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[Ramos]

WOW, I am a bit late to the party but I want to say CONGRATULATIONS!

[vdapps]

Thanks @Ramos!

And I'm writing new devlog right at this moment.

[vdapps]

-= Devlog #22 =-

(RTG is in version 0.5)

'Story levels (all levels done)'

Hello Everybody!

New devlog here! So, what's new since previous version?

- FINAL LEVEL FINISHED -

I was tweaking final level, mainly to add there some stuff which are not seen in other levels. So it stands out from the crowd a bit, plus there's something what can player consider as final antagonist and end of the road. I think I achieved what I wanted, however, I don't want to spoil so no animation, sorry.

- STORY LEVELS (AKA MAIN LEVEL HUB) -

Another important thing: implementation of intermediate (or story) non-gameplay levels. In fact, it's technically one level which is parametrized, so every time when player revisit it, there's something new, some change, giving a sense of progress. So it serves as kind of hub, for all other gameplay levels. You can see sketch of this level in the animation. It's still subject to change, as I will add there stuff as I'll write the story.

- ALL LEVELS DONE, LEVEL COUNT STOPPED, YEAH! -

Big relief for me, as I'm done with most important part of RTG development and that's levels creation. Big milestone and I consider it moreless as half-way of RTG development. So, humbly increasing version to 0.5 and my progress here on TIG to 50%. Phew.

- WHAT'S NEXT? -

Most important stuff (all content for actual gameplay) is done. Player can go seamlessly from level 1 to level N (final level) meanwhile revisiting intermediate (story) levels. Now, there's second most important thing to do: connect all of this with STORY.

I have brainstormed details of story already and I'm quite happy with it. I have also brainstormed how player will uncover it. I want to avoid writing some beletry, so story will be told solely by player accessing terminals. There will be different kind of files, which can player read, like mails, system logs, etc. Small terminals will contain generally less content, in every level some new file, mail or log, which will add a bit to final puzzle. In main hub level, where's big 'primary' terminal (seen in animation), player will be able to browse files in the terminal, where initially, most of files/folders will be locked and they will become gradually unlocked as player revisits this level.

Revisiting the hub level will happen always after finishing a bunch of gameplay levels. You can see in the animation such revisit after the first bunch. Levels are divided into 'tiers' and in hub level you'll see the progress across those tiers as well.

So, that's all folks! I'm looking forward for next devlog.

Cheers!

Check progress across 'tiers' here in hub level. Red = locked, green = done, yellow = upcoming 'tier' (levels bunch).

[Alain]

Awesome, congrats for reaching v. 0.5!

[oahda]

Nice! Coming along really well Looking forward to learning more about the story. So what do the remaining 50% consist of, besides that? Is it music and stuff? By the way, would be nice to have something in addition to colour to distinguish between the different statuses of a tier

[vdapps]

Thank you @Alain and @Prinsessa! 

So what do the remaining 50% consist of, besides that? Is it music and stuff?

Here you are contours of my backlog for remaining 50% (which I have just in my head):

- write story, implement terminals (reading, scrolling, browsing, etc..), distribute story fragments into terminals
- intro / outro
- as you noted: sounds, music
- controller support (big must)
- engine optimizations (first ray hit, multi-thread rendering)
- for Steam: I'd like to integrate Steam Cloud + some achievements

By the way, would be nice to have something in addition to colour to distinguish between the different statuses of a tier

Yes, story level will be yet scripted and optionally more things will be added. But I found it more natural, edit those levels into details when writing story and placing it into terminals.

Generally speaking, I never wrote, not told story in such way, this will be my first. So, I'm curious, how I'll handle it. Hopefully, it'll not be a disaster. My only experience and "education" in that regard, is that I just have read lot of books, I just played a lot of story-rich games (especially sci-fi) y tengo muchas ganas. So let's see.

[JobLeonard]

I like the lights on the floor. Reminds me of airports, or lights in car tunnels. You know, liminal spaces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminal_space_(aesthetic)

Actually, the whole game fits that aesthetic so far. Maybe it's something to think about whether or not you want to lean more consciously into that or not in terms of feelings. Also regarding the writing for your story! (really curious what you have planned for us there btw)

The nice part of it would be that it's not too demanding in terms of art asset production (as in: it fits with the geometric minimalism you already have).

[vdapps]

Thanks @JobLeonard for the tip. I not knew about that aesthetical style. In fact I was not following any aesthetical style in the game, but algorithm decided it will be some sort of minimalism.

But you're totally right that "liminal spaces" style gives lot of bang for a buck. It makes significant artistic impact even with very simple assets. Unfortunately, all gameplay levels are already done, so I'm not going to change it, but story level WILL be enhanced yet while I'll write story, so that style is nice way to go! "Liminal spaces" also fits game story/environment setup, so it's quite natural to use it. Also my final level has something like liminal spaces in it, I just not posted any animation to not spoil it.

[vdapps]

Hello Everyone after 2 months!

I just want to greet everyone here, as again, I had a break a bit larger than I would like. I had again development hiatus in February, this time because I ended up in hospital for a week and then through rest of February I was balancing my hours for my "main job".

But I returned back on the track in March and I'm near 0.5.1 version conclusion, yeah! So my regular devlog is near.

I noticed that I did not post my "office update" for some time and indeed I have something new, so here it is. I continue with space thematics. This gorgeous picture is from my dear fianceé which she gave me for Xmas.

So, take care and see you soon with regular devlog!

Space theme everywhere!


