Welcome to the first I WILL FIND HER devlog! From here on, I will post monthly updates on the development of the game. For more regular content, make sure to follow me on Twitter (@unculturedgames), where I post smaller updates daily.

I will break this devlog down to four segments: (1) the game engine, (2) the procedural map generator, (3) story content, (4) other stuff. In case you're not familiar with this project, you might want to start by catching up on the basics at the project page.

(1) THE GAME ENGINE

The game engine of I WILL FIND HER is progressing steadily, and I would estimate that it's around 75 % completed. Most of the basic features have now been implemented, but there are still some basic fundaments (NPC support, item consumption and sleeping, to name a few) that haven't been coded in yet. While most of the standard stuff is in place, I'm keeping my completion estimate low, because in addition to the few bigger things, I also have an endless backlog of little things and tweaks that need to be implemented or worked on.

The next things on my to-do list include finishing the menu system (this includes item consumption and some small-time crafting elements), sleeping, and player damage/health. After this, we'll basically have a rough but fully playable roguelite demo version of the game ready! This would be a potential moment to hand the demo version out to playtesters to try things out and test out the balance. Contact me here on Itch, on any of my social media accounts or by e-mail if you're interested in testing a bare-bones version of the game in the near future!

Discarded items show on the map and can be picked up again. While the game engine is mostly done, there's an endless backlog of little things like this that need to be implemented.

(2) THE PROCEDURAL MAP GENERATOR

As for now, the map generator supports only a few different map/terrain types: green industrial areas, sandy industrial areas, industrial buildings (indoor maps), a forest/lake area, and road tunnels. However, the scope of the project is much larger, and will include a wide range of different area types: suburban areas, towns, et cetera, plus a lot of special elements and locations to spice up the common procedural maps. Once I have the engine close to completion, I will move on to create these new map types. The procedurally created areas are after all the bread and butter of the game, since handcrafted maps are rare and mostly function as story vehicles.

Creating new types of outside areas should be relatively fast because I can build over all the stuff I already have in place for the finished map types. Indoor areas on the other hand are more detailed and will be much slower to design and code. I have just added support for handcrafted elements to the map generation process. For instance, we can now generate a map that includes a large handmade special building (that is not procedurally created), but everything else in the map is still procedural content. This will bring a lot more variance to the maps with a feasible amount of work. (Let's not get carried away and forget that I'm a part-time hobbyist with two small kids!)

Some early examples of procedural map generation. (The image is not in scale and shows only a small portion of a full map.)

(3) STORY CONTENT

The outline of the game's story is ready and finished, but I haven't began coding any of the story sequences into the game yet. This will have to wait until I have implemented full NPC support and created a couple of new area types. Most of the story in I WILL FIND HER will take place in special locations that are (usually) not part of the procedural map generation process. This means that all of the story locations will be created manually. My map editor is pretty nimble, but it still takes a lot of time to create full maps manually, and disturbingly, this time-consuming part has historically been the part where I abandon all my projects. I WILL FIND HER is very different though, because most of the content will be procedural and I only have to create a very limited amount of custom maps. For me, procedural generation has been a game changer that will hopefully finally allow me to finish a game with a larger scope. This will be surely be the subject of a future devlog!

Zombies used to be ordinary people like you and I. While a new map is generated, you'll be shown the forgotten names of all the zombies you've killed.

(4) OTHER STUFF

As for all the other stuff, the most time-consuming things will be the sound effects and a self-made custom soundtrack. I haven't really done sound design for any of games before, but I'm learning as I go. The soundtrack I have in mind will be a calm and minimalistic take and mainly consist of guitar arrangements. I have a few tunes ready, and they are heavily inspired by Gustavo Santaolalla and his incredible The Last of Us soundtracks. I hope to get a chance to share some music soon! The custom soundtrack is something that I really want to get done, but while I play some instruments and have composed quite a bit of music before, it is still a massive challenge to me. Also, it remains to be seen if the style of music will even fit the game and its retro aesthetics. The game will have a sountrack, that much is clear, but I'm keeping my options open, and working with an outside composer is definitely a possibility too.

That's it! If you read this far, thank you and please leave a comment. If you have any feedback or ideas or just want to chat, feel free to get in touch!

– T / Uncultured Games

PS. Also check out my newly released retro shooter game CODENAME DESPERADO! You can download the full game for free on the Itch.io project page.