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[andy wolff]

Today I drew a headbanging mummy (it's a melee attack to replace the placeholder attacking-by-collision behavior). My roommate made me watch thriller when he saw this because I hadn't seen it. Crazy stuff


I gave the cactus totems pointy shadows (It's a dirty solution for the problem of overlapping shadows)

I also gave them a spitting sound, and gave their spit a splashing sound.

I recorded a stampeding sound for the bison by hitting my table repeatedly. While implementing it I finally figured out how to tell XACT what I want for sound volume (from the code, I mean). JMickle, I like your stampeding/drums sound but I'm gonna put it on the dancing indians instead (see post above)

I made it so the bandit king bleeds a bit when you shoot him

I made a quick first pass for some key frames on the final boss (for the initial release, anyway). I'd show you but I feel like I should leave at least one big thing for you to discover on your own.

I fixed an error with the character selection.


Some sort of beta is probably not far off (a week or two, maybe)

[jO]

Some sort of beta is probably not far off (a week or two, maybe)

sweet - can't wait

[andy wolff]

I made the grass in the level with the snake turn black in waves. Blackened grass slows players down. This makes the fight with the snake a bit more interesting, and will probably make for a nice level in duel mode.

I put the chickens back in (I had programmed them during the first few weeks of development and then forgotten about them). They are not hostile or dangerous, but they can take a bullet for you if you position yourself well. They only appear on the first level, for now. If people like them I'll consider adding them to some later levels. I really want to make it so shooting several of them in a short time causes them to swarm and kill you (as a nod to zelda), but I'll put that off until later


I finished my plan for the cactus forest. I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I'm too pleased with it to spoil it for you guys

Made some totem poles for the indian village. Right now they're just obstacles, but I might have the chief use them somehow. They make the place feel much more like an indian village. I want to say these graphics aren't final but I probably don't want to spend much time improving them when I'd rather finish animating the final boss. I'll definitely fix the shadows problem with the caps, though, and there are some problems with where they spawn (they have blatant disregard for other objects)
I originally mocked them up with stupid colors

but I decided on a wood-sculpt look in the end


The Cracks are very nearly content-complete. All I have left for them is to flesh out the outlaw HQ with some sort of obstacles or objects, and a little more fiddling with the bandit king. I also want to rearrange the level locations themselves a bit.

As for the beta I mentioned, it's not ready yet. I'll let you know when it is. It's gonna be a private beta, though, so email or pm me after I say it's ready if you want it (unless you've emailed me already, in which case you'll get it whether or not you say you want it). Folks who can play with friends on xbox controllers hooked to the pc are needed most, but I don't discriminate.

[andy wolff]

I wanted to add interesting fortifications like watchtowers, walls, actual buildings, traps, and other stuff to the bandit headquarters. Short on time as I am, however, I came up with objects which would be easier to implement while still suggesting that this is a bandit's headquarters:

some boxes, a barrel full of gunpowder, and a treasure chest (mockups, not yet implemented)




I've been mulling over some design questions, so prepare for some text:
Each level has a set selection of enemies (including bosses) that it can spawn, but it spawns them randomly. To unlock levels, you push forward a 'frontier line' by collecting golds. These two mechanics pose the following design issues:
   - Players can unlock every level without ever leaving the first level, just by collecting enough gold. This might make the game more accessible, but at too high a cost. I want players to actually play through the majority of the levels. Blexico must not be left unexplored
   - When a level introduces a new enemy, it may not appear for a long time because of the randomness of the spawner, and it may appear in unfavorable conditions for the player's first time seeing it. I want players to experience each new enemy for the first time on my own terms.
   - If a player wants to fight a boss, he has to play the level repeatedly for a long time until he's lucky enough for the boss to spawn on its own. When it spawns, the player might be half-dead or tired from a long run. If the player gets killed, he has no reliable way to fight the boss again soon. I want to give players a fast and reliable way to fight bosses repeatedly

Furthermore, I want any solution I come up with to keep the random enemy spawning as a prominent part of the game (it is meant as a party game, after all)

I think I've come up with a reasonable solution to address all of these issues.

Recall the level select map from a while back:


Each flag is a different level with new enemy selections and environmental differences. I propose that the first time you enter each level, it has a preset sequence of enemies/events. Only when you complete this sequence do you unlock the version of that level with randomly-spawned enemies, and only then do you unlock the way forward. This way, I can introduce enemies as I please and provide a reliable way to fight bosses.
However, I also want players to be able to re-play these preset sequences whenever they like. I could simply create a new offshoot level next to the normal one on the map or let players select between random and preset when they choose a level, but that seems contrived and might confuse players. Instead, I think I'll actually have little enemy sprites occupying the flag locations on the map to signify the preset sequence. When you complete the sequence, the game would cut to the map and show the little enemy sprites walk away a little bit as the flag appears on you. This way, you could move to the enemies and complete the sequence again, or go to the flag and fight the random selection of enemies. This also makes it clear that you can't progress while the enemies are blocking the flag.

Here's a quick paint mockup to illustrate what i'm talking about


I could even keep track of best completion times or suchlike for the preset sequences

Any thoughts?


The next big design question I'll probably mull over is whether to do any sort of difficulty scaling based on the number of players

[pluckyporcupine]

Each flag is a different level with new enemy selections and environmental differences. I propose that the first time you enter each level, it has a preset sequence of enemies/events. Only when you complete this sequence do you unlock the version of that level with randomly-spawned enemies, and only then do you unlock the way forward. This way, I can introduce enemies as I please and provide a reliable way to fight bosses.
However, I also want players to be able to re-play these preset sequences whenever they like. I could simply create a new offshoot level next to the normal one on the map or let players select between random and preset when they choose a level, but that seems contrived and might confuse players. Instead, I think I'll actually have little enemy sprites occupying the flag locations on the map to signify the preset sequence. When you complete the sequence, the game would cut to the map and show the little enemy sprites walk away a little bit as the flag appears on you. This way, you could move to the enemies and complete the sequence again, or go to the flag and fight the random selection of enemies. This also makes it clear that you can't progress while the enemies are blocking the flag.

