Hey there! I'm Quinn, and this is my second "first game jam"! I've gotten way into Unity since the last jam and realized that I actually really dig making 3D games, so that's what I'll be doing for this jam. This is my first time actually making a Devlog, and I'm hyped enough about that so let's just jump right in!

Game Title: Good Boy

Engine: Unity

Genre: Horror/Adventure? Sort of?

Quick Description: Go fetch! But don't get too close to the woods...there's something out there.

Day 1 Progress, AKA "Holy Hell I've Been Working All Day":

I was mulling over whether or not to join the jam when I first saw it posted on here, but when I saw that it had already officially started today I got this wild inspiration kick and just ran with it! I decided to actually follow the theme for once of "cats and/or dogs". I thought it could be interesting to play from the perspective of a dog and I've wanted to make an actually Legit Scary horror game for a while.With those two things in mind, I figured there could be a really cool opportunity here.

So: playing as a dog, scary, AAAAAND I'm a big fan of surreal art and storytelling, so I want it to be look and feel pretty weird. I spent today building the world and adding sound effects.

I started out wanting to have the world be semi-realistic, but then I realized, fuck. I've only been learning how to 3D model for like, 3 semesters at college. THE CHOPS AINT THERE YET. So, I ended up going the minimalist route. I decided to put this Giant Lowkey Terrifying Sun in the sky because it puts me on edge and I figure it'll weird other people out too. I also like the idea that that's how a dog might see the world: bright and happy and ridiculously over the top.

The basic concept of the game is: the dog's owner is a dick and throws a tennis ball for the dog to get all the way over this maze. So you gotta run through the maze and grab the tennis ball. There's more to it of course but I don't wanna give away too too much yet!

Trees on trees on trees. Thank God for Unity's terrain paint tool.

And finally, the house! Maya was being a bit wonky so that slowed down the modeling process, but everything else has gone really smoothly today. Of course I haven't written a single line of code yet so I'll be totally lost soon enough lol. But for now, here's to a pretty productive day!

Plans for Day 2:

Model the tennis ball, do some research on how to change lighting/the skybox over elapsed playtime, add some finer details to the environment, maybe make the opening screen?

Pre Plans for Day 3 (if Day 2 is productive and successful):

Learn about some of that AI enemy shit that I know nothing about!

Day 3 Progress, AKA "Enemy design? What enemy design?":

Today was unfortunately a bit less productive than yesterday and the day before. I started the day remodeling my weird creepy giant sun because I was bothered by this:

My sun keeps getting these weird fuzzy edges. I was getting an error message in the console about the model having a poly count that was way too high, so i figured that might be the problem. I lowered the poly count significantly but it ate up a pretty big chunk of time because I had to remodel it completely! (It's a simple model, but hey, I'm a perfectionist). Turns out that fix didn't help, so now my sun still has that weird little fuzzy problem. If anyone knows where this problem comes from, let me know! It's not a huge deal, doesn't affect the visuals too badly and obviously the game still plays well, but if there's a solution out there that would be cool too. (Did lots of googling, to no avail). OH, also, the fuzziness only comes up when I test the game. In the scene itself, the model looks great: no fuzzies involved.

Good news about that ordeal, though: the sun actually looks a lot cooler than before! I'm not sure players will notice a difference but his smile is a bit wider and his eyes look a bit more deranged. Good stuff!

Other Non-Enemy stuff I did today:

1. Arranged the clouds so they don't look absolutely random and scattered.

Turns out, they actually look really lovely coming up behind the trees! I still need to implement some simple code so the clouds will move slightly, but that can be pushed to tomorrow.


2. Made a much nicer title screen! It should work well for now- eventually (if I still end up liking this game enough to keep working on it) I may want to add other modes to the game and this minimalist screen might end up not cutting it, but for now, I'm happy. I was thinking of implementing the same code I used for the tennis ball marker to the text so it'll float up and down as well, just for shits haha.

I got a lot less done today than I wanted to, but man does it feel good to have the very first steps towards a working enemy. With the following code done and dusted, I've got a few very specific next steps on my mind:

• Design, model, and do some simple moving animations for an enemy. This has to be the top priority now!
• Code that has the screen fade to red if the enemy reaches the player. I have a tutorial lined up for the fade part and code in mind for calculating enemy/player interaction, so it shouldn't be too bad.
• A timer. This isn't a necessity if it gets down to the wire, but honestly I do really want it. None of my previous games have replay value (as I'm very guilty of prioritizing giving off a feeling/telling a story over hardcore game design/mechanics), and I don't want that to be the case with this game. Just the idea of people wanting to beat their record time on my game sounds legit amazing, so, yeah. Timer.
• Also think a death counter could be a good idea. At the end, I could have the game display the time and the player death count side by side?
• Cloud code!
• I just got an urge to find out if I can have wind blow through the trees. That would look really cool.... 🤔

I hope you other jammers had a more productive day than I did! But hey, it's good to take breaks. Keep at it guys, but try not to overwork and/or over stress!

