I finally released the prototype of "Shifting Embers"!
It took about two months to make this game. For me, that was a pretty long development period.
There were times when I almost gave up on finishing it. There were also times when development stopped for a while.
So I’m really happy that I could release it, even as a prototype.
What I Managed to Make
The biggest achievement was making the basic game loop.
The player prepares a deck, chooses an escort, enters the dungeon, fights battles with cards, returns to the preparation scene, and tries again.
It sounds simple, but making this loop actually work was a big step for me.
I also added multilingual support. It is still rough, but the game can be played in both Japanese and English. That was a good experience too.
Another thing I wanted to try was avoiding a fixed “best deck” strategy.
In this game, the player travels with a different escort each time. Each escort has different skills, so I wanted the player to change their deck and strategy depending on the escort.
I could not fully complete this idea, but I’m glad I was able to show the basic concept.
What Was Difficult
The most difficult part was expressing the world and story.
I had made a dark fantasy world that I personally liked. I wanted the player to feel that they had to protect the escort.
The escort was not supposed to be just a unit or a parameter. I wanted them to feel like a fragile character who needed protection.
But in this prototype, I could not express that very well.
Most of the worldbuilding stayed as text. In the dungeon, random flavor texts appear, but that was not enough to make the world feel alive.
I thought I could explain the world with text, but I learned that text alone is not enough.
The world needs to be shown through visuals, events, character reactions, UI, enemy design, and the structure of the game itself.
The Escort Needed More Personality
I also think the escort needed more individuality.
In the current version, the differences between escorts are mainly their names and skills.
But if I wanted players to feel responsible for protecting them, I probably needed more.
Different appearances, small backstories, reactions, or short profiles would have helped them feel more like actual characters.
I wanted players to think, “I have to protect this person.”
That feeling was one of the most important parts of the game idea, but I could not fully build the systems and presentation for it.
Things I Had to Cut
To release the prototype, I had to cut many things.
I cut most of the elements that would explain the world, such as escort profiles, visual variations, an intro scene, and random events.
I also gave up on adding more cards, skills, enemies, and deeper balance adjustments.
The dungeon has about 20 floors. Maybe it is a little too short, but with the current amount of content, making it longer would probably have made the game feel too thin.
So I think this was close to the limit for this prototype.
Technical Lessons
On the technical side, I learned a lot.
This time, I tried to keep the core game logic in pure code classes as much as possible. Godot Nodes were mainly used for visuals, input, and presentation.
This structure worked better than I expected, especially for a turn-based RPG.
I also learned more about multilingual support, Resources, data management, card systems, skill systems, and battle flow.
Even though the game itself is small, I gained many useful lessons from making it.
For the Next Project
To be honest, if I play this game again a few months later, I might think it looks rough or simple.
But right now, this was the best I could do.
I’m glad that I released it.
There are many things I could not achieve, and there are many things I want to improve next time.
Still, I think this experience will be useful for my next game.
I want to carry what I learned from "Shifting Embers" into the next project.
