INTRODUCTION

It's been 2 weeks since the release of ZIEL on itch. This devlog is first and foremost for me, and maybe it also pleases those who have played ZIEL.

Anyway, I'm very happy to have managed to create a videogame, from start to finish, and to have released it.

//--Creating a game with NO EXPERIENCE--//

Okay, I admit it. Up until 4 months ago I didn't know how to code, create pixel art, or use Game Maker.

When I was 15y old I tried to make a game with RPG Maker: me and @tac0s_man created "The Incredibles Adventures of Beer Grylls", a parody of Bear Grylls and the "official" game of a web-series we had created. Beer Grylls Teaser [ITA].

After 200+ hrs on RPG Maker I stopped working on it. It was bad. Very bad. I mean...

Over the years we worked on many prototype games, such as Haperyion (Visual Novel), Cromosomicon (Card game) and Kinkyverse (Soft porn Card game).

In the heat of the pandemic, I discovered a great game, Adventures with Anxiety. I was with my friends on discord, and I got the idea to speedrun it with them. Let's just say it was a big influence in the making of ZIEL.

In July 2021 I said to myself: "Bruh let's try making a real game", and 4 months later we got ZIEL.

//--WHAT I KNEW--//

Basically, nothing.

The story of ZIEL was spread out between an excel doc, three word doc, a .psd file and about 40 pieces of paper in my bathroom.

- I knew how to use a drawing tablet. I bought it in 2020, started using Photoshop a bit, and tried to draw thing. Yes, it was furry, of course. I gained some popularity, but I stopped this "experiment" after 1 month. [m_hoshiii, sfw, just some random imgs]

//--EVERYTHING ELSE--//

No coding experience.

No pixel art experience.

I don't know how a game works with tileset, textures, sprites, objects, audio files, save data, databases, ect.

Music? SFX? What?

I'm not a writer, and I haven't read a book since 2017 (Metro 2033).

Character designs? What's that?

I don't know how to express my ideas.

I could go on for hours, but we can stop now.

//--INITIAL STAGES (2 weeks)--//

While working with @tac0s_man on Haperyion (Visual Novel), I imagined what might happen in one of the many endings we had in mind, and came up with Ziel_RebirtH. 

In 2021 I picked up the story, readjusted it, changed a lot of the characters, made it unique, and added a few things (Yup, Volpe!).

About 250hrs later between code, assets, music, sfx, bugfixing, playtest, it was ready.

I made everything by myself with a little help of @tac0s_man's awesome illustrations.

I had a lot of free time, and I didn't want to fail again. It was easy.

//--ASSETS (1 month)--//

Photoshop, 16x16, pixel art. Cheap, easy.

I loved making posters: 

Every day I created a game asset, whether it was a poster, an object, a sprite, an animation, or something more.

While not experienced, it was still fun and rewarding.

//--PROGRAMMING (2 months)--//

I'm sorry but this part is going to be short and boring. 

Following a bit of tutorials I created Irene's room, aiming to have a vertical game in her room: interactions, dialogues, movement, etc. 

When the room was as perfect as I wanted, I copy-pasted the various things until I created the whole game, inserting new mechanics here and there. (MP3 player, multiple choices, advanced dialogues with illustrations, save and load functions, etc...).

//--WRITING (2 weeks)--//

Let's get one thing straight. 

I don't know how to write well. 

I think you've probably noticed that, right?

So imagine writing, in less than 2 weeks, a full 60-page script of a complete game.

Luckily, my friends read everything, gave me advice, and I ended up with a "complete" product of about 90 pages.

It was easy. (WriterDuet helped me so much).

//--CHARACTERS (1 month)--//

Irene & Volpe:

Probably the easiest character to create. She has no emotions, she just wants to die, let's say I had the perfect example of a person right next to me: my teenage self.

I tried to give her, even though she has almost no personality, her own charm, her own characteristics and I am very happy with the development of the character. I really like Irene.

As for Volpe, I think he is between me and @tac0s_man the most loved character. 

One day, while I was eating, he sent me this:

And to think that she didn't exist until 3 months ago, she really wasn't supposed to be in the final version of the game.

She's an error, something that wasn't supposed to exist, caused by a bug inside the code I was writing.

Basically, when you interacted with an object, the TEXTBOX was supposed to appear and then disappear and make the object not interacting with you anymore. But in addition to the TEXTBOX, the OBJECT would also disappear.

I showed this to some of my friends, and instead of solving it, I decided to control it to make it the main mechanic. To delete the memories.

We needed something to give input on forgetting things though, and from there Volpe was born. 

Ziel's best character, in my opinion. She was just supposed to be a fox, nothing more and nothing less.

Ashley:

A mother figure to everyone, especially Irene. She came about a bit by accident, but let's just say she's a mix of Alma from Va-11 Hall-a, an old classmate of mine, and Sybil from Transistor. 

In the demo she only appears at the end, in Vingolf. I'd like to explore this character more, because she's hiding a big secret.

Rox:

I wanted someone strong and alternative, with no emotion but anger.

Too bad she's just a side character.

Alex & Amy:

They could have been random bartenders, but I wanted to give them a name, a personality and a nice character design.

They were originally going to be androids, but then making them human was the best choice.

//--WHAT WENT WRONG--//

-Marketing: 

I just didn't do it. 

I wasn't sure. 

All I had in my head was "another pixel art game" // "the English translation is wrong" // "how bad" // "but does anyone really want to play this thing" and so on.

I just had @tac0s_man post a pg every day, a twitter poster, and that was it.

-Testing: 

At first my friends were excited that I had made a video game. Everyone wanted to try the first version. 8 people, enough to test bugs and if the game "worked".

Let's just say they helped, I fixed a lot of things thanks to them, but no one has tried the final version yet, and it's been 2 weeks.

Maybe it's a sign, or maybe they forgot....

-Fear:

I was afraid.

Afraid of criticism, afraid of creating something I didn't want, afraid of doing, afraid of failing, afraid of getting stuck, afraid of....

...I have some anxiety, even right now.

//--WHAT WENT RIGHT--//

-Being Alone:

It did me a lot of good to spend so much time working on something that I feel represents me at 100%, without any interference.

When I think back to ZIEL, it feels really good.

-New Things:

I learned how to program with GameMaker!

I submitted a game for a jam!

I can create assets in pixel art!

- @tac0sMan:

It was a pleasure working, this time for good, with him.

We understand each other on the fly and everything he sent me was pretty much "HUGE" at first glance.

100% recommended.

- I got downloads:

So far, about 100 views and 10 downloads, and a pretty thorough review. 

I'm so glad that even a small portion of people have seen the project.

- Everything else 

Smooth as butter. Nothing to say. I'm very happy. 

//--WHAT NOW?--//

I'll keep doing my thing, try to make new games, update old ones. 

Partecipate in game jams.

Who knows, maybe a final chapter of ZIEL will actually come out.