The Valley

I am working towards a certain kind of experience. Along the way, as I refine my vision and implement systems, I produce videogames. This page is a hub for links to the games produces by this ongoing process.

The Valley

The first game produced by this process was called The Valley. The project began with an impulse to create a space of the kind you might find in a JRPG, but one that is interesting to explore even in the absence of most of the tropes and systems we've come to expect from JRPGs. You can play the game and read more about it here:

https://arrogantgamer.itch.io/the-valley

The Valley 2

Reflecting on my first attempt, I decided that I did not want to work with RPG Maker.  I began working on an RPG engine for the game boy. 

I enjoy implementing features, and I'm less excited about making "content" for games. This is a problem, as left to my own devices it's likely that I would end up years down the road with many features and no game. In order to avoid this, I implement just one or two systems and then stop to make a complete game with just those systems. The first systems I implemented were 4-way scrolling, collision, and transport events, the basics of a JRPG. The Valley II is a complete game built with only those elements... a kind of Walking Sim by way of JRPG.

[REDACTED]

You can't play the valley online anymore, although it may be available upon request. You can read the post-mortem here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qL4Jv92EOy31Y4i-XLhJ6LDcRtQJ9we-RQRTPJsvOp4/...

The Valley Gaiden: Valleyntino

After reflecting on The Valley 2, I started working on random encounters. Along the way I made many changes to the engine to answer various tensions that I felt during the development of The Valley 2. Valleyntino is a short game that showcases the stripped down random encounter system.

(in progress)

The Valley 3 ???

While building the world of Valleyntino I felt a strong pull to add dialog. I stopped myself from increasing the scope of that game but still ended up implementing a simple dialog system that went unused. The next project is going to be something closer to the first game, and a little closer to Dragon Quest.

(in progress)