Devlog #4 How to explain this?

Hey! It's been a minute or two since our last update. I hope everything is well with all of you. We've been working on some core aspects of the game and we've made some nice progress on it. I like to wait to do a devlog until I've got something new to show you or if I have an update on the game itself. However we have been working on things that are difficult to show off without some context and that has caused me to wait on publishing a new devlog.

Recently I have watched GMTKs video devlog on YouTube "What they dont tell you about game development"(highly reccomend you check him out) and it made me realize that the entire purpose of this devlog and uploading our game so early was to kind of show the process and allow you follow along and ... well.. the only way to do that is if we show you ALL of the stuff.

The cool stuff, the boring stuff, the stuff that doesn't sound like stuff at all.... uhh... yeah. Maybe I should get a thesaurus. Anyway. Let's jump into what we've been doing since our last update. I've been working on changing the Ants. One of the many bugs in the game and all of its walking animation. .. yep. That's all I've been doing. 

It's hard to explain why this has taken me so long. I've Roominated on it many times. I've decided.. I have no answer. It's hard to describe why one black pixel should or shouldn't go in a specific spot or when you flip the image you are often left with wondering. Should I start over or try to salvage the last few hours of drawing? When this image rotates will it look like the same creature as the one before? Finally. Why... does it look so... wrong?

I think I feel more comfortable coding than I do drawing but at the end of the day. I have finally finished one of the bugs. Now I understand why people liked using pallete swaps so much in the old days.
My brother on the other hand? What hasn't he done in this time?

He has designed an upgrade system that has multiple different effects that range from explosive blasts, trailing fire, electrically paralyzing bullets. Yeah.
Sure some of these things will need further updates and final animations but we will likely be adding them in their current simple art very soon for players to test out.

He has also begun work on BOSS BATTLE AI! YES! Okay I got excited there for a second. The boss battles were something we've been wanting in the game from the beginning and it's just nice to be on the horizon of that accomplishment. 

He's also been doing some work on the UI.

See that last part? "He's also been doing some work on the UI." That's the exhausting part of game development. The part I've been trying to touch on throughout this devlog. The part that is difficult to explain. Every bit of work that you do on a game is work that needs to be done but not all of it is as exciting as stuff like big bosses and cool animations or explosive armor but... it's ALL important. 

Every part of the development process is important. Without the behind the scenes stuff the game doesnt work. How to decide on the length of UI transitions or readability, or positioning. Individually these things dont take much time but they stack up and minutes can become hours.

It's hard to explain the small stuff and I hope to get better at it in the future because that's the stuff that will feel like the hardest because YOU have to do it. No one else will and I think more people should feel excited about those parts. That's where you need the excitement, the energy to push through and finish the work. It's not as easy to get excited about these things but it is incredibly necessary and without good UI or UX the game will suffer.

We still have plenty of work to do but we are hoping to have an update to the project very soon. In fact. It's time for the portion of our devlog where we line out what's next for our development.

I will be working on more animations. Specifically the boss so we can get the boss into the game. After that I will be working on the upgrade artwork. Also.. I should probably update that title screen right? My brother will be working on the muzzle flash of the weapons and the sound effects found throughout the game.

The pieces of the puzzle are coming together and we are plugging away at it!
Our next update will be... As soon as we have all of the new stuff assembled and working well. Probably a few more weeks. See you next time. Space Cowboys.