Comatour Devlog 5 – Some Non-Dev Progress
5/14/2022
Hello all, and welcome back to the Devlog!
This week’s devlog is going to be a little different. Not a lot of tangible progress has been made on Comatour over the past couple weeks (outside of adding some collision and diagonal tiles). Instead, I’ve been working on some behind-the-scenes stuff that I’ll talk about a little bit here:
For me, these last two weeks have been about learning and decision-making. To start, I should probably talk about the prospect of online-multiplayer.
-The Multiplayer-
I’ve been doing some research on networking in my engine of choice. The goal is to set up a multiplayer framework that allows for complete freedom of exploration on the map (I.e. two to four players can be on opposite ends of the world and simultaneously exploring different dungeons with no issue). I’ve got a pretty decent plan for pulling this off, but I still have plenty to learn about networking before I can start making promises.
Of course, whether or not the game has online multiplayer at all hinges how well I can integrate it. I have a very specific vision in mind for how Comatour plays/feels. If it’s not possible to maintain this in multiplayer, it could sour the whole experience.
Anywho, outside of the witchcraft that is networking, I have some news about Comatour’s art style:
-The Art Style-
I’ve decided to stray away from pixel-art on this project.
One of the main reasons behind this choice is that the combat system in the game requires very readable sprites. The player should be able to tell exactly what an enemy is doing at a glance, and I don’t really have the skills to convey that with a limited amount of pixels.
Another reason for this change became apparent to me when I was scrolling through game dev stuff on twitter: there are a lot of pixel-art games already, especially in the indie market. Using a pixelated style would only make it more difficult to establish a visual identity for Comatour. After-all, the last thing I want going through anybody’s head is “Oh, this looks like a *blank* clone.”
By now, I’ve nailed down the aesthetic I want to go for. However, I’m going to keep it secret until I have enough assets to properly show it off. I look forward to getting feedback on the new art style when it’s ready. I’m confident it’ll be a tremendous help for what I want to talk about next:
-The Funding-
Unlike my previous game, I’m going to be working with a team on Comatour.
The intention is to do a crowdfunding campaign, with the money raised going towards hiring an extra artist or two, and paying a better wage to the composer who recently joined. I already have a good few ideas for stretch goals and backer rewards, along with a rough estimate of how much the whole project should cost.
With their help, I should be able to finish the game after about two years (2.5 is a safe estimate). Comatour is going to be far more complex than ToTLS was, so being able to focus the majority of my time on coding and development (rather than asset creation) is going to be a huge boon to productivity.
Now, as much as I’d like to keep talking about the game, I’m going to stop myself before I start spoiling things.
Thank you for stopping by, and I’ll see y’all in the next Devlog!