itch.io

Spent a day reflecting on the project and here are a collection of my thoughts. to an extent I am quite proud that el fideo rubio and I managed to more or less get a working game completed, but at the same time it is nowhere near the level of completed that I had originally planned on. When we started making the project, I ended up planning out virtually all the features, and gave them rough time frames usually taking about a day, or maybe a few small ones that consumed a day. For the most part, even when I had errors and mistakes that I had to correct, I was able to stay on schedule. That being said, a 90s text adventure with a 3d environment is not what I had planned for. i had stuck to my schedule, and planned things accordingly, so where did I go wrong? While I gave myself well enough time to complete each individual goal, as well as enough time to complete the project, I was forced to take several days off for my family. As it turns out, I forgot to take that into consideration so as the final days approached my plan was looking good until it was the last day and I had about 2 days left of stuff planned out. Oops.

That being said, I though about and reflected upon mostly this issue, and came to the conclusion that at the end of everyday I need to spent a few minutes reevaluating my plans. It'll be super simple as in most cases I'll scim over my notes and go yup, everything still fits within the allotted time. But if I ever run into a deadline issue similar to this one, then I'll know when to start cutting things out. For example, I would have cut out the waiter dialogue and replaced it with in game kill animations like we had originally wanted.

All in all, I would say as far as learning goes, this game jam further reinforced the skills that I knew I had. I was constantly struggling with this and that going along, but given a bit of time I fixed the issue and did so within my original time constraints. That being said, my biggest issue is not planning enough. I could have cut a lot of time out if i had just planned a little bit more in the beginning. As I made blueprints for the actors and UMG, I realized I had a lot of stuff that could be reused here, and slightly tweaked here, resulting in me remaking parent classes and ultimately wasting time for something I should have done in the beginning.

At the end of the day I had fun making this game, and realized that my flaws are ever present, and I need to continue moving forward sharpening my skills and finding clever ways to minimize my flaws. but that's enough rambling for now, see y'all when I release my next project, which will hopefully be complete, lol.

until next time,
SprattStud ^~^

Had some family stuff pop up so didn't have much time to work on this over the last few days.  So it's just a short change log today. Added the dialogue tree in its entirety to the game. Still some bug squashing to do, but there's roughly 13+ different outcomes currently. If there's enough time I'll add in a few more hidden endings. That's it for today though. See y'all next time.

Until Then~

SprattStud ^~^

Change log

• Dialogue Tree finished

Coming Soon

• Game Over (/Victory) Messages
• Bug Squashing

Still lots of work to be done today but I'll post a quick update since I didn't post yesterday on account of real life being op. Yesterday I managed to complete the majority (would be all but I probably forgot something) of the AI behavior trees and blackboards. There's still some tweaking to do of course since the game isn't logic driven, but I'm pretty confident I can get the AI to do just about anything at this point based on the players story choices.

Today I'm dedicating to fleshing out the story/dialogue. I started making the the dialogue trees on paper, then scripting them into ue4, but that's a hassle and pretty boring so I'm taking a break to write this devlog.

Also, I hope I'll be able to merge El fideo rubio's work with mine so that we can get the AI in their proper environment and finally get an idea of what the final product is going to be like.

Short but sweet post today since I'm still working, hopefully more good news will follow in the coming days.

Until Then~

SprattStud ^~^

tl;dr

Change log

• Prototype AI behavior tree are complete
• Early dialogue trees to create a simple story

Coming Soon

• Code and Model merger
• Story with a beginning, middle and end

Internet is bad so can't post images it seems (sad face). And since yesterdays post didn't post because of that, and I have even more to say now,  I hope y'all like novels (change log/tl;dr at end) ~

Main menu system has been rejiggered and now has a name enter and gender selection screen that changes the dialog boxes as well as your model in game. The default settings are a little easter egg, but the player can freely choose any names and any gender combinations.

The dialogue system was completely rebuilt in order to create a better user experience. The windows can now be moved on (and off) screen as the player pleases, allowing for multiple chat windows and conversations to be going simultaneously. I wonder who can get their date to fall in love the fastest? That's right, the love meter is fully functional, get that baby to max out before the date's over and you win! But your date's not the only one with a love meter, so you'll have to decide if you want woo your date or the mysterious waiter in black. Or maybe your a love expert and won't have to decide, and taking both home will be a breeze.

A settings menu was added as well allowing the player to choose various resolutions and even toggle a full screen mode. These settings should persist each time the game boots up.

Started doing a little work on the behavior trees, with any luck the date and waiter will be able to do something other than idly stand there and listen to me blabber on and on about my 'ceps (hidden easter egg spoiler anyone? hehe). El fideo rubio also set up a git repository for us so we can start merging our work together. I hope y'all are as excited as we are for the coming days as the game is quickly becoming more and more functional fun. Hopefully the next dev log will have even more goodies for y'all.

Until Then~

SprattStud ^~^

tl;dr

Change log

• Added name entry and gender selection to main menu
• Dialogue boxes are now moveable and fully functional, including the love meter.
• Settings menu added with various resolutions and a full screen toggle

Coming Soon

• AI behavior trees
• Models and all the good stuff that comes with them

Got a minimum viable product with a couple bells and whistles, but nothing to fancy. Players can move around within the world, talk to an npc with various dialog options, as well as kill them. There is also an exit in order to make your escape.

Hoping to flesh out other AI and behavior trees over the next day or two, as well as get an early functional prototype before the weekend. Will likely post a few sneak peaks of game play as time goes on. Stay tuned for more updates. ^~^

tl;dr contact me if you want a Programmer/Writer on the cheap (free) 

contact: Discord SprattStud#5308, email sprattstud@gmail.com

Ello~

I am an experienced programmer and a decent creative writer looking to make myself a game portfolio for future employment. I have a B.S. in Computer Science, but I need a way to showcase my skills other than a sheet of paper hanging from my wall.

My best skills are with C++/Unreal Engine, but I’m familiar with many other languages; so feel free to ask if I have knowledge of the language you have in mind. And despite dreaming in code, I’ve never had issues thinking of all sorts of wild ideas; point me in the right direction and I’m good to go. I’ve also dabbled in virtually all roles of game development, so in a pinch I can sort out just about any issue.

I’m fine working with any and all projects that you believe my skills could benefit. I'm chill and easy to work with, so don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Thanks, you can reach me at the above contacts or here. See ya~

^~^