Hello! I’m Miki, the developer of Research Story. You know, something that I often read in dev circles is that you either start as an artist or a programmer (generally speaking). For me, I’ve always enjoyed drawing as a hobby and only started learning programming later on. While I’m self-taught in both areas, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making a game and am lucky enough to be on this journey!
Research Story is a farming sim (one of my favourite genres) - but not just that! A big part of the game that isn’t usually seen in other farm sims is the variety of wild creatures you get to tame, manage and bring along for exploration. I loved how in some monster taming games, monsters follow the player around and that was one of the first few things I added to the prototype :)
The game is all about exploration and discovery. I wanted players to find all sorts of different plants, creatures and fish, learn about them, and record their findings. Biology sketchbooks were a huge inspiration. Naturally, research became a key mechanic that intertwines with the usual farming/husbandry gameplay loop.
It has been amazing. It’s not without its challenges, but I love the process and the chance to create something interactive out of just ideas in my head. And I absolutely love seeing players enjoy the game.
I chose GameMaker Studio 2, because I found that it was more approachable to someone without a strong programming background. The way the engine worked made sense to me and I just stuck with it.
This is my first commercial game, and there’s so much I don’t know and have to learn.
Scope management is something I struggle with. Part of it is being unable to estimate how long some things take, or not knowing it's a thing to begin with (a small example - pressing F12 to capture screenshots on Steam). Another reason is wanting to add so much content and features in, even when knowing how long it might take. It’s a difficult balance to want to make the game the best I can while having time and financial constraints.
Know your strengths and weaknesses, enjoy the process, and make some gamedev friends!
More practical advice, which would have saved me some time had I known them earlier:
1) Learn to use version control properly
2) Consider localisation from the start (how many words, how different languages and strings will be read)
3) Consider controls remapping, as well as KBM and controller support from the start
Everyone’s gamedev journey is different, but I think most of us share the love for games. Dev on :)
-Miki
❤️
