Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty Nine

A few things done today; I've moved Power from the character to the weapon they use - I think that makes more sense - and I've worked a bit more on the TV. I decided that I wouldn't keep the 'you must kill X enemies to awaken this character' mechanic from the original Killer 7 since as a turn-based RPG with random encounters it would just mean that you need to grind a few enemies to get that, and that's just unfun busywork. Tomorrow I'll continue working on that UI, it should still take a while.

• Time spent on the project so far: 71 hours
• Currently working on: Character TV UI

Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty Seven

Saving and loading was way easier than I thought, and I think I won't get the problems I had with The Proton Orders. I also managed quite easily to make it so I can play the game in development mode without having to go through all screens every time.

Now I'm working on the TV UI. This is a pretty important screen where you can trade thick blood for serum, upgrade your characters and power them up, in this version you'll also be able to change/upgrade weapons as well. I'm not sure I'll keep the 'you must kill X enemies before you can awake a character' mechanic, but I'll figure it out as I go!

• Time spent on the project so far: 69 hours
• Currently working on: Character TV UI

Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty Six

Haven't really worked on the game this weekend and today wasn't a great burst of productivity either, but I've managed to get the loading done in a relatively short period of time. Not all data is properly loaded so far - character health for instance, is always reset - and I still have to figure out how I'll work for the rest of the development - I don't want to go through the normal loading process every time I want to test the game - but this is almost finished. 

• Time spent on the project so far: 68 hours
• Currently working on: Saving and loading

Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty Four

Some more UI work was done today, but I've started moving variables around to facilitate saving and loading. I think that saving is in a good shape right now, but I have to implement loading to make it work. This is a pretty important bit of the project, because being able to load your game means not starting from the beginning and events, cutscenes and other progress-related things will need to be properly initialized when you load from an existing file. This might take a few hours!

• Time spent on the project so far: 66 hours
• Currently working on: Saving and loading

Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty One

Still working on Harman's Room, the tutorial module is more or less done - all that's remaining is to add content to it - and now I've started working on the save module. I also did some work on switching personalities and defining some more game mechanics. I'm not sick anymore and GamesDoneQuick is over, so I should pick back up the steam this week!

• Time spent on the project so far: 63 hours
• Currently working on: Harman Room

Killer 2017 - Entry Thirty

Still working on the first Harman Room. Kinda still sick, and watching Games Done Quick, so I don't have that much free time. There are three components to the room; Tutorials, Saving, and Character related stuff, I'm starting with the tutorials since it's the easiest thing.

• Time spent on the project so far: 61 hours
• Currently working on: Harman Room

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Nine

Working on the first Harman Room now. These rooms are quite feature packed, so it might take a while for me to go through with this one. You can save, level-up your characters - or at least unlock them. You also can view a bunch of tutorials from Iwazaru. I'll probably make most of the rooms identical - the only difference between them in-game is whether you can save, after all.

• Time spent on the project so far: 61 hours
• Currently working on: Harman Room

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Seven

Today I've worked on my design doc some more; I've started laying down the list of every skill that should be created. I've also started working on the concepts of thin and thick blood in Killer 2017. I'm almost done implementing the barebone skeleton structure of the skills actually in-game right now, I only need to get the vision ring in-battle ability working and then I'll move on to awarding thin and thick blood and the followup to the first 'real' battle! I also have to give enemies a way to attack, since you could theoretically get hit in the first battle. 

• Time spent on the project so far: 57 hours
• Currently working on: Skills and combat

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Six

Today was all about skills and combats again; I've worked a bit on the vision ring and I've started to implement the 'Heal' and 'Run' options. This is still a lot of work for not a lot of results, but I have to make this in order for the rest of the game to progress more smoothly.

I also have started to work on enemy passive skills. For instance, the generic Heaven Smiles have 'Melee Attack' this means that they move towards your character each turn in order to explode. By itself, this doesn't do much, but some characters might be able to hit them easier or harder when they get close to attack, the Counter-Attack skill from Killer7 might come in play as well.

• Time spent on the project so far: 56 hours
• Currently working on: Skills and combat

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Five

Today I mostly worked on the various skills characters would have; principally what kind of active skills there would be in the game. So far, I have decided that each character would have one skill to use out of battle, each weapon would have one skill to use in battle (and each character will get three weapons instead of just Dan and Mask getting upgrades) and each ring will have one skill for both inside and outside of battles. There might also be combo skills but I'm not sure of what I'm going to do with combos yet.

There are going to be passive skills as well, but I just don't want to overwhelm myself like I did with The Proton Orders and other games I've made. Of course, this is a turn-based RPG, so a good repertoire of skills is required. 

• Time spent on the project so far: 55 hours
• Currently working on: Skills and combat

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Three

Today I made it so you can see the picture of your current target. I also started working on the map. Next thing will be a cutscene. I was kinda busy this week, but things should clear up this weekend, expect more screenshots and stuff later on!

• Time spent on the project so far: 51 hours
• Currently working on: Map functionality

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty Two

After the tutorial, Killer 7 dumps you into the beginning of the first mission with pretty much all the UI unlocked. You can look at the map and at your target immediately. There's nowhere to go but north, but I still have to make these features work. Afterwards, when you move, there's actually another cutscene, so that might take a bit more time. I think I'll release another playable version when the first mission is done. It shouldn't be -that- long, shouldn't it? 

• Time spent on the project so far: 50 hours
• Currently working on: General UI tweaks and functionality

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty One

Yesterday I had two people try the game and while it's not a massive test base, I made some changes to the tutorial area and a bit of UI tweaks. The compass is a bit clearer and I've added clock icons next to enemy attack cooldowns. I've also added a few lines of dialogue in the tutorial area to let the player know what their next move is.

That being said, I don't want to over-tutorialize the game; Killer 7 is pretty straightforward, but there are a few puzzles here and there still. Having the tutorial be smooth at teaching core gameplay concepts is a good idea, but I wouldn't want to have characters talk about what their next move should be all the time. After all there's Yoon-Hyun ;)

• Time spent on the project so far: 49 hours
• Currently working on: Tutorial tweaks

Killer 2017 - Entry Twenty

This weekend I worked on finishing the tutorial and started to work on some more UI for the 'real' game. You can play the tutorial prototype! It contains bits of the main menu and the movement/interaction/combat tutorial, with a small cutscene beforehand. Please try it out and tell me what you think!

• Time spent on the project so far: 48 hours
• Currently working on: Entrance of the first level