5/17/23

Time Worked: 2 hours

It's hard to stop honestly. Just cause I feel like I really wanna make progress. 

But it's good to at least take a break and do some of those things I should be doing anyway like practicing dance and exercising.  

So - real quick, I've been putting thought into what's next; I do believe I can take this game further. And I also believe I've spent a ton of time on this game and I want to do something different for a bit.

So after a ton of thinking, here's my plan:

• Wrap this project up as it is with no major new stuff added. 
• Start work on a new strategy (management) game.
• The idea is to make a strategy layer that could be integrated with EndSoldier.
• Would not be initially integrated with EndSoldier - should be able to stand on its own.
• May even have its own battle mechanics. 
• Once that's complete, start to create EndSoldier 2 or whatever it becomes.
• Can keep a Survival Mode similar to EndSoldier to act as a demo; the paid version would include the strategy layer and grander mechanics.

So this is all the idea. And I'm really not sure how feasible it all is. I'm not sure I can make a strategy game that is fun without implementing battle mechanics - but there are games like that...

I'll have to figure these kind of questions out during design.  But this is the plan and we're going to move forward one way or another.

Anyway, today I kept working on animations - it's been a bit of a struggle, kind of slogging along. But it definitely brings a feeling of life to the game that was missing without it. I'd estimate probably another two days of work until I'm finished with animations hopefully for good. It's been great though, I am learning a ton from this project.

I do feel like time is really passing though and I need to make sure I don't just stay here longer than is necessary. I need to keep pushing forward.

I think Sunday when I do my planning, I'm gong to need to do some hard thinking about this and really set deadlines, and try really fucking hard to hit them. Or else it's just gonna drag and drag and drag. 

5/16/23

Time Worked: 2 hours, 15 mins

Today I worked on implementing animations. These kind of improvements are so dope. For example in the pic attached it shows the idle for holding a long gun. Pretty nice!

I'm so back and forth about what to do about this game. I really feel like it's just coming along really well. It's pretty fucking sweet if you ask me. I love the graphics and the guns and even the gameplay is honestly pretty fun. 

Maybe I should flex it harder. Maybe this could become a source of money? If I kept working. I mean I've been focused really hard on what I think is the right thing. I focused really hard on just one core mechanic - the run and gun shooting. And I think there have been just a slew of serious improvements that have made it pretty cool. And I have a zillion ideas that I KNOW would make it better.

Like I really really feel like if I were to just add one more layer of complexity for the player to interact with and I might have something here. I think turn-based strategy games are probably my favorite type... I'm basically thinking: if this is the main gameplay, how can I string the player along multiple plays?

What I mean is, in XCOM the main gameplay is the turn based combat. But all the recruiting, infastructure management, etc. is such a massive part of the game, it's what gives purpose to the turn based combat. I would never play XCOM without the strategy layer.

What I need for this game is something like that. I have what is at least a pretty neat top down shooter. I need a way to get the player invested in it for a long-term reason.

And I already have some ideas my brother and I had worked out. And maybe I don't even need to learn modeling.

I think the reason I feel like I should make a bunch of stuff is that I've read it and heard it everywhere.

But if I know I have more to go on... maybe I should explore that. I just need to do it very seriously if I am to do so. I could still do it the way I was thinking previously - put this game out as "done", when really it's not done at all, I'm just developing the strategy layer as its own "game". And I keep in mind that they will be connected.

And in the long run if I were to develop this game further, I could keep this as a free "survival mode demo". So the free game would just be survival which would still be fully supported and updated with new guns, etc. Maybe even new features specifically for survival. But I'd have to focus hard enough on the strategy layer for it to shine enough to be worth paying for. It has to massively enhance the shooter experience.

This could be much more... 

Also - as a bonus. Here's my first gun ever. Modeled after an AR obviously.

5/11/23

Time Worked: 1 hr, 15 mins

Today I worked on controller input.

It's been over a month since I've written here, but I've been putting in work. I feel like I did sort of fall off this week though to be fair. Which is why I'm picking up the habit again of writing a little entry here.

So yeah I'm implementing controller input. It's cool. The new input system is good as far as I'm concerned. I like the way it works.

It has really been a hassle implementing a separate control scheme though. Just figuring out all the details; I really underestimated the task and it took a lot of wind out of my sails.

But here I am MOTHERFUCKER. I'm back. Still. Still here. Still doing it.

So I need to finish controls improvements by adding UI controls for the controller, and then after that may implement slow mo and bombs. Then it's just serious cleanup effort, trying my best to leave it in a good, balanced, bug-free state. And then it's time to move on to whatever project is next :) for now...

Maybe bannerlord mods? That's what I'm thinking.