I Heard You Like to Play With Dragons
Hey you! Yes! You! Want to play with some dergs? Then take the time to read this.
I am moving forward with my plans to make a game. I actually have two games in mind. One is the one I had talked about previously, the one I actually want to make. The other I decided upon just a couple days ago and I'll be honest, I don't actually want to make it. While one game I do want to make and I will release it for free, this second one (or first one, depending on which I end up making, finishing and launching first) is not something I actually want to do but I need money and although it may not sell at all, it does have a very big potential to sell well-ish. Needless to say, this one in particular will be for sale (with a demo available when possible). One game is something that many may enjoy while the other, is something that I know only a few will. The "problem" with this other game is not the game itself but the main theme. Game-mechanics aside, it should be, in theory, easier to make than the first one (the one I actually want to make and that will be free). All because of its main theme is, frankly, absurdly easy to get done. I would know. Been there, done that. But I am not going to reveal what any of it is going to be about and I don't believe I will be sharing the work in progress of it when it does go into development. I will for the other one, though! All on my KoFi! What I can and will share about both of them are the proto-ideas for plot, protagonist, intended mechanics and a couple things more.
First off, everything that you are about to read is subject to change down the line, but so far, here are my plans as they stand at the time of writing this:
Both games will be 2D sidescrolling platformers and will feature a dragon as the protagonist. In both of them you will play as a dragon that has to do something. In one game the protagonist will be a female dragon, a dragoness named Amica Draccodore, and I have already started working on her design last year. In the second game the protagonist will be a male dragon, but name and design have not been started. For him I so far only have a vague idea of what his design should look like.
For Amica's game, the current working proto-idea (and I am calling it "proto" because everything about it is still way up in the air and quite vague) is for her to defeat a disgruntled kobold who has been meddling with magic he shouldn't. Amica will have no wings in the game so it is easier for me to draw all the necessary sprites and artwork, but I am considering to have her lack of wings a part of the game's plot itself. Possibly as part of the kobold's forbidden magic shenanigans and a goal for Amica to justify going after him. The kobold does not yet have a name nor have I started working on his design either. It's not a priority at the moment. What you read about him (yes, it's going to be a male kobold) here so far is all I got for the time being.
Amica's game should feature, if I can learn how to make them, a title screen, cutscenes, levels intro (like in the levels of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, for the SNES), possibly in-level dialogues and maybe some blood. And of course, if I can do a good job with the writing/development of the characters and plot, jokes! I'll be damned if I don't add at least some! I love jokes! If I can make it work, her game should also feature power-ups, but since Amica is a dragoness, she should be able to breathe fire as her main/basic attack right at the start of the very first level, with no need to pick up a power-up to do that, like in the Super Mario games. Amica can breathe fire naturally and the power-ups should only add to her natural mass destruction capabilities. She's a dragon after all! Oh, and also progress saving, if I can learn how to do it (this is valid for both games, by the way. If I can make it, both will be able to save the player's progress). I have not yet decided about the world in which Amica inhabits, however. Part of me wants to have the game take place in Delphinea, which is the land in which the characters you already know from my artworks inhabit, particularly a certain big green dragon called Michael Braveheart. Although I hardly ever drew any of that land or even wrote about it in story form or similar, I have a lot of it very fleshed out in my mind. This is one point of the plot for Amica's game that I do not have established yet. I could have the game take place in Delphinea, on some other land in the same world or just have both worlds be completely separate from one another. Regardless, the game should take place across different levels with different visuals, with places like forests, plains, indoors, etc. making up the game's world.
As for the game with the yet-to-be-named-and-designed-dragon, as I just mentioned earlier, I will not give any details on what it will really be about. What I will tell you about it is that it should share some of the mechanics I want to introduce in Amica's game, but as of now, it is unlikely that it will contain power-ups. If so, surely not like Amica's. Though it should have the dragon's body have alterations based on interactions with the enemies and also potentially friendly characters, if I add any. Which I might. I know the target audience for this one all far too well, after all. Anyway… Said interactions should affect how the dragon move and where he can and cannot go at times.
As of the writing of this Journal (I frankly wasn't planing on writing a Journal. This was supposed to be a quick status update), unlike in Amica's game, I don't have plans for a villain for this dragon to face, only enemies as the game progresses. Also important to note is the fact that I have decided from the first moment the idea for this game crossed my mind, that both these games, their worlds/universes will be COMPLETELY separate from one another. From the point of view of one game, the other does not exist.
