ZomBuddies

OnO

We couldn't finish on time for Devtober 2025, so we'll postpone the release to Christmas <3

- wingspoo

Devtober2025 Update

Obviously, since last update, we already have a theme XD Or even back when we announced that we're joining XD We've planned out the schedule since last month, but now we're working on it! We have tons of progress in art ♡

Stay updated for our Devtober submission! We'll update every Monday after this (or Tuesday, at latest... I promise)

Devtober2025 Update

Title Reveal: ZomBuddies Christmas

This is not the logo btw >w<

But yep, stay updated for our Devtober submission! We'll update every Monday after this.

Devtober is back!

ZomBuddies is going to join this Devtober 2025 with a focus on new characters <3

Keep watch for our upcoming spin-off ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭━☆ﾟ+｡.｡+ﾟ’ﾟ+｡.｡+ﾟ☆

Hi, hi~ Long time no post

It's my 1 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

- Mischa, 2025

Still greeting everyone "Merry Christmas!" at the New Year's party because I was too lazy to remove the decorations. Oh... I mean, I'm teaching the kids the importance of cleaning after themselves. Yeah, that's it.

Happy 2025, everyone!

Love, Mischa

- Mischa, 2025

Still greeting everyone "Merry Christmas!" at the New Year's party because I was too lazy to remove the decorations. Oh... I mean, I'm teaching the kids the importance of cleaning after themselves. Yeah, that's it.

Happy 2025, everyone!

Love, Mischa

Apologies for the delay. I was planning to release the devlog together with the colorblind accessibility option update - which I was not able to finish because... reasons. I can't release it anytime soon since I'm busy with something else (a rush project) until end of January.

Hmm, okay, post-mortem.

What did I learn?

(1) It's not so much "learn" as in learn a new skill, but rather "learn" as in the team finally deciding on how to proceed with the development. I was able to set the artstyle in stone through constant polling (as Komaru mentioned), and I've learned how to work with the members and their different schedules.

(2) I learned a lot about programming in Ren'Py which would include things that will be used in the main game! So, yay as a programmer!

(3) Okay, with all the development process learnings discussed, there is one thing I learned outside of it. I had someone playtest our game (after release), and aside from the colorblind marker, she found a cheat to the minigame ;-; I'll have to modify the minigame to avoid that cheat. They also mentioned about the difficulty of the stages being unordered (like the second one is the easiest), so yeah, lesson learned to order the minigames by difficulty and not just focus on the story... That said, that can't be applied in the main ZB game because the minigame is heavily tied with the story. But I do think that the minigames are of the same difficulty more or less.

Well, that's it from me.

A little segue is that I added a difficulty feature in the game, which is easily ignored because once you're done with the stage, there's no incentive to try the other difficulty modes... BUT! Spoiler, there actually is! There's an easter egg if you try the Extremer mode, hehehe.

Oh oh, also, try messing with the tutorial! It has easter eggs, but not as big as the extremer mode. But yay, easter eggs!

All in all, I deem this project a success since we nailed down our team dynamics, artstyles, and had significant progress on the programming part.

I'm the character artist for Zombuddies. I've been drawing since I was 10 years old, but this is the first time somebody asked me to draw for a game. And I've been manifesting that my art be used for games for a while....I guess it came true? (Thank you, wingspoo madam!)

So, it's kind of a cliche way of explanation: I usually start from references and instructions given to me through pegboards/inspirations.

For example, Madam gave me pinterest fashion inspos and character references using a certain game's chara creation menu (hey, it works!). There was also a back and forth in the process of finding the right style and design of the characters that I simplified my rendering style. Until finally--the new version of Maya, one of the main characters in the game, was made. Unfortunately, I can't say anything more, but please play the game to see how much effort and love the team poured into it when it releases. *wink, wink*

Hoping to more games in the future--kachow! 🤟

I've always liked drawing backgrounds and practicing perspective but I've never been able to use the skill much before, so becoming the bg artist for Zombuddies is a very fun learning experience for me. I liked learning how to adjust my artstyle for a game/story with its own world and style.

In real life, I’m a WFH corporate slave with a bit too much free time, which I mostly spend drawing, playing the ukulele, watching YouTube commentaries, sewing plushies, and taking care of my seven cats.

For this Devtober, I worked on the object assets and UI elements, but I actually prefer drawing short comics and anime characters in my free time. The game jam was a fun opportunity for me to explore other styles that fit the Zombuddies vibe. Recreating the soft, crayon-style look for Halloween decorations and UI elements felt super nostalgic—like I was a kid again using crayons in a coloring book, just with a bit more dexterity (jk). This was also my first time drawing for a game, so seeing my assets come to life in the final product was really exciting.

Overall, my favorite part of working with the Zombuddies team this Devtober is the constant feedback. Working on something like UI is very particular, especially since we have two other (very talented!) artists in the team. Our assets need to be cohesive, y'know? I would send Wings several versions of one object asset, some with different coloring styles and others with varying thicknesses for the outlines. Wings would apologize for the constant polls, but the feedback really helped me feel more confident in the final product.

Our team put a lot of love put into Zombuddies Halloween and I think you can really see it in the final minigame. If you're into soft art or cozy gaming vibes, give it a try! We hope you love it!

I am very new at this music composition thing when Zombuddies started. For the game jam, I decided to just do loops instead of full music but now that we're trying to finish the full game, I'm trying to make longer compositions for a better experience. Music sets the atmosphere and the mood of the game and I don't want to ruin the players' immersion by doing it half-heartedly.

For Devtober, Wings asked me to make a halloween song for the main menu. We considered making a halloween version of the classroom music (For context, I didn't bother making a proper title for each song during the game jam and I stubbornly stuck with that practice for this project). We also considered making a halloween version of Maya's mini game song for the music. But in the end, I ended up making the halloween version of the original main menu music (see video for comparison or better yet, download the prototype and Zombuddies Halloween for the full version).

To make the halloween music, I simply changed some of the major chords into minor ones. I also removed the ukulele and added a violin. Since I'm not an expert at this, I actually just played around until it sounds okay -- which is my work process ever since I started doing this. In the future, I hope to be able to learn more and share more.

Do try Zombuddies Halloween! It's a fun and relaxing game. I hope you enjoy playing it.

We have finally released ZomBuddies Halloween as the last stage of Devtober 2024 game jam. Check out our game here:

https://zombuddies.itch.io/zombuddies-halloween

It's a showcase of a minigame that will appear in our main game ZomBuddies. The story is about Maya getting assigned to design the classroom decorations. It's somewhat of a puzzle game, where you copy a pixel art board. The game may be easy... as it should! It's a relaxing and cute game, after all!

We did, however, add an Extreme difficulty mode... as well as an Extremer difficulty mode, for those who want a challenge 💪

So you may play as a casual, or as a challenger. Whichever you are, we hope you enjoy our game!

- Outro background completed

- Completed minigame arts

- Minigame assets ongoing

- In-game UI planning

- Tutorial in progress

Let's go!!!

- New logo!!! (love it!)

- Intro background completed

- Main menu completed

- Halfway progress of minigame arts

- In-game UI planning

- Outro background planning

Woohoo, 1 week left, let's do this!