Making a Vampire Survivors-like Game for the Playdate (ft. davemakes)

I partnered up with davemakes (developer of the Playdate Season 1 game Executive Golf DX) to make a survivors-like game for the Playdate! This project has been almost 3 months in the making, so I hope you enjoy :)
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[@kplays_6000]

I'm a AAA game developer who has spent my entire career and education with C/C++, and I'm surprised to see so little support and functionality for the C API. I hope projects like this see a full LUA SDK port to the C SDK as there is quite a lot missing from it

[@SquidGodDev]

Yeah it is a bit sparse. There is basically only one developer working on the SDK, so hopefully they can get some more help or something.

[@jaaxc1036]

I also wished they would’ve just made it a C++ API. But I guess the ABI is more stable in C. I think some people on the forums have managed to get C++ working by changing a few files and that C++ support was in the dev teams roadmap.

[@kplays_6000]

@@jaaxc1036 I've heard through compiler modifications that people managed to get C++ to work, but only the base features, no standard library or anything. But OOP is probably worth it

[@jaaxc1036]

@@kplays_6000 not just OOP, templates, concepts, modules, constexpr, lambdas, list goes on

[@kplays_6000]

@@jaaxc1036 that's amazing!! I'll look into this further!

[@mixolumia]

Had a blast working with you and I hope we get to do it again sometime!

[@SquidGodDev]

You're the best Dave 🦑🦑🦑

[@SnowPeaGames]

Loved the UI and the many ways you managed to tie it to the story/concept. Looks great!

[@dangermouse8466]

Great job. Do you have any advice for a newbie like me ie where to start learning about game development?

[@mixolumia]

@@dangermouse8466 everybody has to find their own path, the thing that makes it click and gets you started is different for everyone. But youtube is full of fantastic tutorials, and there are several great free game engines you can tinker with. Learning to search them out yourself is part of the process :) Good luck!

[@jackjameson6826]

sick work

[@Otakutaru]

20:18 That part where the game unwraps and the seamless loading screen, my favourite

[@Desi-qw9fc]

That launch screen to title screen transition at 20:25 is SLICK

[@ruolbu]

I appreciate that you moved away from collision detection. That's one of those moments where a 'port' of the original game mechanics to a new system just has to change the game in order to work. Like a GBA port of Need for Speed. Just not the same, but with some concessions you can make it work. Yeah the specific dynamics will change because of the different implementation and maybe the gamefeel will be different as well. But it was finished and now looks very good and fun.

[@DaddyGamerReviews]

the thought process in the sprite design was particularly inspiring! Hero being big white spot, enemies being white outlines. Genius. Overall amazing video keep it up!

[@hackticdev]

Looks really nice! I will have to get a Playdate at some point to try some of these games out

[@CodingPhase]

bro your channel always inspires me to get back into game development for fun

[@SquidGodDev]

Heck yeah

[@Weusneus]

Dude, your editing is really sick! I get the feeling you’re getting better each video. And this is coming from a professional video editor. ✨

[@SquidGodDev]

Thank you! Means a lot coming from a pro, and glad it's coming through. Lot's to learn on the editing front, but it feels manageable when I just pick a few things to learn for each video.

[@philstollery2073]

Doesn’t just look nice, it plays brilliantly. The graphics and audio are awesome. You might be getting tapped for season 2 from Panic for this one I think. Well done. I’m using your videos to try and get my game done. Thank you for all you share. $6 well spent on supporting this awesome resource.

[@Santerim]

Yay a new video

[@GrilledPandas]

Really impressed with the effort from both of you lads. Gonna pick up Dave's block game

[@ScOULaris]

Picked this up yesterday and am loving it. Really cool seeing how it came to be. I'll be keeping an eye out for any future PD games from you for sure.

[@OdinWright]

Seeing this video again makes me so much more excited to finally get my Playdate in the next week or so.

[@theburntcrumpet8371]

Man I wish I could justify the cost of a playdate. This looks awesome

[@MilitechCorp]

Yeah same playdate costs 450$ where I’m from and I can’t even order it from the official site for 200$. I can literally get Xbox X for 450$ with game pass so it doesn’t even make sense to buy it like I’m not rich for it but I want it so much but can’t justify the cost like you

[@chucklesucka]

This was amazing to watch! Really great to see people helping one another in this space

[@ZenkaiGoose]

Fantastic video! You guys killed!

