#0004: 1 YEAR OF TALES FROM THE OTHER SIDE!
How time flies, huh? Can you believe it's been 1 year since the demo for my silly game released? It's terrifying!
So many things have happened, both good and bad. And while I have to admit development has been a bit slow, I'm still working on the game! This blog will serve to prove that.
So let's get right to it.
CHANGING THE DEMO.
First of all, the demo has been updated, YET AGAIN.
We're working on something that (hopefully) will give the demo more attention, so I got to work in small balance fixes and other things like fixing typos, and a visual indicator for the enemy's patience to make the mechanic a bit more clear.
(The draft of this blog included an explanation of what that means. It was removed because the fun of this game is figuring things out on your own.)
IN ANY CASE, You can take this as an excuse to play the demo once more. IF you do, PLEASE: leave a review of it on steam! It has its own steam page now, and reviews probably help making more people discover it and give it a try.)
WHERE THE DEMO ENDS.
This is the first map you encounter where the demo ends! isn't it cool? All assets here were done by me.
Here's a video with all there is to do there. New things to notice:
It is nothing special, but I figured out it was cool to show. Even more since there's no other new cutscene finished as of today...
WHERE WE'RE GOING.
I present to you, Pinkleon! A pink desert full of ice and lakes of oil. This is where the next chapter of the game takes place.
As you can see, most of the maps needed for the ACT's content has already been made.
Doing maps, music, and dialogue before anything else is how I worked on the demo. It's a good way of messuring everything needed for the game (gameplay-wise). Maps are what define the rhythm and pacing of the story, so it is important to make it right before implementing anything else.
This is also why the maps are so empty, I make the maps first, and then make anything else that goes inside them. If I had to give an order of priority after finishing the maps, it would go like this:
1. Enemies.
2. Enemy encounters.
3. Puzzles.
4. Npcs.
5. Cutscenes.
Cutscenes and npcs are the thing done last since those are easy to implement and do not require as much playtesting. IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT, but I like getting the hard things out of the way first.
Sorry, you're not looking at any scenes or npcs... yet...
WHO WE'LL BE FIGHTING.
Today I present to you, a brand NEW enemy...
THE PSYCHARRIOT
This bad (gender-neutral) boy is a member of the CARRIET GANG! and they're here to do two things: kick ass and chew glass. And They're all out of glass.
Here you can see them in action, with really cool attacks, animations, and soundeffects (all done by me, again).
Also, did you see that really cool battle background? Backgrounds in the original demo were cool, but a bit boring in the long run. I wanted to give them spice. I replayed earthbound looking by inspiration in how to achive interesting backgrounds with my limited coding knowledge, and this is the result. Kind of neat, right?
The background, the new "Free-movement" attacks, and the inclusion of multiple party members made adding new enemies and attacks slower and more complex at first. It involved modifying existing code and systems to take into account future fights. I can only say, fights will be cooler and more fun!... Or at least, I'm trying to do so.
What? You want to see those party members?... uhhhhhhhhh-
WHAT WE'LL BE LISTENING.
Today, I bring some tracks you'll find in ACT 2! Each with a small description to give it some context.
Pink Sand, Blue Ice (preview)
Ah, yes, Pinkleon Sands. I tried to make a theme that was cooler (HA) than Nimbulia's, just to make it clear you'll be in the full game, baby! It has everything you'll need to avoid the dangers of ice and oil.
The Price is RIGHT, THERE! (preview)
This one's fun. A small minigame theme for you to enjoy on a really cool arcade-like game, how fun! you'll be competing with who's in the party at that moment. Just be sure to not be toxic as you both get competitive...
Consumerism Joy (full song!)
A general shop theme. I'm debating if every shop in the game should have its own theme or not, so this might be used in other place rather than in act 2...
OTHER RANDOM THINGS TO NOTE.
Random npcs you'll find in the game, maybe, I'm not sure.
Sprites of some neat buildings. (By perta)
Willzard. (By Eddie)
THAT'S IT, GO HOME.
This is all I have to share for now, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE... IN MY PATREON!
Since 2 people have joined, I decided to justify it by adding some exclusive previews there, including music, a new enemy and more! So, join for that, or wait until I decide to make that info public.
Either way, thanks for reading and playing my silly game! Hopefully this year will be more productive. Act 2 will be finished for sure, so I'll get to do some playtesting. That always makes me happy.
Have a wonderful day, friends! Take care.