itch.io

Really its less that the document needs to be written "One" way and more that it will need to be as specific as possible. The less assumptions the program has to make the better the results will be. This means the fallowing:

A: Lets say you want a projectile to move when shot out. It will be necessary to specify this as the program will not be able to magically know what to do. There may be some rare exceptions for common genre conventions such as automatically handling coyote jumps for platformers unless told not to.

B: It will be necessary to use consistent wording so if you call a class a potion for example you will have to use potion for the entire document. The program will likely have some ability to recognize plurals but you should not call a potion a rock unless that is a variable or function in the potion class

Really the program will care less about the exact way the document is written and more so about keywords and their synonyms. Granted it will be necessary to look at the context for certain keywords so it will not completely ignore the sentence structure but its not like a programming language that always has to be worded in one way and nothing else will work.

So... I have been debating with myself if I should even announce this because it sounds completely deranged. But you know what they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity! You may know that I announced a thing and then removed it and it is because I am focusing on this now (To be clear I am still doing the game jam and that will take much of my focus next month)

To be clear about a few things:

1: This is a lot less crazy then it sounds especially when you realize what a programming language is.

2: This is currently an internal tool and while I would like to publish it in some form someday as a free tool there are no immediate plans.

3: THIS IS NOT AI it is just a program.

Ok lets not wait any longer and just rip the bandage off. I am going to be working on a tool that turns game design documents into actual code. Yes really, and I know most of how it will work under the hood. Programming languages are still just languages even if many cannot understand them. What I am going to be making is essentially just a translator (in some ways perhaps simpler than a translator considering how different some spoken languages are but that's beside the point.)

Yes I am aware this is a long term project but it should save me lots of time in the long run. Time I will most definitely need. I still enjoy coding and want to still work on some projects (Like the upcoming game jam) by hand but doing it for everything I have planned would be a bit much...

Seriously though I would not expect this to become published because there is a lot of changes I would likely have to make to how it is planned to work to make it public friendly. Not to mention it will likely be somewhat rigid in how the design docs must be written (Probably not as rigid as you would think, however.)

So yeah there is not a lot to take away from this for now I just wanted people to know what I am doing and I do not blame you or mind if you make fun of me. It certainly SOUNDS crazy.

UPDATE: I realized even though there is nothing wrong with the original approach of feeding in a whole design doc I am going to rework it to treat each input as one class. I do this because it will make it easier to add on top of something rather than having to reinterpret the entire game. This does not make the program any less efficient because I can just feed multiple inputs into it at once.

So you probably have an idea for a game in your head if your reading this. Even if it is just a vague idea.

But there is one thing I will say because this helps from both a game design and programming standpoint and helps people analyze games and what works well.

My advice is this:

Take that game idea and all ideas and content you have for it and break it down and describe the lower level stuff its built on. Have an item that allows the player to teleport? Describe how teleportation itself works in the game. Ok so it sets the position of something and there is pretty much no way to further break down position because it is a fundamental element of most game engines. 

Once you have broken down all your content and mechanics to the point it cannot really get any lower level then you have the lowest level mechanics of your game (Or at least the lowest level ones that actually matter. I supposed you could technically break down position into rendering stuff but almost no one that uses an engine does that)

Now that you have a list of the lowest level elements of your game and all the stuff in-between not only will this help you figure out how to structure the programming of your game but will also help you design new content to fill in important gaps in your games design.

I know these low level systems are not as exciting as content but it is still very important to how you design and program your game because it is what all the content uses. 

A quick but important update:

I am now planning on experimenting with a plugin idea I had and depending on how that goes I may just fold the recycled project back into City of the seven masks so yeah this might not really apply anymore.

So I am now working on a series of much smaller projects called the recycled project. Basically with all the changes I have been making to my projects from a coding and art style standpoint I decided to revisit some of my smaller ideas so they can act as a stopgap while I work on my larger projects at the same time.

Basically, I plan on releasing 14 recycled project games from November 2026 to the end of 2027. To be clear these projects are going to be quite small as I have to finish each one in a month while saving time to work on my bigger projects.

The first of these recycled project games is going to be Duel of the Hues recycled which is a remake of a very small game I have already published. The idea of the game is that you pick a color for you and a color for your enemies and then enter a big arena to fight enemies. There is obviously a little bit more to it then that such as crates to destroy and or protect.

Duel of the hues recycled will be the first game to use the updated art style I have planned. The new art style is going to have many objects now use sprites. So characters for example will be made of multiple sprites in a 3d world. These sprites will be able to do different things such as torsos that become thinner when viewed more to the side. 

As for coding progress on the sprites I finally managed to get basic functionality working for it recently so things are looking good on that front.  Now all I have to do is program specific cases of modification such as making feet that not only grow when viewed to the side but also move a bit towards the front of the object.

I will add a link to the project page when said page is ready. In the meantime here is a older and now outdated image from when I was testing the art style. I hope to share more soon.

