[SoloDev] "LifeDev" My dream game about overcoming CPTSD

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I just started on my dream game “LifeDev”, to help overcome CPTSD and self-improve.

Short trailer 1

Early draft pitch:

1st Person 3D Voxel Exploration Point&Click Intimate Journey.
Experience trauma, gather clues, join the dots, find allies, unravel the truth, create your way out, face the demons, become stronger, challenge your "reality".
Have you had enough already?

It’s a Point&Click Exploration game. With focus on the experience and story.
Minimal use of dialogs (though there will be plenty) and little to no puzzles. The puzzle is the game itself.
You will have to explore, collect clues, link them together, build the bigger picture, uncover and understand the pieces, and find a way to change. While also finding, understanding, and helping other characters that will join in your journey.

Of course this is subject to change, as it’s still on early stages, though I’m quite confident it. And I’m always open to comments, suggestions and ideas :slight_smile:

It’s a really meaningful project for me, and trust it will be for others as well.
Truly, calling it my dream/lifetime/passion game is not an under-statement, nor i say it lightly.

I’m a solo indie dev, doing this on my spare time. But i’m serious about finish it up, and have plans to make the production go much faster.
Feel free to leave any comment, questions, and feedback.
Thanks!

Steam (wishlist please, demo and playtest builds): LifeDev on Steam
ItchIo (early access builds): LifeDev by Nande!

Feedback form: https://forms.gle/aYCr8zRR3wWTomyu8
Press contact form : https://forms.gle/puotb83tmpc51pJ99
Announcement list: https://forms.gle/hDsMYvPrUU1v6EyN6

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jerobarraco/
work: Jeronimo Barraco-Marmol - Seeds XR | LinkedIn
mastodon: Jeronimo Barraco-Marmol (@jerobarraco@mastodon.gamedev.place) - Gamedev Mastodon
twitter: https://twitter.com/jerobarraco
free plugins: Jeronimo Barraco-Marmol - Codeberg.org

Patreon (w. one time options, and free tier) Jerónimo Barraco-Mármol | Creating a game to overcome CPTSD and self-improve | Patreon
Liberapay https://liberapay.com/nande
Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/jerobarraco

LifeDev Devlogs:

12th [SoloDev] "LifeDev" My dream game about overcoming CPTSD - #18 by nande

11th: https://youtu.be/e_g2lzSWzzU

10th https://youtu.be/aWLdPopa8mE

7th https://youtu.be/YhoTLOm0PwQ

6th https://youtu.be/Loti6ELIHxQ

5th https://youtu.be/3Lecv29ftHI

4th https://youtu.be/wYjb7HANRKk

3rd https://youtu.be/oLE0cHtRTBM

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Hi @nande

Interesting concept, would like to see how you progress.

I do like the character models, and the dialogue widget was pretty clean.
I couldnt sit and watch all the way through the longer devlog as im working on some recording at the moment. But looks like you have made a start.

Could you explain a little what concepts you are going to employ to relate to overcoming Trauma/PTSD/C?

Very interesting.

BTW consider seperating your door and frame! :rofl:

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Hey Thanks so much for the comment. it truly helps.

would like to see how you progress.

ill try to keep ppl updated :slight_smile:

ouldnt sit and watch all the way through the longer devlog

im thinking on going back to the shorter ones. i have the tendency to write a lot, but it takes time away from the actual game. and ppl is busy too.
i did it longer in the hope someone could benefit to know how i solved something, but i guess better to wait to get asked.

I do like the character models, and the dialogue widget was pretty clean.

Thanks!! All the models were made by me and are totally mockups (i work as a dev, don’t have much exp as artist, but got inspired on other work i found). I’m targeting something clean and minimalistic.

Could you explain a little what concepts you are going to employ to relate to overcoming Trauma/PTSD/C?

