Mega Knockdown hit Early Access in July of 2022 with a one-of-a-kind premise and finely tuned gameplay, but with very limited art assets and no native online multiplayer. Since then, we've implemented a robust online lobbies system that can support truly worldwide netplay, and we're now working hard on a full overhaul of the game's art, including a set of sprites for the whole cast hand-drawn by artist Alan McMillian.
This is an ambitious, expensive and time-consuming undertaking, so to get these improvements into players' hands as fast as possible, it will happen in phases, and on a rolling basis: first, characters will get 'rough draft' quality animations, and over time we will polish them up. I'm happy to report that as of this posting, four of the game's six characters (Paul, Billy, Lewis and Nick) are playable with revamped 'rough draft' art in the beta version of the upcoming Art Update, which you can learn more about here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1492750/view/6578101268069028096
The first phase of the Art Update is planned to drop toward the end of January, with rough sprite art for five of six characters, in addition to other improvements. Marv's new art is slated to release in February as he will be considerably more complicated to implement. After that, we'll work on improving the menus and replacing rough animations with finished art.
After the Art Update has been out for one week, the base price of Mega Knockdown will increase to about $12 USD. Prices in other currencies will also be updated accordingly around this time. We feel strongly that this new price will reflect the value that's been added to the game since release, and will help us secure funding for continued improvements to the game. Thank you for playing Mega Knockdown!
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Q: Can I still play as Jerma after the new sprites are in?
A: Yes, we'll be keeping the old Jerma-based animations fully intact and implemented. The Jerma sprites will still be selectable and fully playable like they are now.