Greetings Backbeat fans!
November's dev blog comes about a week late due to some nasty colds decimating the Stockholm population, but now we are plugging on and adding more features for the the full game.
When the members of our band Powerslyde are relaxing, they go where anyone else in the 90s would think to unwind: the mall of course! The Hornsburg Towne Mall is the scene of events both epic and comical in our game, so our environment artist Andreja worked hard to build "the mall with it all". The in-world brands have yet to appear, but we'll save that treat for later.
Also this month we are working out the kinks and logic bugs for the four power moves you unlock later in the game. Having the ability to break through a wall, slide past guards like Pete Townshend, or blow away enemies with an epic sax toot increases the complexity and number of solutions possible in the more advanced levels of the game. We did a pass of visual effects to begin with, and are now putting together audio clips with our composer before integrating them into some grey box levels.
Speaking of our composer the fabulous Pete Fraser, he is now set up with the tools needed to create some of the vanity unlocks that allow musical customization of the game. Behold the mighty AKAI Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI)! This will be used to produce a sultry synth sax that Chaz can obtain after a significant amount of puzzle solving aplomb from the player.
Finally, we have put together all the assets for the two alternate portrait styles which are optional in the game. The "sleek" and "speech bubble" styles give the character portraits new cutouts, backgrounds, and colors to allow you to set up your own narrative experience. We're adding this feature as a homage to one of our favorite 16-bit action RPGs, Secret of Mana.
If you are in the Stockholm area, we'd love to see you! We are schedule to do a beta test of some of the levels from the full game at Indie Game Dungeon next Wednesday the 15th. Attendance is free so hit us up on social media for more info if you'd like to drop by.
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Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie