-fight against the liche, too, saw changes!

Perhaps most saliently, the liche now has a new attack: they can summon grasping skeletal hands to briefly hold the player in place, giving their minions an opening in which to attack. But, while immobile, the player can still turn in their grip and fight, allowing a chance to fend off said minions!



Now, the liche's minions include a type that fires a ranged, homing attack--which would be quite unfair to have launched against the player while the latter is immobilised! I've thus made changes to the flow of the battle, giving the player space in which to defeat those ranged minions before the liche starts using the "grasping hands" attack.

I'm not yet quite happy with the encounter, but I think that it's making progress...

And on a more minor note, in the week just past I reworked the animation and behaviour shown by the Stone Guardian enemy on death:



Moving to matters of interface, in the week just past I enacted a few quality-of-life changes related to the selection of combat-spells:

First, I've added quick-keys by which the player can select from their combat-spells, rather than scrolling; by default, these are bound to the number-keys 1 through 4.

Concomitantly, I've adjusted the tutorial to reflect these new keys, and--as this made one of the tutorials messages rather long--split that information off into a new tutorial message.

And second, when the player does scroll through their combat-spells, this scrolling now skips over empty slots--no more accidentally scrolling to an empty slot in the middle of a fight!

On the design side, I've found myself facing two quandaries:

First, in gameplay, I'm considering the removal of the Rune of Power item.

On the one hand, I see a few arguments for keeping this item: It can be an aid to the player in battle; it's a small, repeatable item for the player to find and collect; its effect provides an additional point of uniqueness to the game; and it's an implementation of a feature that I would like to include in a project.

On the other hand, I see a few arguments for removing the Rune of Power: it complicates the balancing of combat--it can change a difficult encounter into an easy one; it complicates artefact design, as each has to have two associated combat-spells; removing it might enable me to introduce more artefacts, as some of the currently-intended "empowered" combat-spells are freed up for such use; and in a game that already includes exploration of curious moons, reached by flying through their suns, and the acquisition of various magical artefacts, all to stop a solar-system-devouring threat, perhaps its further small point of uniqueness is superfluous.

But if I do remove it, with what do I replace it as a reward for exploration? I'm considering adding minor upgrades--increases to maximum mana, for example--but that might be a little cliche for the genre. (Although noting that I do already have upgrades to the player's maximum health.)

As you may gather, I'm still thinking on this...

And second, in art, I'm finding that I'm not happy with the look of a number of objects in the game-world (such as the tutorial NPC). Some I'm fine with--the player-character and Stone Guardian in particular I still rather like. But in others the small scale combined with my current textures results in detail becoming a blurry mess.

I'm thus rethinking and investigating potential changes here...

And, once again, there were various changes, fixes, and tweaks enacted in the week just past that don't seem worth detailing here!

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Sorry for the delay in my response here: I've been rather tired and low on energy of late, and wasn't feeling up to a contentious debate. :/

The reason I'm so "fearful" of subjectivity is that it seems to be the genesis of a ton of crap that simply cannot be cleaned up without OBJECTING to so many people's warring tribal narratives. When people disagree, we can cut the crap till the Truth is revealed. Its not popular but cleaning isn't popular either.

I see what you're saying, but I don't think that it's anywhere near the danger that you suggest.

Especially as we're not talking about everything being subjective--just some things.

Edit: If I'm fearful of subjectivity, then it seems the bulk of people I run into on the internet are utterly horrified to the point of abject terror at the idea of the actual honest to god truth.

I'm sorry to read it. :/ That certainly hasn't been my own experience, I'm glad to say!

Well if there's little correlation between cover-art and good works, but there's a correlation between a lack of cover-art and poor works...then the standard implied is to have any cover-art at all no matter how bad. Any crappy cover art will do, even cover art that misrepresents the product.

(Speaking of cover-art that misrepresents reminds me of the notorious cover-art for the western release of Mega Man 2 aka Rock Man 2)

Okay, that's fair. I should perhaps rather have said that there's a correlation between poor or no cover art and poor works.

