April 26th, 9:00 AM. Chris's bedroom, now resembling a miniature mobile testing lab, was cluttered with smartphones. Chris had his trusty Google Pixel, Max sported his Samsung Galaxy, and Tyrone, surprisingly, had a brand-new iPhone (a recent upgrade, he explained sheepishly).
"Operation: Mobile Domination begins!" Chris declared, holding up his Pixel like a trophy. "We need to make sure The Nebula Gauntlet plays flawlessly on every device. No exceptions."
Max, already tapping away at his Galaxy, was outlining the testing procedure. "We'll test for performance, controls, UI scaling, sound…everything. And we'll document every bug, no matter how small."
Tyrone, surprisingly adept with his new iPhone, was ready to put his artistic eye to the test. "And if anything looks even slightly off on this Retina display, I'm reporting it."
They spent the day rigorously testing the game on each phone. They played through the entire campaign, on different difficulty settings, trying different power-up combinations, deliberately trying to break the game.
They found a few mobile-specific bugs:
The virtual joystick was occasionally unresponsive on the iPhone.
The UI elements were slightly misaligned on the Galaxy's wider screen.
The performance dipped on the Pixel during intense explosions.
The pause button is hard to press.
Max meticulously documented each bug, noting the device, the operating system, and the steps to reproduce it. Chris and Tyrone helped him pinpoint the causes and brainstorm solutions.
April 27th, the bug-fixing continued. Max tweaked the virtual joystick code, making it more responsive on all devices. Chris adjusted the UI layout, ensuring it scaled correctly on different screen ratios. Tyrone optimized the particle effects, improving performance on the Pixel.
They changed the pause button and adjust it.
By the end of the day, the mobile version of The Nebula Gauntlet was (almost) as polished as the PC version.
"Mobile…conquered!" Max exclaimed, holding up his Galaxy in triumph. He felt like a pro mobile game dev.
Chris nodded, equally pleased. "Now anyone can play our game, anywhere. On their phones, on their tablets, on their…smart refrigerators?" He need to learn more.
Tyrone, ever the artist, was already planning a mobile-specific trailer. "Needs to be…thumb-stopping!" He want to learn mobile design more.
April 28th. Marketing materials. Tyrone took the lead. "Time to make this game look irresistible," he announced.
He captured a series of high-resolution screenshots, showcasing the gameplay, the power-ups, the boss battles, and the various environments. He used his graphics tablet to create a striking banner image for the itch.io page and social media.
Max helped him assemble a short trailer, using a free video editing program. They combined gameplay footage with text overlays, highlighting the game's features and its (mostly) positive reviews (from themselves, mostly).
Chris wrote the captions for the screenshots and the trailer, emphasizing the game's fast-paced action, its challenging difficulty, and its (hopefully) addictive gameplay.
By 9:00 PM, they had a collection of marketing materials that would make even the most seasoned game publisher proud (or at least, not cringe).
" We are content creator!" Max jokes.
"Ready to unleash this on the world," Chris said, admiring their handiwork. He can't wait to share the game.
Max was already planning the social media campaign. "Hashtags, posts, tweets… We need to make some noise!" And mastering social media.
Tyrone, ever the perfectionist, was tweaking the trailer's editing. "Needs more…explosions!" As always.
April 29th. Final PC testing. "One last check," Chris said, his voice a mix of excitement and nervousness. "Let's make sure the PC version is still perfect."
They played through the entire campaign one last time, on different difficulty settings, scrutinizing every detail. They found…nothing. No bugs, no glitches, no imperfections.
"It's…it's flawless," Chris said, a sense of disbelief washing over him. He double triple check it.
Max nodded, equally amazed. "We actually did it. We made a bug-free game." He can say that.
Tyrone, ever the optimist, was already planning the next project. "Now, we need to make an even better game!" And start thinking about it.
They were exhausted, but their excitement was at fever pitch. They were just days away from releasing their game to the world.