Gatewayz
Fable
Gatewayz is my latest project, at least for game development (as of 14th of July 2025).
Let’s start at the start shall we?
My mind doesn’t seem to sleep, it is always busy dreaming up ideas, some workable and some just plain crazy. When I wake I ruminate on the idea to see if it is worth taking the next sep, which is to write it down in one of my notebooks.
Somehow writing it down rather than simply typing it into Google Docs solidifies my feel of the game. Also writing in a notebook allows me to sketch things, such as example movements, or perhaps test levels.
So there I was traveling to Las Vegas with my wife for a family wedding, when I had this idea from a few nights before.
In the Level I had active blockers in the form of gates that can be turned by the player. Thus allowing the player to alter the level, which is an exciting concept to me.
So I got out my handy dandy notebook and wrote up a bunch of notes. Included in these notes were an example first level, and a few other possible level designs and the whole control scheme for the player.
I felt a lot better once I had the notes down, and I kept adding to them when I thought of something useful. By the time I got back home from Las Vegas, I had a pretty good idea what the game would and could consist of.
The Thing is… should I take it to the next step?
Which is designing and working on a prototype?
A Prototype is an important step when making a game.
It should prove in the fastest way possible if the game is worth developing beyond the prototype stage to the Vertical Slice.
I obviously decided to do this, and as it was 2D, I decided to use Game Maker (my latest fad).
To make a prototype fast, I use any old code I may have around. I also grab images that will suit straight from the Web and use them as my sprites.
No Animation
No Real game loop
No SFX
No VFX
In fact nothing but the game elements and Player control and some basic enemy control to allow the game to be played.
For the next step, I needed to prove that I could in fact make interesting levels. One of my previous Prototypes failed because making the levels was simply too time consuming and frustrating, even though the gameplay itself was fun.
Here is a picture of the First test level I drew in the notebook.
The Level actually turned out Exactly as I had dreamed it up. But I had more ideas, so I decided to create 10 levels total.
The Prototype was ready, but I wanted to try a bit more. So I created the more advanced Enemy to play with, and then as I knew it was good enough to have my friends try it out, I finished the whole game loop.
Which means starting with a number of Lives and dying and restarting and a Game Over screen. This always makes a prototype or Vertical Slice feel complete.
I love this Prototype. I have 6 enemies designed already and simply altering their speeds ups the difficulty and tension when playing in the maze.
It has potential for a two player coop mode as well, though the levels would have to be specifically designed and balanced of course.
I want to take this forwards to a Vertical Slice… but it will have to wait, as we have Alpha Squadron coming up on release and I want to add a feature before release.
I hope to come back to this game and get real graphics in…
I always excitedly explain my designs to Ender, who somehow immediately sketches cool stuff! (I look forward to getting these in one day)
When I have new ideas, I always try to relate them to games I have enjoyed previously. In this case I have Bomberman, Bombjack, Ladybug.
Latest Updates and info can be accessed on the