Greetings From Development Hell

Is this thing on?

I haven't made a devlog on itch before, but here goes. It's been a little over a year since I started working on this game, and it's kind of been in purgatory for most of that time due to my fluctuating mental health and employment state. I just wanted to talk about where my mind is with this and what I think is going to happen.

This game isn't fun!!

First of all, the game’s pretty boring right now. This has been the big thought bouncing around in my head when I think about it. When I started out, I didn't really plan very much. I knew that I wanted to make a metroidvania and that I wanted it to be small in scale. Eventually, as I kept scaling down and stripping away ideas, I realized I was left with the blandest, most barebones metroidvania of all time.

The metroidvania genre isn't one where you can just prune or make half-baked features. There are so many mechanics that define the genre and they all need the proper amount of attention. I ended up trying to make a game with a combat system, but no rewards for defeating enemies, no economy, and no weapon upgrades. I tried to make this flowing, interconnected world to explore, but it has nothing to discover. No lore, no collectibles, nothing. It feels lifeless.

The game could be fun

After much deliberation, I’ve decided to start over. This time, I’m not starting with the genre. I think that’s probably an incorrect approach. I’m taking some of the stuff that I already have like the aesthetics and most of the game logic I’ve written and making something new. It’s been fun trying to come up with a core mechanic to build my game around. Hopefully this time next year we’ll be talking about a much more fun and interesting game!

2024 is shaping up to be a year full of changes for me. I’m moving to a new state and I’m starting to get some regular employment again. I’m hoping I can bring game dev back into my life as well. I’m feeling inspired after seeing so many cool games popping up lately and revisiting some old favorites. I’m starting this year feeling hopeful.

Until next time!