Starturbo

Hey it's been a while again, hasn't it? Since the last post, I've added several things to the game, first of all is the ability to hug Roblets to increase their mood. To tell the truth, the reason this update has taken a while is a combination of not being motivated and running into game breaking bugs I've had to fix. With the more major bugs out of the way now though, I feel far more motivated and can focus on what's perhaps the most important part of the game, the core gameplay loop. And what better thing to start with than the mini-games! First off, we have racing. Though unlike certain creatures with dots floating above their heads, Roblets drive vehicles. You can change the colors of these, but not much else. As you may be able to tell here, races are in a straight line and involve jumping over obstacles. Sadly this has to be the case as making regular tracks would have made the AI way more difficult to code, though I may still be able to have some tracks which have segments where the Roblets turn left or right (though still stay in their own lane). There's a lot that may be changed over time and some extra animations I want to add as well, and as far as how stats come into play, the amount of times your Roblet is able to jump over obstacles depends on their defense stat (insert defensive driving joke here). Essentially, your Roblet will be able to jump over obstacles an amount that's equals their defense level (plus 1, so you don't hit into everything on level 0), taking a hit after that, and then it repeats. Future tracks will have different obstacles (both when it comes to type and amount) and race lengths, so having a high enough defense stat will be important. Like everything shown in this video though, the way the defense stat is used may be changed depending on what works best. In addition, a tester for the game and I had the idea of being able to assign a pit crew before specific races (if not all of them) comprised of up to 4 of your other Roblets, which will upgrade your car mid-race, but only for the remainder of that race. The quality of the upgrade you receive would depend on those Roblets' skill stat, and also the amount of Roblets chosen. This all has yet to be implemented and frankly, I'm unsure if it will work well enough, but I really like this idea so I'm looking forward to testing it out! You may have noticed the player's Roblet speeding up at times in the video, and also a boost counter in the debug UI (I've still yet to make proper UI for the racing mini-game). Boosting can be done by pressing the A button during a race, though keep in mind you'll only have a limited number of boosts, and while boosting Roblets will always hit into obstacles. But at the moment properly timing boosts is essential to winning the race, so hopefully most people enjoy that. I might consider changing the boost counter to fuel and having it deplete as more boosts are used, though I'm unsure how well that would work. Lastly, aside from what I've mentioned, I of course plan to add a podium scene after each race, and rewards for the winners (which will be the primary way to level-up Roblets). So yes, as you can probably tell by now there's going to be a good amount of depth to these races, though there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I want to end by admitting that it's very well possible the public demo for the game could release in 2022 or later at this point, though I also feel it's quite possible that it could be done for 2021 especially considering what's finished for the racing mini-game so far really didn't take long at all to make. I also want to thank everyone for their support and patience. I can't stress enough how much it means to me. So thank you, and hopefully I'll have more cool stuff to share soon! Oh and by the way, here's some Roblet evolutions, most of which I've designed somewhat recently. Thinking there will be a lot more than this, though I don't plan to show all of them off and few of them have been sprited at this point in time. Regardless, stay tuned, and maybe you'll see more of these in the future!

Yes, I'm still working on this game. And yes, I ended up deleting a bunch of images again at one point. Sadly not much I can do about that now other than not do it again, and from here on I really don't think there would be a point anyways as the game's art is pretty solid and I plan to work on this project until it's done, as I feel pretty motivated now. So, sorry about that! Regardless I updated the images/video and description on the main post at least. Don't want to post them here as well as that would be a bit redundant, so have a WIP title screen and main menu instead! Currently aiming to release a demo for SAGE 2021 as well, though no promises on that yet. Personally I think it's more than doable if I focus more than I have been so far. Also want to thank everyone for their patience, I know there's been a lot of back and forth between projects and redos of the game from scratch, but no more of that hopefully. Looking forward to everyone being able to try the game out as soon as it's ready!