Uff… so much to write here. i haven’t had the time to update the info and digest/translate to game design (hosted on codeberg )

CPTSD is EXTREMELY complicated, its even super hard to identify for ppl, suffering or watching it. hence why it gets missdiagnosed all the time. afaik the DSM doesnt even wanted to include it for a long time (according to VanDerKolk).
I want to focus on it, since trauma and ptsd share the same root (in my pov) but cptsd has a few complications on top. (but i want to still ptsd and trauma in general since those are very common too).
How to communicate it is also extremely hard, since it all goes around confusion, miss perceptions, and mixture of past and present, visceral (literally) reactions, and “conscious” rationalization hijacking, dis-regulation, dissociation (a big part), and loss of capabilities.
i want the player to EXPERIENCE what is it like, and dissect the mechanismS at place. but i think that will be too heavy to do it directly, and also my budget is reduced and i’m solodev.
Also since i want this game to be primarily something that can be used to learn how to overcome and identify cptsd (for people dealing with it), i don’t want to make it too intense, so that is not triggering.
so i’m aiming to balance that with some story and exploration, in a more simple way.

The mechanic is a critical piece, since i want to convey an experience and not a book (pure textual description). There’s a lot of information i need to translate to the game, and adjust. so it will be reworked a few times.
Currently i’m working towards a prototype that i can start testing mechanics against and share with other players and designers.
For now it’s something like:

  • Exploration
  • Some point&click adventure (minimal text, very few items)
  • Some minimal story telling through the experience and other characters and items.

So that you get an idea, the closest to how my game will be played “like” and the closest inspirations, would be :

  • Gone home
  • Today i die
  • The first tree (which i haven’t yet played well)
  • Silent Hill Shattered Memories (specifically)

Very interesting.
BTW consider separating your door and frame!

Thank you! I do thought about separating them, but i couldn’t decide yet. my thought was that it would be easier for me to put them on the level if they come with the frame.
Why do you think separated is better?

also i’ve added mastodon and twitter.

work: Jerónimo Luis Barraco Mármol | LinkedIn

mastodon: Jeronimo Barraco-Marmol (@jerobarraco@mastodon.gamedev.place) - Gamedev Mastodon

twitter: https://twitter.com/jerobarraco

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This is an early draft pitch:

1st Person 3D Voxel Exploration Point/Click Journey.
Based on real-life events.
Experience Trauma, become stronger, face the daemons.
Dive through darkness to find the light.
Gather clues, join the dots, puzzle your way out.
Trauma becomes your reality. You have to let everything die, so you can be reborn into the real you.
Go at your pace, but we must start now.
Have you had enough already?
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I like the concept kinda horror fighting your own inner demons as it were.

The comment about the door was just to make the open/close animation look right, if keeping them together is your intended design for your own style then please leave it be.

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Devlog 3: This is the 3rd week! Inventory System! + Other news

LifeDev Devlog 3-clip

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And a new devlog appears!
4th week already :slight_smile: Story system + Architecture + Project Management

devlog 4 ssr-2023-06-03_10.21.13_clip2a

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5th week’s devlog [DevLog 5] "LifeDev": My dream game to overcome C/PTSD/Trauma & self-improve. Content+Audio+Sys+Arch - YouTube
New room layout, a few new objects, new interactions, updates on the internal plugin systems.
devlog 5 2023-06-10 10-34-42 clip-b

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LifeDev 6th week’s DevLog
New Item sink! Story layout, dialogs, items interactions, flow, refactors.

devlog 6 clip

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LifeDev 7th week’s DevLog

  • Chapter ending sequence! Closer to full prototype.
  • New character!
  • Improvements to story system.
  • A creepy system to make creepy noises.
  • Some work on packaging, and some refactoring.
  • Exploration on character animation.
  • Material for dynamic palettes.

devlog 007

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10th week’s DevLog [DevLog 10] "LifeDev": My dream game on overcoming CPTSD & self-improve. Chapter's End+Build+Future - YouTube

  • Completed the chapter ending sequence.
  • Lots of improvements.
  • Packaging working well and getting ready to share a build
    ** Probably on itch.io LifeDev by Nande!
  • Steam page! (wishlist :pray:) LifeDev on Steam

LifeDev Devlog 10_clip-b

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Added a trailer
Short trailer 0

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DevLog 11

New build for the chapter 1, pass 2. It has lots of improvements in visuals, usability, animations, dialogs, story, AND dynamic music.