[@jackpaice]

Dave seems like an incredibly talented dev. Would love to see more collabs between you two

[@dropedan]

I'm not a game dev or even have a playdate but I've been really enjoying your content, it's just great.

[@Ryuu28_voidgames]

THIS GAME LOOK SOOO GOOD! The art looks amazing, the story is fun and the gameplay looks cool!

[@Gizmosauce]

Looove how you guys made the aoe blast sound affect go with the tempo of the music!

[@soviut303]

Nice work. I actually preferred some of the concept logos to the final one. The first one shown with the vertical line through the O and U look gave me the best sense of drilling down into a planet since the line sort of looked like a bore hole.

[@SquidGodDev]

Yeah they were all good tbh. Couldn't really go wrong with any of them.

[@ariowirawan16]

Always love when people making interesting and fun game even with soo much limitations The arts is good and cute Amazing video as always

[@SquidGodDev]

Thanks Ario!

[@RyanNiemer]

This is simply amazing! You all have inspired me to try to make my own game(s) and I can't wait for my Playdate to arrive!

[@DocGeraud]

This looks amazing, and the devlog was really nice to watch! Can't wait to try the game on my Playdate 😊

[@elbee2324]

Watching this video several months ago as a random pick encouraged me to get a Playdate. Time has passed, and now I have it and this game in my hands, and I am certainly impressed. I can definitely see room and scope for a sequel. :-D

[@matthewp3497]

Your stuff is so inspiring. Got me motivated to get back to work on my own stuff!

[@CitrusArchitect]

Dude!!!!!! How do you make games so fast that look so good?! This is without a doubt the most polished looking one yet, not to mention your video is extremely well edited and clearly took a lot of time! Collaborating certainly seems like it was worth it, I hope you do more in the future. I say this every single time, but gosh darn it I cannot wait for my Playdate to finally ship to me so I can buy and play all of your games!

[@SquidGodDev]

Thanks! I am speed. Well the looking good was mostly Dave, so gotta give credit where it's due.

[@ClangandChiill]

I'm impressed at how fleshed out this game actually is, and how enjoyable it looks to play. I had all but dismissed the playdate as a modern game & watch before this video. Good job! Keep it up! Would love to see you try and tackle c and really push the limits of this little console.

[@SophronovArtyom]

It’s actually really impressive, wow

[@Potatocurry96]

Game looks sick and props for Dave’s help. Can’t forget about the video production, lookin buttery Squid 🧈

[@SquidGodDev]

Thanks bro :)

[@AmRealityInc]

Hell ya! Another awesome video.

[@oliviercrenier3184]

Still waiting for my playdate (should arrive before July) but I can already say your game is on the top of my "playdate wish list" . Very interresting to follow your making of the game"... (and thanks for making me discover Mixoluma)

[@grantt4532]

This is my 3rd video of yours I'm watching. And I'm probably going to continue to watch every playdate video ever

[@NotFamousReal]

Really enjoyed watching this process! I made a VS like game on Android called Zombies in the Neighborhood and one thing that I've learned and love is that while initially the development felt much like "copying" features and ideas, as you test it and keep making it you end up doing unique things and it started to become more unique.

[@SquidGodDev]

Definitely our experience as well

[@benjidaniel5595]

Thank you so much for documenting your journey! I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Really gives me hope that I might one day make a game for the Playdate once my device arrives! :D

[@jolt2372]

I'm not a fan of this perticular type of genre of game, but man.. Seeing the development process and effort you guys put into it, makes me want to play it more!

[@_hedwyn]

This game looks incredible! I'm so excited to see games of this quality comign to the playdate, I can't wait to pick it up for myself

[@michaeldamon7500]

You guys did a great job. The gameplay seems very fun and the artwork is really cool.

[@kevinmakesgames]

I've been neglecting my Playdate lately but I'm charging it back up now to install this. Great work!

