The Xero for Hire Podcast

Learning/Trying to make a Video Game


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Summary:In this episode, I dive headfirst into Pixel Game Maker MV—because clearly, what I needed this week was more suffering. I talk about trying to bring Iron Knight and Ghostwire into a playable format, wrestling with sprite sheets, and rediscovering how tedious animation is when you’re not working with squares and blobs. Also: why Ghostwire is better than Static Shock (don’t @ me), how bad old beat-em-up sprites actually were, and why this might be the most doable creative project I’ve attempted in a while.

🔖 Timestamps for Devlog Format

* 00:00 – “I need a break” and the $15 impulse buy

* 00:50 – The harsh reality of sprite slicing

* 01:55 – Hour-long sprite hunting and manual slicing realization

* 02:20 – Considering livestreams of the dev process

* 03:00 – Flashback to the chibi sprite project that vanished

* 03:30 – Dreaming of a Switch demo and platform release

* 03:49 – Kala’s rewrite of Harbinger and dev multitasking

* 04:08 – Ghostwire’s powers and why telekinesis is underused

* 05:30 – The beef with Static Shock and making Ghostwire shine

* 06:02Gatekeepers first draft timeline (Feb goal)

* 06:43 – Physics talk: animating Iron Knight’s weight

* 07:08 – Realization: old beat-em-up sprites kinda sucked

* 07:44 – Using Power Rangers as a starting point

* 08:13 – The dream: 2–3 levels, working mechanics, small team

* 08:36 – Why Pixel Game Maker is finally the engine

* 09:02 – Postmortem on the card game (too expensive)

* 09:27 – “Building my way into greatness.”

* 09:41 – Closing benediction: Stay holy.



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The Xero for Hire PodcastBy J. K. Slaughter