Lately I’ve found that most games that come out, aren’t exactly my style. Although the few that are come very pricy. So I decided I’d try to make my own game, don’t expect much from it but, might as well give it a shot. Which if I manage to make a game I’d enjoy, others might as well!
Designing the game
I personally really enjoy rogue-like games and games based around automation. For example PlateUp! is one of my all time favourite games that fits mostly both criterias. Only thing I miss is that to me there feels to be so few maps that the gameplay loop felt very repetitive. So first thing I’d like the game to have! Map generation.
On the more automation side games like Factorio and SatisFactory are very enjoyable to me if I ignore the bugs, the live ones. So I’d like to add some Automation in terms of belts, managing input/output speeds and all that lovely complexity that comes with that!
Considering rogue-like aspects that I’d like, I think that some randomness in upgrades to get, maybe even the components to work with. RNG tools/upgrades.
Another thing that would be useful to have is more replay-ability. So what about adding more themes! Maybe we could have one that has 1 input, but 2 outputs, or one that has a lot of steps to do. So without getting too much ahead of myself I’d like there to be some Themes that the factory could be based around.
So the basics of the game are:
- Map generation, so every run is at least a little different
- Automation, making the ultimate factory
- RNG tools/upgrades, so every run even on the same Theme is different
- Themes, so that once we get tired of Baking bread we can go and build some rocket ships!
With all of that figured out, might as well start making a simple prototype.
The great mistake
After installing Unity on my computer, it was time to start. I’ve hit the first wall though, I had no idea what to do. So YouTube tutorials it was! What a mistake I would find out that was, I’ve decided that the first thing I want to make is a grid system for placing things. Figured that wouldn’t be overly complicated, after nearly finishing the first tutorial I found which was roughly an hour and a half, I was struck with a paywall as the maker of the video decided he will use a function, from his library that was only accessible by paying him, through his patreon.
After I’ve been at my 4th YouTube tutorial, 5 hours in and still had no results, I’ve decided to cut my loses and try to just do it the way I code normally. Don’t know? Google! Although at first it was hard to find anything due to the lack of knowledge what a “sprite” even is.
Progress time
Once I got my head around what everything in Unity is eventually. I’ve got myself a working grid placement system. Which was the one and only thing I did during my first 10 hours on this project. On second day though, I’ve got quite a bit done, created an inventory system, very basic but functional enough for a prototype. Also my girlfriend decided to join in and made me a model of a belt to use. So there’s no longer just a white box <3
With a bit of help from AI I’ve even managed to make a working seed based map generation! So that the runs wouldn’t be the same all the time.
With all that said, for now I believe that’s all I manged to finish. Considering this all took 2 days + I went to work during one of those days, I’d say that the progress is pretty good. In the future I’ll keep you all updated on the progress and any demo that may or may not come out.