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Your hard work and dedication to developing “LifeDev” is admirable, and the results are impressive! Thank you for continuing to provide updates and Devlogs, which is appreciated. I wish-listed “LifeDev” on Steam and eagerly await the next update. :grin:

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Hey thanks a lot for your kind words!
I have been working quite hard so it is a morale boost :slight_smile: :partying_face:
Also thanks so much for the wish-list, that’s very helpful :pray:

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The pleasure is all mine, and keep up the solid work with developing! I’m curious to see how your game evolves as you continue to explore the overall theme. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! :smile:

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Thanks a lot! Will do. I hope you have an excellent week(end) too!

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Devlog 12

New build is available!
New chapter available!

Note, there were a few factors that resulted in having less content than i expected (i.e. it’s pretty stub). But there’s a ton of under-the-hood work :slight_smile: And the next sprint will be the 2nd pass for this same chapter.

Sprint log:

Explanation and demo

General

  • update to 5.3 !!
    • performance optimization around shadows and global illumination
  • new: implemented dynamic loading using data layers
    • bug fixes and improvements all around
    • performance pass
    • improved input handling
  • improved settings menu and quality settings.
    • new: added new quality categories.
    • new: added basic input hints
    • added a couple of shaders
  • new: moved to newer goxel/vengi with optimized meshes and improved colors (not many new assets though)

Flashbacks

  • improvements.
  • new: Max/Min. handle of changes
  • hooked to the noises

Dialogs

  • improved random dialogs, and dialog system
  • new: dialog history !!
  • improved ui and animation

Story

  • upgraded chapter flow
  • improvement to transitions, camera handling, fades
  • new: dynamic loading using data layers

Inventory

  • improved item look at
  • new: added a flag sub system to track flags (things that happened)
  • new feature: item can have its own logic

Chapter 0

  • less stub than before
    • playable
  • expanded story, dialogs, items

Sound

  • new: new musics!
  • new: new interactions, and noises
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Devlog 13

New build is available!

There were a few factors that resulted in having less content than i expected (i.e. it’s pretty stub). But there’s a ton of under-the-hood work :). Still this is the 2nd pass, so the focus was on adding content rather than features.

Sprint log:

Explanation and demo

General

  • New!: Upgraded to 5.3.2 on windows and similarly latest on Linux
  • New!: Added joystick support
    • Note: i had an issue with my joystick so that the camera control sucks at the moment
  • New: Added new shader effects (not in use yet)
    • OKLab conversions and Lerps. Gooch filter. Edge detection. And utilities (Lerps, Average, Kernels, etc)
  • New: Added test data layer to separate test functionality from actual game
  • New: Added starting chapter feature. Helps on development and will be used for save games
  • New: More animation curves (noise ramp, incubic)
  • Performance pass
    • Removed unnecessary material creation among others
    • Removed a bunch of unused plugins
  • Improved plugins’ documentation and settings
  • Bug fixes and improvements all around

Flashbacks

  • New: Added lights reaction to flashback system

Dialogs

  • New: More dialogs on interactions
  • Improved random dialogs
  • Reworked flow for dialogs for looking at items
  • Renamed plugin to avoid issues with another engine directory

Story

  • Not much

Inventory

  • Not much

Interactions

  • New!: Puzzle system leveraging the interact system
    • Supports puzzles of type “combination” and “sequence”
    • Able to repeat sequences
    • No currently playable puzzle in game
  • New!: Extended interaction lifecycle to have multiple states on each interact
    • Integrating the state management in the current flow and design
    • Extended texts, transforms
    • Works together with the Puzzle system
    • Added state reset ability that works with the puzzle system
  • New: Optionally disable an interact while animating
  • Cleaned and refactored the reward/fade/destroy cycle
    • Many fixes, improvements, and simplifications
    • New: Added reward actor
  • Fixed issues with new materials and fade
  • Ported two more interaction to cpp

Sound

  • New: More noises
  • New: Added sound to more elements (cards, batteries, clothes spots, etc)
  • Improved noises randomization and levels
  • Improved general attenuation settings (they still need much rework)
  • Fixed an issue with self-destroy and trigger sound

Utils

  • New: Add new actor pooling subsystem
    • Manages multiple pools by class
    • Non-intrusive, class agnostic and non reliant on interfaces
    • Actor lifecycle management
    • Allows to have pools that can grow or not
      • Also allows to decrease over a configurable time
  • Progress on the Significance Manager Subsystem plugin
    • Moved to a new plugin to free dependencies
    • Not in use yet

Chapter 0

  • New: More interactions
  • More rounded
  • Interactions more connected
  • Reworked the story flow
  • Improved some collision and animations
  • Attempt to improve the lightning
  • パラメーター adjustments
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Devlog 14

New build is available!
New Chapter available!

