Kicking Off 2025 – Corrupted Virtues Development Begins!
Happy New Year! I’m excited to share the first big steps I’ve taken in 2025 toward building my Corrupted Virtues tactics RPG. This year, I’m focused on turning ideas into tangible progress, starting with laying the groundwork for my prototype. I was showing off some of this stuff to my brother earlier in the week, and he said, “Dude, why do you keep restarting the same project?” He’s right! I do keep restarting this project, but this year I’m hoping things will be different. I’m determined to finally make this dream a reality – not just for the sake of doing it, but to do it well and create something I am proud of!
A New Home for Development
I set up the GitHub repository for the project, where I’ll be keeping everything public – from design documents to scripts. I typically use Google Docs for game design, but this time I wanted to keep all my notes and plans alongside the code in Markdown format. It feels like the right move for transparency and organization.
Here’s the repository:
Corrupted Virtues Tactics RPG
The Game Design Document (GDD) is already live:
Corrupted Virtues GDD
I’m treating this GDD as a living document that will evolve as the project grows. Keeping it simple (and in Markdown) lets me update it frequently without hassle.
README – A Small but Important Start
I also drafted a quick README for the repository. I don’t usually create detailed READMEs at the beginning of projects, but I figured starting with a basic one wouldn’t hurt. I asked ChatGPT to generate it, then tweaked it to fit the version of Corrupted Virtues that’s in my head.
Check it out here:
Project README
This README will expand as the project develops, especially once I finalize more systems.
Managing Scope and Tasks – GitHub Projects
One of the biggest shifts I made this year was consolidating all planning into GitHub Projects. In the past, I’ve used Trello and Jira, but I liked the idea of keeping everything in one ecosystem.
I leaned heavily on ChatGPT to break the project into quarterly goals and tasks. I know the scope might change, but having a structured plan from day one feels like a win. I’ve already got milestones mapped out for grid movement, pathfinding, and combat systems.
Here’s the project board:
Corrupted Virtues Project Board
Blogging and the Future of Moral Support Studios
Last year, I decided to step away from WordPress for Moral Support Studios. Hosting costs weren’t worth it for a site I barely updated. Instead, I’m embracing GitHub Pages for blogging and documentation – it’s free, simple, and lets me focus on the work itself.
I do own the domain moralsupportstudios.com, but redirecting it to the GitHub blog has been more complicated than I expected. It’s not urgent, but eventually, I’d love to build a dedicated site for Moral Support Studios.
Right now, GitHub feels like the best fit. It keeps the focus on development, but down the road, I picture Moral Support Studios as a portfolio hub showcasing Corrupted Virtues and other projects I’ve worked on.
Revisiting Old Projects
I also spent some time revisiting past projects in the Moral Support Studios GitHub organization. A few years ago, we made a mobile idle game based on Corrupted Virtues with my friends and family in just one month! It never made it to the Play Store, but it was fun to show around.
We also submitted a game for the 2023 BigMode Game Jam. It didn’t go as planned – our artists were sick – but we still submitted it!
If you’re curious, here’s the organization:
Moral Support Studios GitHub
Diving into Pathfinding and TDD
One of my key goals this year is to learn Test-Driven Development (TDD). I’ve always been passionate about learning unit testing, but integrating it into my workflow (both at work and in game dev) has been challenging.
Since Corrupted Virtues is a hobby project and a learning tool, I’m using C# with Godot. This aligns with my day job and lets me focus on applying new skills directly. I recently found GDUnit4, a testing framework for Godot that supports C# and fully integrates with Visual Studio:
My first attempt at pathfinding involved a lot of ChatGPT-generated code. It worked… but I didn’t fully understand it. By the end of that night, I scrapped the code and decided to start over. It’s more important to understand the code I write than to rush to have something work. The last thing I need is to add tech debt to my hobby project! Even though I erased a few hours of work, the lessons stuck and I got a lot of TDD practice.
TDD finally started to click, and I feel ready to restart the pathfinding scripts with clearer direction.
Finding the Right Assets
I also stumbled upon some great 3D assets for prototyping. One of the best finds was Prototype Bits by Kay Lousberg – a clean, simple asset pack that fits the project.
Prototype Bits by Kay Lousberg
This pack includes some basic cubes (1x1x1), which are perfect for visualizing my GridMap. It even has an animated training dummy that I’ll use as a placeholder for units.
I almost expanded the project scope to incorporate more assets, but I caught myself. Keeping the project small and focused is key to finishing it by the end of the year.
I’m excited to kick off the year with a clear roadmap and a fresh mindset. Thanks for following along on this journey – I’ll keep posting updates as things progress!