Since the release of Chester One earlier this year I’ve been working on a complete remaster that will be a free update for everyone that owns the game on Steam.
After ~6 months I’m finally about ready for the first big step of that remaster: getting the new engine up and running.
There is still a ways to go before this new engine will become the main version of the game, but it’s far enough along now that I think it’s ready for some public testing.
I would not recommend this version for a first playthrough just yet as there is still quite a bit of missing content and bugs; but if you’ve already played the game and want to take a glimpse at what’s to come then give it a go!
To enable the new engine right click Chester One in your Steam Library, select Properties, and in the Beta branch choose ChesterEngine.
This new engine still uses XNA (for now) but besides that it is a near complete recoding of the game. In addition to hopefully being able to maintain 60fps/1920x1080 on a wide variety of machines, the new engine is also a lot more versatile when it comes to creating new Styles, Chesters, and gameplay elements.
This first build unfortunately doesn’t really show off most of these improvements as the current focus is to get the original game content running first.
Once all of the content from the original game is up and running I will start working on new features and improvements; including additional + customizable Styles, redesigned levels, restored cut content, and more.
While the current focus is to get the original game into the new engine, there are a few things that stuck out to me after playing through the game for the first time in a few years and from watching others play that I wanted to try to address as well.
The first was that the Chester switching and elemental combat really seemed to be the highlight of the gameplay. It was simple but fun and encouraged the player to switch their active Chester frequently instead of just sticking with one.
Changing styles on the other hand, did not really have any of this type of encouragement. This seemed to result in a large portion of people to leave each level in its its default Style and not even bother with the Style switching system. With the Style switching intended to be a huge aspect of the game I realized that I needed to come up with some new ways to encourage the player to use this mechanic.
To do this I’ll be trying a few things with future builds. Aiming for the the next build to experiment with initially linking Style and Chester switching together; with being able to use a Style unlinked from its Chester by beating the associated planet instead of buying them with Stamps.
This linking Chesters and Styles together will also make playing levels in a still-locked Style a bit more exciting, as you’ll also have the chance to play as a new Chester. This should help Styles feel a bit more unique in addition to their slight gameplay changing aspects.
Chesters that don’t have a matching Style (Chegami, Chesty, etc.) will most likely be able to switch between all Styles that have been fully unlocked by beating the planets.
This build does includes one of my favorite new small changes though: how you charge up your special attacks! (Although special attacks haven't actually been added yet, so hmm.)
In the original game you would start each level with a full charge and could recharge it with a very rarely dropped Cookie from an enemy. This worked well enough, but it never really felt like you were earning the use of your special attacks and was way too reliant on luck to get more than one use per level.
The new method for charging up your special attacks revolves around shooting stamps and catching them before they hit the ground. Also to help differentiate the elemental Chesters a bit more each elemental bullet type has a different effect on how stamps go flying: Fire sends them arching in the air towards you, water encases them in a slowly ascending bubble, and grass causes them to fall to the ground in a dandelion-like fashion. (Currently represented by horrible circle sprites! This will look less hideous once Particle Man gets involved with the engine.)
The caught stamps will still add to your stamp total as well; just make sure not to let them hit the ground or they’ll lose their value.
This new method allows a lot more control over charging up your special and should make filling it up feel more rewarding.
Collecting experience has also gone through a bit of a change as well. Instead of it just being added to your Chester when you defeat an enemy, experience-orbs* fly out of defeated enemies and charge towards you. The longer you can avoid them, the more experience they’re worth! It sounds a bit weird but I think it adds a fun little twist that makes something as normal as the actual gaining of exp somewhat exciting.
*Cookies for now. Because placeholders are yummy!
Support for multiple save files has been added too. There should also be a file automatically converted from your old game save if you have one. Note that anything done in the new engine won’t transfer back to your original save file.
That is I think about it for the main gameplay changes, but as I mentioned there is still quite a bit that needs to be done before this version is ready to replace the original. Some of the missing content includes special attacks, a few enemies here and there, Style-unlocking, non-hideous menus, polish, the UI design mouse support, and more.
Thanks a lot for giving it a try if you do, and let me know any feedback that you have! :CupcakeOrange: