Hey everyone, it’s been a while! Sorry for the radio silence. I’m wearing a few too many hats at the moment and have been struggling with time management – most of which I can’t talk about, but it’s all related to 8-Bit Adventures 2 (fingers crossed everything will work out and I’ll be able to explain in future!). Regardless, I didn’t want to miss the July Monthly Update! …In August, just like always ;)
Gamescom 2020 + Upcoming Trailer!
But let’s start off with some exciting news – 8-Bit Adventures 2 is going to be showcased at Gamescom 2020, as part of their digital event! I’m sure most people reading this already know, but Gamescom is one of the largest gaming events in the world. It normally takes place in Cologne, Germany, but due to the current situation was moved online. Not only did this mean that I could submit 8-Bit Adventures 2 (normally travel costs would make it impossible for me to participate), but the move to digital also means that Gamescom 2020 is completely free for everyone to attend!
I’ll also be debuting a brand new trailer for the game! Making a meaningful, exciting trailer that shows off new stuff and keeps the spoilers to a minimum is tricky, but I’m doing my best haha. There might be some overlap with past trailers for anyone that’s been following the game since the early days, but there’ll be plenty that’s new as well. I’m really excited to finally show off some of the animations for Trio Abilities ;)
The event runs from the 27th to the 30th of August, so I hope you’ll check it out and consider showing some support for 8-Bit Adventures 2! =D
Interview with BG4G!
I also want to say a special thank you to an awesome fan - @Zepht on Twitter and Steam – who shared a link to my Twitter account with a website looking for indie games to spotlight. Because of that, I’ve now had the pleasure of doing an interview with the wonderful @Gamey_Jamie of ‘By Gamers 4 Gamers’ (BG4G). We talked about 8-Bit Adventures 2, indie dev challenges, what I learnt from making the first game, how Jerram approached the art design, and more! I always like to speak fairly candidly, so I hope it’ll be interesting to read =)
UPDATE:
The interview is out! If you want to get a peek behind-the-scenes of 8-Bit Adventures 2, please check it out here: https://www.bg4ghub.com/8-bit-adventures-2-interview-with-critical-games/
Demo Updates
Also a big thanks to everyone who’s streamed or recorded videos of themselves playing the demo! It’s been really helpful and insightful to see other people actually play the game. I learnt a few things, but the most important was that a lot of people out there have way more modern, powerful set-ups than I have access too! XD
Several videos show the game running super fast, and this seems to be related to the refresh rate of the player’s monitor. There is an option that fixes this in the Options menu called ‘Synch Monitor FPS’, however no one turned it on haha. So I’ll be updating the demo to turn this feature on by default. This won’t change existing players’ configuration settings, but anyone new who downloads the demo will have this option turned on for them. If you notice any issues, this can be easily turned off from the Options menu, but theoretically turning this on should just result in a smooth, correct-speed experience for everyone - without any detriments for players with lower tier hardware.
This upcoming update will also fix a bug with the Defend command, as well as make a couple of adjustments to the Prologue’s organic tutorials (these tweaks were also inspired by watching recorded playthroughs).
None of this really makes much of a difference if you’ve already played the demo, but I just wanted to let you know! These changes will be made in the coming weeks, prior to Gamescom.
See you Soon!
To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!
You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev
And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!
Finally, you can also join us on the official 8-Bit Adventures 2 Discord server:
https://discord.gg/aKf2tr4
As always, thanks so much for reading this everyone. I know I didn’t talk about the game itself that much, but rest assured - I’m working on it. Hopefully the images, animated GIFs, and upcoming trailer make up for that. I hope to see everyone at Gamescom! =D
~Josh