DEVLOG
8:30am, Day 1
I'm making some Vacuum Fluorescent Display (VFD) animations for when certain events happen during the pinball game. For those who don't know, Vacuum Fluorescent Displays are those little single color displays that go on the pinball machine somewhere near the scoreboard, and they had flashy little animations that show multipliers happening, or the game character, or logo, things like that. I want to do the milk jug filling animation in this manner. I have a bloom shader effect, but I don't know if I can make the glow only affect the VFD part of it. I hope I can make it look cool. I got some test animations done, need to get them into GMS and see how they look in context.

10:30 AM, Day 1
I got a logo that I'm happy with now (SHOWN ABOVE), and you don't see it here but its going to be against some wood planks that I turned into some tasty pixels. I got my new Pixel-Team logo (Psygnosis style) added to the game, and it gets you to the Title Screen. Next, I'm going to get the menus happening, (There is only START GAME, CREDITS, and EXIT GAME for the menu so that should be a push-over.) Once I can get all the standard stuff knocked out, I'll focus on actual pinball. I only have a ball and flippers drawn for the pinball game so far, and nothing else yet, except Miss Steak of course, and some placeholders for bumpers and knockouts. What I'm going to have to do is draw a pinball board in Photoshop, traced over my physics shapes, which will later be invisible. So it's very important that I'm happy with the board layout, because revisions on physics shape locations will cause photoshop reworks.

I also got the workings of some title screen music. Normally, I'd have some of this prepared ahead of time, but I recently got the Chipsynth SFC by Plogue Technologies, which I am using in Reason 11 as a VST plugin, and I wanted to make some Super Nintendo sounding music with it. It's a short tune, but it sounds like "Leather and Lace" by Fleetwood Mac. I am going for romance here.

12 noon, Day 1
Got the Title Screen music in the game, and it plays an intro part once, then loops a loopable part after. When the game starts, the title music fades out. I'm going to do something creative with the title, maybe just drop it in from the top, with a little bounce at the end. The game is in a great spot for 7 hours of work, and I'm going to pick up some sandwiches now. The VFD animates nicely. Still haven't tested the Bloom, but that's coming.

3:54pm, Day 1
I got the milk jar VFD animation, the Character VFD anim, the Mult-Ball VFD animations implemented with their events. I'm happy with it. I couldn't figure out the bloom glow for the VFD, but I can't spend too much time trying to figure that out, so I'm moving on. Got start button sound in. Starting to feel fatigued. Maybe I just need a break. Lot to do!!!

9:30am, Day 2
Added Extra Ball VFD animation, Added ball dropper sprite, added Key sprites, which need implementation. Added more sounds. I'm going to tackle the pinball board graphic. I'm hoping I can make a generic piece that I can reuse for multiple levels of the board as a whole, and smaller components for paths, walls, etc. Right now I'm going to work on the game over sequence, which will count up your total score with a big font.

11:30, Day 2
Got the graphic for the board made, and I'm happy with it. It's a rush job, but looks good. I got angled bumpers working good, and the spring plunger that pushes the balls. an animation of the balls getting depleted with each launch. I'm feeling good about where the game is at. Gonna take a break here.

5pm, Day 2
Got the credits scroller done, got the keys now activating. Got ball count text drawing. Got particle bursts on the keys when they activate. Got more music made. This time I did a rock and roll music for gameplay. I tried to make it sound sort of like Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar, except it went totally off the rails. No time to fart with it further, need to work on the game over, which I never got to. I also have to end the level if you have the 3 keys. This game is getting INSANE!!

9:55pm, Day 2
Added some high scores to the screen. Added voice overs for extra ball and multi-ball, changed how multi-ball works. If you land in a multiball grabber, the ball will come back out in each multiball grabber, and then the grabbers will be closed until only 1 ball remains on the table. Works better this way. Still need game over!!!! I need a name entry now. Tomorrow, lots to do. I'm stopping. That was about 15 hours today.

10:55am Day 3
I finally got the game over, and the high score entry done. Got levels switching now. So basically you have to collect the keys to complete the level. When a level is complete, your next lost ball will not be lost, but you will move to the next level. I need to come up with some more pinball board features for the starting areas. It's going well!

12:30pm Day 3
I got a green board made for level 2. Got a multiplier system working with "momentum" which controls how high your multiplier gets (up to 5x) I had to make extra balls get added after 500000 points because with multipliers, you can get some sick scores. I'm finally getting my stride...

2:58pm Day 3
I got a spinner! Not THAT kind of spinner, you little sickie! This little baby spins when the ball passes through it. works with both directions. And it adds score according to its spin speed! Outrageous!!!!

4:00pm Day 3

I'm gonna bounce a pinball off a bull's head and make him mad!!! These ideas just get stupider and stupider, but what are you gonna do?

4:58pm, Day 3
I got the bulls in, and they look great! The ball hits them in the head, and then they have a cool off time where they slowly lower their heads. I'm having so much fun with this game.

6:19pm, Day 3

I got the finishing touch on the bull... a VFD animation of an angry bull blowing steam out its nostrils. I used a clip art reference image I found and drew my version of it with pixels. It's just two static images shaken violently. It works really well. To see it, you have to have an active 5X Multiplier and hit a bull. I'm approaching the finish line. I'll need to think about what else this game needs. I have 2 solid levels at this point. It would be the best if I could make a third...

9:13pm, Day 3
Another 14 hours down. I enhanced the multiplier lights to set the 5X on fire when it is active. I also made it where you can't get multi-ball unless the 5x multiplier is active. This makes the game more balanced, instead of destroying a level right off the bat with multi-ball... Other improvements went to the fonts, and the layout of the first level. I'm very pleased with the state of the game, and could easily submit it as is. However, I have 1 more day...

5:55am, Day 4
There's some polish I'd like to take care of before I publish. Nevertheless, I uploaded the game in its current state to itch.io this morning. Things I want to get done (but might not get to all) include: put bars behind the hearts on level1, prevent overlapping bull sounds, a "Get Ready" message at the start of the level, floating scores, spice up the bumpers, heart collection sound, heart collection VFD animation, "collect the hearts" VFD animation. Off I go...

10:03am, Day 4
I got a bunch more VFD animations made, to drive the silliness home. I made a Game Logo anim, some utters squirting milk (totally awesome!!!) and one that says "UTTER MADNESS!!!!" I also made sounds for the spinner, the heart collection, got the bars behind the hearts put in, fixed the overlapping bull sounds. I'm going to try to finish strong.

4:11PM, Day 4 FINAL ENTRY
This last bit of polish was the best. I redid the bumpers from the little pink circles (they looked too much like nipples before) to shiny chrome mushroom shaped bumpers that react with bright light rings when they're struck. I'm calling this a game right here and signing off. What a blast working on this game was!!!