Coming up late with the updates on this website, and only now managed to get a moment or two to post. So here we go.
Few months ago, well more than a few, had this idea of a game somewhat reflective of a lot of things centering around being a broke/broken dev. And as things turned out the way they did, no surprise here, the "opportunity" to jump ship with a new concept suddenly materialized. It wasn't easy to pick up, as there were a lot of things against it, but work began regardless. Crunch mode was turned up to 11 and managed to squeeze something playable in a relatively short time. Not there yet, but its more than nothing (aka. a concept).
For years I've been hammering the insurmountable stone of "marketable" with severely lacking resources, desperately hoping to make this whole dev-venture worthwhile, in an environment that's heavily stacked against devs like myself. Aesthetics aside, things that are taken for granted, the extreme high requirements to just be seen (e.g., perfect visuals for being eye catchy, etc.) is something that probably will forever be out of my reach (because all those require heavy prerequisites for production). That's why this time around, decided to go against my better judgment and start working on a free prototype, in this last desperate effort to at least put my name out there (speaking of the known that is); all in the hopes that it would lead to somewhere better perhaps, anywhere better and different.
The plan, the sharing of a prototype isn't flawless either (really not a good idea if you think about it), as it could/will deter people more than a shabby-looking WIP build that has a price-tag attached to it. But, as all previous options were exhausted, this seemed the only viable route; solely on the basis of not giving it a try before (well not to this extent anyway).
Coming to now, it was decided to start working on this small action title, where you run around as a dwarf and mine. Although the core loop is just a simple "mine for resources to earn coins", the design intention for the game is to have an "experience" whilst doing it: The journey what matters, not the destination. Hence asset creation was kept to a bare minimum (even more in terms of solo dev), "pointless" fillers were temporarily suspended (e.g. more items to find, weapons, etc.), and most of the focus was directed towards establishing a (hopefully) enjoyable gameplay (it can hold my attention for more than 5 minutes already).
That's why, the lowering of standards was and still is a point of freak-out, which is currently highly reflected in the non-existent statistics. To remedy that a little, a bit more polish was added to this 3rd release of a version, so that people would actually be more compelled to look, or perhaps give it a try. But see it for yourself on the landing page at https://theaaronstory.itch.io/falterstone or in the media below.
What's new with this version was the introduction of the following:
- New (ranged) mob type
- First bits of a magic system
- Some water mechanics (that can and will hurt badly)
- Addition of a map
- And tons of UI enhancements, fixes/optimizations, etc.
Of which it slowly now starts to actually resemble a game, albeit bit thin. However, already working on the next update, so we will see.
And here are some still from the game:
