log 01: paranormal research society?!
august 21st, 2025
greetings and salutations! my name is ellen, but you might know me better by catskulls~~~ you're here because you're on my website and i've successfully lured you into wandering deeper into the depths of my digital disaster playground. good for you!
this right here is the official devlog for my game, paranormal research society. i'm not quite sure what a first devlog is supposed to be like and i don't think they're usually started 8 months into development, but i don't care!!! it's my website, i'll do as i please!!! now, onto the meat of the log:
what is paranormal research society?!
excellent question! to this i offer my work-in-progress blurb and no further context:
Who told you to get such a useless college degree!? Unemployed and looking for a job, Conrad Coldwood gets a call from his sister—she's had an occupational accident and is in dire need of a substitute. With no choice but to accept the offer, he gets roped into working for the Paranormal Research Society!
It's time to clock in and help exterminate and/or research the local paranormal phenomena to figure out what's causing all those ghosts to start acting up all of a sudden! You'll have to deal with your less-than-lovely coworkers, and it looks like your boss is making you pay for your equipment, but it can't be that bad, right? Right!?
when is paranormal research society?!
short answer: no fucking idea! stay tuned
long answer: i've gotten to an alpha stage in 8 months, so i'd say this is going pretty swimmingly. i'm aiming to get a public demo build out by the time i start university (assumably fall 2027), but the full game is definitely a ways off unless i win the lottery and manage to hire someone competent. solo development is hard and i'm a student! yikes!
where is paranormal research society?!
currently on my hard drive. this game is in closed alpha, you see... but if by some miracle this devlog piques your interest and you'd like to help me out and give me some pointers, do shoot me a message on discord @ catskulls. it'd be great if i found a playtester who has played first-person shooters past the original doom. i'm not sure why i'm developing one when i have fuck all experience with the genre
why is paranormal research society?!
when i was 14, i decided i was going to make a video game about people hunting ghosts. then, when i was 18 and had tried finding a fun way to execute this countless times, i ended up working on an unrelated project that involved backend javascript. after that nightmare i realized i can learn to code basically anything and thought to myself "what kind of game would fit this premise?", and the first thing that came to mind was a first-person shooter. that very moment i went and downloaded godot, then proceeded to learn the ropes over the course of an english class instead of doing my coursework. 8 months later, i am writing this devlog about it. also still in english class not doing my coursework.
how is paranormal research society?!
paranormal research society is made possible by the godot engine! three cheers for open source alternatives, am i right?!
... no, but... what they don't tell you about becoming a godot developer is that this engine is not made for 3d beginners and i have to suffer for that. this game would have a demo version out if i had just gone with unity back in january but noOooOOoooOo i need to suck open source dick nghhhhhh
who is paranormal research society?!
that's an oddly phrased question! i'll get to the cast of the game in a later log, but in terms of the development team, it's just me here. it gets kind of lonely, but my friend marian helps me spot all the glaring logic errors because he has more than two braincells when it comes to programming. my friends also give me lots of ideas and pointers, which is fun! but... unfortunately all the hard work is done by a nerd living at home with her parents, slacking off in class and typing up a devlog instead of studying for her matriculation exams. this might be why this game is taking so long to make
okay, we know how paranormal research society is, but how is catskulls?!
thank you for asking. *sniffle*
i'm currently stuck between the wall and a radiator in classroom 026 on campus. can someone come help me out?! i seriously need to get to my next class after this, my teacher is getting on my case about all my absences. i'll get kicked off that course soon... anyone?! please?!?
thank you for taking the time to read this! assuming i get freed from here, i'll come back soon with an actual status update on the game instead of just an introductory post! looking forward to showing off, um... *checks notes* the pile of wires i modelled in blender?? whatever
best regrets,
ellen alias catskulls