Category: Design

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🧠 DevLog #6 – Menus, Maps, and Mayhem

Hey everyone, welcome back.

This week was a bit of a whirlwind — one of those classic indie dev stretches where you get a lot done, just not always in the order you expected. Or planned. Or even fully remember.

But somehow, it’s all moving forward.

🧪 What’s New This Week

🧭 Main Menu + Level Selection

You can now navigate between levels from a central menu — a small win that feels huge. It’s basic, functional, and perfect for testing. One click, boom, you’re loading into the next puzzle.

🧱 Room Switching + Scene Loading

Actual level switching is working! I can hop between puzzles mid-session without the whole thing falling apart — which means I can finally build, test, and tweak without relaunching the game every time.

🎨 Visual Experiments (AKA “Oh Shiny!” Moments)

I played around with new room tile graphics and some early tests for switch and gate visuals. No permanent changes yet — just seeing what sticks, what pops, and what feels right.

🧾 Business Side Adventures

Also: I spent too much time doing business-y things. Paperwork, planning, and prep work to get the studio side of this dream off the ground. It’s not glamorous, but it’s real — and it’s happening.

🚀 What’s Next

  • Continue refining the level loading system
  • Finalize core visual style for gates, switches, and floors
  • Start rebuilding levels using the new loader + menu flow
  • Keep pushing forward on the company side so I can do this full-time

🙃 Final Thought

Some weeks are about building. Others are about unblocking the stuff that lets you build better. This week was a little of both — a few solid wins, a lot of little tests, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.

Onward.

– Chris

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🧠 DevLog #5 – Scaling Back to Move Forward

Hey folks, and welcome back!

This past week was all about the level loader — again. At one point, it was working. Then it was really working. Then, as I kept expanding it to handle more edge cases, things started to feel… bloated.

Turns out, the more magic I tried to cram into the loader, the more fragile and complicated it became.

🔧 Simplifying the Monster

The original goal was to have one system that:

  • Built rooms from text
  • Placed switches and gates
  • Rotated gates correctly
  • Linked switches to gates
  • Delivered pizza
    (okay maybe not that last one, but still)

It was ambitious — and to be honest, kind of fun while it lasted.

But as the complexity grew, so did the mess. I realized I was spending more time debugging edge cases than actually building puzzles. That’s when I made the call: scale it back.

🧩 What the Loader Does Now

The loader is now focused on what it does best: tile placement.

  • It builds the room shape from a text-based layout
  • It places walls, floor tiles, obstacles, and decorations
  • It sets the stage for the rest of the logic to happen manually (for now)

The rest — things like linking switches to gates or rotating them properly — will be handled by hand in the Unity editor for now.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a cleaner, more stable foundation. And honestly, it’s still saving me tons of time.

🚀 What’s Next

  • Rebuilding my test levels with the new streamlined loader
  • Reintroducing gates, switches, and goals one piece at a time
  • Planning phase two of the loader once the basics are rock solid
  • Trying to resist the urge to “just add one more feature” again

🙃 Final Thought

Sometimes, progress means pulling back instead of pushing forward. The dream is still a full-featured level loading system — and I’ll get there. But for now, I’m happy having a tool that helps me build faster without breaking everything else in the process.

One tile at a time.

– Chris

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🧠 DevLog #4 – The Camera Saga

Welcome back!

This past week was all about the camera — and not in a cinematic, dramatic, “look at this beautiful shot” kind of way.
More like “why is the robot vanishing off-screen while the camera stares into the void” kind of way.

🎥 The Camera… Situation

What started as a small fix turned into a full-blown side quest.

  • The camera wasn’t moving
  • Then it moved too late
  • Then it moved weirdly
  • Then it shook for no reason at all
  • And then it just… stopped responding altogether

I tested it.
I tweaked it.
I fixed it.
Then I broke it again.
Then I fixed it better.

I think the camera and I have finally reached a mutual understanding: it follows the robot, and I stop threatening to delete it from the project.

✅ What’s Working Now

  • Smooth camera follow behavior
  • Snappy framing on movement
  • No weird jitter or lag
  • And most importantly: the robot is back in view like it’s supposed to be

It’s not fancy, but it works — and right now, that’s enough.

