iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 9h

One of the best pieces of #gamedev advice I've come across is simply to open up the engine every day and do something. Even if it's writing a single line of code. Anyway, today was one of those days. I finished up modeling a teeny-tiny map just for this mountain peak.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 01/10/2026

One of my favorite things about having a long term #gamedev project is just looking at level geometry and finding ways I can change it to hide collectibles.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 01/10/2026

Critter Drifters, on sale? Who would have thought. If you like kart racers with a hub world and boss races, you'll probably enjoy this too! store.steampowered.com/app/3755680/... #steam #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 30/09/2026

Oh, and yes I left this unfinished area in. I wanted to show it...but I'm also too excited to release the demo and didn't want to model the whole thing first. I'm curious if anybody can find a way to exploit into the ice area, as well. The demo ends before you're able to get the ability to do so.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 30/09/2026

And just like that, a new ability mechanic! This area is actually pretty close to the start, but I haven't even started modeling the area you'll get the ability to use it. It makes me happy to be able to tease stuff like this so early in the game. #gamedev #indiedev s.team/a/5268030

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 30/09/2026

Alternative mechanic. It's nice because it removes the slightly janky controls and just makes it "hold the magnet button to stay attached". Could use this for some fun puzzles where you have to drop off at a certain spot.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 29/09/2026

Part of me doesn't want to copy *every* ability from Metroid, but it's also just objectively cool to be able to roll up walls. Controls a little janky, but nothing I can't smooth out with good path placement. All I have to do to make these is plop a curve down! #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 28/09/2026

You know a project is serious when you finally get around to customizing the #godot splash screen

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 28/09/2026

Looks more intimidating with a proper arena.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 28/09/2026

WIP new boss fight 👀 Right now it just spins and shoots lasers...but considering all the weird vector and positional / rotation stuff I had to figure out, I'm pretty happy with the result so far! #godot #gamedev #Indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 27/09/2026

Taking a break from world / level design to do some systems stuff. This time, map icons! Previously they were just labels, but this makes things more readable at a glance and, in other areas, can easily tell you when a door requires a different method to open. #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 26/09/2026

I've been busy modeling this icy cavern area recently. Getting to the point where I think it's time to work on another boss fight though. The next upgrade in the sequence I have planned really opens up a lot of possibilities. #gamedev #Indiedev #godot store.steampowered.com/app/5268030/...

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 26/09/2026

It actually is one big monolithic one...mostly. I've learned to occasionally make a new one when I need to add platforms to jump on or something. Like in this one, those two pillars are separate objects. That way, I don't have to join things up where they intersect the terrain.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 26/09/2026

Some #blender screenshots from the game I'm workin' on. I love being able to make worlds from polygons. #lowpoly #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 24/09/2026

I like doing these stupid trendy things. They give me an opportunity to reminisce and really decide what things made an impact on me more than others. A reply for each:

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 23/09/2026

Was thinking of other ways I could use these and then I remembered this room in Banjo Tooie. Like wtf...why are these allowed to float in midair again? Ignore the screenshot (it's from noclip.website). But in the game you shoot them down and they just inexplicably float there.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 23/09/2026

I like to try to add interactivity whenever I'm struggling with level design, and usually that yields fruitful results. Case and point...icicles you can shoot to fall down! I also made a variety that explode and are just there purely for fun. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 22/09/2026

Cookin' up some light cutscene stuff. It's a lot of work! #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 21/09/2026

Blender perspective just cause I think it looks neat

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 21/09/2026

Always nice to close the edges on a new map. It's a bit empty though, which is bothering me. But...that's not necessarily bad for this particular map, as it's the first one in this biome, and I want there to be a safe area that's more about the vibes/atmosphere in each of them. #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 18/09/2026

Added a new enemy today! It can only be destroyed with a move you won't have when you first encounter them, which I like from a #gamedev perspective. Force you to evade, which makes it more satisfying when you can finally defeat them. #godot #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 18/09/2026

Sometimes you just have to laugh at what gets put in front of our faces, and then seek no further context because it's funnier that way.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 17/09/2026

Even though it's super simple (just some different textures and WorldEnvironment settings), it's always a breath of fresh air to make a new kind of area. I'm kinda tempted to try to add deformable snow (something I've never done before). A bit intimidated though, tbh. #godot #gamedev #Indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 15/09/2026

