Adventures in Level Design

Whelp, I trudged through all the housekeeping crap of “designing core gameplay loops, UI, sound, load and end game points, and dialogue trees," and finally got to the actual gameplay part of game design: Level Design!

https://forscythe008.itch.io/dimensional-walkers

Feels like a graduation of sorts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLkZc0oKf28

This is where the Rubik’s Cube element of being a creative person comes into play, and you find out all the different myriad ways you can exploit a handful of game mechanics for “fun.” God help me when I start making “Parkour Deus Ex.” Playing 8D chess is more like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEnxVwppE9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCXKgRnmHAU

Still, this is the good kind of challenge. Feels good to have all your ducks in a row, and all you’re focusing on is pure gameplay. I do feel the itch to just make more game mechanics, and I’m sure I’ll implement them in due time. Stuff like the tutorial boxes just came about naturally because I was testing the dialogue game mechanic. Very “Wilson” “Waiting for Godot” black box theatre feel to it. I’m sure I’ll have fun messing around with that in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp1iLFI99uI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW7a2Wz4A-I

Aaaaand of course I would hit an upper limit as to what Unity and itch.io can handle this early on in the game.

Figures. Time to switch up to PC Master Race hardware mode.

https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/92d44ab4-5276-4592-96ba-01a294a170cc

Lo and behold, the 205 MB PC version works WAAAAY better than the 80 MB Web version. Who’d have thought? Still, that is big for a web game. N64 games were like 12 MB. Which puts my game's performance somewhere between the N64 / PS1 and the GameCube / PS2. 

https://liretro.com/console-timeline/

[sigh] Forever stuck in the 90s ...

Given that game consoles and storage capacities have gone up exponentially with each generation, it makes sense for costs to also go up as well. Doesn't make it any less outrageous or out of reach for most people stuck on a linear pay rate and a declining standard of living. Two things can be true at the same time.

https://www.diamandis.com/blog/scaling-abundance-series-13

Still, it looks like I’m working my way up in the world - I've come a long way since Ms. Pac-Man - and this situation puts me in a fairly interesting position of leverage. I can take advantage of next gen graphics and exponential computing power while undercharging for my indie work, generating positive word of mouth and a positive revenue stream. I’m only a few console generations behind, but I'm catching up! =D