It’s been a while, so here’s a new Progress Report/Road Map Update. This is just some of what we’ve been up to since the last update.

Factory – Daunasal

In the last update we talked about our work on Daunasal Island which houses the biggest city in the game. The depths of Daunasal also contains one of the biggest “dungeons” as well: the GloboCorp Factory. A significant amount of our work has been on getting this area complete and we are just about finished with it. There are a lot of new mechanics in the factory and luckily our engine was able to deal with them without any major issues. We still have a few things left though: coding the main boss and a couple background and foreground assets.

Mini-Games – Daunasal

We have finished two mini-games that you can access in Daunasal. One of them is mandatory and used as a computer security system you’ll need to crack in order to access certain areas. The other is optional and just for fun. If you’ve played TAG you’ll recognize them, but they’ve both been enhanced with new mechanics and tweaks. I hope to be able to add at least one brand new mini-game, as well, but no promises!

Based on the work we’ve done in Daunasal (and what we have left) I’m bumping this area to 80%

80% (previously 60%)

Tomba

Tomba is an island unlike any other in the game. It’s home to the odd and mysterious race of mushroom people. It also has my favorite dungeon (and favorite mechanics) in the game. I’m currently in the process of building levels and coding mechanics for this dungeon, but Christine (art) has finished ALL the assets we’ll need for it (including enemy animations). Allison (animation) has finished a couple of the more complex NPC animations and still has a few more of the simpler ones to do.

50% (previously 20%)

NPC Assets

We brought Allison on mainly to knock out the rest of the NPC animations we’ll need and she’s been kicking ass. Her contributions to the game have already greatly enhanced the look of the game and we’re always psyched when we get to see what she’s been working on. These animations are very time consuming, though and there’s still quite a few left to do, so for now I’m going to bump this up to 75% on the Road Map.

75% (previously 70%)

Poveglia

This is the last island! Yes, both the last island you’ll come across while playing AND the last island we have to create (well, there might be one more secret “island”). The fact that we’re finally beginning to work on Poveglia is a huge milestone. It truly feels like we’re getting close to the end. I’ve previously built some levels that used assets from earlier in the game but now Christine is working on the area-specific assets as well. Poveglia is a frozen, haunted, wasteland. It contains two dungeons and two bosses. We have our work cut out for us, but for now I’m going to mark this area as 40% done.

35% (previously 30%)

Player Mechanics – Sprinting

I didn’t have any plans on adding a sprint mechanic for the player, but after getting some feedback from a playtester I decided to give it a shot. Now that it’s in the game I can’t imagine playing without it. It’s very satisfying to be able to quickly dash through an area I could only meander through before. I’m not 100% sure when the player will get access to sprinting but I think it’ll be early in the game. While we’re on the topic of player mechanics I’ll just mention that there I’ve also implemented a couple new ones that weren’t in TAG. I’m going to keep them under wraps for now as they are going to be secrets for you to discover on your own.

Because these new mechanics were unplanned I’m going to leave the road-map at 90% for now. Once we reach Beta I’ll feel comfortable bumping this to 100%, though

90% (previously 90%)

MAGFest and IndieCade East

Lastly I wanted to mention that we showed TAW at MAGFest and IndieCade East this spring. Both events went really well. The game plays so well that I can be completely hands off and just let the players enjoy the game on their own. It’s very satisfying. I get to sit back and watch how people play the game, where they get stuck, what makes them smile, etc. It leads to me taking a lot of notes and making changes and tweaks to the game. Making these changes has taken up some of my time this spring, but the game is much better off for it.

I also want to share a quick story. If you’ve been to MAGFest you’ll know that there are events going on all night long. I decided to leave the game running on the floor  for 24 hours. Late one night (around 2AM) after the chip-tune show, I walked into the Indie Showcase hall and saw a group of about 6 people gathered around my booth. One of them was playing while her friend excitedly  cheered her on, gave advice, etc. They were laughing and having a genuinely good time. They had no idea that the developer was watching them. Seeing this gave me emotions that I can’t even describe. I  may have teared up a little. The game typically gets great feedback at shows but I never know if people are just being nice to me or are giving me their true opinions. This was real, though. Thinking about how much joy my game could give to people makes this long crazy journey totally worth it.

Thanks for reading and for your continued support. Until next time!