It's already been another month since the previous Hell's Mouth development update, and I definitely haven't been sitting still. Development on Hell's Mouth has moved forward in a lot of different areas: new sprites, new systems, more polish, more bugs, and then of course bug fixes for the bug fixes.
Hell's Mouth development screenshot showing the Castle Garden area in Helmond.
More Than 992 Weed Bag Sprites Generated With Custom 2D Physics
One of the biggest things I finished this month is the full set of weed sprites and all their inventory variations. For the little weed bags, I built a tiny custom physics simulation to render more than 992 unique sprites for the different amounts of weed inside each bag.
And no, I'm not talking about some fancy 3D engine wizardry. This is a simple 2D physics engine running inside a 64x64 pixel canvas, exactly the size of an inventory item.
The program drops a single bud into the bag, waits until it settles, exports a PNG, then repeats the process for all 32 buds in the bag. After that, it starts the whole process again for every strain design.
A tiny 64x64 custom physics simulation used to generate weed bag inventory sprites.
Different weed strain designs and their matching bag sprites.
31 Weed Strain Designs and the Upcoming Browser Demo
Hell's Mouth currently has 31 strain designs. Not all of them will necessarily appear in the next browser demo, but at least a solid selection of them will.
The first browser demo is planned for August. This will not be a full Steam Next Fest demo yet. I want to save that for a moment closer to release, when the game is more complete and ready to make a stronger impression.
For now, a browser demo feels like the perfect first step: easier to share, easier to play, and hopefully a good way to start building more momentum and collecting more Steam wishlists.
Join the Hell's Mouth Strain Naming Contest
For anyone who would like a chance to get their own weed strain name into the game, the Hell's Mouth Strain Naming Contest is now live.
Non-members can vote daily on their favorite name entries, and anyone can create a free Fourplenty account or log in with Google to submit their own names and vote for favorites.
You can go through the strains one by one and come up with a fitting name for each design, or you can submit a name you've always wanted to see in a game and suggest it for up to 8 strains at once.
The Strain Naming Contest will run until at least August 15th, so there is still plenty of time for new names to enter the race.
Join the Strain Naming Contest on Fourplenty
Dynamic Dutch Weather System
I also added a weather system to Hell's Mouth. The game can now shift between sunny weather, cloudy skies, rain, and thunder.
Sometimes it changes five times in one minute, because that's basically the Dutch climate. We don't have four seasons in a year, we have all four seasons in ten minutes.
Inventory Upgrades, Minigame Polish and NPC Systems
A lot of the past month has also gone into general improvements: upgrading the inventory, polishing minigames, and expanding the basics for the NPC and enemy system.
The NPC system is still growing, but the goal is clear: Hell's Mouth needs characters that don't just walk around, but actually interact with the world. And yes, eventually those NPCs need to be able to smoke joints too.
Fake 3D Logic in a 2D Pixel Art Weed Game
Another big chunk of development has been focused on fake 3D logic. Even though Hell's Mouth is a 2D pixel art game, I still want the world to feel layered and physical.
That means the player should be able to walk under certain surfaces, climb over others, move between different floors, and navigate top-down platforming mechanics without everything feeling flat.
Of course, that also means every floor needs different collision rules. NPCs need to know which floor they are on, which walls they should respect, when they can switch levels, and when they should absolutely not walk straight through a wall like a cursed goblin.
It turns out there are about 101 little things to keep in mind when you try to make fake height, layered collisions, NPC movement, floor transitions and platforming rules work together in a 2D top-down game.
Working on fake 3D floor logic, collision rules and layered navigation in Hell's Mouth.
Wishlist Hell's Mouth on Steam
If you want to support the development of Hell's Mouth, the best thing you can do right now is wishlist the game on Steam. Every wishlist helps the game become more visible and makes a real difference for a small indie project like this.
Wishlist Hell's Mouth on Steam
Thanks for following the development of Hell's Mouth. More updates, more chaos, more weed sprites and more pixel art systems coming soon.
Gaaf om weer een update te zien, kan niet wachten tot de volgende!