May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam!

27 Sept 2025

It's here!! "May and the Amazing Bouquet" can now be wishlisted on Steam! 💐 Help May to obtain the Eight Prized Flowers in a cozy pixelated top-down action-adventure! 🌼 store.steampowered.com/app/3734760/ #gaming #indiegames #indiedev #majorupdate #pixelart #CozyGame #MayGame

The sidescrolling view has gotten a graphical overhaul. The dark background made the block wireframes harder to see, so let's use a light background instead. I think this fits the overworld style better too, with darker areas = impassable areas. #MayGame #ScreenshotSaturday #indiegame

There are no Game Overs in my game. If you touch a hazard, you'll just instantly respawn. But what if... We were to add Game Overs but disguise it as scripted comic relief? #MayGame #indiegame #cozygame

This is a taste of what the game's sense of humor will be like. And yes we're absolutely riffing on the Broken Bridge trope here. 🤣 tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwik...

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted

Hats are an optional cosmetic collectible in my game. But how do you get them? You go into this one cave and exchange tokens for them, of course. A HATOKEN, specifically. Each token is linked to a specific hat, but you won't know which one until you exchange it. #MayGame #indiegame #cozygame

Yes, the new hat is unceremoniously dumped onto the ground, because why not? 😁

The protagonist of my game uses a tree stump as a bed. This was revealed earlier. If you find another tree stump... She'll comment on whether it would make a good bed or not. They're all different! Try to find them all! Will any of them measure up? #MayGame #indiegame #cozygame

store.steampowered.comMay and the Amazing Bouquet - Developer Diary #5 - October 7, 2026 - Steam NewsHello everyone! Two more months have passed. It's time for another Developer Diary for May and the Amazing Bouquet! Here's what I've been working on... Notes Refactoring The notes refactoring I mentio...

Hello everyone! It's been two months, so it's time for another Developer Diary! I talk about work on the game's world, several subsystems that have been overhauled, and what's next! store.steampowered.com/news/app/373... #MayGame #gamedev #WishlistWednesday

The past week was spent researching 32 flowers, animating 32 flowers, putting together 32 flowers puns, collecting 32 flower facts, and of course making the code to run it all. I'm lily glad to be done with this sidequest. 🙃 #MayGame #gamedev #indiegame #cozygame

Too late I got the idea to maybe have a dark green grassy tile under each flower, which would free up an extra color to use for the flower itself (its green would be handled by transparent pixels showing the green underneath)... Oh well. For a demo release, I think this is fine. ^^

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted

16 Sept

This week I merged a bunch of systems in my game into one. Shadows, held items, sparkle fx, "Zzz" text, pickup animations, and more, can now be added or removed from any object with one line of code. This makes things very flexible and convenient. 😊 #MayGame #indiegame #gamedev #WishlistWednesday

16 Sept

16 Sept

Let's see how things look when we add five different subsprites at once... Yep it looks awful. 🫠 Maybe we'll stick to just one or two at a time.

3 Sept

Lots of pixelated games provide the option of an HD (non-pixel) font. Many players prefer it. I wanted to see how technically feasible it would be, since everything else is forcibly rendered with strict pixel-precision. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad. ^^ #gamedev #MayGame #Godot #gamedesign

3 Sept

At the moment, I think this font, and then things like LCD and CRT shaders, are the only things in the game that will allow sub-pixel rendering.

2 Sept

I've begun tidying up the codebase for my game: simplifying the APIs, adding tests, and creating cheatsheets to make adding content easier. For today, this means the screen overlay effects. They can now be used in any cutscene via a common API. #MayGame #cozygame #indiegame #WishlistWednesday

26 Aug

In my game, you can pick up and carry certain large objects. Here's how they work: - You can pick it up by walking into it. - If you jump, you'll drop it. - You can't throw it (too heavy) - But you CAN whistle (attack) while carrying it. #MayGame #WishlistWednesday #cozygame #indiegame

26 Aug

This is a bit different from how other games handle carryable objects. Especially the lack of throwing and being able to attack while carrying it. But I think this will lead to some unique gameplay. Maybe you can jump over gaps. But the ball can't. So you must find another way.

26 Aug

Also, sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been posting some unpolished updates on my @micalpixel.bsky.social dev account. And it's all been design document work. Not much to actually *show*. But with that out of the way, I should have more to share now. ^^

store.steampowered.comMay and the Amazing Bouquet - Developer Diary #4 - August 2, 2026 - Steam NewsCompleting the tutorial cave area and consolidating notes...

2 Aug

Developer Diary #4 is up! I discuss wishlist numbers, Zeldalikes, notes and what's next! store.steampowered.com/news/app/373... #gamedev #gamedesign #MayGame

1 Aug

The tutorial area for my game is now in a finished playable state, and here it is, from beginning to end. It teaches most of the basic gameplay mechanics. And now has music and lots of sfx too. This is a major milestone for me and I'm very happy with it. ^^ #indiegame #cozygame #GameDev #MayGame

youtu.beExploring the Tutorial Cave [MATAB GameDev #3]YouTube video by May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam!

