GM GM’ers & Hangry Fam’ers,

Quick update this week, as we press on with core game loop… we’ve been deep in development over here:

• Enemy reward drops (based on varying factors of Player status)

• Spawn pacing (Respawning more enemies after deliveries)

• Animation triggers (Player reacting to enemy states and behaviours)

As this develops into our playable loop, I’ll be sharing new gameplay videos to, showcase the latest control updates and our new enemy behaviours. I’ll also be voicing over some thoughts on how doing things right (not just fast) takes time… a lot of time.

But the truth is, we need to move faster, and we know it. Validating the core game loop is our top priority now. Fun and purpose driven play needs a solid foundation, and we’re building that with every update.

This one’s all about progression, in the game, and in the journey behind the scenes.

In our local NomNom Express build, we’ve been playing with faster reactions & attacks, smarter movement, and more aggression from the enemies with taunts and lunges to keep you on your toes. The deeper you get into your shift, the more challenging we want to drop off points and enemies you face, to be. But with greater challenges comes greater rewards init:

• Bonus TIPS tokens for clean takedowns or 2 hit combos

• Risk-reward badges for damage-free runs

• And our favourite: the "Conscientious Hangry" badge, for completing a whole level without hitting a single enemy, which is doable if you’re fast and witty enough.

Because let’s face it, not every delivery hero fights fire with fists. Some just ride smarter, like Zebrina!

I created a short video below to showcase the menu, avatar selection, game session creation and loading as well as the more progressed player movement mechanics. It's currently ugly, but aesthetics will come in time. Progress is progress! \m/

Halfway Through Our Seed-Funded Research
We’ve also just hit the halfway milestone in our Seed-funded R&D into Collaborative Gameplay.

This research is helping us dig deeper into how players can cooperate with meaning, empathy, and ways to turn gameplay into real-world impact. It’s fuelling everything from how we think about co-op missions, right through to reward mechanics that foster empathy, not just XP… and with collaborations with charities that matter to us developing, we’re more excited than ever to build on this momentum. We’ll be doing a few guest posts in the future from the Architect of all of this research, our very own COO and creative strategist Ceri Angel! Watch this space. 

On the Grant Front
We didn’t land the Unity for Humanity grant this round, but their feedback hit home in the best way.

The main takeaway?
We’ve got a powerful mission, with strong mechanics, but need to refine that “So what?” moment in our game loops. The bit that makes every delivery matter… Follow the fun as we say!

And that’s exactly what we’re focused on now, polishing the purpose behind every action, building mechanics that feel good and do good, but having a blast and laughing out loud as we play. Ultimately everything we build here is transferable to other smaller games we have in our pipeline of ideas. Mechanics, story, character controllers and our points tracking leaderboard, will all feed into the Hangryverse’s purpose of Gaming for Good Causes.

Concept Art: Behind the Desk

There is always a sketchbook at hand over here, and the past year or so has been great to explore what the world of Hangry Animals looks like when our hapless heroes, smile, grimace, shout and look hangry as ever! Here's a few doodles and character studies of facial expressions Hangry Andy has been toying with to feed into the Animated Trailer performances for that toon-like feel.

Next Steps?
With Grant Season in full swing, we’re diving back in, and seeing what opportunities we can explore. We are that little bit wiser, more focused, more knowledgeable, and hungrier than ever to get this right. We have a few bids getting ready to put into a first draft and add to our pile, alongside our claim from a previous bid awaiting a rebate. We have more game dev and business development work planned over the coming month so, it doesn’t stop! That need to constantly fill the coffers to ensure the Hangry vision can grow into what we believe it can be is always hungry eherm! I mean Hangry for more!

Thanks for riding with us as we bring this vision to life
Until our next shift…

Stay Hangry,
The Hangry Animals Team