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its not you its me (shutter - devlog 0)

special consideration

a couple months ago, as is usual for exam season, i started mentally gearing up for another stint in game development. whilst not officially confirmed, i think ive accepted the fact that im riddled with an unfortunate case of the gen z (adhd). one monitor ultrakill the other monitor the latest episode of smiling friends type beat. anyways, this means that i suffer from a few different problems that prevent me from starting and/or (most likely never) finishing a project:

the problems begin when a project immediately becomes too difficult or not exciting. i lose the ability to latch onto the idea mentally. it seems everything ends up being an all or nothing endeavour. and if any of those 4 points end up occurring its usually joever. sometimes an area can be interesting and novel and exciting enough that it can override these things. and thats what game development is for me.
it combines every creative medium i like into essentially a big jigsaw puzzle. art, music and writing all combined via programming to make the worlds most invigorating project. making a giant web entirely alone without restraint like this makes me want to do backflips its so exciting. getting anything working makes me dance and smile and yeah i think you get the idea. its thee perfect mental play for my brain. this brings me back to exam season.
i dislike the structured behaviour of coursework and exams, my mind escaping to happier places... e.g. the GAMING. so thats when idea generation begins.

worlds biggest lens in the world (on earth)

i have a friend who does wildlife photography. he has these big ass lenses that feel threatening whenever i see them, something something sigma something something macro im not sure entirely (ill get back to you on what they are once i inevitably enter my photography fixation). after going on a few walks to try get these photos i dont think i grasped just how annoyingly difficult it was to get birds to sit still. you hear one and you sort of look around but it sounds like its coming from over there... or over there? i can never really tell. it was almost comical the swiveling of our heads trying to get a nice photo of literally any bird. i have a new found appreciation for the apparentness of pigeons.
he gave me the idea of trying to make a game about taking photos of birds and what a fun concept. i like collecting things and relaxing games and i reckon this could be a good way for me to practice. having never completed a game bigger than a flappy bird clone this could be a challenge. and of course, i had to make it harder for myself as well.

its not you, its me i think

(to be honest i cannot really tell)

godot is what ive been using for like the last 4 years on and off and i do love it a lot i swear, but i wanted something different. i was getting increasingly frustrated with its lack of pixel-based support and how plain annoying it was to try and make something pixel perfect i couldnt do anything to fix it and i was having stuttering issues for ages and it was my biggest roadblock to actually getting started because i could not get over these issues or let them be. i could not tell if it was the way my nvidia card was interacting with linux or something, if it was godot itself or some other mysterious issue that may or may not even be real maybe im just experiencing an optical illusion or something? at this point who knows. so i went on the hunt. perhaps what i needed was something lower level? something to give me more control over how my game will perform aesthetically.
i settled on love2d. a lua based framework? engine? (even the discord couldnt tell me) that was simple enough to get stuff done but also have full control over how my game works under the hood. just what i needed. and with extensive support and community for i believe over a decade, i think this the best course of action for me. lua would be a new language to learn, but its simplicity is often the main selling point so that shouldn't be an issue coming from plenty of python experience as well.
and so my journey begins! ive already begun learning lua (tables? what the fuck) and researching libraries that can help ease my transition with some already implemented solutions to basic game dev logic (shout out bump, hump and sti (real names btw)). and i have been outlining the vague specifications in a document:

Shutter

Game Summary Pitch

Shutter is a top down game about taking and collecting photos of birds, helping people along the way.

Inspiration

Stardew Valley
Stardew creates a fun and relaxed environment to complete tasks within, the various mechanics and game feel can provide inspiration to Shutter.

Player Experience

Across an open map, the player must search for bids to take photos of to add to their journal, requiring patience and skill to take good, focused photos. The player must find hints and tips to figure out how to get rare birds.

Platform

This game is to be released on Linux, Windows and Mac.

Development Software

LOVE2D for framework
Aseprite for graphics and UI
Bitwig Studio for music

there is still some room for changes and a greater specificity once i begin prototyping, so will make any known changes listed in the next devlog.

what was i doing again?

i hope that i can continue a project like this, especially with summer now coming up. projects like these can become sandpaper to the brain if i cant figure out how to do them but i feel like my skill and the goal have just enough of a gap to make it exciting to reach for. i just need to keep focused and engaged, and i hope these logs can help me get a sense of where i am at and how far i have come. even preserve the feelings and maybe even receive feedback! please let me know at the email listen on my webpage, found in the navbar.
see you next time :3

#devlog #shutter