Hello everyone! My name is Calvin and I am the solo developer of my game Songs of Summer (working title). Welcome to the first entry of my devblog.
What is Songs of Summer?
Songs of Summer is a farm simulation role-playing game inspired in part by Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, Animal Crossing and classic Zelda.
While the game is still very early in development, here are some core gameplay elements you can expect:
- Turn an overgrown plot of land into a thriving farm. Farm crops, care for your animals and construct farm buildings.
- Customize your player and farm with lots of clothing and decoration options available.
- Go mining, fishing or catch some bugs for your collection.
- Complete quests, delve into dungeons and explore the region. Maybe even befriend some monsters to take with you on your adventures.
- Become part of a community. Befriend the townsfolk and get to know their story. Perhaps even get married and have children.
- Plan your own festivals, invest in the town and watch it flourish.
While I have been working on the game for the past few years during my spare time, the focus as of yet has been on programming the systems that I considered hard to implement. I wanted to prove to myself that I could code all those systems before actually getting my game out there. I did not want to make false promises. Right now, the core foundations of the game are in place, such as a dialogue/cutscene system, inventory management, villager schedule simulation, basic dungeon generation, enemy AI, etc. However, it is still basically a giant sandbox where I am testing the different gameplay systems.
Starting January 2020, I will be working on the game full time, with the focus on actually adding structure to the game. Having already implemented most complex systems, followers of my game will be able to see it quickly grow from this ‘test sandbox’ to a large world with meaningful characters, filled with things to do. The first thing on my list is to add an introduction to the game!
I will be posting a new blog entry on this website once every two weeks detailing my progress. You can also follow me on Twitter where I will link these posts and occasionally show something extra.
My game development story
I have always had a passion for creating video games. As a kid, I was already crafting board and card games. In high school, I discovered Game Maker and made a few small games with it. Then, I went on to study for a Computer Science degree in university and discovered the Unity Engine. This is when I decided to finally make a game to release commercially. I have been working on this game for the past few years now, as a side project while studying. Back then the focus was mostly on learning to code in C#, mastering the Unity Engine and harnessing my pixel art skills.
A few months ago I finally finished university and got my degree. I could not find any jobs in the games industry where I live, so I got another job instead. However, my dream was always to eventually make a living off creating video games full time. I continued to work on the game in my spare time, but found that it would take ages to finish the game at that rate. I pushed on for a few months, but I could not shake the feeling that I could be doing so much more with my game development background. I figured that as I’m still young, this was probably my window of opportunity to make my dream a reality. So, after much thought and consideration, I quit my job and started Sparrowhead Games.
I have given myself a year to prove to the world that I can do this. After that, I will evaluate how viable it is to continue working on the game full time. The game will probably not be finished by then, but hopefully I will have a good idea of how well the game will be received. Worst case scenario: I spent a year gaining new skills and experience, find another job, and continue working on the game in my spare time again. Whatever the outcome, I know it will be an incredible journey.
Check out the very first pre-alpha trailer below to get a small taste of what I have currently implemented.