Today begins an exciting new chapter for Rotund Rebound. We've got several big announcements to cover, so let's jump into it!
Going Official With New Media!
[previewyoutube="OlRdURQpe0A;rightthumb"] Things are fast picking up for Rotund Rebound, and in that spirit we've released a new announcement trailer! Technically the game was softly announced in 2018 and has had an "early teaser" trailer for about a year, but we're well past that stage. Time to put our best foot forward with official gameplay footage!
Other new media includes that snazzy box art at the top of this post and refreshed screenshots. You can now find those and everything Rotund Rebound at rotundrebound.com, a sleek new hub for the game.
Rotund Rebound Is On Discord!
For Rotund Rebound we'd really like to encourage a fun and helpful community centered around friendly competition, video sharing and strat discussion. We've also been wanting a way to deliver some fun exclusive content straight to those who want it. We're honestly pretty new to the whole Discord thing, but it seems like a perfect fit for these goals. Hope to see you there!
Rotund Zero Available Now!
[previewyoutube="DBc3-SBn2GM;rightthumb"] We've teased a GameBoy-styled Rotund game a couple times, and here it is at last!
Rotund Zero features precision platforming on a 5-minute countdown, uniquely dynamic gameplay through randomly shuffled handcrafted levels, and a retro handheld-inspired world of weirdness!
Rotund Rebound won't be finished for awhile yet, so what better way to kick off our Discord-exclusive content than with something fun to play and discuss in the meantime? It's FREE on Windows, macOS, and Linux, so come on into the server and get your download key!
Rotund Report March 2020
In these dark times, a lot of game devs are showing their quality by joining in sales, holding special events, giving games away for free to those who could really use them right now, and so on. It's inspiring to see, and we'd like to join in the effort by... doing... uh, something.
...
Yeah. When you're still developing what's essentially your debut title, there really isn't much to offer the world in its time of crisis. But if you're excited for or interested in Rotund Rebound and its corpulent critters, maybe an open and verbose update on how things are going will bring you a bit of joyful distraction. It's really all we have just now (and it's long overdue as it is), so here we go!
It has been a long time.
I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking this project was silently canceled (or is just moving very slowly), but that couldn't be farther from the truth. We've pretty much been crunching since last April, and plan to continue doing so until the game is done. Honestly, it's a giggle to think we previously had to push back our release date from this very month; little did we know at the time, there was no way we could have made it by then.
There are a couple reasons for this. We're reasonably competent workers, and progress rolls along pretty smoothly, but one of the first rules of game dev is that everything takes longer than it should. And when you're making a great game instead of a good game, everything takes even longer than the longer time it should have taken. I'm sure this could be formatted into a fun math equation, but you get the picture.
Another reason is SO much time goes into places that don't even have a "should take this long" attached, like platform features/porting/testing and marketing research. We've taken to saying that properly releasing a game is even harder than making one. ;P
You probably guessed things are running a bit behind schedule. Will we be making that "Mid 2020" release date?
No, we won't. We were gonna say so alongside more exciting news, but might as well get this out in the open now: the game's target release date has shifted to January 21st, 2021.
We really (and I mean really) wanted to make it happen this year, but when a soft July target looked to be falling through we knew we didn't want to launch amidst the holiday months, and when we considered all that still needed doing, January seemed like the safest bet to actually make good on the release date this time. Schedules are always subject to change (especially with the state of the world just now), but we decided this a few months ago and still feel good about it now.
That may sound like a long ways off, but we don't intend to remain quiet for the duration. We've been putting a lot of time into a plan to bring you frequent updates about the game and its development alongside other fun content, and had strongly intended to launch said plan this month, but due to circumstances... yeah, it's delayed too. It's coming though, and with it we're excited for you to finally play this fun little gem that's been waiting to release for a long time now.
The good news about all this is we truly believe it will be worth the wait.
Even as we crunch and are constantly on the fringe of burn out, we love this game and still have a blast whenever we test play. It's come so far from the little sequel we were planning back when it started, and despite its challenging gameplay we see all the potential for it to become a new classic among platform games. That's not a sales pitch by the way, just me speaking sincerely. It's an exciting project and we can't wait to properly share it with you.
But what about improperly sharing? Well, we don't want to spoil too much before the time is right, but here are some more sneaky peeks in the meantime.
So, just how far along is the game now?
Still a ways to go, but we've advanced far beyond the game's first world--far enough to have introduced all of the items, enemies and obstacles in the game. We'll be wanting to run it by some more test players soon, but we're quite happy with how things have turned out and are really digging the core gameplay loop as more worlds come together. Gameplay time is looking to be quite substantial. Especially if you want 100%, and very especially if you want to set good level times everywhere. It's a real beast!
Also, Rotund Rebound was approved for a new platform a few months back. Exciting though it is, we've refrained from mentioning it "officially" as we feel it will be more exciting alongside some other announcements and a new trailer, so for now it's a secret to everybody! ;)
Thanks for sticking with us!
Things feel like they're really coming together now, but there's only so much to say when it's more delays on the juicy stuff to come. Still, I hope you got some enjoyment out of this update regardless. Stay safe, and here's to better days!
- Toby
The Amusing Tale of Rotund Rebound's Release Date
Earlier this year, after careful consideration and much deliberation, we selected March 20th, 2020. It felt good for our projected schedule and March was supposedly a good month for indies without many AAA releases. Shortly thereafter, Final Fantasy VII Remake and Animal Crossing New Horizons came along, two of 2020's biggest games, both announced for March—ACNH on the same day even. Not wanting to put consumers in the tight spot of having to pick between three epic titles, we decided to push our release date back.
Joking aside, we obviously can't hope to compete for attention amid the likes of those giants. Our release date plans entered limbo as we reconsidered viable alternatives. And we're still in limbo, to be honest, but we're seeing it in a positive light. For a two-man team running themselves ragged, more time is never a bad thing as we continually improve upon our original vision for the game. We'll let you know once we've honed in on a new date.
Release delays aside, things are still progressing nicely. Recently we put the existing portion of the game into the hands of some advanced test players. Working with them has been a very interesting and involved process. Thanks to their feedback we've made a number of important tweaks and implemented new features that strengthen the game's experience in subtle but hugely satisfying ways. We look forward to sharing this refinement process through more in-depth dev blogs to come. In the meantime, be sure to check out the updated screenshots, Wishlist if you haven't yet, and all that good stuff. Thanks!
