Ready Player Umm... The beginning of building a playable game

Well hello hello hello again to all of you lovely lads, ladies, chaps, old sports and to all in between to another one of my classic blogs of mine that a lot of you tune in to read and observe all of my goings on and what not in the world of Game development. So, we have reached a very important point of this where we have seen ideas, choosing one, developing it out through a simple blog, a Game Design Doc and some concepts but now we will take a small step forward where I will try and give a small attempt into the world of making a working prototype (or in this case a level i.e the opening to a game) and show some more concept that I have created in the last week (including the idea of another  land, the Villains lair early concept and even the design of the villain who has been making all the stars disappear / fall from the sky and taking the main characters wishing star.). So I will try my best and let's see how it goes. (Just a little side note, If I seem a little distracted or not as enthusiastic as I normally am, it is that I am currently going through a little bit of a grieving period at the time of writing this blog, so I will give my best effort to the best I can but it may not be up to the standard I am usually up to, but I still make a valiant effort).

(I may be feeling like my emotions have all come out of nowhere and hit me like a Sledgehammer and making me feel low but I will still make a valiant effort to the best I can)

A little recap of the journey so far 

So in case that you have forgotten or need a little bit of a refresher of what I have done on this journey so far let me give a little summary. So, it all started with a little brainstorming session with myself to see what game concept do I have in mind that I want to make into a game. It was a choice between a horror game about Black eyed children and the Irish legend of the Banshee, a game that could be in the vein of of a dating sim virtual novel in a 3d space (that one may have a little bit complicated), one based on an animated series that I have been developing in my off time of a group of heroes that protect peoples dreams and mind from the evil creature that controls the Nightmare realm (will work more on that in my off time) but out of all of those were put aside for a game about adventure, magic, mystery, love and most importantly all of us finding a dream. From there I built upon that concept and gave a little description of the game's story and what the gameplay will look like, from there and up until now I have been building upon that Idea where I have been creating some concept pieces including some Character designs (which I will discuss later), some ideas of the world that I want to make (which I will also discuss later) a bit of a refresher on gameplay (an adventure game with puzzle elements and some way to implement some music tracks that go in sync with the game that I am making in the process (if I can use some copyright music then I already have some ideas of a few music tracks to use or instrumentals of them songs to use that would work)) and learning of some difficulties that I may be facing along the way and keeping on schedule. So, let me get into some other stuff and updates and a few things.

Character updates: returning and new

So, it seems that every week I seems to have created a new character that I will try and implement into my game. So you have already met my games main Protagonist, who's name is Shimmer:

(I feel that I have a clear intention that he would really fit with the world and game that I am creating with this character design)

I have also introduced you all to the design of the Leader of the group of intergalactic protectors known as the Star-sea Dream-walkers who goes by the name of Daipop:

( He may look like a big muscly brute, but he is a softie deep down to those close to him and who are not trying to kill him or attack him)

So, for this week I had a sit down and had a thoughtful brainstorming sessions to the best I can and it washtub I decided to include an actual villain into my game as it would help make sense to the reason for the story and adventure to happen as to why the stars are disappearing or falling from the night sky and who is responsible for taking Shimmer's wishing star. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to my games main antagonist:

(I can say that I loosely based it a bit on myself in some way but in reality I have had this this design in my head for quite some time)

So, Let me introduce you's all to Mr Atrax, a humanoid spider creature and the main antagonist to the story of The Dreamer among the stars. He is the one that will be responsible for the disappearing or falling stars in the sky and is trying to steal Shimmer's wishing star to use for himself to steal it's magical essence for his evil purposes. His design is based upon the body of a Sydney Funnel-web Spider (which is also known as a Atrax spider) and his spider half will have an armoury shell look for most of his body with the exception of his tendrils (claws at his feet) that will have the basic spider aesthetic of a Tarantula (that top one is a little bit of a rough sketch but I will make it look like the right method when I am modelling the character designs and when I do some concept pieces of his Lair (with Shimmer coming face to face with the eight legged mastermind)). For his humanoid side he will be dressed in a dapper suit of possibly purple or some other menacing colour and a matching colour top hat that goes with it. He will also wild a cane/ staff that has some way of controlling the magical essence of the giant wishing star. As for other little details to this character he has a small goatee that is in the shape and made to look like a spider little sharp teeth looking things. He also wears a monocle (because I think that it looks cool) and his hair is in somewhat designed looked like a spider with his strands of hair that are clumped together to look like spider legs (that is what I was trying to go for in the design sketch but again I will show through other methods like the character building from some other character maker designer to then implement into the game when the time comes and through some concept art) and a pair of horns poking out from the sides of his head. The last thing is in a hidden detail where Atrax's hat and hair is hiding his other 6 eyes that once revealed will turn his human eyes into the black void of Spider eyes (which can I see is somewhat of a call back to an earlier game concept in some way) and a long snake like tongue and sharp teeth to go with it. For some inspiration that I have to this personality will be similar to a character known as Alastor from an animated series on Youtube known as Hazbin Hotel (it is only some helpful inspiration to his character for when I flesh out his personality and his evil plan later). As for his design it is based on a concept that i have been making for a while now (that I will probably implement into my animated series idea) and in some instance a little bit after myself with this blog persona of myself (Yes it is quite meta sometimes of how my mind thinks).

