1 month of development

so i'm keeping these snapshots of my progress. 

the dates made me realize i've been working on ROWBYROW for a month now! a good time to take a trip down the memory lane.

version 1a

so on a late night in October, i watched Mark Brown's 'Developing' videos. he mentions a failed project where RPG battles are handled using Picross boards. i immediately realized the potential of this idea, and was ready to commit to design improvements. i remember staying up late to code as much as i could for a first prototype.

first things first: gotta have a nice Picross board to make a game like this. there wasn't even a 'Done' button yet. the board layout is still the same a month later, so i think i did well. 

the only things that are missing here are the square highlight on mouse hover and the ability to drag the mouse, those tripped me up when re-playing the old versions.

version 1b

this is as barebones as it gets: just you and an enemy stuck in an endless loop. no health counters, no enemy turns, just clicking on a Picross board. although it did already have backfiring for incorrect squares.

version 1c

there's different attacks, now we're talking! it's surprisingly responsive even without attack animations. it even had the zoom-in animation for when you complete a Picross board. however, nothing happens yet when HP goes to zero. 

there's a retrospectively easy-to-notice bug: after using a Picross ability, you can still re-use it, as the Done button is still there.

version 1d

this seems mostly like a graphical and bugfixing update. after i got to this point, i took a few days off coding to design the game world and story in my notebook. 

version 2a

a major update which introduced the overworld. initially the overworld only had keyboard controls, as i figured switching between mouse and keyboard would give the impression of two distinct game modes. there's only one functional encounter though, it was for testing out multiple targets.

version 2b

now with multiple encounters and attack animations. it's starting to look & feel like a game!

version 2c

further polish (such as enemy graphics) & bugfixing. i'm still keeping the scope small by focusing on one area.

version 2d

this version introduced roaming encounters and dialogue, as well as mouse controls in the overworld (it was about time).

version 2e

finally, no more placeholder graphics! expanding the spell system brought along many bugs to fix %)

around this time, i opened the game up for public testing, and saw a spike in viewers.

version 3a

and this is where we are now! this is a major update as it includes travelling to other areas. currently, thanks to hard work on previous versions, there are no known bugs in the game.

what's next

i've begun integrating more story elements as the main gameplay is solid. additionally, i have plans for a great soundtrack, look forward to it.

there's a lot of work behind me, and a lot ahead. but most importantly, i'm having so much fun making this game. it has a solid foundation to be a great game in a few months or so.

(originally, i thought i'd finish the game in 'two weeks to a month' - haha nope)