Cleaned game up for shipping!

Export files added

I exported this into an HTML file so that I could have players access it on their browser really easily!
I also updated the godot loading screen and icon to be my own custom screens for more cohesiveness!

Fixed minor bug

There was a minor bug with the MIDI where it wasn’t escaping the cutting vegetables minigame, found the problem. It was only detecting the escape if it was pressed from the keyboard, not the MIDI.

Art

Drew assets for:

• Itch.io banner
• Stardance screenshot

That’s pretty much it! yayy I’m so glad this has come to a wrap! I learned so much honestly from creating just this little digital experience. I hope you all enjoy exploring it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Finally about to ship!!

Title Screen

Created a title screen + keyboard tutorial instructions so that players know what keys to press + their keyboard equivalents if they don’t have a nanoKEY2
Everything was drawn by me in Aseprite, except the nanoKEY2 base image was taken from the internet

Digital experience

More than a game, I’ve decided that this game should be more like an experimental digital experience. It features a cutting experience and just pan/pot placing/removing. It doesn’t feature a storyline, almost just like a little aimless simulator.

Audio

Added some pixel + lofi bg music and satisfying SFX!

Keyboard compatibility

Added keyboard compatibility

Mapped keys 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 with corresponding MIDI pitch values (like an intermediary value switch) using event.get_keycode (it’s really neat and the transfer over was p smooth)

Added navigation buttons

Way to go back to start screen or exit cutting vegetables mode

Challenges

• Finding satisfying audio :’)
• It was just a lot of little content to add so it was just time consuming
• It took a bit of decision-making to decide whether to keep going with Keytchen (because honestly I could keep adding content forever) or move onto another project. I decided to move on because at this point I’ve hurdled over all the foreign technicalities that I’ve sought out to learn (the MIDI mapping and beat timing.) Any new additions would just be things I already know (but I want to actively learn more.)

I hope to ship this very soon; I’m going to quickly playtest it one more time!

Keytchen - More visual feedback and debugging!

Had to backtrack w/debugging

I debugged the entire timing system of beats because the gameplay was just not fun, it was not registering beats sometimes and the visual beat feedback wouldn’t update when it was supposed to. I fixed this by separating the visual beat updating system with the input tracking of beats for gameplay and it worked out well 😭

Visual feedback

• Error for wrong timing red key
• Error for wrong key red key
• Key you’re supposed to press is highlighted green
• The beats pulse whenever a beat happens to help the player feel the beat in the game better

Miscellaneous

• You can access the minigame through the main screen’s cutting board now!

Challenges

• Debugging my beat system was so painful and a nightmare because my code was so messy and I confused myself with it. I solved this by commenting out all my code so now there’s no way I get confused LOL

Future additions

• As you can tell, I still haven’t added the new potato / zucchini textures so i will have to do that :’). The next time you see a post it will have different textures not just a carrot i promise!!
• I’ll need to create some kind of inventory system so that the cut up vegetables can be stored somewhere so when the player wants to cook something using those ingredients they have it on hand and can add it to a pot or pan or something

That’s all folks! see ya in the next update! ;D

Cutting mechanism almost done

Notes autoload

Now the player knows what notes to hit based on the note shown on screen! I’m going to add a note guide so that it’s also more obvious which note to hit if they’re not familiar with cdefgabc keys!

Different vegetable settings

Though there aren’t any graphics to match at the moment, there are different vegetables that call for different mini-games! I finished the carrot, zucchini, and potato mini-games.

Music added

I added some plain beat in the background that the player needs to match with the notes accordingly. It won’t work unless the player matches the beat well enough.

Challenges

• It’s hard to match up the switch of the note; i’m still working on this. sometimes the note even though switches in game logic doesn’t show up and the game remembers the last note as the one to show on screen (u can actually see it in the vid)
• I had to learn a bit about rhythm and bpm in order to set my variables for next beat and secs per beat stuff like that correctly 😭

Next additions

• graphics for different veggies
• the note showing on screen will have flawless timing
• sfx for notes
• there will be a note guide added for players who aren’t familiar with cdefgabc notes!

sorry my updates have slowed down…i’ve started school again D:

Carrot cutting animation + hooked to nanoKEY2!!

Art / animations

I used Aseprite to make the cutting board and the carrot graphics! I made each cut of the carrot a different image to make this work. Now there is a visible cutting animation for carrots!
I timed position changes, rotations, and modulation using AnimationPlayer.
Currently, the animation steps are triggered by a ui_accept input. I’ll change it to be musical chords that the player has to time perfectly as my next update.

Hooked controls to nanoKEY2

I looked into how MIDI inputs are controlled by Godot, and it doesn’t natively detect MIDI inputs from the Input Map in Project Settings, so I had to create a script that detects MIDI input and maps it onto a default Godot input like ui_accept and ui_left etc!
But now it’s working really well :DDDD

Challenges

• It was incredibly time consuming to key frame each individual position but hopefully I can just reuse these frames now and just replace the textures because I left the names generic for modularity
• I didn’t understand how MIDI inputs worked and matching them to other native inputs in Godot so it was tough understanding how to do it (so many diff things like MIDI_MESSAGE_NOTE_OFF/ON that I had to learn)

Next Steps

• I’m going to be adding the chords timing feature so that cutting is actually hard and not just a matter of ui_accept lol
  Stay tuned!

Added some basic game functionality! + recolored background

You can select a pot or pan for each stovetop now

Through a ton of pressed() signals and booleans we have made this happen

Focus

To pair this with my nanoKEY2, I’m starting game development with keyboard focus features early so that it isn’t a hassle to do later on!

Recolored stuff

I changed the colors of the background to make it even more approachable and friendly! I like this cool toned version… that last version looked a little eerie

Future additions

I will be adding:

• hooking nanoKEY2 to the actual game
• actual pot cooking mechanic
• pan cooking mechanic
• cutting vegetables mechanic (maybe I’ll start with a carrot first)
• a bunch of graphics to support those features

Challenges

Not many challenges this time but I keep forgetting to record my aseprite using lapse…I need to remember!

Stay tuned!

Main background drawn!

Aseprite

I drew the main background for the game’s kitchen area with Aseprite! There’s a stove and cutting board so far.

Future additions

Soon, I’ll be adding the following:

• Stove cooking mechanic
• Cutting board mechanic
  So mainly I’ll be establishing gameplay with the nanoKEY2!

Challenges faced

• Choosing the right color and vibe for this cozy game was pretty difficult, but I think I’m happy with the colors I have currently. I can change it anytime I want anyway! :D
  Stay tuned!