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[SunWuKong]

DevBlog Update 2014.11.15 Steam Greenlight early announcement and (early) WATER!!! Also - cool T-shirts and icons FOR YOU! it;s a biggie but we think you will like this one! THANK YOU for checking in on us!!!

WHAT DOES THIS IMAGE MEAN!!?!

Well, it means we are coming to a Greenlight session soon! We will need your help when the call goes out. Our small but passionate community needs to rise up and scream “WE WANT BOSS 101 and WE WANT IT NOW (or as soon as possible)!”

The campaign is not live at the moment but we're setting up and when we are ready we will be coming to you, hat in hand and asking if you would lend us your vote. We will make you VERY PROUD! We will make you HAPPY you said YES!

When will it be ready? Well, here’s the deal, there is no point in releasing anything until we think it’s swanky. We’re working on a nice video you can not only see but can SHOW OTHERS! The deal here is we want you to be so excited you WANT to show your buddies. That’s the whole point right?

Ok – more news is coming and in the meanwhile – enjoy STEVE and Max and more water animations!


Water Levels!!! YES!!!

STEVE and Max talk about some of the new features rolling into the game RIGHT NOW. Top of that list is WATER LEVELS! You heard it here first. You will take to the skies over a beautiful ocean and soar around kicking up jets of water as you blast your way into the robo-history books. Check out the the images and their animated take below.

Merchandise - Shirts and Icons - FOR YOU!!

You knew it was coming sooner or later... MERCHANDISE! Check out the sweet electronic swag we have for you!

LINK TO DOWNLOAD ALL OF THE ABOVE!

Dev T-shirts!

Can this be for real?!?!? Let's see...

Thanks for reading this MASSIVE update and we'll be talking again soon!

WE LOVE YOU and please remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

YES!

-Tim

[sidbarnhoorn]

Wow awesome! :-) All the best with your game! :-D

[turritom]

nice one! i will buy it on Steam! 

[SunWuKong]

Wow awesome! :-) All the best with your game! :-D

Thanks and it means a lot to hear the positive feedback. I appreciate it!

nice one! i will buy it on Steam! 

WOW! Thanks. I will mos-def keep you updated about the haps! That's a very nice thing to say too! Great to hear actually!!! hahahaha

Working on this game is both amazing and humbling at the same time. It's ultra nice to be so close to the actual people who are going to buy the game. The community here and at other sites is inspirational. SO MANY TALENTED PEOPLE! JEEBUS!!

Thanks again everyone for all the nice notes you sent publicly and privately. Really good to hear from you and keep 'em coming! I enjoy hearing from you!

Best and LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

DevBlog Update 2014.11.22 Boss 101 Gun Shop (early look) and fighting a celestial bear! CHECK IT OUT!

You want to know about the latest? Well we have the Boss 101 gun shop EARLY PREVIEW! Check out a FEW of the sweet boomsticks available to you during the game. You can upgrade fire power and craft special weapons with rare materials.

We're heading towards Steam Greenlight and we're MAKING YOU PROUD!

Also, just another day fighting a celestial cloud bear near the galactic spiral rim WITH A PISTOL!

You like that?!!??! THERE’S ALWAYS MORE COMING!! and don't forget about the STEAM GREENLIGHT!

Remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS! Talk with you soon and all the best!

-Tim

We like you! Visit Us!

Main Site | Boss 101 IndieDB | Facebook | Our subReddit | Twitter | Twitch

[sec32]

I would love to see a t-shirt with the actual picture art.

Just saying

 

[Vitali Kirpu]

Bosses are original! I give you that

[NinthPower]

goodness gracious this looks good!

[CrateBoy]

I would sooo rep that shirt man, dope.

[SunWuKong]

I would love to see a t-shirt with the actual picture art.

Just saying

 

HA!!! You know - here's the deal - we have always planned on getting some t-shirts together for friends and fans. The plan at the moment is team with a vendor and setup an online shop with some spiffy shirts for you to buy at rock bottom prices. We want you to have the best for the BEST deal. They are a few places we are looking at but when it's ready we'll post something up and you can judge for yourself. The shirt with Max and Steve rocketing around is mos-def on the list.

Thanks for checking out the update and best!

-Tim

Bosses are original! I give you that

Thank you! Using the Make a Boss machine STILL gets a laugh from us. My friend described it well when he said "Man, Boss 101 is so random it's like you're drawing sneakers on a T-Rex!" hahahah That pretty well sums up the spirit of the game.

