Issue #21 - Production Mode

Sebastian Asaro

Sebastian Asaro

— 3 min read
Issue #21 - Production Mode

Hey, you're finally awake....

How's everyone doing out there in Barty-land? It's newsletter time once again and I have some updates, some surprises, and some fabulous treasures for you inside (fabulous treasures not guaranteed).

And as always, if you haven't wishlisted the game, you can do so here. It is THE BEST way to support development, and it warms my heart when the number goes up. Thanks! 😁

No... that's not how you spell insurance.

Demo Life

If you've been following along with the development of Barty's Adventure, you'll know that the demo has been planned for the next few months. I can now proudly say that the demo has it's own build in Gamemaker (separated from the main build of the game), and I'm working to tailor the experience to make it all bite-sized (fun-sized?) while still highlighting the core mechanics.

So I've decided to keep the first area (Stuffies Town) and what usually is the third main area (The Kitchen) for the demo, while skipping the second area (The Bookshelf). There were a few reasons for this:

  • The Kitchen really shows of the time mechanic well with the NPCs becoming Rotten over the three days. They start as fun friends, but if you wait too long they'll become aggressive enemies. This highlights the need to pay attention to the timing of actions in the three day loop.
  • The Kitchen has combat with regular enemies throughout the area. Meanwhile, both Stuffies Town and The Bookshelf only has combat in boss encounters. I wanted to allow the player to experience basic combat in the demo, which makes The Kitchen more appropriate.
  • The main activity in The Bookshelf is meeting NPCs and trying to solve a mystery. This makes a bunch of sense in the large-scale picture of the game, but it doesn't really fit to give a picture of the main activities the player will undertake throughout their playthrough.

Taking all of this into consideration, I figure I can give the players access to The Kitchen in the demo, block off Bookshelf access, and provide this slice of the world that has examples of the main loop of the game: explore, discover, interact, lock in preferences, loop back.

We're still months away from demo release, but I'm excited at how it's shaping up. If you want to be a tester, let me know!

Gahhhhh Barty Merch!


PAX Push

Not much of an update other than the fact that I'm going to PAX East in Boston in a few weeks and I'm bringing stickers! And cards that allow you to whishlist the game.

These are the first Barty merch I've had made, and LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT THAT LITTLE GUY!

Let me know if you're going to PAX and want to meet up!

Art Refresh Update

The art refresh took a week break while my artist had his computer repaired, but we're back at it. You can see yet another upgrade happening above, with Toddy Teddy now getting a glowup.

I can't overstate how motivating it is to see these new versions of my characters. They breath so much life into the game, I'm chomping at the bit to get the new version into everyone's hands. More soon!

Seabass Picks

Games (THIS KEEPS GROWING): BLUE PRINCE BLUE PRINCE BLUE PRINCE CBKLUE PRICNE BLWIUE PRINCE BLUE PRINCE

I really like Blue Prince

Books: Took a break from Sanderson to rip through a bunch of Mickey7.

Shows: The Pitt (finished and liked a lot of it!); The Last of Us (super "fun" watch with my non-gamer wife.

And that's all she... uhhh... I mean I wrote. Appreciate all of you chuckleheads you read this every couple of weeks. Let me know if you want to test out the demo! 😄

This newsletter is an update series for the development of the game Barty's Adventure. Please wishlist on Steam here!

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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