After over a decade working on other people's projects I have finally begun working on a new game of my own conception and design. I thought it would be interesting for people to see what obstacles I come up against, how I'm approaching things and what I learn along the way, so I have started doing some development logs over on my trusty old blog. I'll link them here in case anybody here is interested:
Devlog 1 - Assessment of the situation and initial thoughts (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/09/devlog-1.html)
Devlog 2 - Very first steps of writing code and trying to prototype design ideas (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/09/devlog-2.html)
Devlog 3 - Relearning how to use the AGS editor. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/10/devlog-3.html)
Devlog 4 - AGS is my friend again (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/10/devlog-4-ags-is-my-friend-again.html)
Devlog 5 - Getting it right. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/10/devlog-5-getting-it-right.html)
Devlog 6 - Occam's Razer (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/10/devlog-6-occams-razer.html)
Devlog 7 - Late to the party (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/11/devlog-7-late-to-party.html)
Devlog 8 - Putting it to the test. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/11/devlog-8-putting-it-to-test.html)
Devlog 9 - Taking direction. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/11/devlog-9-taking-direction.html)
Devlog 10 - Progress, again. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/11/devlog-10-progress-again.html)
Devlog 11 - Systems! (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/11/devlog-11-systems.html)
Devlog 12 - Dynamics (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/12/devlog-12-dynamics.html)
Devlog 13 - Nobody will ever grasp exactly how much effort I have put into getting the tiniest things feeling good. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/12/devlog-13-nobody-will-ever-grasp.html)
Devlog 14 - Coming together (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/05/devlog-14-coming-together.html)
Devlog 15 - I'm a writer now. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-15-im-writer-now.html)
Devlog 16 - Production!! (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-16-production.html)
Devlog 17 - Preview (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-17-preview.html)
Devlog 18 - One month of production (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/08/devlog-18-one-month-of-production.html)
Great news, I wish you all the best for your new game.
I've moved the AGS coding discussions to the technical boards to keep this thread about your devlog and game development: https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/beginners-technical-questions/getting-up-to-date-with-ags/
Thank you cat, I have updated my blog post to point to the new thread!
Ooh, I really enjoy reading devlogs for games and your past blog post have always been very interesting and insightful to read. Definitely looking forward to following this journey. And best of luck to you in rediscovering the joys and challenges of AGS!
Thank you Hobo! I am curious to see how the process goes, and I get the feeling that eventually my posts will be "Yes, I am still working on the game, yes it still has a long way to go", but I am enjoying the process of recording the journey so far. Thanks for following along! :)
Nice! I was reading the entrys today, and it's interesting to see all the things you must to affort to get into the gamemaking. Do you plan to share in details some parts of the development? I mean, animation process, concept art, programming examples, etc. I'm interesed to see (when the time's come) how do you keep everything organized (dialog trees, dependency charts, sprites, etc), which tools do you going to use to do that and how, your workflow.
Yes, I will probably talk about most of it, if that interests people! I already have a post here (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2022/02/process-breakdown-using-3d-as-base-for.html) where I talk about some of the process of painting a scene while incorporating 3D. I think I've done many process posts over the years but most of these are probably outdated and I don't remember where I put what. But yes, I will share what I can, what tools I used and how as it's relevant to do so!
As for concept art, I even shared some at the top of my post today (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/10/devlog-5-getting-it-right.html)!
Just commenting to say that I am reading it along. Interesting stuff, please keep writing! :)
I'm glad to hear it! And if you see me post any code with poor formatting then I'd gladly welcome any suggestions to correct it.
Mod note: I split off the scripting discussion and moved it here (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/advanced-technical-forum/ags4-best-scripting-practices-ben304-devlog-case/)
Cool!
It looks like you are able to do some advanced effects in this engine.
And I didn't know blogspot was still around. :D
Yes, my old blog from forever ago is still working! I know it's kind of basic but it does exactly what I need, so I still use it.
As for advanced effects, I'm a bit reluctant to think of them in those terms, especially with some of the things engines like Unity and Unreal and Godot will give you out of the box. But I am enjoying fiddling about with AGS and seeing what I can generate at runtime, especially after 10 years of everything having to be pre-rendered because I'm doing graphics for the games but rarely ever writing any modules or anything, which always limits what one can do and how interactive a thing can be.
This week's post is up (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2024/12/devlog-13-nobody-will-ever-grasp.html) too, in which I mostly just state the obvious a lot!
After some quiet months while I was busy I have put up another devlog (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/05/devlog-14-coming-together.html)! Hope you haven't missed me too much. :=
Lovely artbook.
It reminds me of heroic-fantasy comics like The Quest for the Time-Bird, or some rough sketches by Benoit Sokal.
QuoteDon't buy generic pencils branded with things like "Artist's Pencil" or "Professional Drawing Pencil" or something though, cheap pencils don't sharpen nicely and either the wood lets you down or the lead lets you down or both. Pencils are cheap so don't buy cheap pencils. But you also don't need to buy a Blackwing or a Rotring or whatever just to sketch a melancholy mushroom guy. Staedtler or Faber-Castell or anything is perfect.
I totally agree. I have a box of Faber-Castell and some Reeves pencils too. It's way more enjoyable than low-end pencils.
I like to use some Lyra aqua-brushes too these days. Makes me feel like Peter Chan from Lucas Arts :-D
Quote from: Creamy on Fri 30/05/2025 10:15:28It reminds me of heroic-fantasy comics like The Quest for the Time-Bird, or some rough sketches by Benoit Sokal.
I have been really getting into the style of European comic artists of old in the last few years, so perhaps that's showing through!
Exciting update for this month, friends, as I've actually gone and written this game! Now onto production :) Got some thoughts about it in the usual spot. (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-15-im-writer-now.html)
Good post! How did you structure your design document, if you don't mind sharing? Describing mechanics, setting, story, characters, and puzzles sounds like a lot to organize, so I'm curious how you went about that.
I wouldn't say my way is particularly novel or well thought out. I just have it broken into sections - a summary of the setting, a summary of the characters, a summary of the core game mechanics broken down by section, how they work and the rules around them, and then just a large section with the whole game plot broken down into acts, with the characters, mechanics and such written out. In sections where the gameplay is non linear that is just mentioned in text, for more linear sections it is just written out in order!
I'm curious if this is your first time putting together a proper and detailed design doc. Or did you also write down and plan out your smaller and mid-sized AGS projects in the past?
No, I always built those on the fly, sort of making things up as I went along! That was never much of an issue due to their small size, and I fully expect that a lot of this game will alter over the course of making it, too. But to have it all loosely written out from start to finish is a nice feeling!
EDIT: And updated with a new post! (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-16-production.html)
EDIT 2: Updated again, this time with some screenshots (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/07/devlog-17-preview.html) to share with you!
Finally, a devlog with what everybody wants from me: Boring art theory (https://ben304.blogspot.com/2025/08/devlog-18-one-month-of-production.html) :=
I noticed the purple around the cursor, if you want to do these types of outlines and you are using ags4, and need to do it dynamically for some reason, these should be doable using shaders. I haven't actually done, but I imagine it should be possible to.
At the moments I've kept my experiments with shaders stuff minimal because of a few reasons (such as - if I can get something working in GLSL, then I need to convert it so it can run in Direct 3D, if I make a shader an essential feature, how do people who are running in Software Mode deal with this issue?)
So while I love what possibilities shaders open up, I'm planning to keep them for non essential "nice to have" effects for now I think!