No limits

[JobLeonard]

The office photo updates are almost more exciting than in-game screenshots

[Alain]

That beige printer/copying machine brings back memories :D

[vdapps]

The office photo updates are almost more exciting than in-game screenshots

For me as well. I have RPG-like feelings from office upgrading. I started with office like Level 1, rags, foot wraps and wooden sword in hand. :D Now I moved forward a bit, and finally I have some leather armor, leather boots, short sword and wooden shield. I'm looking forward for next level.

That beige printer/copying machine brings back memories :D

Indeed, this printer is quite old. I bought it yet in Switzerland around 2014 and it still works somehow.

[vdapps]

-= Devlog #23 =-

(RTG is in version 0.5.1)

'Story in Terminals, Part 1'

Hello Everyone!

After some time, new devlog for RTG!

This time, there's not much of showcasing from visual point of view, as main point of what I made since last version was not related to programming but to storywriting. That said "story skeleton" for RTG is written. So what does that mean?

- prepared some drafts for particular means how story will be told through terminals (e-mails, system logs, interactive menus, automated transcriptions from security cameras, direct communications, etc..)
- prepared in which level what will be revealed, so player will be figuring out what's happening step-by-step to keep player's curiosity on high level (order in which player uncovers particular story pieces is not chronological)
- I have written quite big chunk of actual prose as well

And there's a bit of new stuff from programming point of view as well:

- terminals are not just showing text, but text is typed with animation (so it gives feeling that terminal is "communicating" with you)
- made subtle random animation for texts in terminal (movement plus flashing) to give "something is not right" feeling to player
- filled first 5 levels terminals with actual story/plot texts

As always, I'm attaching some animation so you have an idea how the game (and plot) starts. It's from the 1st level, but there will be intro before 1st level as well in the final version of the game.

Cheers!

The plot starts unfolding

[Alain]

Very cool to hear about the progress. That is a nice atmosphere when the game starts, everything is dark and you turn on the light!

[JobLeonard]

Will all the "lore" be unlocked automatically, or is hunting for (say) floppy disks with saved emails going to be its own bonus task?

[Ramos]

Great progress vdapps! 

I like the new text polish additions

What will be the plot of the game?

Astronaut in space? BTW did I ever mention I love your desk layout with the space theme?!

[vdapps]

Thank you all for your reactions!

Very cool to hear about the progress. That is a nice atmosphere when the game starts, everything is dark and you turn on the light!

Yep, that's RTG's strong point and from all levels I made I personally like darker levels, it better shows.

Will all the "lore" be unlocked automatically, or is hunting for (say) floppy disks with saved emails going to be its own bonus task?

All you'll need to do to have lore is read terminals. I think, 90% of terminals are accessible along the way of solving main puzzle (no special puzzle to get to them). To finish the game, you can ignore most of terminals, just solve the puzzle and go on. However, I plan the story to be strong point of the game, so I hope most player will read it and I'm doing maximum to hook player on the story (e.g. in first terminals, I resort to short mysterious texts which will boost player's curiosity, so player will be willing to read longer texts later). But there will be few terminals, you can't ignore (e.g. there'll be option in some menu to open the door to go on).

Great progress vdapps! 

I like the new text polish additions

What will be the plot of the game?

Astronaut in space? BTW did I ever mention I love your desk layout with the space theme?!

I'm happy you like this tiny text FX. I don't want to spoil the plot, so I just say, plot is what you see. You're in some strange world and there's some entity you don't recognize, somehow interested in you and communicating to you.

And thanks for appreciating my desk layout. More space themed stuff will come later!

[vdapps]

-= Devlog #24 =-

(RTG is in version 0.5.2)

'Story in Terminals, Part 2'

Hello Everybody!

Finally I managed to have new devlog sooner than one month after previous one! Something I not achieved in whole turbulent 2022. Yeah!

Now to the point. Whole my RTG development efforts from version 0.5 to 0.6 revolves around story which is given to player by interacting with terminals. This is no exception. That said, these are main features in this version:

- story is placed into another few levels (and this will be true for every version up to 0.6)

- terminals are now distinguished by color, depending on terminal type. E.g. terminals through which "unknown entity" is talking to you are of one color, classic "browser type terminals" are of other color, etc.. Color tint is applied to terminal texture as well as all accompanied texts (see screenshot).

- most important new feature in this version are "browser terminals" (see animation). They are a bit bigger (to accommodate more text) and what is most important: they're fully interactive. Here, player can have a sense of browsing, searching, finding new clues to the story. Again, all texts are displayed with animation, to give player a sense of some "processing". Also, as it is EVERYWHERE in the game, control hints are displayed and are always relevant to your current context.

- another small neat feature is adjusting screen text color intensity to ambient light intensity. 2D texts are of course not part of shading model, so I use just approximation. In real world, screen is emitter, so it's not even physically correct, but it was not pleasant to eyes to have full intensity terminal text color in dark levels. So it's like sort of eye-saver being implemented in all terminals in this strange world.

And as always, some attachments, because: to see once is lot of times better than read ten times.

Cheers!

'Mysterious entity' terminal type has now brownish/reddish color


'Browser' type terminal, where player can optionally spend more time to have more clues to the story.
I left classic 'RTG green' color for this terminal type. Also note always context-relevant hint texts on top.

[Ramos]

Glad to see your new achievement in development speed


Reading the story text from your preview picture I must ask: will your story plot break the forth wall?

[vdapps]

Glad to see your new achievement in development speed


Reading the story text from your preview picture I must ask: will your story plot break the forth wall?

Thanks Ramos! I must admit, first I had to search on web, what does it mean "breaking the 4th wall". Now, knowing the meaning of it, I can say: nope. Story is not planned to use it.