It has been a while since my last post but I am proud to announce that I have finally finished the roguelike2D tutorial! Unfortunately, after a lot of consideration, I decided not to make a game in that style and instead make a bullet-hell shooter style game. There are still some tips I learned from this tutorial that will be invaluable to me when making my submission and beyond.

Vlambeer’s logo – A flaming bear JW drew on a whim in MSPaint

My aim with this project is to emulate the kind of raw satisfaction hat come from playing Vlambeer games. Vlambeer is an odd studio for me. I find them arrogant and self-conceited and I honestly don’t like a lot of their games. Then you might be thinking – why would you even pick them as an inspiration if that is the case? The answer is simple, much like companies such as Nintendo, I don’t need to like them in order to respect them and acknowledge their strengths.

The duo behind Vlambeer. On the Left Rami Ismail, handling marketing, production and management. On the Righ – JW, the creative force behind the studio’s wacky games.

In the case of Vlambeer, it is what JW (Designer) calls “game feel”. He even has an amazing talk, where he showcases a prototype where he goes through steps of adding small touches to a game that make it “feel” that much more satisfying and visceral. While I believe he goes entirely too far, there is still a lot to be learnt here. Small touches like bullet spread, randomness, knock back and screen shake can entirely transform a game. That is why I have done a lot of research into the studio and have even gone as far as to requesting the library to get a copy of their book, which is already a fascinating insight into their design process, which I will reference and draw upon for my submission.

In my next post, I will show the progress I have made on my prototype and how far it has gotten. I won’t dwell too much on the design intricacies of it, as that is not only a WIP but also will be part of my submission.