I will "alpha" bet ya that I will make an honest effort

I will "alpha" bet ya that I will make an effort

well hello hello hello again to all of you lovely Lads, Ladies, chaps, ol' sports, and everyone else in between to yet another one of my lengthy, thought provoking and sometimes overwhelming amounts of chin waggling that i would like to call my little blog of mine that after doing so many of these I would say that it is truly the bee's knees. So as you can tell from the pun of a title that we have reached this point that the game concept that I have built should now be in it's Alpha stage (well..... I will get to it) and it seems to be time that the game is in the stages of where to get things fixed and overlook the progress done since the last project update and see how the progress goes. So, without further ado let me get back to chin waggling and go through an excessive amounts of caffeine and let's get into it shall we.

(When I am not meditating or practicing the ancient skill of Atomic Karate this visual representation shows exactly what I am like writing all of these blogs, making an attempt in Unity, making concept pieces and everything else in general when it comes to my game design concept)

So, in terms of presenting some stuff this week let me go through a list of what I will be chin waggling about in this weeks update:

-I will be giving an update on the character designs including showing off some new characters and the slow but beginning stages of the beginning of making the 3d models of the characters

-I will show some concept of my world from concept art pieces as well as establishing the complete names of the areas that i will be making (with some possible work in progress screenshots from Unity?)

-I will give a basic layout to the story that I have been developing for the last bits.

-I will talk a little bit about the ideas of the helping the other characters with their dreams and brainstorm some puzzles (if I can anyway, may be some next update)

-Talk about all the other implementations for my concept with gameplay and assets.

-Talk again about my challenges that I faced from the work this week

-Figuring out a schedule for the next week of progress that I can make with schedule and anything else i can add

so let me get started with 

Characters and more of them 

So every week since finalizing my game concept of The Dreamer Among the Stars I have at least every week of an update I would have at least one new character design concept piece of all of the more main characters to my story. It all started with “Shimmer” the little bean that goes on the journey for the dream of their own.

(My little bean that I would say to this day is probably the most enjoyable and best character design that I have done in a long time)

It was then I made the first of my members of the group known as the Star-sea Dream-walkers with the big burly brute but deep down softie humanoid dragon known as Daipop

(The big brute of the dragon family that seems to also know the ancient teachings of Atomic Karate while also keeping the group together and under control)

It was then with Fear and a bellow that I created an antagonist with eight legs of terror. The creature of sass, fancy class and stealing stars essence for his evil plans, it was then I created the villain known as Atrax

(Even if he is a creature that would be a fear to many a people, you must admit that he can work that fancy suit made of the finest spider silk that really brings out the villainy and the sense that this web head has a bit of a song to him)

So it is time that I add another design to this list and will hopefully have all of the final main characters brought together before the final update. So let me introduce you all to another member of the Star-sea Dream-walkers

(The second in command and a proud member of the Star-sea Dream-walkers this intergalactic hero has a lineage of royalty in him and that they are the bestest of boys and the goose at of puppers there can be)

So let me introduce you to the second of the 5 members of the Star-sea Dream-walkers and their name is Reidabas. Their species is part of creature known as a little horned wolf creature that is the second in command of this team of intergalactic hero’s that sail the endless seas of space to help those in need. Reidabas is actually part of a royal bloodline as he is the prince of the Wilde family from the distant planet in the K-9 Quadrant of deep space. He may be of royalty but this Prince can put up a fight but can also feel sympathy to many no matter what side they are on.

So that is the newest character addition to the cast of characters to this story. By the time the final update comes around I will have the last 3 Star-Sea members designs, and in the same process I will think about showing examples of some of the worlds wacky civilians and NPCs (if I have some timing to do so) and have an option of possibly a minion / lackey for Atrax and possibly a spirit of the wishing Star (just optional at the time). During this last few day I have been looking into the creation o the characters models for Shimmer and everyone else in a character model maker known as Blender (it’s early stages at the moment as you can tell from the image below) but I will look into tutorials of beginning to make an easy poly model of them and then fix them up later. Hopefully I can have at least one done by the end of the updates.

(through the power of time, a lot of beginner tutorials, my concept piece and the point of "being the mould" I will hopefully shape this into the little star dreaming adventurer)

The word of the Stars and picturing the story together!

