Prototype #51 has launched!

Wow, it's been a while since I've written one of these, huh? I'm glad to announce a new version of the Maru Island prototype is now available for download. So why has it been so long?

For those of you who didn't hear, I spent the last six months or so trying to start converting the game to a 2D-3D hybrid. I experimented with Unity, Unreal, Godot....all very powerful engines, but not designed to do quite what I had in mind. It was an uphill battle and I while I did learn a lot in the process I don't have much to show for it in the end. It was kind of a giant waste of time! But that's okay because I've picked the 2D version back up with fresh eyes and am making some improvements. And I have a renewed vision about what exactly I want to accomplish and how far out that is.

The biggest changes in the new build center around game resolution. Previous versions used too small of an internal resolution leading to a cramped UI and too little field of view of your surroundings. I needed to pull the camera back, so to speak, but the math of how to do that and display nicely on various monitor sizes is surprisingly tricky. I ended up going with a variable resolution system that adjusts to your display, showing a little more or less game as necessary to keep everything scaled nicely. That also meant reworking or at least repositioning most of the UI elements, text boxes, etc etc etc. I feel like the camera is in a much more comfortable place now and is better suited to the evasion-focused gameplay I've had in mind from the beginning. This will also make the game look much better on unusually sized displays.

I still have a few ideas I'd like to implement in the immediate future, but we're rapidly starting to approach the point where I call the prototyping phase "done" and move on to the next stage of development, which will look very different. I think it is time to start looking in earnest for a team to work with on turning this prototype into a real game. The engine is solid and stable and while not quite feature complete yet it's a pretty successful proof of concept! I think I've already established that the core concept is working pretty well.

But to make a whole game will require not just a solid engine but a LOT of content, more than I can make alone. We'll need a writer who can tell a compelling, personal story. A concept artist to give these ideas form. Maybe even a second programmer to help me bring them to life. And of course a lot of animations and maps and levels and enemies need to be designed and drawn and implemented...in many ways, I've barely only scratched the surface of what needs to be done.

If you are at all interested in joining the team and helping make this game a reality please contact me!!! If you think you might be but have some questions or concerns, please contact me. And heck, even if you aren't a game dev and just read this and want to send me some encouragement that is cool too :) My email is sara@pipkofanfare.com and I keep an eye on comments here too.

I'll be posting more frequently again going forward, so keep your eyes open. Thanks for reading this - if you haven't already, go download the new prototype and tell me what you think of it!