Issue # 5 - v0.2 is Here!

Sebastian Asaro

Sebastian Asaro

— 4 min read
Issue # 5 - v0.2 is Here!
Yes! That is dialogue in the game!

Happy Monday, everyone! We're celebrating over here in Barty's Adventure HQ since by the time you're reading this, version 0.2 of the game will have been released. I know this is an early milestone and may not seem like much, but I like to think of it as if we're 20% of the way to the final build. It's been a huge push to make it this far, so let's see what's been updated, fixed, or added since the last build.

New features include shops working in Stuffies Town!

Where We've Been

When I finally decided that Barty's Adventure was ready to show to a small group of testers, I knew that I would have to create some sort of release schedule to keep myself honest. Being a solo dev who is creating each and every piece of this game from scratch, I know that deadlines are a huge motivation for me. So it only made sense to have release deadlines for these early builds.

What I came up with was a new 0.x build every two months. This would allow me to start with v0.1 in March 2024 and continue through v0.9 in July 2025 ( four months before the planned release of November 2025). I hope that v0.5 in November of this year will be an alpha build, meaning that all features, quests, characters, enemies, and win/loss states are in the game, even if they don't work quite the way they should.

Can you solve the mad-libs style Bookshelf Mystery?

What Do We Have Here?

So given that schedule, we're here at the v0.2 release. You can find the build at this link: Barty's Adventure v0.2. If you are interested in providing feedback or reporting any bugs, feel free to join the Discord community and let me know! Any and all feedback is definitely welcome, as I need to know what's working and what needs more work. We're still early enough into development that your comments could really have an impact in what the final game looks like.

So what's new in this version of the game? Here's a full list of patch notes for those interested. Obviously spoilers throughout all of this!

  • From v0.1.1 (released March 18, 2024)
    • Puzzle piece mechanic is further developed. Now each piece will be tracked in your Stats Menu as you collect the individual pieces.
    • The Puzzle House (with Rory the Lion) also has functionality. Visit to see the works of art which your completed puzzles have become.
    • Created a new font for some of the UI in the game.
    • Cleaned up the random mismatched tiles in Stuffies Town.
    • Buildings in Stuffies Town are now exitable.
  • New in v0.2 (released April 29, 2024)
    • An onboarding slide explaining the build and welcoming players into the world.
    • Created a dialogue system and fully functioning dialogue for all NPCs in Bookshelf, Kitchen, and most NPCs in the Playroom.
    • Added character dialogue portraits for all NPCs with dialogue.
    • Created a shop mechanic and usable items for the six Flower Princess shopkeepers in Stuffies Town (only open Days 2 and 3).
    • Adjusted The Wolf boss fight to end in dialogue rather than death animation.
    • Kitchen NPCs (The Foodies) turn into enemies (Rottens) by Day 3 of the cycle.
    • Bookshelf Mystery quest completed in Bookshelf with dialogue, UI, and completion state.
    • Wooden/Windup War quest completed in Playroom with branching dialogue and four ways to end the quest.
    • Incorporated a quest log with "Quest Received" and "Quest Completed" status tracking.
    • Changed viewport dimensions of all rooms to a consistent 480x270
    • Fixed a bug where enemies now collide with walls.
    • Overhauled some of Papa Roach's attacks to adjust for difficulty.
    • Fixed the entrance to Rapunzel's tower room so Barty doesn't get stuck upon entering from the ceiling.
    • Doors can now be entered by moving the left joystick up on a controller (used to be the jump button).
    • Fixed some misaligned book platforms in the Bookshelf mousehole room.
    • Adjusted the camera system to work with dialogue view and room clamping.

I didn't realize how motivating it would be to write my patch notes, but holy cow it's great to see how much was completed in the past two months alone. It gives me hope that I can have an alpha build complete by the end of the year, and release is actually possible in 2025.

I hope you take the time to check it out, and I'm excited for everyone to experience the world once again. Thanks so much for reading this and following along on this adventure.

Talk to you soon! 😄

This newsletter is an update series for the development of the game Barty's Adventure. If you are interested in continuing the conversation, please join the community Discord server: https://discord.gg/M7p2Mtgkyx. Your input in these early stages of the game are invaluable and much appreciated. Thanks!

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