Seven Minute Shadow - devlog 6
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writing this out quick with no formatting
First devlog after trying to ship, there are evident problems with even the v0.1 demo. Whenever someone clicked on try again or would reset the game, the counter in global for mingames would still remain the incremented value. Basically it would not be a new instance. So I hardcoded the values to what they are supposed to be in the beginning. it would also track hearts and if it became 0 once it would carry forward which i had to fix.
The mailman is not supposed to be playable. I probably shouldnt have made it able to move by player but i did just in case but also caused an issue when it didnt remain in animation. so had to fix that crack.
Also there would be errors in the console that while not game breaking would affect performance. it was due to the fov being under 1 after subtraction in tween. had to fix that.
i thought my devlog after ship would be for more feature but ig im stuck on bugs. but ill continue working on this and my other project. still have to implement music, more minigames, and the full storyline.
Anyways, i hope you find demo v0.2 interesting till then.

Seven Minute Shadow - Devlog 5

The demo is out

The first playable version is finally shipped.

I added the second minigame and spent some time going back through the first one to fix bugs and make the transition between them actually work from start to finish.

The ending

The Game Over and Win scenes are now connected too.

The current win screen is still temporary. It pulls the remaining hearts from global.gd and shows them as the score. For now, this is basically Ending 0: The Demo Ending.

The plane still flies, the day went well, and that’s about as far as the ending goes for now.

What’s next

Now that the demo is playable, I can finally focus on the actual game.

• Music and sound effects
• Reworking my pixel art
• The remaining 5 minigames
• The proper story and endings

The full game is planned around 7 minigames and 3 actual endings. The demo is just the starting point.

Seven Minute Shadow - Devlog 4

Progress

Been busy. I adjusted the mailman cutscene and finally got the core loop feeling like an actual game instead of a bunch of separate pieces.

The minigame

I fixed the heart subtraction system, so messing up now actually costs a life. I also added the proper fail states so the minigame knows when you’ve lost.

I also made a general Level Info scene that can be shown before each minigame. It displays your lives, timer and a short instruction so you know what you’re supposed to do before starting.

Scope

For the first playable version, I’m aiming to finish 2 minigames.

The full idea is 7 minigames, all connected by the story and narration. I want to spend more time on that side as I continue, although I probably make it sound more grand than it actually is.

More to come.

Seven Minute Shadow - Devlog 3

Progress

Made some solid progress over the last couple of days.

Player movement is working now, along with an exit point. I also finished the first 2D cutscene, added dialogue, and got the transition between the 3D intro and the 2D world working. Getting the animations to line up with the dialogue took a bit of tweaking, but it all flows much better now.

Building the world

I also started putting the actual game together.

The tilemap is in place, the first environment is coming together, and I added the mailman character with working sprite animations.

The next step is building his cutscene and the minigame that goes with it.

Assets

A lot of the art is still placeholder made by me for now.

Finding good free assets with the right license takes time, so I’m using temporary sprites where needed. Some things, like the post box, are my own, and I’ll replace the placeholders with better assets later on. Music will also come much later in development.

Seven Minute Shadow - Devlog 2

Learning Godot

I’m still pretty new to Godot, and while following the guide I kept wanting to do my own thing instead of sticking to it.

That ended up making things harder than they probably needed to be.

Cutscenes

I wanted to mix 2D gameplay with 3D cutscenes, so I spent a while figuring out how to get both working together.

It took a bit of trial and error, but the first 3D cutscene is finally working.

Now I can get back to actually making the game.

Seven Minute Shadow - Devlog 1

Getting started

I just finished the title screen.

I’ve played a lot of WarioWare-style games over the years, especially thanks to my GBA ROM addiction, but this is my first time using Godot, so I’m learning as I go.

The story

I’ve settled on the title: Seven Minute Shadow.

I want the game to have a proper narrative instead of just being a collection of minigames, so I’ll be keeping most of the story out of these devlogs. I’d rather people experience it for themselves.

The first ship will mostly be about getting a playable version out. After that, I’ll focus on polishing the experience and expanding the story.