I'm thrilled to announce 8-Bit Adventures 2 has been selected for Sydney SXSW's Indie Showcase! 🥳
And since this event is in Australia (and in my home state), I (Josh) will be manning the booth in person. And not only that, but our wonderful artist Jerram will also be attending the event! So if you're coming to SXSW in person, please stop by the Indie Showcase and say g'day! 😊
Times (in AEDT) and location are listed below, but for more information, please visit: https://schedule.sxswsydney.com
The event will also be accompanied by a discount on 8-Bit Adventures 2! So if you haven't picked up the game yet, it's a great time to do so 😁
I'm sorry that I've been so quiet recently. I've been trying to balance a lot of spinning plates in the background, and put several plans into motion. So there's a LOT happening that I think you guys are going to enjoy next year - I just can't announce any of it yet 😅
But if you're going to be at Sydney SXSW, I sincerely hope to see you there!
Hi everyone! It's been a little while, but I'm back with a new update to celebrate the Steam Summer Sale! We'll cover the latest deals, some fresh news, and a tiny tease of the future...
But first, I'm excited to announce that 8-Bit Adventures 2 has now sold over 3000 copies! 🥳 It's a solid start, and what's most exciting is that more than a third of those copies were sold *after* the game's launch month.
To me, this shows that 8-Bit Adventures 2 is a game with legs - and that's absolutely thanks to the great word of mouth and positive Steam reviews from players. Thank you all so much for that - your passion and support mean the world to me 🥰
Our next goal is to reach 500 Steam Reviews and receive an Overwhelmingly Positive rating - that way, we'll get more attention from Steam's algorithms. We're already at 114 reviews, so if you enjoyed the game and want to support us, please consider leaving one of your own! 😊
Now, onto the Discounts! (News and Teases are further below)
8-Bit Adventures 2
From now until July 13th at 10am PDT, you can get 8-Bit Adventures 2 for 20% Off ($15.99 USD)!
Finally, you can also get our experimental, short-story RPG Tales Across Time for just $2.39 USD! This game was like a testing ground for ideas I was considering for 8-Bit Adventures 2 after finishing 8BA1.
So what's been going on since we last caught up? Well, there's been great progress with the 8-Bit Adventures 2 console ports going on at Ratalaika Games. In fact, I'll be receiving a new test build in the coming week - which I'm very excited about! 😁
Because I'm not handling the porting process myself, there's not much that I can share beyond that; but there has been a LOT of progress (in the past month especially), so the project is definitely on-track!
Free DLC
What I *have* been working on myself is the upcoming Free DLC for 8-Bit Adventures 2! The sprawling dungeon that this content takes place in has now been completed. It's over 50 Maps in size - divided into 9 Areas across 3 Tiers - and every area is different.
The format of the dungeon is much more open and free-flowing than normal, so I'm excited to see what players think! It even has a town inside it - which you can see just a little of below. It has ties to a location in the main game, so I'm curious to see if anyone recognises it 😉
Sebastian has also been hard at work on some music for the Free DLC, and just recently completed a new boss battle theme which I think chiptune fans are going to really enjoy!
Truth be told, after seven years of development on 8BA2, I've been feeling pretty burnt-out since the Steam release (as well as all the post-launch bug fixing that we did). And this Free DLC ended up being much more ambitious than I originally intended - so I apologise for the wait! But I want to make it as special as I can, as thanks to everyone who's enjoyed the game 😊
Next up I'm working on the boss battles, and then I'll be implementing the story content (which currently exists in Word document form haha). 8BA2's long development taught me the dangers of showing off content too early, so please stay tuned for a proper showcase later this year! But here's a little silhouette tease of the two totally new bosses in the Free DLC 😁
Future Project
Finally, I've also been working on the game design plans for our next project, which two incredible artists have already begun preparing assets for as well! The idea is that we prepare as much as can in pre-production, so that once I'm ready to begin active development, we already have a lot of what we need ready to go 🥳
I won't be able to announce what this project is for a while yet, but the goal is to have a short turn-around on this one (around a year and a half of development), so you probably won't have to wait *too* long 😉
In general, I want to start designing and developing projects which can be released in a much more reasonable space of time (e.g. less than 3 years, as opposed to 8BA2's 7+ years).
