psycho-coded

[psycho-coded]

where'd the work go?

this past week has not been It. i have nothing of note to show so i'm just gonna have more stuff next week. better luck next time :)

-i

[psycho-coded]

PinJoint2D my behated

i wasn't feeling to great yesterday so i didn't get around to posting, so i'll count this tuesday as monday.

this week was entirely fixing bugs throughout the code for building. i had some code already in place for it, and some leftover from seth, but all of it was either horribly written (mine) or didn't really work (seth's) or both (mine). finally getting a feature functional with the cutting has made me more confident with gdscript, and more confident that i had no idea how to use gdscript a few months ago.

snapping joints has been cleaned up to work well with the new priority system, and calls with that have been working well. the biggest issue with the building this week was actually snapping the joint sprites themselves together. i tried so many different methods to make this work, and ran through so many print() statements trying to figure out where stuff was going wrong. after all of that, i can confidently say that it still isn't working properly and that i despise pinjoint2d with all of my heart.

this node just doesn't work well. i already had to write replacement code for the angular_limit feature because it was completely nonfunctional, but now i'm running into an issue where it rubberbands physics objects connected by the joint when the joint connection is set, which is somewhat fair. you're supposed to always have both nodes set and i'm not doing that despite the engine's protests because idc and i need this to work a specific way. i've been toying around with the idea of rebuilding the pinjoint2d node from the ground up using my own code because the native node keeps doing things i don't like. this might be my project for the next week.

desnapping works better. i need to get around to updating some code so that limbs don't immediately reconnect, but i've been too busy with the snapping to give it much attention.

anyway this is where my attempts at fixing bugs has gotten me. i wanted to start on the stat importing this next week, but the building slog continues.

-i

[psycho-coded]

Restructuring all of my code to fix bugs

this past week has involved a lot of testing to figure out the causes of bugs, and then spending all of coding time realizing that i need to redo large swathes of code to make it actually work.

the big one was resolving a bug where the pin joints in the arms and legs to connect the two halves were disconnected whenever the limb was ejected from the body during cutting. idk why this took me almost a full week to diagnose, but it's fixed. cutting works. entirely. i did some other things to fix it up and reorganized a lot of code around the state machine before moving on to solving problems with the building.

(there was a cool and awesome gif here but tumblr refused to let me upload it so you get NOTHING)

i also started working on fixing issues with the body building. the first one i chose to tackle relates to priority and how limb snapping and detaching works. limbs have different priority that determine which limb snaps to which and whether or not a limb is disconnected when you pull on it. basically, smaller limbs snap to larger ones (i.e. leg to torso) and pulling on a larger limb will move the amalgam, while pulling on a smaller limb detaches it. this system works fine with a single body, but if you're attaching limbs of the same priority, like two torsos, there isn't any way to resolve this. my solution as of right now is query all joints in the scene to figure out the limb priority, sort all of them by that value, then reassign new priority values based on that ordering. basically, larger limbs will have a higher priority and will still have the same effect on smaller limbs, but unique priority values will resolve interactions between the same limb type.

i also need to fix this weird snapping things with the limbs..? it makes me uncomfy.....

-i

[psycho-coded]

what if i cut you but it was a little bit less

not a ton done this week. improved some things with the cutting, such as fixing the ejection angles, stopping the limbs from collapsing when they eject, and turning the whole screen red as you cut. unf that's kinda it...

there were more things i wanted to do this week, but i didn't :)

nothing looks that different so no gif or image today. I want to have the fridge and stats ui implemented by next monday so definitely images then.

-i

[psycho-coded]

what if i cut you a lot

Good week i think.

I got the idle sprite animations working, although it was surprisingly tricky to get them synced despite having the same frame rate. I will probably mess around with them a lot, but glad they're here.

I also got a bunch of stuff working with the cutting. You can cut and detached limbs, the limb will shoot away from the body, and the cutting line will glow a deeper red to indicate damage.

I still need to adjust the cut limb ejections, the limb dragging and connecting itself, and a bunch of small juice things :)

-i

[psycho-coded]

Small Update

I'm going to count this as Monday.

I didn't get too much done this week. The big things are that I redrew the sprites for the body that you cut apart and added extra frames to give it an idle animation. However, because of the work I'm currently doing with the game states, the animation doesn't quite work when running the scene.

