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Welcome to the Galazon Devlog

Hi! I'm Gerard (vfxGer), a software engineer from Ireland, and this is the first devlog for Galazon , a frantic warehouse logistics game set in a dystopian space station where your employer cares more about shipping crates than your continued existence.

Although I have been working in many different industries, including visual effects, cybersecurity and SRE, this is the first time I've ventured into game development.

The idea for Galazon goes back to the COVID lockdowns.

For some reason I became fascinated with shipping containers. I even read The Box and found myself watching time-lapse videos of shipping containers being unloaded on YouTube. Somewhere along the way I started thinking, "This could actually make a fun game."

My original idea wasn't Galazon at all.

I wanted to make something closer to FTL , but focused on logistics instead of combat. The player would manage cargo across a fleet of spacecraft, planning routes and moving freight around the galaxy. To build that game, I first needed a system for loading and unloading cargo.

That small mechanic slowly grew into its own game.

From Python to LÖVE2D

The first version of Galazon was written in Pygame. I've been developing in Python for over fifteen years, so it was the obvious place to start.

The problem was that I really wanted the game to be playable on mobile.

I'd already released an Android app before, so I was familiar with publishing to the Google Play Store, but getting a Pygame project running well on Android isn't exactly straightforward. Rather than fight the tools, I decided to rewrite the entire game in LÖVE2D.

After a complete rewrite, I finally had a version that felt at home on a touchscreen.

After Google's review process, Galazon finally appeared on the Google Play Store.

Like many indie developers, I imagined that publishing the game would be the hard part.

It wasn't.

Getting people to discover it was.

A few friends and family members bought copies to support me, but after that... almost nothing happened.

That wasn't entirely surprising. Most people use iPhones, while Galazon was only available on Android. On top of that, asking players to pay upfront for a game from a developer they've never heard of is a difficult sell. Making the game free is an option, but then you have to figure out how to fund continued development. Advertising only becomes viable once you have a very large player base, and Galazon isn't really the kind of game that suits aggressive in-app purchases.

Marketing an indie game turned out to be a much bigger challenge than building one. I'll save that story for a future devlog because there's a lot I learned from the experience.

Back to the Desktop

I love my Steam Deck and the many great, and some frankly bizarre, indie games on it. That got me thinking that Galazon might be a better fit there than on mobile.

Before I could get it running on a Steam Deck though, I first needed a proper desktop version.

That turned out to be much more than a straight port.

The mobile version was designed around touch controls, so moving to keyboard, mouse and larger screens gave me the opportunity to rethink parts of the game instead of simply copying everything over.

One of the biggest design changes is what happens when a delivery timer runs out. Instead of a delivery running out of time leading to game over, the desktop version now has a single timer tied to your ongoing cost of living. It shifts the game from surviving individual deliveries to surviving your employer.

Moving to landscape also gave me far more room for the interface. I've started redesigning the UI, adding more info about each delivery, replacing the boss shouting at you from the corner of the screen with a corporate messaging system, and generally making the game feel more at home on desktop.

Once I got a playable desktop game, I didn't want to wait months or years before anyone plays it. I wanted people to play it and tell me what they think, good or bad. So I published it on itch.io for free (or pay what you want) where you can get it now.

What's Next?

The desktop version is now playable on Windows, Linux and macOS, but it's still a work in progress.

Over the coming months I'll be adding new levels, hazards, gameplay mechanics, events, UI improvements, artwork, sound effects and plenty of other features as the game continues to evolve. I'll also be writing about the development process itself—the successes, the mistakes, and everything I learn along the way.

If you'd like to help shape Galazon while it's still being built, I'd love for you to download the current version, give it a try and let me...