Devlog jan 10

Welcome to the first devlog on the site!

Artistic representation of me and my crucible

Over the next year, I will attempt to develop a game. I have never made a game before, so I expect to make some mistakes and learn a lot. That's part of the experience!

I'd like to be transparent about the process and so I'll put devlogs on this site twice a month. This first devlog will detail some of the preparation I've done before I start developing.

There are a number of formalities related to creating a company, and I also bought a domain and set up this blog.

Then, I started writing a design document to decide what kind of game I want to make. In short, I want to make a lighthearted RPG. The two main parts of the game will be the narrative and the turn-based tactical combat. 

I created a rough roadmap for the year. 

Each pie slice is a month, starting with January at the top and going clockwise.

Basically, I plan to spend the first five months creating some frameworks to handle the turn-based combat and walking around in the world. In the world, I want the player to be able to speak with NPCs, complete quests and pick up items.  

Then I plan to spend four months using the frameworks to set up a little world for the player to explore. I want to write the dialogue and create a little story. I need to create the playable characters and decide on their personalities and combat abilities.

Finally, for the last three months I'll be fixing bugs and polishing the game to prepare for a possible release.

This is a very rough plan, and I expect things to change before we are done.

After creating the roadmap, I started breaking down all the tasks into smaller pieces. This will be useful when we start developing next week!

I hope you liked this devlog. Next devlog is planned for January 24th, where we will start on the turn-based combat system. We'll have a look at creating a battlefield and creating combatants that can move around in it.