coverart by MKMaffo

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Gappy Bi-monthly update! If you haven't read the last issue go check it out here!

What we have today is the July issue, which is the perfect time for swim trunks, bikinis, and other revealing swimwear alike! I hope everyone has had an amazing summer thus far! I know I have! :^) 

In today’s issue I’ll be sharing the latest on the games progress, spotlight some neat fanart and share some REALLY exciting news! So sit back, get yourself a cold beer and a grill-charred wiener and enjoy the read!  

But before we touch base with everything, I just wanna say THANK YOU! to everyone who gave such a warm response to the DEMO(s) that released last May! Specifically to the Newgrounds community & Staff as It got featured as the Newgrounds front page banner for a week or so!

(Gappy as the NG Frontpage Banner)

Along with this, the community voted it as the 2nd best game of May 2025 on the site! Only beaten out by another great browser game titled 'Waha's Circuit Break'! Congrats to them! :-)

And last but certainly not least, the social media reception has been fantastic! Seems like the people are finding Gappy who may not have heard about it otherwise, it's been great to see everyone so excited to see this game finished, I am right there with ya!

So special thanks to Tom Fulp, The Newgrounds staff, and YOU! for the overwhelming support! It really means the world <3

During the wave of people's excitement leading up to and after the release of the game's demo, there was some cool fanart made for the game! And I thought what better place to share that then here! So here is a quick spotlight on some pieces I found very cool!

(This was a gif but I couldn't get it to load :/ )

Artwork by Sulfur-Creatin on twitter (OG post)

Artwork by Pankakijyann on twitter (OG Post)

Artwork by BaldrekrGaming on twitter (OG post)

Please give some love to the art and the artist of the pieces shown below! Everything is linked so there is NO EXCUSES! And if you have any fanart you’d like to share, feel free to share it in the discord server or right here in the steam community! Who knows, maybe you'll be featured next!

As of today, I can comfortably say that HALF of the levels found in main campaign are FINISHED!* 

It’s been a long time coming, A huge milestone! Does this mean the game is halfway finished? NOPE! But it’s getting closer and closer every day! The goal I have set for myself is to have all the levels of the main campaign done or close to done by this year’s end, along with a good chunk of the games finalized menus and other back-end stuff ready for the games side content + polishing state which (should) be my main priority during the last year of the games development. 

Now some of you more astute readers might be thinking to yourself “Levi? How are you only half-way done with the LEVELS of the game? This game has been in development for close to 2 years at this point!” 

first of all, SHUT UP.

Second of all, I know. It’s probably not the greatest workflow but my goal for this game is to have every level both feel and look unique. For context, the main campaign is split up into 5 worlds, each with 4 levels. That may not sound like a lot, but my goal is to not make 20 levels that all feel, play and look the same. I want something with lots and lots of variety! Each level has a unique tileset, unique mechanics, widely different set pieces and sometimes even different playstyles! 

It’s been a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work to make these levels feel truly unique yet interconnected along with actually fun to play. I really want to capture a sense of going on a big adventure throughout a world that seems somewhat believable, cohesive too! It’s a game and art piece that begs to be taken slow and cautiously but I believe it will pay out in the end! 

And for the big announcement, Gappy is going to be having a booth at Short Short fest 2025! Appearing at both PA & MA events! 

This is festivals first year of showing off indie game titles, as it has originally been geared towards showing off original animations! So there will be a lot of really cool people to meet there + Me + Gappy! 

Also! There will be a SHORT SHORT FEST EXCLUSIVE demo that will only be playable at the event! Along with 2 NEW LEVELS not yet seen! There will also be prizes given away such as custom made printed tee-shirts, clay figurines, stickers, comics and so much more! 

If you are able, please consider stopping by to checkout the Gappy’s Adventure booth, and stick around for a night of awesome cartoons and a great way to interact with some amazing creatives irl, I’ll be excited to meet all of you! <3 

I also would like to give a shoutout to Lee Thompson for his help throughout this to get this booth up and running, I’d like to also thank Nick Senny for pushing me to do this as well! (Also shoutout to Owen for giving me a place to crash after the event lol)

now I know you’d be lying if you said you haven’t been made a little hot and bothered by this issues cover art, hey I’m right there with ya bud! But who is the genius behind this work?… 

MKmaffo is an Italian newgrounds artist! If there is anything you’d know her for it would probably be her artistic involvement on the game Ritz! a platformer where you play as a cute little rat character who I believe is in FNF? idk sorry cam… 

anyways, Maf is very sweet and nice and she likes to draw sexy ladies and gentlemen in skimpy outfits! WONDERFUL! And so I thought it would be most fitting to have her do the SWIMSUIT ISSUE of Gappy Bi-monthly! 

thank you Maf for doing the art of this month’s issues. Please come back to the states soon we need to hang out again and smoke big cigars together! Follow her on Newgrounds and Twitter and send her some love!

And that’s a wrap on this month’s issue. 