That will require a smaller scope than 8-Bit Adventures 2 (at least, in some respects), but my hope is that with a more focused game we can continue to push the production values higher. Don't worry about a lesser or altered experience though - I definitely want to keep making more story-driven, Japanese-style RPGs with turn-based combat and a World Map! I just want to find a way to do it that provides more regular content for players, and doesn't totally consume my life haha.
All of this will depend on my finances - as most things sadly do - but I'll do my best! 😁 ~Josh
- Fixed a typo just before the first Airship Battle, and on the Titan Soul accessory description.
- Fixed a bug which was causing the game to crash upon Game Over (seemingly due to recent changes to our shader system).
- Fixed a bug which would sometimes cause weapons with lower stats to be selected for Charlie when using the Optimize function in the Equipment menu.
8-Bit Adventures 2 Discounted in LudoNarraCon Sale!
8-Bit Adventures 2 was selected to participate in this year's LudoNarraCon sale - a wonderful event celebrating narrative games on Steam!
This time, everything is 20% Off! That means you can get 8-Bit Adventures 2 for just $15.99 USD, the 8-Bit Adventures 2 soundtrack for $7.99 USD, or the Game + Soundtrack Bundle for $23.99 USD!
The discounts won't be getting any lower for quite a while, so be sure you don't miss out on a great deal! Sale ends on May 11th at 10am PDT.
8-Bit Adventures 2 recaptures the charm, heart, and soul of the Golden Age of JRPGs – in an all-new adventure which doesn’t rehash the classics, but celebrates the NES, SNES, and PS1 eras!
It has an 86 score on Metacritic, a 90 score on OpenCritic, and a Very Positive rating from over 100 reviews on Steam. So if you love story-driven games, please check it out!
Please check out the full LudoNarraCon sale and exhibition at the link below, and show the great folks at Fellow Traveller your support!
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/ludonarracon
If you've already purchased and enjoyed 8-Bit Adventures 2, then we'd sincerely appreciate it if you could take a moment to leave a review here on Steam. If we can reach 500 Reviews, then we'll gain an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, which will have a massive impact on our visibility.
So if you'd like to support our work, that's a great way to do so! Beyond that, word of mouth is everything to an indie, so sharing our game with friends or on social media is also a big help!
Behind-the-scenes, Sebastian (the composer) and I are working on the game's Free DLC. The DLC dungeon has ended up being a little over 50 maps in size, so I might've gone a little too far in some places haha. But it's all going well!
I've also been getting things figured out and set into place for a new project, so that's been taking up a lot of my time. It won't be announced for a while, but I'm hoping that this top secret project will have a relatively quick development.
And rest assured, progress is being made on the console versions of 8-Bit Adventures 2 as well! I just spoke to the porting company a few days ago, and while there have been some challenges (mainly in regards to performance optimisation), work is proceeding apace.
So even though I've been quiet this past month, please know that exciting things are happening! ;) ~Josh
P.S. For anyone who missed it, I also plan to add the April Fools' Day boss fight back into the game in a future update - although he'll be a little more hidden this time. So please keep an eye out!
- Made changes to the game's shader system in order to fix a unique bug which was preventing a customer from running the game.
April Fools' Day 8-Bit Adventures 2 Update!
Happy April Fools’ Day everyone!
I wanted to do something special to celebrate, so the latest update include two special features – alongside the usual list of fixes.
If you visit one of the game’s many towns, you might notice that things look…well, a little different to normal.
And if you’ve completed the game, then taking a trip to the Frozen North in your Airship may reveal a special, spectral boss fight…
For anyone just trying to play the game normally, I apologise if this causes you any trouble. The changes to the towns and the extra boss will ONLY be available to players for 1 day (until midnight on April Fools’ Day in PST).
