I’ve had some ideas floating around in my head for a while of a game I’ve wanted to work on, and a few weeks ago I finally put them together in a small prototype (play it here!). The process of making the prototype, and actually getting to play through my game, was very enlightening and showed me a lot as I’ve worked towards making a more fully-fledged game. I wanted to outline some of the things that I’ve learned, and some of the things I’m changing in the new version. 

• First off, I scrapped my entire code base. This was honestly a difficult decision for me, and I’m still not sure if it was the right one. I had made a few questionable organization decisions to save time, and I was worried about scaling them to a larger system, particularly when adding in new systems like saving, inventory storage, or even smaller things like respawning and talking to NPCs. 
• One big thing I changed was scaling back to only 1 weapon. In the prototype, you have 3 ways to attack enemies, and in my new version I’ve kept it at just a sword. I’m not ruling out throwable items or alternate melee weapons in the future, but I found I had much more fun using the sword than the bow or bombs. 
• I alluded to it earlier, but I also updated my NPC script to make them more interesting and give new options. I had added a couple simple NPCs in my prototype, and I noticed that people always wanted to talk to them, even if they didn’t say much. Now, NPCs can tell stories, ask questions, and more. 
• The sprites I used were from a creator on Itch and featured a very cute art style. They were great, but they don’t match the tone I was going for, so, for better or worse, I’ve decided to draw the art myself. It’s been a time-consuming process, but I’m happy with the results so far. 
• UI has been a much bigger focus for me. I noticed some people had difficulty navigating my menus and interfaces, even with how simple I made them, so I’ve devoted a lot of time to making them more clear and user-friendly. 
• Finally, I really liked the way feedback felt in attacks in the prototype, so I’ve maintained a lot of similar aspects (and some things, like the screen shake system, are copy-pasted).

Overall, I took a lot away from the process, and it’s given me a lot of things to work on. If you’re interested and willing, I’d still love to hear your feedback and what you like (or dislike) about the systems I implemented in the prototype. I’ll continue to share updates on my progress as I make it, so check back here if you’re interested in following along. 

Thanks for reading!