Devlog 33 - What Does a Run of Jackstrap Look Like?

Summary

I hit the point where individual mechanics were not enough. I needed to answer what a full run of Jackstrap actually looks like: how long it lasts, where upgrades happen, whether there are waves, how resources work, and how all of that loops back into the combo.

What changed?

I worked through a pile of game-loop questions:

• finite run or endless mode?
• quick missions or one longer session?
• waves or continuous escalation?
• gems only, or gems plus XP?
• upgrades during combat, between waves, or both?
• meta progression?
• action upgrades?
• save-game expectations?

The useful realization was that Jackstrap does not really have one loop. It has nested loops: the moment-to-moment combat loop sits inside a wave/progression loop, which sits inside the overall run.

I compared structures from games like Brotato, Vampire Survivors, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and Risk of Rain 2 to understand where they pause the action, how long runs last, and how progression changes the rhythm.

The trailer also moved from notes into an actual card edit with music and placeholder voiceover. I tested different VO approaches, but the script changes too often to depend on a fixed external recording workflow. For now I am recording it myself.

The tone I want is dry and matter-of-fact: a voice calmly explaining completely ridiculous things as if a living jockstrap fighting Nutcrackers were normal.

A few trailer references from this pass: 1, 2, 3, 4.

What I'm unsure about?

The exact run structure is still not locked. This is design work, not a promise that every box in the diagram survives unchanged.

Next steps

• Keep tightening the run structure.
• Finish the functional UI POC.
• Keep turning the trailer card edit into something that explains the game before I spend time capturing polished footage.