This isn't an update it's more just me wanting to look back at the project so far and just ramble about it.
Development for TWENTY started back in like... mid December of last year.
At the time I was thinking about Object Shows like The Daily Object Show and ONE, and around that time I was just imagining my own Object Show like both of those but using characters that feel like it'd fit more in the world of ENA. Just a surreal world with very strange looking characters. While in my head I feel like I would rather use the characters in 3D animation, at some point I just felt like I really want to do something with these characters and went to work on another RPG Maker game with the lofty ambition of making a game in 4 weeks. Development's now 7-8 months in ;^_^ I imagined the sidescroller style would help out with developing the game since I didn't need to think hard about area design if it was a top down. Unsure if that held true though.
The game's was really basic. Two characters plus two others head off to the city to stop the evil villain's return, with some optional mini bosses along the way for kicks. There was originally an idea to make the game like the Stanley Parable but with the intent on glitches being known and having strange effects on it. Like doing something specific screws with the event flags and the protagonist is sent back in time, or there's a horror event where the protagonist beats a dummy enemy and becomes a bloated monster for getting a million EXP, or straight up Missingno being a fight somewhere in the game. I think in my head I wanted to toy with the idea of a world literally being a shoddily made game with holes everywhere and characterizing them in any way possible.
It's crazy for me to think that the game to me really started and ended with that. While some ideas and scenarios are being retained for the future, the areas and one glitch event is something I'll keep but not the entire idea of the world literally being a shoddy game, I don't think they would've been developed much at all. I had two more areas planned and one of them is basically the final dungeon. Development has gone on long enough for me to add more meat to its bones, think of new scenarios, ideas for areas, ideas for bosses, and I think a better story. And while I'm trying to be wary of stuff like feature creep and bloat, there's a feeling in my head that I genuinely needed more content to be decent since the original was very minimal and lacking a lot of motivation the player or give a reason for the story to happen. I didn't think "stop the evil bad guy" was motivating enough and eventually I had the issue of finding a reason for the story to happen. I think I might be heading in a better trajectory now than before.
My world didn't have much lore or reasoning but now I think I have something that could be jumped off from and made into something compelling. I think I finally have an idea to actually motivate the story forward. I don't know what else I can say but that's what I have so far I think. And I think I could expand the game more after the area I'm working on is done, so long as my ideas don't keep changing and I don't get bored with this game and abandon it.
It's kinda strange to me thinking back, I felt like I had everything all figured out. I knew what I wanted to do. And then I felt like there were a lot of things that didn't work because I didn't know everything or had anything really figured out. And maybe I still don't and I'll never know! But I guess that's just what happens you know? Maybe this'll be a lesson to me about me being a bad planner I guess. Everything I thought of is just so small in comparison to the bigger picture that it feels like I've been more making things as I go along than really following a greater picture. I know what the ending is but... not really everything in between... And even then, I might become disillusioned with the ending and try out something else. At this rate I'm tempted to copy LISA The Painful and add more optional party members for a (At least I think) very unique idea to play off the Object Show origins. Not gonna say what it is but I'm considering it.
While I'm at it, here's some unused stuff I guess. The first two are fascinating to me because they were made when I felt finished enough with the first area. I haven't touched them since making assets for them and I doubt I'll keep them any longer because things have changed.
Screenshots made of the next two areas after I mostly finished the last area.
A map layout of one of the areas.
Intended to be an overworld boss encounter where you kick TNT into the boss and engage with them, with enemies around to damage and hinder you.
I'm not sure what else there is to say to be honest. Thanks for reading!