Hello googoo friends!! This year, I felt a bit stuck with where to go with this game, as I'm only really 1 level into the 4 planned levels and the gameplay felt like it needed more to it in order to be engaging past the first level. I thought about it and it made me realize that I need to do a lot more thinking; I need to do more thinking about the entire game. I never had a fully structured design document nor extensive brainstorming sessions on what the game as a whole should be (or even what should go into the levels!).

What I actually need to do is think and brainstorm hard about the story of Googoo's adventure and the lore behind it, as I can apply that to how the different levels should look and feel, then design enemies/obstacles/other game objects around that. So I'll finally be taking time to plan things out thoroughly, as before just diving aimlessly into coding and inevitably getting stuck with what I need to do next wasn't really working out!! With that idea, I also need a way to hold myself accountable so I don't get distracted, so I've been working on a devlog/calendar thing I'll update daily with what work's being done

Sadly we've gotta delay the demo. This isn't the first time this has happened, but it is the first time it's happened publically. I first wanted to get a demo out on August 12, 2020... it's been a while since then. By the time the demo does (hopefully!) drop, nearly two years for just this one single level! That might seem excessive, but we haven't actually been working on the game full time. Or even part time. Or even part part time. It's really whenever we have free time and want to. This is a hobby project currently, and I don't really want to get burnt out to the point where I don't want to continue it any longer. I'm definitely going to pick up the pace from here on out, since I've got a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to finishing those parts up.

What still has to be done?

Right now, I really need to finish level design on the end of the first level. I've got a good layout so far, I just need to expand on it a bit and make it fun. Additionally, the first boss is in its pretty early phases. Right now, it's just a placeholder sprite that's doing the first phase of movement and attacks. I won't say much further, as I'd like it to be a surprise. The art for the boss and the "arena" it takes place in also need to be created. I also need to create music for a few parts of the game (and re-create the title theme, as I'm not too satisfied with its current state), and make some sound effects so that things feel real nice. This could probably all get done before February 5, 2022 (which is when we originally needed to finish the demo by) if we were working 8 hours a day solely on this project. However, it wouldn't be done very well, and we have a lot of other things in our life that take precedence over this really cool game. I plan to work on everything a little bit every day, and soon enough it'll be amazing. Thanks for reading.

For this first log, we're excited to announce our brand new Steam page for Googoo: Bash! and our new studio name gullible games. This is a really exciting step for us as we weren't sure if we would end up releasing on Steam, so we're thrilled it's actually happening!

We've overhauled the art for the refuge underground town where Googoo's kingdom fled to after the main city and castle were captured! We hope you try our demo when it launches on February 21, 2022, as we're participating in Steam Next Fest!

Also, I found a Yamaha DX7 for a crazy deal and that thing's gonna spice up the soundtrack reallll nice :)

Thanks for reading! And join the discord if you haven't already.