LOG 202412210038 #log

catch mode: the bloofberry chronicles 🫐

so there i was, wrestling with jump mode's performance issues, when i thought "you know what this needs? blueberries!" and thus, bloofberry catching was born. sometimes the best ideas come when you're trying to escape other problems.

why bloofberries?

fun fact: rahn actually gets real blueberries with his breakfast and dinner (along with other fixins - my boy eats better than i do). i usually give him a handful to chomp on before adding more to his bowl. no pickles though... which now that i think about it, is kind of weird given his obsession in the game. 🤔

smoother sailing

after the chaos that was jump mode's development, catch mode was honestly a breath of fresh air. all the painful lessons learned about separating game logic and handling keybinds differently for each mode really paid off here. left and right movement, falling berries, simple scoring - what could go wrong?

well, some things went wrong

the first version of the bloofberries was... rough. like, "oh great, i abandoned jump mode's issues just to create new ones" rough. they were ugly and somehow just as laggy as the jumping mechanics. but a quick redesign later, and suddenly we had these cute little blue orbs droppin' down to rahn without bringing the game to its knees.

the mechanics

it's straightforward:
- bloofberries spawn on a simple interval after rahn wakes up
- catch 'em mid-air for 2 points
- grab 'em off the ground for 1 point
- hit 20 points to win (probably should make that shorter... but hey, it was like 3am)

collision shenanigans

getting collision detection right was interesting, mainly because rahn's animation is... well, let's call it "uniquely implemented." it's kind of a mess code-wise, but the rectangular pupper is too adorable to change now, so we just worked around it. sometimes you gotta choose between clean code and cute characters, and cute won this round.

what's next

might tweak that 20-point goal down a bit (let's be real, that's a lot of bloofberries even for rahn), maybe add some variety to the spawning patterns, or throw in some special bonus berries. but for now, it's just a chill little game mode where you can help my rectangular dog catch his favorite breakfast treats.

p.s. rahn would like you to know that bloofberries are best enjoyed with friends, he almost always shares some with his brother james 🫐✨