This story starts with a friend
You wake up in your cabin surrounded by a majestic world. You go to see your best buddy Zack, but he's missing. Where did he go? Why did he run off? Journey across different landscapes and leave no stone unturned during your search for your best friend.
Along the way, you can discover old buried artifacts that reveal forgotten memories of you and Zacks Past, Present and Future.
The First Friend is a First person exploration game. Delve into the personal story of you and Zack as you traverse beautiful terrains and discover the forgotten truth that is buried away deep inside.
Key Features:
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Created by a one-man team, The First Friend offers a deep, personal story that deals with the joys and heart aches of life, going through disappointments and realizations of an unforgiving world, with one light keeping you from despair.
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An emotional soundtrack that pulls at your heart strings by Myuu.
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The First Friend is a peaceful and relaxing experience allowing you to play at your own pace without any interruptions.
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Search for your best friend as you uncover buried memories that reveal stories that demonstrates a life lesson that you would not soon forget.
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A short but moving experience (about 1 - 2 hours) focused on story and exploration.
Inspired by "The First Tree" by David Wehle
FAQ
Did you make everything in the game yourself?
No, 99% of the assets were licensed and used to speed up development. I modified the assets by playing around with the settings to suit my vision for The First Friend. If I made everything myself then it would of taken years just to have the assets all set up. Don't be ashamed of using licensed assets, it will save you so much time in the long run.
Can I stream your game?
Nothing will make me happier! The music is royalty free so their shouldn't get auto-flagged on YouTube. If theirs any issues, message me and i'll try to help.
How much does it cost? How long is the game?
It costs £4.99, a casual playthrough can take less than 1 hour, whereas exploring everything takes about 1-2 hours.
Will you bring this game to consoles?
I would love to, it depends on how well The First Friend sells.
Any *Random Question* to do with coding/programming?
The truth is I am terrible when it comes down to coding. To put simply, I don't like coding and I'm just incapable of understanding code. However I understand how essential programming is in not just games but in today's world and it's a real shame that I can't get into it. The First Friend does contain C# coding and thanks to the many YouTube tutorials I managed to code all the mechanics needed for the The First Friend. If theirs any questions regarding programming, I would honestly recommended to just google it because that will help you a lot better than I can.
How long did it take to create The First Friend?
Development started in July 2020 on laptop while on Holiday in Valencia. Whenever I had down time I would work on the game. Once the holiday was over I moved my project to my PC and worked on it full time. I was jobless during the development of The First Friend due to COVID-19 so I had a lot of time to work on the game. If I had a job and other responsibilities then it would of taken double the length maybe even triple.
How has this game changed from the original plan/vision/design?
The game was originally meant to be a third person game where you control Zack the dog as you explore and find all the owners memories. The reason for the change is simply because I couldn't get any of it to work. I tried for hours but theirs was always issues I didn't know how to fix so I decided to make it First Person and the player controls the owner. Everything else is more or less how I in envisioned The First Friend.
What made you create The First Friend?
It started with a video by "David Wehle" titled "How Making Indie Games Changed My Life", he showed how you can tell a story through a video game with little to no code. I graduated in Game Design in 2018 and I haven't done anything with it since. This video was sort of a wakeup call to sit myself down and make a game. I wanted to make the game as simple as I could, nothing too flashy. I booted up Unity and looked at all the essential tutorials I needed for the The First Friend. I had the concept of finding forgotten memories planned but didn't have the story built around it. A friend suggested having a dog as a joke, but I saw the potential in that idea and started to create a story. Thus The First Friend is born. It's heavily inspired by David Wehle's game "The First Tree". During development, the name The First Friend popped in my head and even though the names are similar, I just knew that's what the game had to be named.
What Game Engine did you use to create The First Friend?
Unity.
The reason I used Unity is because:
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Endless support from the community.
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Many free online tutorials that cover almost everything on Unity.
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The humongous list of assets available in the asset store. I wouldn't of been able to create The First Friend without it.
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Many jobs in the Video Game industry are looking for Unity Developers.
If your looking to find a Game Engine to use for your game development, I would recommend researching the game engine that fits what you want create. Once you start and commit to the Game Engine, it will make all the difference. Success has come from using many game Engines from Unreal, Godot, GameMaker, Buildlbox, Construct etc. Find a Game Engine and don't look back, you wont regret it.
What did you learn from making The First Friend?
It's hard, i'm not going to lie. I have nothing but respect for indie developers, it's amazing how small teams or single individuals can create such incredible games. I didn't expect The First Friend to take so long to create, I thought it would take 2-3 months due to how short and simple it is. That's when I realized making the game is only half the battle, theirs also marketing, making your game known and getting people talking. What started as a simple project became a full time passion project. Many mistakes were made and time was wasted during development however it was my first game and I have learned a lot from creating The First Friend and I can use what learned for future projects.
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