(With some degree of accounting for the norm of the cover's context, I do think. That Mega Man 2 cover, for example, comes from a time in which such covers were, I gather, not all that uncommon.)

I seamingly forgot about posting this, and the discussion in this thread is really great!

Speaking for myself, it has proven very interesting! ^_^

I've thought about this for a long time, and the more I compare old indie titles to newer ones you can clearly see the medium pushing cool shit that the older games actually have.

I think that there are at least some new things being yet made.

But still, you may be to some degree right: I wouldn't be surprised if, with more collective experience and exploration done in the space, there's more emphasis now on taking the results of that experience and exploration and using it to make more and more-varied things, and indeed, improved things.

That essentially, to make a hit, you have to analyze the market and "read the tea leaves" and essentially try to guess what people want. I'm not a fan of that kind of thinking because it makes me unhappy to make a game that is totally not what I feel like making and instead just a slave to what the masses on steam thinks is a good game.

Indeed, that can be a difficult pair of opposing forces to deal with: On the one hand, the desire to make something simply that one wants to make, and on the other the issue that the more niche a thing is, the harder it (naturally) is to find an audience for it.

A lot, of course, depends on your goals: if you don't mind a small audience, then niche works can, I suspect, still find that.

Conversely, if you want a large audience, then that means producing something that a lot of people will enjoy. That would seem to mean either making something known to be popular, or determining what will be popular, or making something and it working out that said thing is popular.

But it does seem like a lot of the big wheels in today's market are just chasing trends, which I wouldn't say is a very rich creative ethic. In fact, one could argue it is cheap.

Oh, that's nothing new, I daresay.

[Blog post (4th of July, 2022)Neon Beams]

Blog post (4th of July, 2022)
Neon Beams

Summary: In which the encounter in the Crystal Moon is reworked; continuous-beam weapons are implemented; the boss-fight with the liche sees some changes; and the save-icon is replaced.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a somewhat-neon revision to the encounter in the Crystal Moon!



Between scheduled power-outages where I live and a family matter that rather impacted me, the week just past was, I feel, slower than most. Still, some things did get done:

First, as shown above, I've once again reworked the encounter in the Crystal Moon.

As much as I liked its previous iteration, I had found that it was all too easy to simply hew to the outer perimeter of the level--and indeed, that the concentration of fire near the centre of the level incurred a pressure to so do. As a result, the encounter was easier than intended, and encouraged the player to act in such a way that they largely didn't see or engage with the patterns described by the crystal-creatures' weapons-fire.

I gave this matter quite a bit of thought, and considered a few possible solutions. In the end, what I settled on was this: Now the crystal creatures fire not bolts but beams--this makes the patterns formed a little more easily discerned, I feel. Further, said creatures now rotate, in fixed patterns, thus varying the pressure applied to the player.



I may yet make further changes--I'm not happy with the enemy that chases the player just yet, and the patterns of placement and rotation are works in progress, for two things. Still, I think that it's improved already! ^_^



And part of this was the implementation of a new type of weapon: continuous-fire hitscan beams!

(I did already have a basic form of hitscan weapon, used for melee attacks, but it was somewhat limited, I think.)

This actually went through two iterations:

In the first, I attempted to design it such that it worked with the extant weapon-related classes, allowing me with fair ease to make things like spreadfire beam weapons, and so on. And indeed, this did work, and I found it quite neat--but it was clunky, and likely inefficient.

So I reworked it, making it now separate from all but the base "Weapon" class. Its flexibility then comes via a system of adding individual "beams" to a given beam-weapon, each having its own offset, direction, damage, and so on.

And since this isn't required to fit the design of the classes used for projectile weapons, I was able to design it in what I think is a rather more efficient manner.

As with the encounter in the Crystal Moon, the boss-fight with the liche saw revision in the week just past. A number of changes were made: a reduction in the frequency of bone-walls; lower health for the boss; a new pattern of skeleton-summoning; and miscellaneous other tweaks. All aimed at making it more fun and less frustrating than I fear that it was.

