Hello! I have been working on a Touhou Project fan game that will be released in a couple of weeks.
Perhaps it doesn't perfectly align with the audience of SOKOBOT! But I would appreciate you having a look. And if you like it, don’t forget to add it to your wishlist!
On the victory screen, leaderboards and histograms are now visible.
Fixed a bug where histograms sometimes highlighted bars for unfinished levels.
Leaderboard changes are a bit fiddly! It seems fine with my testing, but let me know if there are any problems.
The Jelly Update!
This update adds 15 new levels and a new area. This area is focused on a new mechanic where Jelly can be used to stick blocks together!
The Jelly Update is accessible from the starting area providing you have cleared two EX levels already. Personally, I'm quite happy with how this area has turned out and think these are some of the best levels in the campaign!
In addition to the new area there are some minor changes this update:
Area 00 Layout. The starting area has been rearranged a tiny bit. Finishing 0-3 now unlocks 0-4 and 1-0 for more agency on level selection a bit earlier.
Leaderboards. Top and Tenth percentile have been renamed to Top 1% and Top 10%.
Histograms. An arrow now appears under the player score to help with visibility.
Playback Speed. Solution playback can be sped up to x25. And the Error and Local Awake VFX play at regular speed even if the solution is sped up.
Scuttling Bots. Fixed a bug where going from Play to Step mode would sometimes keep bots animating with their little legs scrambling on the spot.
Upcoming Update Preview
Just some news on the next update. This will consist of 15 levels exploring new mechanics about connecting blocks, and the first is the new jelly cube!
[previewyoutube="Acs_qcOSgJ4;full"] Entering the expansion content will be done from the first area. But it does require two EX levels cleared as it is on the harder side of things.
Oh, and if you're wondering, mechanically these SOKOBOTS are the same! They just have a different look in the new content, so it feels more… expansiony.
All going well this should drop in early April!
Small Update: Rotation Feedback
Just a quick quality of life update:
SOKOBOTS will play a little bit of the rotate animation when failing to rotate a shape.
Adjusing music volume forces the music to play.
Default master volume on a new profile is 75%
End of Week One!
Hello! Wow, SOKOBOT has been out for a week already. The launch wasn’t completely smooth due some little hiccups, like it disappearing from Steam for a bit, but watching people play the game has made it all worth it. I love seeing your solutions, whether they be well oiled machines or held together with tape, and I would encourage you to post them in the community hub as screenshots and "artwork"!
Further Updates
On Thursday I posted a stealth update that increases the amount of save slots as that was a common request.
As far as expanding the game further, I am set up to add extra areas and levels, but I would only want to do so with something to say. I want to avoid just repeating the same ideas for the sake of having more content. This probably means introducing new mechanics and/or bigger levels so please look forward to that!
Workshop
Some people have asked about Steam Workshop support and, speaking honestly, it would not be an easy task. My level data is pretty tied up in Unity at the moment, I don’t have a player-friendly editor, and it doesn’t perform any validation... So, while I would love to add this, let's call it a stretch goal! I hope you can be understanding.
Reviews
I do have one humble request. I’m currently sitting on 3 user reviews and Steam doesn’t really consider a game worth mentioning until it has ten. If you are enjoying the game, have put a few hours in and want to support it, please consider writing one. You don’t have to, of course, but I figure if you got this far into a news post you might be persuaded!
Anyway, thank you to everyone who has played my silly little robot programming game!
QoL Update
First of all, love it or hate it - thank you to everyone who has played the demo in the Next Fest so far!
I have introduced a few quality-of-life changes based on suggestions and watching your videos.
Bots can be rotated while dragging
Bots can be rotated using Q and E
Save files can be duplicated and deleted
It seems Elden Ring is not being kind to Steams servers right now, but it should propagate through soon!
And if you have been enjoying the game, please don't be shy about sharing your solution gifs!
Upcoming Demo
Hello everyone. I believe I have done everything now except press the big release button so, provided nothing catastrophic happens, the game should be having its demo release on February 9th! This is a little ahead of the Steam Next Fest which runs February 21st through 28th. Which I’m entering, to be completely honest, to get a few more eyeballs on the game.
After Next Fest I could technically take the demo down, but I do not have any plans to do so. I think the game is quite niche and it is important people can try it out first. So no need to rush, it will always be there.
The demo itself is a cut down version of the first area (of three) with one of the harder levels from that block kept in. Any progress made in the demo should be pulled over to the main game on release via the cloud, including your actual solutions, although leaderboards are separate because that’s just how Steam Leaderboards work. You can just run your solutions again so hopefully that is not a big problem.
As for the big release I cannot do that until after Next Fest. So I have decided to go with the first Friday afterwards, March 4th. I could see a scenario where a world ending bug is found as it gets heavier scrutiny during Next Fest leading to a delay. But right now that's a hypothetical so don't worry about it!
I hope you are looking forward to playing the game, and I am looking forward to seeing your cool solutions and gifs!
