Witch Doctor - January Dev Report

In case you hadn't heard, I left my job. At a time when so many of my fellow industry colleagues are having their lives up-heaved, I have had the privilege of being able to decide to leave for myself. I have been saving up for years to be able to do this. To work on my own games, and follow my own passions. To start Luna Studios.

This month has been exceptionally healing for me. I have always enjoyed learning and doing different things, and being able to do that again has been so much fun. I wrote code for a shader the other day. I finally dusted off Aseprite again and have returned to my first love - pixel art. I no longer have the anxiety crippling my Sundays - the fear of the oncoming work week that would prevent me enjoying anything (it's not that my old workplace was particularly unpleasant, I think I burn myself out with wanting to please a corporation, while also battling a serious depression after surgery complications). Outside of work, I have been enjoying hobbies again. I have long lamented my supposed loss of creativity, but after writing 15000 words in one week for a story, I think it's returning to me.

I have found working for myself to be quite an easy transition too. I work similar hours as before, but I do allow myself a little later start. I am my own producer and with the use of Trello, I create the tasks that I need to do for the week. I've found myself to be a bit too productive, having to move tasks ahead of schedule, although this is of course the early stages of game creation, so things do get built and change quite rapidly.

I have been reluctant to show pictures of the game in its current state. All the artwork has been done by me, very much not a professional, and will be redone and polished in the future. It is still in the first stages of production, and so very, very, very much likely to have so many changes. I plan on conducting a play test session next month, which will give valuable information for what people even think of the game.

But enough disclaimer, now presenting Witch Doctor:

In Witch Doctor, you and up to 3 other friends play as healers, running a clinic. You will need to diagnose patients, grow ingredients to be brewed into potions, deal with miasma and try not to catch and spread the diseases yourself. Think of Overcooked, but 2D, fantasy and a little roguelite.

The first time I used Godot UI! I am ever so glad it isn't Unity's. I found it very intuitive to use. Here, you can add players and change the colours (and also change costumes!).

Plant seeds, water them, and see your crops grow! Plants can regrow or need to be reseeded straight away.

Prepare your ingredients, mix them together, and cook them in the cauldron. Just be careful not to burn the clinic down.

You will need to diagnose patients to discover what potion they will need. Some diseases will create miasma, which can transfer the sickness to yourself! If you don't cure the effects, you too will spread the disease, not to mention suffering from it. You can use Incense to clear the miasma, so be sure to keep a nice smelling clinic.

After a successful work day, you can use your earnings to purchase new items that a merchant will provide. How about an incense jar to dispel miasma?

Don't like the layout of the clinic? Reorganise it yourself! Argue with your friends about how to do things most efficiently (and no, you can't grow the plants inside, or have patients beds outside).

As you progress through the game, you will have to choose between decision cards. These will introduce new diseases, add patients in inopportune times, or interrupt your workflow. How long will you be able to continue your clinic for?

If you reached the end of this blog, thank you very much for reading. I hope that you like the game idea. I'm also very open to any ideas you might have for it too.