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Strategy game but with a penguin who has a sword - DevlogšŸ§ - Available now!

A topic by Pikku-a created May 22, 2023 Views: 2,999 Replies: 58
Viewing posts 1 to 51
(11 edits) (+1)

A chill turn-based strategy roguelite game with good lofi hiphop music

Edit: Available now on itchio and Steam!

Trailer

Edit: Changed the trailer to the new one.

I have been working on this game for about 1,5 years, but now Iā€™m finally starting a devlog.

I will try to update this every week until the game is released.

Devlog 1

Last week I added a simple sword/attack animation. Maybe too simple? You can see in the gif of the first post what it looked like before.

(2 edits)

Devlog 2

1 - Added gamepad and mouse/touch controls.

Here is a gif of playing with the mouse:

I think I will add a possibility to just click on one side of the screen to move instead of swiping.

2 - I also started using variables instead of checking for a specific button every time. For example:

menu_button = keyboard_check_pressed(vk_escape) || gamepad_connected && gamepad_button_check_pressed(pad,gp_start);

And then:

if (menu_button) {
	game_pause_toggle();
}

It makes the code much easier to manage.

(+1)

Good idea for a game! Penguin and rts! New expirience, man!

Devlog 3

First cutscene is now mostly finished.

Also mouse can now be used with the menu.

(2 edits)

Devlog 4

  • Middle cutscene is mostly finished
  • Started making ending cutscene
  • Added more story pieces that can be found in certain floors

No screenshots this time because of spoilers. (~_~)

(1 edit)

Devlog 5

Started making a shop. There one can buy and equip swords, clothes, etc.

Still looks a little ugly but Iā€™m trying to improve it.

Devlog 6

Now itā€™s possible to buy and equip weapons.

The video is in portrait mode, because there is an unexplicable bug with the inventory in landscape mode and I havenā€™t found a solution to it yet.

The default sword now looks like a teleporter sword, like it should.

(4 edits)

Devlog 7

  • Shop/inventory is now mostly finished
  • Added new sounds. The game has now about 90% of the sounds it needs.
(2 edits) (+1)

Devlog 8

Lots of bug fixes and other small improvements.

Soon there will be a demo. ~( ā€™ - ā€™ )~

(1 edit)

Devlog 9

Nothing this week. I was working on another project to improve my coding skillz. Iā€™ll probably make that project open source when itā€™s ready, so you can see it.

Devlog 10

Same as last week. But now Iā€™m going to continue developing the game.

(1 edit)

Devlog 11

Now itā€™s possible to change the color of the penguin.

Also updated the look of the inventory. I think it looks much better now.

(4 edits)

Devlog 12

Last week I was working on moving all the text in the game to a csv file to make translation easier.

Also I made some cool(?) water effects. The video is low quality because I was going to make a gif but the file size was too largeā€¦

There are still some bugs I have to fix before the demo is ready. I might have to hurry to have enough time for testingā€¦ ā”Œ(;ļ½„_ļ½„;)ā”˜

(1 edit)

Devlog 13

Last week I mostly fixed bugs.

Stuff I need to do before demo is ready:

  • Fix some bugs
  • Finish Spanish translation
  • Improve some levels
  • Make a virtual keyboard for gamepad?

äø‰äø‰ā”Œ(;ļ½„_ļ½„;)ā”˜

(1 edit)

Devlog 14

Demo is more or less ready, I did it in time. ļ½”ļ¾Ÿ(T惮T)ļ¾Ÿļ½”

Currently seeking for testers to test the demo. Iā€™ll give one of my older games for free to people who help test the demo and add their name to the credits (if they want). If you are interested let me know here or with email (pikkua.games gmail) or Discord (pikkua).

Devlog 15

Last week I didnā€™t do much, just made a list of things to improve after getting feedback from testers. So this week Iā€™m going to work on doing those improvements. More testers are still welcome.

(1 edit)

Devlog 16

Polishing the demo. Some bug fixes.

