Dev Log: August 23, 2025
Do I have a moment to write a devlog? Yes, I’ll take it.
Things are so very busy. I’m still traveling a lot for the summer, and miraculously (tragically) carving out work hours while gazing at beauty and savoring summer fruit. There is a low-level hum of stress and a DUE DATE hanging over my head at all times, but things have been worse. Did I mention the fruit is delicious?
I’ve brought on quite a few people to help me. This is taking a lot of the pressure off, even as it forces me to look at the scope of the work more often, right in its bright red eyes.
I am checking things off permanently. Not “until the next major build”. Done. I’m repeating myself here, but it continues to amaze me.
Daniel finished the end music for the game. It was the last thing we were really working on, and a tricky one to stitch up, but it’s done and it’s wonderful. I wish I could listen to the soundtrack for the first time all over again. It makes me happy imagining others will.
I’ve been warned the game needs to have an art-releasable build before Christmas to be ready for Switch day 1. Things are never simple. This is going to be extra difficult, but I’m going to reach for it.
I should talk about the art, which is the thing I’m actually working on most of the time. I’m doing more drawing right now than at any other point in production. Most of it involves key poses from my roughs, or working from established keys, but a lot of it is completely unique. It’s important that I don’t rush through these drawings. They demand serious consideration, from a part of my brain that could use the exercise. Besides, the work is never boring when the drawings are good.
I’m afraid I don’t have much to show on that front: I really want it all to appear fresh within the game. But suffice to say there is a ton of animation in this game, more than in the first, and thanks to the help I’ve been getting, I think we’re gonna crush it.
Final playtest is scheduled for November. Then we finish.
It often seems a little ridiculous to think of my game’s release as some big event, when games representing the life’s work of their creators are releasing every minute. But birth and death occur every minute, too. We lose something spiritually when we regard these moments as numbers. Time will stop marching and these things will have meaning, if we want them to.
One last thing: my talk from Narrascope 2025 was posted on YouTube. Here I discuss my work in comics and how it has (and can, potentially) influence game development.
Dog of Wisdom
My brother Joe Gran released a video game this week, his first as a solo developer. It takes about 15-20 minutes to play, and I recommend adding it to your day.
dog of wisdom: the title screen
Although we share a last name, people are often jumpscared to find out we’re siblings. It’s true that mine and Joe’s best-known 2010s stomping grounds didn’t directly overlap. But I’m always amused by people’s surprise, since the individual ways we approach art seem so inextricable to me.
This isn’t to say I can predict what my brother will do. He’s so agile in his fixations that I’m often winded keeping up. It’s just hard, as his idiot big sister, not to think every joke, hilarious drawing, mind-scarring vocalization, and moment of poignance is aimed directly at me. But that’s the power of his work: we’re all his idiot sibling, and he’s coming to make us lol.
And then I gives them da wisdom.
Our shared history is a basis for much of what he creates. Joe’s Dog of Wisdom videos, starring cherished family pets, are incredibly personal. But their appeal is incomprehensibly global, as evidenced by countless thousands who drum to the beat of his mind.
Pepper meets the Dog of Wisdom
Which brings us to the new game, featuring beautiful pixel artwork, the technical elegance of a handheld classic, and the manic humor you’ve come to expect from Joe. It’s a tiny delight, and I encourage you play it right away. It runs in your browser or on your phone (though you can also flash it to an original GameBoy if you’re a true game freak).
Heidi/DoW plushie
Joe is also taking pre-orders for a plushie of Dog of Wisdom/Heidi, a beautiful creature who also happens to be my dog. Heidi turns 17 next month, and we’re all very proud of her.
Dev Log: July 14, 2025
I’m van camping in the mountains, week 2 of 3.
My family does this every summer. But this year, I’m on deadline and I need to work.
Everything at camp is work. Keeping the space clean, splitting the wood, wringing out laundry, monitoring the food and batteries and supplies. My dog is also sick, and you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to collect a urine sample on the road. (Treatment is underway and she’s doing better.) This work needs to get done. My game “““needs”“” to get done by comparison, but this is a dev log, so here I am thinking about it at the crack of dawn.
The meager hours I claw away for dev work never satisfy. Even now, a snail on a rock near my foot is competing for my attention. I swear he’s going about things faster than me. The actual benefits of camping - the closeness of family and friends, the silence, the molecular and panoramic beauty - are always calling. They want and deserve me more than my precious life-affirming work does. How lucky I am to be pulled by such forces!
In practical terms, I have about 1 week per in-game “Day” to get the minor art assets sorted. The more major cutscenes are about half done, and will rely on this day-a-week schedule for their own time allotment. I need a lot of help - more than I’m getting - but I can’t spend time looking for it most days. When I’m burnt out on sprite animation, I shift to the remaining code problems. At this point I only have time to check things off lists. It’s going to be this way for the next 7 months.
I miss writing and tumbling the pebbles of new ideas. But there’s something freeing about this stage, too. I don’t look at things in the game, shudder with stress, and say “I’ll get to it later” anymore. Later is now. It’s a relief to admit that. Closing gaps, putting scenes to bed, is very satisfying. I haven’t been in this place since 2021 when I was stitching up PT. Soon enough, I’ll be back on this mountain and people will have been playing PT2 for months.
The sun has burned off the morning fog. I’ll finish this post after breakfast.