Tidefall First Release v0.1.0

Hello! And welcome to Tidefall's first game devlog!

---Who I am---

My name is Paul-Arthur Astier, and I am very excited to present my first-ever game devlog. I have been playing video games since I can remember, with my brothers introducing me to Serious Sam 2 when I must have been 8 or 9 years old. From then, my adventures through the vast world of video games began, and I played as much as I could, experiencing as many games as possible. 

Video games are actually what got me into programming and software engineering. The first time I had to do any programming was when I played Minecraft and attempted redstone contraptions with command blocks that required very simple lines of code to do things. However, Minecraft was not the only game that helped me with my engineering skills; puzzle games like Portal 1 and 2 and The Incredible Machine helped me develop my problem-solving skills that help me to this day.

---The Difficulties of Making Projects---

I'm not sure when I got the idea of making video games. It's definitely been on my mind for a long time, crafting different narratives in my head, from multiplayer games to narrative-driven games to even puzzle and tactical games. Before I even came up with Tidefall, I had at least three different games I wanted to make. One, I had made a prototype in Unity, and the other one, I wrote some scripts for, but unfortunately for me, the cycle of coming up with projects, obsessing over them for a while, and then completely abandoning them was repeating itself over and over again. 

It's hard to keep up the interest and passion for a project, the discipline to develop it, the consistency to work on it, and the patience to see it through. When I come up with game ideas, I have these wild imaginations and grand expectations of what they will be, often focusing on one mechanic, theme, boss, event, or concept and building the rest of that. But very often, these ideas need solid foundations to stand on, and that is when I usually fail. 

When I start a project, I will laser focus on one thing and its details, never having a goal or end point for the project. This can make development very difficult because as the game is being built, the polish and details are prioritised over the foundations, making it hard for an actual game to be made and appreciated by others. Having no end goal means that I can keep working on something unimportant, exhaust myself, and forget why I am doing a project in the first place anyway. To make a game for others to enjoy. And to make some cash, but that's less important, at least to you.

---Foundation Over Details---

I have a lot of experience working in Unity, but I have almost nothing to show for it. Sure, I have started many projects I can be proud of and have taught me a lot doing them, but where are they? Well... they're unplayable, have no game loop, can't be appreciated, and provide no proof of my skills and work. They exist and have cool features and well-made systems! It doesn't matter; they can't be played, so they might as well not exist to anyone other than me.

This is where I wanted to change with Tidefall. By no means is Tidefall a finished project—far from it, actually—but it is a released and playable project with a simple game loop of questing. This simple game can now be playtested and built upon. Still, it is undeniable proof that I have some actual skills—well, I hope at least—to potential employers and, more importantly, to myself. 

It's disheartening to start a project with amazing ideas only to quickly realise that implementing them will take a lot of time and effort, and ultimately, the project will be abandoned before any of my work can be recognised. This is why I am proud of Tidefall, even though it is only fifteen minutes of fetch quest.

---Tidefall---

Like many other ideas, Tidefall came to me while consuming other media. This time, I was playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a fantastic Ukrainian game with Slavic lore, when its recurring psychic storm rolled in. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a survival/exploration game that is fantastical but still grounded in reality, and one of its iconic features is psychic storms, which make the player go insane if they stay in the open for too long. I'm not sure why, but it reminded me of that one scene in Nemo where they get stuck in the jellyfish forest, and that made the gears in my head turn. 

What if I made a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-type game but underwater? Then, I would get even better ideas to combine with that theme. All Tomorrows is an evolutionary horror book in which the future human species is forcefully genetically engineered by powerful deities called The Qu. Many of the humans get transformed into very bizarre species, ranging from lizards to snakes to really disgusting creatures, all while having some human consciousness. Eventually, The Qu moves on, leaving all species to start evolving independently, making new intelligent species that replace humans. 

One of those species was called the Tool Breeders. Due to being underwater, they could not discover and use fire, meaning that steel and other materials that needed high heat couldn't be synthesised. So, instead of melting steel to make tools, they took their environment and bent it to their will, making tools out of living creatures, like mollusc spearguns, bioluminescent lanterns, whale submarines, and so much more.

This idea would fit so well in an underwater game, as cool tools and weapons could be crafted for the player to use and to build the world and theme. I have so many more ideas I want to implement and put into the game, and I am very excited to work on them and bring them to life.

---Design Choices--- 

I started developing Tidefall by doing some straightforward things, like making basic movement and camera scripts, creating a world for the player to inhabit, etc. Once I had the basics, I started hunting for some essential art and asset packs. I stumbled upon some low poly ocean asset pack that would work perfectly for me, as many of the features I wanted were already well implemented. Low poly also has the advantage of looking good despite objects clipping into each other.

With the visual design picked, I started to think about the ambience and music theme, so I began looking for ocean-themed music. However, I quickly concluded that ocean-themed music was not a strict category and that a lot could fit the game. The first soundtrack that would fit the game well and be a placeholder for the time being was the music of the movie The Whale, as it fits the Victorian era that I was looking for.

Another O.S.T. that really works well is the Bloodborne music, as it is made for an eldritch and Victorian-era theme.

---Conclusion---

Overall, I am excited to continue working on Tidefall and, hopefully, one day complete it with all the ideas and features I have planned. I invite you all to come along and witness my progress!