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Category: Personal

Continuous patrolling in Pawtners Case

Published by Paolo on 13/12/2024

Yesterday, I got the third prototype for my game Pawtners Case. I have this design pillar, which is called “continuous patrol”. One of the objectives of the ideation stage and pre-production is to decide on design pillars that will guide the rest of the production and launch.

That means that I don’t want to have a main menu. You run the game, you are in the game. Most games do not need a main menu, especially nowadays when loading a game takes so much times and connections.

Also, there is no death condition. You can fall off the level (imagine levels are islands in the sky) and land on the same level again. I am also thinking of minigames to do.

Credits will be integrated into the game, too. You can ignore them, but you don’t have to skip them.

Predictions and prizes

Published by Paolo on 09/12/2024

We are arriving at the end of 2024, and every year, we will get predictions from experts and prizes for the best games according to many different lenses.

Until now, I have seen a lot of AI in predictions, and China is the clear winner of the year. The underlying message seems to be that the industry is moving towards cheaper developments and removing the intervention of humans from simple tasks, at least.

The message is that the big-budget, high-quality human craft is not sustainable anymore, but is it? I think the main issue is greed instead. The idea is that 3-5 people in the World need to get stellar bonuses at the end of the year and grow and grow. This is unsustainable, for sure, not quality. Not craft. Not the participation of people also in simple tasks, which are the tasks that made us seniors.

I do not have predictions, as every year, I am a designer, not a marketer. I am a creative guy, and I accept that it’s impossible to predict anything, the World is made by interconnected systems and tomorrow a plane accident can easily unlock WW3 and disrupt the job market for many years.

But I do have a wish: to see great games coming from my continent, Europe. And I do have a dream to complete my game this year my game Pawtners Case. Wishing and dreaming are refreshing.

They earned my silence

Published by Paolo on 12/11/2024

Maybe it’s because I started on a new project. Maybe it’s because a company that canceled the position when I was the last candidate republished the position again. Maybe it’s because I am tired of influencers. Or maybe it’s because they use content to train shitty algorithms to produce empty content faster.

Maybe it’s because I don’t want to constantly check out likes and notifications there. Or maybe it’s just because I got bored.

I decided to commit to (at least) a period of silence on LinkedIn. I will continue to write here and on my Substack, though.

I am going indie!

Published by Paolo on 08/11/2024

Yesterday a client of mine hired me as lead game designer on a new game. I cannot say much about it, but it will be a Steam game, 3D, premium. The game will feature emerging narratives and I will care about the gameplay systems to support that.

Plus I will manage a team of game designers, which is something that I love. I am happy because I am trying to switch sector since quite a while.

Mobile F2P is broken, for now. A total race to the bottom with unrealistic expectations. Plus, the survivors are not looking at the future. They look at the past. They want people ex-<PutFamousCompanyNameHere> to repeat formulas. They hope the dramatic situation with distribution will change someday. It will not. They should look at the future instead.

I was happy to collaborate on f2p projects, but a little frustrated with this way of running businesses. Do you start a race following other runners? That’s wrong in so many ways.

That’s why I am happy to finally work on something truly creative. The expectations are not surreal. I am happy, thank you!

Sorry for not posting a couple of days

Published by Paolo on 20/09/2024

I am currently stuck in a limbo, and I will not come out easily from here. But I will do it.

I am preparing all the material needed to participate to the IndieDevDay24. I have hired a freelance artist to help me to the promotional material (one pager and pitch deck) of Pawtners Case.

For now, zero publishers accepted to meet me. I don’t know if this is normal because it’s the very first time I am willing to pitch to indie publishers. Anyway, the experience is worth to me. I am doing something different, at least.

For the rest, here’s the limbo: from one side I have companies that are offering very high positions to me, but then they disappear because I have never held that same position in another company. From the other side I am getting in touch with smaller realities that value well my work but they are offering too low compensation.

That’s a mess, and it’s hard to be patient with money running out of the bank every month. Wish me luck, if you read this.

Pawtners Case first blockout

Published by Paolo on 29/08/2024

This week I have worked intensively on my indie game, Pawtners Case. You are a police dog and you have to help your colleagues to solve cases.

The first level I am prototyping is a medium one. The goal is straightforward, you need to reunite with your colleague, Agent Quinn, and escape a warehouse. There is a bomb to dismantle, too.

This week I have implemented a lot of features, and a blockout. You can see the result here:

For the blockout, I started by looking for references and setting up a moodboard:

Then, I proceeded to create a notepad where I defined my goals, the sequence, and so on. Later I created a map:

Then, in Unreal Engine I set up the level, iterating on the concept. I have to say that I find Unreal Engine versatile for a game designer. It has integrated a gameplay framework that makes things easier. I am happy with my choice!

Pawtners Case

Published by Paolo on 21/08/2024

Today I have completed a set of new mechanics which will be useful for the very first prototype of my game. You can watch here:

I have also changed the name of the game, after listening to the first feedback on a Discord server. The game will be called Pawtners Case, I am studying also layouts for a possible capsule. This is what I got so far:

I am impressed by Unreal Engine. I don’t know why I didn’t use it until now. It has a whole gameplay framework already implemented, you can set things up very easily. And placing object in the level is fairly simple. It doesn’t have the huge community that Unity has, but it’s a powerful tool.

Now I need to focus on the level for the first prototype, and double check which mechanics I am missing.

Snifferson & Solvito: Paws on the case

Published by Paolo on 19/08/2024

I discovered that AEVI, a local association that helps game developers in Spain, activated a help plan for independent developers. They help you financially with the development of a prototype.

My first solo dev game in Unreal Engine is taking shape! I am excited, and I am willing to keep things very small and doable. I want to make a complete game in 6 months, and I can add 2 more for QA and debugging but that’s it.

My intention is to keep things fairly simple:

  • You control a police dog and your goal is to help your human companion solve a case
  • No dialogues, just emojis to express emotions. I want to avoid too many terms to translate. You can develop a relationship with your human colleague which will help you during levels
  • As a dog, you can find valuable items (+$) but also damage the environments (-$) and this will influence the economy of the central station
  • Everytime you perform some action you will learn more abilities during the level which can be useful to solve the case, so you decide
  • No violence, PEGI 12, E10+ game. Explosions and shots will be funny using ragdolls and silly animations

Dog game

Published by Paolo on 16/08/2024

When I was younger I was addicted to TV shows with a policeman and a dog. The most famous one was called Tequila & Bonetti. I still remember that piano music that Bonetti played at night, recalling his dark past.

I am studying Unreal Engine and I had an idea: an action game with a story where you are the dog and have to solve situations to move forward with the story.

For now it’s called simply “Dog game”, I am implementing the first mechanics.

Follow here the development of this game