🛠 Dev Log – Day 3 | Filament Fade / PAC-BULB - Prototype Progress

Three days in, and PAC-BULB is starting to look and feel like an actual game instead of a folder full of scattered ideas and debug windows. Today wasn’t about flashy new systems, it was about clarity, feedback, and momentum. That said, I have locked in some important pieces that define the game loop and player feedback systems.

✅ What’s Working Now:

    FPS Counter in GUI (Top-Right) for debugging purposes.

    A real-time fps_real tracker now shows how the game is running, color-coded for clarity:

        Green for stable performance

        Yellow for warning

        Red if the game dips under 30 FPS

        This isn’t just visual polish, it’s helping me balance lighting effects and optimize room logic under pressure.

    Global Time Tracker

    global.time_alive is now functioning properly — ticking up in real time to track how long you survive per run. The issue of it freezing at 6 seconds is resolved. This is key for both player feedback and future score mechanics.

    Light-Based Enemy Weakness (Darkborn Logic)

    Enemies (Darkborn) now check can_be_destroyed before interacting with the player:

        If true, they're vaporized on contact (a satisfying power trip for the player).

        If false, they damage the player and drain light from the orb reserve.

        This ties directly into PAC-BULB’s central loop of managing visibility, power, and vulnerability.

    SEMI Functional Pause System

    Tapping P freezes the game and centers a clean spr_pause overlay on screen. Tapping P again removes it and resumes play. Seamless, responsive, and crucial for testing during longer play sessions.  *Will fix this*

    Basic GUI Layout

    We've started establishing our GUI hierarchy — orbs collected (top-left), time alive (centered), FPS (top-right). Minor visual conflicts were resolved (like FPS overlapping other HUD elements).

💡 Behind the Scenes:

• Most of today was spent refining collision logic and cleaning up messy behaviors that slowed testing.

• We also capped the frame rate properly to prevent absurd numbers like fps = 1200.

• Started building a structure around the obj_game_controller that handles logic cleanly, making new feature additions easier.
  
  
  👀 What’s Next (Tease for Day 4):
  Adding the first passive power-up: a temporary light pulse that pushes back darkness
  Laying the groundwork for the maze navigation system
  Introducing a dynamic lighting system
  Adding a Endless Mode instead of the regular adventure sequences.