After the announcement of the theme was announced, I started looking for some meaning, a notion or idea on which to apply Antiquated Future, the theme was ambiguous like a good Jam theme, the ideas were initially discarded, why? Well, the truth is. is that if I learned something from the Jams it is "Never do the first idea that occurs to you", this is because, like you, many other people will have the same idea, one of them was precisely with the Steampunk theme, which applies perfectly, However, this must have occurred to at least 60% of people as a first idea.

The second thing was time travel, but it was for something more emotional since movies like back to the future made nostalgia become a very strong influence. However, analyzing the past seen in a futuristic style reminded me of a movie recent, Spiderman Across the Spiderverse, where precisely the Vulture is of an old style

The fact that its artistic style refers to the Renaissance where Leonardo Da Vinci would design surprising inventions for the time was a great starting point, I also wanted to try to apply Vulture's aesthetic to the game, in such a way that it looks like a work created by Himself. Da Vinci

Having already a clear idea that my game would be about Da Vinci's Machines and with an aesthetic already selected, I proceeded to develop

Initially I was not sure how I could integrate Da Vinci's machines, so I was analyzing his inventions, from driving his tank to perhaps a search for his ruined machines.

In the end I found that Da Vinci performed dissections and the Renaissance was based on humanism, Da Vinci had dabbled in Automata, automated machines with certain actions that are predecessors of robots.

This was magnificent, it turns out that the Automata fit perfectly like Antiquated Future, so I proceeded to design a control system for the Automata, since the word "Automata" reminded me of Nier Automata, I couldn't get it out of my mind to make a game Hack And Slash type

So I ended up having a Base of what my game would be, I tried to develop a good combat system while I was doing it, sometimes problems arose so I relaxed designing Vitruvius, as I would end up calling the Automata

I decided as part of the mechanics that Vitruvius should be wound up such a doll, so I integrated a parallel mechanics to be able to load the rope.

While I was creating this system and developing the main character that we would use, I continued researching to put it in a good context. The ideal thing I found was the Invasions of Italian cities during the Italian wars, so I looked up which city Da Vinci was in. Of those moments and Bingo, Milan was the ideal

Initially it was as simple as fighting, combating and recovering scrolls rolled with the plans of Da Vinci's inventions, however I was not convinced.

It was when I decided that we should try as players, the different inventions

I looked up what Milan was like in the 1500s so I decided to recreate it as best as possible over time.

placing emblematic houses and buildings, problems arose here because I could not finish the recreation 100%, given that I work and study, I could only dedicate a maximum of 6 hours a day to the project

In addition to the fact that I do not have internet where I live, since I live in a mountain where I have no connection of any kind, there is the fact that my computer does not have the best characteristics.

So it was common that in the middle of doing something the Engine would hang and the computer would slow down to the point that I had to restart it, my PC has a 940 MX graphics card, so you will understand that it is not ideal for Unreal Engine.

And if you were wondering, yes, I don't speak English, so my engine is in Spanish

This day was basically optimizing my PC and trying not to lose my progress.

Having lost a whole day of development and having to redo the entire project into a new one and migrate it I was ready to continue.

At this point I didn't have time to finish Milan, so I decided on an alternative to include everything I wanted and that rebuilding Milan wouldn't mean wasted time, so looking for inventions became defending the Sforza castle, (at that time Da Vinci was found there)

So the first part would be to defend the castle and then fly on the Ornitopter

This day I still suffered a misfortune, my "Vitruvius" could not be rigged, neither with mixamo, nor with accurig, I suppose it had many errors, so I had to find alternatives

Every pack I buy, or get for free, I download when I go to the city where I work, so it was a matter of searching through my assets and including the Samurai pack as a savior so I could continue.

I didn't sleep at all this day

With time on my heels, I began to complete the parts that I could, the combat system decided to leave it only with one type of enemy, however this would be boring so it occurred to me to make Da Vinci's tank as the final enemy

It was done so quickly that it doesn't even have a sound.

Here I concluded the ornithopter and its weapons, the bomb and the shuriken (model that is recycled in the tank)

I included scythes, his helicopter, his flying bird and his automata, as well as his giant crossbow, I tried to include what I could.

I also finished with the shader to make the game look like parchment

Without a doubt, time was already eating me alive, so I made quick menus and let's try

Everything was an odyssey, this day I didn't sleep either, I couldn't make my effort go in vain.

I compiled it in the little time I had left, and a few minutes before leaving for work I put it on a flash memory and took it to work (I also made my game trailer in less than 20 minutes)

At work (where I do have internet), I packed everything according to the presentation requirements and uploaded it to itch.io, adding whatever photos I could.

I uploaded the game I think about 12 hours before the deadline, after getting home that day, I went to sleep

Creating a game in a short time is a huge challenge, but you don't have to give up, if you are looking for inspiration, here you have it, I was able to make a game using the Industry's Leading Engine on a low-resource Laptop, with limited time, without internet. Do you need something else to encourage you to build something great yourself?

If you are not like me, maybe you are in a better situation, I live in Latin America, here the dreams of being a developer are more difficult but it does not mean that you should stop. Good luck and end of this adventure

AlianzaGamesSoloDev