Devlog #1: January - February 2025

Hello, future taxidermists! This is the first devlog for Amateur Taxidermy, a weird, fast-paced time-management game where you’ll run your very own pet taxidermy shop. I’m Elise, the solo developer behind this project, and I’m excited to take you behind the scenes of this weird idea I had for a game. This devlog will give you a sneak peek into what I’ve been working on, what’s been achieved so far, and what’s coming next. Let’s dive in!  

Introduction

Amateur Taxidermy is a passion project that’s been brewing in my mind for a while now. As a fan of time-management games like the Flipline Studios Papa's [insert food] -eria games that used to be all over cool math games back in the day, I wanted to create something that would emulate the nostalgic feel of making smoothies under pressure with a bit of a weird gory twist. While this game could be considered a parody of those games, I hope that fans of the series will see this as more of a love letter to time management flash games. The idea of running a taxidermy shop from a van felt like the perfect mix of chaos and creativity, and I’ve been working hard to bring that vision to life.  

In the game, you’ll start as a novice taxidermist with a repurposed ice cream van and a limited inventory of tools. Your goal is to take on customer orders, craft unique (and sometimes bizarre) animals, and grow your business into a thriving enterprise. It’s a game about juggling orders, making customers happy, and doing your best with the tools you have.  

The game is still early in development, but I’m excited to share my progress with you and hear your thoughts as I build this game.  

Achievements So Far

It’s been a busy couple of months, and I’m proud to have a somewhat complete prototype for one animal. During the prototyping phase, I'm sticking to basic artwork and fleshing out the game so don't worry, it won't look like this forever. 

As an overview, I created 4 different 'stations' at which different tasks can be performed:

• Station 1 - Removing skin and throwing away the waste
• Station 2 - Washing and stuffing
• Station 3 - Adding eyes, accessories and sewing up
• Station 4 - Determine score 

1. Scalpel task 

In station 1 I thought a lot about how to make removing the skin interesting and tactile. I experimented with cloth materials and tried to emulate a gross 'ripping' action, but I wasn't happy with how it looked as it really didn't fit with the pixel art style.

Instead I opted to create 'cut points' that can be cut through with a scalpel, and the skin separates and can then be dragged into the bin.  I would like to revisit this mechanic in the future and make it more satisfying to remove the skin, but for now, this gets the point across.

2. Snap points

The draggable objects use snap points to determine the beginning and end of actions. At the moment these are shown as little circles. There are (so far) three types of snap points: idle, teleporter and timed. Idle snap points are just used to hold the animal in place, teleporters transport the animal to the next station and timed snap points are used to determine how long the animal has spent at that snap point. An example of timed snap point usage is the washing task:

3. Accessories System 

I’ve implemented a basic accessories system with a variety of items. I wanted the placement of accessories to be more awkward than just dragging and dropping to yield weird animals and make the player feel like an amateur taxidermist. To achieve this, I create a drop system inspired by Papa's Freezeria (and many other -eria)'s toppings system. 

Taking it a step further, I randomised the eye selection to challenge the player to either save time and choose something quick or try to cycle through to get a suitable eye colour. 

4. Suture task

Station 3 also contains a suture task where the player will need to 'sew up' the animal. I tried to keep in mind that there will be lots of different animals in future, so I tried to keep this task reusable while still being tactile and fun.  The task features a drawable line renderer that can be used to connect up the 'sew points'.

5. Scoring system

The UI for station 4 may look very basic, but a lot is going on in the background. Each station determines a score based on the animal's requirements for things like cut points successfully cut, washing time, correct eye placement, etc and calculates a total score at the end.

Future Plans

There’s still a lot to do! Here’s what I’m focusing on next:  

1. Multiple animals

 - I want to add more animals to prototype a full level with multiple orders.

 - Each animal will have its own requirements and I would like to create a solution that makes these requirements easy to store for a large number of levels 

2. Story and progress

   - I’m working on a light story mode that will guide players through the game, introducing new challenges and characters along the way.  

   - A progression system is in the works, allowing players to move their van to different locations 

3. Customers and character customisation

   - I'm working on a character customisation system to allow player to create their own avatar and make creating customers easier for me.

   - I plan to add customers that will make requests, critique your work, and provide rewards. Got an idea for a quirky customer? Let me know!  

4. More polished tasks and better game feel

   - As I move forward, I’ll be trying to improve the tasks and how they feel in a fast time-management play style. In particular, I would like to focus on the scalpel / removing skin task, the stuffing task and possibly adding the ability to replace missing limbs with random objects.

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How you can contribute

- Share Your Ideas:

  Have a suggestion for a whacky creature, a funny customer, or a gameplay feature? I’d love to hear it! Drop your ideas in the comments or reach out to me at deadongamesonline@gmail.com  

- Spread the Word:

  If you’re excited about Amateur Taxidermy, tell your friends! The more people who know about the game, the better I can make it.  

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Conclusion

Thank you for joining me for this update, I know there was a lot to get through! I’m incredibly excited about Amateur Taxidermy and can’t wait to share more updates with you. Your support and feedback are much appreciated, and I’m excited to make this game as weird and interesting as I can.

— Elise