PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:


Hey there, I'm Henrique Campos. I'm also known as Pigdev. I'm a Brazilian game designer and developer working hard to help people create and release their games.

TELL US WHAT YOU ARE WORKING ON.

I'm currently working behind the scenes on a game I call Milky Way Mailing Inc, is a game about an intergalactic mailer astronaut that bends space and time to deliver love letters and special packages around the universe, facing all sorts of challenges, from the avatars of the Zodiac Signs, to the abyssal horror of Lovecraftian Ancient Terrors.


The game was inspired by a music an ex of mine did about exploring the mysteries of the universe together and our zodiac signs, among other good memories I have with her. Well, gotta make something cool out of this experience, right?


HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN AND WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?


Well, the game is going really slow ever since I started writing books and starting making my course. The game is a top-down spaceshooter with some elements of visual novels(adventure and stuff) but the work I've been doing is all about Platformer games, so they don't fit well right now. This makes the development be very slow.


I'm using Godot Engine 3.6 for this project, I'm not a big fan of some changes of Godot Engine 4, especially the new Tween system. But I think I will port the game to Godot 4.3 due to the multiplayer features. The game will become multiplayer after you finish the main story line, and Godot 3 is way behind on that sense.


WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?

Finding a good partner to help me make the game. Working solo, especially when you have to deal with other tasks, doesn't allow you to make enough improvements to the project. So...I'd say finding a good team is my current struggle.

ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?

Yep! Buy my First Line to First Dollar course so you learn how to FINISH YOUR PROJECT hahaha.

Unapologetic plug. But apart from that, I'd recommend people to keep developing. This motto of mine really encompasses what you need in this journey. Game development is hard, but you have to keep going, keep growing, keep challenging yourself, keep developing yourself and your games. Make your grind be where you rest day in and day out. Don't quit and better yourself with every FINISHED project.


ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?

Yeah, if you find yourself in the midst of a challenging project, just remember that most of the things in game development aren't documented and as such, in every project is as if we were doing something for the first time. So don't be too hard on yourself and don't waste time with pre mature optimizations or clean codes or design patterns. Just make your game. You can always go back and fix your code when you have more experience, but you can't tralve to the future to get the results of your grind. It's only by actually making the game that you will learn what is necessary!