New Beginnings - Development Log #0

Hey everyone, wanted to post a quick intro style development log to give an idea of what this game is, how far along I am and what to expect from me.

So, what is 'The Town without Tomorrow'?

The town without tomorrow is a 2D action game that takes a lot of mechanics from the metroidvania genre, dying causes the game to reset but you get to keep all abilities and weapons you have earned. The game will be a side-scroller with some platforming sections, these won't be too difficult as I want to focus on combat and the huge array of weapons you'll have access to!

The game features a 'rewind' mechanic which means you will be on limited time to complete all of your tasks, if you die or run out of time, the game will reset and everything will reset. This means enemies, bosses and items that vendors sell will return to their original places and you'll need to start again. As stated above, you'll keep your weapons and abilities so areas and enemies you found hard on your 5th attempt, may be a walk in the park on your 15th.

But, what's the game about?

The game is set in a town that is stuck in a time loop, with all of the residents having to repeat the same day. Some of them remember the previous day, but they are branded as mad.

The chairman of the Tempus Corporation has responded to the claims of these 'madmen' - "Lunatics, that's what these people are! These accusations are nothing more than fake news to smear our fantastic town!" 

Who are Tempus? Nobody really knows, they just showed up one day and took over. They established a massive laboratory in less than a day, they opened mines and hauled people down there to work. A private militia under Tempus' control are patrolling they streets and making sure nobody stirs up trouble, especially not when they have important work to do.

That's about all we know about Tempus so far, further investigation is needed!

Erm, I can't think of a question so here's a mood board.

I want the games tone to kind of contrast with itself, I want there to be a lot of vibrant and pleasant to look at colours. But, I also want there to be a darker and grittier presence in there also. So I decided to look online for inspiration and found some, Dead Cells developed by Motion Twin succeeds at this pretty well, especially with its most recent paid DLC.

I believe that I can pull this off as well, but overtime things can change so be sure to keep checking back here for regular updates!

Okay, what's next?

I have another development log coming out on April 5th which will go over some features currently in development and any features that are going to be added in the feature. But short term, I will keep working away and try to get this game into a playable state. If all goes well, I will have a playable demo out before the end of May which will allow me to gauge interest in the game and pivot my development depending on feedback.

Thank you for reading this, if you have any questions or feedback you can leave a comment here or contact me on my Twitter.