DevLog #1

DEVLOG #1

To begin, I want to say this game isn't something I'm just starting. Ever since I decided to throw FacilityGame on itch, I've always wanted to do this game again. For some background, the original FacilityGame was the first ever game I made on Unity, and It was awful. I barely understood the basics of programming, I didn't know how to use half of Unity's features, and my modeling was rushed and sloppy. At the time this game was made, I didn't even know what itch was. After a year (I think?) I decided to upload DIVE and FacilityGame to Itch just to store. I never truly felt content with this game and always wanted to improve it, but I wanted to learn and grow before I started.

I started working on this remake of the game probably around a year ago. I put in a few hours each day for about three months, worked and worked, and then hit a huge blockade. A massive wall. A barrier one could even call it. I had reached a point in development where my programming skills had surpassed my base code (I don't know what its called). I had to make the decision to restart the game from scratch in a new file, with reused assets but a fresh code base that had more features, better performance and such. I worked and worked again, and ran into the same problem. I started fresh again and became frustrated with myself. This time, I integrated better graphics, redid many of the models and fixed the codebase further, however I still struggled with finding content(ness?) in my game.

The final straw was when I developed Paint Yellow, a game which I hold dearly, like the last born child in a family. During development of that game, I learned so much about so many different aspects of game development. My skill with programming jumped drastically, I was able to discover and fix so many issues I had with FacilityGame and learn so many new approaches to programming predicaments. I didn’t touch this game from the moment I started working on Paint Yellow, but now after working on a few more small projects, I finally feel ready to begin.

I’ve decided that most of the models are going to get fresh versions (the crowbar’s newer model is kinda sexy though so I’m keeping that). Paint Yellow taught me a ton about a few crucial things; Saving data, UI/UX, managing game data between scenes, and so much more. I want to integrate all these into the base code of this game. Before I get into more development slop, I want to give a quick rundown of the differences between this game and its predecessor, FacilityGame:

• Full story
• Better graphics
• Full Voice Acting
• 12x as much gameplay (not random)
• Faster performance
• UI changes (;
• Game wont crash when you die (sad)
• Working settings menu (also sad)
• Save system
• Other stuff I forgor

As development progresses, I’ll keep posting updates about the progress I’ve been making on the game. I am currently attending college, so while I can’t work as much I will work towards the goal of having this game up by 2025. Right now the plan is to release this game for free, and I don’t have much of an intention of changing that. My main goal when making games is to bring just a bit of fun to people, and I don’t want money to stop people from being able to see what I create!

To wrap things up, here’s a quick screenshot of the most recent version of the game, taken like six months ago lol