#i think there is talk of an in game currency so that'll be cool!!

[creepling]

the tcm gameplay discourse is getting sooo toxic and imo people are just blatantly wanting nerfs and changes due to (what i think) is skill issue. im really hoping the devs weave through the complaints that are obviously wanting to make it victim/family sided and get easy wins.

while i'm on the topic, here are things i think they should change for both family and victim gameplay:

instead of calling for nerfs,,, CALL FOR BUFFS. sonny and sissy are in desperate need of buffing. i think sonny should have more default attribute points into stealth, as his ability and perks encourage that gameplay, but his low toughness have players worried he will be one shotted. and sissy should have more damage to her poision, or at least have rubber legs in the ability tree instead of as a perk. i loved the outcry to rebuff johnny but i wish sonny and sissy got the same attention, instead of people accepting their weakness and refusing to play them/dodge lobbies if they have been picked.

speaking of stealth, there still needs to be more encouragement on putting points into it. there is the meta that stealth is useless. i think if they release a character that is highly good in stealth, it will show players how beneficial it can be. i think youtuber gameplay can solve this more than the devs, creating an off-meta build where you're maxed in stealth, cut down bone chimes, use perks like overlooked, sanguine shadow, etc. since they're like "gaming influencers" it might encourage people to try new builds.

for family, when they give blood to grandpa, i think it should only take the required amount instead of all your blood. grandpa is a greedy lil man and when you're a few blood off of max lvl, he takes all the blood and you're left with nothing when the victim stabs grandpa. it will be a good opponent for the meta play of stabbing grandpa constantly for points. and if it only takes the required amount, taking you a lvl up but at 0, then it still means u need a full blood vial to lvl him up again; so it's not totally OP.

there is also the bugs and glitches that need fixing also. and i'm in agreement with everyone about the lobbies. but yknow what? i think people just need to change their attitudes. i have not been able to max out sissy because people will lobby dodge when they see her or i will have someone blatantly shout at me on comms to change character. whereas with victims, when my connie was still level 1, players wouldn't moan or make me change in fear that i'm a noob. it's happened less recently because the lobbies are so long, people just accept there is a full team and cba leaving and waiting another 30 mins for a game. i hope the devs prioritise the lobbies bc it's causing burn out and it's just torture to go through. and with additional buffs for some characters, people might not be as bitter when you play them.

and danny? maybe he is too OP, but i think he should stay somewhat OP as he is a paid character. if they nerfed him like they did johnny, they're basically not advertising why you should buy him in the first place, so it's shitty for the people who paid. plus, his ability is a great opponant to the pressure valve change. i think his instant study shouldn't be right away instant, but instead have you in a 1-3 second animation. and for nancy, her trap setup should be the same duration as hitchhikers, but other than that i don't think she needs a nerf. victims can combat her clear vision senses, spinning the camera, looking into a shadow/corner, etc. if the nancy is not on comms, then you're basically in the clear anyways. and with people complaining about pins and needles, you're basically taking a gamble with that perk, so it's not always OP. i wish that nancy was more of a counterpart to danny, but a chaser works best to keep the pressure on him. plus i love the gameplay where you see someone playing a character and you're like "they're the prime target, get them out asap" or "they cause more damage, i need to stay away from them". that's what makes it fun!!

[farer-dreamer]

Rough Ideas and Main Character

(9/3/24) - There's art in this one I swear

Planning… Scheming, even

Because I admittedly don't have a lot of concept artwork done for this project, my informal pitch presentation I'm gonna put together for class is mostly going to consist of my mood board images, games I've taken inspiration from, and a rough idea as to what levels I'd like to make and the "storyline" of this game (aka, Doc just wants to go outside and touch grass). I may also get into some of the NPCs I hope to include in the game that the player can talk to, but I also don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Anyways here's my rough ideas thus far, this is gonna be more of a ramble/brainstorm as opposed to something put together super neatly lol:

Story…

Farer Dreamer is a game about a character named Doc who felt their life was too stagnant and wanted to go out and explore the world. They board a magical subway car named Ferri who takes them to various places.