Which brings me to the other thing I worked on this week: a state machine. I'm hoping that using this for every scene, but the team building especially, will make the code much easier to manage, and so far it is! I'm still struggling with getting the cutting to work, but I have a few ideas. I'll also make sure that the idle animations work in all the different states regardless of physics processing.

Nothing visual to show this week. soz :/

-I

[psycho-coded]

We're so back.

After months of silence, not that anyone was likely to notice, I am returning to continue working on Psycho Coded✨. Some things have certainly shifted. For one, I am now working on this project alone, which means development will take a while and some things are going to change. The big thing to change is the art. I'm taking the artstyle in a different direction, one inspired by Anthology of the Killer. I chose this style in part because I love that game and also I am a terrible artist and can't do much better than rough mspaint sketches. I don't have really anything to show of it right now as I'm still figuring out a lot of the character looks, but the new logo is in that style, and I love how ugly it looks.

The core gameplay will be the same, but I have plans to expand upon what was already there. The demo that is currently up on itch will remain as it is, untouched. That demo was made in unity and the current iteration of the game is being developed in godot. So far I am working through the team building portion of the game. You can attach/detach limbs and drag them around, I'm currently working on building the architecture to handle all of the stats and states for that scene and I suspect it will take a while.

I will be posting devlogs every monday from here on out. Mostly for myself, to make sure I actually do stuff. I don't have much to show right now, but I will include some sort of game showing next week.

[psycho-coded]

Louisville Local Game Harvest 2024

Alright, so I was right to not promise anything soon. Development is slow. Much slower than I would like, but I'm the one doing it slowly so who's my real opp here?

I took this game to the 2024 Local Game Harvest run by Louisville Makes Games (who are awesome people and could use some love). Taking this twisted game to showcases is always a nerve wracking experience. I often feel that other game devs will be upset by the subject matter, and I am always proved wrong. The other game devs either loved it or didn't really get it, same goes for most of the players.

I did encounter the most engaged group of players I have ever met: children. I'm not sure if it's the violence, dismembered bodies, or ability to make silly names, but kids absolutely loved Psycho Coded✨. Huge shoutout to Daniel for being our biggest fan. Thank you.

This game will be made, no matter what. I'll try my best to post more, but we'll see.

-I

[psycho-coded]

Demo Posted

There was not a new devlog soon. I lied. I'm going to stop saying that until I can actually deliver a new devlog in what can reasonably be described as "soon."

For now, the Psycho Coded✨ demo is finally posted on itch.io. You can play it here and enjoy our wonderful game! If you don't like it, go ahead and drop your name and address in the comments so that I can kill you. Seriously though, feedback is appreciated.

We've finally figured out Godot and we're starting to move, which doesn't bode well for devlog frequency, but it does bode well for warding away my despair.

See you not soon, but who knows, maybe I'll surprise even myself.

[psycho-coded]

Waffle Games 7.0

The showcase was a week ago, but time doesn't really matter anyways.

The game developers at the showcased seemed to love our setup, I think the bleeding brain on the table did wonders to attract unsuspecting gamers. They also seemed to really enjoy the game, but that's not as important.

We also got 6 more people to fill out our "Kill Me Cards" with contact information. The last person who neglected that bit will rue this day (last Saturday).

Anyway here's our setup and a fun little program insert from the event.

New devlog soon. It's been far too long...

[psycho-coded]

It's the day after our last post! May 17th! Hooray!

The NYU Game Center Spring Showcase was an absolute blast and we couldn't be happier with how it went. Everyone loved our setup (even the kids)! Each of us spent some time decapitated on the table, and it was so much fun to talk to people about the game from that perspective.

We also had 25 people fill out our Kill Me Cards at the event, and 21 of them managed to actually put their contact info on the card so we can reach out to them and clarify that we can kill them (in the video game).

We'll be showcasing again at Waffle Games 7.0 on June 22nd in NYC. Anyone that wants to be killed (in the video game) should come by and fill out a card, with CONTACT INFORMATION.

[psycho-coded]

NYU Spring Showcase

The Psycho Coded✨ twitter account was flagged for some god forsaken reason, but regardless today is the NYU Spring Showcase!!!! We've got a killer (hehe) setup put together for the event and I sincerely hope that our players love talking to a disembodied head :3

I'll take some fun pictures to post here tomorrow!