I could even keep track of best completion times or suchlike for the preset sequences

Any thoughts?

Yes. Do it. I don't think there's a better way to introduce the enemies in a more "fair" manner than that.

I know when I played the demo a while ago, there were a few issues I had with some of the enemies, and it took a while longer than I'd hoped to get used to them due to them repeatedly stomping me. The chaingun guys come to mind, and on a lesser scale, the indians with the bows/arrows caused me a bit of trouble initially due to not expecting the arced movement of the arrows.

EDIT: To reiterate that, the dynamic between certain enemies requires a certain amount of experience dealing with said enemies in different situations to handle them together.

The next big design question I'll probably mull over is whether to do any sort of difficulty scaling based on the number of players

That is a harder question to answer. The best thing that I can think to do is to release the beta, see how everyone reacts as a whole, and then make a decision based off of feedback. May turn out the base game is too hard for the average player alone, or that specific levels are too hard for multiple players, or something else.

[Farmergnome]

Oh snap, I have been working on a topdown western also, but this looks fantastic.  Better than mine anyway haha.  Keen to track your progress  

[Siro]

One way to deal with difficulty and number of player could be adding some sort of "pvp elements", for example:
-friendly fire stuns
-friendly fire kills (but this is probabily too much)
-who gets more gold has more advantages
-...

In this way, more players means more bullets against enemies but also demands coordination between them, so you probably won't need to increase enemy life or similar...

Did you play Spelunky XBLA? It does an excellent job in multiplayer, with friendly fire, ghosts controlled by dead players who can help or damage alive players and the ability to bring back to life dead players between levels.

[andy wolff]

The best thing that I can think to do is to release the beta, see how everyone reacts as a whole, and then make a decision based off of feedback. May turn out the base game is too hard for the average player alone, or that specific levels are too hard for multiple players, or something else.

Sounds like a plan. I'm considering resorting to some sort of shame tactic where if a person playing alone is having trouble, the game will say "the desert is a dangerous place to be alone. your next expedition may go better if you invite some friends along" or something.

Farmergnome, thanks! I had the same thought about your game, it looks great and I can't wait to play it

Siro, yeah, Spelunky XBLA is amazing. Its multiplayer mechanics are just magical. I'm already doing a little of the negative feedback thing with more people by having dead players become zombies which can help or hurt normal players, but it may not be enough. I think if I make it so players can't shoot through each other (but shots don't stun) it could be a bit better. I like the idea of giving advantages to players with more gold, but I'll have to think about it. I'll fiddle a bit before the beta and ask the folks I send it to for their thoughts. I don't want to allow real friendly fire because it's chaotic enough already, and there's a separate mode for duels.


I implemented the boxes, barrels, and chests on the Outlaw HQ.

I've more or less finished implementing the system for my idea for enemies on the level select map. They correctly block progress until you defeat them, and you can fight again after defeating them if you liked the sequence. There are a few quirks to work out with the system, and right now I only have the first preset sequence programmed in, but I'm definitely getting there. Feels good

I estimate that the beta is only like 6 more hours of work away, but it could take all week for me to find that time. Thanks for your patience

[andy wolff]

betas have been sent out. email/pm me if you want to get one, too.

I need more people to play this. I'm not gonna post a public link so you guys have to contact me if you want to play.


edit:
okay so this was supposed to be done a week ago but I'm not

there yet

[Brother Android]

What happened to this game? I'd really like to see it released somehow.

[andy wolff]

I have an insignificant amount of work left to do before it's finished. I've just been sitting on it because I haven't made a decision about a release platform. I don't feel like putting it on XBLIG would be worth the effort at this point, what with the new console coming out and all the uncertainty that comes with it. I've been toying with the idea of porting it to Mono for a PC, Mac, and Linux release. That looks to be fairly simple, and the distribution options are much better.

Anyway, I'm still planning on releasing this at some point. I'll let you all know when I do. In the mean-time, you can still email or pm me if you want to play it.

[Belimoth]

Port it to Vita!

[TNERB]

PC release!

[pluckyporcupine]

Definitely at least get a PC release done.

I agree that it might be a little late in the game for XBLIG.

[andy wolff]

Seriously looked into building this for android using monogame. I discovered that it can't be done without buying a Xamarin license, so fuck that

Looked into building for android with Unity. It's free and super easy, I loaded up an old project and got it running on my phone in about two hours. Once I got the android SDK, the newest version of Unity, and the correct drivers for my phone, it was pretty much a one click deploy.

I think the Bandit Party code is decently independent of XNA, so I'm gonna see how difficult it would be to get it running in Unity. I'm hopeful it will be fairly simple because Unity supports way more platforms than Monogame.

[kruxus]

Yes! I really hope Unity works out for you, the game looks great!

[chegr]

Andy, what's up with the game? I still check the devlog for news.

[andy wolff]

I did end up getting this working in Unity, and even got a working html5 build going, but there were enough bugs that it's really not a good experience. So, I decided to just dust off the old Windows XNA build and release it as-is for free, so here you go:



https://andywolff.itch.io/bandit-party

[chegr]

Hooray!!! What a nice message to have and a game to play! Can't wait until weekend to do it! Thank you!

[woodsmoke]

Looks cool. I want to try it and report back later.