Devlog #1

So - i'm making a boomer shooter. Not alone of course, I have artists helping out and I can't wait to share their work BUT

It's a new genre for me, so why choose it?

This year I don't have as much time as normal to spend on the coding of the game itself so I spent a bit of time looking for engines where the core gameplay is already complete and most of my work goes towards design and additions. This search led me to Easy FPS Editor CE - an engine specifically made for making simple boomer shooter style games.

This instantly sparked an idea in my head - each mascot could be a boss at the end of a DOOM-esque level, and each level could be themed around that boss. I had my idea, now I just needed to make it.

So I started feeling out the vibes of each mascot, taking their core concepts and ideas and figuring out what they made me think of. What decade, what setting, what music... I planned out each boss with it's own level, theme and concept. But I still needed some normal enemies so I had a choice - do I use guns and make it violent? Or change it up and make it more suitable? I went for the latter. You shall see in the future!

My next step was blocking out each level, using textures that somewhat match the right vibe I planned 9 full levels with secrets, locked doors, boss rooms and more. Honestly this was one of my favourite parts so far, just feeling out the flow and ideas for a level as I placed down tiles was fun and great vibes.

- Level 1 featured above -

My next step was to work on the main feature i'd have to code myself - a store where the play can purchase upgrades. The engine does not feature this functionality by default BUT it does feature a VN style dialogue system and the ability to code buttons so away I went. This took a lot of trial and error to figure out how the scripting for the engine worked and allow it to show buttons correctly, remove currency correctly and more. I have the EFPSECE discord to thank for a lot fo help and fixes that I couldnt figure out myself. Shop done though! Now it just needs art...


I have never written such weirdly named variables before lmao

So art. Art is forever my bane when making games - I cannot draw, nor sprite and as amazing as the internet is for free to use assets, sometimes you need unique art specifically for your game. This is where the Robot Party discord came in really handy. I have found an artist to do some illustrations for menus and backgrounds and an artist to make the bosses and enemies. However I did have to head to fiverr for help getting some item sprites made, and likely for the weapons themselves too. I don't mind spending the money for something so fun but it just shows - the world needs MORE ARTISTS.

Anyway, that's it for devlog 1 I think. A bit rambley for sure, but hopefully enjoyable and fun?

Next time i'll be talking about SFX, finishing level design, HUD, balance, and hopefully some of the first finished custom art :D

- MimiMoonbeam (Team Moonbeam)

Devlog #2

This devlog i'd like to talk about UI and share some art!

The engine i'm using comes with a basic HUD built in, however readability on it was terrible so I decided to update it and customise it. Thankfully this was easy using the tools provided and some small amount of scripting so I updated the font, the colours, the icons, the layout and in the end I find it much more legible regardless of level or background!

  < Old Health - New Health >

Additionally I spent a day doing the most tedious work of reorganising and updating the menus. Again, thankfully the engine allows for simple editing of location and appearance and after a few hours i'm pretty proud of where I ended up!

(Note: Duke Nukem for reference only, will be replaced with original art)

I also took the time to finish out the store component (minus the storekeeper art) and I won't spoil that one but suffice to say i'm very happy with it! It's simple but effective and gets the point across :)

Finally today i'd love to share a sneak peek at the first finished boss of the game - Squandrick. Sprite art was done by the amazing Athenaistrapped and I think it turned out incredible!

(Note: Gun is a placeholder asset!)

That's all for today but progress is going well! Next time will be about Pickups! SFX, music and voices! Finishing the first level!

- Mimi Moonbeam (Team Moonbeam)

Devlog #3

Back again with a new dev log for ya'll!

So in the last couple of days the game has made significant progress from a working prototype to working on the actual finished game. This started with recieving the sprite art for all the pickups in the game and they turned out AMAZING! I'm genuinely so so happy with them and they really help give a custom flair to everything. Here are some examples! 

Adding these into the game itself really helped make it feel like it was becoming Hunger Strike not just an engine tech demo.

