Very soon! Not in time for tomorrow night, but vol. I will apparently be the belated edition.

So what has been going on, and why all of the delays? Well, PRGE took a lot out of me. The week before the trip my wife and I visited her family and I got a lot less done than I would have liked. I also managed to create a nasty bug while distractedly coding, which took almost a day to sort out once I got back. I also needed to finish the AVS history book, which took the first two days back in town. The good news is that it is now in the first proof reader's hands, though she is dragging her feet (wives are one's biggest "constructive" critics after all).

I have spent the last two days coding like mad, but it has been for another tester feature: debug mode! The hard part about Spookotron is that since there are so many different things going on, errors can be hard to spot. The fun factor is also difficult to gauge without actually being able to play the game.

About a month ago, when I went to lay out the first level, this became painfully apparent. After an hour of carefully placing all 40 coordinates I found that I had placed them too far away from the player. Back to the drawing board... again, and again, and again; if I had not decided to make a coordinate layout state that is. Once this was functional I decided to add the ability to select what enemies would appear, and a full level editor was born, except for the testing portion. While one could test a single level, and even transmit the data to me, only one level could be loaded in at a time. Great for one level, bad for balancing a whole game.

With that in mind, I knew a level debug option was needed. After a couple of days hard work I am pretty pleased with the result. It loads in a pre-entered level and allows the player to test it. It counts wins and losses in order to get an average (great for determining difficulty), and is ideal for testing this type of game, particularly on the more random levels. There are a lot of variables across the different levels, with some being extremly random and others being rigidly fixed. The debug option also allows for an existing level to be re-loaded into the editor and tweaked.

The tester options will not likely make it into the release, since they are kind of cumbersome to use (ok, painful at times and not user friendly), but they are essential in terms of making a more enjoyable game. The time that it has taken to create them has probably evened out with the time that it would have taken to make the game without them, but the quality will be much better.

Before I take on any more projects or start anything new I am going to finish this as quick as possible, within my standards anyways. We already have quite a few levels, but they need shaking down and bug testing as a whole. I'd also like to add a couple of more enemies, since the art is already on hand and the more the merrier. Sorry that it will be a bit later than Halloween, but I want my first real release to be all that it can be.

If anyone is waiting on an email or PM, sorry for the delay. Getting the newest rom into the testers' hands has been my sole concern these last couple of days, barring the occassional internet discussion/distraction of course.

Happy Halloween!

Thanks for the update, SGP. Happy to wait for such a cool release to get polished, obvi. Looking forward to it. Will it be cart only or what? Any product details available? Maybe that's already been addressed. I know you're probably more concerned about getting the game itself done.

Anyway, Happy (almost) Halloween!

Opportunity missed, Beau.

 

It's always a whole package for me, so every detail factors in. The joys of having all aspects of production rest on one's shoulders (even if many wonderful friends are willing to help out!). It may end up being cart only at first, with a box shortly down the line. The regular edition will likely come before the NA edition too this time around. At some point the RE will be cease production, being a seasonal release, but since it is late in the season, who knows when (I surely don't).

The NA Edition will just be the usual 101 copies with a special shell (blue, like the hero) and some really neat extras. I mean, really neat! I might experiment with a new box design too, but I have yet to try it out. I have some rather fun things planned for it, but that means that it will likely be a few months behind schedule. I am still trying to figure out how to not make those who want the NA wait until January in lieu of buying the RE. I'll figure something out.

No LE this time. The scaling back of editions begins (no RE for 0-to-X either, for those keeping track).

I'll have a more official spiel about what is going on as the release nears, but hopefully that gives you something to get excited about. I just noticed that I haven't posted any pictures of the game since those first ones, oops! I should change that, eh?

Projectiles look super rad. Can't wait for release!

Sign me up for an RE release. I don't care how late (or early) in the year it is!  

Sometimes in life you have to make a hard decision, like when an amazing artist provides you with a sprite that you just can't seem to fit into the game. That was the case with the poor Candle... until today! He lives, and we have one more enemy. He'll run from you and shoot, so don't delay in snuffing him out!

The Zombie is also going to be the primary fodder (the Pumpkin is now a power player since I didn't realize how difficult he is to most). He won't stop tailing you, but his main goal is to distract you from everything else that is going on.

SGP's (belated-)Halloween release is drawing near  .

Stoked!

That candle is adorable

Exactly! I couldn't not use it. I had planned on it sort of behaving like the things in Rescue Rangers that throw poison/green bubbles and run, but that does not translate too well into an overhead environment. I like what we are going with though, a good mix compared to most of the things that chase or close in on the player.

Candle is hot!

Ouch, no touch, flame burns!  

............?

It's dead, buried, over... Unless you want it! Then we'll have Halloween in January and party like it's 1999  .

I am looking for a few good testers (must have an NES and hopefully a flashcart as well, no prior experience necessary), so if this game seems like your cup o' tea, let me know! Shooting for a February release; only six months late, but surely you do not want to wait until next fall? There is an old beta tester application that I posted here on NA, so feel free to fill it out as you see fit, but finding it will be a testament to your internet sleuthing skills (my wife still thinks that that is a dirty word!)...

I'd say do a special LE release for Halloween 2017 or something. That way you can do your normal release, whatever you have been planning in Feb but can still do something cool and spooky later!

I'm all for a new halloween themed game, I don't care what time of the year it is... Also I have a PowerPak and an NES and an AVS to test on if you like.

^^Where's the "Like" button when you need one?  

I don't know, but I do know that it needs two thumbs to press it!

Terrific!
 

Dudes, I got a snap shot of a leaked level from the impending Spook-o-tron release. I'm not supposed to have it, so don't tell Beau! Check it out:

Spook-o-Goose! ...Goose-o-Tron?

Uh oh, insider leak! Time roll heads!

That's awesome!  

 

Kickstarter campaign launched  . More news coming soon: https://www.kickstarter.com/proje...