Remember when I said "fuck it" and started working on my own game?
Probably not.
That's okay, though, because I'm going to tell you about it anyway!
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Potions: A Curious Tale
The world of Potions is a dark and mysterious one, filled with cunning creatures from old tales. It is your job, as an aspiring potions master, to battle these monsters with both your wit and your powerful potions to help your friends.
Armed with a recipe book, a broom and your feline familiar, you must scavenge and battle for rare ingredients to craft potions to combat the monsters and curses that besiege your village.
As powerful as your potions are, they are also your greatest weakness. Faced against the overwhelming forces from the enchanted lands that surround you, using your potions recklessly may leave you with an empty flask belt and no way to protect yourself. Only quick thinking and resourcefulness will allow you to dodge around the monsters that merely desire a taste of your flesh to fight the ones which hold the precious ingredients you need to craft potions for battle once again.
Potions is an adventure crafting game that emphasizes strategic decision making in when, how and whether to engage with enemies. You play as a young girl, named Luna, who desires to become a potion master while protecting her small town in a world riddled with fable and fairy tale influences. In order to be successful, she must adventure into the dark and mysterious areas surrounding her town to battle monsters and find ingredients to craft potions and help her friends.
Unfortunately for Luna, her only method of fighting is using her potions as weapons, so they act as her ammo for fighting monsters as well as her tools to help her friends and solve the puzzles of the town and surrounding lands. Careless use of her potions slows progress and foils her missions.
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Here's what my first full in-game scene looks like (though the missing patch of the bookshelf has now been filled in):
Here's a tile that will be in-game:
Concept Art:
If you are interested in seeing some of the "main" game, you can check a bit out here (but, note, that it is all placeholder art):
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So... making games is hard! I knew it would be hard, but I didn't predict exactly how hard making a game with other people is, especially when I'm acting as a business and paying them. Taxes and management and contracts, oh, my!
I've had my ups and downs (if you want to see me crying, head to blog 4, if not, avoid that one), but I've been learning a ton and, well, I might not be making any money with this right now, but I think the costs of it are much lower than worth the knowledge and experience I am currently getting out. Hopefully, I can work up to the point where I can pay my contractors with income from the game and my rent, too!
Speaking of contractors, I have an amazing team that I have been slowly building up! I currently have two artists (might be grabbing a third), a programmer with 10 years of industry experience (he's not fully involved yet, but he'll bring in the big guns if I need it), and a writer who worked on both League of Legends and WildStar!
But, gosh, my schedule! I have two meetings planned for this week that are in-person, as well as two bonus meetings (not directly related to my game), all while trying to prepare for GDC next week!
Anyway, I just wanted to share my progress a little. Tell me if you have any questions!
Making games takes so much time, good luck (and year(s) of commitment o.o). I'd like to make games in the future so your sharing of your work is very helpful. The concept art of that mob, the tile, and the home screen all look very professional.
Also I noticed Luna's sprite in game looks almost exactly like Marisa Kirisame. Is this a coincidence or...? X)
On February 24 2015 07:13 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Awesome!
Making games takes so much time, good luck (and year(s) of commitment o.o). I'd like to make games in the future so your sharing of your work is very helpful. The concept art of that mob, the tile, and the home screen all look very professional.
Also I noticed Luna's sprite in game looks almost exactly like Marisa Kirisame. Is this a coincidence or...? X)
Thank you!
And, no, no coincidence, I wanted to practice frame animation so I borrowed a doll set from an artist I found on a forum board (with their permission). The main character will look fairly different, though she will still be rocking a floppy witch hat!
game looks nice so far. i like your concept art a lot, so i hope you stick with it. there are times when design and functionality just don't match as much as we want it to but hopefully it works out for this.
On February 24 2015 09:40 lichter wrote: long time no blog
game looks nice so far. i like your concept art a lot, so i hope you stick with it. there are times when design and functionality just don't match as much as we want it to but hopefully it works out for this.
Yeah, there's certainly a lot of work and luck between a good game idea and creating something that's actually fun and enjoyable to play. I've been getting design advice from the best, though!
On February 24 2015 10:08 Chairman Ray wrote: Will you be making a Luna cosplay?
Ha, ha... no cosplay planned right now. I'm finishing up a jedi costume I started a long time ago, but I really just don't have time to spend on it, all of my creative energies get sucked up by the game!
On February 24 2015 13:16 Fuchsteufelswild wrote: Both the opening screen and the green tile following it remind me of Pottermore.
Never heard of Pottermore until today, interesting...
Just remember you are not making the game for the community but for yourself. If someone does not like it then they should fuck-themselves.
You know there are more haters on the internet than the likers. That's why facebook does not have the 'I don't like button' - cos then it would be called hatebook lol.
So go forth and do your game, remind yourself that you are doing it as a self-actualization and that no matter if the game is or would be liked you travelled along a path... and the next game will be the killer...
On February 25 2015 23:38 QuanticHawk wrote: what's your actual background in development? You went to school for engineering or something right?
I got my degree in engineering with a focus on mechanical/structural design and project management. I worked as an industrial design engineer, then a system and design engineer in the biotech industry, before being allowed to transition to the software team at the biotech company I was working at. There I developed some mini-games, then spent most of my time doing server and database development for a complex and secure system for storing medical histories and tests of athletes to help better track concussions and athlete recovery.
During that time, I helped Carbon Games with their press, public and community relations, mostly revolving around PAX 2013. Shortly after, I started working with Fixer Studios. I started there as a producer, helping manage the Engineering and QA teams while working specifically to create a system to handle asset change requests and clarifications between the design, art and engineering teams. However, they needed help on the server side, so I switched over to expand their backend functionality.
After my biotech company suffered a cleanout, I started studying C++ and re-implemented one of my previous games using C++ and Cocos2D-X. However, I realized that having the support of a full engine would be really beneficial and decided to start messing around with Unity and started working on a game I had been thinking about for a very long time. After a month or two of messing around in Unity while sending out job applications, I decided that I didn't want to go work as an associate producer for a large studio when I could start a studio of my own and learn so much more. So... that's what I'm doing!
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On February 26 2015 01:09 LastWish wrote: Just remember you are not making the game for the community but for yourself. If someone does not like it then they should fuck-themselves.
You know there are more haters on the internet than the likers. That's why facebook does not have the 'I don't like button' - cos then it would be called hatebook lol.
So go forth and do your game, remind yourself that you are doing it as a self-actualization and that no matter if the game is or would be liked you travelled along a path... and the next game will be the killer...
Ahaha, well, I am trying to sell this game eventually, so it's not completely just for me! If you're referring to my sad blog, though, I understand, it was just a really rough patch I was fighting through.
And... you're right! If nothing else, this is a wonderful learning experience.
On February 26 2015 23:56 QuanticHawk wrote: That's cool stuff. So since this project is basically a start up are you kind of having a hand in everything, getting down to programming or what?
good luck!
Yep, it's a start-up! My company is registered with the government and all of that jazz.
My role is being the core programmer and the creative director. I spent a few months making the base of the game work to ensure that it was something I could do and, now that I have my basic systems working, I'm expanding my team to add in art, sound, etc. and start polishing it into a real game.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zclcHaZ.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rnlTbei.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DEr0kL3.png)
