Thanks so much @Lucky-j ! 
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I just added two option menus in my game, and the reason because of that was because I was having trouble integrating from the global volume of the Options menu (which was already integrated to the Title Screen), while also being connected to the Pause menu. So, I created two separate option menus, and then both being connected to the global volume of the game, all the while watching a GDevelop tutorial about option menus. Right now, I only have Music and Sound toggle settings, and I’ll add more options later on, but for now here’s all of the events that I did right here:
Note: The “TS” means “Title Screen”, and the “P” means Pause.
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Also, the reason why I didn’t post anything yesterday is because I was busy working on a devlog based on the entirety of this post, but since because it looked low-budget, and the fact that I just wasn’t ready for YouTube anyway, I deleted the video, and my YouTube account as a whole. Oh well, hopefully I’ll be able to venture forth when I announce my completed game.
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It’s pretty interesting reading your devlog. When I started using GDevelop it was pretty encouraging to see other people facing the same issues I was, and motivating to see how they could overcome them in time.
I like making videos from time to time but they’re not very professional. I just enjoy it. I need to make some more when I get some time, the ones on my channel are pretty dated. If I could work and talk at the same time, I would just screen record everything I do in GDevelop and throw them up. But I find when I get engrossed in something I lapse into silence and it’s not very exciting for an audience.
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I feel the same way you do @Lucky-j I didn’t know on how running a YouTube channel was THAT difficult to be professional, and fun fact, I actually made a few couple of other games before this, and they weren’t made for any game jams. They were made to be published on itch.io. Let’s just say, I suffered from burnout real fast. My first game that I published on GDevelop was Boxkour, a precision platformer containing 10 stages, and it’s designed to be short, but challenging at the same time, because if you die even ONCE, you get sent ALL the way back to Level 1. Oh, and all of the graphics are made out of colored shapes and blocks. While I was very proud of my game when I first finished it and published the game on itch.io, I quickly realized that I struggled to find any players, and the game also looked sloppy too. It looked more like a very early beta prototype than an actual game. So, I couldn’t remember when did I delete the project, but I assume it was a couple of days after or a month, but all I know for sure, it’s not on itch.io anymore. The next game I did was an arcade-inspired game called Barry the Cherry. The goal of the game was that you control a cherry named Barry, and must defend your cherries (that are spawning by the way) from birds by grabbing them first before the birds do, but if the birds manage to catch a cherry, Barry will lose a life, and if the player loses all of their lives, they get a game over. When I first published that game on gd.games, it looked way more polished than Boxkour, but then again, I struggled to find a good player base, so I deleted the project once more. I started struggling to build proper platformers, top-down games, arcade games, and even racing and fighting games, but I didn’t know what was I doing wrong, but then, I spoke to Perplexity AI (Yes, if you’re questioning. It’s one of my hobbies, and we live in Generation Beta at this point) about how I realized that the first thing laying out my foundation for ANY game at all, is prototyping, and since because of that, I decided to do a 2D action platformer starring a bug, and that’s how I landed here today.
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Sorry if the message is pretty long, because I wanted to share my story about how and what led to me actually realizing on what prototyping was.
Also, the bug’s name is offically named “Buggie”, and at this point, since I’m making good and FAST progress on my game, I’m officially announcing my game title and plot: The title is “An Insect Named Buggie”. This title is meant to give off that “Oh, so Buggie’s an insect” immediate look, and the plot is, well, take a read for yourself: Buggie is a green (which is the official color for him) insect who is happy-go-lucky, idyllic, and sometimes mischievous and snarky. He resides in his wooden home in the village of Burrowville, a place that resembles an old-fashioned village, where only various insects with their own quirks and appearances reside in as well. Even their sign says: “Burrowville: Peaceful Place. Perfect Population: 52!” Nothing could EVER go horribly wrong for these little bugs, right? WRONG. One fateful day, Buggie decides to go to the local market to fetch a few items, and while he was gone, watching from a far off distance, on top of the mountains lives Screech, a giant female blackbird who resides on the ominous mountains, and always standing atop a large, yellow-dotted egg, and feeds on precious little insects, which she eats for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snack, and even works for her midnight snack. She peered through her binoculars to see the insects of Burrowville’s idyllic lifes, and now, seeing and imagining them as an enormous banquet of insects, including insect stew, and various other dishes that involve insects, she licks her tongue, indicating that she thinks about to have dinner right now. So, she made her move. She left her egg from the mountains, swooped down, and made a beeline for Burrowville, and what happened next is just what Screech predicted. All of the insects noticed Screech and realized that those type of birds LOVE to feed on insects, so they try to escape, but it was no use. Screech successfully nabbed every single last insect on Burrowville, and thus, Burrowville’s sign went from “Burrowville: Peaceful Place. Perfect Population: 52!” instantly to “Burrowville: Lonely Location. Zero Population: 0!” Except not. When Buggie returned from the market, there was literally no one there, not a voice to be heard. Suddenly, a floating letter slowly descends to the floor and landed softly on the ground in front of Buggie. Buggie picked the letter and opened it up, as it was from one of the Burrowville residents, read: “Buggie! Buggie! We need your help! We’ve all been kidnapped by a crazy maniac bird, and now she’s flying, and now we’re high up in the sky, and I’m really scared of heights! You’re the only one that can save us! Please rescue us immediately! NOW! - Sincerely, Caddis.” Buggie disbelieved this, as he thought that Caddis, who’s usually known to making false, crazy claims around the village, would sure be watching too many action movies at this point. Suddenly, right after Buggie said that, a black feather slowly descended into the floor, and Buggie picked it up, and smelled it, realizing that it smelled just like the residents of Burrowville, implying that this is seriously no joke. Buggie searched, and there he spotted a giant egg on top of a large mountain, with something that looked like a silhouette, but couldn’t identified it from at Burrowville. Buggie quickly assumed that giant egg must have something to do with the missing insects and the bird, and so, now knowing what he must do, Buggie sets off on an adventure across various worlds to track down the missing insects to the giant egg and the bird on the mountain, who, sooner or later, will find out it’s Screech. What do you think about my title and plot?
