Nov 15, 2023

Forsaken Isle - Smoodlez

Fixes

Fixed tiles not updating when on a different layer (furnaces etc)
Fixed flight whistle no longer working after saving
Fixed NPCs not rewarding quest progress when skipping dialogue
Fixed some tiles not spawning on world generation
Fixed some tiles not regrowing over time
Fixed incorrect tile item drops
Fixed dungeon warden dragging players into walls
Fixed wraiths teleporting inside walls
Fixed some missing item recipes
Fixed swamp water not counting correctly while fishing
Fixed accessory, gear, and ammo items not registering when checking for new recipes
Fixed items getting stuck to the player when inventory is full
Fixed overworld chests spawning in water
Fixed dodge working for status effects
Fixed Bone Mask not displaying character hair
Fixed mobs dropping too many items when dying to multiple projectiles
Increased the ammount of mushroom biomes
Increased the amount of seeds dropped from wheat
Increased the amount of animals spawned on world generation
Increased the move speed of animals when leashed
Adjusted tribal mobs health
Adjusted some weapon stats
Adjusted the volume of UI sounds
Added additional information to some item tooltips
Added a confirmation box when returning to main menu
Added missing particle effects to some mobs
Added player dialogue warning when a weapon is missing ammo
Updated chest take/deposit buttons
Small golems are now immune to burning
Improved the graphical clipping of animal leads

If you encounter any issues not listed above, be sure to post them in the steam discussions and I'll get around to fixing them as soon as possible!

Ongoing

Stone golem is still missing sfx
UI sfx needs its own slider
Passive mobs sometimes don't spawn over time
Autosave settings is set to 15 minutes on initial startup
Hidden ladders leading down to the second cave are not obvious enough
Flight whistle rarely doesn't work after sailing to a different island(reloading/sailing back should fix it)

Nov 15, 2023

Pixelmash 2024.0 Released with Powerful New Animation Timeline!

Pixelmash - Nevercenter

We’re excited to announce that Pixelmash 2024.0 has been released with a powerful new Animation Timeline feature, and is ready for you to download now! Check out the release video to see how the new timeline works:

The new Animation Timeline has long been requested by users, and replaces the old hacked-in animation window that has been with Pixelmash from the beginning. This timeline is much more standard and powerful for easily making animated pixel art, letting you see all your layers, frames, keyframes and animation settings in one intuitive panel that lives at the bottom of the interface. It can be hidden and shown from the View menu when you’re not creating animations.

Use the right-click menu on frames and cells to access handy animation features like copying and pasting animation frames or setting and removing keyframes. Combined with Pixelmash’s unique ability to animate with layer transforms and vector tweening, this powerful new timeline makes creating beautiful pixel art animations easier than ever before!

Additionally, we’ve added the ability to export video files with an alpha channel (Mac-only for now), updated some of the tool icons, and fixed some bugs.

Enjoy!

Nov 15, 2023

Why the HELL can you go behind the UI??

TYPECAST - RatCasket

A few people have asked why I allow you to go behind the UI. Sometimes people think its a bug. Most of the time people have a negative response to it, which I always find surprising. Personally I feel that this is a non issue, and is actually pretty cool. I could be convinced otherwise, so let's talk about it.

WHY can you go behind the UI?

There are a few reasons, all of which come down to game feel. In this game your mouse IS your character, and your movement is extremely precise because of that. So precise, in fact, that you can whip the mouse across the screen and your character will "teleport" to the new mouse position, skipping over enemies, and moving faster than the camera.

There are times where you can whip the mouse, and the camera view (which the UI follows) would lag behind. Imagine if you bumped the UI during this movement, and stopped dead. It would feel awful. I know this because I used to have it so you couldn't go behind the UI. I got MORE complaints about that from play testers.

Assuming the camera is at its top most position, it also feels very bad to bump up against the UI for the sole purpose of keeping the orb on screen. I know this from play testing, but also keep in mind that this interaction feeling "bad" is my opinion. I probably shouldn't have to say that because technically this whole game is my opinion, but whatever. I thought it sucked so I changed it and now you can go behind the UI.

WHY is going behind the UI actually good?

First off I am vehemently against taking any kind of control away from the player unless its absolutely necessary. I don't want you to get stuck on the edge of the UI or something. You can just go back there, and take the risk as you see fit. And to the guy who is about to say "well you lock the player when they get to the edge of the screen!", you're kind of right. I do that mostly because it just happens. The mouse leaves the window and your orb can't follow you. However I'm working on a solution for that.

