Crafting the MSQ is so FUN!

There's an art to crafting everything the first time. In order to make a game cohesive, I have to produce an experience which gives you each UI element, and each mechanic one at a time. I'm so grateful to all of the fans who have taken apart The Zelda Games over and over and over to do such critical analysis. Joseph Berlinger has been a HUGE help over on Zelda Dungeon. Mark over on BossKeys has been a huge help as well. Being able to understand the phycology of other players really factors into the creation.

It's important to remember that Unity has nothing out of the box. It's a framework. But it's like having a Flour Mill, and a Rolling Pin, and an Oven. You really have to bring your ingredients to the table in order to make something. You can MAKE A LOT in it. But without a ton of assembly and knowledge, you're really having to build everything from the ground up.

And tools don't tend to play nicely together. So in order to make these systems, I've begun to create single templates called 'Nodes' which I store on game objects, and on the player. Then I use a piece of code called a Signal Emitter and one called a Signal Receiver to basically make phone calls across game object. 

Then I set these templates up with Art which is viewable only in the scene (like these cameras and interaction nodes) to show me by color and type, what I've created in the scenes. This way, along with the Maps in Legendkeeper, and the Story database in in Airtable, I'm able to keep track of the content as I go.

This way, as I'm building, I can yell for the system to Turn Off the UI or Turn on an NPC based on user input or a set of variables. There's no way I could do it this efficiently without Game Creator 2 for Unity. But it still requires me to basically make a custom library of scripts which do ingame mechanics.

The cool part is that I then have templates for everything I do or create, within the engine. In essence, I've turned Unity into an ever growing Dark Cloud Creator. But the 'Spiritual Successor' card really makes me fight to stay true to the art and gameplay styles. 

A SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to the QA team. Right now Katie (my wife) has spent a good 20 hours finding places where things didn't match, time was broken, gates didn't work, etc. So that when I'm flustered with forward game momentum, I'm able to take a break and go fix things that I otherwise didn't have time to stop and perfect, or which I never found. The game is MASSIVE. Almost half again the physical size of Morrowind. (When you calculate that it's 12 versions of the same worlds). And as such, there are a LOT of places where things are off and need fixing. We've added a couple new testers to the mix. And I'm pleased to say that between Discord and Trello we're going to be just fine in tracking down all of the chaos.

Coming up next is the Day's End Mushroom Dungeon where you'll find your Push Broom (The default weapon) and battle some rudimentary Enemies, and the first (simple) mini-boss. As these are the first real combat and Behavior mechanics for the Mobs in the game, as well as the introduction to Dashing, it will take a bit to get that section built. But I'll do another post on it once it is. 

We're finally seeing it turn into an actual GAME. But when this first tutorial is over, and the second Cutscene is done, there will be a break while I update everything in Legendkeeper to get the database up to date. Everything will need a template, and the maps need to be updated, as well as the timelines. And I need to start in on the Main Story written narrative. I've brushed off the Typewriter, and my Tablet, and I'll get cooking on the story for how the Zones interconnect.

Stay Tuned for an article on how the Difficulty is scaling in the game. Thanks to my 11 year old's brilliance, I have a difficulty curve which should make the Speed Runners drool. We'll be increasing the difficulty coefficient based on how many bosses you've killed in the Temples. (Not the Dungeons... they're on their own curve). 

More to come! Remember to leave a comment if you're looking to test the game, and we can do an interview for the team.

Gα𝓶ҽ σɳ Ƒɾιҽɳԃട!