It's been a while since I posted here, so I figured I'd give a quick update. Yes, I am still working on this game, and have been frequently sharing info about it on Discord and Twitter. Made quite a few changes since the last post, though still have a lot of work to be done, as I haven't even gotten around to adding much of the interaction with Roblets yet. Check out the video and screenshots below to get an idea of what's been added/changed (the video uses a debug mode to showcase certain things, though it should still be fairly obvious what those things are). There's also some new Roblet designs at the bottom which haven't been implemented yet. So yeah, just wanted to let everyone know as well not to expect frequent updates here, as I'm mostly active on Twitter and Discord as mentioned. I will try to post updates here now and then, however.

Alright, so I made more changes to the game recently. Most notably, the tiles have been simplified quite a bit, and I added jumping back, which you might remember from really old versions of the game. Lots of placeholder stuff in the video in particular. Sorry I keep deleting old screenshots and videos, by the way. I should really stop doing that.

Uploaded a new video that shows off a tileset I'm working on! There's some images in the first post too.

Figured I'd give a quick update here. Thinking I'll put Superstar Technic back on hold to focus on Roblet Land again. Reason for this is because I feel Roblet Land has a lot more potential, plus I have more of a clear plan with it. Downside is that it may take longer to make, though I could always work on much smaller projects now and then too. Maybe join some gamejams and such. I was originally going to give the game a new protagonist, but due to the cameos Technic is already making, alongside the fact that making a new main character that's better may be tough, I decided to keep Technic as the protagonist. The rest of the playable characters will either be new, or reused from Superstar Technic, as I'm now thinking the game could be a spinoff of sorts with Roblet Land being Technic's main game. Anyways, here's some extremely early footage of yet another rewrite. Apologies about the deleted screenshots, and the fact I don't want to show anything more (and can't really when it comes to the latest version of the game), but hopefully I'll have more to show soon!

Superstar Technic is a game I'm making in GameMaker: Studio, inspired by several classics. It's still very early in development, to the point where the first level is unfinished and unbeatable. However, I've already made a lot of material for the game, and it has changed greatly over the past few years. Technic's main ability is his arm stretch punch, and he's able to aim it in up to 8 directions. He will likely have other abilities too, which I haven't decided on yet. Here's some GIFs of the game (still very WIP, and some debug stuff can be seen in them). Lastly, here's Technic's backstory. May change it a bit, as it's really silly, but that was kind of the point. The wording could be better in some places too though, as I haven't touched it in a while. "On the planet of Automatopia (the future version of Earth, after humanity was nearly wiped out), there lived a teenager named Nic. He was 17 years old, and was visiting the city of Shapesburg with his parents. While going for a walk on his own, he realized what was happening. The city was being invaded by robots. This isn't the first time he had encountered evil robots. Many times, he and his family had narrowly escaped cities which were being invaded by robots. It had almost become a common occurrence. These evil robots are the creation of (currently unnamed villain), who is part robot himself. No one knows his origin, but perhaps it will be known later. However, Nic wasn't so lucky this time. While trying to run, two robots grabbed ahold of him, and escorted Nic to one of their flying vehicles. They soon arrived at the base of the villain, where Nic met him for the first time. The villain then said, “Send him through the cyborg machine!”. Though, Nic tried to resist, he was strapped in, and went on a conveyor belt through, what had to be the most painful experience in his life. He then arrived at the other end of the machine. At first, he was in pain and upset, then felt a bit weird, and all of a sudden, felt completely fine. The villain looked at the “T” planted on his chest (each cyborg is assigned a random letter) and cleverly named him “Technic”. You see, the purpose behind turning Nic into Technic, was not only to serve as the villain's robotic slave, but also, a music player. Technic had a disc (CD) drive on his stomach, to which he would sing any music on any disc inserted. The villain then said, “Alright, Technic, sing me my favorite song on this disc!” and inserted the disc into Technic. Technic was already programmed to know the villain's favorite song, so he made no hesitation to start singing it. However, the villain soon realized something was clearly wrong. He found Technic's singing to be atrocious, which it had been all his life, to many people. The villain then got angry, and asked to one of his robots, “Why didn't his voice enhancer get put in?”. It then responded with, “Sir, you told us to put him through the machine, before I could tell you it was in need of repairs.”. The villain then become furious, and told his robot slaves to send Technic to Junkyard. This was a place where all the faulty robots and cyborgs go, to be tortured until finally destroyed. While on his way to Junkyard, again, in a flying vehicle, Technic started feeling, a bit weird. At first, he simply didn't know what was going on, but then, suddenly felt pain, then anger and the urge to disobey. His mind control had lost signal, which was another fault of his due to the machine needing repair. Technic then said, “No way I'm getting thrown out!”, destroyed the robots on board, to which he learned about and practiced his new abilities, and then took control of the vehicle. He landed it back in Shapesburg, which was still being invaded by robots. He then began on his journey, to help win not only the Battle of Shapesburg, but also, the Robotic War." You can visit these links to keep up with the game's progress: http://starturbo.deviantart.com/ https://discord.gg/gExdjuj https://www.facebook.com/turbowavegames/ https://twitter.com/TheStarturbo?lang=en https://www.youtube.com/user/TheStarSonic64/ Feedback is welcome!

