October Development Update

It's been a while since I talked about general progress and the state of the game itself, and there have been a few big changes over the last few months, so I'd like to ramble for a bit.

When I first started this project, I was making it in Sugarcube, although most of the code was typescript. Other than Unity, it was all I really knew. This was a limitation born of my own hesitation to push my capabilities. I kept second guessing just how deep of a game I could make Trials of Faith. This gradually faded over time thanks to the work and urging of my co-developer. It went from being a text-based game to an isometric RPG. I started making music for it. And, most recently, we made the decision to leave Sugarcube behind entirely in favor of the Godot engine. This was a learning process at first, but we're already far past the point we were at in the Sugarcube version of the game. More importantly, I'm enjoying this engine far more. I believe I forgot what it felt like to have fun making a game. My motivation is at an all-time high, and progress is constant.

So, allow me to share a few things with you all! Keep in mind that things are still subject to change, and nothing being shown is final.

Firstly, I've shown off the portraits of two of the party members so far, but haven't yet shown off the generic base that will be used for the player and randomly generated NPCs, so allow me to correct that. My artists have done great work.

This is the editor view, the proper character creation menu will be easier on the eyes. Hopefully. My last project taught me a thing or two about layers and modularity, so I hope to make things easier to manage from the start.

On the subject of my last project, you may notice the names of a few of the Noble Houses, as well as the names of certain powers and organisations, change on my earlier posts that mention them. They were references to my last project, but I have decided to remove those. This is an entirely original work separate from that project and I don't wish for there to be any expectations of parity between it and Trials of Faith.

The House selection menu feels much more competent now, with smoother animations and the ability to select on-click as well as with the provided buttons and arrow keys, all in a third of the amount of time and effort that it took in Sugarcube.

The Isometric view has made good progress as well, with a working (but currently primitive) minimap. I'm quite happy with how much easier everything is in the new engine. Trying to make isometric systems from scratch was very tedious and challenging, while also requiring a third-party program to build the maps. That's no longer an issue here.

Work has started on the overworld map. It is in a very early state, and is still using programmer art (like much of the rest of the project). I'm quite happy with the fog of war shader that my co-dev has made, though.

Lastly, I'd like to share the game's title theme with you, along with a couple shorter tracks I've made in the meantime. Composing music again after so many years has been very therapeutic. I'm fortunate to have a talented vocalist lending me her voice.

I'll probably revise each of these a dozen more times each before I'm happy with them.

Next month will be another companion showcase. See you then!