## Intro
Welcome to the world of tomorrow! (couldn’t find a more cheesy starting line).
CYBP is a cyberpunk game i’m working on, set in NeoVienna and with the main objective on teaching you useful skills related to programming and Machine Learning/AI. At the same time, you should be able to explore and interact with the city, in a simillar manner with the mechanic of Else Heart.Break().
Above all, i want to build a game for myself where:
- after playing for 3 hours straight, i will not stand up from the chair and feel guilty for having wasted all that time killing monsters and grinding stupidly
- as i play, i feel that i’m learning a skill which will be valuable in real-life
- i can disconnect from reality in a deep and meaningful way
- i’m placed in a world where i can feel both hopeful and worried for the future of humanity
- there is a deep narrative and with characters i can relate to
- there is a stunning soundtrack, one which i will remember forever
Here are some of the main game inspirations i’ve had over the years:
- Else Heart.Break() for the coding mechanics and how you can modify the game world via code
- BioShock Infinite for the story telling and game pacing
- Dreamfall Chapters for the vibe and feel of the futuristic city
- Uplink, Hacknet and hackmud for the feel of a terminal-centered game and story creation
## Plans
What i (hope) CYBP will eventually have:
- A great-looking cyberpunk city, which the player could eventuall explore and interact with (not planned for Epoch 1 though)
- Engaging story, with a focus on the current societal issues realted to the rise of AI
- Top-notch soundtrack that blends incredibly well with the game mechanics
- Top-notch voice acting
- Fully capable Terminal mechanic, allowing you to write, compile and debug Python code
- Integration with existing Python Maching Learning libraries (ideally PyTorch), so you can run ML algorithms on your machine in real-time
- A simple way to deliver CUDA and Python to the player in the game package (as they are needed for the above point)
What i don’t plan to focus on / don’t want to build in the game at this point:
- Heavy action-driven game mechanics, shooter style
- Fancy graphics (at least not fancier than what UE comes with as a default)
- Open world dynamic (i want the feel but no the complexity that comes with it)
- Complex character graphics (i plan to keep my character to very simple ones, ideall what UE has already released for free)
Things i’m still on the fence about, as they require a lot of work to do and i’m not sure i can do it alone:
- a multiplayer system
- allowing the player to create new things in the city
- modding
A few important mentions:
- I’m new to Unreal Engine, and game development in general
- I also started learning to program only last year, so i’m (relateively) new to the entire Software Development univers as well
- I plan to use as few paid tools as possible, using and/or re-using existing assets (for example from UE demos)
## Format and launch
I plan to launch it in an episodic format (i call them Epochs), with Epoch 1 focused on teaching you VIM.
Windows and Mac are my first target platforms, with Linux secondary and later on maybe consoles (not sure it will work though, as the game will be heavy on keyboard typing).
Launch date? 
whenever it will be ready
I do plan to post it on Steam as an Alpha Early Access as soon as Epoch 1 will be ready, hopefully by end of 2018 at the latest.
## Current progress
Here is a video of the current progress:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=FQXkDF0lzBY
And you can even download the alpha v0.13 and play with it!
Windows game download link
Mac game download link
## Current challenges:
### Proceduraly generating the city
At this point i’m re-using the building meshes from the UE Shooter demo, but i want to be able to generate the city in a more procedural fashion. I’m struggling to find specific ways to do this in a free manner. I’ve seen Houdini (not used it so far though), and this article really describes 90% of what i also need to have…but i’m not sure i can afford to pay the license fees to use Houdini.
### Creating the Terminal
I’m looking at this article as the main starting point for creating my own terminal. In my case it should be a simple overlay on the screen (simple widget mechanic), and i plan to start working on this right feature right away.
### Embedding Python into UE
I’m still not sure where to begin with the challenge of embedding Python (the programming language) into the game, so any help or suggestions are welcome.
## How can you help?
- Playtesting and feedback are highly appreciated
- Advice on how should i approach procedural generation for tall towers with emissive lights at each floor
- Suggestions on what mechanics you would like to see in this game, having read all of the above and keeping in mind i’m a one-man-show.
## Follow my progress
I’ll be posting here constantly, along with:
Video Devlog: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQb…mnM-82K-Y3OIsg
Written Devlog: CYBP – Medium
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cybpgame
Many thanks for your time, help and attention, i’m very grateful!
