I have made a game, from zero, and released it, in less than 30 days.
BUT, and there's always a BUT, it is a ridiculous tiny game, like tiny, TINY.
But, why? nobody asked. well, i needed to finish and release SOMETHING, anything, at this point in time.
Let's start by rewinding all way to last year.
At the beginning of the year, i created a game for the Thumby hardware, based on a video a friend showed me.
The hardware is really limited and it uses micropython, a subset of python to code, it was quick and fun, but calling it a complete game, eh, maybe not. But it is released and you can play it on your real Thumby or an emulator.
Then the string of failed projects started.
First a visual novel engine written in Javascript. I got it to a semi-working phase, even did a prototype little game for it.
But, felt i wasn't adding anything to the world, that RenPy couldn't do so much better. So, i scrapped that.
Then there was several ideas that i have semi-started, but never got off the ground, like doing a zelda-clone for the Sega Master System or something.
Then, the same friend saw another video and showed me Pico-8, which was cool, but i wasnt gonna buy it, but luckily for me, i had already bought it, on a bundle, way back in 2020. So, i started messing with Pico-8 and did this little shmup idea, which, of course, let the scope get way out of hand and made a mess out of it. But i did built a version with a single level on it.
Then, another idea, of a physics based side-scrolling little "shooter" for the Sega Master System, which i did a prototype, that has exactly 1 level. It is working, but also, now comes the parts that i dread the most, pixel art and level design, i always get burn out during those parts. So another little engine, another project stopped. I think i may pick this up again, for the march smspower compo.
Then, another idea, maybe i should learn Godot, build myself this little prototype, a single screen rpg, with random enemies and a battle system similar to Paper Mario. Guess what? I have a single level prototype running. It was good to start to understand Godot.
Back to Pico-8, because reasons, i started a new platformer game, did the very basic but i started to let scope creep get the better of me, once again. So.. you won't believe this.. but i have a single level demo done.
And that was the breaking point for me. So i decided, starting January, i'm going to start, finish and release a game. no matter what.
First things first, scope. I'm working alone, while also managing a full-time job, family and being a hobbyist musician sometimes.
I decided to clone an Atari 2600 game, after all, the last game i released, Raposa do Sol, was exactly that, a clone of an Atari 2600 game called Solar Fox. So this time, i decided to go with one of my all time favorites from the system, Dragonfire, developed by Activision.
Dragonfire is a very simple game. You have two screen, one is a side-view, where your only objective is to avoid the fireballs and get inside the castle, the next screen is a top-down view, and your only objective is collect the treasures to unlock the exit, and then reach it. Ok, simple enough.
I decided to do on Pico-8 because:
1) i want to learn it.
2) its limitations will help me avoid scope creep.
3) its all self-contained, i can create all the assets and code inside the same program.
4) its limitations will help me avoid scope creep.
So, i started building. There wasn't a lot to build, i took part of the code of my platformer-prototype and started there.
Pico-8 makes prototyping small ideas very quick, so within 2 days, i had a working prototype of the side-view part.
But then, scope started creeping in.. "what if i added scrolling to that?", well, i did just that. Added scrolling.
Now the top-down view part was even simpler to build than the side-view. I tried adding scrolling aswell, but it didn't felt right so i scratched that idea.
The next couple of days i spent making sure the mechanics were tweaked and fun to play, i wasnt aiming for a exact port of Dragonfire just something that i could build that was fun and that used those core mechanics.
Then the next couple of days were spent making the boring stuff and building the logic for it, title screen, deaths and loops, option screen, game over screen, etc. That went smoothly, and i knew i could finish in time. As long as i didn't changed/added mechanics, i could finish it in time.
Next part was a scoring system, i never liked that the original Dragonfire dont give you any points on the side view part of the game, so i added a scoring system, where you get rewarded by moving left and get points deducted by going left, also, i added a "danger" meter, which multiply points, if you get "near misses" in the side-view portion. For the top down, the original scoring system worked, so i haven't messed with it.
The next couple of days were spent on redrawing the graphics, i added the rain graphics on the side-view part, as a little something extra on top. and then added music and sfx.
So, about 25 days later, here it is: i called Data Filch. because i wanted something that kept the DragonFire initials and because my game is about a spy stealing data from a rival corporation.
And if you want to play this game, you can, right now, on my itch page.
So in the end, how deep is Data Filch? If i'm honest, its not very deep, its a simple 2 screen game loop with increased difficulty each loop and you're basically playing for score. But the game is done, released and i managed to keep the scope under control.
https://tibone.itch.io/datafilch
https://tibone.itch.io/datafilch
