Given the number of bugs we have found lately, we thought we'd release a small update this week aimed at correcting as many of them as we could so that you could keep playing as smoothly as possible before next week's update.
Here's the list, in no specific order:
The loading screen bar could change size when almost done loading a new level, on the level that had been loaded beforehand and the new one
Gameplay dialogue entities would hover slighltly above the lower border of the camera
At times the player would take fall height damage when walking or running down slopes
Exiting the gameplay level to main menu and selecting continue would freeze the game
Exiting to main menu and starting a new game caused the skip tutorial q and x icons and the potato attack tutorial icons to disappear
Reloading the prologue gameplay level from main menu or Potato Village would sometimes cause the player to drop from the sky, take damage and would cause the first level dialogue not to run
Camera wobble when walking towards the background or the camera
Saving the game right after unlocking the attack tutorial and reloading it would cause the related dialogue to reappear. Once triggered, it would lock the attack ability, preventing the player from hitting the bridge lever and advancing
The appearance of a black band around the sky edges at the end of the training temple zoom out scene if the camera was already zoomed out during gameplay
The text where Julius complains of being heavy during the parkour tutorial scene didn't fit entirely within the text bubble. Split into 2 separate texts.
At times the player wasn't able to jump while standing from some objects, like boxes and stone platforms
That's all for now! See you next Friday with a content update, until then!
Content Update
Hi all!
We have some new stuff for you, including a small addition that we're very excited about!
Generic
The game intro is now skipable when starting a new game by hitting q on the keyboard or x on the controller
Increased in-air horizontal move distance when jumping while standing still
A small pop up message and sound effect will indicate both the start and the end of quests
Potato's attack now drains mp
Potato's attack now changes lifebar portrait to its attack image
Added a small animation and sound effect to indicate when potato's attack cannot be used due to low mp
Main gameplay level
The first portion of Potato Village is now accessible by walking off screen to the left! (Between the statues)
TNT boxes now explode on contact and cause half a point of damage
Potato Village!
The first, lower portion of Potato Village is now traversable in first alpha version
Added a couple of dialogue opportunities, including Claw (head guardian as seen in the intro)
Basic exploration of the lower portion of the village
The fliers quest is now unlockable only by talking to one of the guardian bears
Mushrooms demo
The small jump mushrooms are easier to land on
Now need to walk further left in order to leave the level and return to the main menu (whereas before it was easy to leave the level accidentally)
Added basic parkour moves as in the main gameplay level
Bugs solved
Playing the game over sequence twice would freeze the game
The fliers quest numbering showed up before the quest was unlocked
Fliers could be collected before the quest was started
As you can see, we've added the first part of Potato Village! We'll keep working on during the next few weeks, adding more dialogues, options for explorations and chances for you to get to know its inhabitants and tell you a more complete story behind the sudden reversal of fortune for these unfortunate townsfolk.
With this addition we're beginning to move towards the RPG part of the game, expect more in the near future!
Next major update coming on the 18th of this month. Given how the game is growing and bugs have a tendency of lying in wait until the worse possible time (ie when updating the build) we'll begin to post small bug patches in between mejor updates depending on what bugs we find and can fix in time.
See you all in a couple of weeks!
Milan Games Week
As some of you may know the Milan Games Week will take place next week, from Friday 27th till Sunday 29th of September.
Seeing as we're based nearby (in Switzerland), we decided to apply. We'll therefore be presenting the game personally during all 3 days of the event and encouraging players to come try it out.
The whole team (aka the two of us) will be present during the whole event, if any of you are there and want to come say hello, feel free to drop by! We'd love for you to come over and share your opinions and ideas regarding the game!
We'll also be preparing a little something extra for the event, fingers crossed it'll be ready on time! Either way it'll make its way into the next game update, look forward to it and, if you happen to be around, see you at Milan!
Content Update!
Hello everyone!
As teased last week, we have a special update for you today. We've added a preview of a level you'll find later on in the game, created to allow you to jump around and have fun collecting things! Mind that this is a basic version and we'll improving it in the days to come.
In the main menu you'll find a new option called "Demo". Selecting it will take you straight to the new content and allow you to bounce around on big and small mushrooms (which act as springboards) in a completely new setting. Some jumps will require precision, while others are built in to allow you to just mess around and see where you'll end up!
Play around and have fun!
Next update coming on the 4th of October, stay tuned!
Content Update
Hello everyone!
We're coming to you again with improved content and some more bug fixes.
