The first Dev Log focused more on what the game series is as a whole, and some of the themes I was going for. This second Dev Log is more geared towards I actually have done.
Which ironically is a whole lot, and a whole lot of nothing at the same time.
I'm a collector at heart, hence my original interest in spriting, but you need to DO something with that in order to execute a plan. I spent probably too much time generating Phasevo designs using the AI generators. One of which was so perfect right off the bat, that it became my mascot for the game. It was also the inspiration behind the usage of so many crystals in my game too.
Its holding something powerful, but what is it?
Game Development is a Range
While ChatGPT would give me some ideas here and there, it was mainly me having to flesh things out even further. Or me taking a complex idea I already had, and had the chatbot make it more concise for an actual game.
So I took some liberties when it came to the game development, and followed this one rule (up until the start of Feb where I got busy with other things). Basically every day I tried to make 1% progress towards the game in some way.
That could be learning to code, or simply just generating assets, or working on the databases. There are a LOT of things in the background, that most people don't even THINK ABOUT, let alone process just how complicated they can be. For example a basic RPG game, and the lists of quests in the game. Let's say over the course of the game there are a 100 quests, not a whole lot, but each quest has its own characters, items, and more.
Those are all datapoints you have to keep track of, and note how complex it can get too. Which is more than likely why most games don't make as many complicated quests either. Most developers have very simple productivity systems, and that is usually for just a small group in the larger game company.
Notion, Airtable, Clickup, and world builder, are all tools that make this process more simple. However most companies don't even realize that they can be used in this way, let alone try and make a Notion dashboard for their game. Since that is my cup of tea, I did that from the get go.
In fact I am trying to lay the foundation for a game SERIES, not just one game. So while it is making this game take longer, it should theorectically make the next games take less time.
I have a database for quests, people, buildings, cities, items, moves, types, and of course the Phasevos themselves.
I also have a page meant for open source code bases, that will help me kickstart the basic programming for the game!
A Pool of Code Bases
I'm still so surprised that there are more clones of PKMN in the game engine Godot, than there are in all of the other game engines combined. Literally, not hyperbole, as with things like Unity or Unreal; The people who made their own, most of them just made walking simulators. Granted they were amazing to look at, but they were just that: walking. As well as, not open sourced.
Love2D and Javascript examples were usually too simple as well.
Whereas with Godot there were some code bases that basically had all of the walking, dialouge, party screen, menu, and more. Some of them practically had the entire code, in the case of "Uranium in Godot". I made sure to reach out to the creators to double check the status of the open source aspect too.
I wrote about a lot of them here:
I found more since then, and I'll try to update the post sometime too.
Here is the deal though: my game is not a Pokemon game. Meaning I have changed various things, like how many creatures you can carry at once (still a work in progress conceptually for balance). I've changed the terms for everything, as to not infringe on any sort of copyright. Not to mention I have a different world, and I want that to reflect on the game.'
Meaning that all of the code bases will have to be renamed internally for scenes, and that can get complex. Especially since I think the best course of action is to take pieces from each (giving credit to all amazing devs), and combine them into something bigger.
That is more or less my polymathic mindset thinking.
Linking the Webs
If each database is separate it still would be better structured than a lot of game dev's systems. I am not bragging by any means, but simply exclaiming how much effort has gone forth in the last month. As instead of making isolated siloes, I have learned a lot from my PolyInContent database over at PolyInnovator, and that there needs to be a unified system.
While I can't make a master database, at least not yet (maybe the locations db would work). They all are linking together, so I have buildings in each location, and people in each location (still need to place all of the peeps!).
Also a quite aside: Here is a feature announcement. I have decided that every person in the game is challengable to battle. I always thought what if you could fight the PokeCenter nurse, or something like that. In Octopath Traveler (another inspiration for this game), there are a couple characters that can do just that. It was fun going around fighting everyone in each town. Which also gives me more actual battles in the game to work with.
In reference to that new feature and the web systems mentioned above. Part of how I decided what should go into the game was data analytics from Pokemon games. I took the number of trainers in each PKMN game, and averaged them out. That number was what I decided should be the number of 'Tamers' in my game. However one thing to note is that the size of the province, is something along the lines of slightly bigger than Hoenn. As that region was the OG inspiration a decade ago for the "Agubi + Agu Isles" province that the game takes place in.
Taking Inspiration from Others
Stealing is bad, and honestly there are so many creators out there that do that. Conversely, being inspired by other creators is super important for creativity. If I take any ideas, then it is with permission. Such as with the fantastic YouTube Channel Substitube. One the main points if his videos are for creators like me to have new ideas, and because of his channel I was able to replace HM moves completely (I believe his pronouns are he/him).
I also think that my "competitors" in the monster taming space should be celebrated, rather than treated as competition. Sure, something like LumenTale worries me about the success of my game. However I still want to shout it out, as well as these other ones: Coromon, Cassette Beasts, and EvoCreo.
Fun fact is that Cassette Beasts is also being made in Godot!