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I think the title is ok, it is humble sounding so you don’t really know what to expect. Then as you play and the story is revealed, you discover Buggie is really a remarkable little bug that is determined to brave countless obstacles and nearly impossible odds to rescue his friends. I love the plot even more than the title. It makes me want to see Buggie succeed.
You have a good point about making a prototype before getting invested in a project - either emotionally or time wise. You can make a lot of small and fast prototype projects which add to your experience and skill set. You can expand ones that seem worth expanding and you won’t get burnout so much because you’re not putting a lot of effort into things that don’t pan out, but you’re still getting practice and developing skills. It sounds like a win win to me.
My niece always loved FNAF games and I don’t like horror but I was really impressed with the developer and inspired by him. I think he made more games per year than most people make in their lives. He made one, put it up - were people playing? - he didn’t know, he was busy making the next one!
Yeah, I feel like my title’s pretty basic, but the reason why I chose “An Insect Named Buggie”, and I’m going to be completely honest with you, I couldn’t really think about anything else. This project is basically designed to teach me on what an indie game developer does to be successful, and I’m more prone to coming up with basic names for my games (or quirky names if necessary), because I don’t want anyone to think: “Just because my game has a really cool title means it’s going to be good”, nor “If the title’s basic, then the game’s trash too.”
Also, I’m currently working on the credits for the game, and it’s going to show a typical “film credits” sequence. Because this game will be entirely solo developed, most of the credits will have my name as “Joshington”, but because y’all are just helpful, I’ll be including a “GDevelop Community Members” logo, where it’s going to display everyone who liked, helped, and replied to this devlog, and I’m also asking for permission for this. So, can I include y’all into the credits?
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Oh yeh that makes sense. I make basic title too, working titles because it’s quick. Making up titles in not my strong point. Also I don’t mind if I’m in the credits.
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Hi all!
Ok, no problem but please, with my nickname Xierra54.
A+
Xierra
Hey there @Joshington,
Loved reading your posts on the progress of your game. It seems to be coming along very well. Good job on drawing out the concept art showing examples of interactions for the character. Sometimes just having those images are more helpful for explaining what a feature will do and look like. So great job on that part!
So do you currently have plans on what platform you will launch the game on? Like GDevelop games website, itch, etc…
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Well, when I’m finished with the game, I’ll be launching “An Insect Named Buggie” on itch.io!, though I’m relatively split on whether should I sell the game for a price or have it free, (When I meant sell the game, I meant release the demo on web browser and downloadable, while having the paid version downloadable only.) Because I was also thinking about sending the game out to a publisher to rework the game for home consoles like the Nintendo Switch.
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I just added mountains and hills to my game, with added parallax scrolling, too! I learned from an offical GDevelop tutorial, “Backgrounds and Cameras”, and every time when I make a platform game (before I started working on “An Insect Named Buggie”), I always make sure to add parallax scrolling, so that it never looks static. I can’t show you the effect, but I’ll throw up an image:
Also, if you noticed, I expanded my original screen resolution from 800 x 550, to 1000 x 625, because I know how people prefer widescreen games.
Also also, I added collectibles along with the coins, to add replay value to the game. There are currently 3 for now, but I’ll eventually add more later on, and tell y’all what they actually are and their purpose.
By the way, I feel like pricing my game all depends on the quality, as this will be my first commercially released game, and when I actually complete the game, I’ll release a demo for free via web browser and download on itch.io (Later, I’ll bring “An Insect Named Buggie” to other platforms like Steam and Humble Bundle.)
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Hi Joshington!
As you perhaps know, i like very much platformer games.
So, i shall be particularly look on your game which presents actually well.
Don’t forget (but i am sure you do that) to test a lot your game and put off the bugs which can be numerous in platformer games.
Good continuation and more important, take pleasure to do your work!
Xierra
Thanks @Amigo54
I’m wondering how I can send out a copy of my prototype to y’all privately for playtesting.
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Ah that, i don’t know how proceed.
If you arrive to get accessible to me your copy, it would be interessant for me to do the same for my actual remake game Rick Dangerous (altough it is also on GD site)
Xierra
I’m deciding to put “An Insect Named Buggie” on hold, because I just realized that this is my first big dream game, which also means that I’m pushing myself too hard on this project. So, I’m taking a break from the project. I’m NOT going to delete it, just hold it off for a while, and in the meantime, there’s the Kenney Jam 2025 on itch.io going on right now that is starting in a month, and I decided to join the jam, so I’ll let you guys know when I’m starting back on the main project.
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That’s probably a good idea. It seems to me people could be more effective working on their dream projects if they would have completed a bunch of small non dream projects first. Everyone wants to make a Mona Lisa without going through the stick figure phase I guess.
Game Jams are a fun way to unwind anyway.
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