[@regalpigeon3414]

Hey! I’ve been watching your videos for a while now so i was so happy to see you got some inspiration from my game Neophyte! It totally caught me off guard. Good luck on this project - it looks awesome and I hope I can try it out one day

[@SquidGodDev]

AHhh Regal Pigeon hey! Love Neophyte. Your style and game polish is awesome. Looking forward to the update you're working on :)

[@ColdOneK]

artist did a heck of a job while under a 2 color constraint - game looks like it'll be fun

[@donnasquibb8256]

I think this is your best game yet

[@DRdarktnt]

I'm making 1 game per month (of any size and quality) this year and thanks to discovering your videos, this months project is a playdate game (even though I don't have a playdate). If all goes well (when does it ever), I'll be posting on discord for playtesting at the end of March. Keep up the good work :)

[@SquidGodDev]

1 game per month sounds like a great plan. It's definitely helped me a lot by having that sort of cadence. Looking forward to your game!

[@ElderEmoSupremo]

I love your content! It makes me want to get a playdate just to experience your games

[@tristunalekzander5608]

You don't need to recalculate the quad the tree, you can just divide the scene into squares and leave it alone. You only have to check for collisions in the same square and adjacent squares. Recalculating quad trees on the fly is for multi-threaded systems and raycasting. Remember, all you are trying to do with a quad tree is reduce the amount of times you check for collisions. You can play around with how big the squares are to get a better performance.

[@SquidGodDev]

I think I maybe should've read up more on quad trees lol. Welp, thanks for the tips - I'll use 'em if I have to do something like this again 😅

[@TommasoDS]

Looks AWESOME! But as an italian, I feel the need of the innuendos and double meanings that Vampire Survivors has! XD

[@rostislavkaufman8410]

Didn't care about Vampire Survivors, clicked the video by accident, stayed for the dev stuff, bought the game just after the 20 min mark. Mission accomplished I guess :)

[@elaquen7]

Congrats on being included in the catalog!

[@_gamma.]

AHA! I remember when you were doing that quad tree thing, really interesting to see how you were using it! An “oil” ability that leaves a trail might be cool, I think a weapon that shoots backwards would add nice variety

[@tristunalekzander5608]

The jittering with the diagonal happens because you aren't moving vertically at the same time as moving horizontally. Instead of incrementing the camera's floating point position, increment a single floating point number, which when it reaches 1 it resets, and you move in the desired direction. This ensures that when you move diagonally, you move 1 vertical and 1 horizontal pixel at the same exact time. The interpolation is a relatively slow function and I can still see the jitteriness even after you have implemented it, because the character itself and all the enemies have the same problem.

[@SquidGodDev]

Oh interesting. That makes sense - I'll make sure to implement it like that next time. Thanks for the tip

[@tristunalekzander5608]

​@@SquidGodDev No prob! I did realize though if you are still using the crank for steering, ignore my advice, cause my advice only works if you can only move in straight lines and 45 degree angles.

[@TANIMAYTO]

This looks so good! Congrats on another complete project ;0

[@sinfinite7516]

Wow this looks like a bunch of fun

[@renaudmarshall9903]

Looks great! Can't wait until I get my Playdate to try it out personally!

[@Tomayto]

Awesome devlog and editing. Instant buy.

[@acehomi]

Love this collab! Wish I owned a playdate.

[@GameboyZeroOfficial]

Really enjoyed watching this video. Thanks for sharing your stories.

[@jevil09]

Yooo, new vid that's not a tutorial. POG.

[@Clark326]

I don't own a playdate but this game looks really cool. I enjoyed your video. It would be nice to see you finish the other game mentioned in the video. I would also love to see you make a game inspired by Sega "Cadash" for the playdate.

[@azrhyga]

Looks very great!! I like it a lot!! Good job making it :D

[@NachozMan]

Such a cool piece of hardware

[@nightmare4lol]

Holy shit, this is really cool. Who knew collaboration was key to a great looking game?

[@simplyindev]

Love the new vid, it's great to see some collaboration projects!

[@SquidGodDev]

Thanks Justin :)

[@Farbklex]

Dave be like: Some mockups, gameplay ideas, graphics, animations, original soundtrack oh and let me casually boot up Blender again.

[@SquidGodDev]

IKR!! Crazy awesome and talented

[@sevafinogenov]

I'd recommend taking a look at vector field pathfinding. This technique should work better with big number of agents. Anyway, this game looks awesome, was very nice to see all those optimization and tricks to make it work!

[@SquidGodDev]

Interesting - didn't think about that approach. Would be cool to see how that would work.

[@DejayClayton]

Equipment icons look nice, like the original Metroid powerups

[@DommoDommo]

Wow this came out awesome! I'd love to see more on that blender render from Dave too!!