And I may yet make further changes--I'm not yet sure that I'm happy with the fight. (And indeed, I have at least one more idea that I might try.)

On the visual side of things, in the week just past I replaced the old save-icon. Further, I changed its animation: in place of the old pulsed transparency, it now spins! And I'm rather happier with this new icon, I do believe!



On the level-design side, I've begun work in earnest on defining the Vertical Slice Moon's "Hall of Secrets". And indeed, on figuring out--I hope!--quite how to go about these early stages of designing a level.
 
And finally, there were various changes, tweaks, and fixes made in the week just past that don't seem worth detailing here! (Including a cleanup of some old, now-unused elements.)

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

[And we’re live on Kickstarter!]

Hey thanks so much for the kind words!

It's my pleasure. ^_^

so in relation to your questions:
...

Ah, that is encouraging to read, to my personal taste! The reference to Divinity: Original Sin is especially so, as I was quite fond of those games! ^_^

I'll confess that I'm not one much for base-building, myself--but it sounds like it's light enough that I might be fine with it.

And we’re live on Kickstarter!

Congratulations on the launch of your Kickstarter, and I hope that it goes well! ^_^

(Indeed, it looks like it has been well-received thus far! ^_^)

It looks like there's nothing available at the link that you've given above... (Indeed, the "releases" folder appears to be empty.)

[Blog post (27th of June, 2022)Fades for Rooms]

Blog post (27th of June, 2022)
Fades for Rooms

Summary: In which a trader's appearance is worked on; room-edges fade into the background; room-covers are improved; a level is begun in earnest; and some bugs are found and attended to.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows updates to the "Hall of Artefacts" in the Vertical Slice Moon:



The week just past was perhaps given primarily to a new aesthetic feature, to changes in the room-cover system--and to some significant bug-hunting. And with a few other things done besides!

First of all, and as shown in the first screenshot above, in the week just past I continued work on the new "Hall of Artefacts": specifically, it how has a better model for its trader-NPC (if likely without final texturing), including a carpet showing some wares that are ostensibly--but not actually--for trade.

You may also note in that screenshot that the edges of the room now fade into the surrounding blackness. This was an aesthetic change made in the week just past: "interior" levels now have shaded edging placed over the perimeters of their rooms. This, I hope, makes such places feel both less flat and more connected to the world than I fear was previously the case.

It did prove somewhat challenging to get right, as I recall, both in and of itself and in its interactions with the extant room-cover system and with breakable walls. Indeed, it involved a fair bit of iteration and reworking! Further, it informed more changes in the aforementioned room-cover system--improvements, I do feel.

(The new system now actually renders edging and room-covers to an off-screen texture--thus allowing me more control over how everything blends--which is then composited with the scene in the game's post-process shader.)

Here below, then, you should see an example of the result in action!


Returning to level-building matters, in the week just past I started work in earnest on the Vertical Slice Moon's "Hall of Secrets". For one, this a place in which I intend to give access to codex-entries that aren't located within the main content of the vertical-slice demo. But perhaps more excitingly, it's more so a place in which I intend to provide a preview of the "metroidvania abilities" that are implemented and intended for the full game, but that go beyond the limited scope of the demo.

This process, however, is very much nascent: I've only put in a few (unlit) rooms, a set of books to grant codex-entries, the implementation (I think) of an NPC found there (including their effect on the world), and one trigger.




And in the course of the week's work, I alas bumped into some fairly serious bugs! These were primarily, I think, related to loading and saving: things like room-neighbour information not being fully stored, map-icons not showing up--and even enemies disappearing!

Thankfully I think that I have these fixed now!

And, once again, there were a number of things done that don't seem worth detailing here!

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Virtual packaging hasn't got collectible value the way that physical packaging does. (or it has weak collectible value to be more precise; I suppose you could right-click and save virtual packaging images, but who does that?) It has value to me only to the extent that it is used to show me the actual product.

