<a href="https://ghostcrab.io/devlogs/7drl-2026">7DRL 2026</a>

3/8/2026, 3:44:19 PM

Here’s the version of the game that I submitted to 7DRL.

It puts the on-screen controls in a weird place on the browser, but you can use the “Show controls” toggle to hide them. The Linux and Windows builds are as expected, though.

I didn’t get in any work on the gameplay problems this weekend. It was all UI, things needed to make it technically complete, though I didn’t even get all of that done. There’s no win condition, for example. It does let you restart and tells you when you’ve died, though.

So, I didn’t mark it as complete when I submitted it, but I did much further along than expected, and somewhat accidentally validated some gameplay concepts.
3/8/2026, 12:53:14 AM

I spent some time today learning about Godot's UI stuff, which is pretty smooth, and putting in a dialog and controls for playing the game without having to use the keyboard.
3/7/2026, 12:31:30 AM

This is accidentally a decent "walking through a brawl" simulator.
3/7/2026, 12:20:36 AM

I updated the User's behavior to go for an item if it doesn't have one, but if it does have one, to go after a non-item. This makes them considerably more deadly. Here, I was doing pretty well clearing guys out with a sword but got trapped by a User with a sword because I would always have to take two moves to attack it, and it would only need one in that position.
3/6/2026, 12:21:53 AM

I had planned to implement A* today, but first I had to implement finding things in the proximity of a character so that it could have a goal destination. I ended up cleaning up some type stuff while I was at it.

To exercise that stuff, I implemented pure straight-line-toward-target movement in the white pusher guys. They find the nearest thing and push it. Sometimes they find each other!
3/5/2026, 12:21:58 AM

Also, I think my sword sprite looks pretty good.
3/5/2026, 12:18:17 AM

I implemented being able to drop items, limiting inventory to one item at a time, and I added swords, which can kill people.
3/4/2026, 12:35:19 AM

Now there's other guys that can pick up fans and use them to push others. They're aimless, though, and there's no push animation, so it looks like they've teleported their target.
3/3/2026, 12:23:01 AM

I think I understand how to make pushing work correctly. Instead of checking to see if a guy will end up in an impossible place then deciding to not move that guy, I now successively check each tile between the guy and the intended destination. If a guy at (0, 2) can get to tile (3, 2) on the way to the (7, 2) but can't go any further, then I just move him to (3, 2).

In order to not make the pusher not move right behind the pushee (which was the right behavior when you could only push something one tile), I had to pass information about how the pusher was moving to the push behavior.
3/1/2026, 10:25:09 PM

I implemented using items to do things. The plural is theoretical because there's only one item that does one thing right now: A fan that pushes guys away.

Of course, the pushing is buggy right now, and the PC follows right behind when it pushes the other guy.

In lieu of a video, here's the code.
3/1/2026, 11:33:09 AM

All right. I'm officially starting my 7DRL attempt. This year, I'm going to try to make an item-oriented game, in which items decide the whole of what the PC can do.

I have a contracting commitment this week, which is fortunate because I need money, but unfortunate because I'll likely be unable to get in two hours a day on the 7DRL. Still, let's see what I end up with anyway.

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