Work has been slow the last month or so. I've been feeling super lethargic after the NESDev compo ended. It's a weird feeling to basically final a game, go through the rush and excitement of releasing it, and then jump back into the day-to-day grind of building the remaining 80% of the game. It feels really anti-climatic and it's been a tough hump to get over.

Regardless though, work has continued, and the last week or so I'm getting back into my "put the kids to bed and work till 10pm, no matter what" mentality, and it's helped a bunch.

Tilesets in Game

All the cool new tilesets I showed in the previous updates are no longer just mockups, and are now in-game, with their associated gameplay.

In addition to these new tilesets, the original Castle tileset from the NESDev Compo build has also gotten a facelift as well!

New Character Sprites

You may have noticed another big change in the gameplay above... brand new character sprites!

The original sprites were more or less a paint over of the Pico-8 sprites from the original version of the game, and didn't really pop in the way I wanted them to on the NES. So now we have these new, multi-colored Witch Sprites, as well as new sprites for the Wizard!

Prologue

I've been plugging away at the opening of the game; a prologue to the main gameplay which tells a little back story. It explains why the boy, Wiz, is being held captive in the Castle, and why the girl, Witch, is trying to rescue him. It takes place 5 years before the main game, and is linear with no real puzzle elements. Here's a quick abridged look at it in it's current state.

Some of the art is placeholder at this point!

New Music

Tui has been working on new songs to go with the new level tilesets. Here's a little sample from the hidden, in-game sound test menu. :)

Magazine Coverage

Cool Sh#t Magazine was kind enough to do a nice big preview of the game. It's a fun magazine, and something I look forward to reading every month.