I've been doing look-dev on a new project for a few weeks, a new world/storyline unrelated to my previous stuff, about a sorceress who can "sweep" spells and magical artifacts to make them more powerful and usable.
I've been using this process to set up a new project development process that allows me to work faster, more intuitively, and more effectively, using new tools for small efficient boosts, rather than for asset generation, which I only had limited success with on Sidereal.
AI has been very helpful for quick concepting and tool building with its ability to code so fast, but from a human-judgment perspective it is still basically useless. The asset-generation tools still tend to look too generic, so they can really only be used as a starting point, and they always require a concept image or idea that I make first by hand to get the details right.
The gameplay is going to be a sort of Minesweeper-style resource management puzzle game. So far the core mechanics are essentially Minesweeper rules, a game I've played quite a lot, but with much more visual interest and some unique mechanics that make the game more interesting while keeping the core simplicity of the original idea.
One of the things that always frustrated me about Minesweeper is the unwinnable scenario where the next move is essentially a guess, so I've designed mechanics that can keep the stakes high while giving more tools to the player for figuring out the board.
I've also designed some hazardous new mechanics that make the game more challenging, so I'm trying to get the balance right in terms of player agency against harder difficulty levels, while also trying to make the core gameplay less repetitive.
I should have the Steam page up in a week or so, and I'm hoping to get the demo finished in a couple months before the Steam Next Fest. I don't expect the game to be that intense in terms of story, but I'll probably do some story stuff anyway, since I always end up focusing on that.
Ideally I would come up with some story mechanics or ideas that don't distract from the main gameplay, but make the experience more exciting and meaningful.