Solo dev building my first Unity adventure game — what should I focus on first?

Honestly as someone also just starting out ....I'd go with a short playable demo first.

sophie-talks wrote:

Honestly as someone also just starting out ....I'd go with a short playable demo first.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. I was probably trying to polish too many things at once.

I’ll try to make a small demo first and see how it feels. Where would you share it to get some early feedback?

It's hard to say without seeing what stage the game is in at the moment. You say you've been working on this list of features; are they all implemented and properly functioning? If so, well done (that's a lot of functionality!) If not, I'd focus on getting all of those core features functioning properly.

Outside of that, my first focus would be on implementing satisfying gameplay mechanics before visuals. That said, it does seem like you have a narrative focus for this game, so polishing the presentation of your story might be more important to your vision than mechanics.

As for a demo, I think it sort of depends on your goal with the game. The main purposes I'd see for a demo would be to bring in attention to the game before releasing it, or to have a few playtesters give early feedback to guide the direction of the game.

So if you just want to keep chugging away and making the game better, fiddling with a demo might not be worth the time (you can always make a demo later, when the game is fuller).

At any rate, if you're overwhelmed or at a loss for what to work on next, I'd just pick something that you value as a player of games, and put your head down on that.

And if you share a video, it might be easier for us to point some stuff out. OBS Studio can record your gameplay; it's free and open source. Lightworks is a video editor with a free version that lets you clip together and export videos (including .mp4s and .gifs for posting on social media).

CaseyHardman wrote:

It's hard to say without seeing what stage the game is in at the moment. You say you've been working on this list of features; are they all implemented and properly functioning? If so, well done (that's a lot of functionality!) If not, I'd focus on getting all of those core features functioning properly.

Outside of that, my first focus would be on implementing satisfying gameplay mechanics before visuals. That said, it does seem like you have a narrative focus for this game, so polishing the presentation of your story might be more important to your vision than mechanics.

As for a demo, I think it sort of depends on your goal with the game. The main purposes I'd see for a demo would be to bring in attention to the game before releasing it, or to have a few playtesters give early feedback to guide the direction of the game.

So if you just want to keep chugging away and making the game better, fiddling with a demo might not be worth the time (you can always make a demo later, when the game is fuller).

At any rate, if you're overwhelmed or at a loss for what to work on next, I'd just pick something that you value as a player of games, and put your head down on that.

And if you share a video, it might be easier for us to point some stuff out. OBS Studio can record your gameplay; it's free and open source. Lightworks is a video editor with a free version that lets you clip together and export videos (including .mp4s and .gifs for posting on social media).

Thanks a lot, that actually helps.

Most of the systems are implemented in a basic way but many of them still need polish and better balance. The core things like movement, archery, enemies, missions, chests, puzzles and UI are already working, but I still need to improve stability, performance, enemy behavior and the overall game feel...

I think you’re right about not rushing the demo too early. Maybe my next step should be to make a small vertical slice feel better first, instead of trying to show everything at once.

The game have a narrative/spiritual focus, so I’ll probably try to improve both the gameplay feel and the way the story moments are presented..

I’ll record a short gameplay video and share it here soon. That should make it easier to get more specific feedback.

Honest answer: combat feel. Adventure games with archery live or die on the moment you draw the bow. If that's satisfying, players forgive rough edges everywhere else. If it isn't, nothing else matters. Sekiro had jank, but the sword felt incredible.

Ferreira wrote:

sophie-talks wrote:

Honestly as someone also just starting out ....I'd go with a short playable demo first.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. I was probably trying to polish too many things at once.

I’ll try to make a small demo first and see how it feels. Where would you share it to get some early feedback?

I'd probably share it in place like itch.io, then post about it on several video gaming sub-Reddits.

The way you've described your game puts me in the mind of Zelda games. I'd point you to Twilight Princess as a guiding star. Way more narratively powerful than prior Zelda games, in my opinion, and the bow-and-arrow was satisfying as hell (most Zelda games got the archery down pat, to be honest).

Alan Voren (PlayServ) wrote:

Honest answer: combat feel. Adventure games with archery live or die on the moment you draw the bow. If that's satisfying, players forgive rough edges everywhere else. If it isn't, nothing else matters. Sekiro had jank, but the sword felt incredible.

Yeah, I agree.

I’m already working on that, and the archery/combat is starting to feel more satisfying, but it still needs a lot of improvement overall — especially the draw, release, impact, sound, and feedback.

I’ll probably keep focusing on making that core feel better before adding too many new systems.

sophie-talks wrote:

Ferreira wrote:

sophie-talks wrote:

Honestly as someone also just starting out ....I'd go with a short playable demo first.

Yeah, I think that makes sense. I was probably trying to polish too many things at once.

I’ll try to make a small demo first and see how it feels. Where would you share it to get some early feedback?

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I'd probably share it in place like itch.io, then post about it on several video gaming sub-Reddits.

Thanks! I actually posted a short gameplay video on Reddit to show the current state of the project..

It s still early, but Im trying to get feedback before deciding what to polish next. Today I also started working on a boss fight, because I want to focus on building a small playable demo and get more opinions from people.

I still need to improve a lot of things, especially the enemy AI and the overall combat feel, but I’m trying to move one step at a time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/devBR/comments/1tuannp/naya_the_forgotten_path/

I appreciate your feedback 🙂

CaseyHardman wrote:

The way you've described your game puts me in the mind of Zelda games. I'd point you to Twilight Princess as a guiding star. Way more narratively powerful than prior Zelda games, in my opinion, and the bow-and-arrow was satisfying as hell (most Zelda games got the archery down pat, to be honest).

That’s a great reference, thanks.

Zelda is definitely one of the inspirations, especially in terms of exploration, atmosphere, puzzles, and the feeling of adventure. I haven’t looked deeply at Twilight Princess yet, but I’ll definitely study it more, especially how it handles story moments and bow mechanics.

I’m trying to build something much smaller (and simple..), of course, but that kind of direction makes a lot of sense for what I want this game to become.

Ferreira wrote:

CaseyHardman wrote:

The way you've described your game puts me in the mind of Zelda games. I'd point you to Twilight Princess as a guiding star. Way more narratively powerful than prior Zelda games, in my opinion, and the bow-and-arrow was satisfying as hell (most Zelda games got the archery down pat, to be honest).

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That’s a great reference, thanks.

Zelda is definitely one of the inspirations, especially in terms of exploration, atmosphere, puzzles, and the feeling of adventure. I ...

Not sure how into music you are, but pretty much everyone who played Twilight Princess remembers Midna's Lament:

Music can go a long way in a narrative. Even simple music.

CaseyHardman wrote:

Ferreira wrote:

CaseyHardman wrote:

The way you've described your game puts me in the mind of Zelda games. I'd point you to Twilight Princess as a guiding star. Way more narratively powerful than prior Zelda games, in my opinion, and the bow-and-arrow was satisfying as hell (most Zelda games got the archery down pat, to be honest).

Show more

That’s a great reference, thanks.

Zelda is definitely one of the inspirations, especially in terms of exploration, atmosphere, puzzles, and the feeling...

Thank u 🙂