DIRTY SLOT: First Steps...

Dom Gibson

Developer

Where do I even begin...

I have been wanting to develop a game for absolutely ages. I have never learnt game development, always picked up some skill or another along the way. I wanted to look into something that is totally new (for me) and hone in on a new skill.

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Luckily, during education. Being in the UK, we have a college system, allowing for a higher-education after reaching a certain threshold from School, allowing us to progress. I was able to learn Graphics Design. I spend 2 years through my education to learn vital designing techniques and for "having a good eye" which enabled me to see things slightly different to others. In fact, looking at a certain woodgrain, I can make out a face, eyes, ears, nose and mouth (get a load of this guy...) -I think having this nack for design allowed me to excell my graphics desires. I didnt do the best, I did almost the bare minimum, as a kid at the time, I never stuck to things, never had hobbies.

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Learning Godot (And Why?)

Godot was something in the pipeline. It was simple (affordable) and really quite easy. I picked up a number of skills within the first week of playing around with the engine. Getting feedback from friends, checking out Discord communities, I was able to learn more and more each time I opened up the software. In comparison, I would be scared to even open Unreal again.

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Godot is versatile, inbuilt code-editor that is always where you want it. Layering system, Editor with the right amount of tools. FAST. Godot is super fast. I mean, I might have an i9 processor, but its quick.

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Inspiration for Development

There are a number of games that have came out recently. People want to call them clones but each respectully are their own game, have their own style and just follow a trend. Exactly what you would do if you were a TikTok influencer. Here is my list of influenced games and why:

Balatro - Simple yet enjoyable, vibrant card game. Poker/Casino esque to it which is nice with a really well crafted, beautiful UI that really fits the entire art-style as well gives it the retro look.
Cloverpit - Not yet release, soon to be. An amazing, tension driven gambling game with simple controls but really puts you in a unique stressful gambling experience. The slot machine functionality is one of a kind and something I want to learn in Godot.
Lethal Company - The art style, I have not played a ton of this game but I love the way it looks. Simple, Retro Arcade PS1 style shaders which makes the game pop out and drives tension.
BuckShot Roulette - Scary and again, tense. It straps you right in with a bizzare enviroment, setting you in a PS1 style horror game. Love the style and the story.

Each one of these games listed has given me a reason to create a horror game. I wish to incorporate more and more to help me reach my goal with this project so please stay tuned.

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Introduction: THE GAME

DIRTY SLOT

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What a name, has a ring to it... doesnt it?

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DIRTY SLOT is a gambling nightmare experience. I want to showcase how much of a stressful enviroment roulette can be in this horror game. I want to jam pack this full of features, mainly for learning and seeing what I can achieve.

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I am no expert and you can grill me all you want, I am using a little bit of AI to help understand certain logic and write a little bit of code for main overwhelming features. I want to make sure I understand them as much as the next person. Being able to incorporate AI definately allowed me to progress quicker, be more reliable and also multitask heavily during the early phases of where I am at. Lets talk about some of the main features I have been working on.

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You wake up, trapped in a sleep-deprived paralysis. Awoken to the familiar smells, sights, and scenery of your worst nightmare, FOMO. The Fear Of Missing Out claws at your thoughts as the roulette wheel spins endlessly, each turn whispering promises of redemption or ruin. The clatter of chips, the hypnotic glow of overhead lights, and the haunting soundtrack of near-misses drown out your reason. You’re not just gambling for fun, you’re buying time. The pressure mounts with every spin, because here, winning isn’t about fortune, it’s about survival. Miss your number, and it’s not just the table you owe. You need to pay your debts... on time.

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2D Animated Sprites / Billboards

I love billboards with a passion. As soon as I found this feature, I was at home. Feeling like an old copy DOOM or Quake.

2D Animated Sprites

These are 2 of the characters I am working on in the game. Right now, they dont do anything, I wanted to understand the main working features and might drop them into the story further on. I love how these both turned out.

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Taking images sourced through AI and being able to use an image compression tool to give them a refined edge, using Photoshop to remove backgrounds and making a couple versions of each with different parts moving, in a framelike sequence *gasps* I was able to animate these in a small way, allowing for a life like cutout of characters. This was awesome, seeing them come to life in game really brought a creepy, unsettling vibe to the game.

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Dealer: Someone looking after the roulette table, ensuring you will be paying back what you owe.

Miss Motivator: Someone to look at if a little low on chips, pushing you to win big.

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Roulette Table

One of the main aspects of the game, the Roulette table. I am working on getting all the logic and different denominations for each type of bet. Players will start with a set amount of currency each level allowing them to progress through each ante. Each ante will require the player to earn more within limits. Each run will consist of giving enough chips to the dealer.

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As mentioned, I wanted to make roulette work as close to real-life as possible. I implemented a chip system that allows players to bet at each denomination. 5, 10, 25.

Image showcasing chip system and stacking of chips.

Each chip is its own scene/3D model. All with its own texture, handcrafted to somewhat perfection. This enables me to make more depending on the type of game I am looking to make.

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I might look at making a random modifier to a random chip. This could be a golden chip that is random. This gives the player a potential oportunity to win more at any point in the game. Low likelyhood and adds a rarity to the feature. I like this and might be something to consider for the future.

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Testing New Features...

These new features I am working on in the midst of downtime. Allowing me to look at new ways players can unlock certain aspects of the game. In hopes to ball rolling (nice) the players need a bit of fun in the game. Something that could give them a reason to play more and look forward to.

A slot machine... how thoughtful.

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This might be the worst slot machine you have ever encountered. It is rustic and gives a basic vibe. Works decently for a low poly, PS1 asthetic game.

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I have worked on some of the logic and experimenting with it last night. This could be something for the players to unlock or mid-game. In-between each round, we could look into making a breather that gives the player a negative effect or a positive effect. More or less an inspiration from Cloverpit.

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Ideas include:

More chips +100, 200, 500 chip bonus
Golden coin multiplier (appears more often)
More or higher handouts (from Miss Motivator)
Seperate jackpot. Mid-game to allow the player to feel lucky, 1 step closer to waking up.
Cutscene purposes.

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So yeah. This is my game, DIRTY SLOT. I hope this inspires people to get involved and more or less being able to come up with unqiue ideas.

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There is a lot of work to be done. This was a short-term project and no hopes for actual release. I want to see how far I get before I start gambling myself to fund this project.

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Stay tuned for more blogs. I will go over new experiments, new features and little bug reports and to hopefully showcase my journey (without giving my secrets away...)

DIRTY SLOT: First Steps...

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DIRTY SLOT: First Steps...

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DIRTY SLOT: First Steps...

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