Devlog 01 — Initial idea

I'm starting a new game project and thought I'd maintain a devlog for it, so here goes —

The game's working title is "Faller," and I'm aiming for a ~10 minute playtime. The basic concept is a first-person 3d platformer set in a looping world in the sky. There are a bunch of platforms scattered in a loose column up in the clouds; when you fall off the bottom-most one, you find yourself about to land on the top-most one! What the heck?! You must explore the platforms to find key items and movement upgrades, and eventually plan a route through the loop that will allow you to escape. I'd like a player's first playthrough to be focused on exploration, discovery, and mastering the movement controls, and allow for speedrunning on repeat playthroughs if players are interested in that.

I don't have a clear art direction in mind yet. Art is not my forte so it'll likely come down to "any style I can make work." So far, I've got a nice skybox and some clouds in place, as well as speed lines and a smoke poof upon landing. I've got a few ideas for the platforms — an island with a waterfall off its edge; a small forest; a wooden bridge connecting two islands; a train following a set path. We'll see how much of this I'm able to pull off!

The story as experienced by players might feel a bit abstract, but it's grounded in a few specific themes and experiences from my life, which I hope will impart some coherency to the tone of the game. If it just feels dreamlike, that's ok too.

So far, I've got a basic prototype of the "looping" mechanic implemented, and it's already a bit thrilling to jump off a platform and land on a lower one (and even more thrilling to miss the landing). Next on my to-do list is to implement some movement abilities — air dash, grappling hook, sprinting, aerodynamic falling.

I'm aiming to spend about an hour per day on this project, so ideally, if I can avoid scope creep, it'll be done in a few months. But... with the way this stuff goes, I can see that turning into a year. I think the art will be the biggest time sink for me, but it's also the biggest opportunity for me to learn new stuff. Let's see! In any case, I'll try to post updates to this devlog as things come along. That's all for now. Thanks for reading, bye bye!