April 5th, 9:00 AM. Chris's bedroom, now a certified game development studio (in their minds, at least), buzzed with energy. Empty energy drink cans replaced pizza boxes as the primary décor.
"Okay, team," Chris began, holding up a marker like a conductor's baton. "Retrospective! Two weeks. From zero to…slightly-above-zero game developers. How do we feel?"
Max, bouncing in his chair, was first to speak. "Amazing! We actually built something. Two somethings, technically. A wobbling thing and a shooting thing."
Tyrone, sketching in his notebook (a habit now), nodded. "It's crazy. I can actually make things move on the screen. And explode. Beautifully."
Chris grinned. "We learned Godot's interface, GDScript basics, sprites, animation, input, UI, level design, scoring, sound… We're practically professionals!" (He winked, knowing full well they weren't).
They reminisced about their early struggles. The jittery spaceship, the vanishing star, the chaotic enemy spawns. They laughed at their mistakes, celebrated their victories, and acknowledged the sheer volume of Googling they'd done.
"Remember when we thought delta time was some kind of alien conspiracy?" Max chuckled.
"Or when Tyrone spent an hour making a single button glow?" Chris added, teasingly.
Tyrone just smirked. "Priorities, people. Priorities."
After a solid hour of self-congratulation and reminiscing, it was time for the next challenge. Chris unfurled a new whiteboard (his sister was starting to get suspicious).
"New milestone," he announced. "Let's make this shoot 'em up…good."
Project Nebula - Sprint 3: Polish & Punch (April 5th - April 11th, 2025)
April 5th (Today): Boss Battle Overhaul.
More interesting attack patterns.
Multiple phases.
Visual telegraphing of attacks.
April 6th: Power-Up Variety.
Shield power-up.
Spread shot power-up.
Bomb power-up.
April 7th: Enemy Variety.
Different movement patterns.
Different attack types.
Visual differentiation.
April 8th: Visual Effects & Polish.
Screen shake.
Particle effects (more explosions!).
Improved backgrounds.
April 9th: Sound Design Improvement.
* Better quality SFXs
* More detail level SFXs
April 10th: Level Structure & Pacing.
Multiple levels (or a longer, more varied level).
Difficulty progression.
April 11th: Mini-Project 3: The Nebula Gauntlet!
A complete, polished, and challenging shoot 'em up experience.
"Ambitious," Max said, his eyes gleaming. "I like it."
Tyrone was already sketching boss concepts. "This blob is going down."
They dove into today's goal: Boss Battle Overhaul. Chris focused on designing attack patterns, drawing diagrams on the whiteboard.
Max tackled the scripting, implementing the boss's different phases and behaviors. He learned about state machines, a way to organize complex AI logic.
Tyrone created new, more menacing sprites for the boss and its attacks. He experimented with animation to make the boss's movements more fluid and threatening.
The process was a mix of brainstorming, coding, drawing, and playtesting. There were moments of frustration ("Why is this attack going backwards?"), moments of inspiration ("What if the boss…split into multiple smaller bosses?"), and moments of pure silliness ("Let's make the boss shoot…giant eyeballs!").
By 9:00 PM, they had a significantly improved boss battle. The red blob was no longer a pushover. It had multiple phases, telegraphed attacks, and a much more threatening presence.
"Now that's a boss," Chris said, satisfied. He start having a good design sense.
Max nodded, already planning the power-up implementations. "Tomorrow…shields, spread shots, and bombs. Prepare to be amazed." He is enjoying scripting more and more.
Tyrone was sketching even more elaborate boss concepts. "We need a final boss. Something…epic." His vision is getting wilder.
They were tired, but energized. They were making progress, not just in their game, but in their skills and confidence. They were becoming, slowly but surely, real game developers.