Fortower Devlog

Ehonix · November 20, 2020, 8:19pm

See Replies for Devlogs

11/29/2020 - Prototype
11/20/2020 - The Beginnings

Social Links

Follow the Game
Join My Discord Server
Watch My Progress on Trello

Fortower in a Nutshell

Don’t let the thumbnail fool you, I’m estimating about 4-8 months working on this project, and that’s a poor estimate as I’m early in development, started November 3rd 2020

Fortower is a team base building survival game with tower defense mechanics

What do you mean?

In Fortower, you build a base alone or with others by creating towers on a 2.5D grid with enemies coming from all sides like a tower defense game. The catch is that building in Fortower is unlike any other.

How is Fortower developed?

I am developing this game solo with no budget, I do all the artwork, scripting, modeling, and social media. I dedicate almost all my free time to creating this game except on days when I hangout with my family. I developed for 3 years on various game engines, but found my way to Roblox due to its free servers and publishing, great for Fortower.

I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I do, view all my updates at the top of this post. I would love to listen to all your feedback and critisms!

Software

Roblox Studio
Trello
Blender
Gimp
Lucidspark
Microsoft Office
Snipping Tool

IProgramForFun · November 20, 2020, 8:28pm

Looking forward to being your rival

edit : sounds like is gonna be a cool game just dont get it twisted with apocalypse rising

Ehonix · November 20, 2020, 8:31pm

It is nothing like apocalypse rising.
I’m just about to post my first devlog to this, and it should explain how it works in more detail.
What are you working on?

IProgramForFun · November 20, 2020, 8:33pm

Im just workin on a simplistic adventure / survival game

Ehonix · November 20, 2020, 8:58pm

11/20/2020 - The Beginnings

Preproduction phase is done, and its in the reviewing process. Lots of ideas squeezed down into only 1000 words. A prototype with zombies so stupid that they can’t even attack buildings. That was my past 16 days brought to the project. Not very impressive, but this project has been a long time coming. Multiple failed prototypes trying to merge the experience of zombies and building a base. One was even a Dwarves Vs. Zombies clone, an old Minecraft mini-game. I expect a lot of changes in the next couple of months, so why not start a devlog?

Planning

It was only today that I found Lucidspark, a solution to all my diagram desires. I figure that it is a great way to describe my process and give a visual “spark” to Fortower’s devlog.

The game plays out in a 2D grid with 3D buildings, each building haves a top and bottom component, so if you want to give your ballista more range and health, you can create a wall underneath it. This game may look like zombs io, but leans more into the teamwork and tower defense gameplay.

Trello is used to keep track of everything I need to do and issues that needs fixing. I have a whole topic for Trello in my What I Learned From 3+ Years of Not Finishing Games.

I wrote my Game Design Document in Microsoft Word, but for those who don’t have the luxury of Microsoft Office can use Google Docs just finely.

Planning definitely helped greatly during the development process and allowed me to take a fresh look at my game.

The Prototype

The prototype, like others, isn’t pretty, crude graphics and zombies don’t even attack buildings. However, it sparked ideas that no other prototype did.

You are able to place walls and ballistas, destroy blocks, and even place ladders on your walls.
The colors are dull and there isn’t much gameplay. Instead, it is more like a developer’s playground with its own command bar.

I do plan on improving the look in the future inspired by a failed game in the past, Wall Runners. Although nothing was wrong technically or artistically with the game, it didn’t bring much imagination with its idea and I soon ran out of ways to improve the game.