And now the penguin canā€™t walk on top of the settings and inventory tables.

Sorry penguin. šŸ§

Devlog 17

  • The selected slot in the inventory is now clearer
  • Currently trying to add a virtual keyboard for gamepad. The game will have full controller support for any gamepad. ćƒ½(Ā“ā–½`)/

Iā€™ll make the demo available some time before the Steam Next Fest, so you can try it already this week. (:3 怍āˆ )

Devlog 18

  • Virtual keyboard is finished
  • Other gamepad improvements
  • Improved the part where player name is asked
  • My commit history says that I did some ā€œmusic fixesā€ too. I donā€™t remember what that is but cool?

Devlog 19

Added new colors for the penguin.

Devlog 20

The demo of the game is now available during Steam Next Fest!

Try it.

(3 edits)

Devlog 21

Steam Next Fest is over, so Iā€™m going to continue the development of the game. However, I will leave the demo available for another week.

(1 edit)

Devlog 22

New enemy type is finally mostly finished.

(+1)

I feel some 90s vibes coming from this, quite nostalgic

(1 edit)

That might be partly because I reduced the gif quality for smaller size.

But that gives me the idea that I could use some filters like this in the game. It would fit the music style too.

(2 edits)

Devlog 23

Last week I didnā€™t work on the game, I was just chilling in the countryside. Borrowed Celeste from a library. ā‰§ā— ā€æā— ā‰¦āœŒ

But I do have something to share about the game, because last week I forgot to mention some things. I designed 20 more levels, so now there are 50 hand-designed levels. So now I can fully focus on optimizing and improving the random generation of levels.

(1 edit)

Devlog 24

Added more music and sounds.

Now there are secret stairs in the menu to skip the played/completed areas of the randomized rooms.

And I made a new image for a cutscene. Here is part of it:

What is the penguin destroying? You can find out by playing the game.

Also, the game is now about 80% finished!

(1 edit)

Devlog 25

Final cutscene has been written and the images for it have been drawn. Now I will start coding it, which will be quick to do, thanks to the Cutscene engine that I have made for GameMaker. Itā€™s really so useful that I canā€™t wait to rewrite it so that I can use it in Godot too. :)

Devlog 26

Final cutscene is finished. Andā€¦ itā€™s better than I expected. :)

Improved credits. Now they look more professional and moreā€¦ epic.

I added the ending of the story to level 100 of randomly generated rooms. The game is endless, but thatā€™s where the final cutscene and credits are.

Devlog 27

Improved the random generation of levels.

Iā€™m trying to finish the game to a completely playable version during this week. After that I will focus on improving and polishing everything.

Devlog 28

Not a completely playable version yet like I planned, but still making progress.

Finally fixed a bug that sometimes blocked doors in randomly generated rooms. I needed to add some pathfinding to the grid to check if the door is blocked and if it is, regenerate the room. Fortunately, this was quite simple to do using MP Grids in GameMaker.

(4 edits)

Devlog 29

Now itā€™s possible to change the penguin ā€œskinā€. There were already some color variations, but now itā€™s possible to play as an emperor penguin, african penguin and northern rockhopper.

Cool, right?! (ā•­ą²°_ āŠ™ ) šŸ§

Kuvakaappaus - 2023-12-11 13-44-58.png

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Devlog 30

Forgot to make a devlog on Monday, but here it is.

  • Added more settings
  • Fixed some bugs

Also I made a little video to show the new penguin types in action:

Oh, this devlog has gotten over 1000 views! Achievement get! (ļ½”ā€¢Ģ€į“—-)āœ§

Devlog 31

Added a special skill: Teleport Attack! Itā€™s not completely finished yet but I will show a gif next week.

Also now itā€™s possible to scroll the inventory with a touch screen, making it possible to now play the whole game with a touch screen. Not sure if I will make a mobile version of the game, but if I do, everything will be ready for it.

(1 edit)

Devlog 32

Got surrounded? No problem. Teleport Attack!!!!!!!!!

