hello everyone!

quite a bit of time has passed since i last posted an update (a year and a half!!). obviously, this is not ideal and i wish i was not so busy, but i have been working on studio apart(ment) the whole time! i swear! i really want to make monthly blogposts a thing, so here is my attempt at restarting this trend and providing some proof that this game does, in fact, exist!

as a quick reminder, studio apart(ment) is a roguelite x life sim game where you play 7 days of a life sim before the map resets, although you keep things such as your inventory, upgrades, and your apartment. since the last update, i've worked on many things, a lot of which i can't really show (unless anyone wants to see minor bug fixes and dialogue code). i'll show some of the interesting parts, though!

procedural generation

this is where the bulk of the work i've been doing lies. planning a city that feels immersive takes a lot of iteration, and as i've been working on this project for almost 4 years, the idea has gone through a lot. here's where we are right now. the game will start off with four main districts. the first two, which i've been working on over the past year, are the arts and the fishing district. let's first look at the arts district.

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/c8f8a9919bb7a9c560bef1dd87d1b85c85bfe7df.png"][/img]this is an example (unfinished) generation of the arts district. this was also the first area i wanted to tackle in my procedural generation overhaul, and it's probably also going to be the simplest. i want there to be a central park, which will be really important to the intro and how the story progresses. here's a look at what the player's building looks like:

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/d318baa63db0d85fd132b516e062f33c89efe3c5.png"][/img]

admittedly, there is not much to say or show here. again, much of the work is behind the scenes, and as i work on this project alone as a university student, i don't have much time to focus on making models and content. this part will come later, when i focus on adding content and polish to the game.

let's talk about the fishing district now! this district comprises of a mainland and several islands, connected by bridges (ignore the missing water, it is gone for optimization reasons).[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/ded5ae60ddc1ef35d1508e053fb2e9aff4f8e713.png"][/img]

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/a9dfa3076e0c876c3aeb5702d10ce15f7b295bf6.png"][/img][img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/7d083bc6365ddeab7c9608781551e7abb4f187fa.png"][/img]making this district has been really fun! i think it looks really unique and feels awesome to traverse. of course, it is a bit barren right now, but it is still in development. coupled with the fishing system (which is already implemented and is really fun so far), i think this district has a lot of potential in terms of questlines, shops, npcs, and music.

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/6d4807ac9c1bb81728e913f2b3594dfa1237c946.png"][/img]ui updates

i wanted to share some ui updates! ui tends to not ever be very final for me, and i really love designing and redesigning ui. here are some comparisons:

dialogue

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/80d9198fb256ddd34e3ca44148e1dd971ddac3d5.png"][/img][img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/49deb9415a24a35fc41fa5dc0b421c23f921b4a4.png"][/img]quest ui

[img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/c5693eb9ec859e6d3c0badac93b4fd440d924601.png"][/img][img src="https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/42075011/3a05935bbccb2efbf457cd89c589ca3fa4ac4b19.png"][/img]

dialogue changes

this is definitely the least flashy update i have, but i think it is worth noting. making a dialogue system is really, really hard. because of this, i ended up rewriting my dialogue system somewhat. writing npcs that feel interesting and unique is something i really care about, and one detail i really want to emphasize in comparison to animal crossing (which this game is heavily inspired by). thus, i've been taking my time creating a system that will allow me to quickly add in dialogue that is interesting and flows from the player perspective. i think i've gotten to a good spot, and i'm excited to create some fun characters to interact with.

closing

i think this is definitely not representative of how much work has been done since the last update (it's a LOT), but here's some extra miscellaneous things i've done:

• rewrote the traffic system completely to work on splines and to have intersections, collision detection, and realistic acceleration

• many intro quests

• reworked a lot of models to work with the art style

• SO many npc reworks including restructuring the classes, creating a state machine and and improved dialogue selection system

• written/modified a lot of shaders better

• many bug fixes including jittery player movement

• lots of planning

exciting! my goals now are to finish up the fishing district and get started on the next 2 districts! something exciting is that the time it took to finish (mostly) the fishing district was about 3 weeks, which is MUCH faster than the months it took me to get the arts district working, although that district needed the entire procedural generation system to be rewritten, so it took longer. i'm hopeful that the remaining 2 districts can be finished by summer's end, which will put us in an amazing spot to start playtesting and do demos! i am very excited for this and the game is shaping up amazing.

until next month, zai jian!

