Yup, it's been 3 years, and pretty much minimal updates for the game since then.
But that doesn't mean the anniversary shouldn't be celebrated! After all, the PalmRide franchise is still in development, with our newest installment that's gonna be released next year, PalmRide: After Flight.
This being said, PalmRide will be on a 60% discount September 16-22. This will be the highest discount of the game so far, and probably the highest discount the game will ever have.
Also, we'll organize another giveaway on our Discord server giving away 10 PalmRide keys this time, so make sure to join our community!
Enjoy unique designs by ✨ SilviuShader ✨(actually, most of them are just PalmRide achievement icons, slightly modified, but ehh).
There is also a 25% discount if you buy merch before 1st of July!
That's about it for this PalmRide update.
If you haven't already, please head over to PalmRide: After Flight, the spiritual successor of this game, and give it a wishlist & follow. The game is turning out surprisingly well actually (even though the Steam page of the game is a bit outdated... something to be taken care of).
PalmRide: After Flight - Steam page created!
Now PalmRide: After Flight finally has a Steam page!
And then wait for me to actually finish making this game!
Working on the demo! And then the full game! Exciting times!
That's it for now, keep an eye out for updates!
PalmRide: After Flight! New game - the name was chosen!
A few days ago I asked you to vote the name of the new game on Discord. The results are in, and it seems that PalmRide: After Flight is the winner!
One option very close in terms of votes was Vecter: Retro Horizon which would've been a really interesting choice. If that was chosen, I guess I would've been responsible for the future of the Vecter franchise.
Now that PalmRide: After Flight was chosen, I am still responsible for the PalmRide franchise. Which is a good thing because it allows for more flexibility in terms of lore and how the world of the game behaves.
That's it, great victory! I want to thank everyone who voted on the polls for the name! Now that the name was settled, I will begin working on the Steam page of the game!
New game! You get to choose the name!
In the previous post I talked about a new game that I am currently working on codename "StarRide".
I'm preparing to make a Steam page for that game, so I need to settle on a name.
There is a poll on the Discord server where I suggested multiple options for the name of the game. It would help me a lot if you voted your favorite options! Or suggest any name that you think would be suitable.
PalmRide, The Galaxy Rider, new game??????? - Merry Christmas, everyone!
Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for staying with us during the past couple of years. It's almost Christmas and PalmRide has been on Steam for mor than two years now (Now you got the chance to get that Christmas achivement).
For me personally, 2023 has been quite an interesting year in terms of game development. No update was made to PalmRide and no new game was released, BUT I can't underestimate the journey I went though this year as a game developer.
This 1-minute video summarizes the gamedev projects that I have worked on in 2023 (mostly stuff for college, remember that I'm a masters student):
Besides gamedev/ programing, I also changed a lot as a person in 2023, from adopting a more "grinder" mindset to discovering more philosophical concepts and learning more about Christianity. Anyway, this is not what the post is about, these things can be discussed on the Discord server.
You may remember The Galaxy Rider, the Crazy Taxi-like synthwave space game which I officially announced back in 2022 and created a Steam page for in 2023. Since the page was created, both my interest in the game but also community's interest started to fade away, so, during October I announced on Discord that I will stop working on that game for a while and instead focus on creating an experience that resembles PalmRide more.
The choice to postpone The Galaxy Rider was amplified by the fact that I struggled a lot with the spaceship movement, world generation and overall, I couldn't make the game fun. Until these problems are solved as I get better at game development, the game will remain postponed.
I then started prototyping with a retro Synthwave Star Fox-like game and I found myself quite enjoying it. I ditched Unity in favour of Raylib + EnTT and so far I'm enjoying this minimalistic way of making games. That drive I had when making PalmRide pretty much disappeared after the game had been released, and although I tried making games in the meantime, it kinda felt soulless in a way. This is how the things have been until I started this new game that I'm talking about.
Let's call this new game "StarRide" for a moment, as it currently don't have an official name. This is how the game looks like at the time of writing this post:
It's not much (but it's honest work hahahahaha using antique memes), but this features movement, world and biomes generation, path generation, path following, enemy systems, shooting systems, health systems and a few custom shaders for making the game look retro. This prototype was started in October, and now in December it's in a pretty decent state considering that I didn't work full time on this.
