Shipkeeper's Log

Summary

• Game trailer is out!
• Game OST
• Player's feedback
• Ko-fi page open
• There will be video devlogs

Hello everyone! First of all I want to thank you all for trying my game, Shipkeeper. I'm glad that it has brought you a fun time, even if it was just a little. :3

There are various things going on with this project, so let's start.

Videogame Trailer

Last week I found out about Talent Land, which is an event from Jalisco, México, where they promote indie developers and their current projects. I know my game is very far from being complete, however, they were glad to showcase it. So I took some time to make the trailer they needed. Here is the result!

Shipkeeper OST

Since the trailer needed a little of background music, I decided to do an additional piece. Now I have two music tracks for the game, which you can hear here:

Player's Feedback

Thank you very much to all who took time to write feedback, your experiences are helpful and important to me. I'm going to summarize all points that were mentioned:

Animations

One of the main observation was the lack of animations. And that is because there is actually no animations at all, except for the corpse monster. But fear not because those are going to be implemented. I'll start with the one for the main character like walking, running and attacks. As for the monsters, they will be reworked for better combat experience.

Visual feedback for player actions

I will be adding much more visual feedback like completion bars and such. However, since repair and clean actions will be developed into something more entertaining than just pressing a button, those bars may not be added right now. But anything else from now on will consider the visual feedback for player, like attacks, damage to monsters and so on.

Game feels slow

I'm gonna have to do a lot of testing here. I don't want this to be too fast, as the plan is to have moments of tension combined with the "peaceful" moments while doing repairs (think solving puzzles in Silent Hill: arranging books while living in a nightmare world). Weapons will also not be automatic or if there is one, it will have to be very powerful but used only for moments when you really would need them. I'll make sure to make it feel less slow.

Character movement: Aim

Yes, the aim is weird. My plan is to add character view aim like Darkwood: Always looking at the mouse while walking, but looking to the front of the character while running. Don't worry, this is not written in stone. I'll still test to see if this gives the right feel for the game, and if it doesn't I'll stick to looking at the mouse all the time.

Better introduction to game mechanics.

Some loved him, others hated him, but Shipkeeper Gardner and his blessed bear now live in every heart that met him. Due to time constraints, I decided to add him as a guide for the player and for more world building. Yes, you will be facing the horrors of the deep sea, but that does not mean that all characters have to be grim. That's why I decided to add a little of friendliness with Gardner. Anyway, what is true, is that gameplay felt interrupted by his constant commentary. So I'm gonna look a better place for him, make a proper introduction to basic controls and knowledge, and leave the rest for discovery by the player. Monsters will have their own way of attacking and multiple ways of being eliminated and I want to keep that as discovery for the player so all new info gets written in their journal and their experience.

Too much repair/clean

Yes I agree. I did the simple press E because anything else was going to take time to implement. But I'm definitely upgrading that boring press E to repair (that I also hated with all my heart, lol) and make it something actually enjoyable. Mini-puzzles, using the correct tool, completing missing parts, etc: repairs have to be fun, and have to make the player experience growing in knowledge about how to actually do the repairs and being efficient. Also for cleaning: Maybe use specific products for specific environments; a power wash? We'll see. Whatever comes to be I'm gonna make sure is enjoyable.

Combat

The combat is also lacking. Once again, time restrictions to implement something better. So, the plan is not only to add more weapons, it is also adding more options to combat: light attacks, strong attacks. I also want to add the possibility of making some weapons more efficient for certain types of enemies, so experience of the player comes into play when facing these horrors.

Purpose

Why don't we simply eliminate all monsters? Why would we care about repairing the ship at all? That's something I want to work on. Right now the idea is to obtain money by selling the repaired ship, which in turn, the player will use to improve equipment and buy food. I want to make this feels like something the character do for a living. But it is also something bigger, since the Island government is involved into, but that is gonna be for latter in the story of the Shipkeepers' world.

Loot

The original plan was to have loot. I will add it because those will help you win extra income, maybe even collect monster parts for some purposes. I also want to add hidden treasures for exploration rewards. Old ghost ships are no fun without hidden treasure, right?

Open Ko-fi page: donations and commissions!

So in order to finance myself, and because I have the terrible necessity to eat and buy stuff, I have opened a Ko-fi page to allow donations (aside from itch.io) and commissions where I can put my pixel art and 2D art skills to use, as well as game testing. As time passes, I will also start adding digital and physical products. But the main objective of all this will be to complete this game.

Youtube channel

I also will be adding little video devlogs in my youtube channel to keep you all posted on how the development of the game is going. I hope to see you all there :)

And that's all, thanks again for checking my work, for your feedback, and for your support!