Gameplay and Mechanics…

The player will have basic movement controls, as well as a jump (…maybe a double jump?), and maybe a dash/sprint… honestly this is super subject to change as I get the levels put together and all of that but the primary focus of this game is exploration. The player will also be able to interact with NPCs they meet during their journey, usually chatting, sometimes giving items they'll pick up during their travels

Items! yeah! I think it'd be neat if the player could gather items from specific levels and then use them elsewhere/gift them to NPCs as mentioned before. Maybe some of these items can be used on the player and have differing effects. I do plan on having a health system/death state in Farer Dreamer, so some of these item effects can play a role in that. Speaking of that, when the player dies they'll lose whatever items were in their inventory at the time. Before entering a level they'll have the opportunity to talk to Ferri (the AI running the subway) and from there they can store their items on the train car. I think this can add more a risk/reward mechanic to the gameplay, even if this game is more exploration based.

The basic gameplay loop I have in mind is you start on the subway car, arrive at a stop and exit the car, enter the level and explore/survive, re-find your way to the subway car (completing a level or just re-entering from the entrance of the car if it doesn't disappear), rinse and repeat. I think that I'll also include a mechanic where the player can reset themselves back onto the subway car, but it would be similar to dying so they'd lose their items.

I think another mechanic I might add is the ability to sell items on the train for currency. See I kind of want to add shops that you can visit in the random levels, but I'm not entirely sure how I want to go about obtaining currency… but I feel like this would give the items more of a purpose and also add to that risk/reward thing (heck maybe if I decide to be real mean you can lose your coins when you die to. We'll see how evil I feel when I start polishing all this rambling)

Visuals…

Visually, I envision this game looking similar to the Paper Mario games, with the environments being 3D while the characters and some items are 2D. I plan to use a billboarding effect for the characters that'll follow the camera.

Speaking of, I am still debating on if I want to make the camera static or not. I guess it could be one of those things that depends on the level you're on. Like for some of the more open and explorative levels I think it could be cool to have a toggle for first person to third person view (controlled by the scroll wheel on the mouse). I suppose that's a bridge we can cross when we get there, I know that for the main level hub (the subway car) I want the camera to be 3rd person and static.

So, who are we playing as?

Now lets talk about Doc! The character the player will be playing as. They're a character I've had lingering around since 2020ish, originally starting out as my own take on what my player character in Sky: Children of the Light looked like at the time before eventually evolving into their own thing. They don't really have much of a backstory, as all that I had really written down for them in terms of characterization is that they enjoy traveling.

// Pictured above is various art I've made of Doc from around mid 2020 to early 2021, yes that last picture is technically miitopia fan art as I decided to put them on my team during my playthrough of the switch release hehe

Doc's Updates

This is the first time in awhile they've received any major updates design-wise as for the past couple of years I have been focusing in developing on my other characters and universes. But given their affinity for travel and not already belonging to any set universe of mine, I thought it'd be fitting to plop them into this project as our main player character.

I decided to give them a bit of a redesign for this project for several reasons:

The biggest reason was making them easier to animate. While yes on one hand there is more fabric to have to work with now, I find this new design is easier to break down into basic shapes compared to their old design. The changes made to the arms, hands, and feet will also hopefully make them easier to animate as well.

I also wanted to make them a bit more cartoonishly stylized? In my recent sketches and doodles of them I've found it easier allow myself to be more expressive and silly with them as opposed to their old design where they were more, I guess, "accurately proportionate"

I also wanted to further divorce them from the thing they were originally inspired by, and pulling more from the plague doctor aesthetic they have going on with their new appearance.

I still might tweak some things with their new design, mostly in terms of where some colors are placed, but I think build-wise I'm pretty happy with where they're at! The most relevant row of designs pictured here is the first row as that's how they will appear in-game. The other rows are more for my own reference/to try and make sense of how their clothing is layered on them and whatnot.

// Doc's updated turnarounds!

I think if anything winds up changing in the near future, I may wind up fully closing their little cape thingy… I'll decide once I draw them more probably.

With Doc's redesign mostly out of the way, in the coming weeks I plan to really lock in with figuring out what my level environments look like and how they'll be structured. I also might hop into Unity to test out some gameplay elements and get a movement script going.

// Old Doc meeting new Doc......... new Doc is not actually that teeny