I know this wasn't a very long read, but with everything I've had to do to get ready for SSF this year I didn't have time to really hone in on one specific topic. Next Issue I really do wanna give a peek behind the curtain into some creative choices I've made on the game. I'm thinking either an issue about the game's bonus games or just a write-up of my level design philosophy, who knows we'll see.

I’m also trying to make an effort to be more active on social media. Post some more teasers, posts memes, keep the pages alive, etc. I know I can’t AFFORD to not be active on instagram and twitter and tiktok and what-have-you but there’s something in me that just can’t do it. There’s a part of me that has this artistic voice telling me that it is the process of creating that doesn’t need to prove it exists to happen. Social media promotes that we must constantly show off what we do instead of sitting in the silence of crafting something great. And there’s also a part of me that knows that my game, my baby, will drown under the waves of games who chose to be loud. And In the middle is me who simply doesn’t want to reveal there hand in fear of spoiling the fun of experiencing a game fully blind! 

I just want you all to know that I am putting my entire heart and soul into this, for better or for worse 

So wish me luck! And Until next time! 

- Levi

Secret Sauce kicks off today! Over 60 great games, including Band of Crusaders, are featured with new content, reveals, and gameplay.

📅 Watch the showcase – July 19th, 8PM CEST / 2PM ET / 11AM PT 📺https://youtube.com/@offbrand-gamesShowcase

We've just launched an exclusive gameplay showcase, featuring in-depth developer commentary from our co-founder and Creative Director, Kamil Mickiewicz.

🟢 Watch it now on our Steam Developer Broadcast!

Check out the event, watch the showcase, and dive into our gameplay preview.

Hotfix 0.5.7

Main changes:

Overhauled spyglass and quadrant functionality.

Both should now function more predictably, and without the strange reflection effects.

Spyglass now has variable zoom to make focusing easier, and increased maximum zoom considerably. Both have significantly increased draw distance.

Major Fixes:

Fixed multiple cases that would prevent closing or interacting with Task menus.

Fixed misaligned ghost crates that would block vision.

Fixed most cases where a cargo item could be removed below another, leaving a hovering crate that could not be removed.

Removed multiple cases of overdraw, which should somewhat improve performance.

Fixed many cases of terrain geometry holes.

Fixed missing collision of loaded cargo due to navigation clone helpers.

Fixed floating point origin errors that prevented reliable operation. Jitter and inconsistent physics when more than 5KM from the starting island *should* be eliminated.

Fixed numerous alignment issues for UI elements.

Fixed some issues with world curvature that could result in unpredictable effects when loading saves.

Significant overhaul of Zoning system, which should offer significant performance savings on larger ships.

Numerous changes to props and smaller objects to reduce draw calls.

Numerous script changes to reduce unnecessary calculations/operations.

--------------

Note on future plans:

Barring fixes to any changes made, this is likely to be the last update to the demo for a while -- as the majority of my focus is currently on finishing up the content needed for EA release later this year.

至尊版本7.19更新内容

------------------------------------

1、新增活动：财源滚滚，满足充值条件的玩家，每日上线可永生免费领取到大量红包

2、新增活动：合服豪礼，每次合服后可自动出现，赞助领取完后才满足开启条件

3、新增功能：灵魂刻印，玩家通过不同大陆任务后，可获得灵魂连击效果，刷怪效率大大提升

4、新增完美与史诗生肖，目前生肖套装效果调整为，单个生肖激活后就能激活加成

5、新增完美生肖，史诗生肖，神话生肖可进行转换功能

6、新增恶魔广场新的4张挑战图，大幅度提升了史诗装备掉落

7、新增法师宝宝冰龙，当达到70级后可在三大陆进行召唤

8、新增功能原地复活，部分地图中玩家死亡后可原地复活

9、封神塔功能调整：封神塔改成锁妖塔模式，击杀完当前波数后，自动刷新下一波

10、试炼之地功能调整：试炼之地改成锁妖塔模式，击杀完当前波数后，自动刷新下一波

11、每日特惠奖励内容调整

12、每周礼包励内容调整

13、每日兑换新增可兑换不同种类道具

14、新增了欧皇附体功能累计可领取的奖励

15、重新美术包装了狂暴之力功能

16、重新美术包装了唯一扶持功能

17、重新美术包装了神技礼包功能

18、重新美术包装了兑换码功能

19、新增了不同的效果特效表现，包括装备，光柱，称号，时装

20、调整了时装回收可获得更多的威望

21、微调了部分BOSS怪物强度

22、修复了月卡出现异常的红点BUG

23、修复了氪属性丹后小退会导致属性消失的BUG

24、修复了沙巴克死亡后尸体不消失的BUG

25、修复了法阵12阶没有属性称号显示的BUG

26、修复了新人扶持活动没有正常显示天数的BUG

27、修复了觉醒属性异常不显示的BUG

28、修复了首曝小退后没有获得灵符的BUG

29、修复与检测充值异常的BUG

30、调整了时装狂欢，新人扶持活动按钮位置

31、优化了历练任务美术图与加成效果

32、扩展附魔功能等级上限至50级

Good news! After finally a good night's sleep 😴, I'm happy to say the editor bugs that were tripping up the Beta build appear to be fully resolved.

