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July 2025 Devlog!

by Jul 31, 2025Devlog

July 2025 Devlog!

by Jul 31, 2025Devlog

July 2025 Devlog!

by Jul 31, 2025Devlog

July 2025 Dev Log!

Header for July 2025 Dev Log, created by Marketing Artist, Jackie! The header illustrates the main character, Wisp, chilling in a floatie on the waves of the sea, sipping a cold drink. A beach ball can be seen to the right of Wisp. On the left side where we see the sand, an umbrella contains seagulls while a blue jay is relaxing on a towel. A little hermit crab is present aside the word "July," which happens to be written in the sand. The title of the game, Ghost Jukebox, is visible on the upper right corner.

Header for the July 2025 Devlog, created by Marketing Artist, Jackie!

Hello gamers and game enthusiasts alike!

What a July! Studio Blue Jay is thrilled to share updates on our current project in development: Ghost Jukebox, as well as reflecting back on our social events and work done as an indie game studio!

For those of you new to us or in need of a refresher, Ghost Jukebox is an emotional, cozy rhythm game that follows Wisp — a ghost in purgatory using the power of music therapy to guide souls into the afterlife. 

Presented is a horizontal poster of the game, Ghost Jukebox, created by one of our artists — Youvanny. The background consists of a blue radio player/CD sound machine placed in front of a shelf of books. On top of the shelf, we see a small, cute blue jay next to a jar of honey. The main character, Wisp, closes their eyes and listens to the musical notes that travel above their head. To add light into the poster, there are hanging golden stars above and a plant’s flowing leaves are seen in the bottom right corner.

Take a look at our Ghost Jukebox poster, created by Youvanny, featuring the main character, Wisp, who’s grooving to some jams. You might even see a certain little bird in the background…

We wish to highlight the ongoing hard work behind the scenes from the following teams within our studio:

  • Art Team – Concept Art
  • Writing Team – New Characters and Developing Plot
  • Audio Team – Music Composition and SFX
  • Programming Team – Software Engineering and Coding
  • Design Team – Redesigning Gameplay
  • Marketing Team – Social Media and Community Management

Art Team – Concept Art:

Placed on a gray background, the tutorial and shopkeeper character of the Ghost Jukebox universe is Kharry! Kharry is an elderly, small ghost wearing a green apron that matches their hood and possesses a cane. Pictured is what’s known as a turnaround, in which the character is drawn and depicted in different poses that mimic that of “turning around.” Drawn by Youvanny.

Introducing a sneak peek of our character, Kharry, drawn by Youvanny! The art team is thrilled to share a turnaround of Kharry as a character from the world of Ghost Jukebox.

Placed on a gray background with a series of horizontal lines behind, we see a spectacular character whose vibrant colors stand out. The character’s name is Cherry Bomb, and her design consists of yellow-orange-reddish long hair, similar to that of flames. The outfit contains a similar color scheme, adding in a dark purple that transforms into a strong red, finishing with a set of high heels. As the character turns, we notice a flowing, white drape that appears cape-like that she adorns. We see small patches of colors next to the character, ranging from dark orange to bright red, illustrating the colors that compose their design. Cherry Bomb was drawn by Martin.

Take a look at our dashing character in flames, Cherry Bomb, who will also be making their way into the game. She was drawn by Martin.

Our magnificent Art Team, led by Co-Founder and Art Director Isabelle, has embarked on a series of goals, steering towards refining character designs and animation for Ghost Jukebox! Several accomplishments from this team include:

  • Progress on three character designs: Kharry, Cass ‘Cherry Bomb’, and Toby.
  • Finalized Cherry Bomb’s character design.
  • Finalized Kharry’s character design, and finalizing their animation.
  • Completing several shop items (plushies, teapots, and curtains).
  • Creating promotional art for Steam.
  • Updating menu buttons.

 

Writing Team – New Characters and Developing Plot:

Image shows a Google Slide containing the Writing Team's deliverables and updates! Divided into sections, members of the team are placed in charge of ongoing work, team reviews, and completed tasks.

The Writing Team’s plans and work in progress! Each writer is designated with specific characters before they enter a system of checks and approvals from their members.

Co-Founder and Narrative Director Cameron, along with the fantastic Writing Team, are honing details and storylines for various characters, including both ongoing and new ones. Striving to mirror real life, they seek to represent the long-term process of healing with various therapeutic sessions and an emphasis on character development!

Character mood boards created by our writing member, Myra! The mood board is a collage of photos to provide visual examples that build up characters. The mood board was created for an incoming character, Arthur, also created by Myra. The collage shows pictures of classy, academic inspired clothing that the character would wear. Other photos show existing characters, 2D and live-action, that inspire the existence of Arthur. Other pictures include a stack of books, showcasing Arthur as a bookworm, along with a photo of a cute puppy, used to describe Arthur's vibes and personality.

Example of a mood board created by Writer Myra for an incoming character that the team is building and discussing.

Currently, they are focusing on writing new levels and curating vision boards in conjunction with their character descriptions. Above is an example of how a mood board serves and functions for our writers as they brainstorm. 

