Season Sisters is a short action RPG where players will take control of four season maidens in real-time battles
Hello! This is my first time participating in a game jam and it will also (hopefully!) be the first time I’m able to develop and complete a game from start to finish. I’ve been developing my skills in GML and Pixel art for quite some time now and I’m really excited to put what I’ve learned over the past few months to the test. For this game, I wanted to create something that’s fun and engaging to play while also extremely simple control-wise. For inspiration, I looked to the gameplay of the Mario & Luigi RPG series. Here’s the general outline of what the game will play like:
- Gameplay consists of the player controlling four characters together in real time battles that flow similarly to JRPGs.
- Battles will be focused on timing, reacting to conditions and resource management.
- Each character is controlled via a single button with the directional pad/ control stick controlling the reticle that determines which enemy is to be targeted.
- Each character has a different design with a specific color being tied to them. This color will be used by enemies to highlight and communicate to the player which character they are targeting.
- Each character has a segmented energy gauge that fills up over time. Performing different combinations of button presses will determine which action the character will perform. The energy gauge then depletes a certain amount based on the action performed.
- The objective of the game is to use the four characters' unique powers in tandem in order to win battles.
When I was outlining the concept for the game the theme of the jam had not been revealed yet but in a way, the game fits with each character’s actions being “locked” to a single button. Here’s an initial super rough sketch of what the game would look like:
- Player Character 2. Player Energy Meter 3. Player Health 4. Button/Key Assigned to Player Character 5. Enemy 6. Enemy Health Bar
7. Player Targeting Reticle
DAY 1:
The first day consisted of making a handful of animations for the four main characters, creating the Winter environment and setting a lot of the groundwork for how the game will control. Here's what I got so far!
Each character is mapped to a different button/key that matches their position (I/J/K/L on keyboard, Triangle/Square/Circle/Cross on Dualshock.) While each main character will have an attack mapped to their single button press, they will be able to use different actions depending on a combination of presses. For example, each character can jump if their given button is pressed while holding space on keyboard or RB on controller. This will allow them to avoid specific attacks during gameplay. That'll come much later though.
For tomorrow I'm planning on animating simple attack animations for the main characters as well as test enemies for the game's targeting system. Overall pleased with the progress of Day 1 though!