This was something that I can only do while the game’s exclusive to PC (as updating on console is much more complicated), so I hope it gives everyone a chuckle =) I’d love to know if you beat the boss!
In addition to the foolish festivities, this update also makes some further changes:
- Fixed a minor treasure chest bug in the Cliffside Ruins.
- Fixed a typo in the Final Dungeon.
- Nerfed Sunder HP a little more (from 12% to 10% of a foe's current HP), and fixed the incorrect description.
- Nerfed the Zero Sabre a bit more, reducing its Critical Hit chance from 50% to 25%, and its Attack power from 23 to 16. I've been trying to find a good balance with this weapon (as it can be incorporated very effectively in certain builds), so hopefully this is it!
- Changed the text directing players to the Leviathan's Lair to make its location a little more clear. Hope everyone has a great weekend! ~Josh
Update for March 17th 2023
- Fixed a collison bug in the the Forgotten Town.
- Fixed a typo during a cutscene in an Arena.
- Adjusted the power of the All-Seeing Idol.
- Fixed a bug in the Maze of Memory which could result in a sudden Game Over when transitioning between K.Oed party members.
- Reduced the Critical Hit chance of the Zero Sabre weapon from 60% to 50%.
- Reduced Sunder HP's damage from 15% of a foe's current HP to 12% of a foe's current HP.
- Fixed a collision issue in the Time-Space Mansion.
- Fixed an issue which could cause a Game Over to appear shortly after entering the Glade.
Spring Sale Steam Discounts for the 8-Bit Adventures Series!
The Steam Spring Sale is on now, and if you're an RPG fan who hasn't yet played 8-Bit Adventures 2, now's a great time to pick it up on a discount!
I've been absolutely thrilled with the immensely positive response the game has received - from an 86 on Metacritic, to a 90 on OpenCritic, to our Very Positive rating on Steam.
If you love the kind of games that Square and Enix were producing on the NES, SNES, and PS1, then you’re the type of player that 8-Bit Adventures 2 was made for!
8-Bit Adventures 2
From now until March 23rd at 10am PDT, you can get 8-Bit Adventures 2 for 20% Off ($15.99 USD)!
And while anyone can jump into the sequel without any prior experience, I've learnt over the last month that a lot of players really want to get the full story.
So for the next week, you can also get 8-Bit Adventures 1 for 60% Off ($3.99 USD)!
If you love classic Japanese-style RPGs, then I sincerely hope you'll take a look at 8-Bit Adventures 2 and our other games!
For existing players, I'll be releasing a minor bug fix and balance adjustment update very soon. And on the horizon, we also have the Free DLC that I'm working on - as well as the console versions! But more on all that in the coming months ;) ~Josh
It's been one month since 8-Bit Adventures 2 launched on Steam & GOG 🥳
Honestly, writing that feels a little surreal! Thank you so, so much to everyone who has supported the game in that time 🥰
While we're still working towards financial sustainability, the response from players and reviewers has been incredible. We've had 77 reviews from players on Steam so far, and achieved a Very Positive rating! This has really helped us a lot; I noticed that Steam started sharing the game a lot more when we initially hit Positive, and then again at Very Positive. So a massive thanks to everyone who's taken the time to share their thoughts! They've been a genuine joy to read 😊
And now, thanks to a new review from RPGFan (check it out by clicking on the link), we've also achieved an OpenCritic Rating of Mighty (the highest a game can receive), placing us near the top of their Best Video Games of 2023 list.
And that's not all! We've also received a Metacritic Score of 87, which should appear on the Steam page soon too 🥳
But most of all, I've been especially grateful for the people who have reached out and told me how much they've enjoyed the game - whether for its story, its characters, its music, its visuals, its combat, its sense of exploration, etc. It's been incredibly humbling and gratifying, and so I just wanted to express my gratitude. The community around 8-Bit Adventures 2 has been absolutely wonderful to interact with, and that's thanks to all of you 😊
I'm thrilled to say that, as of February 9th, 8-Bit Adventures 2 has been classified as Steam Deck Verified by Valve! It was totally out-of-the-blue, but since so many players were asking about Deck compatibility, I'm really glad that it happened so soon after launch.
