Hello, everyone! A couple of weeks have passed, so it’s time for another development report from me. I’m happy to say that I’m taking my first steps toward turning the current project into a real game.

But first things first. I started with NPCs. It’s a rather strange system that requires a lot of forethought. Yet, in a couple of days, I created an NPC manager and my first NPC, Scarecrow. Just to test things out.

Then, I learned how to work with Godot plugins and installed a Dialogic plugin to create… dialogues. Those big speech screens. After studying the Dialogic documentation for a few days, I made the Scarecrow speak on command – hooray!

After working on the NPCs, I took a couple of days off. Meanwhile, I learned the basics of a few topics: cutscenes, screen shake, and shaders. Everything turned out to be super easy and fun, except for shaders.

Before moving on to the next part, I had to organize my files. This game had been my playground for quite some time, and my files were a complete mess. Once everything was working again, I started loading a huge amount of free assets from websites. Then, I spent a couple of days learning how to use Photoshop and alter spritesheets to my liking.

But why would I need a ton of free sprites? Because I was tired of working in an ugly scene with few spare pictures. I created a new scene with a pretty ground and walls, a blue sky, grass, trees, and stones. It is a beautiful place. Oh, and I had to learn how to work with tiles properly.

I won’t show you the beautiful room I mentioned. I have only just started beautifying things in this project! It’s time to make the UI look cool, too! Stay tuned, folks. [No more abandoned projects]

Hello, everyone! The last two weeks were super productive! I’m not ashamed to say that this project now really looks like a game (at least in terms of the UI).

I started with a three-step sword attack combo. Every game should have one of those! So I added it.

Then, I decided the main character should have a personal UI layer with a health bar and slots for melee and ranged weapons. It was done in a couple of days.

For some reason, I really wanted to create two stones on the level that could be used for teleportation. While adding the animation of teleporting in and out, I had to switch my attention to something else. To prevent the player from moving in the process, I added a State Machine (piece of code that checks if the player is running, standing, or teleporting) and the ability to block the user’s input in certain scenarios. Trust me, this is very useful.

What’s next? I decided to try implementing a save and load system. It’s a miracle, but it’s working! Now, the game has three different save slots.

Then, I went all in and added a full main menu. It has a moderate number of buttons and an cute label announcing that this program is indeed a game. I also added a loading screen with useful game tips and improved the transition between scenes. To make it more visually appealing, I added fade-ins and fade-outs for smoother transitions.

While adding a death screen, I had to learn advanced Godot debugging methods. It was super useful! Not to mention that the screen works. The character’s health goes to zero, and he dies with an animation. After some time, he respawns in a special place after you’ve looked at the text “YOU DIED” on the screen.

Then, something strange happened, and I added game settings in just one day. There are four empty tabs. The Sound tab has a “master volume” slider that actually changes the game’s volume. It’s somewhat useful, yes.

I’m happy to work so quickly, though it’s a bit shocking… I also wanted to remind you that everything in the current game is a placeholder. It’s meant to be replaced by real art and animations later. Oh, and have a nice summer! [No more abandoned projects]