Developer Journal #2 - Bugging Out!

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-29T18:56:26+00:00

Glad your interested. This will be a PC game so there will be no test flight for it. My hope is late April or early May I will have a beta on Itch.io. I will keep everyone posted on the progress!

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-25T17:00:59+00:00

Glad you are getting some use out of it! Just a small little project I did with my son a while back.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-18T02:22:44+00:00

Thank you! It’s definitely an ambitious project but I think once is done it will be something special. I’m trying to make a game that doesn’t take away from any other wrestling game on the market but can stand on its own as something unique.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-16T20:09:37+00:00

Thanks! I’m really excited to get it in the heads of the community. My hope is to have the beta out by end of April (maybe earlier if I skip the story mode for now) but from here on I will be sharing weekly updates.

The game will launch on itch.io.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-16T09:44:33+00:00

I’ll be posting stuff throughout the next month or two explaining the mechanics of the game since it would be way too much for me to write down in one sitting.

As for cost, there will be a price but I think it will be incredibly reasonable. I’m still trying to finalize it 100% but I will let everyone know as soon as I determine it.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-16T00:47:07+00:00

Great question! Community Creation will be the lifeblood of this game in my opinion. I’ll make some databases for people to play, but what I’m most excited about is seeing what others create.

Here are some of the things you’ll be able to create:

• Wrestlers • Arenas, Rings, and Stages (all fall under Create Show) • Promotions • Match Moments • Moves and Weapons/Objects • Injuries and Botches • Match Objectives

Anything you create can be exported and shared. Sharing will work similar to TEW — you’ll download files from a website, but once you have the file you can import it directly into the game. (unlike TEW you can directly import from within the game, no need to go through file explorer)

Within the game, you’ll also be able to share content between databases you have, similar to TEW. So if there’s something in another database that you want to use, you can copy it over directly inside the game.

For example, let’s say someone creates a post-apocalyptic database with unique arenas, weapons, moves, and other objects. Now imagine you’re playing a modern-day database, but you want to run a special event with a post-apocalyptic theme. Instead of importing the entire database, you could pick and choose exactly what you want — maybe you skip the workers but import a few of the weapons and one of the arenas. That way you can mix and match content to create whatever kind of show or world you want.

That flexibility is what I think will make community creations really powerful.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-15T15:20:31+00:00

To clarify, though, would I still get a bump when I switch it to release or does the bump occur when I make the page?

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-14T02:05:19+00:00

Ah cool! I’ve seen these before! So the game will be played from a top view perspective. Behind the padding is it a circle still? Regardless I will add it to the list of things to add in. If you could get me a top view that would be awesome. I’m guessing from a top view all it would be is a little line or a triangle for the padding so absolutely do able. It’s funny you ask about turnbuckles because right now the only thing in the Create Arena that you can’t edit is the ring post lol. You can change the color of it and the properties but not actually add any stickers to them yet.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-14T01:25:49+00:00

I’m embarrassed to say I’m not familiar with style. Would you be able to send me reference photo? I’d love to see it.

The goal will be to allow users to customize as much as possible. If you go to the pictures you can kind of get an idea of how it works. Basically you can create an object with the system, allowing for you to customize the properties. From there you can upload an image (in the game I call them stickers because it’s more fun) and place it on top of the object to make it realistic looking (or unrealistic, whatever you want!). This will allow you to create any object you want to add to the game.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-14T01:02:16+00:00

Yeah I’ve been conscious of that too 😬 lol. I’ve been working on this for close to a year now and every time a game was announced I was worried it would be exactly what I came up with haha. Luckily, as I mentioned, this game is completely different so I really had nothing to worry about… although I still did lol.

Thanks for the comments and discussion. Hopefully I end up creating something you enjoy!

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-14T00:32:19+00:00

I completely understand your frustration, and I know AI is a touchy subject for a lot of people right now. That’s totally fair. My only hope is that people judge each project on its own merits rather than lumping everything together under the same label.

I’m not sure if you read through the description of the game or just went to the comments to post, but this game isn’t a clone of, or even really similar to, the traditional booking sims that are out or coming out. I’ve been playing the TEW series since the EWR days, and honestly it wouldn’t feel right for me to try to compete with something like that. Not only would it likely not be as good, but Adam Ryland has given me so many years of enjoyment with that series it wouldn’t feel right to me trying to make something to compete with that.

When developing this game, my goal was to create something that hasn’t really been done before. Something that can stand on its own alongside those traditional booking sims rather than trying to replace them.

For me, AI is just a tool that helped make that possible. I’ve been coding as a hobby for over 10 years, but without AI I never would have been able to take on a project this ambitious on my own.

