I've decided it's time for an overhaul!

It's been about a year since I made My Pixel Playground for the Wonder Jam game jam and just before Christmas 2022 I decided I might give this project a little more attention. 

(JAM VERSION)

Maybe some of you remember, back in the day they used to give out game discs as prizes in cereal boxes. At the time it was mainly computer versions of board games; Boggle, Monopoly, with some other random titles sprinkled in. Of all the games I ever got with my breakfast, Roller Coaster Tycoon always stood out. Watching the little people going around and interacting with the world I created was absolutely magical to me as a youngster and still appeals to me today, 20+ years later. The Tycoon/Simulation genre has since been one of my favorites and now that I have some programming knowledge , I figure now's as good a time as  any to try creating a tycoon game of my own! 

My original intent for My Pixel Playground was to have NPCs in some capacity and more interaction with the playground equipment, but 10 days just isn't enough time to make a fully functioning tycoon game, at least with my programming background. So during the jam I opted on focusing on the economy side (build costs vs income), since that's what these games really are when you boil them down.

The biggest feature I had to leave out of the jam was the NPCs which was definitely disappointing! I even had the characters designed during the jam but didn't have any time to design their behavior so they didn't make the cut. In hindsight I made the right decision because I've been working on character behaviors for a few weeks now and they're still not quite ready. The NPCs do have pathfinding set up and I'm slowly working on their different conditions. Making sure they purchase food if they're hungry, to look for a bathroom if they've got to go, etc. I've only got a few hours a week to work on this at the moment, so progress has been slow, but having a bunch of NPCs mostly doing what they're supposed to is super exciting! 

Although any updated version of the game is at least several months out, I've added a few of new things (technically I started a new project but this is what it incudes):

• Child NPCs - They can currently use the playground equipment, go to the washroom, and purchase food. At the time of writing I'm working on adding trash bins and litter when the NPCs have trash in hand. After that I'm looking at adding thirst and fatigue to the characters as well. 
  • NPCs are created with a random set up including skin color, hair style, shirt and name. 
• Larger Maps - The jam version of the game is tethered to one small game area. Now the play area can be much larger and the camera can move as well as zoom in and out. 
• New buildings and attractions
• Bathrooms
• Vending Machines 
• Chips
• TBA Sodas

Even though this project will be a huge undertaking I think I've managed to make the scope small enough for me to handle. Playgrounds, or parks in general have a fairly limited amount of possible attractions so already it's smaller in scope than something so broad like RTC. Plus, I plan to stick with the current art style which is fairly simple which makes it quicker than trying to create huge detailed sprites for everything. My current goal for a playable updated prototype: 

• One full scenario with missions and "story"
• Updated UI (though I hope to keep the same vibe)
• Patron and staff NPCs (wishlist * children and adult patrons)
• The same or similar equipment as featured in the jam version of the game but redesigned with NPC interaction in mind. The scale for the current assets aren't quite right in the jam version so most things will need to be redrawn. 
• More challenging missions

In theory I'd love to make it a full-length game but gotta see if it's fun first! So far it's been a ton of fun to develop and i've been learning a ton, including a lot about optimizing which is something I've never had to really consider. Having hundreds of NPCs walking around is tough on the ol' PC so a big priority is making sure it's running smoothly.  I've got many more things to learn before even a real prototype is finished but it's on it's way! 

I've been challenged to keep a devlog about this project so I'll try to make an entry every month or so! Wish me luck!