Big update on where the game currently is at. Lots of iterations of playtesting and development based on play test feedback. Now working on marketing in parallel. Aiming for demo release on Steam by the end of August / early September.

Game definitely seems to be coming together now - I write about what I’ve added in

Added on time progression and an inventory

After soliciting quite a bit of feedback on my new game design and having worked on implementation over the last few days, I’m now happy to talk about the thought process behind this and a snippet of what’s been done so far.

Here I talk about creating a grid system to unlock areas for the player in another navigation method and balancing player stats to be more realistic.

Here I talk about my attempt at creating a navigation mechanic, and my reasoning behind why I decided to stop working on this.

Here I talk about the work needed to create the cooking mechanic, which adds on additional components: hunger & temperature bar, collecting the relevant items for fire and cooking, and having consumed food impact the relevant player stats.

The first basic core mechanic in the game - hydration and inventory to support it.

The beginnings of dev work is always quite intimidating, but you gotta start somewhere, and then build on top of what you have.

I write about my reasoning behind choosing which survival stats (player stats / status) to track and monitor - it’s in largely due to the survival concept of “the rule of 3s”.

The idea for Wild Ground began as a middle-school thought experiment. And now, years later, after college and after a few jobs, I began exploring this idea seriously again.

I want to make a game where you can challenge yourself on whether you (and friends?) can survive in your local wilderness area.