Ah, I see. I don't much look at cover-packaging for the purposes of collection either.

Why? Because, from my experience, the correlation between good packaging and a good product is tenuous.
...

When you said "Especially if I'm looking for something particularly good" you seem to be implying that there IS a correlation between good packaging and a good product--that you do judge a book by its cover. Is it your experience that good packaging correlates with a good product? Do you select what books to read, movies to watch, and games to play in this way, and have the products you've chosen to consume because you found the packaging to be good turned out to actually be good?

I see what you're saying, and to some degree I agree with you.

However, while I do agree that there's little correlation between cover-art and good works, I conversely feel that there's likely a correlation between a lack of cover-art and poor works.

And again, it's a matter of adding to the fantasy: the cover-art tells me what fantasy the work is trying to build, in a way that a gameplay screenshot tends to be poor at.

To draw on an older example, I still remember fondly the cover for Thief: The Dark Project--it's lovely and evocative, I find.

I don't have the box, and I don't care to, because I'm not a collector. But that art helps to build the fantasy of being a master thief in a fantasy setting.

Further, those small tiles that itch provides seem rather limited for the displaying of gameplay screenshots--at least of the sorts of games that I might like. The larger screenshots provided within a game's individual page are, I feel, better-suited to that. Cover art then may do a better job of indicating somewhat of the game--its tone, its type of setting, a drop of narrative, that sort of thing--than a screenshot is likely to do in the same space.

This is a dangerous road that strips all words of meaning and creates a wasteland where only people you know personally or in great detail can produce language that has any impact or significance and I would argue is quite elitist in that only those who get to establish what they mean by redefining the language when they use a given word can actually say something without being completely misunderstood.

I strongly disagree.

Some thing are inherently subjective; other things (solipsistic perspectives aside) are not. To say that some things are subjective doesn't imply that all things are.

And I did give a somewhat-objective definition of "richness", I think--it's just one that accounts for the individual nature of the perception.

Further, returning to your point about conveying words, a given person's individual definition of "richness" can potentially be conveyed, allowing for discourse.

Though great works are commonly regarded as great by many different peoples.

I would say rather that some works are widely considered great.

Perhaps each one finds a work great for different reasons, but part of what makes great art so *great* is that deep in side we're all the same. That is, great art creates a commonality, day I say even a community, between all its viewers.

There can still be community--it just needn't be between all of a given work's audience.

The more we fight for individuality, where not only the art itself has subjective elements, but even the very foundations of the written word cannot be defined objectively, and thus the word "the" isn't just an article, but actually means something opaque and subjective to just me and no one else such that I laugh at everyone's use of that 3 letter word there can be only one result of such a tower of babble: great art is impossible.

I see your fear, but I don't think that it's truly founded. I think that you're perceiving a threat that isn't really there in the subjectivity of experience.

This does look intriguing, I do think! And the art looks rather good, to my eye! ^_^

If I may ask a few questions:

• Am I correct in gathering that this is a Western-style RPG, not a JRPG? (The gameplay gifs suggest as much, but the art-style has me doubting that impression. ^^; )
• You've weighed somewhat on the grimmer aspects of the setting, I feel--how grim is it? I gather that it's not going to be all sweetness and light--but is it conversely all grim darkness?
• You've mentioned the building of a tribe--does that mean that there are elements of management sim or the like? And if so, how salient are those?

I should be less vehement: *to me*, the name is a big part of the project and does define it.

That's fair--we do all have different creative processes and tendencies, after all. ^_^

Different devs would make a different game based on different names, but how many different games would a single dev make based on whatever name they are given? If I were to say "make the game 'Angry Car'" there are a lot of ways to make that game but I think each developer who tackles the project would have one concept based on that idea.

I don't know... I could see myself going through a few options before settling on the one that I most like.

