Including a video here at the top if you just want to watch that instead of reading, would appreciate it either way! It's nothing fancy just a quick rough video showing the current progress, and I do need a new mic 😅. Just please leave any comments, feedback, or questions you have, and check out the itch.io link below to try it out!

Back on my feet

Hey there! I am following through with the Proto Opsim devlog! Hah! This whole thing is making me realize I really need to get a name locked down. I have a couple ideas that are OK but nothing I love yet, buuuut it's something that will need to be finalized soon 😬.

If you just want to try out the prototype it is available here: https://jking-dev.itch.io/proto-opsim-v2, but please read on for the devlog, and send me a message on any of my socials if you have feedback or want to chat!

I am gonna be kinda jumping into the middle of things here, I have worked on this prototype on and off for a couple years (mostly off), but before now hadn't been able to dedicate a ton of time to it. This is me trying to dust it off and get it ready for a full steam release. The plan is to make a top-down shooter roguelite, where the player is a prisoner (rightfully accused or not) forced to labor on Mars for a terraforming project. A rebellion breaks out, the player is able to commandeer a hovercraft, and off they go (to escape? or to help the rebellion?).

Narrative stuff might have to take a backseat depending on how long other work takes, but I do want to get it in there if I can. All art/UI is VERY VERY placeholder, have some ideas for the style but I have not spent much time with art, that is a whole can of worms I am putting off for now.

I have a task list for April that I am trying to stick to, it's always weird working on something totally on my own with very little outside feedback or encouragement but that is the name of the game for solo devs. Gonna try going by each general task, see how that feels, this week was more fundamental work but also got to add some stuff to help playtesting be a bit more fun. This devlog will cover the past couple weeks, pretty much the start of April.

April Tasks:

Level/map updates Save/Load Weapon/Vehicle upgrade slots Meta Progression Enemy updates

Level/Map updates

Right now my levels work by generating a new map out of premade 'chunks', a pretty basic form of procedural generation. It allows me to hand craft stuff, get some level design practice and the ability to setup specific scenarios, while also giving the game replayability. Once I have enough level chunks in there so that seeing duplicates becomes relatively uncommon, things will feel a lot better. Easy to expand over time, add new things in, kinda best of both worlds with proc gen and hand crafted levels IMO.

These past couple weeks I have been adding extra level chunks and some more complicated levels, making the maps grow each time you complete one by adding more middle level chunks (I will probably need to reset this after a certain amount?). Got 'combat arenas' in, rooms that lock when you enter, spawn in some enemies, and unlock when all enemies are defeated. Took some work, and had a day spent on door problems (the classic blog https://lizengland.com/blog/the-door-problem/ still holds true), but this required triggered enemy spawns, and doors that can lock/unlock based on both player trigger and when certain enemies die. Took a bit to set up the system and it will require more clean up, but I should be able to extend out from there with other types of objectives.

Next up for level/map updates, I want to experiment with making the levels larger, at least 2x but maybe more, so the player has more room to maneuver and dodge. The movement will be a big focus so I need to make sure I am always thinking of that in level design. I also want to add in a few new enemy types, including a 'chasing' type of enemy that periodically spawns at the start of the level and chases the player down, encouraging them to always be moving forward. I want aggression and speed at all times.

Save/Load

Before this month I had basically no save/load system! In the past I tried out a little 'leaderboard' thing, was very basic and got some feedback that it didn't work for players anyways. I still need to remove some of that vestigial code actually… But now I have some saving data!

Got audio settings saving/loading from a cfg file, and basic play stats (enemies killed for now) saving/loading from a binary file, the basic saving/loading system is in! Good practice with ConfigFile and FileAccess, I am sure I will need to clean it up and expand it more later but it's a good start. Just need to make sure I keep up with adding in new systems as I go.

Weapon/Vehicle upgrade slots

Also didn't have any concept of upgrade slots or modules before this month, my current implementation is very basic but it all has to start somewhere.

I have a basic weapon upgrade module working! So far just stuff that modifies the basic weapon variables, need to expand that to new effects/functionality but good start. I need to get a system to select them, and get a looot of new ones made before things get interesting.

Next up is vehicle upgrade slots, and then I need to make a couple decisions around how many/what type/distribution of slots. Might just have a standard 3 slot system for both, with specific types of slots so only certain modules will fit? I will have to experiment with some of this to find the best solution for my game.

Enemy Updates

Right now I just have 2 basic types of enemies, one is red and goes straight to the player before exploding. The other slows down when near the player and shoots at them.

I wasn't able to work on the enemies much for this devlog, I have some ideas (including the 'chasing' enemy I mentioned before) that I will test out for the next one. This is going to be a pretty long running task, getting the enemy AI and movement right will be just as important as the player, and right now I just have the very basics.

I might need to refactor how I make enemies, but that will also expand to how I make the weapons, and probably the player vehicles as well, so I am kinda holding off on that huge project without making a ton of enemies I would need to redo. I still need to make new ones, so I am just going to bite the bullet and do it. I will note down the pain points and issues I run into, and make sure I take those into account when I do get around to the refactor.

Meta Progression

Nothing quite yet, I need to get more upgrade modules made, and then create a placeholder system where you can spend currency to unlock new upgrades I think. For now will still need the rewards after each level during a run, but eventually I need to figure out a better solution there, and how it will work vs meta progression.

Next steps?

First off, if you are reading this, wow thank you so much! Really appreciate you reading my ramblings, writing anything made for public consumption is new to me so I hope it hasn't been too disjointed.

I plan on putting these out every 2 weeks or so, will see how that impacts the workload, might move to monthly but I like the faster cadence. I haven't recorded the video I plan to put in this at the time of writing so uh will see how that goes? Not doing anything fancy, just gonna be a quick run through things that I worked on.

I am planning on tackling the 2 tasks I haven't really touched, enemy updates and meta progression, and also putting some more time into level/map updates and the weapon/vehicle upgrades. Both are going to require a lot of work over the game's life, might as well keep at it while they are fresh in my mind.

If you want to try out the prototype it is available here: https://jking-dev.itch.io/proto-opsim-v2, you can leave comments there or contact me on any of the social media stuff linked at the bottom of this page. I really do appreciate anyone reading this, please let me know if you do!

Have a good one!

Originally published on my personal blog, will continue cross posting but if you are interested it is available here: https://jking-dev.games/proto-opsim-devlog-1-but-i-get-up-again/