Ryuheidou is currently developing
“Ryuheidou’s Game Shelf”,
a game collection for Steam.
As the name suggests, it's a project where I gradually line up the games I've made so far, along with new games I come up with, on a single "shelf".
In this post, I'd like to write about why I decided to make this, and what kind of game collection I'm aiming for.
Before I Knew It, I'd Made a Lot of Games
I started making games seriously with Unity around 2019.
Partly as a way to learn game development, I've just kept making whatever came to mind.
They range widely in genre and content: 2D action, shooters, puzzles, experimental mini-games, and more.
Some I finished and released, while others I got partway through and then left as they were.
As I kept making things, the number of games grew quite a bit, counting both unfinished ones and ones I'd released as free games.
When I counted, there were more than 50 in total.
Even I was surprised: "I made this many?"
I Don't Want My Old Games Just Sitting There Asleep
Looking at them now, many of my past games have clunky controls, confusing UIs, and plenty of technically immature parts.
Even games I thought were finished back then have no end of things I'd want to fix from where I stand today.
On the other hand, there are also plenty of games whose ideas I still like today.
Rather than deleting them because "they're old,"
couldn't I tidy them up again with my current skills and keep them around?
That thought is what got me started on 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf'.
Building My Own Game Shelf on Steam
'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf' packs multiple games into a single application.
Instead of selling each game separately,
I'm making "a place where all the games Ryuheidou has made can be kept together"
itself as a single work.
And this isn't something that's finished once and then done.
Even if it starts as a small shelf, games will be added through updates.
My aim is for it to grow bit by bit, to 5 games, 10, then 20, and become a big game shelf over a long period of time.
As for the games that get added, I currently have no plans to sell them individually as DLC.
The plan is that once you've purchased 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf', you can play any games added afterward at no extra charge.
The First Three Games on the Shelf
Currently, I plan to include the following three games at release.
- Wave Dodge
- G Slime
- UNDERBUILD
Each one has a different genre and a different way to play.
I don't intend to limit 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf' to a single genre.
I'll freely add whatever I feel like making at the time, whether it's action, puzzle, or mini-games.
I also plan to introduce each of these three games in more detail in separate posts.
I'm Not Just Dropping the Old Games In As They Are
Of course, I won't just include my old games unchanged.
I'll fix as much as I can of whatever bothers me from today's perspective: controls, game balance, UI, graphics, sound, and so on.
For some games, I'll probably even rebuild the rules themselves.
While keeping the ideas and feel of the originals,
"a form that's still properly fun to play today"
is what I'm aiming to polish them into.
It's a remaster of past games, a remake, and a new game collection all at once.
It's a slightly unusual kind of project.
It's Also a Testing Ground for New Games
'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf' isn't just a place to preserve my past games.
When I'm making games, I often think things like,
"I want to try this kind of control scheme," "I could make a small game out of just this idea," "What would happen if I used this technique in a game?"
These ideas come to me all the time.
But trying to turn every one of them into a full-sized game inevitably takes a lot of time.
So even for a small idea, I'd like to finish it as a game first and try adding it to the 'Game Shelf'.
I want to use it as a place for that kind of experiment, too.
And if any of the included games get an especially good response, or I feel "this could be made bigger," I'm also thinking of developing it into a standalone game in the future.
I Want It to Be a Record of My Game Development, Too
Another reason I'm making 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf' is that I want to leave a record of my own game development.
When I look at my old games, I remember a lot of things like,
"This is how I used to build things back then," "This is when I first learned this technique," "I'd build it like this now."
Memories like those come flooding back.
Even if a game is immature in terms of polish alone, I believe a record of what I was thinking and what I was trying at the time still has meaning.
Lately, I've also been sorting through footage I recorded while making old games, bit by bit.
From now on, I'd like to write on this blog about things like:
- Introductions to games I made in the past
- Development footage from back then
- Things that bother me when I look at them now
- How I fixed them in the Game Shelf version
- What I was thinking while making them
- Development logs for newly added games
and more.
Growing the Shelf, Little by Little
I don't plan to make 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf' a huge game collection from the start.
To begin with, I plan to start with these
- Wave Dodge
- G Slime
- UNDERBUILD
three games.
From there, I'll keep making new games and fixing up old ones, adding to the shelf little by little.
Just as books gradually pile up on a bookshelf,
games will gradually accumulate on the game shelf.
That's the kind of project I hope to make it.
Looking back on the games I've made while trying out new ideas.
And in the process, the history of Ryuheidou's game development itself gets preserved.
A game shelf made of games.
That's 'Ryuheidou's Game Shelf'.
I'm currently working toward a release on Steam.
I'll also introduce the games planned for inclusion here on this blog, little by little.