Second, just because naming is hard work doesn't mean its good to outsource it. I'm not saying you have to do 100% of making a game yourself, but somehow when I see some of the famous high artists (making sculptures and paintings) who hire "technical artists" to actually make their ideas and then go around selling the stuff it makes me grumpy.

I can see how that might be, I think--but a name is far from so great a part of the work in most cases, I would say.

To extend the analogy, I would say that it's more like a famous painter asking people to suggest a good frame for a painting that they're working on--one that will complement it. The painting is still itself, and the final decision of which frame to take--if any--still lies with the painter--but suggestions give them access to options that they may not have been aware of.

I guess its pride, the same reason the devil is still in hell, that I want to make the game myself and not have to say "thank you" to some other party for the help.

Hahah, I've been there, I daresay! I fear that I can be finicky about letting others contribute to the visuals of my games, for example.

But this can in fact hinder one's work, I daresay. Sometimes a third party has the more skill in a given field, and--with direction from the central artist--may produce something better and nevertheless within the intended vision--or, indeed, something closer to the intended vision!

For myself, I don't have a problem with giving thanks to others for aid.

Yes! But we should be able to agree on what a deep, or rich, or ragaflam or whatever kind of game even IS, right?

Not necessarily, no.

Or do you think that the definitions of words and types of games are so personal that your version of "deep" is different than my version of "deep?"

Exactly!

A person who values narrative might find depth in a game's story, even if the mechanics are paper-thin; a person who values replayability might value elements that produce variation between playthroughs, even if there's little to the story; a person who values moment-to-moment

Or, looked at from another perspective, we might be able to come up with something fairly general--my first attempt might be: "Depth" or "richness" is whatever makes a game (or other work) more engaging and engrossing for a given player.

In short, we're talking about a subjective perception, something that--to one degree or another--is likely to be specific to each player.

I do admittedly, think that one might come up with attributes that commonly contribute to "richness" or "depth". Perhaps, for argument's sake, most--but not all--people consider well-depicted characters to provide some "depth".

To give an actual example, one of my absolute favourite games, one that I'd very much consider to be "rich", I think, is Gabriel Knight 2. Now, that game has very simple mechanics--it's a point-and-click game with a "left-click to interact, right-click to look" interface and a straightforward inventory. There are a few other elements--for example there's a (once-off, I think) tape-splicing minigame--but for the most part that's it, mechanically.

And yet I've replayed it a number of times--more than most games, I daresay!

And that is, I think, at least in part because its narrative is enthralling, its characters interesting and engaging, and its visuals beautiful! (And of course because it has narrative elements that I enjoy, such as werewolves.) And, well, even with those simple mechanics it nevertheless has some decent puzzling. It doesn't matter that it plays more or less the same way each time.

@Thaumaturge

Yes, I meant the tile that appears in the game listings.

...

That is... interesting. And counter to what I think is likely advised practice, I think! It's certainly not what I'd be inclined to do, I do believe.

And indeed, I think that I'd likely react in the opposite manner to you: To me, a gameplay-screenshot as a cover-tile would be a point against a game, while some decent cover-art would be a point in its favour. (Especially if I'm looking for something particularly good.)

I'm more welcoming of that kind of thing when it's packaging.

Why is that, if I may ask?

Indeed, it seems to me that the cover-tile of a game on itch is its packaging, effectively.

"Deep" is a good word to use about games and one worthy of a bit of semantic scaffolding. Games you can play over and over are often more prized than ones that you just one and done. But is playing a game multiple times the defining trait of this "deep" characteristic? ...

So yeah, deep is something worth examining but I still wonder.

I think that different people are likely to value different things in a game.

For example, speaking for myself, I don't generally look much at replayability when considering a game, I believe

Have you ever read a review for a paperback novel that began with "There weren't enough illustrations" or "The cover art wasn't good"?

I suppose that one question might be: Do we see such critiques of books that do have internal illustrations? I'm wondering whether graphics that are disliked aren't worse-received than no graphics at all.

Text is good for the author, not for the audience, because there is hardly a cheaper and easier means to create content.