I will try and do some design concept for the rest of the intergalactic crew as well as maybe some of the wacky and wonderful people and things that you will help in this game. 

(This is Alastor, a bit of an inspiration for the personality of Atrax)

The world building and Level: under construction

(Even with all the stuff in my life right now, I haven't forgotten about making sure that I make an effort with the prototype of the massive world that I am creating)

So, I have also recently shown you some world design through the use of my concept art and stuff like that of some of this massive connected world that I have envisioned. So, I have shown you the concept of where this game will start which is a place I called the Slumber Dunes

(I will update them in due time with colour so they that they may be more clearer if they look a bit too dull)

So, I will now show a piece of new concept art that I will most likely make as a tester prototype for this game (which may be a bit longer then expected to be made into a playable tester build) but it is a place that I like to call Moonlight Meadows

(A peaceful place to take a breather and to have a thought as to who could be behind all of this)

So, Moonlight Meadows will be a little bit into our journey as you go off on that epic quest to find the one responsible for this whole star incident and to find out what your dream is. I don't know as of yet if Shimmer will have met the Star-sea Dream-walkers yet but I will get to that when I am fleshing out the story (more on that later). I have made some attempt in the game engine of Unity (after nearly 2 months of try to get Unity on my computer, I have finally gotten it working and flying through the tutorials as of writing this) and have tried with building this area of Moonlight Meadows and will also hint at another location that you will move onto in the game known as Gemstone woods

(this is a early stage into the prototype of the place that will be the look to moonlight and the hinting at the start of Gemstone Woods. It may take a little bit longer then expected with first finding an assets style that will help me get the look to my world so more searching I go)

I have also shown off some designs for the ships of the Star-sea Dream-walkers separate ships and I will also try and find a way to create them and make them operational in my game

(hopefully when I am making these after scouring for some easy tutorials and assets that won't burn a hole in my pocket like a really hot cup of tea)

Everything can't be easy: the challenges that I may face or have faced

Of course with everything like this there will always be some challenges that I may or have faced since the last time I have discussed my progressional journey. In terms of this week it has been playing catch up a bit on getting a hang of Unity since finally getting it working on my computer an going through some tutorials to get a proper hang of the engine itself but it is something that I am improving upon. The only really big thing that has stopped me the last few days has been through a mourning period but I have been trying in some ways to make small but at least a good amount of effort in some stuff to show off this week. As well as that just making sure that I keep on top of my schedule that I have planned out with making my concept as it is.

(visual representation of facing challenges)

(visual representation of facing challenges in game form)

How has the Time Keeping been for me?

Lastly ley me get onto my time keeping that I had laid out from last week. So, as I said that I have been making sure that every week I would usually work around my schedule that I have when it comes to terms of college, My job and my own personal life. From this week I had a good bit of time from after working on Monday afternoon/ evening and got some brainstorming ideas for the week to do and it was also that period when I got the solution to downloading Unity on my computer so that was good. I was balancing this and my other tasks during this week and got them concept art and character sketch done and started some early prototype building on Unity (as well as going through the tutorials again) but then that's where the wall hit and the mourning period started. Now I have tried and made some effort in some places over the last 2-3 day but I couldn't over push myself to the point of emotional exhaustion and not make no effort at all to the point where I feel that I was falling behind. All I knew was that as long as I made an effort and I had a period to myself for a period of time then that is all that mattered and that I had made an effort at that.

(this is what perfectly illustrates what is very important when it comes to stuff like this

All in all I feel that I am still going on a strong path towards having a pretty interesting game that may be something special in my eyes and I hope to many of you's as well. Well that is all the time that I have got to give my chin waggle for this week. So, now if you will excuse me, I am going to get myself some nice tea, keep warm, play some games and just have time to myself and let my emotions out after the last few days and of course I will be back to normal soon enough. I not going anywhere anytime soon.

Cheerio!!!
-Sam

(little side note: It may be that in terms of all the stuff that has happened over the last week, I may be a little behind so in may be a little bit longer for myself to get a near close to finished version of an alpha but I will try and find the time through a busy schedule and all different things that I have to sort out but it isn't going to be something that I forget about.)