(I used to think the Beatles were overplayed, but I miss their music these days)

When we start a project we have these preconceived notions about what's going to make our game fun. Often times it's combining two positive elements, for SeaCrit I thought, It'll have the depth of diablo, but in a bite sized gameplay chunk of about an hour like Dota or LoL. I'll also have scaled down UI that won't require navigation and the gameplay will be very simple, and it will be better because of it!

We often believe things to be true because it makes our lives a bit easier, it makes us more comfortable knowing that things are going to be great and we're not going to have to work hard for it. Long story short I'm reevaluating some preconceived notions. Like the game being very small and tight, just a very small area to play in and items were going to be very temporary and you'd start from scratch after you died, or at the very least when you started a new game.

Knowing what's going to make your game better and actually getting it done are two different beasts. If you're installing a fire pit, it's a pretty straightforward process of getting the brick, and putting the  pieces in place one chunk at a time, you know exactly what % you have done and it's a pretty straightforward process.

But gamedev... holy moly. It's an intricate mechanism composed of interlocking systems with multi dimensional considerations. Does this work in the engine you're using, Does this work on all the devices you're targeting? Does it feel right on a controller? Does it work right on a mouse? Do I have the energy to make it work on controllers and mouse and touch? Will the person playing on a phone have the same attention span as someone playing on PC? Do we have to dumb down the gameplay so it can be read on a small touch device? There is a mountain of investment just getting the darned information for items popping up in your game, and when we start our projects we think we'll spend most our time trying to make the game fun.  Thinking these thigs over, I've decided I'll worry about making the game more playable on phones later. I want to make the best experience as possible now.

I thought about changing the UI to allow for a more involved inventory, like imagine if the player could collect items and there were a better means of displaying damage, armor, and various other upgrades in a cohesive fashion and the player had the sense of familiarity of looking over numbers and picking the one that had the higher #, there is some raw enjoyment you're leaving behind if you do not adopt this time honored system.

I've also been thinking about the nature of the game, and a bite sized 1 hour session works for LoL and Dota because of the multiplayer element, there's a thrill to knowing there's another player on the other side of that skirmish, there are gameplay scenarios that require you to anticipate the emotions and fallibilities of your enemy and work as a team that adds many layers of dimension to the gameplay.

Am I hamstringing SeaCrit because I don't want to have to dive deep into improving the UI? Which in turn is causing me to create a shallow gaming experience? When Blizzard announced Diablo Immortal would only be on phones, we knew in that exact moment in our guts that the game wasn't going to be as good as it could have been, because scaled gameplay and visual fidelities makes a game not as great as it could have been.

This is something I need to stew on, I can't take any huge actions right now in either direction to double down on the current trajectory or to go crazy implementing permanent items and a fully robust inventory system and new UI panels with more depth to display the mechanics of items and loot better.

I think I might have just had an idea. I could organize upgrades into 3 categories, offensive, defensive and movement/ msc. and I could display them more prominently at a larger size if it cycled through each one as a different panel based on what direction you look in the game with the inventory up.

But I have this nagging feeling. I should not be juggling all of this. I shouldn't be tasking myself with so much to do. I still need to tune abilities, I still need to develop the world chunks, I still need to polish upgrades and the existing UI and develop Dialogue, tun combat, add items, add item mods, and on and on and on. I really bit off more than I could chew with this project. I've been working with this wonky UI for forever and it's really poorly constructed within Unity and I just wish more than anything this project had some backing and there was a team I was working with that could build things properly from the get go so we could revamp things without too much pain. Working from a glass house right now held together by duct tape and bubble gum.

Now is not the time to think of a total UI revamp with a total rework of how the game works.

The current UI is serviceable, and is basic enough that I can add new things relatively easily.

The important thing today is I have realized that I was stuck in this idea that SeaCrit would just be this super simple game that you load up and play for 15 minutes, get some very simple items and start over from scratch every time. That's what I thought would cause this game to be a success. But I can't shake this feeling that it needs to be more, that there are too many systems with depth and there is too much potential here for this to simply be a quck little 20 minute romp with a scaled down UI.

So moving forward I'm opening my mind to more advanced systems and a longer period of play. I don't know what that means exactly, there is too much in the air right now, but in the short term it means I think i'll be adding more stats to items, and displaying more things in the UI.

Things like attack speed, armor, damage, charge rate, movement speed. These are all things that I feel deserve unique displays on Items and in UI that will also make the whole system feel more "legit". 

