THE MECHANICAL HEART

Development Blog

Welcome all,

I have decided to create a weekly development blog of my current project titled The Mechanical Heart. In this issue I will outline what you can come to expect from this blog and an introduction to the game.


About the Blog
In this blog I will me covering all aspects of the development of TMH (The Mechanical Heart), from design to programming to art, however as I am primarily a coder I expect most blogs to be about features and their implementation into the game. I will be updating this weekly (hopefully), I aim to release a new issue every Sunday or maybe Monday if I do not have the time. Its also worth noting most of the art with in the game is placeholder stuff, but it 'should' be totally replaced soon as I have an artist working for me. This issue is a bit bland with blocks of text, in later issues I will try to illustrate as much as possible as nobody likes blogs with walls of text.

Commence the wall of text!


About the Game
Almost a year ago I was just about to start my final year at university, for my thesis/final project I decided to create a game and it's engine (which I scored 90% on!), that is the product of what I have today and hopefully the base of a released game in the future. The game ( and it's engine) is being developed in C++ and using [s]DirectX 9[/s] DirectX 11 for the graphics API.

The Mechanical Heart is a Rogue like like like like (how many likes are we using these days?). It has deep inspirations from games such as Rogue Legacy and Binding of Isaac and draws aspects from those games. The game is about a Mad inventor who has stole an object of great power, The Mechancical heart. It is up to the player to venture into his factory to retrieve the treasured object. However standing in-between you and it, are The Inventors contraptions which will do everything in their power to stop the player in the tracks.

[indent=1]Prologue
[indent=1]Your city for many years has been powered by a powerful device known as the Mechanical Heart. A powerful invention which limits have not yet been reached. The inventor of said device gave the Mechanical heart to the city as a gift. But now he grows tired and bitter as the city and its people grew rich, profiting of his device that he alone invented.

[indent=1]After many years of jealousy The Inventor became disjointed and was cast out of the city. As an outcast he plotted a devious plan, to take back what he saw as his, and his alone. Before the citizens knew what happened The Inventor had succeeded in his plan to steal the Mechanical Heart, and the city was plunged into darkness.

[indent=1]Powerless the city soon delved deep into poverty, and disease spread across far and wide, unable to function, unable to rebuild. For too long they relied on the Mechanical Heart. Now it is up to you to restore power and glory to your city. However the, now mad, Inventor will not make it easy for you. He now resides in his derelict factory on the outskirts of the city. The Inventor has created numerous contraptions throughout the factory to stop you in your tracks!


About the Team
This section should be pretty short and sweet, because at the moment the team, Binary Cats, consists of just me. I am the sole driving force on this projects and do most/all of the work on it. I am, however, outsourcing the music and art, and although I do not have a composer as of yet I have an awesome artist who is currently working on the art for my game.


About Me
So who am I? I have just graduated University with a first in BSc Computer Game Development. I really enjoy video games, but these days I find more joy in developing them than playing, I am skilled in C++ and Java And I enjoy programming in my spare time. I am undergoing this project as I search for a Job in the Game industry.


That's it for this entry,

Until next time,
Dsm