If things work out good, I might release the Steam page for this game during January or February 2024. Again, the name of the game was not set, so if you want, you might give me a name suggestion on the Discord server.
When I switched from Unity to Raylib + EnTT, I realized something: I'm bad at making games using game engines lol. The thing is, I'm much better at implementing my own functionalities into a game rather than modifying existing ones to suit my needs. I don't want to say that engines are bad, they aren't, it's just that I am more comfortable with implementing functionalities from scratch.
That being said, I may pick up again The Galaxy Rider in the future, but implement it without a high-level game engine, and instead use frameworks such as Raylib or MonoGame instead.
I now realize that I turned this Merry Christmas message intro an announcement/ devlog/ story post, but whatever... the more content, the better, right?
I want to again wish you Merry Christmas along with family and friends, and let's enjoy some games & synths in 2024!
October Discount
During October 2 - 9, PalmRide will be on a 24% discount!!! In simple terms, this means more game for less money.
Unfortunately, I've been really busy during the past couple of months and couldn't celebrate PalmRide's anniversary properly! This discount can be treated as my apology for this! Don't worry, the game will be PROPERLY celebrated next year.
So yeah, enjoy cheaper endless runner s y n t h w a v e retro pixel driving game.
THE GALAXY RIDER NOW HAS A STREAM PAGE !!!
About one year ago I (SilviuShader) wrote a post about the development timeline of PalmRide, and the announcement of our upcoming game, The Galaxy Rider.
For those who don't remember, The Galaxy Rider is a space game where you are a space taxi driver who takes people from one planet to another.
Since that post, I think the game was started all over again from scratch about 3 times..... I know.... but now it's finally on the right path and it's got a Steam page.
The first times, the game design objectives weren't so clear, and the implementation of the game we started was too complex for us to maintain, so the architecture of the game was pretty much replaced.
As for the game design objectives, we now have a much clear picture of what the game is going to end up being (aka we are copying Crazy Taxi and slapping a Synthwave skin on top).
As you can already tell, this post ain't about PalmRide, it's about The Galaxy Rider.
Here are some screenshots with the game:
Woo, a game!
A space game wow!
Driving underwater, nice!
As you can see from the screenshots, the game is still very early and it will take a while until we actually make it look good, but the Steam page is still one step closer to release.
Make sure to Wishlist and Follow the game, this really helps us a lot.
Alright, that's it for this update!
Steam Deck Native Port + Dev.Play
Steam Deck Native Port
It'ssssssssssss here!
The game should now work properly on Linux, and of course, THE STEAM DECK!
You may be saying "Why did you port it? Didn't you say that you have no desire to work on the game anymore?". That is true, but in the meantime, I started being a full-time indie developer, which forced me to make some decisions. I decided that I would continue working on PalmRide just so I can get it in a more "final" state.
So yeah, enjoy PalmRide on the Steam Deck and any other Linux device. :)
!!!! It doesn't work with Proton, you need to force it to use the native game!!!
Dev.Play
For those who don't know, Dev.Play is an Eastern European conference where game developers meet, attend workshops and talk to publishers.
This year, the event takes place in Bucharest, so if you come, there is a good chance we'll meet.
The game is now on a 50% discount due to Dev.Play, and it is also featured on the Dev.Play sale page (you should see it on the front page of Steam). This 50% discount will last a week.
Clujotronic
Clujotronic? Ja! Clujotronic? Ja!
A few weeks ago, I attended Clujotronic, where PalmRide was showcased on a computer. I am thankful to everyone who played and liked the game @ Clujotronic, it was nice meeting you, guys!
(please ignore the typo, the sign should've said "PalmRide" instead of "Palm Ride")
Patch notes
The last PalmRide update is pretty minor.
Changes:
Cloud Saves probably work now.
Migrated the project to .NET 6 instead of .NET Core 3.1 (this shouldn't impact the game much, but if it does reveal bugs, please let me know)
Upgraded the external dependencies that PalmRide relies on (MonoGame, NAudio, Spectrogram, Discord SDK, Steamworks API)
Fixed bug where you couldn't change the name of the player unless you explicitly clicked on the text box.
