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Hi everyone,

I’m really excited to share that I’m working on my very first game, First Fantasy. It’s a 2.5D casual adventure RPG inspired by the 16-bit games that I’ve always loved. The game is still in early alpha, so there’s a lot of work ahead, but I wanted to share my progress with you all.

About First Fantasy:

• Genre: Casual Adventure RPG

• Style: 16-bit graphics and music

Features (so far):

• Real-Time Combat: I’ve been working on a basic combat system, allowing players to engage in dynamic battles. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m excited about how it’s shaping up.

• Farming, Crafting, and Mining: I’m developing systems for growing crops, crafting items, and mining resources. There’s still a lot to be done, but I’m making steady progress.

• Menus and UI: The basic menus and UI are in place, though not everything is fully functional yet. It’s a work in progress, but I’m gradually improving the user experience.

• Keyboard & Gamepad Support: First Fantasy supports both keyboard and gamepad controls, offering flexibility in how you play. I’m working to ensure that both input methods feel smooth and intuitive.

Development Status: This is my first game, so I’m learning a lot as I go. The artwork and music are currently placeholders, but I plan to create all the final assets myself as I get further along. It’s been a big challenge, but also really rewarding to see things start coming together.

What’s Next: My focus right now is on refining the crafting system, enhancing the UI, and adding more features to the game. There’s so much I want to include, and I’m taking it step by step to make sure everything fits together well.

Looking for Feedback: Since this is my first game, I’d really appreciate any feedback or suggestions you might have. Your input would be invaluable as I continue to develop First Fantasy and figure out the best direction to take.

Thank you so much for your support and for being part of this journey. I’m excited to keep working on First Fantasy and see where it goes with your help.

https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy

Latest update:
https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.10.zip

What’s Been Added/Improved:

• Inventory Overhaul: The inventory has been moved to make space for more UI menus and is now more functional. You can now easily add and remove tools from the quick slot bar, enhancing your gameplay experience.

• New Tools: Introduced wood and iron tools, with updated icons and animations that have been recolored for a fresh look.

• Flora: Grass, sticks, logs, small trees, and large trees have been added to the game world. Grass will randomly spawn and gradually grow into small trees, which then grow into large trees.

• Resource Gathering: Walking over grass automatically adds it to your inventory. Cutting down small trees yields sticks, while large trees drop both sticks and logs. Both small and large trees can be cut down with or without tools, though axes are the most efficient.

• Ore Mining: Ore is now mineable with or without tools, but using a pickaxe will give you the best results.

• Debug & Screenshot Features: You can now access debug mode by pressing F1 and take screenshots by pressing F2, making it easier to test and document your gameplay.

• Version Number Display: The version number has been added to both the window title and the bottom corner of the game screen for easy reference.

What’s Next:

• UI Enhancements: Continue improving the menus and UI, including the addition of health, stamina, and mana bars/gauges.

• Save/Load Features: I'm working on implementing the first steps of the save and load features, so your progress will be secure.

• Item Storage: A chest for storing items is in development, providing a place to keep all your gathered resources.
  Crafting System: A crafting system is on the way, allowing you to put your resources to good use.

• Tool Durability: Tool durability will be introduced, adding a layer of strategy to resource management.

• More Tools & Items: Expect more tool tiers and a wider variety of lootable and craftable items in future updates.

Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, I appreciate your feedback as I continue to refine and expand the game!

https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy





https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.05.rar

What’s Been Completed:

• Item Storage (Work in Progress): The item storage system is functional but not yet fully complete. Shift-clicking allows items to be moved between the inventory and chests for easier management.

• Tool & Ore Tiers: New tool and ore tiers have been added, providing access to better equipment and resources.

• Item Interaction: Items are no longer automatically picked up by walking over them. Now, the action/talk button is required to collect items, offering more precise control.

• Quick Slot Assignment: Though not a new feature, it’s worth mentioning that hovering over an item in the inventory and pressing keys 1-0 will assign it to the corresponding quick slot for quick access during gameplay.

• Item Effects: Each tool and item now has its own distinct effect on combat, mining, and lumberjacking, adding more strategy and variety to resource gathering and battles.

• Sound Effects (SFX): Placeholder sound effects have been added to enhance the experience. These will be refined in future updates.

What’s Still to Come:

• Gamepad Controls: Gamepad support is still behind, as the game is being built with mouse and keyboard in mind first. Further refinements to gamepad controls will be made.

• UI Enhancements: Continuing to improve menus, with health, stamina, and mana bars coming soon.

• Save/Load Features: Work on the save and load system is ongoing and will be available in a future update.

• Crafting System: The crafting system is being developed, enabling players to make use of collected resources.

• Tool Durability: Tool durability will be introduced soon, adding another layer of depth to gameplay.

• More Lootable/Craftable Items: Expect more lootable and craftable items to enhance the overall experience.

https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy





https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.06.rar

It’s been a busy personal month, but some exciting new features have been added!

• Crafting System: Players can now pick up items to unlock new recipes. The crafting list is located in the bottom left corner of the inventory menu. Use the arrows to navigate the list. A question mark icon shows the required resources, and a check mark will craft the item if the player has enough materials.

• Placement of Crafting Stations: To place an item, hover over it and press 1-0 to assign it to the corresponding quick slot. Equipping the item enables its placement.

• Craftable and Usable Chests: Chests can now be crafted, placed, and used to store items.