I also wanted to real quick thank everyone who's commented and/or read my devlogs thus far. I didn't suspect anyone to pay attention to these, really, and it makes me so happy to read what everyone has to say (and to just see the view count, too, for those of you who are shy!) If you're reading this and have any critiques, comments, or questions, let me know!

Day 4 Progress, AKA "Enemy Design......SORT OF":

Today was another non-starter for me haha 😅 Another active day that took away some dev time! It's good though, I've been having some fun out the past few days but I do feel like it strangely balances out my hyper-productive days earlier in the jam. I'm pretty far in development now and feeling really good- I need to remember not to worry about taking a few little breaks!

Downside to all that going out I've been doing, though: today's wrap-up post isn't going to be very interesting. I did finally start the enemy design process, thank goodness. I decided that I was going to focus on making a 2D sprite enemy for this game, as opposed to a 3D modeled enemy, both because of my current 3D modeling skill level and my lack of experience in implementing 3D animations in Unity. I am a bit experienced, however, with the 2D animation process, and have been drawn a lot to the aesthetics of older games like Doom which used 2D sprites in a 3D environment. There's something so minimalist and scary at the same time about those enemies. I'd like to access that same sort of feeling for this game, hoping that my enemy can rely on look and feeling to scare the player rather than particularly advanced movements or visual aesthetic. Anyways, to avoid rambling, let me cut to the chase and show off what I've got going so far:

So, he's definitely in the very early stages here: I just wanted to get the lines down for him and block out the colors. I have lots more to do, specifically blood wise. He, his axe, and his bag are going to be Very blood soaked by the time I'm done, haha.

I was very torn earlier on whether i wanted the enemy to be human or some spooky entity. The more I thought about it, though, the more I liked the idea of playing directly into the aesthetic of the environment I've built. Something about all the pine trees and the red house feels very cabin-esque, and what better to bring that to life than a murderous lumberjack?

And I know what you're thinking. "Quinn, this guy looks super harmless." HE DOES, right? I really wanted to create a character who looked as happy as the environment he's in, while being a total murdering mad man. I'm going to add little details to show who he really is (again, namely, the blood soaked bag, axe, and clothes), but I like the idea of putting out a game that seems like the sweetest little "dog playing fetch" simulator and having it be super sinister at a closer look. Hopefully the happy-go-lucky murderer lumberjack brings that all together!

I have a background in illustration, and I gotta say, knowing that my illustrated character is going to be the enemy in my game is actually super exciting. For some reason I've never actually used my illustrations as sprites or in-game characters before, which I want to change. So yes! I'm feeling great about where the enemy is headed. Here's to tomorrow:

• Finish colors on this guy
• Draw out a basic three step walk cycle (I'm thinking really basic: the above pose as the in between, one with his left leg raised, one with his right leg raised) and bring those animations into Unity
• Replace the cube with him, implement some code that has him standing stationary until the player triggers his chase mode

Once that's all done, I'm going to feel so much better about where the game is headed. The above goals that I wasn't able to dive into today are my second priority, especially the red "you died" screen and the timer.

I hope everyone had a great dev day!

Also, I'd like to thank everyone again for reading and express just how cool it was to be featured in the first devlog feature email! I'm having such an awesome time this jam, so anyways. Let me avoid getting corny. Thank you guys.

Day 5 Progress, AKA "ENEMY DESIGN. Like, for real, guys.":

I don't know if I subconsciously needed to make up for lost time or what but I made a whole ton of progress today, specifically in the enemy AI area, which was going to be my biggest challenge from the get-go. Now I have a working 2D sprite enemy that looks at the camera no matter where you are and follows you, WITH a solid walking animation that starts up when the character starts to move! I didn't wanna give too much away, but I'm honestly so proud of my murderous lumberjack that I had to show you guys a screenshot.

(The blood splatters really did make all the difference haha)

After frustratingly googling a million code problems I was having, things finally came together and I was able to check off all the stuff from my checklist for today. I honestly kinda love how both exhilarating and frustrating game dev can be- it feels like a marathon sometimes, but when you finally get to the finish line (even just for the day) the feeling of accomplishment is huge.

After getting all that stuff down, I started messing around a bit more with sound. I have some footstep noises down for the enemy and I did some work in Audacity, recording myself breathing and then pitching it down a ton to sound like a manly lumber man. I'm not entirely sure if I love the breathing yet- I'm sure I'll be tweaking here and there as the jam continues.

I wish I had more to say but for some reason I'm feeling way more beat than usual! Today was a very busy dev day, but honestly pretty worthy of celebration. I have just two more big things I have to do until the game is done, which is so wild! I don't think I've ever put together a game so fast, and strangely enough this is already shaping up to be my favorite game I've made. I just love the feel and look of it, I dont know. Hopefully people find it at least a little thrilling! It's my first 3D horror game so of course I hope it spooks some people, but mostly I just hope people have fun with it.

