Little Square Things
Update for the lab rats
v. 08/23/2019 - The GO TELL YOUR FRIENDS THIS GAME EXISTS update
The update itself basically includes all of this: https://steamcommunity.com/games/945490/announcements/detail/1590254872145166906
That is,
- Many new themes and music
- Working controller bindings
- Better "how-to"s/hints about controls (in e.g. 1-1, 1-4)
More to come.
Happy Squaring!
Update coming this weekend. Here are some images in the meantime:
Not pictured:
- Music, because screenshots are a visual medium
- Controls mapping under the hood, because that's not done just yet
- Things I'm forgetting, because I don't know what they are
September 30: Release of Little Square Things! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
Though "release" isn't too big a deal since I see incremental improvements on the horizon anyway, along the lines of what later stage Early Access has been all about, well after that date. Bigger features will be added post-release if all goes well too.
I happily welcome your feedback before and after release. No issue or suggestion is too small.
It's been a while since the last update, but you can expect one soon. Some features that I'd been working on are big and "all-or-nothing", meaning that I haven't been able to push anything incremental out there for quite some time. Many of those features, unfortunately, are boring but necessary. But here's what you can expect to see in the update:
- Some world themes (anesthetics) are. changed around (e.g. Zed Land has been cut in favor of Block Land, which I personally think is a neat theme)
- "How to Play" will be more useful, but still not too hold-your-handy
- Under-the-hood better support for settings, especially to do with controllers and key/button bindings
- "Big news"! Square Things now has the technology to display 17 colors instead of 16! Amazing!
- Unique music for almost all words (with each to get its own unique music later on)
- Cute surprises and Easter eggs.
Happy Squaring!
v. 07/19/2019 - Out of hiding update
The "to-do" list isn't too terribly long. With some luck and some spare time, a full release will be coming soon!
But don't wait until then -- you can tell all of your friends to grab it right now! Just do it!
v. 06/28/2019 - Greedy update
- Added LST'08 (Legacy) as a DLC! There's a quirk in that, with free games, using the store to grab it launches the main game and adds the DLC to your library. I don't know what to make of that. Please post a comment if you happen to try it and it doesn't work.
- Added more Achievements!
- (And reworked all of the Achievements' icons to match the game's current graphical style.)
- Added the capability to add external level packs, without them having to be compiled in with the game's executable. There aren't any external level packs yet, but still!
- bugfixes
Legacy Little Square Things version coming as a DLC download!
It'll be up in the beta branch first, then to the public later. You may see the DLC option even before it's ready. If you grab it... well, know that it might not be ready.
On the horizon...
Level packs. Inherent support for level packs. That's what's on the horizon. It's in the experimental beta and will make its way to the mainline when it's ready.
After that is DLC level packs. And after that is creating and sharing your own.
I mean, at some point anyway!
v. 06/7/2019 - UX features, and also it's still FREE so tell everybody you know
(Ten times that if we count the suspect ones, but we won't.)
But development isn't finished. A few things have been updated:
- Graphical tweaks and bugfixes. Of course.
- You are your own competition! Levels now show your "Personal best" number of moves to completion. Still working on tweaking the HUD.
- Minor usability things, like being able to hold a direction key to navigate menus rather than having to mash the button to get to where you want to go.
At this point, I'd love to know about even the littlest tweaks and suggestions that you might have. HUD is one pixel too many to the left? Fair game. One of the instruments in World 2's music should be changed? That, too.
Your ideas have made development that much more exciting and have contributed greatly to inching toward making this the best that it can possibly be.
Also, if you like the game, please leave a review and tell your friends.
HEY, LISTEN: Little Square Things is now COMPLETELY FREE! Tell everyone!
Well, let's call it "go tell all of your friends and leave a review if you like it"ware.
Many of you were already "grandfathered in" to the full version, but many were not.
Why the change?
The major reason is that the money is a "nice to have" but ultimately conflicts with my primary goal: getting it out there. In my day job, I make a good part of my living proliferating knowledge.
Similarly, Little Square Things is a passion project at its core, and ultimately I want it to be accessible. I want you to be able to enjoy it as much as I do. So, please do. No strings attached.
Additionally, many of the tools that I use to make the game, levels, graphics and music -- among them are GIMP, Haxe, Tiled, and OpenMPT -- are also free. It just makes sense to make this game free, too.
There have also been some bumps in the pay model. First, DLC flat-out didn't work. Then, a nasty bug within Steam that made the full version free anyway -- which is essentially the straw that broke the camel's back.
Also, marketing is just the worst.
What's the catch?
None, but I humbly request that, if you like the game, you spread the word about it and leave a review.
What if I've already bought the game?
If you'd like a refund, the official channels work best. Steam's refund policy is here: https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/
If that doesn't work, please contact me directly and we can work it out.
You've got the option to save it as a "donation" of sorts, but your under no obligation to do so.
Does this mean that you're abandoning the project?
Not at all. I also plan to release it out of Early Access in a timely manner. This doesn't change the (albeit very loose already) schedule.
Any future plans for monetization?
The base game, the set of 111 levels, is and will continue to be free. There may be level expansion packs in the future, and those may or may not be paid DLC. Ive also talked about additional game modes, like mini games and level editors, which may or may not be paid extras.
That's it! Go enjoy! And please contact me if you run into any problems, and leave feedback, comments, and... reviews.