I have a bit of an unfortunate announcement to make (depending on how you look at it). I recently put Roblet Land on hold to revamp my previous 2D platformer project (Superstar Technic). Let me explain. I originally thought Roblet Land would be a very simple project, but it turns out there's far too much that will need to go into it with the current plans. I worry it will never get done if I make it my first project. That being said, it isn't cancelled, and I really want to come back to it later. I've been working on remaking ST from the ground up again (still in GMS1), and I'll likely simplify it from the original plans and make some changes. I want it to stand out somehow, even if it won't be too unique. In addition, I've considered starting a smaller, side project that's also a 2D platformer, though very different from ST and possibly most other platformers. This would also have a new protagonist, though I'm not sure I should start on this soon, or once ST is farther along. I'm sorry if this disappoints anyone. Would appreciate if people could share their thoughts on all this.

I'm in the process of re-branding Roblet Land as a solo (or at least, mostly solo) project. There are many reasons for this, but it's nothing personal against the other team members. The former team and I are still on good terms. Sorry if this disappoints anyone. As a result of the re-branding, I'm thinking of redoing the game's art. Been experimenting with different styles, and I came up with this. Feedback is welcome!

Figured I'd update this topic with a new gameplay video, this time without commentary. There's some noticeable glitches here, particularly around feeding, since I just added it at the time of this writing.

Sorry for the lack of progress lately. Working on fixing collisions, as I discovered an issue involving platforms placed in front of other platforms (hadn't done so before). Once this is fixed, I shouldn't have to worry about it again. Anyways, for now, here's some recent screenshots. Thanks everyone for being patient!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Been rewriting the game from the ground up (still in GMS1), as the code was getting messy and unoptimized. I want the game to run on Android at 30FPS at least (though, perhaps I shouldn't focus on that too much right now), and the rewrite runs fairly well at that room speed. 60FPS on Android sort of works too, but it lags on some devices. However, that could just be a GameMaker thing. Anyways, this means that the game is no longer using a bought asset for collisions, and now uses state machines so that (hopefully) I won't have to rewrite again. Here's some GIFs of the rewrite, in order from older, to more recent. Doesn't have everything that the old version had, but it's getting there.

Testing out some new tiles, along with WIP fog! Credit to Bas-Makes-Games for helping with the tiles. Keep in mind, the "rocks" in the dirt will likely be changed soon and flowers along with other types of tiles will eventually be added (was going to make the flowers objects with depth, hence why they were removed, though I may make them part of the tiles again). In fact, a lot of the game's graphics will likely be getting revamped, and as you can see the water hasn't been changed yet. Still, not too sure if the new grass fits the game well or not so, feedback is welcome! Progress has been somewhat slow, as we have all been busy, but hopefully it will speed up in the future. Keep in mind, we aren't a registered company right now, and no one is getting paid. I do want to pay others for their work eventually though, and I'm thinking of maybe doing a Kickstarter once the game is close to finished. Not too sure about that, and there's already a Patreon if you wish to support the game now. Worth noting that I'm close friends with some of the team, and I know everyone pretty well, though we are spread out across the globe. Everyone is fine working for free, though I feel it would only be fair to pay them at some point. Feel free to leave your thoughts on this as well!

