May 2019 Progress Report news

Hey Adventurers!

This month has definitely kept us busy with all of the projects we’ve been tackling. We’ve made some solid progress on the game and we’re getting started on some new marketing efforts (and having a lot of fun, too). So, let’s get to it, shall we?

Lots to Play Through

To kick things off, we ventured to Raleigh, NC to exhibit Adventures of Chris at the Playthrough Gaming Convention.

This was something we were super stoked about because we got to try out our new, updated floating control scheme.

It was super gratifying to see everyone who played fall into a natural groove with the controls much faster this time around. Compared to the build we took to MAGFest, players seemed to pick up on everything much more quickly.

We also decided to kick things up a notch with Chris’s introductory material. Story Mode now has a much stronger opening, we feel, giving players a chance to get to know Chris a little better. (We also got a few extra laughs!)

We changed up the pacing a little as well. Paradoxically, slowing it down some seemed to help the narrative flow better.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for us, Kyle and I were interviewed by Iron Horse Cinema. Outside of being pretty cool guys, we also learned they make some awesome fan trailers for games. Feel free to check out our interview video here.

A Reef, Some Torpedos and the 9th World Location Revealed

The Great Barrier Reef level takes the gameplay in a different direction with Chris tethered to personal submersible (and espresso machine) Blue-32.

Moving in four directions while launching torpedoes should add a nice level of variety to the adventure, while hopefully avoiding some of the infamous “water level” pitfalls from other platformers!

More importantly, we’ve got several new sea creatures populating the ocean floor, including the lancetfish.

While the lancetfish is a particularly scary-looking fish in real life…in game this creature might be a trifle embarrassed at its overacting!

Regardless, the Great Barrier Reef is loaded with all sorts of stuff and we’re looking forward to wrap this up soon as we start working on Egypt – the final tileset! (Though not, it should be noted, the final level…)

Although there’s still lots to get done, we definitely feel like we’re reaching the home stretch… It’s exciting to see the game start to look more and more like a finished product! Speaking of excited…

The Inventory Menu

A menu…exciting? Really?

In my experience, there’s always something really satisfying about completing a collection.

Whether it’s items in Zelda or gear in Metroid or what have you, there’s something rewarding about gradually filling in a graphic.

With this menu screen, you’ll get a glimpse of just how much cool STUFF Chris can learn and collect on his adventures. Not to mention it serves as a nice motivator to find it all!

The plan is for the player to visually see the slots get filled in as Chris learns each new ability, complemented (we hope) with a nice, satisfying sound effect.

Aside from letting you see and select your abilities, the menu suggests the game will be a bit more in-depth than your typical, obstacle-course-styled platformer.

After all, we’re not calling this an adventure platformer for nothing ;)

Meet Andrew

I’m also excited to introduce you to Andrew Pappas, who’s coming on to the team to help with marketing, community management, and generally helping to get the word out!

He’s got an awesome enthusiasm for indie and retro games, and brings a lot of knowledge of different web platforms to the table.

You’ll definitely be hearing more from him as we get ready for release, so welcome to the team, Andrew!

Thanks again for all of your support. That’s all we got for now, adventurers. We can’t wait to show y’all what’s coming next.

Until then…keep adventuring on!