[@Otakutaru]

I would have used the dpad for movement and the crank for aiming, that would have made the controlability better. Being able to move and shoot the mosters behind you

[@SquidGodDev]

Physically, it's pretty tricky to use the d-pad and the crank at the same time. You kind of have to hold it in an awkward grip, so there are some accessibility considerations.

[@Otakutaru]

@@SquidGodDev Oh right

[@LkandaOficial]

Ok, this game just made me want to buy a Playdate

[@finnleijh6321]

this makes me want to buy a playdate good job man

[@yearls]

Omg, another reason to get a Playdate, this was fascinating to watch. XD

[@TarikA]

Love the laser. Great sprites, great "port" of Vampire Survivors!

[@nolatron001]

This is awesome!

[@13Sins]

Been waiting for this for so long :D

[@TinyYellowMachine]

Let's gooooooo. Congrats on the release Dave n' Squid!

[@SquidGodDev]

TY TYM!!

[@EmoryM]

This stuff was figured out a while ago by Craig Reynolds, you want to look at Boids and steering behaviors.

[@SquidGodDev]

That'd be interesting to try, though I don't know what the performance impact would be since you're looping over all the enemies and doing a couple division calculations for every pair every frame.

[@ThisUploaded]

Your projects really make me wish playdates weren't so hard to come by at a reasonable price. Also makes me wonder how much of this stuff would be possible on the Gameboy using something like Gameboy studio.

[@SquidGodDev]

I would love to try out GBStudio at some point to see what I could do there

[@Pinkurori]

It looks so nice holy shit. Good job you two 😁👍

[@Kasairoe]

Wow, thats pretty cool

[@ogpillow0872]

I cant wait for my playdate to ship! as soon as it does, im buying this game immediately, it looks so cute and fun!

[@BlueOctopusDev]

Wow good job !

[@OscarRobbing]

Game looks sick

[@ShringoMania]

Hello, I think it would be great if you added a custom icon for those who prefer the view as list setting in the home page

[@conradofmf]

Loved this game. Don't have a Playdate, but I would definetly buy some kind of mobile ver. to try it out.

[@denvernaicker8250]

Well done!

[@Charmunk3d]

Great Vid! I wish I had the skill to remake vampire survivors lo

[@SquidGodDev]

Thanks! Skill just comes from practice and experience

[@goobertnelius]

Honestly after watching this video I would buy a play date mainly so I can make the spaghett code I write more efficient and less like spaghett

[@BloodyScythe666]

the only thing I really don't like is the angle of the laser firing. I'd much rather have it either always aim for the closest enemy or fire in a swoop-animation e.g. in a quarter of a circle (ofc balancing the damage and range for that)

[@user-sg8vi7ff9n]

What a great game and vlog ! I wish this video has more views! Btw, how many hours did you spend from idea to implementation ? Once again great job!

[@SquidGodDev]

Hours? Not sure actually. It was over a few months, so at least a hundred - maybe a couple.

[@user-sg8vi7ff9n]

@@SquidGodDev Thank you for your reply !

[@hulubangaGutenWami]

This is awesome

[@Frevisable]

Well, if I finally buy a playdate it’s gonna be a must have game ❤

[@ydz_666]

I think this is a masterpeice. Really.

[@SquidGodDev]

Thank you! You're too kind

[@OriginalBadRobotz]

20:38 oh, I’m a producer that’s ableton!

[@bravadoavocado2382]

I love bullet heavens, fav new game genre

[@cidermanone]

I've just bought your game, and I can't wait to try it. Any idea how I can find that Tim Hei demo? Is it available for download too?

[@SquidGodDev]

He didn't release it, since he decided to focus on another project.

[@kennethcason]

Solid video. You motivated me to get my Playdate updated and running. Loved the metroidvania game. QQ, I didn't catch, did you end up using the C SDK or stick with Lua?

[@SquidGodDev]

Still sticking with Lua - haven't touched the C SDK quite yet.

[@PandaTamer97]

You are awesome!

[@NerdGlasses256]

There should be an option in the simulator, to measure the game's RAM and memory requirement, and warn ou if your creation is not ideal for the platform, or even simulate the platform's resources, so performance wouldn't be higher than it is on the Playdate.

[@MELL0WD]

You are great at what you are doing💥🤙

[@SoupySnax]

I’m still waiting for mine to be shipped, still a while away. 5th Batch. But I’m definitely picking up this game when I do.