Narrative Update [REUPLOAD]

NyameDev here. I’ve got a quick update about narrative design. We’ve transitioned to variable width text in GBStudio 3.0! While this is great (more text can fit on the screen) it also means that we will have to go back and review all of the cutscenes with dialogue and make sure that the text wraps properly now that there is more space on each line. This is obviously going to take a bit, and I will have to reach out to my narrative designer in order to get the edits made.

I am currently using an advanced dialogue plugin by pau tomas and it doesn’t currently display the text properly in preview which also slows the revision process down a bit. Depending on how much time I have, I might see if I can get the plugin integrated into the dialogue preview function, but I don’t know how much engineering bandwidth I will have in the coming weeks. Also, the current structure doesn’t automatically break up my text into 2-line dialogue chunks and it would be really handy if the plugin could automate that. . . We’ll have to see if I’m willing to later get my hands dirty with plugin/engine modding.

As usual, Here's a link to the current dev video playlist on YouTube

The subreddit is r/darkforestgb. Current Population: Me.

Currently the team still just includes:

-Myself

-A Writer

-A Composer

Gameplay / Progression Update

All basic dungeon scenes have been implemented but most of them are not hooked up into my main dungeon generation script yet. Hopefully I wont have to do any more version migration between now and when the project releases (3.0 has most of the quality of life updates I had struggled with in 2.0 and I think only a really amazing SFX overhaul would warrant another version update). I hope to get all the dungeon generation of the simplest dungeon layout setup in the next month or so.

Closing Notes

I forget that I do actually enjoy programming when I’m not being forced to do it. I have been thinking about how I can take this mentality that I have when working on Dark Forest, and maybe taking some of that mindset and carrying it over into my busy work life. I always enjoy working on Dark Forest quite a bit more than some of the other tasks I have to do for my IRL life, even if the tasks are similar. 

I think maybe it has to do with the speed/lack of deadline I’ve created for Dark Forest. In my mind, the game will get done whenever it is ready, with no rush to set a release date. That alleviates a lot of the stress that I otherwise feel when doing contract work or when I am working for someone else’s timeline? Who knows, maybe I just really like working on original IP hahahaa *cries in work NDAs*