New Project
Intro
A little late posting this but that's because I've been working on a new project! I don't want to seem like I'm giving up on The Herbalist but after a little reflection and talking to so many people during GDC I've decided to take a step back from the project. The main reason is while I really enjoy working on it, I don't think the game will be even near an Alpha stage in the next year or two. Something that I should focus more on actually getting something released and shipped to be able to have the experience of shipping an actual project. For now I'm going to focus on just that. Working on a smaller game where I can finish it within a few months and hopefully get it shipped by then.
GDC Takeaways
The first thing I wanted to talk about though is my time at GDC! Wow, it was a lot. But in a good way as I got to talk to so many amazing
people and I got to see a ton of really great talks. I'm looking forward to going on the GDC vault over the next few weeks and get the chance
to watch the others that I wasn't able to attend.
After walking around the Expo floor and talking with some of the veterans in the industry I'm pretty confident that the industry will bounce
back and there will be an increase in hiring. It's just that most people don't know exactly when that will be. Some said around August and
others said probably not until 2025 but I suppose only time will tell. Needless to say it was very interesting walking around and seeing
all of these amazing talks and the companies on the floor while also having this looming cloud of the industry's layoffs over everything. It
felt like for the most part (especially on the Expo floor) this cloud was never acknowledged outside of a few select spaces. The GDC Scream event
(which I sadly didn't find out about until it was over) and a few select talks I went to specifically on the layoffs were the only real places
I could hear about them. I especially enjoyed the layoff round table that Russ Fan lead. It included both employed and recently laid off industry
professionals and it felt very cathartic to hear other's frustrations about the industry and the companies involved.
Something that frustrated me while attending the conference was distinguishing myself as an actual industry professional. While I
did meet many in similar circumstances as myself, I oftentimes got lumped into the general student category. I do think that this is partly
because of how I would often introduce myself which was as a recent graduate looking for my first job in the industry. While this is true,
I feel like most heard the word 'graduated' and assumed that I was a student. I think I'm going to start working on my self-elevator pitch so
that I come across a little less student focused while still showing my experience.
I don't want to make it seem like everyone I met didn't take me seriously. I met a ton of people who treated me as an equal and I will always be
thankful to them for making me feel included in an industry that currently is not very kind to entry-level talent. I have a lot more to say on
the state of the industry as an entry-level job seeker but I can save that for a later post if I have the energy but right now I want to focus
the rest of this post on the new project I'm working on!
New Project
So what am I working on next? I took a few days to decide on the project I wanted to work on. I knew it needed to be simple but could also showcase
some of my technical skills. Primarily with developing an AI system that I could point to as experience in that realm. The game I ended up deciding
on was a thief puzzle game for mobile. I'm planning on having all of the assets be very simple and the overall game will be based on a 5x5 grid.
On each level there will be at least one Guard and some sort of treasure that the Player has to grab and get out with. Eventually each level will be
partially randomized but for now I'm going to hand make each level.
Each Guard in the level will move after the Player moves so that the Player can choose where to move and then the Guards will react accordingly. The goal
of each puzzle is to grab and get out with the treasure without being spotted by a Guard. Eventually I am going to add in additional enemies like a Guard
Dog and possibly lasers but for now I'm going to stick to one Guard type and the Player.
New Project Game View
Current State of the New Project
Currently I have implemented the Grid, Player Movement, Guard Movement, the Guard's Flashlight, and basic A* pathfinding for the Guards. I started working on the Walls, Treasure, and the Start Node where the Player will start and need to exit from in each level. The Walls function properly however they are not hooked up with the Grid yet so Players and Guards can go into the same space that occupies a Wall. The Treasure object is physically placed in the Scene but most of the game logic for picking it up and detecting it is not implemented yet. For the Start Node this is also placed in the Scene but I have yet to start on the logic for detecting it.
Next Sprint: Add Guard AI System
For the next sprint I'm planning on adding in a GOAP (Goal Oriented Action Plan) System for the Guards to give them a little bit more of autonomy in their decision making. I'm also planning on fully implementing the game logic for the Walls, Treasure, and Start Node I mentioned above. I think that I'll be able to implement all of these within two weeks since I have implemented GOAP systems before so I'm not expecting many hiccups along the way. Also, I've been a very bad programmer and I haven't done any pull requests. I've just been pushing and pulling from the same repository so I'll link the repo below and make sure to include a pull request in the next post!