First off all sorry if this is in the wrong place I don't know what the best forum's are for specific things.

So I wanted to have some form of multiplayer in my games (Ideally across multiple computers) but I am not trying to make online competition or anything I mainly just want to allow people who know each other in real life to play together.

I am aware that LAN only works locally but considering the reasons I said above I don't really know if that is really much of a downside. From my (VERY LIMITED) understanding of networking I think LAN is supposed to be safer or more stable or something idk.

And to be clear I have yet to even make these games and I don't yet have a very good grasp of networking I just want some early advice.

Thanks. 

So I know this is a really weird way to do things but I could not think of any other way to do this.

I created a project page for info on the City of the Seven Masks saga and a downloadable text file.

Yes I know how incredibly weird this is but there are many things I wanted to clarify to anyone who might be interested in the series. 

So with all that stuff out of the way, the City of the Seven Masks saga is my planned series of indie games. There are some complicated stuff about it which is why I wanted to create this page.  The City of the Seven Masks saga is going to focus on fun gameplay and a mysterious story that unfolds over time and will have simple, abstract, and colorful art.

I have already begun a little work on the series and will kick it into full gear pretty soon. My previously announced projects like Escape from Insect Mansion will be part of this series.

If that sounds interesting to you consider checking out the page (Or just look at the screenshot because It shows literally everything I say on the project page and the text file. That is the main reason I am not really saying much is because I have a screenshot of it anyway.)

This is the link

Have a great day.

I recently hid all my project pages. The reason I did this is because they were all horrifically outdated. They will be back up eventually.

 I am making this post just to make sure no one gets confused. I know no one probably noticed or cares anyway but yeah.

So I hope this is the right place to post this because there is a questions board but I am pretty sure that is just for stuff related to the itch.io website.

So the thing is I have been planning a game series for a while but am still learning programming and writing the story of it. So my idea was that maybe I could split the games into multiple releases (Chunks or chapters or whatever you want to call them) Instead of releasing the content of a game all at once.  But I was wondering if people would be okay with it if I did that.

The world and the people in it have not been kind to me and I think it would be a shame to release my games since the world doesn't deserve it. So I decided I will develop the games for me and my family and just not release them publicly. 

I will not be responding to comments on this and will likely never sign in again.

Duel of the hues is a testing project I recently finished and will release on April 1 2026 (Yes, really)

Duel of the Hues is a testing project (NOT A POLISHED GAME) where the player chooses a hue to play as and against and then fight against enemies of the opposite hue.

There are also crates you can destroy and balls you can roll at enemies.

You can view the page here.

Have fun. I will work on my first REAL project fairly soon. This real project, as you may have guessed, is the demo disc.

Sorry this was so short I just don't have a lot to say about this one.

SOOOO

I always wanted to make games and I know pretty much how to code roughly but still found coding to be a huge barrier both in terms of time and how frustrating it can be.

WELLLL

I recently had an idea and I bet some people will call this cheating or say that it is taking the easy way out or even that it is inefficient or wrong. But it allows me to make games without having to code nearly as much and I feel like I can now develop on my own time and have fun doing it

so here it is.

I realized I can basically just create a script "Template" that basically contains the functionality for almost anything I would ever need an object to do.  Handling time, collision, or input events. Comparing values. Modifying properties. And even some built in actions like spawning objects.

And then I can copy and paste this template into any object I have to make, set it up by deleting sections, copying sections, Setting values that were placeholders.

And now pretty much 90% of the object script is done.

I can still of course add any custom code I want but now I have saved a ton of time. Is it necessarily the most efficient code, no! But it does what I needed it to do and now I saved a lot of time.

So yeah that is just my way of doing things now, maybe this helps someone, maybe it doesn't idk.

City of the Seven Masks Demo Disc has entered early access. It currently has one of the eight planned demos and more demos will be added over time.

The game is simply a prototype for my future projects while also acting as a prelude for the story I want to tell. Each of the 8 "Demos" has 4-5 secrets that can be found.

You can find the game page: here

Please note I have not yet been able to test it on desktop. So if you have any issues be sure to let me know.

Update 2:

I have a new video out showcasing what I have so far of the new build. I know it does not look like much but in GameDev it is the stuff you don't see that takes the longest so the hardest parts are already over.

Update: 

I made a video showcasing music from the game.

Thank you! I am now working on getting the final version of the first demo done.

SOOOO... I recently started work again. The name has been changed to City of the Seven Masks Demo Disc as that is the name of the saga.

This is a project that is going to serve as a prelude to the saga and a demo for the first 8 games. There will be secrets and lots of cool stuff. Do note that the video and screenshots are very outdated.

The first Demo will be a platformer. Each of the 8 demos will be released separately so the first release will likely be very soon as it does not take long to get done. 

The reason I wanted to make this devlog is because I made a video showcasing an older build of the project so here it is.

Anyway If you have any questions feel free to ask. Have a good day.

