11/19 Downlink

It’s been 8 days since I came up with the idea for this game. Currently, I’d say it’s about 35% done, putting me on pace to finish the game by 12/4. According to my time log, I have spent 22.75 hours on the game. I broke up the development process into five sections: brainstorming, writing, art, music, and implementing.

The brainstorming phase of development is essentially done. I know what information each conversation is going to give you, the maps and pixel art I will need to do, and basically everything else. I’ve named all the characters and am working on their appearances and personalities now. I’d put this at 90% done.

The writing phase is progressing. Even though it’s just preliminary, this part of the work is definitely the part I least enjoy doing. It’s tricky to put together natural-sounding conversations on a Google Doc, not sounding it aloud. Writing each character differently is also hard, but the new brainstorming progress I’ve made will really help. I’d put this at 20% done.

Art is progressing fine. Right now, I’m doing either one portrait or one pixel art set per day, with other drawings weaved in when I feel motivated. I feel this is a good pace to maintain over the course of development. Pixel art is 40% done, while FMV is 25% done.

Music is also going good. I have a plan for what each song will be, and inspirations for most of them. I’ve already made two out of a planned 7-8 songs. Music is 25% done.

Finally, implementation is a bit tricky to judge right now. I’m not sure whether I should implement conversations into RPGMaker as I go, or do it all in one big sprint at the end. If I do it now, I’ll have more of the game playable earlier, which can help me find problems. However, waiting until the end will prevent me from having to go back and add portraits as I complete them, significantly reducing my anticipated headache. Right now, implementation is 10% done, and I’ll know next week which option I chose.