Plot-wise… Well, considering the theme for this game (again, I'm not telling until I have something to show for it), I can hardly say it has a plot at all. But for the sake of making sense, let's go with the term "plot"… Plot-wise, this dragon is supposed to be an underpaid, borderline bankrupt, night-shift security guard at some extremely important facility, one that is far too often target of break-ins, victim of intruders constantly trying to steal their highly classified experiments and research. The enemies you should "fight" in this game are meant to be the intruders that are always breaking in. Despite whatever it is that the company that owns the facility does, they are cheap and underpay the protagonist, cheap out on security systems and equipment and only have one guard for the night shift: The dragon you play as. Still as part of the "plot", they pay little, but demand a lot from their newly hired night guard, so this dragon night guard, being at the verge of complete bankrupcy, finds himself having no choice but to do what he can to keep the intruders out, or make sure they never leave, all the while he's hardly paid enough to afford his own food. No time to find a better job and failure to succeed at his task is not an option for him.
Similarly to Amica's game, this second game might also feature some cutscenes and in-level dialog, but unlike with the first game, I want to keep it all to a bare minimum. I also will probably not add level intros and actually the whole game might only have one single level, but divided into areas which you can access by acquiring higher clearance levels. Though I guess that in itself is having a bunch of levels, after all. Regardless, the whole game should take place in said facility, unlike with the first game with Amica. Just different areas of the facility. Maybe some occasional break at the dragon's house too. To be decided. I also don't really have plans for jokes with this one, but I know myself. I am likely to end up adding a few anyway.
Okay, so those are the ideas, but what about anything concrete? Neither game exists outside of my mind yet, but Amica's design on-going development is currently available for viewing on my KoFi (supporters only) and everything about her game will be posted there as it gets made, including the development of the game itself. I will be uploading previews over at my KoFi and when I have a playable build, I will make it available for download over at my Itch.io. Though the second game won't benefit from the same grace. At least not until I change my mind. Amica's game will be free but the other game will not. I will charge for it, but there will be a free demo.
While the ideas brew in my mind and I slowly work on Amica's design, I have started toying with GDevelop 5. Based on my research, it should be the best editor/game maker someone with the huge lack of experience with game development can use for their first steps into that world. I have already learned a few of the most basic things and will continue to "study" how to use this program. I maybe MIGHT release some test prototypes for Amica's game, if/when any get made. Maybe for the other game too, but without any of the stuff I want to keep secret for now.
I honestly do not expect either of these games to be good. I have zero experience with game development and level design and I sure as hell am no writer. What I can assure you of is that I will be working to the best of my abilities to make the best first two games as I possibly can. Even if I say one of them is a game I don't want to make. Why will I make it anyway? I got rent, bills and food to pay. I need money, as much as I can earn.
I wish to stress that although I have no plans to ask for any donation to help with these two projects, but it could be very helpful. My free time is now limited, but if I had some occasional bucks dropping in here and there, I wouldn't need to work as hard/for as long at the job I currently have (I'm currently working as an Uber driver on 12 hours long shifts all days of the week, except Sunday morning and afternoon and half of Monday), meaning that I could get a bit more free time that I can use on these projects. The more free time I can dedicate to learning the tools and working with them, the sooner these and MORE games will come out. Because yes! Of course I'll want to make more games after these two! There is a severe lack of dragon games out there, especially ones where you play as the dragon. I want to be one of the few that works towards bringing more dergs to the gamers. Also no humans. In either game and maybe never. Screw humans! It's dragon time!
Oh, and before I forget… I may occasionally livestream myself working on my games (just not that one with the night shift dragon guard. That one will remain secret until I see fit), so you might want to follow me up on Twitch and subscribe to my YouTube channel also, if you haven't already. Links below.
As I mentioned earlier, KoFi and Itch.io are where you'll be able to see the progress of my games, download them and support me through this journey. Here's the links for them:
KoFi: https://ko-fi.com/mikedragon
Itch.io: https://mike-dragon.itch.io
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mike_dragon/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MikeDragon
P.S: Forgive me for any typos or if some sentence doesn't make much sense. I did not proof read this Journal and as a matter of fact, I wrote it while being awake for over 24 hours and after I took my meds that cause heavy sleep, so my brain was not at all firing on all cylinders when I wrote any of this. lol
