Music, Magic, Michael

I've been trying to work out some of the instruments to be used for the final tracks. I've created a demo, "Retronaut", which has a nice ambient pad, kick, bass, distorted guitar and closed hat. I'd like to work on the snare and open hat sounds, clean up the high end on the pad a bit and get some more instruments working; updates as they happen.

Check that out here:

After prioritizing "The List.", I've found it most useful to put the tasks into chunks, as some tasks are co-dependent on others. The first group includes combat, magic, controls therein, weapons and spellls. I've figured out the the combat system [(attacking, blocking, ect.) + controls] and delved into the magic mechanics a bit. 

I'm working with a close friend of mine, Michael Park, to get a backstory/story established. He's just revealed his first pass and all I can say is that I was nothing short of blown away. I'm excited to say he'll be doing a lot of the writing so I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

I plan to finish designing the magic system and design the weapons + spells to wrap up the first chunk.

The List.™

     I've created an itemized list of objectives. Priority is 1-5, most important to least respectively. Time goes from 5-50 (basically a 1-10 scale) and is roughly representative of days. These are multiplied to get a weighted value; lower is better. Green items are to be included, yellow are maybes, red are probably not. At the bottom are the approximate days to complete each color (timeTotals/3).

     Next I will prioritize the list and then start breaking ground on designing specific elements.

ABitABeat

I was looking through some VSTs to use to make the music and found VOPM which emulates the Sega Genesis chip. I'd used it to make a test loop. No doubt fidelity will increase as I learn how to use the plugin further.

Check it out here: 

I've since watched a tutorial video which was quite useful here: 

As well, I've outlined all of elements that have to be designed. I may add more but this is everything I could think of. I'm sifting through these options to decide what to keep and what is out of scope.

Designing "Topdown"

I've begun the design work on a topdown, 2D, exploration based game. For the time being I'm just referring to it as "Topdown" until it's more fleshed out. I'm not going to break ground on development until the game is entirely designed. It will have RPG elements and be set in a fictional ancient universe. I want to ensure that the backstory, and main story line if it pertains, are simply setting a space for players to create their own story and experience. The world will have a theme that's mostly realistic with some fantasy elements and a simplistic visual aesthetic. The world will generally be dark and gritty in a very serious sense, but at times it may give way to clean, safe areas to break up the flow. I'm compiling a list of tasks that need to be completed for me to consider the design "finished". I've got a ton of ideas I'd like to implement, but chances are I'll be doing a good bit of pruning.