The major thing about this update lies in the improved mechanics of Potato's attack. You'll be able to direct it using the keyboard arrow keys or the xbox controller's right joystick (heavily recommended above the former). Full tutorial will be found in the game, regardless of whether you've already unlocked the ability.
Other small improvements include:
Added the main theme to the pause menu when openend, all other background gameplay sounds are paused meanwhile.
Made the temple preview more accessible by widening the access area (programmatically speaking).
Changed the quests window font in the pause menu to the gameplay font and added a count for all gathering-based quests (currently just one).
Increased the stepping distance of the walking towards the background/foreground animations to speed up transitions.
Bugs solved:
Corrected the Prologue title screen where the entities were slightly off center.
Falling down chasms used to freeze the game.
Player's position on the map is now visible along the whole level, previously it used to disappear when nearing the temple.
Corrected the breaking animations of the boxes which are found around the level and can be destroyed with Potato's attack. Also removed physics attacked to them after they are destroyed.
That's it for this update. Next one coming on the 20th with a small demo of another area accessible in the future!
Until then!
CONTENT UPDATE!
Hello all!
We have good news this time. We've finished working on, and tested, the additions to the game:
We've sped up the intro to render it more dynamic.
We've folded the temple preview scene into the existing gameplay level, it is now found at the end of a slope without having to load a different scene (you'll have to walk up at the end of the slope to get to it).
Most importantly: the player and level states can now be saved from the pause menu.
Corrected a couple of bugs along the way involving player movement mechanics.
Game saving isn't exactly a novel concept, but it took us a while as we've never implemented it before and we had to experiment with different data formats before getting to the one we've decided to use. The background additions to the engine, along with the testing and debugging took us much longer than expected.
Thank you all for your patience and feel free to let us know what you think about the game so far. There's also a thread specific for bugs should any be found.
Have fun! Next update coming on Friday the 13th!
DEV UPDATE
Hello!
We have some bad news for you this time. The new stuff we're working on is not yet ready and will require approximately another week before it is done and tested.
We've therefore decided to make the update available on the 30th to make sure everything is done and works right. We apologise for the delay.
See you all in a week!
CONTENT UPDATE!
Hello!
We've got another update ready:
First and foremost we fixed the bug mentioned in the previous post: the gameplay level is now loadable. This will also bring the content mentioned in said post.
Added our brand new logo! You'll get to see it at the very start of the game.
Added animation to the intro scene where the ray shoots from the forest the moment Potato receives his powers!
Improved the quality of a few more intro static scenes.
We've introduced new mechanics to the game engine and the gameplay level: the crossroads now allow you to choose either path, this will also open up a new, small area right underneath the soldier's camp.
Together with the last update we've added mechanics which now make the game fully 2.5D: in some areas / paths you'll be able to move up and down to explore the game better and access new areas / content.
Fixed another bug which made the player disappear at times during the preview of the temple level.
A word of caution: the new mechanics and accesible area are in their first alpha version and thus are limited and have a small number of bugs. We've included them for you to begin using them and exploring and we'll be improving them and fixing said bugs in the coming weeks.
That is all. Have a good weekend everyone and see you on the 23rd!
DEV UPDATE
Hello everyone.
We've been informed of a bug which apparently shows up only in some computers which prevents the gameplay level from being loaded at the end of the loading screen.
Moreover, it is proving difficult to track.
Until we can find the source and correct it we're forced to roll back to the previous stable verison of the game from July 19th, removing therefore the latest content update.
The moment it is solved we'll be updating the game again and restoring content added on the update of the 26th July.
We'll try to get it done ASAP, apologies.
CONTENT UPDATE!
Hello everyone!
Brief and to the point today.
Additions
Animated the intro scene where the first soldier Potato kicks slams against a tree.
Interior of a hut in the soldiers' camp, to be entered by pressing w / moving the left joystick up when in front of it.
First unlockable world map piece, found in said hut.
Unlockable menu option in the in-game pause menu, where you will be able to see the map piece and your position on it.
Walking downwards (towards the camera) mechanic, used to get out of the hut and, in the future, to explore parts of the gameplay level in a 2.5D way
Second loading screen background and randomisation between them both
You also get to learn that Julius is a tad claustrophobic...
We also solved a bug where the background theme heard in the first few intro scenes cut off aburptly and restarted, it now fades out and back in instead.
The addition of the above gameplay content and mechanics may have added new bugs which we have solved as well as we could given the time limit. Should more be found we will try to get them fixed ASAP.
Next update coming in 2 weeks this time, on the 9th of August.
As some of you may know the