My Responsibilities
- Build an RPG game using Godot from concept to demo and towards a future full release
- Implement pixel-art sprites and animations developed by the project’s artists
- Universal modular dialogue system making sure the dialogue looked uniform across the game and avoiding future technical debt by keeping code centralised.
- Cutscene system that could trigger dialogue, player decisions, start boss fights, and interact with the game world using modular tree data structures.
- Import LDtk files into Godot as scenes using a custom importer for translating JSON-based elements into a hierarchy of nodes.
- NPC animation system built with the cutscene system in mind, meaning cutscenes can control exactly what NPCs are doing
- Rhythm based music minigame integrated into the cutscene system for reliable handling.
- Undertale-style boss fights using a modular attack system and universal dialogue system to allow full creativity of boss designs and make difficulty balancing easy to access.
- A game data system to track progress in the game and be used by cutscene trees to decide which dialogue/interactions to play out using a dictionary.
- Player inventory and shop system integrating the universal dialogue system for uniform character interactions.
- Save/Load system with full support for NPC positions, animations, game data, player inventory, etc that interacts with the cutscene system to ensure the player loads into exactly where they left off.
- In-world collectables connecting to the notification event system and inventory.
- Prepare a chapter 1 demo for Steam Next Fest by creating and completing a testing plan to ensure the best experience for players on the release.
The Story
After being approached by a client with an idea for a story-based RPG, I knew I was up for the challenge. Given gameplay specifications, pixel-art assets and levels built in LDtk (a 2D level editor), I developed the entire codebase from scratch using just one or two days a week.
The first thing I created was the LDtk level importer, since we agreed on using Godot for the project it was relatively easy to create a custom file import plugin. I also added per-file import script support so that individual levels could be changed via different scripts, for example NPC entities from LDtk needed to be translated into NPC scenes from Godot.
In 8 months we transformed a high-level concept into a functioning demo including: dialogue; cutscenes; multiple levels split up by doors; a rhythm-based minigame; inventory; shops; boss fights; save/load system. The demo included content for around 30 minutes of gameplay and included the whole of chapter 1.
The demo launched onto a Steam Next Fest to positive reviews and the full game is still developed as a hobby project. This is projected to be released on steam in 2026 with 6 chapters of content (compared to 1 chapter in the demo).