My Plans

Hi guys...

I’m sure you’re interested to know some more about this game. I have put a brief outline of my plans below.

What is it?

So, I am planning to create an action game in a small community called Honeycomb Valley. The valley will include 10 - 20 large houses which the player will be able to enter. There will also be forests in the surrounding areas with cabins randomly dotted around for more areas to explore. 
I want to cater for as many weapon preferences and fighting styles as possible so there will be an array of guns, melee and throwable weapons for the player to find. There will be a lot of enemies to fight all over the map. 
I am currently working on a good storyline as I believe this is important for the overall experience of the game. I will go into more detail on this in a later post. 
As I mentioned in my previous post I have created a survey for gamers to express their opinions regarding their in game preferences. Once I have enough responses I will use this information to make more concrete decisions within my game.

Why?

I am creating this game because I believe my previous attempt doesn’t show my full potential. I love games and I want to make one that I am 100% happy with. 
I am deliberately including certain aspects in the game that can be shown separately in a portfolio for example each of the houses can be shown individually with a walkthrough video. 
Even though I am more confident with my abilities now than before my last game I still need to hone my skills, making this game the perfect independent project. 
My goal in life is to work at a game company so I am hoping this project will help me to achieve that goal.

How long? 

I have from the 1st of February 2017 to the 28th February 2018. 

Obviously you can tell I have started a bit early but most of the work I have done over the last few months have been planning and familiarising myself with the programs again. 

The first week of February will be ‘crunch’ time where the amount of hours I spend on the game will be stricter; I will spend 8 hours a day, 3 days a week on the game. There will be times when I have extra shifts at my part time job but I will compensate for this by making up the 8 hours elsewhere like splitting it across a few evenings.

The image below shows a Gantt chart of my plans.

The dates on the chart are guidelines I will be working with. I know there will be unforeseen problems that I will have to adapt to so the Gannt chart will be changing slightly throughout the project to accommodate this. Each task you see on the chart is a general term that encompasses many smaller tasks, which will be broken down to form daily goals.

What software?

The main programs I plan to use are Autodesk 3DS Max, the Unreal Game Engine, Autodesk Mudbox, Blender, Autodesk AutoCAD and Adobe Photoshop.

What hardware?

I am currently working on my laptop and will be until the end of February. At the end of January I will have saved up enough money to buy a custom computer, this will take around 4 weeks to arrive. The custom computer will have high enough specifications for me to run the Unreal Game Engine more efficiently. Lastly a Wacom graphic tablet for 2D drawings.

That’s all for now, I’ll be back soon.