Untitled RPG Project

[Hugues Ross]

The year’s wrapping up quickly, but I finally have some good news for this year’s progress. No more intro, let’s get into some real progress:

The Reconstruction
I’ve finished remaking the portions of the first dungeon that I had to throw out back in the spring. Well, that was basically finished last time. But now it’s completely done.

Moving On…
With the 1st floor ‘gameplay-complete’, I moved on. And now, the 3rd floor is almost entirely ‘gameplay complete’ as well! There’s one small part that needs work, but overall it’s playable.

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So how about that 2nd floor? That one will take a little longer, the 3rd floor mostly exists as a way to transition the mood of the dungeon prior to the boss fight–so it’s a pretty short floor. The 2nd is where the real meat of this dungeon lives, and it might be a little while before it’s done. There are a few more mechanics I need to implement in order to complete it, so it definitely won’t happen this year. Still, I’ve begun the layout process for it as well!

Moving Up…
I’ve also implemented a minor mechanic: Ladders! I know, I spent so long on those stairs…but it had to be done. Stairs aren’t super compact, so while they can be fun they’re not always the most convenient from a level design perspective. Of course, with new movement mechanics come exciting new movement bugs! I posted a fine pair on Mastodon a couple weeks ago:

• Launched into the stratosphere…
• …or glued to the floor?

Take your pick–or maybe pick the current code where the ladders work right

Lookin’ Good…
Level design isn’t the only thing I’ve been busy with. I’ve also begun gradually making art assets for the game.

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I know it’s not much too look at yet, and there’s still quite a bit of work to be done… it’s gonna take a while. Still, it’s a good start!

Bonus!
Nope, that’s not all! We’ve got more to cover. I’ve been gradually working on the script for some time, though I don’t bring it up very often. But today, we’ve hit a fine milestone: The 1st draft script for Act 1 is officially complete! To be clear–when I talk about the script, I’m only including the mandatory dialogue and cutscenes. Of course, this isn’t everything–there’s quite a bit of incidental dialogue needed for a complete RPG, but it’s hard to write NPCs when you don’t have a place for them to go. Thus, that sort of writing doesn’t go in the main script.

In total, Act 1’s script weighs roughly 16,000 words. There are 6 acts planned, I’ll leave the math as an exercise to the reader. RPGs have a lot of text, who knew???

Alright, that's all for now. I'm probably going to be taking a break for the holidays, so don't expect anything out of me for a couple months. This last burst of progress is nice though, makes me feel like we're actually getting somewhere with this project. Hopefully we can build on that momentum in 2025--I'd love to finally have a demo out for folks to play!