Game
Rock Beyond Time
4 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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Coming soon to another update.

Lemme get some work done with it first, then we'll talk.

I hope you appreciate what I go through for pointless details like this.

I don't plan on going this crazy too much, though.

The next update may be full of bugs.

...moths, mostly.

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

Sometimes, you have to design a character for one scene only.

...and yes, she has to look kinda like April O'Neil, but not quite.

I've been working on some character portraits. Since I've got six out of eight levels, I might as well focus on story elements like this one.

Now I can't stop thinking about Tony Jay's voice in Time Bandits.

Someone might ask, "Why laser chainsaws?"

Others might ask, "Why are you just repurposing the old DemoBot sprites again?"

It just makes more sense for DemoBots to be using laser chainsaws in the Rainforest. They're built for any job with a helmet.

As part of the game's canon, there's been an ongoing war in the Amazon Rainforest. It's a war between the loggers and the environmentalists.

That being said, these trees have been "shaved off" for in-universe and future gameplay reasons.

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...

I felt some mechanics were underutilized, so I'm making an expansion.

...more or less just a side quest and extra dungeon. No more than that here.

Coming who-knows-when.