Game Dev 2019

A quick run down of everything I did game dev wise in 2019 that saw a release, in roughly chronological order.

The Golden Fish

Made for RMN’s seasons event 2, I chose summer this time around. I was far too ambitious, the game was essentially a McGuffin hunt with a lot of branching options along the way. I was structuring the game in a way in which you explored islands looking for the McGuffins and other treasures. I also only finished the one bit of branching. It’s playable start to finish but it’s in a sorry state over all.
Should you play it?
Probably not in the current state, I would love to develop it further though.

Abyssal of the Opera

Made for RMN’s Tim Tam Slam Jam, which it won! Made as a sort of parody of Phantom of the Opera. I worked with Indrah and Frogge, originally we planned to have three dungeon areas, the theatre, sewers (set in the abyss), and the abductor’s mansion. The sewers and mansion were to have puzzle elements, sadly we ran out of time and hadn’t finished the mansion area so we restructured. The sewers didn’t really work as a final area and would have meant more cutscenes so we shortened the game to just the theatre area. It sort of worked, though I was sad to not use the sewer puzzles The game uses an equipment skill system but is otherwise fairly standard. By restructuring we did end up with a good amount of time to polish which really helped the final game shine.
Should you play it?
If you enjoyed any of mine and Indrah’s past games then you’ll probably enjoy this one.

Debonair Sins: Pride Version

Made for Theme Roulette 2, I got CREEPYPASTA and this image:

I decided to try and scratch the monster RPG itch and went a sort of digimon route with the monsters unlocking new forms which you could change between. I made my own custom database to support me. I ended up with 327 monsters. Unfortunately after completing the monster database I was completely burnt out, I managed to add a couple of awful dungeons and boosted exp massively to sort of let you see all the monsters but it also fell really short of what I had hoped. I had wanted to do travelers’ gates like in Dragon Warrior Monster with randomised floors and enemies but I didn’t even manage to add any skills to the skillsets.
Custom database link: http://rpgmakeronline.org/tmp/
Should you play it?
I’d pass, I’m not going to develop it any further either, between this and Hu’mon I’ve scratched the monster rpg itch.

Queensford

Made for the abrupt ending event. For once my scope wasn’t the issue, the whole game was virtually done when I discovered a bug that broke all combat and I didn’t manage to fix it in time for the contest, so I repurposed what I had into a treasure hunt. I managed to fix the bug shortly after the contest but I never went back to Queensford properly. My plan was sort of to make a Dungeon and Dragons class based game in Arum. The spellslots were in and classes implemented, so should I go back to Queensford it wouldn’t be too much work.
Should you play it?
I’d pass for now. Maybe it’ll get some love sometime soon.

In Search of Freedom

I had planned to do Kinetic Cipher for the revive the dead contest but I’d worked on it too recently for the rules to allow. So instead I convinced Indrah to work with me and release a new demo of In Search of Freedom shortly before the end of the contest. The demo now covers around 60-70% of the game but you’ll notice a drop off in regards to the quality of gameplay after the original demos end. I just didn’t have the time I needed. I did put some work in after the event but I never finished.
Should you play it?
Stick with the original demo for now.

Hu’mon

A fun joke game that actually turned out better than most of the serious games I made this year. Another monster rpg this time more in the vein of Pokémon but being as this was made for the year of the Owl everything is flipped; the animals catch Human Monsters to battle with. I based the Hu’mons on RMN members, there are 41 to collect (originally I said 40 as I was hiding the Mew equivelent’s existence).
Should you play it?
If you like Pokémon or community games then sure!

World of Warcraft 8.3

So while 8.2.5 didn’t bring anything to keep me interested in WoW I did at least finish of the 8.2 content, I really liked my crab mount but it was a pain that such a cool land mount was introduced at the same time as flying. Thankfully with the anniversary event I got plenty of use out of it. Thanks for the event I levelled ten alts to 120 meaning I once again have every class at the level cap, sadly the event ended a few hours early as I was levelling my original Druid.

After the dissapointment of 8.2.5 I had high hopes for 8.3, which sadly have not been met. I enjoyed finally trying out Mechagon which left me which just the achievement for crafting 250 items left to complete the meta achievement, which I finished today. I unlocked the Vulpera and Mechagnomes, I really like the Vulpera but I really struggled to choose a class for them, I eventually settled on Shaman. So far I’ve done a couple of sessions of LFD as Restoration. Onto the main bulk of 8.3 the invaisons for me are dull while the horrific visions while flawed are fun, it’s just a shame that you get so few opportunities.

I know the mage tower challenges were not all equal but the divide in a class’s ability to solo horrific visions is staggering. I’ve failed three so far, the first time I did a bonus objective I ran out of sanity against Thrall who was on about 10% HP. The second time I disconnected and couldn’t reconnect for several minutes which was really frustrating. The final time was my first Stormwind run, I went straight for an objective being as in Orgrimmar I could clear a bonus area and defeat the boss with ease. The madness effect was horrific and it didn’t help that I hadn’t understood that the fire only hurt me when it became a patch, so I wasted so much time moving and then jumping and then moving again when I could have stood still and cast spells, then the boss fight against Alleria  was much longer than Thrall and I ran out of sanity just before I could kill her. I am very tempted to just save my runs for Orgrimmar weeks as it seems to be much easier and I know my way around much better. So over all I don’t rate 8.3 and it’s already wearing thin for me in its second week, on the plus side I guess I’ll have more time for game dev.