Cheaper, maybe, but a text-only work rests more on the quality of its writing and narrative, neither of which is all that easy, I feel.

[Gunline Mission : Numbers]

I don't recommend you ask other people to name your game. Naming the game defines it in a lot of ways, and asking someone else to name your game is like asking someone else to tell you what game to make. If you want to do that, you might as well apply to a game studio or microsoft or google or something and they will deffo tell you what to make. You should want to name your game yourself, if you don't want to name it, you probably don't want to design it, and then you need someone else on your team to do all that creative work.

I don't think that I agree.

For one, names are sometimes, and for some people, one of the harder parts of the work--harder even than some of the other creative elements. For another, some people might like much of the creative work--but not the naming. For a third, asking someone for help in a creative element of the work doesn't make the work theirs--it's one contribution amongst many creative decisions.

And, well, I don't agree that the name so greatly defines the work. Indeed, I daresay that if one were to ask different developers to make a game for a given name, you'd nevertheless to a significant degree get different games from them.

I've decided that the game will be called Gunline Mission : Numbers

I'm glad to read that you've chosen a name. ^_^

Hmm... So, it's an action-packed adventure, all with the final goal of... getting a girl's number?

In that case, you might perhaps lean into or suggest the dissonance there. Perhaps something like "A Vital Mission", or "A Serious Job", or "Mission: Numbers".

I'm inclined to disagree, myself.

One thing to remember is "Sturgeon's Law": To paraphrase, 90% of all works are poorly-made. So naturally a market like itch will have a large proportion of poorly-made games.

This can (arguably) be reduced via curation, of course.

Further, not all indies are interested in making the sorts of games that are described above as "deep"--and that's okay! Not everyone is looking for "deep" games, either.

(I mean, one of my Sunday activities is trawling through itch.io looking for short, interesting experiences. Little puzzle games, or exploratory things, or the occasional mini-metroidvania, etc.)

The overwhelming majority of those games (even the freeware ones!) are using as their main image either a title screen or concept art.

Wait--when you say "their main image", do you mean the tile that appears in the game-listings--i.e. the one that you click on in order to access the game's page? If so, then... yes, I'm pretty sure that it's not really the done thing to use a screenshot there; generally speaking "packaging" uses some form of "cover art".

Now, if you're referring to the screenshots on the game's page, then I'd still say that starting with a main menu--and possibly concept/key/promotional art--is fine, and indeed, something that might actually be advised. After all, the advice that I've seen given is that when promoting a work (such as a game) one does so via the fantasy that the game provides, which such art helps to convey.

How did it get so that that whole community thinks wowing people with visuals is more important than showing what their actual game system looks like?

I mean, has this not pretty much always been the case? Have games not long come with box-covers or title-screens or key-art that convey the fantasy of the game rather than the in-game graphics?

[Blog post (20th of June, 2022)New Things]

Blog post (20th of June, 2022)
New Things

Summary: In which levels gain lighting and tweaks; a new level is added to the Vertical Slice Moon; a tutorial encounter is completed; the ambient lighting of moon-backgrounds is changed; the lighting editor is enhanced; a new Twitter account is made; and a new company logo is designed.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a revision to an extant part of the Vertical Slice Moon: Specifically, that the "Hall of Traps" level now has lighting, as well as a bit of decor!



The week just past was primarily one of content-building, I believe, with a few other things done besides:

As shown above, the levels of the Vertical Slice Moon were addressed in the week just past--and not only the Hall of Traps: the Hall of Entry and Hall of Flow likewise gained lighting; a new (if small) "Hall of Artefacts" was begun, including geometry, lighting, and the start of an encounter; and all but one hall saw miscellaneous tweaks!




The Tutorial Moon likewise saw work, both in finishing off its NPC--specifically, the character's encounter, in all of text, image, and a bit of coding--and in various tweaks and changes.

A more-general alteration made in the week just past is that the backdrops of moons now always have full ambient lighting. While a trifle limiting, this circumvents an issue that I encountered with applying lights to such regions.