Here is the link to the newly released page. Here

Yeah it has been a while. Things have been kind of uncertain for a very long time but I now have a plan for development.

First off all for those who have not seen this before Escape from Insect Mansion is a planned 3d platformer game where you play as a mad scientist who needs to collect batteries to return to their former size.

https://thebargainbeddev.itch.io/escape-from-insect-mansion

The revelation I had is that this series I am planning actually started as a Roblox project and I want to preserve some of that even if it is not Roblox anymore. As such I am planning on making some changes like making characters more abstract and using dialogue boxes instead of voices to bring the project closer to the original vision.  I also just believe dialogue boxes have a lot of charm even in 3d games.

I have privated all my old videos on the subject as they are now all outdated. 

Lastly, I am happy to say my digital art skills are improving quite a bit. I drew a sphere that actually looks pretty good.

So that is all I wanted to say I know it does not really mean much but I just wanted to be transparent.

Anyways I have to go otherwise my laptop will run out of battery. See ya. The image below is an outdated screenshot by the way.

So yeah there I want to share something but I have no clue where it would be most appropriate to post it because it is technically about my projects but not any one specific project. More just kind of a general update about what I am doing going forward.

Update: I am not going to be able to get the project page out as early as I wanted to due to issues uploading screenshots

This is a new project I have just started and do not have a project page for yet. I wanted to share some of my experiences and decisions going into this. Grab a snack if you wish to read because it is going to be a long one.

TBBD Demo Disc is a planned prelude to my to be renamed game series. It will also serve as a playable prototype for some of my upcoming projects and people will be able to mess with it and also discover many hidden secrets. As this is just a prototype it should not take too long to make. I have a release goal but I am going to keep that to myself.

The first thing I want to address is that my games are receiving some art style changes. I decided to go for a more playful and colorful art style because I like that idea. First off all this means characters will be made of simple "parts" and I will still do some work in blender but I will keep it fairly to a minimum. The second thing to address is that I originally said I was going to do hand painted textures. This no longer fits the art style and would have probably looked ugly anyway so I decided to change this to more traditional colorful textures.

Secondly my original idea for enemies in the game was to defeat them by jumping on them. This is very similar to a plumber however so I decided to take some time to try to think of a more original and interesting idea. What I came up with was a stomp attack that only works if you are falling. This is similar but slightly more unique, engaging, and probably will be easier to code.

Third, I have decided for a while to use mouse controls for at least some of the games. The idea is in games like platformers that need more fluid movement it will probably be easier to control with a mouse than a keyboard. Basically, you just click on the screen and your character will turn faster depending on how far to the side you mouse is and will move forward or backwards faster or slower depending on how high your mouse is on the screen. I am VERY happy with how this turned out because not only is it really fun but my dad who does not do too well with games said he can easily get used to the controls.

Last, to address the elephant in the room when looking at the screenshot. I have decided at-least for now to not implement the traditional "Shadow under objects" in platformers. I may change my mind when I make the actual game but there is 3 reasons why I decided against it for the demo disc.

1. All the methods of doing that seem complicated, computationally intensive, or just not convincing.

2. I have not found depth perception to be an issue in the current prototypes I have made.

3. I think it almost makes more sense to have players get used to "natural" light instead of using "fake" light just to give them an advantage.

Anyways thanks for reading. If dev continues to go smooth enough I should have the page ready by thanksgiving. Have a good day.

edit: just had a compromise idea for the last point. What if I project something onto the floor, it just would not be a shadow? Maybe for the demo disc it could be a disc.

Today I recently started getting back into the swing of things and I was working on a very small prototype for one of my games. I remember thinking "How am I supposed to tell if my game is fun or not?" 

Well I was playtesting my prototype and literally all that's there is basic movement, 3 collectables to touch.  and a platform with a grass texture I made on it.

I have become obsessed with it. Even in its current tiny state with no enemies or much of any platforming or anything I could not stop playing it.

I guess maybe I can tell if its fun.

First of all I don't know if I am posting this in the right place or not so sorry.

But anyway I recently injured my arm (just a scrape or rugburn. I don't think I need to be seen.) and I am not really worried about it but it does hurt. This is also happening at a pretty busy time for me in relation to my projects.

So anyway, what should I do? Am I being a wimp? Should I continue working on my game stuff or should I take a few days to recover? I know this is probably a stupid question but it is the first time I have ever had to make a decision like this.

I am creating this post to re-announce my platformer. Escape from insect mansion. This is currently in active dev again and will be worked on alongside a new project that will act as a prelude to the series story and as a demo of some of the games. The game is not out yet.

Escape from insect mansion is a 3d platformer about a scientist named William Tinkerson.  He shrinks himself and needs to collect batteries to regrow to his former size. But to do so he needs to work together with other characters to fend off insects.

I am making this post in part to search for playtesters. You can learn how to apply on the game page.

Also note any image or video may be outdated. The game's art style in particular is changing quite a bit.

https://thebargainbeddev.itch.io/escape-from-insect-mansion