Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
Playing some games...
At the end of each year I take some time to play a bunch of games. With a full-time job and a family, I spend more time developing games than making them. So I usually grab a couple games during the holiday sales or set aside time to play ones I've been looking forward too. Here's some of the games I've been playing this past month:
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Finishing after bouncing off)
- Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
- Hogwarts Legacy
And one more game I've been looking forward to for years and finally made time to play it: Layer Section. This might surprise you but I don't play very many shoot 'em ups! I find most shoot 'em ups to be very derivative, but this is one of those super unique ones and it's super approachable. The push and pull of focusing on surviving in the foreground while locking on to enemies in the background is really fun and frantic. It's definitely worth a look.
Beaming Stingray in 2025
Now that I've had some time off from development, it's time to get back to work. I can't wait to build the remaining levels and mechanics in this game and this break has rekindled the fire to get this thing done. Here are some things I'll be working on starting in the new year:
- New demo with better tutorials and boss tweaks
- Grand Ocean sequencing + racing section
- Zahar Desert enemy design and 'dungeon' generation
- MORE MUSIC
I'm trying to make something super unique in the shoot 'em up space with mechanics and enemy design no one's even thought could or should be in a shoot 'em up.
Can't wait to get to work!
-Austin