QTE Dev Log #1 - Getting Started

I’ve been developing games for a long time now. However, I don’t have anything to show for it. It’s not like I don’t finish any projects, I just haven’t finished a game. I’ve tried various means to break this streak to no avail.

Although I wasn’t talking about game development in therapy, one question that got brought up struck a chord for me: “So what makes this time different?” After the session, I started thinking of ways I could make a change in my systems and behavior. What will get me past the barriers I’ve been facing?

Systems and Tools

Having the right tools for the job is key in any field. In my personal projects, I’ve used a multitude of programs and languages. I believe the best tools for my game development success are the following:

• Markdown through Obsidian for documentation
• Godot as the game engine
• Rust as the programming language
• Inkscape for graphics

Even though it’s not included with the Godot game engine, I believe Rust is going to be my friend to develop with. Rust prevents many edge-case bugs through its rich type system, making it easier to write code correctly and quickly. My love for Rust could honestly warrant its own blog post, so I’ll stop myself there. The point is that these tools are nice to work with, so there’s less friction during development - ultimately reducing the chance of burnout.

Passion! (But Not Too Much)

There are two examples of games I have failed to complete. One is Project Rainfall, which I love and worry about ruining with my limited game-dev experience. The second is an unnamed project I started with the sole purpose of finishing it; however, I had little passion for the game and couldn’t work on it for more than 30 minutes at a time.

What I need is something in the Goldilocks zone, where I am passionate enough to work on it, but not too passionate that I worry about doing it injustice. I believe I have one idea in particular that fits this criteria. As a bonus, its scope is quite limited, making it one I believe I can finish within the year.

Excite QTE

Excite QTE is a minigame in the Shenmue series of games. I heavily enjoy the Shenmue series in spite of its mixed reviews (of which I could make another blog post about), especially this minigame. It has a very simple concept:

1. Receive a prompt for which button to press
2. Before the timer runs out, press the corresponding button
3. If you pressed the right one, earn points!
4. If you pressed the wrong one, lose a life :(

So why re-make it outside of Shenmue if I could just boot up the game and play it there? There are quite a few things I would like to improve, but three in particular pop out at me:

• Your final score is displayed for less than a second before disappearing
• Arrow prompts are limited to using the D-Pad
• No option for a one-handed mode (using only face or arrow prompts)

I think that the game could stand out more than it already does should these limitations be fixed. Should people enjoy the concept, I can expand more on the game. For now, though, it will simply be a controller-based game with light quality-of-life features.

My Plan

I plan to give blog updates at least every month for this project, which I am giving the placeholder title of QTE. Given it’s so easy for something in my personal life to de-rail my development schedule, I’m not going to publish any rigid deadlines. For now, you’re just gonna have to be in flux about when you might get to play it. Hopefully you’re looking forward to it as much as I am!