Devlog #04

I have almost finished the first party game for Play n’ Play the past few days. I completed almost all of the game CSS, did most of the JavaScript and made some additional edits and fixes. For instance, after reviewing the HTML my sleep deprived mind wrote last devlog I realized I had copied the old game layout a bit too closely to my liking; including parts I specifically wanted to improve. With a clearer head the next morning, I redesigned the setup screen. One change I made, for instance, replaced the bulky button grid with compact quantity selectors for choosing the player and saboteur count.

It was at this moment I realized I should go back into my planning doc and finalize my notes on game logic. Some of the mechanics I originally wrote down didn’t match the flow I wanted anymore, so I rewrote those sections and made sure the updated logic was reflected in my JavaScript structure.

This redesign also helped me clarify how players move through the game (especially the setup and guessing phases) which made the later coding steps feel more intentional.

JavaScript Progress

I said in the last devlog that I would update once the JavaScript was finished, but my logged time was approaching the 10‑hour cap, so I wanted to post earlier to be safe. Right now, the JS is fully implemented up to the guessing screen, which puts me at roughly 3/5 of the game logic completed.

My workflow looked like this: I explained my game logic to an AI (ChatGPT) and asked it to describe the functions I would need, just to outline their purpose (it did not write the actual code for me). With those descriptions and my own research, I drafted the most of JS file in commented sections like game setup, discussion, and event listeners. You can even see these comments in the JS screenshot. After that, I wrote the actual functions myself, discovering how each piece worked as I went.

I should also note I used AI for some tedious tasks, like checking the game’s 105 discussion prompts (most of which I derived from the oold game version) for duplicates or adjusting ones that weren’t broad enough for a general audience.

Completing CSS 

Even though I started with JavaScript, I eventually drifted into CSS (partly because I wanted a break, and partly because I wasn’t sure how clean my HTML structure was). I swapped back and forth between working on JS and CSS until I accidentally completed most of the styling.

Implementing the CSS helped me see where I needed more classes or where the markup was missing hooks for interactivity. For instance, writing the CSS made it easy to envision and test how the progression button would look when disabled or enabled (depending on if all the required information on the game setup screen was complete). I’m hoping developing future games for this project will go faster now that I’m more familiar with this workflow.

Additional Reflections

Working on this project has taught me a lot about VSCode shortcuts I didn’t know before; small things that make typing and navigating code much faster.

Learning JavaScript has definitely harder for me than learning HTML and CSS, but I’ve noticed some similarities to C++, which I’ve used for past hardware projects. That familiarity makes the learning curve feel a bit less steep.

As for the website design… something still feels slightly “off.” I can’t pinpoint it yet, but I think the aesthetic could be improved. If you have suggestions, I would greatly appreciate feedback in the comments. 

Next Steps

My plan is to finish the JavaScript completely, then polish everything afterward and commit my updates to GitHub. If all goes well, the next devlog will cover the finished, playable version of Secret Saboteur.

Thanks for reading! — 2026/08/04