Thanks for the comment and the look!

Best,

-Tim

goodness gracious this looks good!

Aw - that is a very nice thing to say and really makes our day. We're doing this for YOU TOO! We want the game to be awesome and really fun. The big thing is we're working hard to give you lots to do when you play (and lots of Steve and Max). More guns, bosses, dialog and tons of upgrades and surprise games! ALL FOR YOU!

Thanks again and take care! Best,

-Tim

I would sooo rep that shirt man, dope.

We're on it!! HAHAH! As I mentioned above we've been looking at vendors who can make something nice and get it to you. We might even have some contests for shirts if you're feeling lucky. Either way YOU WIN!

Thanks again and best!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Flippin' GUNS!

You know when you make a game the thing to remember is it’s supposed to be FUN. Fun for the player in as many ways as reasonable/possible. Here at the Foundation we work EVERY SINGLE DAY thinking about you. Well, actually, we think about a LOT of things and YOU are on the list. Pretty high. Under things like REALLY close family and friends but RIGHT UP THERE!

At any rate – we have been tweaking and tuning guns and GUESS WHAT MADE A RETURN THIS WEEK?

THE FREAKING FIST CANNON! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Best gun in the Boss 101 web game makes a return here for your enjoyment. This is only the Level 1 Fist cannon!!  There are two more upgrades after this including ROCKET PROPELLED PUNCHES!

Check out the snaps and see what you think.

As always, remember to love your dreams!

-Tim

We like you! Visit Us!
Main Site | Boss 101 IndieDB | Facebook | Our subReddit | Twitter | Twitch

[SunWuKong]

Things are moving at the Foundation! We’re hard at work on prepping a JAWESOME Steam Greenlight Video. All progresses well and it's been a pretty eventful month with gameplay, guns, minions and bosses moving along.

Let’s check out some snaps shall we? First, who is THIS guy? Seems kinda big even for Boss 101…

From the minion tuning night…

Some screenies from nightly playtests...

YES! Check it out, live it, love it… and most of all LIVE. YOUR. DREAMS!

-Tim

[Green Gospod]

All this time following your devblog I was hoping to see some bigger bosses.
Don't you think the bosses are small and puny? 
Wouldn't it be cool to have a boss three, four, five times bigger than the ones you have now? That would be some crazy shit! 

[SunWuKong]

Wouldn't it be cool to have a boss three, four, five times bigger than the ones you have now? That would be some crazy shit!  

HA!! Well, one, we mos-def haven't shown you the biggest bosses. We have to leave SOMETHING for later.

If it's super huge bosses you're after in Boss 101, you won't be let down.

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Max, STEVE and you coming into 2015 together! Join them as they battle the hordes of Boss 101. Randomly generated bosses? Yes! Monkey robots and crossed with a mecha T-Rex? YES!

Some holiday greetings from the crew to get us going!

Indie Game Riot and Donley Time Foundation Team Up

First off – Indie Game Riot was kind enough to allow us to publish our first article. This is the beginning of a series on working as an independent developer after being in large scale corporate game development. Josh Musser from IGR helped with the editing and we appreciate his time (and ability to correct grammar).

Here’s the link: How to Make a Game, Part 1

Swimming with dolphins. You may not know but you can can fly alongside dolphin buddies in Boss 101. Yep, you and Mister Dolphin riding the waves!

Some of the latest progress on the Boss 101 Command Center. This is where you will go to buy and upgrade weapons. We even have secret shops for those who want to get top notch gear!

Current look at the gun shop…

Super Secret Shop in-progress – you’ll have to get access to check out the goods…

T-Shirts!!!!

OK – we just got setup and now you can get your very own Boss 101 and Donley Time Foundation t-shirts. We teamed up with Spreadshirt and got sweet shirts for rock bottom prices. They come in both Men and Women’s styles!

Boss 101 T-Shirts and Donley Time Foundations Dev Shirts

Talk with you soon and keep living your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Dev Update!

Yes folks - work roars ahead with a bunch of new developments. We're working on things like player weapons and boss weapons... check out the latest screenies! We LOVE what we do and we hope you will really enjoy the effort. Boss 101 is your game as much as ours.

Now, let's move onto some of the recent work - shall we?

Snap 1: Crazy asteroids field action. You gotta be careful out there, the bosses ain’t playing around! Luke and the gang didn’t have it this hard running from the Empire.

Snap 2: Dense matter!