Additionally I worked on getting all 9 levels to a point where they were finished layout and basic design wise. This includes mapping out the level, finding textures that match the vibe for the floor and walls and figuring out where important things should be located. Thankfully with that all done actually finishing each level is much easier and faster - as evidenced by the fact that level 1 is now 98% complete! The only things missing being the before level art cutscene, and the art of the shopkeeper and one enemy.

Nothing to show here however as I don't want to spoil anything!

Finally these last couple of days I worked on SFX, music and voices! My lovely Fiancee NikiKiji provided recordings for the players sounds and lines and various oother SFX were sourced (responsibly) for the other enemies, boss, doors and weapons in the game. Everything now has sound and it feels good. Additionally music was found for each level as well as the main menu and they all carry very different vibes and genres. 

Finally I will leave you with some visual teases of the most basic enemy type in the game, and another finished boss!

Devlog #4

This devlog we will focus on art and level design. Progress on both of these fronts has been very good - all 9 levels are now layed out, built from tiles and are being filled with secrets, pickups, enemies and fun! 

This has been a fun process tbh, designing a 3d level with 2d tiles has been a strange but weirdly easy to understand process and i'm certainly interested in exploring it further in the future. Level design has a lot of theory behind it already so I won't deep dive but -

- I focused on giving each level a unique design and vibe so that the game has a great deal of variety regardless of its short length.

- The levels get more complicated in design, layout and geometry as the game goes on.

- The enemies and weapons avaliable grow in number and effectiveness as the game goes on.

- The levels are a mix of small enclosed interiors and wide exposed exteriors. I wanted the game to not feel claustrophobic and present a somewhat cohesive world - at least within each level.

- An example of level 5, with enemies added but not pickups or extras yet -

Additionally this devlog the progress on getting art for each enemy and boss is going super well! I want most of the designs to be a surprise (especially since Kyle will read these) but please enjoy some teases below:

The following still need art but are being worked on:

- Jambon

- Glerry Hoggins

- Taxxie

- The Pitmaster

- Smoking Steve

- *Spoiler*

- Angry Customer

- Health Inspector

Two other artists are also working on some illustration art for use on the main menu (to replace duke) and as a sort of cutscene before each level to help convey the location, vibe and show the boss and level name. Please see a WIP for level 1 below!

And that's it for this devlog!

Next time we will talk about Weapon art, weapon functionality, stats & balance, and *hopefully* the finished keyart for the main menu!

Devlog #6

Welcome! This week a LOT got done :D

1. All SFX and Music is now ingame and volume normalized ready for release! This includes fixing a couple of voices lines which said Smoke HOUSE instead of Box, apparently a common problem!

2. All levels have been detailed and decorated with aesthetic additions to make the rooms less empty and more themed. Very happy with how this turned out!

3. All enemies are ingame with art! They aren't balanced to stat'd out yet but they all move, attack and die correctly! This is a big step as it marks the end of playable art being needed. The only art left is cutscene and menu art! See an example below!

4. The store is finished! It has it's art done, the menu system done, and some big bug fixes to make it work better and more smoothly! See the store employee art below!

5. I also started playtesting this week with help from the discord and it certainly turned out to be needed as the first couple of playtests revealed many bugs (all are which are now fixed) and a problem with some textures causing motion sickness. I have now replaced most of the offending textures and we will see if that is enough to help!

The old tarmac texture which was causing issues

VS

the new tarmac texture!

6. Finally this week I want to discuss engine limitations. The engine I chose to work with was new to me and has certainly proved easy to learn and good enough for this game jam but within playtesting there have already been problems that I simply cannot fix due to the engine itself. Things like bosses only having 1 attack type, slanted walls not working properly, fences causing issues for collision, the way textures display on all 4 sides of a wall always. Never anything gamebreaking but just annoyances that stop it from being a super polished and great game which is unfortunate. Still I'm glad I chose this engine this time as it gave me valuable experience in the boomer shooter genre and provided a functioning base to start at which otherwise would have taken too long for the game jam itself.

That's all for this week! Next week will be the FINAL devlog which is scary af, but I think we got this. See you then!

- Mimi Moonbeam (Team Moonbeam)