[ MEGAJAM 2026 ] Dev Diary: GPU Hunters | Action shooter with incremental elements

Community Showcase Game Development
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Poster_ItchIo2_V2
Poster_ItchIo2_V2630×500 292 KB

{It will be edited, so do read next messages}

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About me:

Hi! I’m Alexander, a solo developer (I’m a generalist, I can do a lot of stuff).

A few days ago I released a game without AI or assets from third-party assets - HitTube. But this time I’ll use AI and sponsored assets to make the best game I can make in 4 days.

I’m going to create systems the way so I could release GPU Hunters on EGS and Steam, so I tried to make everything as simple as possible with some optimization techniques, which slows down my game development process but it’s worth it.

I want to understand what’s going on in my project and easily change it in future updates as a commercial product, so I don’t give full control to AI and I use it not as replicament but only as a tool that helps me to create fun and awesome games

UnrealEditor_Kje5owF1Kt

GPU Hunters is an action shooter with incremental elements where you need to get specific amount of GPUs. At day 2 I finished almost all the systems and you can see them on the GIF above. At the 3rd and 4th days I’m going to add graphical assets and polish the game to make it as fun as possible

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Day 1 (12th November):

What I added/created today (35):

  1. UE5.8 project;
  2. UI for everything;
  3. Widgets for everything (Main menu, warnings, tutorial, Player’s HUD);
  4. Correct setup of the project;
  5. All levels;
  6. Localization system;
  7. Optimization;
  8. Folder organization;
  9. Basic materials;
  10. Custom collisions;
  11. Custom physic materials;
  12. Music (main menu, space ship, enemy ships, DNA, trailer);
  13. Level sequence for main menu;
  14. Camera shake main menu;
  15. Added credits;
  16. When you select text in main menu it changes color;
  17. Tested packaging just in case;
  18. Used commercially free-to-use fonts (Audiowide, Space Grotesk, Exo 2.0);
  19. Sounds UI;
  20. Main menu fully works;
  21. Player input system;
  22. Player Camera manager;
  23. Save system main (bullets, amount of GPU, DNA);
  24. Save system stats;
  25. DNA tree connected to the save system;
  26. Poster for itch.io (kinda bad but I’ll change it);
  27. UI for bullets;
  28. UI for GPU;
  29. Proper FPS movement;
  30. Player system (we can move, rotate);
  31. Weapon
  32. Niagara collectable
  33. Camera shakes (player runs)
  34. Sprinting system

Poster_ItchIo2_V2
Poster_ItchIo2_V2630×500 292 KB

What from non-AI did I use today:

  • Blender (importing);
  • Photoshop (UI, Poster).

What from AI did I use today:

  • Tripo;
  • Grok;
  • Claude;
  • Fal.ai
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UnrealEditor_yvZoRLNARb

Day 2 (13th November):

  1. What I added/created today ():
  2. We can collect GPUs;
  3. We can collect bullets;
  4. Sound of picking up;
  5. We’re not always with a gun;
  6. We don’t always have the same UI;
  7. Crosshair;
  8. Physics on where we shoot;
  9. Timer for every level;
  10. If timer is out we die;
  11. Restart level system;
  12. When we die we have texts explaining us that without enough GPU we die;
  13. We have 3 lives or we start everything again;
  14. We can die;
  15. Finished level ending;
  16. Fail music;
  17. Tutorial;
  18. If we don’t collect enough GPU we die;
  19. When we finish level we save next level;
  20. We can shoot;
  21. Wall running;
  22. Enemy AI;
  23. Enemy can make damage;
  24. Sounds shooting
  25. The look of DNA level;
  26. Camera shakes (player shoots);
  27. RMB for bomb teleporting us

What from non-AI did I use today:

  • Blender (importing, fixing DNA because of broken normals).

What from AI did I use today:

  • Claude;
  • Tripo.