It's been a little bit since I've thrown up a blog, so in this update I'll go over what's been taking away my time from writing a weekly blog.
New Project
I've been working on a new close-source project which I intend to make my first attempt at a game I actually intend on releasing. Progress has been slow but steady as I get used to the new technology stack. I'm making sure to develop all my application code with testing in mind to cut back on regressions that always seem to sneak up in gaming.
The Technology
I'm using two new technologies at scale for me, which are Tauri and SvelteKit.
Tauri is an awesome alternative to Electron that uses the operating system's webview. This allows you to create a desktop application using familiar web frameworks while keeping the resource consumption to a minimum. I know these days we have more memory and disk space than we really know what to do with, but I still feel providing a good user experience from bootstrapping to closing the application should be snappy, and a shared webview should help there.
I've written some hobby articles about SvelteKit before, however, I have never attempted to make a medium to large scale project with it. So far, I am incredibly impressed. I'm largely ignoring the server side capabilities that it provides simply due to the fact that it's not necessary or really possible to run a full webserver locally for a desktop application.
The Premise
I've really taken a liking to idle games these days as they allow you to take a quick break during work or other activities to check on progress and choose your new activities. They also present an opportunity for somebody like me that's always wanted to publish a game but don't have the time to sit down and learn a full-blown game engine. My goal is to work on this project myself and maybe drag my spouse into it for art if I manage to come up with a worthwhile concept.
I intend to make a single player fantasy themed idle game with the core gameplay loop being training your skills. This is very much following in the steps of Runescape or Melvor Idle, but with my own unique take on combat and how skills interact with each other.
I'm also trying to take a different approach as I work on this game. I really am going into this with the idea that I am making a game for myself to play, and if I manage to come up with something that I am happy with, I will offer it to a larger audience for a low price.
Conclusion
I'm still very much in the early phases as I've only spent about an hour or two an evening this month working on the game, so it's still a bit early to get in some screenshots. I hope as I make progress, I can begin to show more gameplay and hopefully art once I get inspired to learn how to make it.