It's so funny, the main game mechanic is something I have barely talked about in the devlog! The maze itself is kinda challenging, which is something I'm proud of. I'm excited for the next few steps, because I think these details are going to be where the game really comes together:

• Timer that starts at the beginning and displays the end time when the dog reaches the house again
• A death screen when the lumberjack catches up with the dog

Day 7 Progress, AKA "Guys It's Pretty Much Done":

Hey again! I know, I know, I skipped yesterday's devlog. I could tell I needed a break and decided to not work on anything dev-related for a day and spend some time with family instead. I really think I have something in me that pushes a ton harder after I take a break, because guys, I went super hard tonight and I think the games pretty much done. Like, save for a few extra tweaks and details that are suuuper minor, its all done. I am so hyped up about this, I can't even explain it. I learned a LOT in this process, and the game I'm gonna put out for this jam is something I am literally having a blast playtesting, which is so new for me. I GET A LITTLE JUMPY AT MY OWN GAME GUYS. NOT TO HYPE IT UP TOO MUCH BUT, THATS KINDA COOL.

To summarize the boatload of things I got done tonight:

• I still wasn't satisfied with the main menu, so I changed it again and I finally love it now haha! It's super simple: just a spinning tennis ball on a sky blue background.Something about the texture being super detailed makes me love how this looks, idk why!

• I made the death screen, which came out looking super Tarantino-influenced for some reason haha. I wanted to convey the idea that you've just been axe murdered, but I also wanted to keep in mind that the lead character of this game is a sweet harmless lil dog. Having a ridiculous ultra violent death screen would feel cheap to me, like I'm just trying to shock the player (and shock value is the cheapest way to get scares). So I went with a more stylistic route! Here's what it looks like:

I thought "Bad Dog" would be weird and funny. Like I'm scolding you for losing lol.

• I added a timer!!! A TIMER. This is by far what I was most excited about implementing. I know for a lot of the more experienced devs out there this is probably the easiest thing to add haha but, as I've mentioned previously, my games have always been more focused on getting across a feeling than actually being "game"-y. I haven't even felt comfortable calling some of them games, instead referring to them as "experiences" or whatever haha. So I was super excited for the opportunity to finally make a game with some replay value, a game that actually challenges the player to get better and faster. It also adds more stakes when the enemy starts chasing you. You want to escape the enemy but you also wanna beat your high score (and dying makes you start all over which is fun and frustrating haha!) This is what it looks like:

It only starts up once you reach the beginning of the maze and ends when you reach the house again. The really cool part is that when you reach the house the timer stops and the numbers turn red, which looks so sick. I wish I could show you guys but, funny story, I'm actually bad at my own game. I can get through the maze really well at first because I've playtested that stretch a million times, but going back through the maze is super tough for me for some reason. Which makes me really excited, in a weird way. My first game-y game might actually also be kinda hard. I love it.

One of my biggest challenges tonight, believe it or not, was working with collisions and my 2D sprite. I used a very very basic script for allowing the enemy to follow the player and that brought up some challenges when coding collisions, so that ate up a lot of time. This game has made me learn a lot about colliders. I thought I knew all I had to know but somehow I've been using collider triggers this whole time without realizing that you can reference a specific collider by name or by tag when you need to. IT SEEMS SO OBVIOUS IN HINDSIGHT. 🙄

Anyways. I'm exhausted. This has been such a fun game jam and I'm honestly so excited to put the last few tiny finishing touches on this game. I'm sure this won't be my last devlog post, though, so I'll see you guys tomorrow! As always, thanks for reading, everyone. Happy jamming!

Devlog Day 10 Progress, AKA "It's Done and I'm Tired":

Sorry about not posting my final update in a little bit, guys! In the meantime since you last heard from me I moved back to school and got my stuff together, had a few days of classes. I've been too busy to focus on dev for a bit, but just tonight went back in and put in those final touches I've been meaning to do. I'm not going to give you guys any screenshots for this devlog though, because I'm super tired and that takes forever! (Plus some things should be left to the imagination with this game :) ) BUT, here's what I did:

• Fixed a big bug I just found tonight that resets your timer when you leave the maze for the final time (wouldve totally sucked if that was in the final game!)
• Made a credits scene with scrolling animated text that plays a few seconds after you finish the game and implemented code that would either take you back to the main menu or quit the application from there
• Implemented code that stops the lumberjacks movements and sound once you reach the finish line

That's all folks! Again, I can't thank you all enough for all of the interest and support you've shown for my game. This has been the coolest jam and I've really appreciated all the feedback and kind words you've shared with me.

This weekend is going to be a big and busy one for me, but I'm hoping to put up the game tomorrow if i can! I also don't feel done with this project and would like to add other stuff and tweak some things moving forward, so any other comments you guys could share with me after I release the game would be so appreciated.

I hope everyone had an awesome jam!

It's out everybody! I had to make a few changes and the game has a visual bug that bothers me to no end, but the game works and is built to play in your browser. Thanks again for all the support! Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments, if you'd like!