Snap 3: Testing the multi-shot canon and blowing baddies away

Snap 4: Take a break and fly a kite in Boss 101. Chat it up with your buddy as you soak in the rays. Maybe you’ll learn something.

Snap 5: Don't forget the Steam Greenlight is coming soon!

Game articles written by yours truly...

Also, part 2 of my series (and personal take) on making games is up on Indie Game Riot. Check it out if you want to hear me rant! HAHAHAHAHA! All opinions are strictly mine and highly questionable!

Link – How To Make a Game – Part 2

Talk with you soon and remember to always live your dreams folks!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Dev Update!

Thanks for checking in with our Saturday update. Here's a look at some of the latest boss battling we're working on!

Crossbows versus Tanks! Just another day battling evil in Boss 101.

The Robo-Dragonfly bum-rush!

More coming and thanks for stopping by! Remember to live your dreams folks!

-Tim

We like you! Visit Us!
Main Site | Boss 101 IndieDB | Facebook | Our subReddit | Twitter |

[SunWuKong]

Hello and welcome to this week's dev blog for Boss 101!

The main focus for us was polishing up some of the alternate game modes for the game. As you may or may not know the web version of the game was mostly a shoot 'em up from level to level. You old goals were mostly blast away and just dodge boss attacks. Well, this time around you are going to have some other goals during the round. One of them will be to help transport some baby robo AI's safely into space (and hopefully keep them from getting blasted).

Check out the prelim phase where we have the basic AI for the baby robo ship. It lags a little as it follows around so you are going to have to be careful when your juking around. Any missiles that miss you might hit it!

Jeebus - looking at this now it reminds me more of a cowboy hat than anything else! HAHAHAH

For this we just wanted the base movement in, there will be more variations and tunes. For instance bigger or slower robo ships to make the challenge varied.

Then we move into the pass on the visuals. Funny story. I was explaining this idea about little baby robots following you around and crying if they got hit by missiles or too far away from the player. Both our engineer and one of the pixel artists said the same thing at the same time "Oh yeah, that's like Yoshi's Island." HAHAHAH. What's funny is I totally skipped Yoshi's island but went back to it after they mentioned. I have to say it did make me laugh to see the babies crying and floating around.

So now we have this.. our Baby Robos cruising around. See? No danger and they are chill!

The Baby Robos in danger. Well, we knew it couldn't last long. Now they are upset.

Then it looks like this in the game. Again - more to come and this was an early go at the idea.

Mostly the thought here is to add  humor to any moment in the game. That's not to say every single second is a slapstick comedy fest but for the most part - we want to entertain with our humor.

Some of the other things we're working on are the boss's weapons - we have a fire breath back weapon that will put a blast of flame on any attached boss head...

It's freaking Godzilla breath for everyone!

Last - we have some minor twizzles that we thinks are just fun things. Each time you fire up the game you might load a different environment for your title screen... like this..

Nightime at the foundation...

Rainy days...

Sunset...

So there you go - a small peek at the work we're doing behind the scenes. Our Greenlight video is coming along so stay tuned for the latest. In the meantime you can check out our main site or other links for up to date news!

Thank you for checking out the game and remember to live your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

2014.05.08 Dev Blog Update Flying at warp speed, shooting swords!

Been a busy week so let's check out the latest developments.

Warp chases

You can now chase bosses through warp portals and take them down while in warp space. Of course this might toss you out somewhere you aren't expecting.

As always - we want to give YOU the best game possible which means gameplay, story and overall entertainment. There have been a lot of posts about the game's look and we have not forgotten about the story of Steve and Max. Without giving too much away Boss 101 will give you a look behind the curtains as to why the guys do what they do. Who were THEIR influences? Who do they look up to and why? Is this stuff important? We think so and we feel it will give you a lot more reasons to root for them when you know how they arrived.

That said - there will always be the smart-alec robots and funny quips (mostly since STEVE isn't going anywhere).

So if you see a warp in space like this:

Then you move on in:

You might end up in a warp tunnel blasting samurai swords!

Hey, no one said it was easy being a kid with a jetpack. Actually, maybe they did and they of course lied. HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

Boss Tuning

We're jamming on the bosses for the game. As you know there are MILLIONS of boss combos and each of them has their own weaponry and patterns. The best part is you won't know what's coming till you roll the boss. One of the most fun aspects is just making them 'do their thing'.

In the web version bosses were scaled for browser based gameplay but MAN - this time around it was a number one priority to make then be far more bombastic. Cooler VFX, more pixel resolution and animation. Check out a preview of some of the craziness!