Sorry for the lack of updates! You may have noticed that the team has been switched around quite a bit. Anyways, I don't have much to show yet, sadly, as the graphics are being reworked and I haven't touched the game's code in a while. For now, here's some animations by BountyXSnipe (creator of Wildlife Survivor, a game Markiplier has played, as well as other upcoming projects). He gave me permission to share these, so hopefully it's alright to post them here. Keep in mind, I'll likely have another team member adjust the shading once all the animations are done.

I honestly predict that they'll be no more Modern Sonic games, or at least, that they'll be a lot different from now on. I know this is Sonic Team we're talking about, but I find it a bit odd that the IDW comic is continuing on from Forces. Sure, they could release future games that tie in with the comic, but I don't know if they'll do that. As for Mania DLC, as cool as that would be, they said they wouldn't do that. Project Plus could very well be official mod support or a sign for no more Denuvo which, in my opinion, is almost as good as DLC. Personally, I'm also hoping for a Mania 2. A new 3D game would be nice as well, and who knows, my predictions could be completely wrong here (they are a bit far-fetched).

Not sure if this is the proper place to post this, and you could argue mockups count as screenshots. However, there is a difference. Mockups are essentially fake screenshots put together in an image editing program, rather than actual playable games. Don't often make these, however, I did make one today for Pixel Dailies on Twitter: It's of Aqua Planet from Sonic Chaos. Not the most proud of it, but I tried at least. It's intentionally made a bit different from the original though. Feel free to share any you've made too!

Figured I'd make this topic for discussing the Nintendo Switch and its games! As for my thoughts on the Switch, it looks great, but I sadly don't own one, nor have I ever used one before. The games for it that interest me the most are Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, though that should be no surprise. Of course, there are many other awesome looking games for the Switch, AAA and indie alike. My thoughts on Nintendo taking down fan content aside, I would say Nintendo has learned from the Wii U, and I can see the Switch being a very successful console (which it already sort of is so far). Still, feel free to leave your thoughts on this, or discuss anything Switch-related.

So, I've known about this game for a while, and man am I excited for it! I've talked with one of the Indie Pogo developers quite a bit, and he seems like a really nice guy as well. What is Indie Pogo, you may ask? Well, it's a 2D indie-crossover fighting game with an auto-jump mechanic. Yes, this means you're constantly jumping, which reminds me a lot of certain mobile games. From what I hear, Indie Pogo actually started out as a mobile game, before becoming a game for PC/consoles. There are both characters you may recognize, and some you may not know of, which is common for commercial indie crossover games. Here's some videos (more on their YouTube channel): And here's a link to their Kickstarter (was successful, and I actually donated $30): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1642689247/indie-pogo Lastly here's the developers' Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoweBros Of course, this game isn't for everyone. I know some people dislike the auto-jump mechanic, or that Zorbie character (some people find him disturbing, others find him hilarious, I personally find him weird, but cool). Still, it would be nice to hear everyone's thoughts on this!

Really glad the forums are back now! If there are truly no issues now (which, it sounds like there aren't), we shouldn't have to worry about them going down again anytime soon.

Roblet Land is a 2D pet simulator where you take care of robots. Keep in mind, this game is a heavy work in progress, so the images and video here do NOT represent the final game (although the artstyle is likely final). You can visit these links to keep up with the game's progress: DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/starturbo Discord Server: https://discord.gg/SRrgAqM Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/turbowavegames/ IndieDB: https://www.indiedb.com/games/roblet-land/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheStarturbo?lang=en YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheStarSonic64/ Feedback is welcome!