So, this is where I will show you off some pieces of other concepts art for the world that I will craft in my game concept and the intricate world that I am making for Shimmer to Explore as they head off to get their wishing Star back in hopes to find their own dream. In this I will show you some concepts of two new areas that you will explore in this vast world as well as how I have the world planned out and where the story progresses. I will also give a bit of a summarised story that I have planned out for this game concept so I will start now. So in the past few updates I have shown you some concept art of some of the world including the starting location of Sleepy Dunes

(every journey has a starting location) 

I have also another piece of concept art that I sowed just last week which I would like to call Moonlight Meadow

(take a rest weary traveller you have come a long way from home and you have a long way to go still. Sit and let the light of the moon on the lake give you hope and strength) 

I will now introduce you all to the next sector of this vast world and this takes us into a deep dark forest that may seem impossible to get through and that you will be trapped here but deep in the heart of this wood lies a land of colour and brightness that will help guide you on your way. Let me introduce you to a place I like to call Gemstone Woods

(deep in the woods where the dark surround you behind every tree and foliage, just a little further in you will find a place full of light, comfort and most importantly magic)

I will also like to introduce you to another section of the world that you pass through on your journey for a star. As you continue along the path as you follow the guiding light of your stolen star, on the greatest adventure of Shimmer's life (so far), you will soon hear what sounds like music, a strange kind of beat, a spring in your step and a song in everyone's heart that helps to keep the spirits high. This place is a little village that I would like to call Harmony Town (this is where a good portion of the music in sync to the gameplay that I talked about in the past will be implemented into the game as well as in other places).

(Once you step foot into this town, there is no stopping the music and dancing that will take over your body)

I also of course have made some design for the intergalactic heroes mode of transportation through the vast endless seas of deep space and the universe with their spacecrafts

(let's go flying through the cosmos and walk among the shining stars (whatever still remain up their that is). I may implement them into gameplay or possibly tease it for a possible sequel (but let me get done on this first one)).

so that is all I have in terms of concept art for this week and I plan to have more for the next few weeks to have implementations of the world as well as more characters designs of course. Now in terms of what the section of the world that you will be travelling through on this journey I have made a timeline of how it will all laud out as well as this story will be of course. 

So, the story begins in the little town of Sleepy Dines where we are introduced to Shimmer and we learn that they don't know what their dream is in life and they decide to wish upon the wishing star. This is when all the stars begin to disappear or fall from the sky and their wishing being taken away by at this point we don't know but eventually will learn this is the work of Atrax. This will lead them through a journey across their home town in the Dunes, across the cold lands of Cold Sweat Slopes, then across the Heat of the Insomnia Volcano range. During one of these sections there will be time that you will be helped and introduced to the Star-sea Dream-walkers and they will help at different points in time (those points are not fully final but they will try the best they can in certain areas of the game). This is when you reach the Moonlight meadows to rest and reflect and maybe get a little story for the team itself of their lives and how not to give up ho[e in times when it doesn't seem like there is no way in accomplishing it. Following from this you head into the Gemstone woods to experience it's wonders and once you have exited that forest you will then be entranced by the dulcet tones of Harmony Town. It will here though some form of a song of a tale where you are told of our 8 legged fiend that has been causing all of this and you head for his lair that lies on Sunlight Peaks in the tall mountains. Once you climb the mountain with all you have come across, all those people that you have helped in the process and the inspiration that the SSDR had given you you soon reach his lair in a castle in clearing in a cave in the mountains and come face to face with Atrax. He tells you of his plan that he is stealing all the essence of the stars in the night sky to make him powerful with magic to become the most dangerous sorcerer in the world and take over this land and soon the entire universe and soon no one will have any dreams anymore. This will lead to a final confrontation by stopping him through an intricate puzzle that will stop him but not kill him saying that he will plot his revenge eventually and you will escape and bring all the stars back to the night sky. It is then you finally try again to wish upon the wishing star but you feel at first that it doesn't work but then the voice of the star will tell you they can't grant a wish or dream that is already a reality. It is then the true dream is finally realised that the true dream of Shimmer is that their dream is to make the world a better place for all whether it is helping with some very smaller problems to stopping humanoid spiders from becoming dangerous powerful beings and that they should always do it for the greater good. It is then that the Star-Sea Dream Walkers come to thank you for helping bring the stars back and that they need their help again in another world and so the adventure and the kid that went to find a dream and found it's journey is only beginning.

