2 Years MAKING an OPEN-WORLD game

2 Years MAKING an OPEN-WORLD game

Music by Davide Joerg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5E4Dw...

Hello guys! Over the last 2 years I have been developing my dream game, Project Destiny, and in this video I want to show you all I have done to shape it.

With no experience with unreal or 3D video games, I started by knowing the engine, I thought of a game that was actually playable, I developed the basis of the gameplay, I thought about the story and concepts of the game, I created the first map, I opened this YouTube channel and... many other things! Enjoy!

Let me start by introducing myself, my name is Patrick and I live with my wife, my daughter and my beagle in Switzerland, I have a full time job so I’m developing Project D in my free time.

I've already created and published a finished game, so I know what it means to create a game and what it takes to get to the end.
But well... it wasn't a great commercial hit, and since my dream is to be a full-time inde-game developer I know where I can improve!

Clouds of rain was a 2D game made with RPG Maker! So now I wanted to take a big step forward, moving towards 3D and Unreal! But how? Try, make mistakes, repeat and of course say a lot of bad words!

I had created a prototype where it was possible to climb, fight with a sword, hide from enemies, hunt,... but it was too much, so many mechanics and little time to refine them.

So I said to myself, what can I take from all this to make an interesting game?

Answers: 1 open map, freedom to explore, travel, beautiful landscapes, story that develops through exploration and much more! Project destiny was born here!

Before starting the actual development I wanted to have an interesting idea to work on, in terms of story and concept of the game, after several sleepless nights I thought at this idea:

The aim of the game is to tell the life of a person from childhood to old age, based on the player's choices through an introspective journey in a natural environment inspired by Japanese animation movies, like princess mononoke or Your Name.
The player will explore open maps where a story will be told based on the locations he explores.

Each important place that we’ll explore will tell an important part of the protagonist's life.

Every player will have a different story based on the choices they have made during the journey.

I will return to this topic in another video to explain in detail how the story will develop based on the journey and the ways that each player will take.

So get to work! I started by creating the basic concept of the core gameplay, then developing the main game mechanics.
The genre of the game can be classified as a 3D platformer, since the basic gameplay is conceptually simple and there will be no combat, I wanted to to pay a lot of attention on the level design!

Starting from some very bad hand drawings, I started studying the maps inch by inch, and then began to develop an unreal map made of very beautiful white cubes and rectangles. I needed This step to understand the pace and balance of the gameplay.

At this point I said to myself, what do I do now? Do I want to develop the game closed in my beautiful house in Switzerland? for another ⅔ years? and then sell it to my dog ​? like my first game?
No! I'm starting to show to the world what I'm doing on my YouTube channel! But what do I show? The map obviously, thanks to Unreal I can create environments that are detailed and beautiful to look at, with the hope that they will attract attention.

I started by creating environments because I felt comfortable in this job, having a little experience in this regard. So that I can present something concrete and beautiful in the shortest time possible.

So... let's move on to the visual aspect! Many tests among bushes, trees, water, stones until reaching a good result.
At this point I said to myself, let's put everything online and see what people think!
I have received so much comments and compliments and for this I am grateful to you.
I also received many requests for videos explaining my processes to achieve this result.

Easier said than done, between a constantly growing little girl, a very active dog! Just kidding ;P and with the game in development I had to find time to do everything.

I then started developing the map with the graphic assets and style that I had perfected in recent months.

This is the longest part of the work, because the map I am developing is very diverse with many variations of colours, shapes and composition.
This is because each location on the map must be able to communicate something specific to the player, to make the journey as meaningful as possible.
Seeing my map take shape is a very nice reward, comparable to beating the Elden Ring Bosses


byeee