• Furnace/Forge: Craftable and placeable, the furnace can smelt ore using sticks or logs as fuel. Use shift + left mouse click to move items between the player's inventory and the forge.

• Crafting Table: When placed within a certain distance of the player, the crafting table unlocks more advanced recipes.

• Fire Pit: This can be crafted and placed. While it currently has no functionality, it will be used for cooking food in a future update.

• Anvil: Although it can’t yet be crafted or placed, the anvil will eventually be used for more crafting recipes.

What’s Next:

• Integrating gamepad support into menu navigation.

• Adding save and load functionality.

• Control remapping.

• Developing farming and fishing systems.

Reminder: This is my first game, and your feedback is incredibly valuable. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated as it helps shape the game and improve future updates!

https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.08.zip







https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy

I’ve been working hard to get this update out quickly, and I’m excited to share what’s new!

What’s Been Added:

• Usable Anvils: You can now craft and place anvils to forge metal tools. Anvil durability and tool durability will be added in a future update.

• Control Remapping: The ability to remap controls from the options menu is now live, giving you more customization over your gameplay experience.

• Quick Slot Button Functionality: The left and right quick slot buttons now work as intended, making swapping items easier.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where the wrong items were being removed during crafting.
• Corrected sword animations for wood and iron swords.
• Resolved a bug where the furnace/forge was consuming fuel unnecessarily.

What’s Next:

• Continuing to integrate gamepad support into menus.

• Further improvements to inventory and item management.

• Implementing save and load functionality.

• Introducing farming and fishing systems.

Thanks for all your patience and feedback! I’ve been pushing to get this update out quickly, but the next one may take a little longer as I focus on adding bigger systems and features. Stay tuned!

https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy

https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.09.zip

It's been another busy month on a personal front, but I'm happy to report that progress has been made on the inventory and quickslots. Here’s what’s new:

• Inventory System Progress: You can now pick up full stacks of items with a left-click and half stacks with a right-click. This adds a bit more flexibility to item management.

• Quickslots: Tools, crafting stations, and chests can now be added to the bottom quickslots with a left-click, making them more easily accessible.

• Container Management: Items can still only be moved between containers via shift-left-click, but this functionality will be expanded soon.

To Do:

• Continue refining the inventory and item management system.

• Improve enemy AI for more challenging encounters.

• Add more enemy types to spice up combat.

• Expand combat by adding additional attack moves and polishing the combat mechanics.

• Introduce fishing mechanics for players to enjoy.

• Implement farming systems to grow and harvest crops.

• Add NPCs with quests and dialogue interactions.

• Increase the variety of craftable and collectible items.

• Add dungeons for more exploration and loot.

• Expand crafting features to include building houses and structures.

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for your continued support!

https://retro-kevin.itch.io/first-fantasy

https://retrokevin.net/firstfantasyv0.10.zip

I’ve reached a crossroads in development. After scaling my game up, I realized how bad the wall collision system really was. Even with the map reduced to half its intended size and only a portion of the wall colliders implemented, performance dropped off a cliff, my game was running like absolute shit.

While I could just rework how the player moves, the problem runs deeper than that.

Another hard truth: the game isn’t fun to play. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been an absolute blast writing code, watching things come together (or fall apart), and learning a ton along the way. But at the end of the day, it’s just not fun.

I blame scope creep. I knew from the start how dangerous it could be, especially for indie devs, and I tried to keep it in check. But despite my efforts, things still spiraled.

I think part of the issue is that I dove in headfirst without a clear plan. My “plan” was just to make a game. I’d never made one before, so I expected a steep learning curve—and I’ve learned more than I ever imagined.

Now, it’s time to take a step back, reanalyze the project, and figure out what I really want to create.

Good on you for reflecting the state of your game and how to continue early!

As you said, you probably learned a ton of valuable lessons. Even if you decide to drop the project now, you have lots of useful code snippets for your next project,

Probably most of us solo and hobby devs feel or felt like you at some point.
Properly scoping your game is one of the hardest challenges in gamedev I think.

The truth is, even with third party assets, making a fun and complete RPG is a massive undertaking for a solo dev.
Generally speaking, it is pretty unlikely that your first game will be something amazing or even gets finished.

Some time ago I watched an "enlightening" interview. I can't find it now, but it might have been on the noclip youtube channel? My main takeaway was: Most games are 30 just seconds of fun, repeated over and over.

So with my games I try to get to those 30 seconds of fun as soon as possible.
It does not have to be polished, it absolutely does not need to have many of the planned features.
But I should be able to already see if the core part of my final game is any good.
In this early stage I drop everything that does not contribute to those 30 seconds of fun - so mostly no sound, ui or fancy art. Basically I try to get to a MVP as fast as possible.
If I can't get to that point within a few days/weeks, it is probably out of scope for me and I should drop the project.

This surely does not work for all and for larger games (especially AAA games!).
But I found this to be a good rule of thumb for the games that are in scope for me as a hobby dev.
It prevents me from "wasting" the limited time I have on a game that will never be fun or finished.

For my current game this worked wonderfully I think. In my life I started developing around a few dozen games, and this was the first on that remotely made it to completion.

Of course, making a game just for the sake of it is perfectly fine (and important for learning!) too. But then we should be realistic and don't expect that we can release an actually finished and fun game, its more about the journey than the goal in this case .

Good look with your next project!