I've also now had many reports from players that the game is working really well on the Steam Deck! So if that's your preferred platform, 8-Bit Adventures 2 is ready and waiting for you 🥳
Text Speed Options
One of the most requested additions to 8-Bit Adventures 2 since its release was more text speed options. And I'm happy to say that these were included in the February 16th Update!
While the way the game is set-up made large changes difficult, we were able to take feedback on-board and incorporate some new features.
First off, you no longer need to hold the Confirm button to speed up the text; one simple press will speed it up now. Additionally, the speed up function will now cut off at the end of the current text box, preventing you from accidentally skipping through multiple boxes.
Finally, a new Option has been added, allowing the player to choose between Normal text speed and Fast text speed. Essentially, the Fast text speed makes our current optional speed-up function automatic and always on. I still recommend Normal text speed, as this is timed with the choreography of cutscenes, and provides a stronger narrative experience in my view. But for anyone who wanted faster text, I hope these options address your concerns!
Please note that, while the speed-up function has been thoroughly tested, the Fast text speed system may have some unforeseen issues in certain cutscenes. They should only be minor issues at most, but if you run into any, please do let me know!
Community Guides
I wanted to take a moment to shout-out two members of the community who created some excellent guides for players. Note that both guides contain spoilers!
The first is the Court Room Guide by the awesome dragon_blade. This guide will help you to achieve a "Not Guilty!" verdict, and gain the best possible rewards. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2928255212 And the second is "Augments and You, a Party Build guide" by the wonderful SupahVi! She'll teach you one way to build a super-powered RPG party in 8-Bit Adventures 2, including Augments to Equip and character combinations to use. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2929560492 Thanks to dragon_blade and SupahVi for creating these for the community! 😊
Bug Fixes and Updates
Over the past month, Sufyan (our programmer) and I have fixed dozens of bugs reported to us by the community. Thank you very much for all of your feedback; it's been a big help. In fact, as of this past weekend, we've finally exhausted the list of reported bugs! So the game should be incredibly solid at this point (famous last words 😋).
This included everything from the addition of an ultimate Axe weapon that had been accidentally left out of the game, to balance changes and bug fixes (including one fight that became unwinnable if you followed a particular order of actions), to an additional shop added before a boss fight, to an overhaul of the turn-speed calculations to make sure that every build was viable and enemies weren't getting an unfair number of turns.
If you want to see what's changed, please check out the patch notes on the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Steam Community!
Interviews
Finally, I wanted to share a couple of new interviews with everyone!
First off, we have an interview that our composer Sebastian Cruz did with the DeltronZ Youtube Channel, all about composing for 8-Bit Adventures 2:
Del has been a massive supporter of the game. He interviewed me in late January, and has actually been doing a full playthrough of 8-Bit Adventures 2, which is really enjoyable! But the interview with Sebastian is really good, and I highly recommend it - even I learnt some new things! 🥰
And then we also have another new interview that I recorded LIVE with NinjaGuyX and Gladiator50n on Youtube:
It was a ton of fun, and I think we talked about some interesting topics (including the future), so I hope that anyone interested might enjoy checking it out.
Finally, there's a written interview I did with Kosuke Seki from a media outlet in Japan called Game*Spark! It's entirely in Japanese, but for any fluent speakers, I thought you might find it interesting: https://www.gamespark.jp/article/2023/02/28/127507.html
A big thanks to Del, NinjaGuyX, Gladiator50n, and Kosuke for getting in touch and making these happen. I really appreciate the support 😊
Thanks so much for reading this update everyone! As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to share them on the Steam forum, on Twitter, via my email (josh@criticalgames.com.au), or by joining up to our Discord linked below (which has a great RPG-loving community)!
Finally, I mentioned last time that there's a hint towards the Free DLC in the game already, but I've only seen a couple of people mention it so far 😉 ~Josh
