Hello 
After finishing my last game Scoundrel, I knew I wanted to start something new. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to make, but I finally landed on an idea—and I’m excited to share my devlog journey for this one!
Crankshot
My new game is called Crankshot. It’s a fast-paced survival shooter, where you must fight off relentless waves of monsters coming to destroy you.
Here's a quick mockup of what my goal is for the game
You’ll be locked in the center of the screen and unable to move, but you’ll have full 360-degree aim with the crank to shoot and defend yourself from all angles.
The game runs on a wave system. Each wave spawns more monsters, and they’ll get stronger over time. As you progress, you’ll encounter new types of monsters at the higher levels.
Some monsters will occasionally drop special items, and your player can retrieve them.
After surviving a wave, you’ll get a short breather to unlock skills, buy ammo, or switch weapons.
Plannned Controls:
Aim (top is top, bottom is bottom—offset crank aiming)
Shoot Bullets
Retrieve Powerups dropped by monsters
Reload Weapon
Switch Weapons
Throw Grenade
Progress So Far
Right now, I have the player spawning in and able to shoot in any direction using the crank. Monsters spawn in waves, and when you shoot them, they disappear along with your bullet. After you clear all monsters, the next wave begins.
Current Issues
- Monster Z-index is off, so they overlap weirdly
- Monsters get stuck inside each other—need to prevent overlapping
Next Up On My List
- Fixing Z-index and monster collision issues
- Adding player health, damage, and game over states
- Starting on the weapon system (ammo count, max ammo, rate of fire, reloading)
- Building out the HUD: wave count (already there), ammo, skills, points
- Creating the point system
Planned Future Updates
- More weapons: Pistol (default), Shotgun, Automatic Rifle, Sniper
- Damage/point multipliers (headshots, etc.)
- Powerups dropped by monsters
- Wave upgrade screen (buy weapons, skills, ammo)
- Unlockable skills
- Grenades / AOE attacks
- More monster types
- Improved graphics and animations
- Sound effects and music
Feedback
That’s all for now! I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Thanks for checking out Crankshot! 
— Spellthorn
1 Like
I got to make some more progress on my game today
First I fixed the Z-Index issue and Monsters getting stuck inside each other at spawn, they now behave much better.
They still group together when towards the player but I like that design as it feels you will be overrun and if it's too much your player will die anyhow.
Speaking Of Dying
I implemented Player health. Currently the player has 2 health and can regen health if can stop being attacked long enough. The player also has some invincibility to prevent immediate attacks back to back. This way you can be attacked, kill the monster and regenerate before being killed.
Currently there is no indication that you have been attacked, other than a pretty print statement but more to come.
I also added a simple Game Over Screen which just shows Game Over and the Wave you made it to, It will be improved a lot more soon. Especially since you can't even continue after Game Over, oops.
Well that's' it for the updates for today, I hope to get some more progress done in the next few days, and will update you when I do.
Next On My List
- Restart after Game Over
- Starting on the weapon system (ammo count, max ammo, rate of fire, reloading)
- Building out the HUD: wave count (already there), ammo, skills, points
- Creating the point system
3 Likes
I wanted to bring you another game update, as I got a lot done today.
HUD
I first started working on my HUD, I updated my font (initially only had numbers, but now have most letters).
The HUD has control of the following things
- Wave Count (Top Left)
- Points (Left)
- Cursor (Points to where bullets will go)
- Weapon Info (Bottom Right)
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- Weapon Name (Pistol in this example)
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Weapon System
I created my Weapon System, at the moment I only have a Pistol but the class should be flexible enough to add more weapons easily. Weapons planned are Pistol, Shotgun, Automatic, and Sniper (updates coming soon) The Weapon system shows your weapon name, current ammo, and reserve ammo. At the moment it refills after each round but that is only for testing. When you run out of ammo you can reload by pressing which then takes ammo from reserve and adds it to your mag.
I also added a cursor that rotates around your player as it was a bit tricky knowing where you were going to shoot based on aiming with the crank.
Point System
I created a simple point system, it currently rewards 100 points for each monster hit, in the future this will be adjusted and points will be used to buy stuff between rounds.
Increased Difficulty
I updated the difficulty for the game by spawning more monsters each round. It currently increases monsters per round by 20% but may change this in the future.
Restart
Lastly, I made it where you can replay after losing as I forgot to add that initially. Still placeholder graphics, it will be improved later.
That's pretty much it for the updates for now, I'm very happy with the progress I've made today and I was able to finish everything I had on my last list which is awesome. Let me know your thoughts so far, I appreciate any feedback.
Next On My List
- Wave upgrade screen (buy weapons, skills, ammo)
- More weapons: Shotgun, Automatic Rifle, Sniper
- Weapon Switching
- Damage/point multipliers (headshots, etc.)
2 Likes
