Devlog: The Big Problem with the Muffles Music Menu
Hello gamers,
It’s finally kind of settled in that the full story of Muffles’ Life Sentence is done and out there in the world. My brain has been working to process it all and right now I’m feeling… great about it!
There’s a few BIG things and features still on the horizon for Muffles (some that are still a bit too secret to talk about) but the full story being out and most of the bugs being fixed has instilled me with some peace as of late. I hope y’all out there enjoy the game, and thank you so much for the kind comments and reviews- I read them all and they mean a lot.
Speaking of features on the horizon… what’s this about a Music Menu? And how did it nearly BREAK Bossy’s brain to make it?
What is the Muffles music menu?
I’d been toying with the idea for a way to listen to the game’s music from in game for a while. There’s the jukebox in Your Mind that you can unlock, but its tedious menu interface and its use being location restricted made it less than ideal.
The upcoming feature I’m working on will be accessible from the pause menu and have a list of every song in the game to listen to! Each song will unlock after you’ve heard it for the first time, meaning you can collect music and listen back to your heart’s content.
And speaking of the jukebox- I’ve actually already repurposed the device in Your Mind to play a random song that you can dynamically change the pitch of while listening. It’s kind of fun! And I like that it serves a different role than the music menu will.
So… fine, Bossy’s adding a menu for Muffles music enjoyers- what’s the big issue?
It’s the OTHER feature the menu brings that self-inflicted a non-insignificant amount of psychic damage to Bossy (and predictably, Bossy is weak to psychic-based attacks).
Every song in Muffles gets a (small) story
I decided (much like Icarus decided he should fly) to include a fun comment/anecdote/story to the menu as you scroll through Muffles songs. How’d this song get written? What story details do I remember from that time? What has Bossy learned along the way?
All this and more! The music menu will be a fun way to give y’all a sneak peek behind the curtain of how Bossy wrote these songs and share secrets!
But wait, does that mean Bossy wrote something for every single song?
I wrote something for every single song
Every… single… song. Every version, every ambient track, every piano tune, every battle track.
Hundreds of songs- almost 300 in fact. I would look it up but it’s 6:42 AM and I’m still in bed and I’ll look it up before I post this (BOSSY don’t forget to add the actual number here! DON’T FORGET!) (it looks to be 344)
The first 50 were fun. The next hundred were a challenge. The hundred after that were a mire. And the last 50 Bossy let slop-brain write. Any WEIRD descriptions you see, you can probably guess when THOSE got written.
For those on the discord, you might recognize some names mentioned- and Nomad even got to write a few of them! It’s a multi-mention-muffles-music-menu! (BOSSY don’t forget to take the last part out before you post this. It’s dumb. DON’T FORGET!)
Who doesn’t like a good secret?
Ultimately, some really fun tidbits and stories found their way into the music menu, and I think it turned out to be a good opportunity. Would I do it again? I don’t know I’m still kind of sleepy right now. Maybe.
Some examples
- Showdown in Blind Eye: For the longest time, there was this bug during the showdown where Streets would wander in front of the saloon and block people from coming outside, freezing the cutscene.
- The Lonely Heart: Marcelo likes his tools. I tried using instruments that mimicked the sound of metallic clanging and high-pitch power tools.
- Shattered (Shatter’s Theme): Originally Shatter was just going to be a guy named Staav.
In other news
Happy April everyone! I’m trying to appreciate these overcast days before the fiery hell that is summer sweeps over the land and reduces us all to cinders. Why couldn’t we just have 2 falls every year? It even has 2 names- autumn and fall!
Thank you all so much for the kind comments and words. I’m so committed to sharing more creative stuff with you all and have more exciting stuff yet to come.
In the meantime, I hope you are healthy, I hope you are brave, and I hope you have a lovely month.
Adios~