Final Exam Game Devlog (Patreon)

Hi!

It's getting closer and closer to the moment when I will create an updated demo of the Final Exam game (working title, can be changed). Well today I'm posting another update to the devlog.

Right now I'm actively working on Final Exam, but I'm not forgetting about the second game (Size Difference World). The thing is that Size Difference World is much more complex and global than Final Exam. Size Difference World is a global RPG, no matter how much I try to simplify it. An RPG game will take several years to develop. After all, I want to create a quality game.

Final Exam is a platformer game. It is much simpler than the above RPG. The level design is already prepared for it. For these reasons, I will be able to finish this game much sooner than Size Difference World. If everything goes well, the game will be ready this year!

There's another reason why I've prioritized the Final Exam game. The thing is that there is one person who likes this game and is willing to help me publish it (including on Steam). I've already talked about it in previous posts.

Recently this person contacted me again. He informed me that our agreement is still in force, and this person is not going to change his opinion.

Naturally, I want to finish the game quickly!

Many developers I know say that I am not creating the game correctly. They say that the best thing to do is to first create a complete mockup of the game (roughly speaking, a game in which all the characters and decor elements are replaced by squares, rectangles, and other simple shapes). I've tried to do that, but for some reason, such work annoys me! Perhaps it's because I'm a visualist by perception, and I want even a rough draft of a game to look as similar to the final version as possible. Yes, towards the end of development, I'll change most of the visual elements anyway. Especially the generated images for the cutscenes. However, I want even a temporary generated image to look as good as possible. And, if I use some temporary free third-party asset for the game, I pick the highest quality asset possible. All to keep my inner perfectionist happy.

And now I could already be creating game levels, because I have all the necessary elements to do so. However, I want to, first, create all the game menus! I want the game to look like it's getting ready for release when I start testing game level builds. I feel more comfortable working that way.

Yes, I realize that polishing at the final stage can't be avoided anyway. But it would be a comfortable job for me. I'll be swapping one finished image for another. My inner perfectionist approves of such work!

By today I've sort of finished the mechanics of the keyboard and gamepad control settings. The gamepad settings menu still needs some work, but in general, everything works. My old Chinese-made gamepad customizes perfectly.

The next thing my inner perfectionist wants to do is add sounds and music. At least temporary ones to liven up the testing of working builds. Naturally, along with sounds, I need to add the ability to mute them as well. So far, the mute button has only been added to the test game level. A similar button should be added to the main menu.

After all this, I need to add, finally, the display of health and points during the game.

And finally, change the sprite of the main character. Let me remind that I decided to refuse pixel graphics. I will draw the final versions of the main character and enemy sprites at the end of the development. For the current work I found some nice cool animations. I haven't tried to add them yet (not much free time), but I hope they will look good.

For the new menu sections I made new temporary background size-difference images. I used AI, but the final version of the game will use only the original images drawn by me.

The updated test game build where I tested the newly created menu sections is available in the virtual gallery for active patrons.