🔄 What’s Next

Now that the camera isn’t fighting me every step of the way, I’m heading back to the level loader.
There’s still a lot to add — support for multiple robots, switches, gates, and all the logic to tie it together — but having a stable view makes it way easier to debug and design.

Next up:

  • Expand layout options
  • Improve internal wall handling
  • Start placing real game elements in levels
  • Try not to break the camera again in the process

🙃 Final Thought

Some weeks you build features. Some weeks you fix features you thought were already built. This was definitely the second kind.

The camera’s back on track. The robot’s visible again. Time to get back to building puzzles.

– Chris

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🧠 DevLog #2 – Foundations First

Hey folks, and welcome back!

This past week has been a little less about moving robots around and a lot more about laying the foundations to actually finish this game the right way. It’s not the most glamorous part of development, but it’s absolutely necessary.

🧰 What I’ve Been Working On

🖥️ Website Overhaul – I gave imaginebeyond-games.com some much-needed love, including setting up this DevLog section. It’s officially the home base for all game updates from here on out.

📚 Business Planning – I’ve been focusing heavily on getting the business side of things in order — writing a full business plan, planning out next steps, and making sure Imagine Beyond Games has a real shot at long-term success.

🧩 Game Design Document – Progress here too: fleshing out the core systems, puzzle mechanics, and robot behavior so I have a solid blueprint to work from as development ramps up.

🐦 Twitter (X) Setup – I’m not usually big on social media, but I’ve set up a Twitter account for quick updates, screenshots, and dev thoughts. If you like seeing confused robots (and mildly confused devs), it’ll be a good time.

🛠️ Level Editor Polish – I managed to squeeze in a little work on the level editor inside Unity — not as much as I would’ve liked, but some progress is better than none. The custom room-building tools are already making prototyping way faster.

📌 What’s Coming Next

  • Continue refining the business plan and design doc
  • More level editor improvements
  • Prepping the first playable rooms
  • Getting the robot ready to show off publicly

🙃 Final Thought

Game dev sometimes means writing more documents than code — and that’s okay.
Every piece of planning I finish now is a piece of chaos I won’t have to deal with later.

Thanks for sticking around while I build the unsexy but essential side of the project.
Next week, I’m hoping for a little more action and a little less paperwork.

– Chris

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🧠 DevLog #1 – So… I’m Actually Making a Game

Hey there, and welcome to the very first devlog for my mobile puzzle game — name pending, robot approved.

This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid glued to Super Mario Bros. on the NES. I’ve worked in software development for years, earned a degree in Game Design along the way, and spent more time than I’ll admit just “tinkering” in Unity. But now? I’m really doing it.

🔧 What I’m Building

This game is a free-to-play mobile puzzle game where you control a small robot and navigate hand-crafted rooms filled with logic-based challenges — switches, gates, obstacles, and whatever else I cook up between coffee breaks. No timers, no lives to refill, no shady ads every 3 seconds. Just puzzles and chill robot vibes.

I’m aiming for something smart, clean, and satisfying — a game that respects your time and doesn’t shove monetization in your face. There might be optional ads, and maybe a way to buy extra hints or lives, but those features will never be the core of the game. You’ll be able to pay once to remove ads forever if you want to. Fair and simple.

🛠️ What’s Done So Far

So far, I’ve got:

  • A working movement system for the robot
  • A grid-based room structure that supports obstacles and interactive elements
  • Prefabs for switches, gates, and goals
  • Level loading from text files (so I can design quickly and flexibly)
  • A basic non-rectangular room layout system that will let me make weird, interesting puzzles

Right now, the robot can walk, bump into stuff, and get confused. Same, buddy.

🧪 What’s Next

  • Finish the prototype before May 1st
  • Launch a one-week Kickstarter to raise $4,500 so I can keep working full-time on the game
  • Set up a community Discord where backers and players can help name the game, suggest ideas, and test early builds

💬 A Question for You

Would you rather see the robot with wheels, legs, or some kind of floaty hover system?
I’ve got a soft spot for hover-bots, but I’m open to being outvoted.

🙌 Thanks for Reading

This devlog is going to be pretty chill. I’ll post updates here each week (or when something big happens), and I’ll keep it honest — the wins, the bugs, the coffee-fueled code sprees. If you’re into that kind of thing, stick around.

Thanks for being here. Let’s see where this robot goes.

– Chris

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