It’s been a while! I’ve wanted to talk about two different topics here.

UPDATE ON MY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM LAST YEAR

Almost a year ago, I made a short post about starting work on a new game. Back then, I was struggling to figure out how to program a 2.5D platformer engine with my limited knowledge of programming. Eventually, I gave up on making a proper 2.5D engine.

As a compromise, I split the two main functions of a 2.5D engine between the two playable characters: one character would be restricted to a 2D space but able to jump, while the other could walk in 8 directions but not jump. I tried to make it work, but designing a game around such a strange limitation wasn’t fun. And really, what’s the point of trying to make a fun game if I wasn’t having fun making it?

So I shelved the project for almost an entire year… until inspiration suddenly struck! I came up with a theory for how to make a real 2.5D platformer engine. The only thing left was to prove it worked.

After about a week of testing and tinkering — I FINALLY GOT IT WORKING! My motivation came back, and I don’t have to limit my ideas to a weird gimmick I wasn’t happy with anymore.

It’s still a little early to share details about the game’s progress (though I think it’s pretty obvious what it is…), but I want to announce the game at the same time as the demo, so players can jump right in as soon as it’s revealed!

GET OUT: OVERSIGHT

Each year I try to do something for Halloween. But that year, I only had about 7 days, so making an hour-long video like last year was out of the question. Instead, I decided to make a short spooky game — something simple, but fun.

The idea was a creepy puzzle game set in an old house, with a monster roaming the halls and entering rooms.

At first, I wasn’t planning to connect it to the Get Out series, but I eventually decided to make Get Out: Oversight a side-story (by eventually, I mean like after one hour into starting development).

Alba’s design was very different early in development. She still had a rectangular head, but her proportions and hairstyle were completely different — honestly, she looked more like a weird Gyrno clone (Gyrno being the protagonist of Get Out 1 and 2). Her current look actually comes from a design I originally made for a character in a scrapped project, which I ended up reworking to fit her, the scrapped character also already had a rectangular shaped head so it seemed like a good design to rework. I almost kept one detail from that character — a little protruding upper lip (sort of like in Doraemon) — but I figured Alba’s big goofy eyes and spiral cowlick already gave her enough of a quirky look.

The monster, Tridentite, was supposed to open doors when entering rooms instead of just randomly appearing in some rooms. I also wanted to give players the ability to hide in props around the house, but since the monster didn’t behave in a way that made that necessary, it never made it in. There was also going to be a second ending tied to an optional puzzle, and even a second floor to the house, but I just didn’t have the time.

As you can see, a lot of ideas had to be cut because of the deadline — and that stinks! Not having enough time to fully enjoy your project is always a shame. But working on Oversight made me realize how important it is to take my time with game development, and to make sure I’m happy with the result before release.

It’s been almost a year since I released Get Out: Oversight, and to this day, the game doesn’t feel entirely “finished” to me. A lot of ideas I wanted to add never made it in. I’d like to go back and optimize it for a better experience (hint hint…).

Well… let’s just say, maybe keep an eye out this Halloween...

-TheErican

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