Kaiju Dev Blog

Join us as we build a video game from scratch! Updates weekly! Ask anything!

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New blog!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give a quick update! For those who follow this blog, first of all—thanks! Glad you’re following along! But also, because this is a side blog, I’m limited to what I can do. 

That said, I’m excited to announce that I’m moving to a dedicated account! Follow along at: kaijugamesdev.tumblr.com!

I just added my first post on there, and I’d appreciate it if you followed that blog. 

Thank you!

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As I sprint toward the finish line, I've now started to add music to the game. But before that, I took a small break to see what the world would look like if shadows were added. Any thoughts?

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❗️

Remind you of a certain video game where red exclamation points show up above people's heads?

East Las Palmas will not only contain main story missions, but side missions as well. Some of these will initiate when you approach someone who needs your help, as represented by the exclamation point above their head.

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‪East Las Palmas is always on the move! ‬

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This week has seen more polish now that I'm entering the final stages! This week I wanted to focus on the dialogue system, making it easier to enter text, but also improving the feel of the actual dialogue box. Here are the improvements:

1. New fonts for both the main text and the speaker's name

2. Some characters will have a more stylized name box

3. A triangle above the dialogue box points to the current speaker so that it's easier for the player to know who is speaking

4. Words no longer warp from the end of the line if they are too long—this is done in before it ever reaches the end

5. Behind-the-scenes improvements that will make entering text much faster

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#RefactorFriday! While not incredibly exciting, it's important to take time from working on new code to look back at old code and see how it can be improved.

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Does this also happen to you? Whenever I reminisce about the past, everything has this sepia filter and things are fuzzy, kind of like static on television. Added a new effect! This will be used for instances where Erik will have flashbacks and replay how things happened.

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FEEDBACK NEEDED!

This week, I was able to add more more weather effects. But I need some help!

Take a look at the 60-sec video of lightning and rain in my game. Is the lightning too bright, too often, or are there too many in a row? The max is 3 strikes, with the last one being longer. Is the rain too distracting or would you want more drops? Same with splashes: more? Fewer?

Thanks for your feedback!!!

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It doesn't rain much in the city of East Las Palmas, so when it does, its citizens scramble to find shelter from the rain!

Last week I was able to sneak in some weather effects into the game while working on story stuff. Here we have darkness and rain with more to come!

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Hi everyone! Still putting pen to paper, so there's not much to show, as it would spoil the story. So in the meantime, here's another location: the car garage. One of Erik's most trusted sources runs this garage. And because only the best come to this location, he'll have the latest scoop!

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I'm still working on the story for the game. But while that happens, I've also started putting together a list of tracks that will set the ambience and mood.

Couple of things:

1. Check out this space! This are the Epiphany Investigations Headquarters! Notice Katy hacking away on her computer and James in the back planning the next move. More information on James in a coming blog post.

2. SOUND ON! These are four tracks that will be featured in the game. Turns out Kim Lightyear is really good at composing music! Her synthwave will have you tapping your foot, and her more slower tunes will run shivers down your spine. You can check out more of her work on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/kim-lightyear

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This week has been mainly about working on story and getting unique NPCs into the game. Here's a quick group selfie next to the local Mexican market "La Tortilla Caliente."

What could be so significant about a small corner store?

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Working on the story manager when suddenly...is that a hot dog vendor in the detectives’ offices? 😂🌭

This week I’ve been working on what I call the “story manager.” Essentially, it keeps track of your main mission and other side stories that you may have found. Whenever an action is performed, it checks to see if it applies to any of the missions. If it does, it triggers an action, such as begin a conversation, add an NPC to a map, or begin playing music. The visual representation of this is the Notes app, where Erik can check on the progress of each story.

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If you thought the king from Super Mario Bros 3 had it bad, here’s the mayor from my game transformed into a car!!

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Introducing Katy Miller: A tech ninja

In the last few blog posts, I’ve introduced a few of the mechanics that you will use while solving cases. If you haven’t read those yet, take a look at the different ways in which you can speak with other characters, and explore some of the features included in Erik’s smartphone. This time I thought I’d give you something different. And what better way to do that than by introducing another main character in Epiphany Investigations: Katy Miller.

Feels great to be back after a short respite! To get things started again, I'm proud to introduce the second character in my game: Katy Miller, a computer ninja! Thanks to @dyingmars on Twitter for the awesome art! 

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Been working on the intro. While the game’s title isn’t final, I do like this animation. Let me know what you think!

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Featuring another phone app that Erik will use as he catches bad guys and solves cases: the Notes app! This app keeps track of mission progress, and reminds you about what to do next!