I've just pushed the Beta build to the Main release, so everyone can now enjoy the improvements without needing to opt into anything special.

This update includes:

• Editor fixes that should eliminate those pesky crashes and inconsistencies

• Improved stability for placing and editing level elements

• Minor tweaks based on community feedback

It’s amazing what a fresh brain can do after some rest!

As always, let me know if anything weird pops up. Otherwise… happy escaping!
— Kevin (Solo Dev)

• Fix out-of-memory crash for users with many-channel audio systems (7.1 surround, etc.) by locking audio to 2 channels

• Fix: Some players were unable to play a certain film reel in the Therapy Room. So, it turns out that a recent improvement to make it easier to manipulate the film projector made a previously rare bug more common. Sigh... But now we can make sure that darned projector bug is squashed for sure!
  
• Fix: When starting a new conversation with Bruno around 10:00 PM, he could say some lines that were out of place. No more.
  
• Fix: Character names in the log book now look properly translated for Russian/Ukrainian languages. Note that if you're loading a previous save, you're still going to see their names in Latin characters; I'm afraid that's how the system works. However, it should all look good now from a fresh start!
  
• Fix: Near the end of the game, there was an artificial block that didn't make sense, thus preventing players from accessing certain hints in another floor of the asylum before completing the story. There's really no hidden mystery here: it's just a small design tweak. But if you're curious what the fix is, ask in "that" thread.
  
• Note: The owls, err, I mean the planks are not what they seem. That wasn't a plot hole.
  
• Fix: A long-standing one: added missing subtitle during the intro when Rebecca says "that" ominous line.
  
• Fix: Speaking of Rebecca, it was possible to either miss a flashback or seeing all her related flashbacks in an incorrect order depending on how you did things. Now those visions should play in the intended order.
  
• Fix: Just a small glitch, a certain glass item would mysteriously reappear in the Museum at around 3:00 AM. That pesky glass thingie will now stay where it's supposed to.
  
• Note: The blueprints are accurate. If a connection between certain locations in the asylum doesn't make physical sense, then that theory is incorrect.
  
• Build string: version 1.3.3066 (test with CTRL + V).

• Critical bug fix: when player talks to a customer who has made an order, if the player press E again during the dialogue, the game enters a buggy state where the player can't get out and had to restart.
  
• Bug fix: when talking to Ed about haggling, he didn't actually teach the player the negotiation topic.
  
• Bug fix: a visual glitch in the deck building UI.
  
• Bug fix: incorrect description for Learn a Drink recipe task.

Changes:

- After you finished Akane's story to "obtain" the beach villa it becomes accessible on the time skip map. A new story event starts in the villa when you talk with Scarlett. \[Requires the relationships of Tsubaki, Sandra and Elly at 100+ and Scarlett needs to be in the party.]

- After the new event with Scarlett you can talk with Elly twice to trigger two different CG scenes. \[Requires that you unlocked Elly's second CG scene prior.]

- After the new event with Scarlett you can talk with Tsubaki to trigger a CG scene. \[Requires that you had Tsubaki's first CG scene.]

- After the new event with Scarlett you can talk with Sandra to trigger a CG scene. \[Requires that you had Sandra's CG scene at the Forgotten Brexeet Isles.]

- New dialog with the Windspirit Melody in Act 2 of the time skip events. \[Requires that you had the events of the spirits in Act 1 to know that Melody is called Melody.]

- After Melody's dialog, you can interact with the icon again to get a follow-up dialog with Tsubaki about her family's story.

- In the CG rooms you can now use the "search" button to search for a name by writing text, and also by selecting the haircolor and race.

- A system change was made to improve performance on win 10 PCs.

- An issue with a weather effect staying on the screen after replaying the second CG scene of Ziki was fixed.

- An issue with the quest log in the android version was fixed. (Thanks to ryanu!)

- The treasury in the castle of Aldlyn was extended. (But the new area isn't used for anything yet.)

- All party members can now learn the skill Magic Storage on the skilltree. The icon for it is directly above the EXIT button. This new skill allows characters to access an additional shared inventory. The main purpose is to give people a way to declutter their inventory from rarely used or unnecessary items without having to sell or destroy them.

- The background of the skilltree pages of Tsubaki, Mira, Mirel, Vampire, Sandra, Chiyo, Elly, and Ryoko were updated with their newer full body CG images.

- Ryoko's skilltree background now changes when you reach that point in her story where her right arm changes.

- The backgrounds for Ryen, Trey, and Brad were adjusted to make the size for the full body CG image the same as in the backgrounds or other characters.

- The only exception is Kayelinth, who still has the same silly background image as before.