And speaking of lighting, the editor that I made for that purpose was advanced a bit in the week just past: it now allows navigation via the WASD keys (alongside the previously-implemented arrow-keys); has gained a slider that allows the user to zoom out a bit; and with a tweak in the level-loading code, now displays the locations of spawners.



And on the "business" side of things, I now have a Twitter account specific to my creative endeavours (game-dev included)! Further, it bears a new company logo that I created in the week just past.

You should find (and be able to follow ) this new account here: https://twitter.com/ThaumaturgeArt.

Further, I spent a little time updating things like the press-kit and "about" section of my website.

And once again, there were various changes, tweaks, and fixes enacted in the week just past that don't seem worth detailing here!

But before I conclude this post, a few gifs: The first was made for the above-mentioned new Twitter account, and shows the gaining and use of a "metroidvania ability"; the second shows a secret, somewhere in one of the levels worked on in the week just past...




That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Hmm... Does the game have an associated story? That might provide some inspiration towards names, perhaps.

[Blog post (13th of June, 2022)Engaging With NPCs]

Blog post (13th of June, 2022)
Engaging With NPCs

Summary: In which a logo is revealed; certain collisions are less "physical"; an NPC is worked on; a viewing-angle is changed; a level gains a minor change; and a company is registered.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is prompted by advice given to me in the week just past, advice that it might actually be better to have my logo out sooner rather than later.

So then, let me at last present the game's main menu in full--the title-logo at last unredacted!



The week just past was somewhat of a miscellany-week: a week of technical tweaking, of gameplay work, of level-editing, and more:

On the gameplay side, I made a change to the manner in which collisions between the player and NPCs are handled:

Previously, the game-engine was instructed to treat such collisions as between solid objects--in short, to prevent their intersection, pushing the player "out of" the NPC.

However, while effective, this incurred some problems: For one, a mob of enemies surrounding the player could produce juddering--presumably as the collision system shunted the player rapidly back and forth. And for another--and more worrisome--enemies could potentially push the player up against a wall--and cause them to "pop out" to the other side of said wall!

So, I reworked things a little: now the only effect of a collision between the player and an NPC is to arrest the player's velocity in the direction of said NPC.

The result is that NPCs can still present "physical" obstacles to the player, and a mob surrounding the player is still quite a hazard--but NPCs can no longer "push" the player, thus removing both the juddering and the wall-popping. Further, the player can, it seems, now force their way through such mobs--which actually feels pretty appropriate.

In short, the player's collisions with NPCs now both feel better and are more stable!

On the level-building side, in the week just past I set about to work in earnest on the NPC who is encountered in the tutorial level. Indeed, I've now finished (I think) their modelling and texturing; the animation of said model; and the scripting of their in-game logic. Further, work has been done on the portrait for their encounter--although that last is not yet done.



You may notice in the gif above that the character is presented at a higher angle than other humaniform NPCs have previously been presented at. This is because in the week just past I decided to change that angle: where previously NPCs were by default shown at an angle of sixty-five degrees, now they're by default shown at an angle of forty-five degrees.

While this does obscure their features more than was previously the case, I nevertheless think that it works better overall.



As the the tutorial level itself, it saw only minor changes in the week just past--perhaps most notably, a small extension to one particular--and out-of-the-way--section.

On the "business" side of things, in the week just past I sought out some advice--the same advice that led to the revelation of the game's logo, above. And, on that advice, I have now, officially, started a company for my works! Things are still somewhat nascent in this matter--but I hope to soon announce it properly! ^_^

And as per usual, there were tweaks, changes, and fixes enacted in the week just past that don't seem worth detailing here!

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

For music, you might take a look at some of the sites listed in the thread linked below:
https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=71703.0

For sound effects, you might try freesound.org:
https://freesound.org/

Hmm... And if I recall correctly, itch.io has some assets, both audio and visual, both paid-for and free:
https://itch.io/game-assets