2016.08.13 Boss 101, Polishing the Stores in Boss 101 news

Welcome to another Boss 101 Development Update and thank you so much for stopping by to see what’s up!

The Team Makes the Difference

I want to start this week with something I have mentioned before but it bears repeating. The team bringing you Boss 101 is one of the finest teams I have ever had the privilege of working with. It may be boring to hear that but I can assure you the work is anything but. These are dedicated people who are going the extra mile at every single turn to bring you the very best game we can make.

Manon (pixel artist) and Joshua (lead programmer) along with myself are the core of the Boss 101 experience. The game would not be this awesome without their help. There is an old saying I heard a long time ago that you can judge a leader by what his team does when he is NOT in the room. Well, I think it is better to say when you give the right people good direction and let them run free they will deliver the goods whether you mapped things out perfectly or not.

What I am getting at is there is a TON of stuff in Boss 101 that was not plotted out perfectly at the beginning. The thing is, when it came time to make an A or B decision – both Joshua and Manon have consistently picked the highest quality outcome. This in turn is being passed directly back to you in the form of value and gameplay.

I really am a fortunate person to get to work with these fine people and I think you will agree when you see the final game.

Gun Store Touchups

Moving into the polish stuff for this week. First up is the gun store. As you have seen before, the gun store has had a couple upgrades over the time we’ve been working on Boss 101. All the upgrades have been about making the user interface clearer and easier to use.

Something you might already suspect is good looking does not always equal easy to use. We have adjusted a lot of little interface items due to this. When things first go in we tend to be pretty proud they are in and working. From there on out it is pretty easy to get used to a functionality and forget the end user will likely see the interface in an entirely different light. (probably a much less forgiving one too!).

We have gone through several of the panels in the Command Center and the idea is we touch them up to provide the information needed quickly and without any fuss. Where things were unclear we worked to make them MORE clear. Check out the gun panels below being lightened up so you can see the gun hardware you are getting.

Old Version

New Version

Now we understand there is nothing technically wrong with the old version. The thing sticking out for us was that it was a) very old in terms of implementation and design and b) a bit dark compared to other store panels. The corrected one is much more in-line with all the other stores and the Command Center in general.

Hat Store touchups

We have a bigger update planned for the hat store but check out the jazzed up hat room. Again – these are some other items we are excited to talk with you about but the deal here was to add some space for UI elements and also clean up the background. Of course you can have tech in the Command Center without Professor Gopher and Friends!

Old Version

New Version WIP

Screenshot of the Day

Adding in a hat inspired by the great J Hause! (check out his page here Facebook.com)

Philosophy on the hill


Thank you again for stopping by and hope you enjoyed this look at the game. We appreciate your support and emails!

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim