Critter County is a work in progress 'Pet Care' desktop app developed using Godot with GDScript. The games initial concept and assets came from a university module which involved creating a game trailer based on a fictional game. I have attempted to replicate various mechanics created in the video prototype and build upon the original idea.
(Video Prototype, not real gameplay)
To experiment with different ways of play, I chose to adapt my game into a windowed application to sit on a users desktop; with an appearance themed after toys such as Tamagotchi.
The middle screen replicates a touch display, and buttons and icons appear for players to press, with the surrounding buttons being for key actions the player can perform. A clock also features to place emphasis on some in game mechanics, which rely on real world time.
Currently I have adapted several features from the video prototype into the game. I created a variation of the race game from the video as an Infinite Runner which the player can play to earn coins for purchasing food at the shop. The shop runs on a daily rotation with a few items currently available providing different benefits to your Critter, as well as the ability to pet them to raise their happiness.
One thing I intended to unravel working on this project was creating a reliable save system to store and recall data so that a players progress is maintained. Working on this project has given me a greater insight into data serialization and JSON. And successfully stores and manages all kinds of data so that a player can exit the game and open it with all their changes kept, including critter statistics, inventory, scores and money.
In the future for this project I intend to increase the overall amount of content for the game, featuring various new Critters, games and collectibles for players to uncover day by day. Also providing more feedback, positives and negatives for the way you treat your Critters throughout the course of your time in the game. My goal for this project is to create something that players must patiently nurture to uncover throughout the game.