Audio Team – Music Composition and SFX:

We express gratitude to our Audio Team members, Audio Director Freddie and Sound Designer Jon, who shared the ‘Stormy Ambience’ MP3 for us to publish! Freddie went on to share how, “The way Jon made this is modular. There are a bunch of shorter bits & pieces that are going to be put into a Wwise project (middleware used to implement audio into the game) to create an ambience that feels a lot more alive than it would’ve been if it were a single long ambient loop. The current plan is to do this for all of the ambiences.”

Audio Player

 

Below provides a look at Freddie‘s notes for the level theme based on our character in progress, Kharry!

 

Form sketch and notes for Kharry's music, created by Freddie. Includes notes on genre of music, drawings of form, duration of piece, and sketch of Kharry.

Notes of Kharry’s music theme, created by Audio Director Freddie! Showcases the depth of music creation and composition invested towards the game.

The Audio Team is fulfilling a multitude of tasks for the game, including: 

  • Sound Designer Jon composed a soothing, stormy ambience.
  • Music Composer Malakai has completed the shop theme.
  • A draft of new level music for one of our characters, Toby, is underway.

Programming Team – Software Engineering and Coding:

A slide containing the main background we see in the game, Ghost Jukebox, is light and blurred to a certain degree with a title in the left corner indicating “Programming!” This is an update from the Programming Team, in which they share what’s known as a Wwise integration. The Wwise integration is being used by the programmers to implement audio into the game, and you’ll see there are a number of folders/tabs that indicate where to go, ranging from game parameters to virtual acoustics. At the top, you can see sections that indicate directions towards the console, project, audio mixer, and finally, the Wwise Picker.

For updates from the Programming Team, they share a glimpse into the tools they use, collaborating with the Audio Team, to proceed with developing Ghost Jukebox, such as Wwise integration.

Shown is another slide, once again, containing a light, blurred-like background that is the main room players are introduced to in Ghost Jukebox. The programming team will be utilizing what is known as DryWetMidi/Midi System to integrate in the game. A screenshot illustrates the progress and files created in the system, focused upon the melody notes and background being implemented in the game.

Another update provided from the Programming Team! They are in the process of applying a Midi System known as DryWetMidi as part of the development for Ghost Jukebox.

Lead Programmer Justin from the Programming Team is primarily set on building out the note tails for Ghost Jukebox, determined to remove obstacles and implement assets to push forward the development process. They implemented Wwise into Unity to use as audio middleware for our project.

Design Team – Redesigning Gameplay:

The background of the slide is brightened, softened, and blurred to a certain degree, but shows the main room of the game, Ghost Jukebox. Presented by the Design Team, there is a cozy mug at the center bottom, titled “Emphasis on Cozy.” It releases aroma in the shape of petals, each containing descriptive words, such as “Safety,” “Softness,” and “Abundance.”

Notes taken from the Design Team’s ongoing progress on their approach to amplify the cozy ambience of Ghost Jukebox.

The background of the slide is brightened, softened, and blurred to a certain degree, but shows the main room of the game, Ghost Jukebox. More notes following from the Design Team, they are split into three text boxes, where they list out certain approaches to the game. These approaches are done so for player agency, emphasizing the following: “No ‘Right’ Answer,” “Scoring,” and “Lanterns.” They contain small details, all pointing towards player agency, level design, and objects present in the game.

Here are the Design Team’s approaches to the current structure of the gameplay and their goals based on a series of important factors, such as player agency.

When discussing the design portion, a series of changes and ideas below were proposed about the gameplay, shared in detail by Lead Designer Raeda:  

  • Changed scoring so that three different lantern types are obtained as currency for each route of a level, to encourage replaying levels at a later date.
  • Made it so that the lanterns can be used to buy various items in the shop, highlighting player choice.
  • Collaborated with other teams to change character story arcs from one level each character to multiple levels each character, to enhance player autonomy and engagement.
  • Formulated a system wherein shop items can be purchased to impact the different levels of each character, creating more choices for players and furthering investment in continual play.

 

Marketing Team –  Social Media and Community Management:

Lo and behold, the magnificent Studio Blue Jay Bluesky page! Make sure to follow us on Bluesky for updates: @studiobluejay.bsky.social

Lo and behold, the magnificent Studio Blue Jay Bluesky page! Make sure to follow us on Bluesky for updates: @studiobluejay.bsky.social

Depicted is a Discord Announcement created for the Studio Blue Jay Community Server! The announcement introduces the commencement of the server's purpose, ranging from what the space can be used for (ex. Sharing artwork) and insight on the studio's game in progress. Towards the conclusion of the announcement, it is encouraged for new and past members to introduce themselves.

Our announcement as we bring forth the Studio Blue Jay Community Discord Server!

Last, but certainly not least, the Marketing Team has been hard at work creating promotional materials, publishing blog posts, and posting on our social media and the Studio Blue Jay Community Discord Server! 