[ 2025-07-01 10:13:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

hello everyone!

another four months have gone by and naturally the game has progressed a little. i wish i could have gotten more work done but school and burnout are my main two obstacles right now and so unfortunately progress has been very stagnant, hence why i waited until now to post another update on the game's progress. as a reminder, studio apart(ment) is a life sim x roguelite where you play seven days of a life sim before the map resets. right now, my work is focused on introductory related content. i don't want to spoil exactly what this entails, but there are some story details that remain relevant for now. this does include a tutorial, however, since i really want to get playtesters to be able to start the game and get playing without handholding from me. currently, i'm having to explain the whole game to someone everytime they do anything, which makes getting feedback tricky. the intro is more or less done, however. instead of being dumped into the city, there is finally a progression to the start of the game. it is not fully complete yet, as i really want to polish these scenes and make the experience of starting the game fluid and fun, most of all. despite that, this is super exciting! pressing on a save finally feels unique and interactive, compared to the previous (and now unused)

old:

new:

animations

i'm definitely trying to include a lot of animation sequences here, but my main philosophy as a designer is to let the player jump right into the game without watching 30 hours of cutscenes. i think this creates a more engaging and player-driven experience, which is what makes a game fun. here is a sneak peak at one of the animations for now.

story??

while this is a life sim at heart, a vague story is required to bind together the roguelite and life sim elements. i really struggled to think of an idea that wasn't too outlandish for the vibe i wanted, and i think i've finally come up with one. obviously, i'm not going to reveal it right now, but i think it fits right into the game and will feel really natural.

bugs

the last month has been really good for development. i want to quantify how much i've been able to work on but one month of development is admittedly hard to show when much of it is code and backend work. some (extremely stupid) bugs i've fixed are:

• after dialogue is finished the ui would not be unloaded
• if you loaded a save file, went to the menu, and then back to that save all the input was turned off
• player starts with no clothes (oops)
• if you are prompted for your name and you click submit without typing, your name gets set to "what is your name?"

i wish there was more, but that's it for now. over the next year i'm going to finish up the introduction completely, revamp the procedural generation code, work on npcs, and hopefully, get the first BETA BUILD of studio apart(ment) which i'm so insanely excited for. september marked the two year anniversary of starting this project, and i'm really happy with how its come out so far. solo development is really time consuming, and i'm glad i'm finally able to see some sort of an end in sight.

[ 2023-12-29 10:08:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

hello everyone! another month of development has passed by so i'm here to write another update about the game's progress through august. it was an admittedly slow month but a lot of very important work for sure. as a quick refresher, studio apart(ment) is a life sim x roguelite set in a city, where at the end of every week the map resets and you can use your progress in the week to buy upgrades and improve your world (and maybe find out what the hell is causing it in the first place).

studio apartment

the main thing i've worked on this month has been the actual studio apartment. i'd be remiss if this was not in any of the betas i made so it's a priority for sure. i tried to really cram everything into the room and i honestly think i could make it smaller but i think it's pretty good for now. there's a kitchen area with a fridge and storage, a bathroom (not yet functional) and a bed and desk area. later in the game i will add room upgrades, but we have to start somewhere, and i'm really happy with how the studio apartment has turned out.

storage and closet space

to kind of demonstrate the polish i've been working on, i wanted to make a note about some minor things i've added to the apartment to make it feel more complete. naturally, any house has a closet for clothes. i decided to make this specific storage update its model as you add items. i thought this would be a nice and simple visual indication of storage space in the closet which adds to the cramped feeling of the apartment.

