Hello everyone!

Well, let's start. First post in the development log. Summary:

• Idea - a short description of the gameplay, setting, visual style and scenario;
• Goals - a description of the goals of the project;
• Distribution - a description of the final platforms on which the game will be available;
• Development - a brief description of the development process, the tools used and the timing;
• News and Community - I'll tell you about how the dialogue with the game's community will be conducted.

# Idea

Gameplay

The game is a mix of genres: platformer, survival and RPG. I think it immediately comes to mind: Terraria, Starbounds, Stardew Valley ... and yes, they are - these are the main projects that I use as refs. 

Classic: we run around locations, collect resources, create items, fight, complete quests.

Setting

Science fantasy was chosen as the setting. The choice is justified only by my own love for this setting, I love science fiction (space, technology, robots) and fantasy (swords, armor, mythical monsters). The following are used as refs for the setting:

• Warhammer 40.000
• Destiny
• Shadowrun
• Elex

Visual style

The visual style is pixel art. My main specialization is programming, so it will be easier for me to create pixel art assets.

Scenario

The basic scenario is fairly straightforward. You are an escaped prisoner. You were held captive with your family (wife and child). During the escape, the wife and child were captured, but you were able to escape. The character's goal is to rescue his family. More details of the scenario will be revealed as the game develops..

More details on the title. Helot - is just the codename for the game. I will come up with the final name of the game later, after the vision of its further development is fully formed.

# Goals

Universe

The main goal of the project is to come up with a game universe, its lore, world, characters, and so on. IIf the game universe turns out to be interesting - there will be other projects in the universe of the game. let's see how it goes 🙂

Community

The second goal is to build a community around the universe of the game.

# Distribution

Platforms

WebGL was chosen as the first target platform in order to be able to quickly deliver game to users without any installations and other things. You can play directly at https://ikrupincom.itch.io.

Further, the plans are to release the game for mobile platforms and possibly on Steam.

Monetization

As it was already mentioned in the “Goals” section, the main thing is ещ come up with a game universe, and not the earnings. Although, of course, it would be very nice to get some coins.

Anyway, the WebGL version at https://ikrupincom.itch.io will always be free, with progress saved locally. This means that you will not be able to continue playing with the same progress in another browser.

At the moment, I plan to make mobile versions paid. The mobile version of the game will have a number of additional premium features, including cloud saving of progress.

# Development

Instruments

Engine

The game will be developed on the Unity engine. I've been developing games with Unity for about 6 years, both browser and mobile..

Graphics editor

I use Adobe Photoshop as a graphics editor. I think this can be left without comment.

Documentation

I use Confluence as a tool for maintaining internal project documentation.

Task tracker

As a Task Tracker - YouTrack from JetBrains.

As necessary, I will connect new services and software, which I will definitely write about.

Processes

The development process will be structured as follows. Every week (let's call this a “sprint”), I will set a series of tasks that I will try to accomplish. The tasks will be of a different types (from “draw 5 types of stone icons” to “design a quest system”). At the end of the sprint, I will sum up the week and plan the next sprint based on what I managed to accomplish in the week and what problems arose. Transparent, understandable and without unnecessary things.

Timing

I do not set myself any specific deadlines for development, but I will not drag out too much. I would like to have a playable version at the end of the summer that can be released in Early Access on Google Play. I plan to developer the game in my free time from my main work, so it's only on weekdays' evenings and weekends.

# News & Community

DevLogs

At the end of each sprint, I will write weekly DevLogs, which will describe: what was accomplished from the planned, what was not accomplished from the planned, the problems encountered and their solutions, as well as the ideas that have arisen.

Also, during the week, if there is something interesting that I would like to talk about, there will definitely be posts.

Channels

At the moment, two resources are used as communication channels

• https://ikrupincom.itch.io - for a non-Russian-speaking audience
• https://dtf.ru/u/283351-ilya-krupin - for the Russian-speaking audience

As it develops and becomes necessary, I will open new ways of communication, including: channels on Twitch and YouTube, a server in Discord, possibly Instagram account, and communities on other social networks. At this stage, there is no need to use all the available channels at once, because it will also take time.

# Conclusion

This is the first, or rather the "zero" post in the Helot development log. So far, no pictures, screenshots, code, sounds ... just words. I went to translate the words into something playable. In touch!