What's next for Uproar?

Warning: this post was written in a short amount of time. Expect edits!

A few months ago, I released Uproar 0.3.

Here are the changes already implemented. Those changes will be in 0.4 with 99% certainty unless I start working on some kind of port¹.

• Reset temperature on story restart
• Add label on menu button
• Fix old character name & wrong tense in translation
• Don't spawn bullets when board is paused
• Tweak music
• Android: go back to native app instead of PWA
• Convert most audio to 8 bits
• Other optimizations

Engine remarks

¹What's with talking about a port?

Warning: TECH TALK. (a bit)
Uproar is currently on Godot 3.5 which has those problems:

• It's not maintained anymore. I guess version 3.6 will come eventually, but it may be a year rather than a few weeks for the latest branch.
• I do have another dependency (Godot MIDI Player), but it lacks some features (instrument filters in soundfont), and my version is slowly diverging from arlez80's repo as I fix things. And it's documented in a language I can't read (though I could do a machine-translation pass)

And the long-term solutions:

• Switch to Godot 4.x, duh.
  • Honestly, on a simple 2D game like that, wouldn't that engine be a bit overkill?
  • Or… would that be the opportunity to enhance Uproar's experience? Get to 3D, vector 2D, a mix of the two like Paper Mario? I haven't made a choice yet!
• Switch to a HTML-based text adventure, no game engine. Will speed up content making tremendously, but could harm the experience.
• Switch to a lighter, more sustainable² game engine. LÖVE comes to mind. Quite a bit of work. I tried it once and it was fine but I didn't do a big project or even any game jam with it.

²yes, as shown by the game's small size and design choices, software sustainability is a pillar in this project.

But by default this project will stay on Godot 3.x.

Narration remarks

What you can play right now is chapter 1. In total, 4 chapters are planned, in an ideal world in which I get extra motivated for 3-6 months at a time (or somewhat motivated intermittently for 1-3 years, a more realistic scenario).

A few clues point to it. If you look for unused dialogue lines at the end of the localization file, or unused music files, you see what's to come. Don't worry, no major spoiler in this post.

There is one milestone I kinda wish to reach for a major update, and that is the EU elections in June. Even as a citizen I can't really tell the EU parliament "hey, I'm not done yet, can you postpone the elections? thanks"

My naive early-2023 self thought "hey, this gives me time to finish all 4 chapters". Well, no. Chapter 1 is done alright. Maybe then it could end on chapter 2, but that's the weakest of the four. I guess I could cut it, but that would break the plot's flow and leave some major characters unintroduced. Chapter 3 is more "resolute" but ends on many plot threads hanging and the deadline is getting tight.

I guess I'll just do my best.

Version 0.4 when?

Before the next deadline for updating the game's Android API level on Google Play. And/or the EU elections.

On that, see you on the next one!