Marl Devlog 2
Hello again, buds!
Since last update, I've gotten a more clear idea and iteration of the core gameplay loops for the game plus some visual basics and more interesting enemies. As well, I've gotten a much better idea for what the game I might call Corpse Crew is going to look like from a big picture planning perspective.
So, what is a day in the life of a Corpse Crewmember like? First off, you talk to your Quartermaster to get your assignment, enter a quarantined location, dispatch the hordes of skeleton monsters and then return back to clock out. Seems simple enough, right? That's where the past few weeks of my work comes in!
The moment to moment fighting skeletons is intended to be supported by some resource management, mild puzzle solving, and navigating the environment to form a strong trio of secondary mechanics.
To the first end, resource management, your lantern is taking the starring role in that department for now. The city is choked by a vision limiting smog that your lantern can help cut through. Mechanically, the lantern moves back the fog distance, allowing you to see further and catch enemies coming from a distance, though it slowly drains oil while lit and without it your vision and reaction window is limited.
The way that the lantern actually interacts with the fog and enemies is a bit of a bodge right now though and has some awkward side effects. I'm currently brainstorming a different approach that's a bit less rinky dink and more reactive, but time will tell how that works out. I may not even keep it as a held weapon in the long run...
Backing up the lantern oil in resources to manage are healing cacti called dune buds and weapon ammo, though those are less fleshed out for now.
The second pillar is puzzle solving and boy howdy is this a case where I ran face first into the brick wall at the edges of EFPSE's limitations. Given the early industrial, steampunkish vibes of the game, I had initially started drafting puzzle mechanics where you direct and move steam through pipes in a level to power and control various puzzle elements, level obstacles, or machines. It was a pretty sick system and theoretically easy.
Theoretically being the killer word here, as most solutions that I could come up with ended up hitting the same wall that woudl require me to make a whole bunch of visually identical, but unique game objects with individual scripts for each game object in each puzzle on each level in a way that was unwieldy and unfeasible.
So, failing that and suitably humbled by the limits before me, I reassessed and figured out first what I COULD do, not what I WANTED to do. But every new obstacle is an opportunity to reapproach and redesign and learning to work inside of occasionally frustrating limitations is part of the game dev industry.
Ultimately what I ended up with is an old, but reliable selection of keys and locks, buttons to open doors, and passwords hidden in the environment. I feel like retrospectively that's for the best in a way. The original steam puzzle was sick as hell, but it would have meant designing a lot of relatively unique environmental puzzles. Which is outside of the scope I set for myself early on.
This is about learning 3D modelling and such, though I am going to pocket that concept to try it out in an environment that's either more versatile and or that I'm more familiar with.
Anyway, on to the third pillar, which is so far the earliest in iteration. Navigating the environment. Your main goal in each level is to kill everything so that the living dead can't spread, and that requires you to be thorough in your exploration. Ideally I'd like to have a system that could tell you about where the last few enemies that you're looking for are, but I have a slight suspicion that might be another steam puzzle situation. For now, I'm relying on my level design to guide the player to areas that need attention, though I'm going to be hoping that I can find a way to locate enemies if it's needed.
This first level that I've made is fairly straightforward and is based off of my ideas for a tutorial level for the final game/eventual demo/vertical slice. Exploration and level design are going to be my next main focus, and one thing on my mind in that respect is secrets. Everyone loves a good hidden room with a stash of loot, some health, or a bit of lore and while I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for secrets specifically, developing them is pretty high on my list.
I have also begun giving the enemies themselves some attention in their brain. The current system that I have makes the enemies enter a staggered state if they take enough hits. I'm not sure if I'm one hundred percent on that idea yet though and it is a little bit janky. I've been thinking over a few different things and I am definitely going to be revisiting the enemy AI much more, but for now, they should be a bit more interesting than the default behaviour.
This newest playtest prototype is meant to lay the groundwork for all three pillars coming together to form the first frame that I can build off of. There's a whole playable, not just testable, level here. My plans for the longer term future have also started to solidify a bit. Initially I wasn't exactly sure how far I was going to take this beyond learning a fun new engine and getting more familiar with 3D, though I've put some more thought in and have the bones (HAH) of a production plan.
The primary goal of Project Marl is going to be to create a vertical slice demo to release publicly. It will be probably one, maybe two levels long and feature a limited selection of enemies and weapons to showcase the intended early game and keep scope creep in check. Depending how I'm feeling and what, if any larger reaction I get to the demo, I may take this project further or do something else. I've got other ideas, but if Marl is worth taking further than a demo, that could be sick.
But for now, I plan to get this nice small and manageable package to a relatively polished state and see what people think of it. For the time being, you can play this newest prototype by joining my game dev discord server. Follow here for more updates as I've got them hot and fresh. I'm also live on twitch almost every Tuesday and Thursday, playing whatever the wheel tortures me with, so follow me on twitch for Spookie live in technicolour.
Thank you so much for reading, but I need to get to work pushing this game as far as I can within EFPSE's limits. Stay spooky, buds! Peace out! - Spookie