Part 1: Getting Started

Last year I made a game called Ask Her Out in GB Studio, about Mint asking a girl out after traveling through the city. It was a very simple game that allowed me to learn how to make my first game ever from beginning to end. This year I've decided to make a sequel to that game called Mint's Summer Bash! in GB Studio as well. This time, however, it will be more complicated than the last game, as I now have a good grasp of GB Studio, and want to challenge myself further. 

Mint's Summer Bash! (MSB) will have combat in it, which in and of itself will be a new challenge for me in GB Studio. However, 2.0 has some new abilities to make that sort of thing easier to implement, and I now have a reason for combat to exist, which wasn't the case for Ask Her Out (AHO). 

The scope will still be incredibly small, with the opportunity to expand if necessary. What I will definitely include:

• Engaging enemies in combat
• Retrieval of the pendant
• Opening and ending cutscenes

What I hope to include: 

• HP 
• Game Over State
• Midlevel Cutscenes
• Light puzzle-solving using items

You might think not having a game over state or hit points is a weird hope as opposed to a requirement, but one key difference between AHO and MSB is that I'm making the former while also having a full-time job. By focusing on only those 3 definites, I will be able to finish this Game Jam without feeling like I've made too many compromises. Subsequently, anything I can add from the Hopes column will simply be gravy, which in turn will make me feel like I am a cool and smart person. 

I have the general idea for the game prepared, but another change I will make compared to AHO is having more pre-planning done to start with. AHO was built on the seat of my pants  This means I will be diagraming the flow of the game, as well as the programming of combat. When I have the fundamentals built, I can then add on as I need to if I have the free time to bug test any additions. 

For the next blog post, I will document the hand-drawn planning for the game, and describe some of my thought process as it pertains to building around GB Studio's limitations, as well as part of why I've come to enjoy working in GB Studio.