Hey everyone!

I want to start off by saying thank you for the support and feedback on this project. I recently uploaded a YouTube video detailing the full story of this game. There are some things I had to cut from the video (which I recommend you watch first) so I wanted to go into a deeper dive with this post. Talk about some of the successes, failures, and ultimately what I learned from this project.

Full Video

Origins of this project

Back in 2021 I tried to create a game called "Rogue Royale". My goal was to create a genre mashup between the popular battle royale genre and the infinite possibilities of a RogueLike. What resulted was a decent twin stick shooter game but one ultimately devoid of any RogueLike elements (beyond very simple random map generation).

The project never sat right with me but with other ideas I wanted to work on, this concept got shifted to the back burner then ultimately off the pile entirely.

While I would occasionally consider a re-design I didn't put any serious effort into it until 2023.

In 2023 I began doing a reflection project on some of the older games I had made for a challenge I called "12 games, 12 months, 1 story". After the first three Devlogs I came back to this game. The story behind it and lasting legacy wasn't as great as the other projects I had covered so far.  I started drawing up and seriously reconsidering a proper update to the game to make the reflection video more interesting. I was still unwilling to commit until my game engine (Defold) announced a game-jam. I was unsure if I was going to do it until I saw the theme was 'Infinite Gameplay'. It fit perfectly into my redesign's idea so I took it as a sign and began working on it properly.

Development and Secrets

Development of this game can basically be broken up until 4 parts:

1. The Initial Game Jam Version (Alpha)
2. The Post Jam Version (Alpha 2)
3. Random Map Generation (Beta)
4. The Final Game

Most of these are covered quite extensively in the video I made.

However, there is one thing I purposely left out of the video and that concerns a lot of the deeper secrets of the game. Beyond a few hand crafted levels that can be entered with the right seed name, I did add a few things most players will never stumble across.

I did this for three reasons. 

Firstly, the original game was missing basically all lore. The 'How to play' explained the game was a training simulator. As a critical link in a 12 game story, it felt out of place.  I decided to utilize the game's secrets to not only explain where and when the game takes place, but also to hint at some things in the works. 

Secondly, there was a game/mod going around called MyHouse.wad the game used some mind-bending tricks to create a dark atmosphere that really captivates the audience and makes you think. I wanted to create a similar experience in this game. While I did not go to the same lengths as the MyHouse, it definitely inspired some of the more cryptic elements of the game.

Thirdly, this game was very much a labor of love. I could have easily put in a minimal amount of effort and called it a day. However, with the games I'm turning out taking longer and longer. I wanted to leave something to let the community sink it's teeth into and really explore, theorize and maybe even predict some of the things coming in the future.

Future Plans

In terms of future plans for this game, I do not have many. While I could do small updates like more building prefabs, weapons, perks, etc. None of those would fundamentally change or improve the game experience to the point I'd be willing to commit serious time to them.

 While I could spend another few months adding huge new features and doing a proper commercial release. The game feels much more like a side mode or a minigame then a full experience. I'd have to overhaul the narrative to turn it into a proper story, which takes away from the core of the game which is going into several randomly generated arenas to see how long you can survive.

Lastly I'm committed to another (and a larger) project at this time. I cannot share many details yet,  but follow me for more updates when the time is right!

Thank you for reading!