(I have though long and hard on the perfect idea of the story and how it should play out and that I wanted to have a really nice message in the end that will inspire others)

Now let us move onto

The helping hand and the interesting puzzle

So, I am going to keep this one shorter then the previous ones. So in term of how I am going to implement the idea of helping others with their own dream it will be the idea of seeing these characters in the world that seem to be worried, down , confused or another kind of emotion that doesn't seem to be fine and being able to interact with them and see what their problem is or what their dream is that they want to achieve. It would then be brought into the world of this person's mind and we help them find the right solutions to help them finally achieve their dream, it can be as simply helping find confidence, telling someone how they truly feel about them or as simple as helping them win a coking or baking competition. If I had more time I would've tried to make similar to the game Psychonauts in which you would travel into certain people's minds and help to find the answer to their problems, but if I am on a time budget ti may be a kind of choose your own adventure style of game where you would make out the route of what could be the outcome to this dream and a lot of them will be a positive route. I don't know if I will show some of the aspect after helping them straight away but I may leave it to the end of the story and see as you go through the places that you have helped out people tell you the outcome in some way shape or form. 

(this is a visual representation of what I want to go for with that concept)

In terms of the puzzle aspect, I want it to have a interesting method of completing where I don't want to make them too hard, but also not too easy either, if I can find the perfect balance where it can be the culmination that it would make someone feel achieved that they figured it out and that is what I want it to be. In term of some inspiration of that aspect I though back to the shrine temples in Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the wild and the simple yet interesting puzzles of Inside.

(visual representation of puzzle solving from BOTW)

(with the use of a mind control helmet, it can make for some very interesting puzzles)

All of these will still be implemented into the original concept idea of an open adventure puzzle game that will implement puzzles of challenge and interaction and also the sections of having some pieces of music synced up to the game itself and I hope if I can't get this all implemented in the first phase then I hope that i can build upon it in my spare time or I can make it into a bigger and proper thing in the future with maybe a few of us (if any of you are interested in making this big game idea with myself then I would be very appreciated and you will be helping make a dream of mine become a reality).

(if you have a dream like mine and you want to make something like this special then if you help me together we can make something special).

The Challenges and all the things that I may have faced

Like every week of course I would of course not expect that I would not be hit with so many difficulties and challenges yet that's the way it goes in life I suppose doesn't it. So, in terms of challenges and difficulties of this week isn't with anything in engines of Unity that seems to be going fine, it's really more of finding time to get some of this dome this week as I have been swamped with a lot of chin waggling with other college stuff, some of the blogs and getting through lengthy periods of work shift in my job as I know that I will be in more now that it is close to that period where we all appreciate a jolly old man with a very white beard delivering presents but at least it is giving me clearer vision of tech (since it is a shop that sells consoles, phones and all other tech stuff). I think what I will plan to do is to make an intricate note to work around when I am not in work on weekends and to do more in the mid week and after work as well. 

This link sums up a lot of the intricacies of what I am going through at the moment. It is also how I would see other game directors and designers (especially the likes of Hideo Kojima, the Creators of Untitled Goose Game, Hatoful Boyfriend and I love you Colonel Sanders.

(How has life been at the moment for me at the moment (in some ways))

The schedule for the week

So, knowing of the challenges that I can already feel is going to happen to me in the next few weeks with the busy shopping period that is going on at the moment I have made an intricate note in my mind and everywhere that I go that I will have to plan out the last few week to get stuff done. The best option that I am planning out right now is getting the stuff done during the week as well as after work and some in the morning before my shift starts (well it depends on the time of day that I am in at of course). I will also not let it overtake other college work that I may have to do and also my........ social life? whatever that is. But yeah I won't let it overwhelm me and I know that I am near the end but I will still give it my all to the very end, no matter what. (I will also add some Screen hots of building some other areas of my world if I can)

(This kind of closely represents what I would do in my free time anyway)

Well all in all, I still think after a very busy and jam packed week I am still very satisfied like always that i have a lot of progress done in the process in the game and that by the end of these last few weeks I will have some sort of attempt at a game made for the world. Sure it might not be up to the completed scale that I may have here with my description of my content here but I will at least make some aspects of some of the world anyway. So that is all I have to give on an update to my project, no if you will excuse me I am going to head off, get some Tea and catch the train to sleepy time Junction (and people say that caffeine wakes you up yet it seems to be the reverse for me). So until next time.

Cheerio!!!

-Sam