The driftwood will remind him about eternity
The power of ten thousand souls flows through me as I open GameMaker. A cursed scream escapes my throat as I watch my possessed fingers furiously writing lines of flawless (though haunted) code. A demonic entity bursts free from my chest in a ring of fire. His terrible visage turns toward me and whispers, “This walk cycle could use some work.”
All this can only mean one thing: it’s the officially month of monsters.
Happy October, y’all.
One of my favorite trends in video game development is how increasingly open its become. It used to be that game creation was (to players, at least) an unknowable and arcane process that you could only catch glimpses of in magazines or websites.
These days you can find all sorts of examples of refreshingly open development – there’s Dwarf Fortress’ extensive roadmap and dev logs, Subnautica went and made their whole Trello board public, and even big companies like Fortnite are letting everyone see progress on feedback and suggestions.
I’ve been creating developer diaries and public demos since I started Village Monsters, but I wanted to do even more – I wanted to be as transparent and candid and naked as possible.
So I decided to do just that. Not the naked part, I’m still mostly clothed.
Good news, Appleheads: Village Monsters is now available on Mac!
You can download it right here
As with the Linux releases, the Mac versions will be labeled as “Lightly Tested” until I’m more comfortable with the process. On my old (~2009) MacBook it runs but at a low performance – which I suppose is to be expected from a 9 year old laptop.
Going forward all three platforms should release at the same time, which is a very big step for our little monster game.
Hit me up if you have any issues
The past couple weeks were so focused on the demo release that I went on a developer diary hiatus – but we’re back today, baby!
(Also, why not check out the demo if you haven’t already?)
You’ll notice a definite trend in what I’ve been working on this week: villager interactions. This’ll remain a major priority for probably the next month and includes things like player-involved conversations, quests, schedules, villagers interacting with the world alongside you, and more.
Let’s dive in.
The final new version of the Summer Sherbert demo has been released. This is a small update containing mostly crash and display fixes.
The next demo is due out in October. See you then!
To grab the demo you should head on over to the download page.
A new version of the Summer Sherbert demo has been released. This is a small update containing a number of fixes and quick improvements based on your feedback.
To grab the demo you should head on over to the download page.
I’m very excited to announce that the latest Village Monsters demo – code named Summer Sherbert – has been released.
To grab the demo you should head on over to the download page.
It’s been about three months since the last demo, and as usual there have been too many changes to list in one blog post. This is also the first publicly available demo since last October, so for a lot of you the game will feel very different.
First up, a few key details:
Make sense? Cool. Here’s what else you can do in this new version…
The most important part of any village are its villagers – and this one is no different. Make new friends by talking with these monstrous villagers throughout the day. Each one has their own distinct personality, relationships, hobbies, and schedule that they follow. Get to know them all!
What better way to start your new relaxing life then by picking up a hobby?
Hunt for critters out in the wild and catch them with your net. Go fishing in the ocean or in one of the many ponds and rivers. Dig for treasures, then sell your findings for big profits or donate them to the library.
The world truly changes as the day goes by. Certain flowers wake up with the sun – other plants go to sleep. Villagers follow a simple schedule and have new things to talk about. Morning fog makes way to afternoon sun.
From beaches to forests and graveyards to farms, there’s a lot to see outside the village.
You’ll never need to worry about enemies or stamina, so grab a comfy pair of boots and get exploring! Each area has secrets worth uncovering, and knowing what to look for might even help you in the final game.