Here's a short video showing off the improved gameplay loop and "stage complete" screen. The updated artwork for Hensen and his gun and the honey bullets can also be seen.

Close-up of the re-shaded Hensen!

This is just about the only situation in which I'll ever do this. I almost never put multiple calls to methods on the same line but here I've logged a warning to remind furure me to do something I didn't have time to do today in a glaringly obvious way.

Happy #WIPWednesday! Are you working on a game? Making some art? Practicing a song? Something else? Tell us in the comments!

Very unfinished but the backdrop image, as it is in this video, is already leagues better than what I had last weekend! I'm going to work on it incrementally over the coming weeks as I work on implementing the stages idea I talked about before!

Your worst nightmare is alive ... Coming soon !

Been working on the artwork for the "stage complete" screen all morning! Right now I'm improving the shadows/shading for Hensen because he is a part of that screen. I do need to work out the contrast between the text and the backdrop image, I know.

Okay, so the stages and score saving are both more or less working. Your score and high score will be saved throughout the lifetime of the application. Currently nothing saves when the game is closed, though, I'll be working on that next weekend.

Midnight Special is part of Lovecraftian Days 2026, hosted by Fulqrum Publishing, running from April 9 to April 16 (PT).

Get it at 20% off during the event and explore a selection of strange, dark, and memorable indie games.

I've worked out a process for drawing bushes that I'm using for the backdrop! First I draw the branches, then "paint" where the bush texture will be, copy it's alpha to a new layer in white, then draw it's shadows in a layer over the bush layer.