Draknier Story - Dev Diary #03 - Progress Update

Hi everyone, this is the dev diary update #03 which is long due, sorry for the long wait (ᗒᗨᗕ)

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First let's start with the programming/game engine stuff , I have been working around with unity, setting it up and getting used to it. I just realized that it no longer use the built-in editor, and utilizes Visual Studio instead as the default editor which I had to manually install.

I did experience some minor issue, although I'm not sure yet if how persistent will it be. The issue is when executing/compiling the code on Visual Studio, it sometimes, doesn't reflect/sync to unity's execution. Anyway, it is negligible for now.

To get more familiar with unity(since the last time I used it is like 4 years ago), I gave unity's learning course a look.

I give this one a try, and I concluded that this is not what I need for now, so I went with the next one

While I did manage to delve into it a bit, I just had to stop. While this will help me get familiar with unity's features, I felt that this was also not the time for it. And unfortunately I am the type that couldn't fully digest everything when following something like this so I decided to postpone this(I might revisit later).

I decided that I'll go with something more basic first, while I did make a working jrpg prototype on unity back then which is around 2015, I never fully utilize c# which makes my code convoluted and filled with faults. very spaghetti code, just like the cables behind my desk.

From working w/ Godot Engine, I learned to be more organized and  tried utilizing stuff I didn't before so going forward, I want to use what I learned there in Unity. While there are things I missed in Unity when I was using Godot (such as double array, multiple scripts in one node/prefab, etc.), it is still a great Engine!

I am actually also making my own cheatsheet/reference when coding. I know this is very simple, but I tend to easily forget syntax especially on cases when I stopped coding for a few days(e.g. working on the art assets, etc.). While I do learn a lott of stuff, I am unable to fully retain them in my mind(I know that consistency is the key, but I do think that I don't have a great memory as I easily forget things when I focused on something else, but consistency helps a lot and I will try my best to keep up with it, even a 30 minute coding per day helps).

One thing I realize about me when working and learning for my game is that I really prefer to make mistake and slowly learn the answer rather than having a smooth sailing working code.I want to try everything myself first, fail many times, repeat, solve, and with growth, improvise later on. Maybe I am just being stubborn, but I do think that's a more effective method for me when learning.
While the community for unity is rich, I first need to first figure it out by myself, before looking for answers (Since with unity, we can probably almost find answers to everything with a simple search <I remember the hard times dealing with godot, searching for specific answer is hard>).And this will also help my brain to think and find its own answer rather than being too dependent on existing solutions (And I don't mean reinventing the wheel, but attempting to understand and not just copying). When I exhaust everything I can do, then I can seek the existing answers or clues & with that I will be able to digest that knowledge more.
I also do think this will help a lot later on when trying to innovate some features (which is not the focus in my current project, but should I innovate something in the future, it will be more on the mechanics of battle gameplay).

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Now, let's go to the narrative of the game, I did spent lot a time working on the characters, story, settings, and flow of narrative. But for now I would like to refrain from showing anything as there will be lots of changes happening(I know I've written something to my previous dev diary about the characters and world, but pretty much a lot has  already change, and somewhat makes the story in that devdiary quite obsolete).

If there is something I want to share, it's that I added another main female character, and other more characters. The story seems to be getting more serious(+darker) than I expected although I have many flavors to add into it. It's really hard to talk about the story without spoiling anything and not everything is set in stone yet.

One thing that always persist in my mind since forever is the Talking Protagonist vs. Silent Protagonist. After a lot of though I actually decided to go with the talking protagonist, but
looking at the narrative now, the way I made the main character works or acts is no different from a silent protagonist. I am really fond of silent protagonists (e.g.  Suikoden MCs, Breath of Fire's Ryu, Persona, SMT, chrono trigger, Legend of legaia,DAQ , God eater, and etc.) my prior decision was due to worrying about the others opinion when I did my long research, but since I am making this game the way I want it to be, I'll go with my preferred silent protagonist. I find that there is something mystical about it that pulls me in and not just about being self insert. I always see the silent protagonists as good listeners.

(Many times have I considered including a plot to make the main character mute just to make it a silent protagonist)

And oh, being able to change the character name too(I know for some, it might not make sense, but it's just the way I wanted it to be).

I am actually excited to share new art, but I think that can wait later until I make a functional game, narrative being solidified, or maybe when I start working on the 3D Models.

One thing I am also figuring for the narrative is the civilization, technology, and biome of the world. While I already have early concepts, I want to look more into it as it can influence many things such as the character design and overall feel of the world. I already have some new ideas so the early concepts may go away.

One of the exciting challenges I am facing is tying the way things work(world/story/lore setting) with the gameplay(for example abilites). Abilities are not just there for battle, but also plays a part in my narrative.

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Lastly, I have  actually find a real good use for the clip paint studio I bought before during it's sale(Back when I mentioned in a post), and that is using it as 3D reference. When I draw, I usually invent my own forms/pose, but recently I did try it to use with some artwork

This probably looks familiar to you (as I used this for Breath of Fire 3 Nina art pack).

The reason I am bringing this up in this devdiary is there are a number of benefits to this,
this actually helps me when I start working on the 3D stuff such as getting familiar with the rigging and its limitation, the navigation of camera to make a scene, pose, etc.
Although the model has its flaw, I find it extremely great for my needs, this will prepare me when I make my 3d characters, rigging, doing an ingame scene/cinematic, getting used to playing around with the joints/bones for animation, and etc.
(It also benefits my drawing as it helps me get away from my muscle memory and comfort zone)

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That would be all of my update for now, my next plan for the next update is hopefully I can make small multiple independent game prototypes (which later can be used as reference for the main game build prototype). Just like with drawing, sketching multiple times before working on the final, this gives me leeway to be flexible and do experiment/exploration.

Thank you for sparing your time and reading this, have a good pleasant day (*≧∀≦*)