Hi everyone!
So there's a lot of news to cover with this post so lets start with the big one!
Blobbs Remastered is going free to play!
Now just to be clear, when I say the Blobbs Remastered is going free to play, i'm referring to the base game, specifically the 50 levels that make up the Reloaded level pack. The Elemental Mayhem and Mad Science level packs, along with the new one i'll be revealing in this update post will still be (optional) paid content.
Why go free to play and why now?
To be totally upfront and honest with you all, Blobbs hasn't really taken off. It's sold quite a few copies, more than I expected if i'm honest, but certainly not enough to make back all of it's development costs. And that's totally okay, I make these games as a hobby for the most part and i'm lucky enough that i'll still be able to keep doing it even if my next game doesn't sell a million copies. Microsoft A publisher isn't going to be shutting me down for failing to meet expectations.
Really I make these games to provide a bit of fun and entertainment to people and it's always a shame when the number of people who actually see and get to experience the games is so small. But as some of you may remember, Retro Vaders: Reloaded (my first release on Steam) was free to play from the outset and has literally a thousand times more downloads/installs than Blobbs does.
Put simply, I want to give more people a chance to experience the game, and i'm hoping that removing the upfront cost might persuade more people to give it a try.
As a side note, the game only has 6 reviews right now which is really hurting visibility. If we could even get that up to just 10 reviews, the game would immediately start being shown to more people on steam so i'd really REALLY appreciate it if anyone could spend 5 minutes dropping a quick review of the game. It really does make all the difference!
But what about the people who already paid for the game?
A great question, and obviously I appreciate every single person who has already given Blobbs a try, even more so that they were willing to spend some of their hard earned money on doing so. The last thing I'd ever want to do is make those people feel like they've been cheated out of their money because they bought the game before it went free to play.
So here's what i'm planning to do... When the game goes free to play, any person who currently owns the game will recieve Blobbs: Elemental Mayhem, Blobbs: Mad Science and the new level pack for free. You won't need to do anything, they will just be added to your account as part of the Legacy paid package you already own.
But with that out of the way... I should probably actually reveal the new level pack right!?
Introducing...
Coming this Halloween, Blobbs: Outbreak is a new level pack which introduces new Infected, Infectious and even Zombie Blobbs to the game.
Patch 1.02 teased it a little bit with Infectious Blobbs and Vaccine Blobbs being added to the level editor, but this level pack dials up the zombie fun to 11. Not only that, but for the first time in the Blobbs series, it even has a branching story with two totally different level paths and different endings depending on which path you choose during your playthrough.
Choose the Cure path and work alongside researchers, testing vaccines as you try to develop a cure before it's too late!
Or choose the Destroy path and fight alongside the military, using all the firepower they can muster to contain and eradicate the source of the outbreak.
Each branch of the level pack plays out totally differently, with the Cure path having more puzzle solving elements whilst the Destroy path is all about the gratituous blobb exploding we all know and love. It means that in total, this level pack actually has 70 levels instead of 50, along with two different versions of the final boss, depending on which branch of the story you're on. A lot of work has gone into this level pack and i'm excited to share it with all of you.
You may have also noticed a small patch which has released alongside this post. Not huge changes at this time, but it adds a new page to the DLC screen with some more information about outbreak and a button to wishlist (or eventually buy) the level pack in the same way you can with Elemental Mayhem and Mad Science. Once we get to October you'll see a few more changes like this, adding a second page for more (new) achievements, etc. But i'll cover that in more detail in another post closer to the date.
Phew! We got there... I know that's a lot of information to process and this news post is already crazy long... so i'll leave it there. Leave a comment if anything about the giveaway for legacy players is unclear and i'll do my best to answer any questions or concerns.
- Nutter