Desperado
Course Instructor
Pramod Gupta
Abstract
The project I have created, titled “Desperado”, is intended to be a “tactical turn-based role-playing game (or RPG)” video game for players both new and familiar to the genre and that plays in a 2.5D perspective, meaning the game operates in a 2D space but has a 3D feel to it due to the way the assets were created and used. In general, tactical turn-based RPGs feature strategic gameplay on a grid- or tile-based system where you control a number of units and try to achieve a certain win condition. The objective can change on a level-to-level basis but is typically defaulted to defeating some number of enemies pit against you. Different games will emphasize different aspects of a typical tactical turn-based RPG which include but are not limited to story writing, worldbuilding, character creation, combat, open world exploration, and character progression systems. In Desperado, due to the time constraints and its nature of being a solo project, the main focus/objective was to attempt to create a working demo that shows off a part of its main gameplay loop and some of the basic features that a level in the game will have, such as pixel art assets, player controls, character/enemy movement and pathfinding, simple combat, and UI functionality.
The main purpose of creating Desperado was to gain a better understanding of the ins and outs of what it means to be a game developer. While being a good programmer plays an important role in being a good game developer, a game developer has their own unique hemisphere of skills and experience in certain aspects that don’t necessarily overlap with being a good programmer, such as story writing (not shown in the demo as it isn’t critical to showcase game’s main features) and asset creation. In the case of Desperado, the learning process for creating pixel art required learning incredibly basic but important fundamentals such as color theory, common animation practices, and stylistic decisions someone can make when creating pixel art. All pixel art featured was created in “Aseprite”, a program specifically for pixel art creation in which learning how to use came with its own set of challenge. A second element that needed to be considered was designing the actual features and functions of the game, especially pertaining to the main gameplay loop. Beyond needing to be entertaining, a game should have intuitive features and controls that “make sense” to the average player but also be unique in ways that make the game stand out amongst similar experiences. Last but not least, learning a game engine and its capabilities proved to be a vast undertaking on its own. Developed in Godot, the importance of learning things such as how to use the tools given to you, understanding terminology, how to navigate menus, and using GDScript (Godot’s native programming language) was felt throughout the entire development process. The project’s development served as a great steppingstone to understanding the work, technical knowledge, and experience needed to become a good game developer.
Desperado
The project I have created, titled “Desperado”, is intended to be a “tactical turn-based role-playing game (or RPG)” video game for players both new and familiar to the genre and that plays in a 2.5D perspective, meaning the game operates in a 2D space but has a 3D feel to it due to the way the assets were created and used. In general, tactical turn-based RPGs feature strategic gameplay on a grid- or tile-based system where you control a number of units and try to achieve a certain win condition. The objective can change on a level-to-level basis but is typically defaulted to defeating some number of enemies pit against you. Different games will emphasize different aspects of a typical tactical turn-based RPG which include but are not limited to story writing, worldbuilding, character creation, combat, open world exploration, and character progression systems. In Desperado, due to the time constraints and its nature of being a solo project, the main focus/objective was to attempt to create a working demo that shows off a part of its main gameplay loop and some of the basic features that a level in the game will have, such as pixel art assets, player controls, character/enemy movement and pathfinding, simple combat, and UI functionality.
The main purpose of creating Desperado was to gain a better understanding of the ins and outs of what it means to be a game developer. While being a good programmer plays an important role in being a good game developer, a game developer has their own unique hemisphere of skills and experience in certain aspects that don’t necessarily overlap with being a good programmer, such as story writing (not shown in the demo as it isn’t critical to showcase game’s main features) and asset creation. In the case of Desperado, the learning process for creating pixel art required learning incredibly basic but important fundamentals such as color theory, common animation practices, and stylistic decisions someone can make when creating pixel art. All pixel art featured was created in “Aseprite”, a program specifically for pixel art creation in which learning how to use came with its own set of challenge. A second element that needed to be considered was designing the actual features and functions of the game, especially pertaining to the main gameplay loop. Beyond needing to be entertaining, a game should have intuitive features and controls that “make sense” to the average player but also be unique in ways that make the game stand out amongst similar experiences. Last but not least, learning a game engine and its capabilities proved to be a vast undertaking on its own. Developed in Godot, the importance of learning things such as how to use the tools given to you, understanding terminology, how to navigate menus, and using GDScript (Godot’s native programming language) was felt throughout the entire development process. The project’s development served as a great steppingstone to understanding the work, technical knowledge, and experience needed to become a good game developer.
