Time For Some Fun

Quick Update:
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update. I’ve been going between actually trying to finish World 3 and making things for the Sneak Peek lately, today I finally make some code that will compress those crazy long replay arrays, which I wanted to do before pushing out another version of the Sneak Peek. I changed a ton of the collision since, so I wanted to makes replays easier to pass around before uploading a build that I’ll probably need to debug some more.

I haven’t added any baddies to the beta since last upload, but I’ll probably throw a few more in before the big update. We’ll actually be at 40k Likes / Follows pretty soon (I seriously wasn’t expecting that to happen this soon, thank you everyone!), so the public Sneak Peek update is going to have 2 big additions to it. There’s a few things that I’ve been touching up on my side that I’ll point out, too, so it’s a pretty substantial update coming out.

I still don’t think I’ve taken enough advantage of the fact that I really can just upload stuff that I’m working on for everyone to see, so I’m going to try to show off some more behind the curtains things that will actually be playable, that should be pretty cool too.

tl;dr: I’ve gotten a good amount done on actually advancing World 3, so I’m going to be doing some more work on the Sneak Peek this week. Fun times for all!

Talk to everyone soon!

Update 6:
Lots of bug fixes, keep sending those bugged out arrays, guys, I can’t tell you how much they help!

I’m at the point where I have to start working on World 3 again, so once we all debug this version, I’ll get a baddie room up in the main Sneak Peek build. That means I won’t be able to spend as much time putting baddies in, so it might take me awhile. Mostly depends on how awesome it is and how much work it would be, so make sure you fool my fla guide!

Again, don’t put replays in the comments! Email them!

Thanks again to everyone, you’re beyond awesome

(might need to empty your cache)

4.5:
Fixes to the Parrot, a few more enemies, enemies all cycle once before going random, plus everything else:

4:
Here’s where it gets fun, for me at least. Now that I have enough baddie mass to really stress test the gameplay, I started going through and making actual tweaks to how FPM controls. Here’s the list of the latest changes, please leave feedback in the comments!

– FPM runs bit faster while holding pencil, feels less sluggish, but there’s still a contrast
– Much larger reach with the charged attacks, give you another reason to fully charge them
– Changed the deceleration, shouldn’t run into baddies as easily if you miss
– Can change directions while poking, or while doing the 3 hit combo
– Gave the attack hits on all baddies a red tint, better feedback.
– Separated stomped and hit clips, so stomping something doesn’t turn it red
– Some fixes to the Parrots, but I think they still don’t work quite right… Should work next (this) time

Now, I’m not making these changes specifically to make the game easier, but, the game should start feeling better and control more intuitively, so keep an eye on your high scores, they should be going up.

Let me know if there’s anything that still feels wrong, like if you get hurt when you think you shouldn’t, or don’t hit a baddie when you think you should. I need to add the replay system back in so you can just send me a replay when something ‘wrong’ happens.

If you guys can send me baddies that aren’t really animated, I can just give them springy type animation routines, should be able to tell what I mean if you play the beta long enough.

Baddie Beta

Original Post:

Sheesh, it sure has been quiet around here, hasn’t it? So then, what’s been going on? Well, I’ve been working on World 3 again (remember, FPA on console was made by an entire team, we didn’t just charge you for a Flash game!), but I’ve also been keeping an eye on the XBLA and PSN games. The main reason you guys haven’t really heard from me lately, PSN’s been down, and well, we can’t really plan for the future until we a firm grasp on how sales are going. PSN’s finally back up (and FPA’s on sale for 5 bucks!), but it’ll still be awhile until we know how we did.

I have been reading all of the reviews, though, and one thing that I think is really disappointing is, well, a lot of reviewers don’t seem to really like combat. So my plan was to tighten it up for the World 3 release. But that’s pretty boring, so here’s where you guys come in.

Make me stuff to beat up! I’m gonna be testing combat, and I’m tired of beating up spiders!

Yep! I’ll go ahead and add a baddie room to the Sneak Peek for hitting over 30k Likes plus Follows, and you guys can help keep me amused. I’ll start us out with some ninjas, and I’ll leave the rest up to everyone else!

Once that’s in there, I’d love your help debugging combat, comparing it with the console version, and letting me know what works, or what needs to be fixed still. I’ve been tweaking it a bit already, so we’ll see how much more work needs to be done.

Here’s how this is going to work:

Download this file (you might need to right click, save as). It should be Flash 8 now, anyone want to confirm it works? You can download a demo of Flash at adobe.com.

Actually, if you want to avoid the stupid Akamai downloader, just get the trial here (I swear, if Adobe has the option to do something easily or stupidly, they’ll choose stupidly every single time).

If you’re using CS5.5, though, please do a file, save as, and send me a CS5 fla, please!

Replace the spider’s individual clips with your own art, and rename all the ‘spider’s to something unique.

Email it back.

Play the Sneak Peek online, beat up tons of random baddies!

Tell me how the combat feels.

A few guidelines:

Don’t send me other people’s art, without their permission. This includes Nintendo’s and SEGA’s, so don’t just send me sprites, or anything that breaks someone’s copyright (your own parody art is fine).

Nothing vulgar, and nothing boring!

I don’t claim to own anyone else’s art, it’s just all in good fun, and just for the demo. I won’t be using any art for financial gain (other than helping to spread the word about FPA on console), and I’m not planning on using anything in World 3.

I’ll let everyone know when the first round is up. I haven’t uploaded anything yet, though. I’m going to try to make a video about it tomorrow, if you’re not sure how to edit the fla, I should have something in there for ya.

TL,DR: Testing combat is boring, help me out!