With 2024 starting, it's time to look back at 2023. The year had some bumps along the road. I had COVID (twice) and had to travel for work. However, I managed to maintain a good pace working on Yurei. 

First, let's look at the time I put into the project. Keep in mind that I only work on weekends.

I managed to almost double the time I put on Yurei. That was great. My goal is to hit around 5 hours on Saturday and 5 hours on Sundays. That is the pace I can be productive and maintain my regular life.

Now, let's look at some of the highlights.

Banner Samurai

The banner samurai had existed in my head for quite some time. I need more variety without having costs too high. The banner samurai wanders around the stage, and while he is alive, all enemies have a shield. 

The banner samurai does not attack the player. Instead, he ignores the player and keeps moving. This creates an interesting dynamic where the player has to chase him while still being mindful of the other enemies.

Build Profiles

As I started making builds for festivals and publishers, I needed to block some sections of the game. The build profile, allows me to specify what areas/levels can be accessed. I can also toggle some features like the cutscenes and dialogues. 

Extremely helpful if, for example, you are still unhappy with the dialogues but want to send a build to someone. Or you want a build just focused on the combat part. 

Cutscenes

I knew I was going to have one cutscene at the beginning and another at the end. My question was just how would the cutscene be made. At first, I thought of making it externally then importing the video file and playing it. 

After setting it up using Unity Animator though, I was happy with the results. The fact that I can tweak the values right on Unity is a plus for me. I am trying to be more practical and go with what works. 

There is always going to be multiple ways to solve a problem. If you are a solo dev like me, go with the easiest first. Scale later only if necessary, but for the most part, you can get around by taking the easy route.

Updated All UI Layout

Yurei has quite a few windows and popups. Overall, they had a similar structure, but some were still a bit off. I took the time to make sure they all fit the same style. The titles in all of them are in the same place. Most of them occupy the same area on the screen. 

Instead of manually setting the font sizes I created a script that allows me to pick a reference to a font size. Then, I set that actual value on an SO. This saves a LOT of time when trying to be consistent with your UI. It's okay to cheat in some instances, but 99% of your texts should use one of the sizes specified.

Other highlights of 2023

• Added Dodge Mechanic
• Added Tutorial Samurai for the tutorial stage
• Added ingame debugger so we can debug on a Windows build
• Added HEADER and BODY font, Added font referencer to centralize usage
• Finished writing ALL DIALOGUES
• Changed all hardcoded strings to use a localized string value
• Added Unity Recorder to capture better footage
• Added SequencerSystem to allow a stage to fire off game commands like showing a popup
• Added Bright Flask Logo to Splash Screen
• Added final art for Death character
• Improved how the code is organized 

Closing

I am happy to look back at the game in January 2023 and the game in January 2024 and see that it is on the right path. I am going as fast as I can. I have to be honest with myself. The main issue is the scope I defined takes this long to make. 

I am saying no to new things. The focus since late September has been on closing. Every month, I become even more strict about the distinction between an improvement and something new. 

The hardest part is marketing. Throughout 2023, I have tried to reach out to publishers. I sent emails to over 70 publishers but without any luck. It is heartbreaking not being able to find any support. It does make it feel like the game is not worth it, and I should move on.

But throughout my life and career, I have received countless nos. After trying again and sticking to it though, I would get the yes I wanted. I know this is not going to be different. It does not make it easy, but I have to rationalize it in some way.

Yurei is going to be released in 2024. 

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Thanks for reading all the way. Keep an eye out on Twitter @brightflask.