Here's what we're working with for now, I actually just added some visual indicators the other day to help it make sense, so you've got a shield next to your armor, you've got an axe next to your weapon and you've got rings next to your ring. Outside of that, everything exists as an "upgrade" which is a unique bonus that has its own tooltip. The good thing about that, is it keeps the system very dynamic and I can easily add new things, but what's lacking is that good old feeling of "Oh nice, this weapon has really good attack speed!" or that nice assortment of stats that you can look at and see your HP, your armor, your speed, etc.

As you can see, I also don't have a lot of real estate here, so if I do add a few key stats, i have to keep them concise. Like just attack speed and damage for weapons. Armor, speed, and regen for armor. Maybe HP and armor for rings... Are these things I even want to make standard on all items? Are they that compelling? Part of the charm of SeaCrit was I was trying to reduce the noise of game systems, take out the stuff that doesn't really matter and focus on just fun and exciting bits.

But the problem is, I look at the UI above, and it just doesn't sell "fun inventory". It all comes back to the fact I'm just one dude, and I don't have time to spare to invest here. Wish I had a team I could just say "make multiple panels! Have permanent items and let the player mix and match them and we'll have slots where you can drag the items to equip them and it's gonna have all these unique panels with nice visual indicators and a 3d model of your character showing off the items...

Whew, gamedev is crazy. So many considerations, it's not simply, "What would be most fun?" Because if that's all we care about that we die to feature creep. It's not simply "what's feasible" because then we make just another sh*tty, uninspired game and that was never our goal.

For now this is just going to have to be an unopened can of worms.

Good news! In opening the game to take this screenshot I was pleasantly surprised how well the game is coming together. And that's a fantastic feeling. Even if the world doesn't give a darn about SeaCrit, the potential is there for it to become good enough that the SeaCrit gets out...

Health kinda took a dive yesterday and feeling it today, feelin' a little light headed and out of breath again. No more cheating on the diet with gluten heavy snacks, no more caffeine, no more working out too hard out of the blue. Hope this stabilizes so I can get to work soon. I really dislike complaining about this stuff, and I know it's a net negative to this blog, but it's the key things slowing work right now so figured i'd throw it in. Feeling better as I type this though, hoping to get back to it tomorrow! Healthy meats and veggies, and a responsible level of workout where we don't push too hard for just 30 minutes a day and we'll slowly scale it up. That's the plan, I hit this sh*t too hard, I kinda have a problem whole a$$ing things but it seems to be serving SeaCrit well at least.

Edit: Feelin' a little better so let's get a tiny tiny bit of work done! Let's revamp the "excavationer"'s dialogue

Current: I kinda like the current dialogue, it's got some light adult humor in regards to "spawning" but I think it's light hearted enough for a kid's game, and my goal with seacrit is to thread the line of wholesome entertainment, and fun adult stuff too. I want to have raunchy jokes that you can laugh at in front of your kids but just tell them, "you'll understand when you're older". And if they get the joke already, their innocence is fast fleeting,. We can't be young forever!

So just going to do some light rewriting, and this will mean that after this NPC it'll just be a few more and i'll be happy with the dialogue in the starting area and that'll be good enough for now.

Current Dialogue:

Line 1:  BOO! 

Line 2:  I'm the Excavationer and I tend to these watery resting places. 

Line 3:  You are in Grave Danger! Of sleeping with the fishies!.. AGAIN!

Line 4:  Spawn, spawn, respawn AGAIN!? Keep yer dorsals together! Sheesh!!

Short Goodbye: Cya soon! Muahahaha 

Revamp:

Line 1:  BOO! 

Line 2:  Did I get ya? The denizens of the deep and the dark will. Some call me the Excavationer, I'm a bit of an outcast in these parts, just the way I likes it, kinda like you, Lightbringer. You can call me Surely. 'Cause we're surely gonna be spending lots of time together! 

Line 3:  What's with yer type always bein' on the go? Why can't you lightbringers be finished off like the rest of these knuckleheads? Can't find a nice patch of coral to settle down in for all eternity!? Can't say I blame ya! If i'm honest, being shackled to this unsettling patch of seabed can get a bit dreary, but such is me lot in life. I'm going to enjoy hearin' stories of yer adventures! And who knows, maybe you'll be the one ta' save us from this digital 'ell. Psst, don't tell the others I knows who ya so wells, this be our little SeaCrit **Wink**

Line 4:  Spawn, respawn, and respawn AGAIN!? Can ya keep yer dorsals together fer a moment!? Sheesh!!

Short Goodbye: Cya soon! Muahahaha

Kinda bummed about the lack of work the past couple days, but if i'm honest i kinda needed a little break anyhow. Every day we're going at 90 MPH and just going hard on this, even if it's just 5 hours or so a day. But I take solace in that too,  getting some darned good work in as of late, things are coming together, we ARE making progress.