I’m doing all of the pixel art for this game in Pixquare. The full version costs money, but you can download it and try it out for free!

Those sorts of puzzles are so cool! They definitely make my brain hurt, and I can see how you’d be suffering from needing to test your own game right now lol. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

While I probably won’t have time to add the extra islands I was planning (I do unfortunately need to pass my other classes), I am going to add another animation (I’ve started it, we’ll see if I finish in time) and lots of smaller tweaks.

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For this background, I was inspired by Tan Zi Xi’s depiction of the trash islands formed by massive ocean gyres, places where the currents collide in slow whirlpools and draw in debris.

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I totally forgot to upload pictures of my progress last week before the showcase—I spent most of my time drawing backgrounds and getting them into both Unity and the itch page.

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Oh that’s so fun, I love that it’s so playful. It really brings your voice (oops, pun) as a dev into the game, and it’s definitely unique. I will admit, though, I have no idea what the inspiration is🥲😂

I meant to finish writing that fourth island tonight… instead, I got one branch in and then added ambient sound to every single unique environment, and had to reformat my credits so they’d all fit. Argh. That island is tomorrow’s problem now, I guess?

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There’s something indescribably satisfying about finishing a piece of art and plopping it right into your game’s background. At some point I’d love to add subtle looping animations to this title screen, but I think that’ll have to wait until next week.

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I just finished the writing for my third island! Players now have a random chance of dying to some of their choices. It’s not totally functional yet (I’m hunting down my syntax errors, wish me luck, I think I wrote half of it in python) but it will be soon.

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This is, like, the third time I’ve seen your post and I only just realized that you said the measuring cup has BOBA in it, not coffee. Somehow that’s way more unhinged lol

Note to self: Bluesky does not support gifs. Export all animations as mov or mp4, not gif, if you want them to move.

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We have liftoff! Well, semi-fluid movement, at least. I’m going to add subtle environmental animations (waves and clouds) before I stick this in the game, but I’m really happy with how the boat’s movement turned out.

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I always forget how long animation takes. I end up in a meditative state, and then all of a sudden the sun has gone down and I’ve got a crick in my neck. Now, I just need to do a lot of detailing and transforming before I can add it to the game.

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That color scheme is absolutely gorgeous, the image you posted with the color scheme looks like it’s in a dream. Is there a particular meaning behind the colors?

On my desk: a lamp, a box of tissues, my laptop, an empty mug, a bottle of Advil, a container with scissors and writing implements…

All of the code for the basic gameplay is now done and functional; now I just need to make the pixel art, write stuff, and copy paste ALL THE THINGS. I’ll probably end up complicating this later with static variables, but for now I’ll enjoy the lack of error messages.

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Players can now hop randomly between islands without repeating locations! I still need to implement the sea serpent fights and rewards, but they’re less central mechanics than the island hopping. Anyway, now it’s time to learn how pixel art works.

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Ohhh those reflections are cool! The reverse spelling in the title is a great addition, too. How do you think the implementation of those reflections might be altered by making it 2D versus 3D?

So far I have all of the buttons in the game hooked up, and now I just need to do the randomize location script (and add a few scenes so that I have places to send players to) before I have a functional framework.

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I actually started with the slide deck rather than the alpha build, because I needed to process and think through the mechanics before I could actually start building them. I think I’ve gotten it all sorted out now? Hopefully? lol, I’ll find out when I start implementing.

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My game is functional (yay!), so I wanted to add some juiciness to it. Adding minimal SFX took me, like, an hour. The trickiest bit was hooking everything up—apparently the audio component has to be on the same GameObject as the script, so I had to redo a lot once I realized. 🫠🥲

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Everyone is different, but what’s helped me is strategic scheduling, and trying to keep projects both interesting and achievable within the time frame. Focusing on perfection stresses me out and demotivates me, so I try to let go of that and enjoy the learning/creating process instead.

I actually planned out the concepts and first few levels earlier this past week. While it’s a simple concept, I think it’s represented well with the standard Space Invaders mechanics.

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I’m almost finished with the first level of this game! The code is nearly written, I just have to hook everything up, but the textures are giving me trouble. I wanted thematic projectiles, but detailed materials don’t work with objects that small🥲

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“Do You Love the Color of the Sky?” is an interesting yet lovely experience. We found the sky’s roof and floor, which was fun. I’m still not sure what it means that small galaxies change your color and large ones sometimes orbit us.

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“Ambivalence” embodies its title. As you run from a deadly wall of spikes, you continuously switch between colors. I love that the colors the character grapples with make absolutely no difference, except to the end screen.

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“Become a Great Artist in Just 10 Seconds” is a fun puzzle when you treat it like one—we spent most of our time with this game trying to figure out what each key does. The auto setting is absolutely hypnotizing, though.

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“Diving Bell” is an indescribable experience, with the atmospheric sound of a deep-sea dive as collaged textures animate the lines of the poem. What’s particularly fun is when you let go of the space bar- you begin to rise back to the surface.

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“A Game About Love and Distance” is gorgeous, and definitely frustrating until you start seeing some patterns in the mechanics. That’s where the messages about needing distance (but not too much) in relationships come through.

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“Passage” is oddly peaceful. You wander through life with an (optional) partner, and eventually you both die. The music is electronic yet peaceful, and the backgrounds are super intricate.

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