Devlog #2: Terrain, shaders, and a really annoying bug

Improvements: I made the terrain much more flexible by using seperate objects that I could just place wherever, instead of the tilemap, but that was really just for showing that the character worked. Also I made a moving element.

Additions: I added a title screen, a life counter (not implemented yet, but it’s there ), and a shader that inverts colors. The shader will probably be involved in a gameplay thingy later, but for now, it’s just to look nice. Making the shader was really hard, actually even though it was really simple…

Bug Fixes: Sooo I was going to post this devlog yesterday, but then I realised that my whole scene loading everything was horrible and some really weird things happened. SO I spent another hour and a half fixing it . HOWEVER I did also learn some valuable lessons, and made a GameManager, so I don’t think it was a complete waste

What’s Next

Next up will be making the title screen look more interesting, and I have some ideas for game mechanics and new characters that I will explore.

Stay tuned! (or not )

Devlog #1: Back With a New Project

What’s up folks! I am back with another project, having shipped the vent alien. This is a monochrome metroidvania involving light, shadows, and getting lost in the dark . (Clearly still need to figure out some lore)
However, I finished drawing, rigging, and animating the main character in this devlog. I also made some mediocre background graphics to show the character moving.

What’s Next

Mainly worldbuilding, which will take a while. I am also planning on making a neat banner for the project!

stay tuned!!

The final devlog…

Hardware:
I built a shadow box out of black poster board to put around the back of the alien, which I feel like gives it a sense of cohesiveness and gives it a nice background. I also wasted a heck of a lot of time caulking it to the vent for like no reason at all . I also added a button to trigger it so you don’t have to reset the board or plug it in every time you need to dazzle someone.

Software:
Only a bit of software this time. Just a few lines of code for the button and I also made a wiring diagram and made my README much better.

Time to ship!!!

Devlog #4: it’s coming together…

Software:
The main coding thing in this devlog was figuring out how to make the alien actually look like it’s dancing instead of just moving in and out of the vent. I did this by routing the DFPlayer’s left DAC channel into the Arduino’s A0 pin and mapping those values to the servo motor. This worked better than I expected so now it can hit some moves
Hardware:
I reprinted the alien at finer quality and painted it. I also added LEDs for eyes which is wonderful

What’s next

I feel like this project is almost ready to ship which is very exciting! The only things to do are to clean up the wiring so it’s one cohesive unit and I am thinking of building a shadow box around the back with some RGB lighting. All in all, one or two more devlogs till we ship!!
Until next time…

Devlog #3: We Have Action!!

Finally got down to writing some code and doing some wiring! I’m using a DFRobot DFPlayer Mini (long name ik) for the sound because it’s an alien, of course it has to sing. I went with the original song from the Spaceballs movie which I learned is actually from a really old cartoon. Fun stuff.
Anyway stay tuned folks!

P.S. watch this video with sound on! ↴

Devlog #2: A little more designing and putting some things together

I finished designing the parts and put everything together. I ended up using a sacrificed clipboard for the baseplate. Everything worked exactly how it did in the model which made me happy because my 3d modeling skills are not the best.

What’s next:

Next I need to get the code figured out, add LEDs to the eyes, and I think I will probably re print the alien at a higher quality and paint it. It would also be fun to add an ultrasonic sensor and have it trigger when someone walks past.

Too bad my parents won’t let me cut a hole in my wall for it

Devlog #1: Designing!

I basically designed the mechanism for moving the alien in and out of the vent. And I 3d printed the parts and weathered the vent

Devlog #3: looking fine!! 🦋

Thing 1: I drew myself a logo!! I’m not great at drawing so this made me happy. So I made the logo the icon. which is great.

Thing 2: I rewrote my whole bio to make it more fun and such things.

More things: I made the line spacing taller. It just looks a little nicer now. I also used a tiny bit of JavaScript to make an animated kaomoji

Devlog #2: Add more CSS and stuff

In this update I added wonderful fonts. I also made a notification system to learn a little about buttons. There is also now a section explaining what stardance is for the muggles ;). There is also an icon now! oh and lines that seperate sections.

Devlog #1: Add Content and General Layout

Basically, I taught myself web dev in 2 hours, so at this point, it’s obviously not super polished. But I just made it look pretty and added some of the things I want it to say in the end. (Idk if we’re actually supposed to do devlogs for missions but here we are). You can visit the website at: a-fun-gi.github.io. I also wanted to add a little javascript so I made a thing that guesses what I’m doing at a particular time of day.