  • Our Co-Founder, Marketing Director, and Producer, Jay, executes our marketing plan, analyzes our data, CRM (customer relationship management) and CMS (content management system), and assigns tasks for the Marketing Team to work on.
  • Our Social Media Manager, Meg, created our ‘Meet The Team’ cards, edited cool videos, and put together hilarious memes to upload on our social media!
  • Meg and Jay manage our social media handles on Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
  • Our Community Discord Server is up and running, currently managed and monitored by Marketer Brianna!
  • Brianna and Jay worked together to bring about our delightful blog posts, such as this one!
  • We welcomed a new member to the team, our new Marketing Artist, Jackie — creating amazing illustrations for our blog posts (such as the header of this post!) and posters, pins and sticker designs, and sketches of Ghost Jukebox‘s protagonist — Wisp! 
  • Our Marketing Artist Shai, worked on speedpainting studio business cards for members of Studio Blue Jay, and cute doodles of Wisp!

An eventful June and July for Studio Blue Jay!

The 'Studio Blue Jay' logo, a blue jay bird standing in a pose with head looking upwards, feet on ground, and tail up in the air. The pose resembles the letter 'J'. The background is in a pastel rainbow, going from top to down six horizontal bars: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Introducing the Studio Blue Jay logo, with a rainbow background added in honor of Pride Month, now established as the logo and background used in representing the studio all year round!

While we invest great efforts towards completing Ghost Jukebox, the team values the importance of spending time together, reaching out to the community around us, and celebrating Pride! The Studio Blue Jay logo is now updated with a pastel rainbow background behind our familiar little blue jay bird standing in a position shaped like a letter ‘J’ — that Pride is here to stay all year around, as a queer-founded indie studio! Our summer has been mighty lively! See below for what we’ve been up to!

Presented is a dimly lit table with a purple hue encompassing the table cloth. QR codes and flyers that contain information about Studio Blue Jay and the game, Ghost Jukebox, are available, covered with small candles. In the upper right corner, we see a laptop with the Ghost Jukebox main page and a pair of headphones lying upon it.

Presenting Ghost Jukebox at the Twitch Boston – BOBA Community Pride Celebration located at the Sunset Cantina in Boston, MA!

Back on June 21st, Jade Powers (Ricincakes) from Twitch Boston (BOBA) invited Studio Blue Jay to showcase Ghost Jukebox at their Pride Meetup event! We had a wonderful time at the Sunset Cantina in Boston, MA!

Presented here is the Studio Blue Jay Hangout Photo Collage with two blue jays depicted within the title. On the right side of the collage, we have a large group picture featuring Max, Malakai, Youvanny, and Jay posing with a peace sign. On the upper right corner, Youvanny is pictured playing Beat Saber! On the bottom right corner, we see Jay playing Beat Saber as well. In both pictures, Malakai is operating the computer that is running the Beat Saber game.

Photo collage of the Studio Blue Jay Hangout! Featured in the photos are members Max, Malakai, Youvanny, and Jay, after a card game session and Beat Saber!

Earlier in the summer, we organized a Studio Blue Jay Hangout to unwind from all of the hard work we accomplished! The members had a fun time with a potluck, playing card games, and enjoying the thrill of Beat Saber!

A photograph captured of individuals and professionals, including our Co-Founder Jay Lam, who are part of the EforAll Greater Worcester’s cohort for Summer 2025. In the photo, there are a total of twenty members with eight members sitting in a row of chairs and twelve standing behind them. They all smile and pose for the camera in front of a backdrop that reads “EforAll”.

A photo that celebrates all the small business owners who are a part of EforAll Greater Worcester’s Summer 2025 Accelerator cohort, including our Co-Founder Jay Lam, pictured in the bottom left corner.

Studio Blue Jay became a part of EforAll Greater Worcester‘s cohort for Summer 2025! We connected with fellow small business owners at the business accelerator from EforAll Greater Worcester, led by Program Manager Armida Abreu! Our Co-Founders obtained resources for running a company, and mentorship from Kim Jennings of Wake the Way LLC, and Alex Monaco — the Program Coordinator of Downtown Worcester.

 

Video Player

 

On July 17th, Studio Blue Jay attended Venture Café’s Startup and MVP Expo led by Tricia Bitetto, the Program Manager of Venture Café Cambridge! Jay gave a pitch to investors about the studio and our game, and showed off Ghost Jukebox to innovators around the Kendall Square/MIT area in Cambridge, MA!

A graphic designed as an admission ticket for the Boston Indies: Demo Night is split into three sections. The first section is located on the upper left corner, colored in hot pink and reading “Demo Night!” Below this section is colored in yellow, sharing the address for the event. On the right side of the ticket, which is the last section, contains a photo of Boston architecture, edited with a green-like filter and completed with the Boston Indies logo.

Support Studio Blue Jay and fellow indie developers at the upcoming Boston Indies: Demo Night on August 13th!

Coming up, we’ll be showing a demo of Ghost Jukebox at Boston Indies: Demo Night at the Kendall/MIT Open Space on Wednesday, August 13th! Stay tuned for more!

Thank you so much for taking the time to tune into our updates thus far! Studio Blue Jay is grateful for your support, and we cannot wait to bring you along on the journey of Ghost Jukebox.

Wishlist Ghost Jukebox on Steam! 

Contributors to the blog post: Brianna Salazar, Jay Lam, and Meg Thurmeier.

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