Reworking the entire project.

Hello there!

So far my friends have only praised me for the project and said it's "perfect." I showed off my game to a local gamedev community for feedback. The general positive opinion is that the game art style is unique. The style mimics a sketchbook of a guy who doesn't really know how to write or talk about their problems, but will draw images of his emotions despite not being a professional artist. I went wrong with the overall storytelling techniques, and lack of gameplay. Right now there is no gameplay aside from moving around in a buggy X and Y axis. And instead of "show-don't-tell" I just use a ton of exposition to tell the story. 

The main overall gameplay type was supposed to be a RPGMaker game where you control a character in a 2D isometric setting. This means I planned to have a sort of a "hobo simulator" where the player collects items around the world and through quests, then through trading the player gets funds to buy necessities like fuel, food, water, or other important items while going through the story. Since I didn't have time to learn a new engine, I tried to recreate all of it in Unity. Didn't go well.

Since I'm not a professional coder and my knowledge of art is a speck above average, the early prototype (I'm taking away the "demo" rank) is absolutely barren aside from a simple puzzle and some dialogue, I didn't get to finish some features when I released it onto the web.

When I was developing the game I was in university and it had to be done alongside my final thesis and I was extremely stressed out. I thought after I'd graduate I'll start working on it again but the days, weeks, and months kept coming when I couldn't be bothered to work on it. Originally I planned to get it done by the end of this year. Though I underestimated how much of a beginner I still am. 

Future plans and state of the game?

1. The game will continue development soon.

2. The game will be converted into a 3D environment

3. I've acquired assets to make the programming and development process more streamlined. 

4. General optimization of texture usage. (Currently Sam is literally separate random sized png-s, thus his body morphs in all sorts of funny ways. Environment is also just random sized PNG-s)

5. I created a patreon for those who wish to help me out financially - LINK

6. Making an actual gameplay loop

I've already experimented with making the main car as a 3D model and aside from some bad texture transitions, I think it looks absolutely great and I will continue working with this level of detail. 

Even has a little exhaust!