Eternal darkness

About me

When I was still in elementary school, I was involved in programming games. My father had a book that taught about the computer language BASIC. I never read the book completely, but a complete script was written in the back. Together with a school friend we copied about 10 pages on my father's Commodore 64. It took us a few days with an error as the result. Fortunately, we didn't give up and we searched the code for the error and learned a lot. In the end, we found the bug and it turned out to be a very simple western shooter. We barely played the game, but we had a lot of fun with the process. 

We did modify bits of code and then see what happens. With this knowledge, we ended up building our own simple games. We also found out that with some games on the Commodore 64 you could access the source code. Here we learned even more about the possibilities of programming. Eventually we got older, the Commodore 64 was replaced by an Intel PC and life happened to me.

Years later, when I had a regular office job (in a totally different industry) and a wife with children, I read about the Swift programming language. I read an article about a visually impaired man who ran into limitations and had made an app for this himself. I immersed myself in Swift and the impression was created that anyone can program with it. The dreams I had as a little boy to make my own games that would be played by unknown people started to come back to me. I learned programming with Swift for a few years. In my normal job, I use a computer only for word processing and making calculations. I hadn't done computer programming for many years. Learning about programming happened in the free evenings and weekends when I had time and motivation for it. My experience was that with Swift and Xcode it is difficult to make fun games. But the door was open, and I couldn't ignore my enthusiasm again. 

After this I came across Unity and C# and I studied the possibility’s. I now have a stable base and I think I can deliver a game. Whether I can realize my dream of the past remains to be seen, but when I have launched a game, I can just say: I am a game developer. That alone... 

My goal

My goal is to make a 2D RPG for mobile phone. As a basis for this, I used the asset of 0x72 (https://0x72.itch.io/dungeontileset-ii). I have now a game where you can make a figure move, attack enemies with a sword and open chests to collect coins. The game is a two-dimensional role-playing game that takes place in a dungeon. The title of the game cannot be derived from the story, or rather the lack thereof. The most tangible thing about the game right now is the environment. In general, dungeons are not known as an environment in which there is a lot of light, hence the title of the game: Eternal Darkness. The title is cool, but very general and not very distinctive. I hope in time, when there is a good story with depth, the right title will come naturally, or with help from you. 

I foresee short levels for this game that you can play as quickly as you are waiting for the bus, sitting in the doctor's waiting room or on the toilet. I think the mobile phone is particularly suitable for playing a game quickly. If you want extensive levels, a PC or console is more suitable. But what I certainly don't want is a repetitive game where you're just grinding to get better and or stronger. A good story with interesting missions and depth and surprise elements are my preference. 

User engagement

What the game lacks is a good story and good level design. I know I'm not the best Indy game developer in all areas. I have a lot to learn. I hope to get a lot of feedback and get tips and help from users and enthusiasts. I know a little bit about everything, but there’s nothing I know everything about. The curse of being a generalist. My current knowledge has got me here, and don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud so far. But I want to get further, and I hope you can and want to help. 

In my ideal situation, I would develop a game where the users are closely involved in the development process. Making a game that people get excited about and can completely immerse themselves in is my dream.

Let me know if I've got you excited to test, play or help develop this game into a top title.