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Inchie Devlog #5

Hello!! Austin here. Sorry for the gap in devlogs! A lot has been going on in real life for both of us! Tax season has been stressing me out, and Ceci is dealing with finals, so it's been difficult to get the devlogs written up in time!

Make no mistake, though!! I've been working on Inchie! There's a lot of polish on the Catch minigame now, and there's now a second, fully implemented match-four game!

I'm very excited about this one!! it has fancy combo-chaining and scoring systems, and a little Inchie on the right that reacts based on how you're doing!

Just look at how dramatic he is.. I've been using this one as a reaction GIF! Hehehehe....

Now's also a great time so show the concepts for the minigames! I didn't realize I forgot to share it before now!

We want to add more minigames!! Please let us know if you have any fun or novel ideas you think would fit the vibe! :D

[studiotunacrunch]

Inchie Devlog #4

Hello! Austin here again to tell you about the first minigame, seed catching! Minigames are used to raise Inchie's Fun stat, as discussed previously, and also to earn money!

We mostly focused on making the sprites this time, so next week i might go more into the technical implementation of the game if y'all are into that? For now, we have a pretty good idea what we want this to be, so I'll go ahead and explain!

In the catch game, you need to collect seeds that fall from the top of the screen, while avoiding trash and large oil barrels! This is a pretty classic game type, but we've spiced up the formula a bit with different sized obstacles.

You move Inchie around with his little bucket to collect the items! If you get hit, you lose a life. If you lose all your lives, you get a special end animation depending on what hit you last.

(The blank spot on the UI will have your score when in-game! :D)

Of course, you can also win by staying alive for a preset time! Doing so will award you bonus seeds at the end! Even if you lose, you will get some seeds just for playing. Doing well will also increase Inchie's mood more!

(Me and Ceci worked together on the sprites! :D)

That's it for this week! Thanks for tuning in!

[studiotunacrunch]

💌 Happy Valentine's Day from your Pal, Inchie! 💕🐛

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Inchie Devlog #3

Austin here! This devlog is about Inchie's bathing system!

When Inchie's Hygiene inevitably gets low, you'll need to open the Action Menu and select Bath. This will take you to a special bathing mode which might seem familiar to people who owned a certain two-screened portable console!

To let it speak for itself, here's a video demonstrating the bath-time process!

As you can see, there are four steps to get Inchie all squeaky clean!

Soapin'

Scrubbin'

Rinsin'

Dryin'!

Currently, it increases Inchie's Hygiene by a fixed amount; but let us know if you have some ideas on how it could be "scored" potentially to provide a better "clean"?

And yes, that IS a monogrammed Inchie towel...

This devlog has been rather short, but I really wanted you all to see the bath minigame ASAP!! Oh, and let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions! We're always open to constructive criticism! :D

[studiotunacrunch]

Inchie Devlog #2

Hello!! Austin here again with a new Devlog! Today, I'd like to go over Inchie's 3 stats (and a secret fourth) to pave the way for deeper discussion!

Inchie's primary stats are: Hunger, Fun, and Hygiene. Each has a special animation that Inchie will have a chance of doing when the stat is low. Let's go over them one at a time!

Hunger is the most straightforward of the stats. Over time, Inchie will become hungry and need to be fed with food from THE SHOP! The special animation for Hunger is a tummy rumble!

Fun, like Hunger, is pretty simple to grasp! Inchie will become increasingly bored over time, and you'll need to play with him from the action menu! This will start a minigame (we have a few different ones planned!) which will also provide currency!

When Inchie needs some enrichment, he'll let you know like this:

Try not to ignore it, or he'll become sad!

Hygiene is the most complex base stat, as it's involved with many systems! Like the other stats, it goes down over time, but it's intertwined with the Poo system (More on this in the next section). If Inchie's Hygiene gets too low, he'll start stinking up the place with this animation:

Please give him a bath if this happens (More on this in the next post)!! This makes Inchie very sad.

Poo. The secret fourth stat discussed at the beginning of the post. Poo will slowly go up over time, rolling back to 0 when it hits 1 and spawning a poo object. Poo isn't really a stat, as it doesn't directly effect happiness, but having uncleaned poos in the world will make Inchie's hygiene go down much faster!

Make sure to always be a responsible owner and shovel poos as you see them!

That's all for this week! Thanks for staying tuned :D

[studiotunacrunch]

Inchie Devlog #1

Hello! Austin here, posting the first devlog for Inchie! We've actually been developing on this for a while, but for now, I'll just make a brief post about what I've been working on recently: the shop!

The shop is a really important part of the game, as it's how players buy new items, backgrounds, and food for Inchie. It's important that it's easy to use, accessible, and reads well on the tiny virtual screen on which Inchie is played.

Of course, this has many challenges; To get around them I chose to employ a full-screen UI that strongly evokes the "shop" feel. It slides onto the screen with a two-tone chime similar to a lot of shop doors, and presents the user with just three categories. You can navigate between categories with [UP ]and [DOWN] on the dpad, while [LEFT] and [RIGHT] select items within the category. To buy, you hit the center button (please ignore that they're unlabelled on the device model currently..) If you can afford it, you're greeted by a friendly confirmation screen, as the controls are admittedly a bit strange for some users

Otherwise, you get a short, wise-cracky random message

(These are just a couple examples)

After purchasing an item (aside from food, which is used immediately to simplify and avoid the need for an inventory screen) it will appear with a closed box icon instead of a price, and an informative bit of text depending on what you can do with it:

Pressing the "B" (middle) button on a furniture item in this state will enter a placement mode, allowing you to place it into Inchie's enclosure. This isn't implemented yet, but here's Inchie chillin on a rock.

If the furniture has already been placed, it will show an open box icon and allow you to PACK the furniture back up, freeing up a room for other furniture! :D

We have a lot planned, so look forward to future devlogs!

[studiotunacrunch]

We're Tuna Crunch! A queer-owned studio based in the southeast United States! Our crew currently consists of just two of us:

First up is Austin: our programmer and sound designer. Aspiring musician, skilled circuit maker, and proud father of aquarium fish and a few snails.

Next is Ceci (that's me!): game designer and animator. Pink is my favorite color- even my girlfriend is pink, toy hobbyist, and caretaker to about 300 roly-polies. We're fans of all things little and creature-y!

An Inchroduction to:

My Pal Inchie is a virtual pet that lives on your desktop! You must care for Inchie by feeding, bathing, and playing with him to keep him happy. Be sure to provide enrichment for his enclosure by collecting items for Inchie to interact with.

Keep an eye out here for updates and details regarding My Pal, Inchie!