Devlog 33

Now itā€™s possible to change the clothes of the penguin. Fight with style!

There are many clothes to choose from. The clothes also act as armor, so some clothes have more defense than others.

Devlog 34

Game is ready for testing. :)

If you want to help testing, you can get your name to the credits. You need either Windows, Linux or Android. Let me know with email (pikkua.games gmail com). For some reason I canā€™t open Discord so canā€™t use that for now. If Iā€™m online, you might be able to reach me with IRC (Pikku-a on libera chat).

From now on, I will focus on bug fixes and improving the difficulty balance of the game.

Devlog 35

Seems like I forgot to make a devlog last weekā€¦ (ā”€ ā€æ ā”€)

Anyways, I was doing bug fixes, improving and polishing the game. Also working on Steam achievements.

Now Iā€™m going to start working on the final trailer. Wish me luck, because I need it į•™(ā‡€ā€øā†¼ā€¶)į•—.

(1 edit)

Devlog 36

Working on trailer. No time to explain moreā€“

(1 edit)

Devlog 37

New trailer finally finished!

Other than that, I have been fixing bugs.

(+1)

Wait... Is it raining indoors? Anyways, looks nice!!

Well, I wanted to have rain. There must be some mechanism to itā€¦ Basements can be mysterious. ;)

Devlog 38

Last week Iā€¦ was fixing bugs. What did you expect? ~(0_0)~

Devlog 39

Testing and marketing stuff.

Here is a video I made:

Devlog 40

Mostly bug fixes.

Here is a pro tip for you: If you havenā€™t been able to fix a bug in half a year, itā€™s probably something really easy to fix. Ask someone else to check the code, and even if they donā€™t know coding, they might be able to point out what the problem is.

Yes, for half a year I wondered, why doesnā€™t the enemy notice the collision with the player, when I wasnā€™t even checking for collision with the player. (ļæ¢_ļæ¢;)

Devlog 41

New skill: Super Sword Attack. It hits enemies in 4 different directions.

Why add a skill when itā€™s only a couple of weeks to the launch of the game? Because the game must be even cooler. ćƒ½(Ā“ćƒ¼` )ā”Œ

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Devlog 42

Last week was bug fixing, testing and improving the difficulty balance.

This week Iā€™m trying to do marketing related things, but I really would prefer to spend that time improving the game insteadā€¦ ( . _ .)

Anyway, the game will be released next week. April 3. I will see you then. Be there, OK?!

(+1)

I'll be there for sure :)

(1 edit)

Yay! : )

Devlog 43

Many bugs have been fixed and there are many improvements. For example, skipping turn now feels less tedious.

The release is the day after tommorrow. Ī£(O_O)

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Devlog 44

The game is now available on itchio and Steam!

And with a -15% launch discount.

I made a new short trailer (mostly shortened version of the previous trailer):

(1 edit)

I see you're making it cheaper in itch.io due to steam's 30% cut, are you making any profit out of that difference?

Because if I calculated correctly, you're either not making more in itch.io or maybe itch's share is lower than 10% on you?

(I ask because I plan to follow a similar path)

(+1)

In USD the price is the same on both Steam and itch.io. But on Steam it might have a different price in different currencies (I just used the prices that Steam suggested).

Devlog 45

Many bugs have been fixed.

Also, a German translation is coming soon. : )

Devlog 46

The game is now available in German.

Next I will start working little by little on a big update that will be published in about a month or so.

I have been working on an update that will be coming next month.

Among other things, this update will add more animations.

I would show you a gif here, but the gif is on my other computer and Iā€™m too lazy to open it. I will edit this later maybe.

(1 edit)

Version 1.1.2

Many animations have been added. This makes the game world feel much more alive. You can see the difference in these images.

Before:

After:

There were also some balance improvements and bug fixes.

And the game is currently on sale!

(2 edits)

Version 1.2.0

In this update, hand made levels are first and the roguelite mode will be unlocked after that. More info in the devlog post here.

The game is also currently discounted.