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[mcoorlim]

Resource Allocation Error is a menu-based sim/management game set in 2025 amidst the inevitable unemployment crisis caused by the ever-increasing trend towards automation. They player's primary goal is to survive long enough to claw themselves out of desperate poverty, either by trusting in the cycle of job applications, interviews, and rejection, or succumbing to the lure of crime.

Origins:
I picked up Gamemaker in a Humble Bundle so I guess I better use it. I'm more familiar with interactive fiction, but breaking out beyond TADS or Inform or whatever will be good for me.

The game itself is inspired by research into the likely near future for a book/audio drama I wrote. I don't plan to incorporate the plot or characters from the book itself but there will be enough of a tie-in that I can brand it that way, maybe get some of my readers/listeners to check it out. That'd be nice.

Challenges:

• I don't know what I'm doing, but that's never stopped me before. This is a project with which to learn.
• I have no visual artistic talent. I can do layouts and UI buttons and such in photoshop, but until the late stages it'll all be "rectangles with words on" quality programmer art.
• I'm a busy guy. I write books, I produce audio drama, I dabble in tabletop RPG supplements. I can devote, perhaps, an hour or two a day to this project, and my personal flow means that the longer I work on something the stronger my momentum gets. Fortunately, I'm in no hurry.
• Writing is my greatest strength, but it's not of paramount importance in this particular project. Or at least it won't be until I get around to a later iteration.

Progress:
I started working on this two weeks ago, and I've got a basic gameplay loop set up. As yet, nothing interesting happens within that loop. I've also got functions set up to handle menus and the actions the player decides to take each day, though that may change.

Here was my first take on the main gameplay screen:



I started out with a 480x320 native resolution before I got thinking about devices and aspect ratios and whatever. A few days ago I changed it up to a 960x640 native resolution, with different views for different ratios (3:2, 4:3, and 16:9), with the bottom of the screen essentially a dead zone where I wouldn't put anything important so wider resolutions could cut it off without losing anything important or letterboxing.

Second take on the gameplay screen:



Improvements: The static screen is curved now and the light shifted blue to look more like it's emanating from the screen rather than through a window. It's also more depressing, which is sort of the mood I'm going for.

Currently clicking on the computer screen accesses a main menu giving you the option to go outside and go for a run, cook something in the kitchen, futz around on the internet, take a nap, go to bed, etc. I'm not happy with that single menu approach; I'd rather have a main screen with more icons - one for going outside, one for doing stuff on the computer, one for going to bed, one for cooking, etc.

Changing that up requires me to find stock art of a crappy studio apartment including all those features, or finding some pixel art, neither of which I'm really at the stage for at the moment. So that's definitely on the to-do list. For now, this looks better than a bunch of hovering icons that don't fit the background.

I've also got an character screen (reachable by clicking the upper left portrait) that lists your skills. Currently there's one skill: Running. You get it by running often enough. When you have it it'll make it so that going for a run increases your mood.

Running is also important to the health system. Your max energy is determined by your diet (decided upon when you go grocery shopping every week) and how active you are. Currently, going for a jog is the only way to get any exercise, but I'll add other options as we go along.

Really, though, the game is about trying to balance your money, time, and mood while keeping yourself fed and paying the rent every month.

Done:
Basic Menus
Health/Mood system
Options Menu (light v dark text theme, resolutions)
Character screen & skills

To Do:
Shopping and Inventory subsystem
Job Hunting
Government Benefits/Welfare
One-Off Job Board
Transit around the city
Crime
Online Classes/Skill Training
Social/Relationship System
Random Events and Encounters
Indie Career Tracks

We're a long way off from having a testable alpha, but a lot of these subsystems are fairly modular.

[mcoorlim]

Slight update. Split the single menu into four.



The screen covers anything done with your computer (job hunting, watching vids, gaming, online shopping), the fridge is for preparing meals, the couch is for sleeping, the door is for going outside and doing whatever.

Currently this is all stock art. I'll eventually want something more pixel artsy, but I'm not sure if or how I'll be able to commission that.

That's the big weakness I have to deal with eventually as a game dev hobbyist... a lack of pixel art skills. Maybe I'll find the time to develop them.

[mcoorlim]

Not much time to work on the project this week. Did manage to redo the UI.



The visual here is the augmented-reality device the player is viewing the world through, basically a credit-card sized screen. There are better/bigger displays, but you can't afford one.

The selection circles grow from nothing when you mouseover something clickable and rotate in opposite directions. The gear icon on the frame takes you to the options screen where you can choose your resolution.