Game
Rock Beyond Time
3 years ago

The current state of Rock Beyond Time, as of 7/11/2022


Making games is hard. You should know that by now. I've known it for about fifteen years by now. This one took me about three years to complete. The game is in a complete, stable state, as far as I know. I intend to release the final Windows build on the 16th.

I had higher hopes for this game, and I felt that I could reach them later. These high hopes at first included a console release. However, if you know anything about the Sunk-Cost Fallacy, then you know that throwing your own money at something, especially more money than your product is worth, doesn't solve the problem. You want a Mac version? I'd need a Mac AND a license from Apple to do that. You want a Switch version? Well, I'd need an SDK and a special deal with both the Big N and YoYo Games, and that could cost me about $800 a year.

So, I ended up getting a subscription for the Indie model of GM Studio 2. It has potential, but I don't think I can reach it yet. It plays well, but my game is designed with the idea that two players can play it. With gamepads. The HTML5 thing CAN support gamepads, but it's a bit iffy by the looks of things. I know there may be other weird syntax things I don't know about, and until the guys at YoYo Games or someone else can provide the Big Book of differences in code execution, this could be trouble. (Then again, every coding program needs a Big Book of Vocabulary, and many publishers fail to provide even that.)

So, I'm doing the sensible thing and cutting my losses. The downside is that it'll be Windows only, but the upside is that it'll be in a working, complete state. I'm sorry for promising the world, and only giving you a continent.

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Just a reminder. It's coming on the 16th, assuming nothing goes wrong.

I realize some players just want to play the game and see the story, while others may actually want to use those revival items, so here's a little compromise for you all.

Also, yes, I NEED to put on that "Pro" flag everywhere.

Animation testing, again.

I map animations to keyboard buttons, then figure out the AI. Character movement is tied to the animations before adding the AI.

...and that's why I think a fighting-game mode can be programmed in this game.

Looking through some old files again. Apparently, I've been making games since 2006, at least. My high school days.

My pixel art sucked back then, but I kept at it, and didn't post games until 2010.

...and yes, that IS Slasher Kabuki.

A rather interesting thing I forgot about...

When I was young and ambitious, I tried making a game called XSF Force. One element you might find (but not implemented) is this guy's talking head and body.

He's a reporter named Mr. Snyder.

I could reuse these GFX, if I clean 'em up a bit.

Part of the expansion involves a cute little fight right here. ...in space for no apparent reason.

...too bad it won't be as epic as the final boss, but still...

If there's going to be a save feature in my game, I might as well give the players their own kind of Level Select so they can replay it any way they want.

I know I should work on that boss, but still...

I was considering releasing the expansion today, but then I found a lot of bugs I should've spotted in the original build, and I made the minimap do extra stuff for said expansion.

Don't worry, it'll be out by tomorrow night.

Now going through the animation process. This could take a while.

It's kind of a wonder how Treasure managed to pull a front-facing boss moving sideways at least twice.