IndieDev Prototype Week 5
Trying something new this week: getting parts of the blog post written up ahead of schedule! That might help me enjoy my Sunday a little more!

Nexus Games Summit
Yesterday was the 3rd annual Nexus Games Summit here in Dublin. I've been fortunate enough to attend all 3 to date, and it's been a pleasure seeing the event grow each year and seeing the improvements and opportunities the organisers have taken to learn from each event in regards to the structure, programme and venue. No question this was the best edition of Nexus yet, and I look forward to next year's event.

Of course, I didn't take any pictures, but I always appreciate having these events as a way to connect with fellow developers (you may even call them friends at this point), and with Ireland being the size that it is, it's not difficult to end up seeing a significant bulk of your connections at one of the several events that happen each year.
I've often wondered if this is a positive or not, BUT, with events like Nexus and FÍS Games Summit making concerted efforts to draw in international talent, to showcase and present, there are clear ambitions to elevate these events to a level similar to the likes of Develop Brighton.
This year, IMIRT and Nexus had a Pitch Deck presentation event, where 8 indie studios had the opportunity to present their pitch deck to both an audience and a panel of judges. Space Lion Studios was fortunate enough to be involved with this and to present our new prototype. This was such a wonderful and beneficial chance for studios to present, some of them for the first time.

I had done a fair amount of research when creating a deck for Axyz, but that was more for the experience and understanding of what goes into the development of one, more so than any actual attempt to get a weird little vaporwave puzzle game signed to a publishing deal.
If we hope to fulfil the full scope of our vision for the new project, funding will be required to bring the talent on board required to meet our goals. Therefore, this was a much-needed opportunity to get feedback on a pitch deck, even at such an early stage.
It also meant comparing against 7 of our peers, giving an immediate spotlight on the strengths and weaknesses of all our decks.
While we did not win, a huge amount was taken from the competition, so a big thank you to IMIRT for organising the event.
The scrope creep is real
I'm sure every developer runs headfirst into the dreaded S word at some point.
We had our experiences while working on Axyz. Heck, part of the reason we made Axyz was due to overscoping on our original prototype and feeling we had to scale down to a more manageable concept. As a small team, you constantly have to pick and choose which battles you want to fight for, because any additional mechanic or idea added is additional time taken to make it work (and make sure it doesn't break).
We're only a few weeks into our new project, and the one question I've been asking myself is this: can the game's core mechanic keep the player interested for 6-8 hours, which is the intended length of the game? Since we're developing an open-world style game, but without walking or driving, the pace of traversing the world will be significantly slower. My concern is that players may lose interest without additional ideas or gameplay elements to mix things up.
Currently, I'm working on a port and filling it up with buildings, shipping containers and today, a forklift. Because I am in my late 30s, I'm of the right age to have experienced the enigma that is Shenmue and its forklift section. And hey, we're making a game based on a unique concept, why not make a mini-game section based on a unique concept?
For now, this idea is getting tucked away for a rainy day...
Fonts!
Here's a piece of advice while working on your first game:
Think. About. Your. Fonts.
Even if you're making a game with minimal text, you still likely have some text, and the font you use can say a lot about the style and tone of the game you are creating.

Some of the themes we have for our prototype include adventure, travel and paradise. And so a game that immediately springs to mind is Super Mario Sunshine, which incorporates a soft font and curve to the UI for the textbox.

There are tons of copyright-free font packs available online. I'd recommend looking on itch, as you can typically find them for a reasonable price and/or on sale.
I picked up a font pack last year with over 1200 fonts, and this has given us plenty of options to pick from. Even if it's not the final font we use, it still helps put together the tone of the prototype.
Also, and this is very crucial, if you are considering localising your game now or in the future, make sure your font covers the standard Romance and Germanic languages (English, French, Portuguese, etc.) as you don't want to have the situation where you've built out a portion of your game only to realise the font chosen doesn't like accents or umlauts.
We learnt this the hard way with Axyz.