Was a bit intimidated at the prospect of making a hint system, but it's actually pretty simple if I just use the save flags. Granted, it's about as bare-bones as possible, but I mostly just want a way to guide the player where to go when things really start to open up. #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 15/09/2026

Thought of a thing I wanted Godot to have: The ability to enclose a node in the scene tree with a new node. Then I realized it's already there with "Reparent to New Node". One of these days I'll be able to find something to contribute...one day. It's surprisingly easy to setup and compile.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 15/09/2026

Did lots of clicking today. Fingers crossed the game build gets approved first try. I remembered to implement auto-pause when a joypad disconnects this time! #gamedev #indiedev #steam

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 13/09/2026

Finally finished up the terrain for this larger area. Really helps sell the vibes. #godot #indiedev #gamedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 12/09/2026

I'm being careful about rushing through this though. The latest area isn't up to the my standards, and doesn't fully explore the ideas and mechanics I introduce. But, at least it's cohesive, and something I can expand later with just a few extra rooms between the ones I currently have.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 10/09/2026

Doing a bit more work to provide more platforming challenges, but not *too* much. It definitely won't be Robo Rolo levels of difficulty, but I do want to challenge the player to move around with the roll mechanic. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 07/09/2026

Playing around with some boss enemy stuff. Also finally made a test room so I can focus less on the environment for more technical stuff like this. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 06/09/2026

I think I need to slow the pace of my game a little bit and just start playing around in Blender more. I'm happy with the environments I model, but I'm gonna need to step up my enemy game. I don't care as much about fodder enemies, but I've gotta have epic boss mechs. This doesn't cut it for me.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 05/09/2026

Ran into a bit of a design dilemma, but I'm pretty happy with how I resolved it. So I needed a way to make roll mode mandatory, on occasion. But I also want it to be something you can freely do anytime. So I came up with "gas zones", where you take steady damage unless you're contained in the ball

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 04/09/2026

Been seeing this meme go around. Felt like a fun excuse to draw some more again! #comic #ArcticPolygon

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 03/09/2026

Making steady progress with this temple area. It's funny how little coding I do at this point. There's still lots of stuff to be done like enemy behaviors, boss battles, and what I call "gizmo logic" for interactive stuff, but it's all pretty straight-forward. #blender #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 01/09/2026

To give it some context, I'm mostly talking about level design. I'm working on this temple-esque place currently. Kind of like a Zelda dungeon, actually. The urge is there to just start making everything and get it done, which it will need to...but I'm learning to resist that and let things breathe

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 28/08/2026

Got some good modeling done today, as well as figuring out some core story elements While I have a much clearer vision for this than my previous projects this year, there are still aspects I haven't nailed down. Every bit I can figure out will help a lot down the line when I'm trying to be creative

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 27/08/2026

New area, new save point. I also couldn't resist putting something behind a giant waterfall. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 26/08/2026

Also added it in the corner so you can see things in real time. I think this implementation is serviceable, for what it is, but I'll still need something on top of it to tell the player, "Hey, there's a thing like 6 maps over, go check it out"

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 25/08/2026

Came up with a slightly better solution -- an orthographic camera situated above the player at all times and a bit of color correction. Still not good enough though. I feel like if I don't implement a system with all maps viewable simultaneously, it's gonna be a pain point for players getting lost.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 25/08/2026

Currently considering ways to tackle a map system in this game. Not sure how I feel about my first attempt, which requires making a custom plane mesh for a top-down view, for each map. Also struggling with positioning and whatnot (SubViewports are cool, but they drive me crazy sometimes)

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 25/08/2026

Working on the next area. I initially had the idea to make these mushrooms bioluminescent purely for the cool factor, but then I realized I could use that as a gameplay mechanic with some very dark caves. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 23/08/2026

Doing a bit more work on the desert area for a change of scenery. The theme so far is "pistons". Why are they there? Who knows. I've learned to selectively shut off that part of my brain, because otherwise nothing ever happens.

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 22/08/2026

More improvements to the scan mode! Now scannable objects are visible, but not *overly* so. They fade in based both on how far you are, but also how centered they are in the screen, which is quite nice I think. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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Doodle | Making Starmadillo⭐ @doodle.arcticpolygon.com · 21/08/2026

You know a project is serious when you decide it's time to whip out a debug menu. I was getting tired of manually editing the save file to warp to new levels. #godot #gamedev #indiedev

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