Hello Again!
I just wanted to pipe in here with a progress report. There have been a ton of additional features added since the last update prior to PRGE in November.
Completed:
-All 6 driving levels have been completed
-All 6 driving bosses have been completed
-Script is done and cutscenes have all been finished. (the game now has a beginning/middle/end)
-21 single screen levels completed, including exteriors
-2 free roaming "dungeon" style levels added.
-Dialogue box/start skip glitches removed.
-Added extra hit points in the single screen sections for the characters without ranged attacks.
-hitbox issues from last version have been corrected, no more character switching soft-locks
-myriad of soundtrack updates and sound design tweaks.
I am essentially rounding the bend and heading towards the finish at this point. Everything is in place and a few features and areas need to be designed, but almost ready to begin stress testing.
My big To-Do list keeps shrinking, but things I have to work on yet include:
-Design Dungeon Levels (currently still in wip mode, still determining how to implement the trigger system needed to pass locked doors) The themes and graphics are already designed, I just need to structure the gameplay a little more succinctly to make them more intuitive. It offers a 3rd variety of gameplay to the action and I don't want it to feel shoehorned.
-Credit's screens...I have a lot of people to mention, my cast includes something like 53 NPCS now (all real people used with permission),as well as those who will be working on box art
-sound test menu (once I figured out how to display all the necessary text for the credits screen, I may as well tackle a sound test menu)
-Add nesmaker logo to my credit's screen. CHR data storage is very precious at this phase, but I would very much like to include the
logo from NM in the end credits, I may have to achieve this by using sprite objects, or perhaps my final screen specific CHR row...It's going to be tight!
- Cover Art, I am planning to make a scale model of my Van out of clay and have the band's photographer photograph it, as a nod to both
Earthbound (mother) but also to our art team.
-Manual, I haven't though much about this, but the print manual will be fairly important to adding backstory to all the NPCS included, I plan on having "cast notes' with a short bio of every person featured including their favorite NES game as a bit of trivia. (I asked for favorite NES game as I was getting their permission to add their likenesses to the game)
Hoping the first couple of those items will not take me more than a couple of weeks. The Box and Manuals will take much more time. My Pla is to start creating those as I start beta testing in the coming months.
When all is said and done and beta testing is completed, I hope to run a pre order campaign for cartridges. My friends and I are experienced enough with doing DIY vinyl/CD/Cassette runs for independent music releases, given I can get the cartridges from INL, I'll be able to turn them around with labels, manuals, and boxes fairly quickly. I have no idea how to gauge interest in physical copies for this yet, since my target audience are Rock fans who are also interested in old video games, I find that many of my record collector friends are also into some sort of retro gaming, so hoping to scoop in some new bodies into the homebrew scene.
To achieve that, I also plan on releasing the full game in rom form for free, as well I will be planning to build an NES emulator into the DMR web page to increase exposure.
I am excited to share the new features with the community, but 1st need to make sure my dungeons can function as intended, then may splice together a new working demo while I begin beta testing the final version.
Here are some random screen shots:
Thanks for checking in!