This is my first post about Blacksmith Dash, my January entry for OneGameAMonth. Even though this is the devlog #1, I’ve been working on this game for the past 3 weeks during my free time.

Some info about the game

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The core mechanic is simple: you must guide the customers to the right places in the store. They will follow the pre-established routes in the ground, but those routes can be changed according to some arrows. Every time an arrow is clicked, it points to another direction that will be followed by the customer.

The player needs to pay attention to the arrows and the current route of customer, otherwise they will end up in the wrong place.

Progress and tools

I am using Flixel and FlashDevelop to make this game, using Adobe AIR to compile and distribute it on Google Play. During those 3 weeks of development, I’ve finished the core mechanics and some nice little twists in the game play.

Here are some screenshots of the gameplay (lots of placeholders):

The game flow is almost complete and functional (choose world -> choose level -> play -> level up -> etc), but there are just a few real assets there. I am now focusing on replacing those placeholders.

Next steps

Now that the gameplay is feature complete, I will fight with all my strength to avoid feature creeping :). The last two features I implemented were not on the original game design, but I think they were a great addition.

I will work on the final assets now and, after that, work on making new levels. Luckily I can use an external editor for that (I’m using DAME) and it’s as simple as exporting and including the CSV file in the game.

I am confident the game will be ready and published before the end of January. Let’s not drop the ball, OneGameAMonth’ers, keep on trucking!