Hey all,

I haven't worked on this game for #devtober for a really long time. So I thought it's the perfect time to continue with the work on it. My goal: Get a playable demo running at the end of the jam, since I'm a perfectionist when it comes to the development of games and I don't want to limit myself because of a jam. It should also be a larger game. I also have not thought about a name for the game yet :-(

About me:

• I'm from Germany
• Studied computer science at university until I abandoned it
• started with game development in 2017, before: mapping and modding stuff for some games
• Solo dev over here doing coding, art and sound
• Took part in 1 game jam so far 

Please follow my twitter for lastest updates: https://twitter.com/TackRadGames

Other useful links: 

• https://soundcloud.com/not_falso

Day 0:

Day 1 ToDo:

• fix movement, board data and quest system (at another day for more time)

Day 1:

• It was the first time I was using MagicaVoxel for some Voxel Art 

• Imported the model in SpriteStack for some pixel art style, so I can use it later in my game

Day 2 ToDo: 

• small corrections in MagicaVoxel
• animate the knight in SpriteStack
• export some sprite sheets

Day 2:

• Edited some parts of the model in MagicaVoxel
• Created a walking animation (8 frame) in SpriteStack

Day 3 ToDo:

• export some sprite sheets and use them in GMS2
• Let's see what else can done due to less time :-(

Day 3:

Sadly I could not work this much on the game today due to my night shift and the day before I was working until 6am on the game. But the animation is finally ingame \o/

Day 4 ToDo:

• Implement sprite directions
• Let's see what else can be done

Day 4:

Today I also have not got much done in the code :-(

• Implementation of sprite directions
• adjusted image speeds
• some off-screen planning

Day 5 ToDo:

• working on a depth-System

Day 5:

Today I was implementing the depth system. I think it's working great so far.

For this game I want so switch from Rytmik Studio to FL Studio for the music. So I was trying a bit around in the program to create something which listens like music.

Depth System:

Day 6 ToDo:

• fix movement, board data and quest system

Day 6:

Today I  was refactoring some code, but mainly fixing bugs from day 0 in the player object, which effected the "board data" & quest system. Sadly I could not reproduce the bug in the movement, therefor I really hope it's also fixed.

I'm really happy it's working now and I can continue the journey on my game taking it to the next stage, which means creating some more "voxel models" for the game, adding more levels and much more.

Sadly I had to reconvert & crop the video for itch (only gifs allowed). For this reason see my latest tweet for the full video: https://twitter.com/TackRadGames/status/1182421200049442817

Day 7 ToDo:

• create a voxel model of the tower

Day 7:

Today I reworked the tower and created some VoxelArt. So far I really like it except the roof is something which I don't like about it :-( Maybe I will change it at some point.

Day 8 ToDo:

• I'm gonna be surprised what I can do :D

Day 8:

For the music for my past game which you can listen to at Soundcloud I was using a step sequencer called Rytmik Studio. But this time I want to use FL Studio for my music.

That's why today I tried to create something that sounds halfway like medieval music. Actually I am very satisfied with today's final result. But it still needs a lot more work.

Day 9 ToDo:

• Continue working on the track

Day 9:

Sadly I didn't get much done today. It's so difficult to create music when you limit yourself to free vsts only, there isn't much variety or options you have. It's also really difficult when you like to listen to music only but you don't know how a song is structured and built. For me: never had a musical training :-(

• Looked up how someone would play different instruments (not every one plays the same)
• Continue working on the track

Day 10 ToDo:

• Think I'm going to return back to coding, since I'm more familiar with this

Day 10:

Error 404: No new content found - Try again later!

"Don't overwork yourself. Take some time out." - Today I decided to take a day off from the game.

Day 11 ToDo:

• New idea for the music: Give it a try to mix modern instruments with 8 bit sounds.

Day 11:

This time the song changed quite a lot. I used a combination from harp & 8 bit drums and I really like the effect and atmosphere a lot <3

Day 12 ToDo:

Don't have this much time tomorrow because of quite some IRL things. But I hope a get this done:

• Create some new sprites for a second level

Day 12:

Today I was working on some sprites in Aseprite for a second level for the short demo at the end of devtober.