1 Aug

And here's a version of the video in which Bluesky did not add scratchy distortion to the music. 🫠 youtu.be/TOoh5-iKk64

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted

30 July

How can you tell if there's still something to solve in a room? And what will happen once it's solved? Easy. A Puzzlegeist will be there. Draped over a door. Or a locked chest. Or just hanging out. Maybe your map will even show where they're still around. #gamedev #indiegame #cozygame #MayGame

30 July

On second thought, maybe shattering (nice-looking) destructible crystals into tiny pieces isn't quite the vibe I want to go for. 🤨 So how about instead, a bulb that opens up when you whistle at it? Might be something useful inside. Oh and here's a new rope-climbing mechanic too. #MayGame #gamedev

She climbs that rope way too fast. 🤣 Gonna slow it down next time (sorry May)

May has no weapon, and destructible terrain has its uses in a game, so shattering crystals with sound seemed like a good idea at the time. But...appreciating natural beauty is kinda a theme in this game. So swapping them out for plants that open up feels like a better thematic choice.

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam!@maygame.bsky.social

My game finally has destructible terrain! They are mushroom-shaped crystals. 🍄💎 Shatter them by whistling. 🎶 They will sometimes drop money. 🟨 #ScreenshotSaturday #gamedev #indiegame #MayGame

16 July

Another block type has entered the chat. These blue arrow blocks are similar to your typical ice blocks, but: - They're 2-way only. - You can trigger them from any angle, even if you're in their way. #MayGame #gamedev #indiegame

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam!@maygame.bsky.social

Serious question: Are these flip-able blocks easy to understand as a game mechanic? Do they look fun? I'm experimenting with blocks that behave in non-standard ways, and I worry they're too unconventional and players might have a hard time adjusting... #MayGame #gamedev #WishlistWednesday

16 July

There are some things I *really* like about these blocks that you don't get from typical block-pushing puzzles: - they're FAST. No tedious dragging a block across the room one tile at a time. - they can't get stuck. Hit a wall? No problem. Just launch it again.

As far as the non-solid wireframe state goes... It looks and works exactly like stunned enemies in this game. They become wireframes and safe to pass through. So the player should hopefully be familiar with it already.

Your angle doesn't affect the direction they flip. And they become non-solid if they land on a creature, and won't re-solidify until the space is free. Real life doesn't work like this. And I've never seen a game do this. And I have a nagging anxiety that maybe there's a good reason for that...?

And yes they're made to look like a spiral notebook. Which hopefully...maybe...helps sell the idea? ...Do people still use spiral notebooks? Or am I old? XD

9 July

The blobs' walk animation always felt a bit off, since the animation frame updates were not synced with their movement frames. No sub-pixel interpolation allowed, so it was kinda noticeable. Fortunately, this long-standing issue is now fixed. #MayGame #GameDev #indiegame #cozygame

4 July

Hello, everyone! I'm back! Sorry for the absence. Lots of drawing board work the last two weeks. The cave tileset has gotten a complete overhaul - as well as the water edge tiles. This is the first room of the currently-WIP "tutorial cave." #ScreenshotSaturday #indiegame #cozygame #MayGame

4 July

Here's the old cave tileset. - Walls were a lot more "noisy" in terms of pixels. - Their colors were too similar to walkable tiles - Did not handle multi-level floors - Water edge tiles used a different perspective (straight-down rather than angled)

4 July

- And too gray. Too desaturated compared to the rest of the game.

31 May

#MayGame

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted

27 May

We now have sound effects! 🔊 All created with the audio tool I made earlier this year. That thing took almost 2 months to make but was worth it! 🙌 #WishlistWednesday #indiegame #cozygame #MayGame #gameaudio

27 May

27 May

Here's my earlier video of the tool itself, on my personal account. Makes music and sfx. I'll get to making my own music with it eventually but for now I'll start with sfx. 😊

MicalPixel@micalpixel.bsky.social

Day 46 of making a Game Boy music tool for my game's audio. The re-creation of the Link's Awakening overworld theme is finished. It should sound identical to original hardware. I now consider the tool "good enough" to use for making original music. 🙌 #MayGame #gameboy #zelda #linksawakening

25 May

Here is how you go up and down cliffs in my game. ^^ Stairs are two-way and impact movespeed. ↕️ Rockslides fast but are down-only. ⬇️ #indiegame #MayGame #gamedev #indiedev

25 May

I realized after recording this that the rockslides' down-only movement could be communicated better visually. So here's a different look, showing a clear barrier at the bottom, but from the top there is no such barrier.

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted

23 May

23 May

23 May

You may notice the mimic doesn't collect any money it walks over. I need to fix that so its mimickry is perfect. (Yes it will keep whatever it finds so you can't get it lolololol)

May and the Amazing Bouquet | Wishlist on Steam! reposted