Sunday Shout

It’s-a Sunday and I’m trying to write a blog entry at least once a week. Why? I actually don’t know… Well whatever here goes.

Superdeb is Nearly Done

I've actually gotten on a real roll with creating Superdeb. For those that don't know, Superdeb is a 2D web browser game where you dodge blocks and collect coins and power ups.

Since my last Devlog on it, I've added a short tutorial mode which happens after the intro screen. While doing this I've added the functionality of Deb "talking", which she'll do when she collects a new power up for the first time, and maybe here and there throughout the levels.

I've added a parallax background to the game where the mountains and clouds move at separate speeds, a bit slower than the map.

I've ended up making a fairly robust Level Maker. I'm using it myself to make the game's "official" levels, but I've decided to finish it and include it in the release of the game so people can make and share their own levels if they wish. Think I'll make it an unlock though. :P Complete 3 levels to unlock!

The intro screen, tutorial, level start, level playing and level finish screens now all transition into each other correctly.

And lotsa other smaller stuff.

So... what's left? Well, the Editor isn't quite finished, so there's that. I would like to include a buncha sound effects for the first release, so I've gotta sort that out. I've got to actually build the levels, since the ones that are there are just sorta test ones right now (although some of the ideas and sections will go into the final game). And a buncha the usual little programming jobs.

I've got a lot on the next couple of weeks, but I'm going to try to keep up some kind of pace with development. With that in mind, I expect to publish the first version of Superdeb either on Sunday 10th March, or Sunday 17th March (two and three weeks from now respectively).

Metroid Prime Remastered

I decided to impulse buy Metroid Prime Remastered on Switch. It's been a while since I played it. Man, what an excellent and addictive game. xD

I forgot how atmospheric these games are. Tallon is a beautiful world to explore. In some games I get the urge to start rushing through. In this I'm quite happy to take my time exploring every "room", to see if there some Lore Scans, Missile Expansions or Energy Tanks around. Same for backtracking. After getting a new piece of equipment I'm happy revisiting previous areas to see if there's something new I can acquire that I couldn't before.

The music is the same: very atmospheric. Just listen to this absolute masterpiece:

I actually had it in my head this was from Prime 2, I've been listening to it outside the game for years. xD Then I heard it in game and was like oooooh that makes sense, since Prime 1 is set on a planet called Tallon lol. xD

I actually prefer Prime 2 to Prime 1. They're both excellent games but, the whole dark world thing is in Prime 2 is just awesome and I feel like the game just generally improves on everything. I really hope we get it on Switch too.

Then there's Prime 3... I'm sure it's a great game, except they completely ruined it with the forced motion controls and I rage quit after a few hours of trying. Maybe I'm just bad at motion controls, but everything I tried to do just felt inaccurate and clunky, and would have been 100x easier if I could just use the controls I was used to in the first two games. As a result, I rage quit from Prime 3 a few hours in. :(

Hopefully if they release Prime 3 on Switch or Switch 2, we get Pro Controller support as an option. And don't give me that "it doesn't work with the game design" garbage. That's just utter rubbish. The re-release of Zelda: Skyward Sword on Switch clearly demonstrated that motion controls are not a requirement in a game where perhaps at the time of release it seemed like they were.

The End

On that positive note, I think I'll wrap up. I hope you look forward to playing Superdeb soon! Soon as it's done I'll be posting a link here in this blog and on all my socials, so either keep an eye on this site or follow one of those if you'd like to know when Superdeb is out!