Grass sprite:

Tree sprite:

Ingame:

Day 13 ToDo:

• Rework the colors of the grass and add variations of it

Day 13:

Nothing special today because of my 10h shift before doing some game development

• Changed the color (value) of the grass
• added a variation
• tried to create my first auto-tiling, nevertheless have to recreate it (don't like it this much)
• outlined the tree to achieve a better contrast to the grass

Day 14 ToDo:

• Recreate the auto-tiling, also add missing tiles

Day 14:

Work continues slowly, need more free time :-/

• Removed the straight edges and made them more "round"
• Added some more grass tiles  for auto-tiling
• Added a prototype dirt tile

Day 15 ToDo:

• Rework the dirt tile
• More grass TILES!
• Did I mention tiles already? :D
• Maybe start working on the tile border
• Tiles someone? :D

Day 15:

Today I was reworking the dirt tile, I think it looks much better than ever :-) I also added something small: "tile borders", small things can make a huge difference you know? Also added the new tower sprite to the game.

Note: The tower belongs on the playing field and not as here in the surroundings, therefore the style is different.

Day 16 ToDo:

• Work on the second level for the demo
• level transition

Day 16:

Sadly the day was really exhausting, that's why I only started to create the second level for the demo.

Really like the result so far with the new tiles which I created the days before.

Day 17 ToDo:

• Implement sound fx
• Bugfixing

Day 17:

Watch the video here: https://twitter.com/TackRadGames/status/1186452699564466176

Today I added some sfx to my game which I created with Bfxr, others I have bought some time ago in a pack.

Maybe I have a tweak the walking sound a bit because I think it's a bit annoying :-/

Day 18 ToDo:

• Bugfixing
• Level transition

Day 18:

Today I fixed some bugs, among other things the level could be finished with only one player on the target.

Also created a neat level transition, going to tweak some values later (it's late over here).

Day 19 ToDo:

Going to think about it at work tomorrow, it's really late now :-(

Day 19:

Last time I was working on the Act-Level-System was a year ago, so I tried to understand a lot of uncommented code.

Since I introduced a second level yesterday I had to fix some bugs today, which were caused by the level change.

• reset board position 
• reset board data
• set correct quest

Everything is working fine now.

Day 20 ToDo:

• voxel art rocks
• basic menu

Day 20:

Today's tasks:

• created a basic menu
• added some voxelart sprites for the rocks even though I don't like the result this much
• added some debugging stuff with ImGuiGML by babyjeans

Day 21 ToDo:

• Continue working on the song (hopefully I'll finish it) 

Day 21:

Didn't do this much today, only worked on the song for my game for 2h before my night shift. I'm really exhausted now and it's currently really in the morning. Hopefully I'll get tomorrow/today more done.

Day 22 ToDo:

• Continue working on the song... This time really finish it!1!!
• Think what else can be done, due to my day I can't think about other tasks anymore currently :-(

Day 22:

Watch the video here: https://twitter.com/TackRadGames/status/1188326558102097922

Today I finally finished the song and did some mastering in FL Studio you can listen to it in my lasted Tweet on Twitter.

I also think that I need more training in composing songs, nevertheless I think it sounds quite great for the first time using FL Studio.

You can also find the credits in the game now, the room is a bit empty compared to the menu screen but it works and I need some sleep :D

Day 23 ToDo:

• Going to think about it 'tomorrow', it's almost 7am :D

Day 23:

Took a day off today from devtober since I also had a day off from my regular work (Yeah normally I work on Sundays)

Day 24 (Monday) ToDo:

• Get the 'game mechanics demo' ready to submit
• (Improve code quality for the time after devtober)

Day 25 (Tuesday) ToDo:

• Create the art and text for the itch.io page
• (Improve code quality for the time after devtober)

Day 26 (Wednesday) ToDo:

• Write the Post Mortem
• Submit the project

Day 24:

• reconsidered the schedule because I don't have this much time on Day 26
• Fixed some things in the game for the submission
• compiled project
• created art & text for the submission
• created the game page as draft

Day 25 ToDo:

• Write the Post Mortem

Day 26 ToDo:

• Wake up and click on the submit button before work :D

Day 25:

Since I finished up the project yesterday, I only wrote a small Post Mortem today! It was my first one and I think it gives you a very good overview over the whole month, because of this I also want to keep the monthly Post Mortems.

Day 26 ToDo:

Submission time!

Day 26:

• Submitted the project

Submission Page: https://itch.io/jam/devtober-2019/rate/507192

Game Page: https://el-falso.itch.io/castle-attack-prototype/devlog/107242/post-mortem

Post Mortem: https://el-falso.itch.io/castle-attack-prototype

What's next?

Work will definitely continue, after I did some things in real life which I already had to do in october. So be excited what will come next. You can read some things up in the Post Mortem.