happy veterinarian’s day (and veterans day). time for another VYCE update! (month 5)

Over the last month, I have made a lot of changes to the existing systems in place in order for the game to run smoother and make the world feel more lived-in. One of these changes was updating the enemy VYCE ai – the system I had in place initially was so convoluted that it resulted in pieces moving irrationally, not working together as a unit. This system will likely still need some tweaking, but it is much simpler now. I based it off of the way I decide to move the pieces, so when you are playing against the enemy VYCE, you are basically playing against me.

Another change I made was introducing movement caps. It is no secret that VYCE is based on Chess, and in the game there are rook type VYCE, queen type VYCE, and bishop type VYCE among others. At first, all of these VYCE were essentially the same, but had different prices that dictated their value (similar to how stockfish, the open source Chess AI calculates the best move possible). Now, all of the VYCE in these categories have a movement cap, so some can only move 2 spaces at a time, and some can go as far as 10. This not only introduced more variety among the VYCE, but also a better sense of scaling/progression throughout the game. Now, the VYCE you encounter in the beginning of the game are less powerful than the ones you encounter later on. This also makes battles more intimate and contained rather than enemy VYCE jumping to the other side of the map to hide from your attacks.

gameplay not final – the battle system in action

Other than these significant changes to the VYCE mechanics, I have also added a feature where you can see an enemy VYCE’s available moves before you capture it. At first, this was only possible by capturing it or pissing into the wind and guessing it’s move set. Now, you can see what moves it can make by interacting with them like you would with any other NPC.

the movement preview and inventory system in action

Another thing I focused on were animations – all NPCs now have talking sprites, and the player has idle animations along with running sprites now. The running mechanic was a bit of an undertaking, with the grid system interfering with the smooth, lerped camera I set up earlier. After days of struggling, my girlfriend gave me a bright idea – just slow it down! The movement speed is a bit lower but still faster than most other top down RPGS i’ve played.

The world also has many new additions. I have started working on the interiors of the plasma center, hospital, and NPC houses. The interior of the bar is basically done, I just want to add more NPCS and other minor details. I tend to fill in these spaces much like the one I live in – they start out empty, then get filled with trinkets or strokes of inspiration over time. Last night, I just added in holes the player character punched into their wall. This did not take long, but I’d imagine this small detail speaks volumes about who the protagonist is and their situation.

The game is still far from being finished, but I have maintained my commitment of working on it every day for five months now. I will continue to post monthly updates to keep myself accountable and document the journey. It would also be nice if people read this later on in order to rationalize how much work goes into creating a game. I keep telling myself, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I am privileged to be able to do something like this with no time constraints so I’m free to experiment and go at my own pace.

On top of the game, I have also been working on music for AVG JOES. We are anticipating releasing our album by the end of the year, but we’ve already released the first single called “BINK!” I’ve included a download link down below. On top of this, I have another album I’ve been working in with a friend that just needs some finishing touches that I’m excited to share with you guys. Music from both of these albums will be featured on the radio station in VYCE.

Life has been super busy lately but I’m doing better than ever. Like I said in the previous entry, this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid so actually making something like this is perhaps the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. I look back at the last few years and despite the music or video stuff not really taking off the way I anticipated I feel it was all worth it because this project utilizes everything I’ve learned in those disciplines. I don’t want to hype it up too much because at the end of the day it’s just another quirky Earthbound inspired RPG but I feel like this is something that some people will truly appreciate and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

Thanks for reading!