The 8-Bit Adventure continues!
Enjoy an all-new RPG experience that mixes modern design with retro style, in this sequel to the fan-favourite 8-Bit Adventures: The Forgotten Journey Remastered Edition!
I'm thrilled to announce that 8-Bit Adventures 2 is participating in Steam's latest Next Fest event - and to celebrate this, the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Demo has received a big update! What does it do? Let's dive in!
For anyone who's already played the previous demo, this latest version features all of the same content. You can once again choose between playing through the game's Prologue, battling your way through an exciting Dungeon, and exploring a Town with a hidden boss battle.
However, this latest update includes a TON of changes, fixes, and improvements. Simply put, this update makes the demo run and play like the final, release-level product! But how about some specifics?
If you get a Game Over, you can now choose to Open the Menu before retrying a battle, allowing you to change up your Equipment/Augments, or heal a character with low HP/MP. This way, you don't have to reload & re-watch any cutscenes if you want to change up your approach to combat.
Honestly, I could go on forever - like how the Warrior's Strong Attack now has an increased Critical Hit chance, the Exit Game menu now allows you to load a save file without returning to the main menu, the healing sub-menu now takes up less space and leaves the currently selected column of the Item menu visible, if an enemy has two damaging Status Ailments affecting them at once the damage numbers will no longer overlap, etc. Truth be told, I doubt I could even remember *everything* that's been fixed or changed haha.
So while on the surface this will seem like a very familiar demo to long-time fans, the goal was to raise the overall polish and quality-of-life features to the standard of the full, release-level game.
On that note, while I can't give as much of an update as I wanted to (and I know you all want), I *can* talk about where the game is at!
I probably have a little under a month of work left on the game myself (although I naturally won't stop testing until release). 8-Bit Adventures 2 is playable from beginning to end - with every battle fully functional and all the gameplay content tested and polished. I've just got to finish up on some cutscene work for the end-game side quests and epilogue, as well as put together the hidden Developer Room (that's been left 'till last as it's extraneous to the core experience).
In case you missed it, while I originally thought that 8-Bit Adventures 2 would be a 20 hour game during development, it's turned out to be a jam-packed 30+ hour adventure (including side quests). And none of that time is spent on filler or grinding; I've tried to make the game wall-to-wall content, so it's been a really big project.
So despite how quiet I've been recently, things have been going really well! I'm at the point where a lot of things are beyond my direct control, so please bear with me; because I'll be delivering every bit of news to you the moment I'm allowed to deliver it!
First of all, I'd like to give a MASSIVE thank you to Sufyan Noor, our wonderful programmer who's implemented all of the above ideas with me. He's done an AMAZING job, and I'm really grateful for all the work he's put in. No matter how hard the challenge I pose to him, he always finds a way to pull it off!
Secondly, a TON of gratitude to Peter Ruibal, otherwise known as fmoo on the Something Classic Discord server. He helped me with a last-minute Steam issue that threatened to derail this demo, completely out of the kindness of his heart. So thank you very much Pete! He's working on an upcoming JRPG called Quartet, which I *highly* recommend you check out because the team behind it are some of the nicest, smartest, most talented developers I've ever met!
Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who's played the demo in previous years. And especially those who gave feedback! There are several items on the list above which I added to the game *specifically* because of player feedback. Even if something doesn't end up being implemented, I do take everything on-board, so thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts with me! We're at such a late stage now that not much else will be able to change, but I'll definitely be updating the game post-launch so please do feel free to offer feedback if anything stands out to you =D
If you've played the demo before, this update might not seem like a big deal - for which I apologise. I didn't want to spoil any more of the game than I've already put out there. And I also know a lot of people haven't played the demo before, so I didn't want to take development time away from the main game to build a whole new demo (which would've probably taken 3 weeks to a month).
However, everything that's been added in this new update demonstrates a giant step forward for 8-Bit Adventures 2. We're at the point now where the game plays like a final, release-level product - even better than I originally envisioned - and that's incredibly exciting to me!
And don't forget to check out all the other amazing demos included in Steam Next Fest! If you're interested in 8-Bit Adventures 2, I'd say games like For a Vast Future, Jack Move, and Absinthia might be right up your alley =)
Anyway, my journey nears its end, and yours is soon to begin - so please keep your eyes peeled for news. I'll probably give everyone an update on porting progress next time I post (just to keep you all in the loop), and then the one after that will be the release date announcement - followed by the actual release! =D
~Josh
P.S. I'd sincerely appreciate it if you could add 8-Bit Adventures 2 to your wishlist, as this genuinely helps us out (particularly during Steam Next Fest and at launch)! Our most adorable enemy - a puffball named Eek - *really* wants you to do it =P
For more information and updates, please:
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I can not wait till this game comes out. Tales Across Time and 8-bit adventure were both so great! I have been following you on steam since I played them earlier this year! Good luck friend, keep up the great work!
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! I'm flattered that you follow me on Steam, and so glad you've enjoyed my past works. I think I've really come a long way with 8-Bit Adventures 2 (I finally feel like I know what I'm doing haha), so I hope you'll enjoy it even more! I'll do my best; thanks so much for taking the time to write - I sincerely appreciate it. Maybe I'll see you around the Steam community when the game comes out! =D
just wanna say i admire your artwork
Thank you very much for the kind words ceriux! I'll pass that along to the artist - I'm sure he'll very much appreciate it =D
For being an 8-bit game the artwork is beautiful and detailed. Which is surprising considering it is 8-bit. I can see a lot of work put into this game and it looks well thought out. Also looking at the reviews of your other games show positive story build up. The trailer looks good. I am looking forward to this game!
Thank you very much - I'm so glad to hear you like the look of the game! Depending on how you approach it, an 8-bit aesthetic can be quite versatile (the NES colour palette is actually really vibrant), and our artist has done his best to create something special. I genuinely respect that you went out and researched my past works! I've tried very hard to go above and beyond what I've done before, and that very much includes the story and characters, so I'm hoping everyone will really enjoy it =)
Anyway, I sincerely appreciate the kind words and can't wait for you to play 8-Bit Adventures 2! Thanks again Thread =D
The game looks pretty good, but I can't think of a shittier name for an 8-bit game. Might as well be called "Look at our graphics -- isn't that retro?!"
I dunno, there are some obscure NES games with pretty awful titles XD My intention with the title was less about the graphics and more focused on the "Adventures". Specifically, I wanted to convey the sense of an adventure made with a classic approach ("just like you remember it, but with fresh ideas!"), and I felt that some RPG-esque name like "Last Reverie" would be immediately dismissed as parody.
Truthfully, it wasn't my best idea (I was pretty new to game development when I came up with that name back in 2012), but after the first game had a moderate level of success, I was kind've stuck with it =P With that said, I have warmed up to it now, and fans just use the abbreviation of '8-Bit 2', so that's worked. Regardless, thanks for the kind words!