Hello, and welcome to my first dev log.

After tacking the 18th place on https://itch.io/jam/goedware-game-jam-limited-shapes decided to enter https://itch.io/jam/improve-my-game-jam-41

The plan was simple, just complete the following list:

1. Fix typos (game and game desc)
2. Increase resolution
3. Re-add the bullet hit barrier sound
4. Make the player death pop (its to bland, hard to observe)
5. Add lvl-up goal for player (powerups/shop?)
6. Improve the wave enemy spawn system
7. Add the button on the gameworld space along with the particles
8. Change the gameworld music
9. The game needs a clickbaty icon
10. Make the menu more consistent
    

Here is what followed:

Day 1 - 09-15-2025

1. Changed the game resolution to 1600x900. 
   1. As a result all the menus and objects were updated with new positions and sizes.
2. Redesigned the main menu buttons.
3. Corrected typo in tutorial screen.
4. Added skip button for intro story.
5. Added volume option (in the options screen) for master sounds.
6. Fixed bug for bullet sound not playing the barrier hit sound. 
   1. Idea: Maybe the bullets should bounce instead of disappearing. A timer for despawn should be added in this case.

Day 2 - 09-16-2025

1. Added screen shake on death.
2. Created a small bug in [Day 1(2)] - Fixed visual bug (displaying full energy on spawn/respawn instead of 1/30).

Summary of days 09-16-2025 - 09-19-2025:

• Designed a new UI for the game along with some different mechanics for the player:
  • Now instead of using energy/exp for health, a health property will be added to the game.
  • Dying should no longer reset energy/exp, reset health instead.
  • There should be a progress bar for how much air is inside the arena.
  • There should be a progress bar for wave progress. 
• Tried to plan a new system for powerups/upgrades. I seem to lack ideas… and time is flying by.
• Planned to make 99 waves of enemies.

Day 6 - 09-22-2025

• Decreased scope to 30 waves. 

1. Implemented the new UI in the game.
   1. Surprise surprise, it looks terrible =(, I didn’t take into consideration the glow that is added by the godot environment when I chose the colors. Now the menu glows so much that it's hard to look at. 
2. Reworked and implemented the UI. It looks…. ok… probably.
3. Added air for tracking how much air is inside the bubble (it affects the arena size )
   
4. Added health for when the player is hit by a bullet.
5. Going outside the bubble/dying now no longer resets exp. It resets health instead.
6. Increased the amount of air necessary for complete death (7 respawns instead of 9).

Day 7 - 09-23-2025

1. The enemies no longer spawn based on time (they were spawning every 15 seconds). Now a wave/”plastic” progress bar was added. When the bar is empty enemies respawn.
2. Added wave count message. When a wave ends, a message is displayed with how many waves are left.
3. Added a wave started animation. Particles are emitted for a few seconds before the enemies spawn.
4. When the player is dead, enemies now get away from the spawn. In order to prevent spawn kills

Day 8 - 09-24-2025

• Tried to come up with a power up system. Since nothing seems to fit and thinking about it just give me a headache went with the 2 random upgrades menu (roguelike style)

1. Implemented a prototype upgrade menu with the options to restore health and increase air/lives.  The menu pops up when leveling up.
   • I liked the increased air/life power up so much that I decided to add it as an auto upgrade.
2. Moved the increase air/restore health options from the upgrade menu to the level up event.
   • As a result the upgrade menu is now useless.

Day 9 - 09-25-2025

• Bashed my head thinking what I can do to improve the upgrade menu. Ended up leaving it as it is and added some more upgrades.

1. Added new upgrades to the current upgrade menu. Damage increase is op…

Summary of days - 09-26-2025 - 09-26-2025

• Uploaded the current project to itch.io and shared it around for people to test the new features. Feedback was good.

Day 12 - 09-29-2025

• Searched around for new songs.

1. Fixed bugs reported by testers.
2. Added more upgrades, enough for 11 levels (15 seems to be max level)

Day 13 - 09-30-2025

1. Changed the wave system, spawn less enemies after wave 11 and 21 but bigger and stronger. 
2. Change player ship/bubble when a shape modifier upgrade is selected

Day 14 - 10-01-2025

1. Added spread to bullets, and accuracy upgrade. (it feels nice)
2. Added more upgrades (just duplicated existing ones)

Day 15 - 10-02-2025

1. Fixed the lose screen animation and menu
2. Added stats and score to the lose screen
3. Started adding the win screen
4. Changed the songs for menu and gameword screen

Day 16 - 10-03-2025

1. Added win screen and animation
2. Added new songs for win/lose screens
3. Fixed some bugs.
4. Tweaked the "heavy" upgrade and the late game enemies (does not seem to make a difference =/).
5. Updated tutorial page. (No more space left… probably should change the design one day)
6. Updated about page.

9/10 I guess:

1. Fix typos (game and game desc)
2. Increase resolution
3. Re-add the bullet hit barrier sound
4. Make the player death pop (its to bland, hard to observe) - (kinda)
5. Add lvl-up goal for player (powerups/shop?)  (it is good that balancing the game wasn't included in this list...)
6. Improve the wave enemy spawn system
7. Add the button on the gameworld space along with the particles
8. Change the gameworld music
9. The game needs a clickbaty icon
10. Make the menu more consistent
    

Lessons learned

• Changing the UI drains energy like mad! Almost every time I had to come up with something new.
• Do the small things NOW or you will forget about them. No later, no after nonsense… etc.
• Feedback is quite useful when given properly. Should try to get it more often.
• The gameplay is by no means balanced.
• For some reason I kept avoiding making new enemies. =/
• Follow tutorials at your own peril…
• Ended up liking to play the game more than liking to work on it. I am not sure if this is good or bad.
• Still could not fix the colors. They are too similar and it becomes hard to see. Maybe one day I’ll find a solution…

Was this boring to read? Cuz it certainly was boring to write=).
Have a great weekend!