Launch Development Log

So here it is! I originally started making this game because I wanted to make a “dumb jumpscare game”. I’m in my final semester of my undergraduate degree and I needed to make a game that wouldn’t distract me too much from my studies. I started on Friday the 20th, and was planning to make as much as I could that weekend. Towards the end of the weekend, I had a change of heart and had begun to really enjoy making this game.

Originally this was going to be an FPS where you had 10 bullets and each one would briefly stun The Smeth (that creepy rotting flesh monster). But once I added in the muzzle flash, I realized that light was a really interesting mechanic to use. Just briefly having vision was so interesting to me that I scrapped the gun for a DLSR Camera. It’s specifically a DLSR because that’s the kind of camera I was able to find on OpenGameArt.

Jumpscares

I generally dislike jumpscare games because I’m of the mind that a jumpscare in horror is like tickling someone in your standup comedy. That is, it’s cheap and lacks the refinement of quality content, whether that be well thought out comedy or truely terrifying horror.

But on the other hand, I’ve been trying to branch out more and try new things. One of the things I’ve learned from a fiction writing book is that there is something to learn in almost every genre, and the synthesis of these lessons and the source genre you enjoy can allow you to create a much more rich experience. So I chose to finish this game and do it right. Even if it was a short and small game.

I specifically looked at this venture as a source of learning for me. I enjoy horror games and I discovered that I am deeply affected by jumpscares. I recently tried Five Night’s At Freddy’s Pizzeria Simulator (because it’s the only story game that’s available for free lol). After I had my first jump-scare from Molten Freddy I immediately noped out of that game. And I’ve been a bit afraid to try it again. That shook my position on jumpscares in horror.

Story

For this game, I did try to make an interesting story. To fit the bill of “jumpscare indie horror game.” It has some subtleties, but I tried to give enough detail to help players who will only look at the game on a surface level a story.

I have had some of my peer-reviewed stories criticized for being too subtle. That is definitely something I struggle with. But I also like to imagine that someone will enjoy my game enough to want to tease out the story. Maybe I’m just falling to delusions of grandeur?

More Lessons

On a more technical side, I used this game as an opportunity to grow my skills as a developer. I really enjoy making 3D, first person games. My favourite game engine, Godot, is nearing the release of their 4th major version, which includes a really comprehensive rendering engine that I think is nearing the likes of Unreal’s Lumen engine. The devs have been sharing a multitude of beta versions, and I’ve been making YouTube tutorials myself on different concepts and such with Godot 4 and C#. So I used this game as a practical way to learn more about Godot 4’s quirks. I even had a few situations where a bug I had was fixed the day after I encountered it. Which is pretty awesome.

Additionally, I am really bad with Blender. Modelling, rigging, animating, etc… is pretty difficult for me. Or should I saw was! I forced myself to learn different things about Blender and the workflow for generating assets for use in Godot 4. I also used Rodzilla’s Material Maker, Krita, GIMP, Audacity, LMMS for this game. Mostly Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for this.

For blender, I learned how to work with procedural materials and then baking them into textures that can be used in Godot. Which involved exporting the model as a GLTF file, which has everything packed into it. And theoretically could be used in any other engine. For example, I have the asset pack available to anyone who owns this game, so feel free to check out the GLTF or Blend files to see how well or poorly I did.

For the graffiti, I used MaterialMaker which is a procedural material designer software that is made with Godot and exports for Godot, Unreal, and Unity. It’s pretty awesome actually and Rodzilla is pretty cool. If you’re a fellow developer, definitely check it out. It’s here on Itch for free! And I would consider it a good free replacement to Substance as long as you can learn the node shader system.

Who am I as a developer?

I’ve been doing different game development things for the last ten years. I started out making mods for Minecraft, and I’ve been working through different programming languages, game libraries, and game engines. I finally stumbled upon Godot in 2020, and what a year to learn some new software! I’ve had several massive game ideas that I’ve wanted to make for a long time and I’ve tried multiple times to make them a reality. I’m starting to think I need a team to actually make those games, else I need a publisher to give me enough money that I can work on it full time and still make rent at the end of the month.

Crisis of faith

I’ve had some bad situations in the past. I absolutely love making video games in general. And seeing people enjoying my games, or reacting to different elements makes me really happy. JadeTheKobold playing my game “The Ascension Of The Lamb” was a serious high note for me last year. But Simultaneously, I’ve actually struggled with my classes because of my obsessions with making games. Even failing a class because I just couldn’t motivate myself to work on the class, opting to work on my game instead. I even got close to that same situation making this game to be honest.

Making games is what I love doing. And a lot of times, school feels more like a distraction than something that actually pushes me forwards with my career. Additionally, I’m an American, so I’m probably going to need to sell an organ or two just to pay off my debts.

On a happier note, I’m hoping to keep making more and more fun games. I honestly can’t imagine myself doing anything else for the rest of my life. I’m sure someday when I have kids, I’ll start making games for a younger audience. But I’ll still be making games.

I’m really hoping that I can make some money off of this game and the games I make in the future. Making these kinds of games sure beats sitting in a dusty office and dodging asinine drama. So if you like the kinds of stuff I make, please support me by purchasing one or more of my games! Or if you really like me I have a KoFi where you can donate any amount and I get it a lot sooner. With ItchIO, I can’t get payouts very often and they don’t process until I accrue like $100 USD or so. So there’s $45 still in the pipeline from two years ago because I didn’t realize there was a minimum payout amount. But with KoFi, I get any amount within 3 business days. So that’s pretty awesome.

A reward!

As a reward for reading through my lengthy prose, here’s a hint for the puzzle section in the game, I worry some people will just try every combination (which is why there’s a 2 second cooldown). There is graffiti around the catacombs and three of which are related to the puzzle. I really enjoy linguistics, and I took numeral systems of Arabic, Urdu, and Japanese/Chinese (note for Americans: English uses Arabic numerals, that’s where they came from originally. They literally made math.)

I feel comfortable with that joke since I am an American. XOXO