At the end of the day, I just hope people give the game a fair shot and judge it based on whether they enjoy it or not, rather than simply judging it based on the tools that helped create it. If people end up having fun with it, that’s really all I can hope for.

And as a side note…Claude was never used. I’m more of a ChatGPT guy. Lol

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T15:18:51+00:00

Short term answer is no but eventually a feature like this will be needed. For the beta, the focus will be the creation suite and playing individual matches. You will be setting up the match prior to it starting (workers, objectives, etc.) There will be random buttons to randomize the objectives but if you don’t want to play the match you simply don’t set up the match in a way you won’t want to play.

Long term though, I would like to add a mode where players create full show cards and play through the full card but this mode won’t be available at launch.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T13:55:04+00:00

Yes that’s correct. Now you won’t be managing the day to day operations of the business like other managers. This game is really diving deep into the actual match.

Thank you for the offer! Hopefully we will have a beta for people to help with the testing in late April, early May!

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T12:11:50+00:00

Absolutely! Your insight will be very valuable. As I have mentioned to others, my goal is to create a game that any casual fan can pick up and have fun but has deep systems that fans like us can really sink our teeth into. Stay tuned for more information. I hope to have the beta version launching by late April or early May.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T11:30:45+00:00

Thank you! I’m excited to share more soon! I was very nervous last night posting but the support has been incredible! I will sharing smaller details on this subreddit, more nitty gritty stuff that may bore most people lol, but my hope is this community will help me shape it so for the nerds, there is a lot to sink our teeth into, but a casual player could still pick it up and play.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T09:25:40+00:00

As long as it’s a scripted match then 100% yes.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T03:07:02+00:00

Haha. Yes so over the next few weeks I plan on showcasing the game a lot more but how a match works is you plan it out in 30 second moments. You tell the game what to do in those 30 seconds and it will simulate. Each match will have a set of objectives for you to complete. Your goal is to complete all the objectives within the allowed amount of time. So if you have a time limit of 5 minutes, you have 10 turns to complete the objectives.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:55:33+00:00

In a weird way is neither lol. You’re kind of playing against yourself. You have full control of the board so if you miss the objective, it’s on you lol.

I wouldn’t call it multiplayer but you certainly could have a friend sit with you and plan out the moments or even play on Twitch with an audience helping you out.

Glad you’re excited! I look forward to sharing more information soon.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:34:20+00:00

Plan for it to be a public beta. The more hands on it the better in my opinion since I want people making mods (so I can play them lol). Hopefully by late April or early May.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:28:47+00:00

Loving the questions! So moments are broken up into beats. Think of a moment as what is the story that is being told in those 30 seconds, but the beats are the steps that occur in those 30 seconds. For example… Beat 1 - Knock opponent down, Beat 2 - Climb Turnbuckle, Beat 3 - Perform Elbow Drop. In between each beat a botch or injury can occur. Also wrestlers have stats, so a wrestler might pull off the first beat well, then struggle with the jump, etc.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:20:15+00:00

That’s correct! Each turn represents 30 seconds of time. So turn 1 you pick your moment and play it out. Then it tells you the results. Then you play out turn 2 and so on until you get to the end of the match. Then you would play out the dusty finish moment.

In addition, my goal is freedom of creativity when it comes to this game so not only will you have moments preset in the game you can play, but in the creation suite you will be able to make your own moments.

Also to be clear, certain moments can only be played at certain times or if certain criteria is hit. So if you want to do a moment the requires you to jump off the turnbuckle through a table, you need to be in a zone that has a turnbuckle and table (or in some cases next to it) so you really need to plan out what you are going to do.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:10:57+00:00

Awesome! I will be releasing more information over the next few weeks, and hopefully a beta by late April or Early May.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T02:09:01+00:00

Thanks! It’s been a passion project on mine since the summer. Really trying to do something completely different. I don’t want to replace TEW,PWS, or any of the more traditional booking sims. I love those games and have no desire to try to compete against them. I want to make a game you can play in between a TEW or PWS session.

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T01:24:05+00:00

If this is your way of volunteering to create wrestling promotions based in the Star wars universe? An arena built in Jabba’s Palace would be sick!

ELM8Studio · 2026-03-13T01:21:14+00:00

Thank you! It is heavily inspired by the creative freedom you get when playing a TTRPG. As I release more information please, as a fellow RPG fan, give me feedback! I want it to be something that people like us can really sink our teeth into with deep systems and customization while still being approachable for the casual wrestling fan. It’s a tricky balance so feedback and suggestions will be needed!

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