Though it’s not quite complete, today I started working on the very first explorable area of Shadowdawn: Genesis. Since I have no official artwork generated, I’ve been building everything piece by piece from the dirt and grass map tiles to the tarps. I added the 2nd half of the opening cutscene (the first half occurs on the map outside, which is next on the list), but since this is the first area the player can actually move around and collect things, it’s where I’m beginning. Besides, I can link the end of the cutscene to the start of this one with no problems 🙂
This has been a good experience because now that I’m making the real game, I know what the real game is going to need programmed. After I finish posting this entry into blog, I’m going to add a few more pieces of furniture and debris (it is outdoors after all) and some code to do a simple glow for the lantern I’ll be drawing next. I realized that this game is technically the first of mine that most people will see and there’s no reason I need to go all crazy with shadows and lighting if it’s just going to slow everything down.
As I get further along, there will be more and more art I can reuse in other areas, which means there’s less time I waste drawing them up, so these first areas are going to take the longest to develop.