-I

[psycho-coded]

Our Final Presentation

The last class presentation for this project. All other posted devlogs will be made outside the context of NYU. Onwards and upwards. -I

[psycho-coded]

The Last Weekly Devlog (but not the last devlog period I swear) :(

M:

EEEEEP! I have flopped. But I am Free. And I made a logo for the game! I am hoping it is whimsical enough to capture the essence of the VideoGame. I'm also still working on a poster and some sticker designs for our upcoming showcase. Our booth setup is still coming along well, too. That is what I've been spending a lot of time working on, as I am helping put together the showcase as a whole! Once that is more set in stone, I can dedicate a lot more time to finishing the assets I need to for Psycho Coded ✨.

S:

I'm still working I promise!! I'm just a lot slower than I used to be... I've done a bit more bug fixing and a bit more work on the game development section.

I:

Aside from bug fixes, the big things that I did this week was finishing the dev pages' functionality and implementing all of my foleyed SFX. I'm approaching a point where I won't have much more juice to add to our two functioning game scenes.

This is our last weekly devlog, at least for a little bit. I will keep posting devlogs as things get done, which may occur more or less than once a week. We're nearing the end of the class where we're developing this game, so now our devlogs will be released more organically. We're showcasing this game at the NYU Spring Showcase on May 16th. After that, we're moving to Godot and progress will slow for a while. But I will keep posting about this game... because I love it and I want to share it with people. -I

[psycho-coded]

Week 11 (12?) Devlog

M: This week I was enjoying time in the shadow realm and making some assets. Prep work for the NYU spring showcase is also underway. We have a good portion of our materials in the works and I get to do some illustration (yay!!!!!!!!). Aside from that, I’m in the process of locking in and did some work on the dev pages I should’ve gotten done a while ago. I’m onto the office scene! Here are a couple sketches:

I: I've been doing a bunch of random things the past few weeks. I've been fixing a ton of bugs in our functioning game scenes and adding small juice items, such as blood particles and a reddening effect to the background. In terms of progress things, I'm currently working on the dev profile pages for SewnIn and I have some SFX to implement. I foleyed some SFX for joints popping out of their sockets, joints squishing together, and sawing bones. I will be recording more murdering SFX next week :3. Anyway, here's what the dev pages currently look like:

S: Not much has changed in my work since I last posted. I've squashed a few bugs, and continued to work on the task backlog and office view. One of these days very soon I will have big and flashy things to show you all. But until then my work will continue to be slow going and in the shadows.

[psycho-coded]

I've been working on a godot plugin for controlling how pixel art behaves with lighting, and I'm almost done with a really basic version! (more info under the cut)

this plugin is based on some techniques I have been developing over the years, featured most prominently in silt spawn.

it's a huge step forward though, since it requires no setup whatsoever, and it works with any normal light sources in the engine. the way it works is by generating an encoded sprite and a bespoke shader that can really quickly pick the exact color to show for each pixel based on how well-lit it is. as this gif shows, the plugin works with existing light sources and sprites, so you can really use these pixel-picky sprites as much or as little as you need!

now that the main feature is done, all I need to do is finish the UI in the editor, and then I'll feel comfortable releasing a bare-bones version of this plugin. I'm really proud of how it's coming along, and this quick little gif is just the beginning! :D

[psycho-coded]

Week 10(?) Devlog

I: I did some more writing this week. I finished writing the new SewnIn posts and got a slightly adjusted post generation system functioning. A quick playtest showed that I need more variety in the posts, so that will be a near-future assignment. I also made a temporary title screen so that we had some actual navigation between scenes. I'm working on a pause menu to make an fluid menu loop.

Our beautiful title screen.

S: I worked on adding Miles's new art for the limbs. We have a little bit of leftover work on that (we still need some things for folks' heads) but you can see most of the new body in game now. Look at the little doll :) This will open the door to both adding skin colors to all of the limbs, and also to carrying developer bodies over to the office scene, so that you can see your creations come to life.

M:

This week, I did some work on designing Lydia and polishing up the previous character art I did. I also made some click-baity pop up ads, which can be used for a few things. Stickers for the NYU Spring Showcase will probably be one of them. I also did some cleaning up of the tumblr HTML theme and want to continue working on it. I want a cute website! You can see the art of the cast in a previous post, so go see that if you'd like. Besides that, here is one of the ads: