one devlog, start to finish

Everything your editor needs to cut Devlog 14.

One link instead of a folder and a phone call: the angle, the commits and captures it came from, the script before and after review, and the reviewer’s note on the two shots still to capture.

Ipsum Interactive and Placeholder Panic are made up.

A Markdown file you can read or forward.

A studio table at night: frame prints and a storyboard notebook, a tablet showing a draft with cited lines highlighted, a laptop showing an edit timeline, and a phone showing the published cut — Fig. 1The desk this replaces: the prints, the storyboard, the draft, the timeline, the published cut.

Ipsum Interactive — Placeholder Panic

Approved

Devlog 14 — The pathfinding rewrite nobody asked for (and everyone noticed)

01 — The angle

The angle, and why it won

Players kept clipping through the market crowd, and the fix was throwing out A* for flow fields. Lead with the bug report that started it, end with the before/after crowd shot.

Why this storyChosen over “new enemy reveal” because the crowd bug has 41 comments on the Steam thread — the audience already cares — and the diff sits almost entirely in one system, so the devlog can go deep.

02 — What it’s built from

What it’s built from

Each item says why it was picked. In your own drafts, a matched clip or timestamp is a lead until you have watched it.

Steam discussion — “NPCs walk through each other in the market”
41 comments · top thread this month
Why it’s hereThe cold open: players describing the bug in their own words.
a3f9c21 — replace A* crowd steering with flow fields
+2,140 −1,876 across pathfinding/
Why it’s hereThe core of the piece. The diff size backs the word “rewrite”.
capture_0412.mp4 — 200 NPCs, old system, market square
0:34 · frame-sampled
Why it’s hereThe “before” half of the key shot. Clipping visible at 0:11 and 0:27.
notes/flowfield-tradeoffs.md
design note, 900 words
Why it’s hereCarries the cost: memory doubled.

03 — The shot

Same square, two builds

The devlog turns on this cut. Your editor gets both frames in the handoff.

Low-poly market square packed with townsfolk clumped and overlapping each other — Fig. 2ExampleBefore — capture_0412.mp4. Two hundred townsfolk, old crowd steering. Bodies pass straight through each other.

The same low-poly market square with townsfolk moving in clean separated lanes around the stalls — Fig. 3ExampleAfter — no clip yet. Same square on flow fields, illustrated from the reviewer’s description. No clip attached yet; the reviewer’s note asks for it.

04 — The script

The script — as written, and as you left it

Both versions are kept, and the difference between them is recorded as an editorial decision.

As generated

Three weeks ago a player posted a clip of our market square. Two hundred NPCs, and half of them were walking through each other. This devlog is about why the fix took a rewrite, not a patch.

As edited · approved

Three weeks ago a player posted a clip of our market square: two hundred NPCs, half of them walking straight through each other. We laughed, then we read the pathfinding code, and then we stopped laughing. This is why the fix was a rewrite, not a patch.

What it took from thatThe reviewer merged the first two sentences and added the “stopped laughing” beat. Recorded as an editorial decision: openings should carry the studio’s self-deprecating tone. The next draft starts from this.

05 — Footage

Footage, and the reviewer’s shot note

The captures attached to the script, and the reviewer’s note on what is still to capture. Your editor gets both in the same link.

Already captured

capture_0412.mp4 — old crowd behaviour, market square, 0:34
flowfield-debug-view.png — engine screenshot, vector overlay on
steam-thread.png — the original bug report, names blurred

Reviewer’s note: still to capture

Written by the reviewer. A beat with no clip stays in the script, empty.

After-shot: 200 NPCs on the new system — Same camera position as capture_0412 so the before/after cuts clean.
Talking head: 20–30s on the memory trade-off — One take, said plainly: “we doubled memory use and decided it was worth it.”

06 — The ask

What the editor is being asked for

Cut a 4–5 minute devlog. The before/after crowd shot is the spine; the script is approved as edited. The reviewer’s note above lists the two shots still to capture, with framing notes.

Mon 09:14GeneratedDraft built from 4 evidence items.
Mon 09:40In reviewSent to reviewer (editor seat).
Mon 16:02Changes requested“Opening is flat — we laughed at this bug before we fixed it. Say that.”
Tue 08:31In reviewRevised opening; tone note recorded.
Tue 11:47ApprovedHandoff generated for the editor.

In your project, corrections you repeat guide later drafts. They do not guarantee a better one.

Yours would be built from your build.

Connect the repo, the captures folder, or the account you post from, and the first one starts from what you shipped last week.

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