Hello!

Welcome to Pierrot à la Mode! This project is being built for the 2023 Big Mode Game Jam using GB Studio. It serves as a "spiritual prequel" to my on-going project, Gas Station Story, as it takes place on the same world but in a completely different area and with all-new characters. I've reused a handful of assets from Gas Station Story (the emotes, number sprites, trash can sprite, and my "An Enzi Production" logo), and I'm following the same design guidelines, but beyond that this project is being developed only from November 27th, 2023 to December 15th, 2023. 

Yesterday I managed to bang out the majority of the main conveyor belt system. I also created all of the core backgrounds and scripted out the dialogue / overall plot, and worked on the basic "Clown Mode" system. It took me roughly 10 hours to get from concept to playable prototype. Fingers crossed I can knock this game out in time. I'm actually flying home to visit family during the last few days of the jam and still don't have a laptop, so I'm going to really be crunching to make this work. The idea of a clowny ice cream parlor as a mini-prequel to Gas Station Story is just too fun for me to let it slip by, and the close deadline will help me not get derailed from the main project.

Today, I've polished a lot of those backgrounds and implemented the main SFX and Music into the project. I don't know how to make music with this software, so I'm using some sounds by Beatscribe, as well as some stock SFX that comes pre-packaged with GB Studio. I've also made the logo and, as you're reading now, the main project page for the file! Additionally, the main gameplay for Level 1 is finished, as is the title screen and boot sequence, and I've polished "Clown Mode" to work how I was hoping it would. Later this week I'll be meeting up with some friends to paint their faces and take Game Boy Camera photos of them. I'm really excited to get some fun clown images with my handheld!

Final note: I'm still working on Gas Station Story! A big update will be coming soon, I'm just taking a few weeks off to make a much more light-hearted project with the same style. I'll get right back to work as soon as the jam is over :)

Thanks for reading!

- issumatek