This is the 1st pass of the 3rd chapter (#02). It’s a bit stub. But it’s a big update!

Try it at : LifeDev by Nande!
Wishlist at: LifeDev on Steam

Sprint log:

Explanation and demo

------ Game

General

  • New: Started using the .ini config files more heavily. New LifeDev.ini file.
  • New: Started working on the save-game. Basic structure and methods in place.
  • New: Started working a bit on custom control mapping.
  • Started working on reducing the visual stress for people that needs/wants it.
    • Disabled Lumen by default. Mostly since it did not made a lot of sense, secondly to improve performance. (It can be enabled with the .ini config files).
    • Removed depth of field post process effect.
  • Performance pass
    • cleanup on things loaded
    • significance plugin working! Added to a bunch of objects in the scene.
  • Lots of bug fixes, cleanups, and improvements all around.
    • Removed unused assets, variables, and code.
    • Updated collisions.

Chapter 2

  • New: New chapter.
  • New: New room.
  • New: New character.
  • New: New types of interactions. Including cards.
  • Attempt to improve the lighting.
  • パラメーター adjustments.

Chapter 0 and 1

  • Added some new objects.
  • Improved some interactions.
  • Some tweaks and improvements in many aspects.

------- Subsystems and plugins

Flashbacks

  • New: Added feature flag for strobe lights to disable flashing lights.
    • It can be toggled at the start, but also can be toggled on the .ini files.
  • Added duration to SetMax and SetMin.
  • LD/New: Created new flashback post process. Less visually confusing, more meaningful.

Dialogs

  • Not much.

Story

  • New: Feat to remove items at end of step.
  • New: Feat to ensure items at the start of a step.
  • Fixes on finishing step on item received.
  • Fix item rewarding.
  • Fix incorrect transition on last step of sequence.
  • Reworked the whole step cycle. Start, Stop, StartSequence. Much improved, such determinism, no bugs, good wow.
  • Improved character teleport.
  • LD: reworked chapter load cycle.

Inventory / Flags

  • New: Added ensure items, which makes sure there’s at least 1 of the item.
  • New: Added remove items, which removes completely an item.
  • New: Added ItemLogic class and CardLogic. Not much use yet, but allows for having custom logic instance for each item.

Interactions

  • Fix not being able to modify the root component in blueprints.
  • LD: Added UseItemDlgs. Which allows to define a map of items/dialogs, so that when an item is used it will trigger the specified dialog. Speeding up development considerably.
  • LD: Improves on animation management.
  • LD/New: Improves on flicker on flashback.

Sound

  • New: New sounds for drawers and lamps.
  • New: New music.
  • New: Added audio volumes for reverb and stuff.
  • Updated sounds groups and levels.

Art

  • New: New objects: Calendar, wide chair, bathtub, wide cabinet, stand lamp, books, toilet, hall, wide doors, picture frame.
  • New: New character!
  • New: Started experimenting with skeletal animations and voxel art hybrid.
  • New: Started experimenting with a new palette system for assets.
  • Improved, cleaned, and improved performance of voxel materials.

Utils

  • New: Added material and material functions for palette with vertex colors.
  • New: QuickMesh can set collisions.
  • Moved a bunch of voxel color related materials to JUtils plugin.

New! Significance

  • New: Finally working significance plugin. in a separate plugin to have clean dependencies.
  • Configurable through .ini files.
    • Use Background thread.
    • Update interval.
    • Number of player controllers to process.
  • Subsystem to control everything globally.
  • Component to easily control each actor individually.
    • Can be subclassed. LifeDev has a custom one that works in tandem with animations.
    • Everything is per instance configurable.
    • Auto register.
    • Simple to use.
    • Can override the significance calculation.
    • Delegates for changes and events.
    • Can adjust tick enabled and intervals.
    • Can control hiding components.
    • Significance depending on:
      • Actor being hidden
      • Last time rendered (visible). Configurable timeout.
      • Distance to camera. With different levels.

Try it at : LifeDev by Nande!
Wishlist at: LifeDev on Steam

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