Time to take matters in my own hands

First thing's first, an introduction.

I am a game designer by profession and I sometimes do concept art and in-game art as well. But working for someone means you don't get to choose the limitations you want to be put on yourself. You don't get to choose the IP, or the kind of game you want to make. These things are dictated top-down. So I have been thinking of starting a side project of my own for some time now. I tried to get some programmers onboard, but I guess I am not as persuasive as I like to think I am. But now I have taken things in my own hand and this blog is going to be my diary of the journey that I am undertaking which may or may not end up in success.

So, being a designer, I know the game(s) I want to make and the IP want to build around it. I can also dabble in some concept art. What I am currently zero at, is programming and 3D art (especially making game-ready assets). I can model a little bit in zbrush, but the direct output of that is millions of polygons in each and every model. So I will have to teach myself these things along the way.

I have picked up a course from Udemy and have started following it. It is called "Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D" and so far, I'm pleased with the way they explain the concepts. Comes the end of part 3 of their lecture series where they ask us to produce a small state machine that can act like a basis for a text adventure game, and publish it on their website. 

Even though the text adventures are multilinear, I find them extremely deterministic in nature. So I thought I would spice things up a bit by asking the player to manage some resources while introducing some trigger events that will lead to the inevitable deterministic path of text adventures. They already taught me how to make a state machine; building a system around it cant be that hard! (I was disabused of that notion as soon as I delved into it). For a programming knowledge perspective, I was not prepared for what I was facing. But a million google searches later, I think I have persevered, and I have a functional toy on my hand. 

I am absolutely sure that the way I achieved this state is NOT optimal. Not even close. But this is what I know how to do things at this time. I will be sharing screenshots and sometimes, snippets of codes, if I have questions about it. Also, time and again, will drop some lore and art, and once it is published on their website, I will share a link of it for you to play.

Disclaimer: DO NOT expect anything big right away. I am just dipping my toe into this world of programming. It will be a prototype, It will be messy, and it will be cheesy at times. And writing about it isn't meant to market a viable product. It is meant to keep pace of my progress (or lack thereof) in my journey. Hope it turns out favorable and results in some fun games.

Best,

Abdullah