grimclownjay.bsky.social
On 9/16/2023, I embarked on a game development journey to make my first game, #CurtainsTheClown A 2D platform adventure.
To be announced, Q1 2026! ☮️💚🤘
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3766820/Curtains_the_Clown/
988 posts
953 followers
41 following
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Waitaminit. That's Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson! Holy crap, I haven't thought about that song in a while.
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Hey, you're welcome! I wanted to come say hi but you must have missed me in the moment.
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Hey, it isn't too late to continue to reach out! Even after the full release, you never know when something might pop off and propel the game into better visibility. I'll be pulling for you!
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I gave the demo a go for a good few hours the other day and I gotta say, THAT'S how you release a demo! You did a great job of giving the player a taste of the game while leaving plenty to chew on until the full release. Well done, Relic. You've got something really special here.
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Hey, I'll see you there!
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Well, my game isn't exactly finished, but I am fairly certain that it will end up flying really low under the radar after release next year. I do have a demo available on Steam though if you feel like checking it out.
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Shutting down non-profit fan-made events/projects, the expensive joycons being so damn prone to stick drift while none of their competitors have that problem, and their ongoing attempts to patent game mechanics did a great job of making me never want to support them again.
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I don't hate ALL of Nintendo. The N64 and their previous consoles still hold a warm place in my heart. It's what they became after the release of the Switch 1 that I can't forgive.
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Now that I've done this much of each, I'm more comfortable with considering myself as such, but it was all effort going into it at first. The main course is coming along nicely! 🍲
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Through a random stroke of good fortune, I was able to sign up for Steamworks and publish a store page on Steam, also registering for the Steam Next Fest in October. This marked the biggest milestone on the journey and brings the story to present day where I'm shooting for a Q1 2026 release
10/10🧵
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Now that there was a working goal and placeholder title screen, it felt important to make a demo available. On this day, the first working demo for the game was released on itch.io
9/10
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One of the key features of the game is there are 6 possible endings to find, the main objective being the discovery of a fuel source for Curtains' ship. After the textures were in place, the coding and designing for each ending began. Some musical placeholders were also introduced
8/10
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The creation and addition of textures occupied a lot of time at this point, and it was around here that I came to terms with my artistic limitations and really leaned into the whole "MSPaint doodle" cartoon art style.
7/10
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Most of my progress was documented on X, but due to their change in policy regarding creator content and generative AI training, I switched over to @bsky.app about a year and a half into the journey. It was around this time that I started adding textures to the game world
6/10
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The year that followed was spent learning how to use Unreal Engine 5 to create assets and code the mechanics that I wanted to appear in the game. Most of that time was spent drawing out the framework for the world and measuring everything to make sure all of the platforming worked
5/10
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With drawing being something that never really came naturally to me, the 1st real challenge I faced was animating the character. After 3 months of frustration, the idle and running animations took form. It was at this point that I started to crave the ability to control the character
4/10
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The thought of using the character for a video game didn't occur to me until that day in September '23 when I finally attempted to draw Curtains in GIMP 3.0. This marked the very beginning of my game dev journey
Left to right top: 1st draft > 2nd draft
Left to right bottom: 3rd draft > Final
3/10
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It all began in 2018 when the idea for a scary, misunderstood clown character first came to mind. I originally wanted to make a short film about an alien who was cast out by his people for looking so alarmingly different before coming to Earth and eventually finding friendship and acceptance
2/10
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Hey, thank you! Yeah, a platformer felt like a good place to start for me as well. The animation has been the hardest part.
Oh no! That's just about the halfway point of the demo too! That was an example of the hard mode which will be optional at release.
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Thank you, Relic! I hope you have fun with my little clown friend!
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I'm registered for the one in October! It actually just occurred to me that the festival will mark my debut as an indie developer. Got this demo put together specifically for the fest, I hope you get to it!
store.steampowered.com/app/3766820/...
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The game already looks killer, can't wait for a taste!
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Yes please! Fire when ready.
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That would be pretty sweet 😁
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No, seriously. I haven't figured out what to do for this one yet. This is one of the hardest endings to get so it has to be cool.
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Hey, I can't fault you if you missed that. I can see how the trench coat, T-shirt and green afro doesn't scream man from mars 🤣
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Coming soon! Q1 2026
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And out of the clear blue sky, Mortal Shell 2 casually got announced for next year. Can't wait to turn 41.
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I'm... Stunned... Pinch me, this can't be real.
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I realized too late that the cropped video looks like it says "GIVE UP CLOWN." 🤣🤣