Second I think it presents the player with a high risk option to dodge enemies if you find yourself at the top of the screen, but really there are few situations where going behind the UI would be beneficial to you because your other options are stronger. However those stronger options would require meter (bombs and slowmo to clear a path), extremely precise mouse movements through a possible horde of enemies, or being good with the parry system which is hard for new players.

Finally, it is actually no different than being at any edge of the screen. I often hear a complaint that you can't see enemies that are off screen, and they surprise you. Same with the UI. That is by design. The edges of the screen are dangerous! You gotta be careful around there. Take the risk if you want, but be prepared to get ganked. You also don't want to see a bunch of off screen indicators cluttering up the already chaotic game.

TL;DR I think its fine and kind of cool because you get some wiggle room and who doesn't love to wiggle?

WILL you ever change it? I still don't like it!

Maybe, idk. I just don't think its a real issue and its easy to see it as a real issue, but I personally think the alternatives aren't very compelling and make the game feel worse. I've been wrong before though and I will be wrong again.

Maybe a redesign of the UI elements, and the removal of the black bar, would help. That is something I tried in play testing and the UI was harder to see overall. Then again I am definitely bad at designing UI in general.

So tell me what you think. Go behind the UI? No go behind the UI? Got a better solution than what I've talked about above? Hit me with a comment and let's figure this out.

Nov 15, 2023

Basic gameplay elements

Baldr's Squid Isekai: A Parody - manlymousedan

You might have been looking at the store page and wondering to yourself, so what is the basic gameplay loop for the game?

With Baldr’s Squid Isekai, I wanted to do something new while still preserving the old-school cRPG elements.

The four pillars of the game design philosophy here is combat, progression, narrative and sex.

Combat
BSI is a combat-heavy game. You’ll probably find yourself in combat more often than not, so the battle system needs to be robust and fun. I designed it from the ground up as a complete overhaul of the system that I used for Singularity: Tactics Arena and Memoirs of a Battle Brothel.

It’s designed to be easy to learn, and fun to build. Most of the difficulty is in managing resources. Players who have experience with tabletop RPGs such and D&D should be right at home with its dice-based mechanics.

You’ll be doing most of the fighting in the Wilds, a rogue-lite type of randomized dungeon similar to the game Hades. Here you’ll encounter enemies, loot treasure rooms, run into named NPCs and much more.

The Wilds is about risk-management. You can delve ever further into it, building up your Heat gauge, and reap greater treasures and loot. But you will also encounter more dangerous enemies.

At it's most basic, the gameplay loop is: Going into the Wilds -> Earn Coin ->Spend Coin at the Commissary -> Return to the dorm and... uh "interact" with your companions.

Progression

We all love it when numbers go up. Progression in BSI is handled in a more traditional way, with Attributes that increase your combat effectiveness, lots of armor and gear that gives you new options, and an old school skill tree.

You’ll need better equipment and stats to handle tougher challenges, but a healthy knowledge of the game mechanics will also even the odds.

Narrative

BSI is a stealth sequel to Memoirs of a Battle Brothel. You were an everyday citizen of MoonFall just minding their own business, when one day the most recent game your ordered decided to isekai you. How rude.

Discover new and interesting things about the setting of MoonFall.

Also “discover” your companions too.

Sex

This one is pretty straightforward. The “romance” scenes in BSI are composed of pixel animations and text. Lots of text. The pixel animations are also significantly more high-fidelity than in Memoirs.

That’s it! I’ll have more about the game soon!

Nov 15, 2023

A Wild Dino Run 2 Spotted On Steam! Read This And Get Ready...

Dino Run 2 - Pixeljam Games

Dino Run 2 has been a long time coming.

We dreamt it up over 10 years ago, ran an over-ambitious kickstarter for it in 2013 (which did not reach its goal), and followed it up with a very realistic campaign in 2019, which saw enough success to get us tinkering with the game's basic systems from 2019 to 2022.

Development was rocky during that time though, to put it mildly. Mid-2022 we pushed the RESET button and started from scratch. With the help of some new team members, the success of Nova Drift and the ongoing crowdfunding campaign, we have arrived where we are now, the SANDBOX ALPHA, which is totally playable and a solid foundation to the larger Dino Run 2 experience:

However, it's not ready for Steam yet. We'll be updating the current playable over the next year or so getting it *just* right for its big debut.

In the meantime, If you want to check out the current playable build, head on over to that campaign link above :)

Here's to a great (prehistoric) future!

-Miles @ Pixeljam