Hello Everyone and welcome to the February Month in Review. This month has been a demanding one but in turn it’s been incredibly gainful. Not just in regards to steady progress but also in shaking off the plaque of old work and old concepts that have been stuck to me for quite some time.
This month has been ALL about Awaken Guardian. The good stuff.
The most notable first development this month was succesffully working through a huge slew of recording for mocap! This was the first recording session that actually resulted in accurate motions, good performances, and manageable clips that could be turned around relatively quickly.
You’ll see some of that progress in the Emotes list on the AG Dev Window.
The awesome thing about this development is that it not only contributes a huge step forward in realizing Awaken Guardian, but it enables us to make cinematic and character motion content for all Genome Studios projects moving forward!
Primo.
Huge equipment pivot, 3 is now 1.
A major change has come about in the AG gameplay. I’ve since changed the equipment loadout from 3 dedicated sockets to 1 universal equip that can be used to do any kind of action needed from the item itself.
Weapons, you’ll swing. Food, you’ll eat. Magic, you’ll cast. All fluidly and dynamically from the one slot in conjunction with our revised and renewed quick equip menu! Acessible with [L1].
This is a huge change to previous ways to play, but yields a massively simpler, more intuitive, experience. I couldn’t be happier with how it’s headed.
But that’s not all.
Targeting, the first mechanic I made in 2019, has now been replaced with something cleaner, more versatile, and expandable forrrrr Spells and Abilities!!!
Having a much more robust system means I’ve been able to begin laying the foundations for various means of targeting for abilities needs. Area of Effects, nearest enemy, most forward, camera aim, etc; all various ways that abilities and effects can scan and find targets; are accessible now to begin crafting unique weapons and abilities to include into gameplay!
Not only that, but it also expands AI awareness, in that they can now target items, interactables, and more, to allow for much more expanded AI complexity.
And the grand finale. GRAPHICS SETTINGS!
No promises, but at least it begins the conversation and perhaps even allows people to play that otherwise couldn’t. I spent this week after hours, and over the weekend trying to bring this feature in and am glad that it exists in some form now.
I aim to slowly support the various layers of quality settings as I move forward and expand on the presentation of the project. This definitely has revealed a need for layered degrees of graphical fidelity that can convey enough in Low quality, but expand and deepen the richness of it through Medium and High quality settings.
Moving forward.
The game platform is fuzzy but coming into view. I have much I’ve accomplished over the years, but still things I need to secure before I can move forward into the depth of game experience.
I have:
- Player controls, jumping, climbing, navigating.
- Inventory & Equipment
- World Generation & Dungeons
- Interaction & Reaction
- Stats & Survival
I need:
- Combat & Abilities
- Enemies that can do something… Anything.
- Cinematics
- Quests/Objectives
While this all may look incredibly ambitious and like quite a lot of work still, it’s important to realize that while this is directed towards the Awaken Guardian series. It is also laying the foundation for ANY active adventure style game that Genome Studios may build into the future.
Many of the functional pillars I seek to realize throughout the project are largely universal systems that any game needs really. Cinematics, Inventory… There are countless games and genres where this is an absolute given. So too are they in many of the games I, Gaian, have a deep interest into exploring and presenting! This makes every step of progress into these systems magnitudes more valuable than simply creating rigid specific functionality or content that has no greater value than its own realization.
BE EXCITED. New Build Release!
I’ve been working tirelessly over hot code this week to bring together a playable build for this Februaries deliverable!
Check out this video to see what’s new!
In Conclusion
Exciting times! It’s been incredibly refreshing to see the revitalization of old systems. It’s also refreshing to see a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel in establishing the foundation of Genome gameplay systems. I have to admit I’m really really really more interested in leveraging these foundations towards creating a gripping experience that hooks you and drives you into an adventure. Seeing that possibility come closer and closer into view has me utterly tittilated over what is possible therein, as well as what it brings to the future of Genome Studios!
So needless to say, I’m eager to move forward and break into what it will mean to have all my tools at my disposal and finally be tasked with applying it in meaningful ways.
Soon.
Here’s to another month!