gearing up for a tutorial

no good game is without its tutorial, and studio apart(ment) is no exception. many of the changes i'm adding right now and in the coming months will be aimed at fleshing out a tutorial and setting player goals. some minor things that i'd like to share that i added are: naming prompts! similar to how in animal crossing (the older games) rover would ask you about yourself and where you were going, the intro cutscene will feature some form of this. obviously, this is just a test dialogue but i don't guarantee that npcs wont be this rude in the final game.
quest system?? definitely not the kind of game where you'd have long quest lines, but any good life sim gives you goals to complete and progress your relationships. the reason i'm working on this system now instead of later is because i'd rather have the framework in for when i start developing the tutorial than hacking together a bad system now and then regretting it later on. there's not much i can really show since i started it a week ago but here's an animation i made
that's it for august! over the next month(s) we're gonna add in quests, ui updates, cutscenes, and the first couple of characters. if you want to support to game, wishlisting is the best way currently and it greatly helps on release.

[ 2023-08-29 08:00:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

hello everyone! it's been a year since i posted the last update but i will try to be more consistent about posting updates in the future. with that said here's what's been added in the last year or so. as a reminder, studio apart(ment) is a life sim meets roguelite where you play 7 days of a life sim before restarting, although some things stay, like your relationships, inventory, and upgrades. between runs you can unlock upgrades to find new areas, abilities, and activities.

skateboarding

the most recent addition has been skateboarding! in case running proves too slow for you, you can zip around the city on your own skateboard. in the future skateboard customization will be added to make it feel even more unique.

jobs

similar to how animal crossing and stardew valley start, i wanted a simple way to make money in the city which would serve as your first source of income until future, the first way is picking up trash around the city, making it cleaner for all your residents and making you a bit of money per day. if you keep missing your quotas per day, though, you'll lose your job.

fishing

i couldn't make a life sim without adding fishing! i took heavy inspiration from paper mario: the thousand year door's action commands. first you cast, then depending on the rarity of the fish you get, you'll have to execute a series of increasingly fast inputs to catch the fish. fishing also introduces a new (unfinished) dock area in the style of a japanese garden. despite the industrial nature of most docks, we can still found beauty in a city.

ui improvements

these aren't super large changes but they're definitely noticeable. i added button prompts so that interactions with the world were much more clear, especially for controller. The corner ui was also cleaned up a fair bit.

clothing

custom clothing! you can equip 4 different clothing items to customize your look, but there isn't much yet in the game as i'm still modeling more clothes and accessories to wear. take a look:
that's about it for the last year of development. it doesn't look like much, but i've omitted all of the boring things like bug fixes and ik foot placement and the code reworking which i've been doing a fair bit of which is not very fun to read about. i'll try to update more, but the core gameplay loop is really coming together.

[ 2023-07-22 00:02:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! The past few weeks have been spent working on procedural generation in studio apart(ment) so I thought I would put out an update on how it's going and some other things going on with the development. The game is definitely being made and I want to get some sort of a beta out before the end of the summer if I can. Procedurally generating the city This was initially super daunting to think about. since it's one of the core pillars of a roguelite, it can make or break the fun of it. A badly generated map can feel unfair and frustrating, and nobody wants that. I decided to make the city out of several blocks; the advantage of this being that it's easier to predictably place things like lamp posts, buildings, benches, and exits. A few months ago i did try doing this much more randomly. The results were cool but not very usable and was just too random.
So I took a stab at actually generating the map and i started out by placing some roads. Easy enough, I just used a noise function to create a map and we had this.
Then I had to trace it with some sidewalks. This wasn't hard in theory, but I had to fiddle around with the numbers a fair bit. I ended up with this, and I was pretty happy so far.
I then made the exits which involved a ton of scene loading information I won't get into, but that took a fair bit of time. Most recently I have started on adding in buildings. One thing I love about the roguelite Hades is that it balances procedural and predesigned rooms really well. Every dungeon in that game features a random mix of predesigned rooms, which ensures a fair dungeon every time while still providing variety. To incorporate this, I decided that each city block would be its own predesigned block, which will make the city not feel extremely generic at every single block. I need to model a lot of buildings for that, but at the moment we have something that looks like this:
Overall I think it's heading in the right direction, and I think that in the end the procedural generation should turn out really well and make the experience of playing a life sim feel fresh repeatedly.

[ 2022-06-11 04:34:04 CET ] [ Original post ]