THE DECISION ⚖️: DEVLOG 17.02.2023

📹 Videos Included

Dear readers,

Following extensive research and development efforts, §hadow αrts Limited has finally arrived at the decision on which game development solution will power the upcoming Touch Paradise XXX games.

§hadow αrts Limited has also decided that this same game engine will be used for a complete remake of the ⏪ Rewind demo, which will arrive in the form of version name 1.1.

Further to the devlog on 16.02.2023, it must be noted that extensive engine stress tests had already been conducted for a while prior to arriving at the decision. And the reasons behind arriving at that decision will be explained in this post.

Ladies and Gentlemen, §hadow αrts Limited has decided that the 'COCOS CREATOR' as well as COCOS based technologies will be the game engines and frameworks powering all future 2D & 3D games made by the company (both adult and non adult).

Why you may ask ? Well here are the reasons:

- Maturity: Cocos2D, Cocos2DX and Cocos based technologies have been on the game development tech space for a very long time now. In fact, a great deal of  iOS and Android games are powered by Cocos2D and Cocos2DX based technologies, with some developers considering it a viable alternative to Unity3D.

- Familiarity: While I (the developer) have not created or completed any games with Cocos based technologies, I have had them on 'study mode' for quite sometime (years), and regularly go through example projects and even try new things myself. Even with no references to the documentation, I personally find that using Cocos creator is surprisingly effortless when compared to other engines and frameworks I've used. I just feel comfortable loading it up and getting to work. 

- Free & Open Source: As an independent developer, development costs are always a factor when embarking on creative endeavours. Cocos Creator as well as Cocos based technologies are free and open sourced. This is such a huge bonus given that I (the developer) already like this engine a lot. Being able to acquire the engine for free and not worry about licensing is one less thing to worry about.

- Productivity & Ease of Use: Cocos Creator is incredibly easy to use. And the way I was able to prove this in the context of this discussion was by completing a simple side by side test. Here's what I did:

THE TEST

I decided to recreate the current start screen of the Touch Paradise XXX: ⏪Rewind demo in Cocos Creator 3.7.0, and see how quickly and easily I could do so. I was also keeping an eye on the performance too.

RESULTS

- The video below is a screen capture of the current start screen created using the AppGameKit game engine:  

- The video below is a screen capture of the recreation of the current start screen using Cocos Creator 3.7.0 (background music not added yet):

Please bear in mind the following about the Cocos Creator 3.70 version:

- It was made in about 2 hours.

- I made no reference to the official documentation. I was able to work out what to do (especially with the scene animations).

- The framerate is about 142 FPS = pretty decent performance even with no real optimizations.

- I was able to animate the ⏪ rewind icon very easily to augment the overall visual fidelity of the start screen. 

- If you observe very closely, the particles appear behind the flashing lips and text. This is because Cocos Creator 3.7.0 supports TTF fonts, and I was very easily able to use layering to place the heart particles behind the more important elements on the screen. 

Given the aforementioned reasons, reasons not detailed in this devlog, as well as the rather impressive results from the test, it was only logical to proceed with using the Cocos Creator for further game development projects under §hadow αrts Limited.

Yes, it means that all current 2D projects, and planned 3D projects have been moved over to Cocos based technologies. 

Think about it: I haven't really invested proper time into sitting down and officially learning the Cocos Creator and related technologies, and I was able to achieve such impressive results in just 2 hours. What is possible when I officially dedicate time to learning it properly ?

As you can imagine, I'm very keen on finding out.

Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for further updates.

Touch Paradise XXX Developer
§hadow αrts Limited (2022 - 2023)