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[rarelikeaunicorn]

Hi folks! This is the first time I'm doing a devlog, here on tigsource or anywhere else. I'm a fairly underexperienced dev who has spent a long time designing but very little time implementing. With the rise of easier access software for getting games made in the last few years I've begun dipping my toe more regularly into implementation but still haven't been able to commit the time I'd like while I finish my undergrad degree.

Stargazer is the first project I've decided to be more proactive with as I work on it, in the hopes that sharing it as I go and getting feedback will help me keep motivated in my scarce free time.

What is Stargazer?

Stargazer is mostly a shmup inspired by classic arcade games from my childhood, especially the misremembered ones. I've had the idea sitting around for a year or two but left it for some time as I was unsure of how to make it in a way that I'd find interesting. Some recent design work from a larger project I'm concepting was off the aesthetic but fit really well into this older design and I've revived Stargazer in the last couple days.

I call it "mostly a shmup" right now because I'm drawing minor inspiration from other genres as I begin work, including RPGs, infinite runners, and visual novels. My hope is that Stargazer will have a classic feel while showcasing modern design elements and be a satisfying experience for the player both mechanically and narratively.

The current plan will be updates on at least a weekly basis. We'll see how that pans out but keep an eye out here and let me know what you think when I have more content to share!

[rarelikeaunicorn]

Three weeks later and zero updates. 

The day after I announced this project RatCasket announced he was running a month-long game jam for shmups, which was exciting; it seemed like the perfect timing for me at least. I updated on twitter with a few shots of some concept art for UI and a character but the project went quiet as I continued to delay learning more with GMS and was having more fun with concepts than execution.

Meanwhile, a local indie dev who's been really into Pico-8 has been streaming tutorials for making projects in the fantasy console and has also begun a workshop series. I couldn't attend but the whole P8 community has been really inspiring for me and, instead of working on Stargazer, I ended up making my first Pico-8 game based on his tutorials and some other assorted ideas I had. Now that I've gotten that project where I'd like it to be I'm trying to get back on track with Stargazer, albeit now the goal is to make it in Pico-8 for the jam and consider other options afterwards.

Currently I have ship movement, projectiles, and a starry background functional. Not much, but it's a start. I'm tinkering with the idea of grid-based movement for the player ship which could have some interesting implications for the mechanical design of the enemies. Not much of the aesthetic design is in the game yet, unfortunately, but that will change sooner than later and in any case there should be at least a functioning demo by the end of the month for the jam.

[rarelikeaunicorn]

Progress! Title screen and opening dialog/intro implemented, albeit haphazardly. Been spending more time tweaking the style for the Pico-8 version than adding the new elements but adding at least a little something everyday. There's also a flickering effect to the UI elements but it doesn't show up in this gif because I'm running the game at 60fps and it's only recording the gif at 30fps I believe. Trust me when I say it looks slick

By this time next week RatCasket's shmup jam will be over. I've got a good amount of work to do before then but I'm feeling positive and can always continue to refine after the end of the month. The new title for the P8 version is going to be STRGZR, because I like capslock and Millenials Are Killing The Vowel Usage Industry™.

[Nazgum]

I like your title screen animation, looks nice and retro =)

[Claude Ruelle]

Looks Great!

I'm definitely getting some StarFox vibes from that opening dialog box.

[rarelikeaunicorn]

I like your title screen animation, looks nice and retro =)

Thanks!

Looks Great!

I'm definitely getting some StarFox vibes from that opening dialog box.

Aha, I can totally see that. Especially with the current talking animation. Thank ya

[rarelikeaunicorn]

Getting close to the end of the GA Shmup Em Up jam! I decided to go with a bigger ship and double-barrel projectiles because 8*8 just didn't feel right as I kept working. Here is the (current) final design plus a handful of variants I iterated through:

I've gotten the color choices and design for the UI to a satisfactory place; I'll only come back to edit it farther if I have time before the jam ends.

Reminder: Some of the color flickering isn't visible in the gifs because of its update speed. It's there, trust me!

As of now, using the hyperdash will let you speed past enemies/through areas but has a few costs: your lateral movement speed is reduced, you can't shoot, and it subtracts from your score/currency. If your score reaches 0 while dashing, it's game over! Having three restrictions on the dash effect feels a little heavy-handed but I really like the tension of choosing between score and speed in theory. In practice, because the jam version likely won't have an actual win-con beyond high score, I'll probably remove at least one of the restrictions/costs of the dash.

Focus for the next two days will be refining the enemies as well as their spawn patterns and collision, which I haven't shown yet because they're meh. Once those are good I will flesh out audio before doing a final once-over for polish and such.

[nathy after dark]

PICO-8 is my jam!! I don't think I've seen anyone else with PICO-8 projects on TIG, so this is exciting.

The new title for the P8 version is going to be STRGZR, because I like capslock and Millenials Are Killing The Vowel Usage Industry™.

I approve of the title but also excuse me? #NotAllMillennials cuz I nvr drpd a vwl in m lf. 

[rarelikeaunicorn]

The jam ends today; with my work schedule tonight I had to push what I could and the demo for STRGZR is up:

https://rarelikeaunicorn.itch.io/strgzr

A lot of stuff is still rough but I'm pleased with it given the time constraints. I'm stoked that this version was able to include the tension of score vs time by letting players sacrifice one for the other as they play. Curious to see what the highest scores and fastest times will be!

Next up for this project will be cleaning up the code and making a fresh task list before diving back in and implementing anything like actual levels or enemy variety. I think my goal will be to push this to the token limit for Pico-8 and fit in as much as I can while I refine along the way, but I also need to consider whether it would be the right time to move this project into regular Lua or elsewhere to start moving back towards my original, pre-jam goal of making a mobile-friendly shmup. Another jam I want to participate in is about to start and Ludum Dare is just around the corner so my time management across projects will need to get better.

I approve of the title but also excuse me? #NotAllMillennials cuz I nvr drpd a vwl in m lf. 

i c wht y dd thr

[rarelikeaunicorn]

Howdy y'all.

I've decided to keep going with this project for now. In the next few weeks I'll be cleaning up the code so it's more efficient and leaves me more space to add content afterwards within the token/character restrictions for Pico-8. One of the first things I wanted to do was reorient the HUD to a vertical layout to help mitigate the squareness of Pico-8 and give a more traditionally shmup-shaped playfield. The current version is very placeholder as I decide on better ways to integrate the elements without a bunch of dead space. I also went ahead and added a temporary screenshake for when you collide with enemies during hyperdash.

Up next after code-cleaning will be particle effects/animations for explosions and redoing the first mission into a tutorial level with more dialog from Sarge. The most common feedback I got from the jam version was that it just wasn't difficult enough to really engage players and I can totally agree with that, so I want to do a shorter intro/tutorial section before letting the player jump into a higher-action sequence. From there I can start iterating levels where I'll introduce more active enemies and alternate these with polish/refinement sessions, like updating the HUD and finally composing some better music and sfx. I can't estimate the number of levels I'll be able to squeeze in yet but I'm optimistic that a final version of this would have 15-30 minutes of gameplay without feeling repetitive or empty.