Game Journal #68 - UI Improvements, Dialogue Polish, Story Mode

Hey guys! Got another game journal here. I did quite a bit of stuff this week, so let's get right into it.

First of all, life update. Not much happened really. There was a new Sonic game that came out, and it was really good! It was a detective game, much like the one I'm making now. Sonic's one of those guys who's been in pretty much every game genre imaginable, so it was about time they finally made a detective one. Anyway, I had a ton of fun playing it, and even left a review.

In other game news, Yandere Simulator also reached its ninth year of development. ...Yeah, really. Listen, I've got nothing against a dev that takes his time, or is busy with life related things, but c'mon. I wouldn't say I'm a fan of the game (though I like to watch the bug/myth videos) but I do want to see it succeed as a fellow indie dev. I have no idea what the dev for that game is doing. There's been devs that started game series at the same time as he did (Scott Cawthon/FNAF, tobyfox/Undertale) and both of those series have multiple entries at this point. Not to mention that he receives money from fans so he has the ability to work on his game full time. Like, dude. It's a sandbox game. That's the EASIEST genre to make. Hello, Minecraft?

Anyway, I wanted to write that because I read his game journal regarding the time it's been taking for development, and he blatantly states that YanSim is more complex than Undertale or FNAF, and that's why it's taking so much longer to develop than those games. It really made me annoyed, because Cawthon and Toby came from nothing and diligently made a name for themselves, while YanSim's dev dicks around and plays games on stream or fixes a bug that shouldn't have existed in the first place. He's not even in the same universe as either of those two. For crying out loud, he doesn't even make his own assets for the most part. It's nothing more than thinly veiled excuses for fans that know nothing about game development and how simple it is.

What takes development so long is ASSET CREATION, not the actual coding bits. For example, you could probably make an RPG in a week if all the characters were just white squares. Same for a platformer, FPS, etc etc etc. But a game is more than just raw gameplay, it's also presentation. Your models need to look good, your menus need to be appealing and easy to read, your actions need sound effects. That's what takes so much time up. There's no way it should take nine years if you're getting them from external sources.

Anyway, that's my rant on YanSim. Here's the changelog.

3/24/23

• Edited New Chapter screen

• Added option for sfx and background music on dialogue

3/25/23

• Changed Dialogue system to be accessed anywhere, even not in the overworld

3/26/23

• Removed option to pause during dialogue

• The camera no longer appears during dialogue.

• Changed mailbox and hot springs dialogue to be character thought

3/27/23

• Changed dialogue row to be selected from row name instead of incrementing/decrementing row index

3/29/23

• Added sound effect to end of a dialogue sentence

• Added advance option for when a character is rambling

• Added option for speedy text when a character is talking fast

• Correct Object(s) to Present in dialogue

3/31/23

• Refactored Shopkeeper code

• Changed when HUD appears

• Added money to pause menu.

• Changed Stats UI

4/1/23

• Added new status type Amaze

• Worked on Stats UI

Yeah, you read right, there's going to be a new status effect in the game. It's like a unisex version of Enrapture. I figured it'd be nice to have for certain situations. You'll see what I mean in the video.

Here it is btw. I go over the Prologue to the game here too (though it's barebones as of now.)