Game
Synthnostate DEMO [ALPHA]

4 years ago

March 2021 big-picture update on Synthnostate: Crusaders of the Tinfoil Hat - basically the yearly “we’re not dead” post. I wanted this to be the WIP release announcement, but alas, I can only say we’re getting there.


2020 was not a productive year. When we said IT’S COMING IN 2020 we meant the game, but we got the ITZ. I was already on the verge of burnout and this clown world insanity was the last straw. But I got it together again, found the title I was looking for (the hardest part of gamedev), rendered the new cover art, made a rough prototype for a sequel, finally finished SS:CTH v0.4, and did some private alpha testing on Windows and Linux.

Lateness has brought clarity. All major retooling, overhauls, and stretch goals are canceled. We’re sticking to the original plan and cutting corners as needed to make do with bad design choices. The only priority now is DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING. Playtest heavily, stub out the bare minimum levels+quests for a complete speedrun playthrough, and keep filling in gaps in gameplay. When it’s fun enough I’ll start uploading WIP releases.

Business plans: I expect this to remain a solo/family business and make 2 or 3 serious games in total, about one every 5 years, quality over quantity. If games don’t bring in enough money, that’s fine; we’ll spend more time on other work. If we can do bigger things through collaboration, great; wokeness has been an obstacle in recent years but I’m in some sizable unwoke gamedev circles now. We’ll just play it by ear.



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Synthnostate v0.7.4 progress

Converted and cleaned up NPC/item data on day one. 100% smooth sailing, feels good man.

Dialogue UI ported (and converted from big-box-of-text to 'speech bubble' over the NPC's head)...

Demo v0.7.1 released

VERY BASIC combat, health bars, weapon/attack selection UI

Next: NPC creation tools, combat details, dialogue, etc. All RPG fundamentals should be functional in early March.

SIDEQUEST: conspiracy overload is hampering development of this game, so I started the next one, where you play an eldritch vampire in a cyberpunk-gone-wrong future, because times like these call for a nice comfy fuck-the-world power fantasy.

Devlog moved again due to platform issues here!

For future updates, bookmark or join+subscribe at https://www.minds.com/synthnostate/

Demo v0.7.2 released

Content editing & inventory management

(Next two releases will focus on gameplay!)

v0.7.3 released

Ported and overhauled ~95% of combat code from V1.

v0.7.4 released - Dialogue, Class System, Scene Traversal

The important parts are all in. Now I need another month to follow up on turnbased combat, AI, the GUI system, equipment UI, and debugging.

v0.7.0 Tech Demo released

What’s new? Nothing except JS scripting, internal cleanup, and fixes.

Details+roadmap: https://doomcult.itch.io/synthnostate/devlog/337948/v070-tech-de…

check out this rack #gameart #screenshotsaturday

we're building this warehouse just to have a shootout in it

New title: READY

Lore, scripts, midgame conspiracy quests: 90%

Combat GUI: UNACCEPTABLE. The code's a mess, I need to rewrite it. I've had some design changes in mind anyway.

Will anyone miss the current one?