Bonus Time: A look at one of sweet outfits you can get in the game... this one is called.. Kill Who?

Also - get ready for the Steam Greenlight - coming soon and we will need YOUR vote. Thanks in advance for your support!

Part 4 of my Making a Game Article is up at Indie Game Riot!

2015.02.01 Update - How to Make a Game - Part 4

Finally, here's a sneak at the latest in the next article of the series with a focus on getting help while you work on your indie game...

Working with people as an independent gamer

You need help even if you are alone. No one makes a game all by his lonesome. Not the guy that did Cave Story, not the guys making Missile Command in the 80’s or the guy that made Pong 10,000 years ago. They used programming languages, machinery, electronics and probably had a lot of ancillary help getting various things done. No one, please here me, no one gets far in this world without other people’s time (OPT) or other people’s money (OPM). You might need both during your game development sojourn. I’m talking about forums for programming, sound and art. I’m also referring to local game developers in your town of perhaps developers you can talk with via email or Skype. Reach out to people doing what you do – heck just reach out to people. This is game development and it’s the 21st century. The people out there you admire have scores of help working with them. You should too! Reach out and make contacts about various aspects of gameplay. If you’re strong in something – maybe you can help. If you are weaker on a subject, then it’s your time to ask for advice. Which leads to…

Getting help. Something most people forget is the easiest way to get what YOU want is to help someone else get what THEY want. I won’t even bother to validate that with examples since you know it’s true. You’ve used it thousands of times in your life in many ways. What you really should be doing is helping others while you are making your game. I know that seems to contradict progress but it won’t. In fact it will probably accelerate your progress since in helping others you will open up doors for yourself you didn’t know about. Strange but true and I can attest from firsthand experience this does work.

As always - Remember to live your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

2015.02.15 Boss 101 Dev Blog Update

Welcome back to our weekly dev blog update! This week we're peeling back the curtain a little and showing you the magic behind the scenes. I'll be straight with you and say the reason the game is moving along so well is the great testing tools we created.

Command Center Main Room

First off though - let's check out the work on the Command Center main room - YOUR main room in the game!

We've been adding ambient touches to the room. This is your first stop in the game and where you hang out with Max and Steve. This week we updated the window with animations and gave Max and Steve a gloss pass.

Boss Testing

As you know we have a lot of bosses and boss parts. To test things like animations, how well they match each other and general firing patterns we created a boss testing room where we can trigger all that stuff. In it we can mix and match parts as well as trigger various animations. Some examples:

We can randomly jumble parts together to check how various thing match. We can also select any part (like the head or the main weapon) and cycle through all the variations.

We can also look at the minions in the game and trigger their animations (like the firing animation on this little guy called 7 Shot)

Dialog Testing

As you can probably surmise - there is a LOT of dialog in the game and all that talking needs to be checked and tested. We have tools for that too. You can trigger any dialog (in game or Command Center bases) from the Dialog testing room. VERY helpful for putting the finishing touches and checking formatting.

InGame Screenshot

A snap from one of the levels with some giant boss wreckage from previous battles. Oh yeah, this shiz has happened before and left remains for you to see.

A lot of what we are going for in the game is to a) give you something cool to see b) hand out story elements and hints for you to discover and interpret for yourself.

Part 5 of my Making a Game Article is up at Indie Game Riot!

The Latest article from my series on making games is up at Indie Game Riot. Check it out!

2015.02.14 Update - How to Make a Game - Part 5

A sneak peek at NEXT week's article!

(from How to Make a game - Part 6)
Note Taking and you!

You can use Excel, Notepad, your favorite mail program… even paper! Whatever works. The idea is you have an easy to access place to jot things down as you think of them. I started carrying a small Moleskin everywhere (really any small notebook will do). Most of the time this gets filled with movie recommendations, songs and various ideas I have or hear during the day. There are great programs with Android and iTunes (like Google Keep) which serve the same function on your smart phone.

Ok – so you have the program or journal. The best thing I have found is to just start using it for ALL your ideas and notes. Write everything down you think of. Maybe you have some gameplay idea after seeing a movie. Write it down as soon as you can. Maybe you woke up from a dream with an awesome Boss design. Write that down immediately (keep that list nearby).

You need to stop with the “I gotta remember to do that” crap. Most of the time you will forget and anyone who has been in game development has a few stories about idea they just forgot which were “so awesome if I could only remember”.  Notebooks and note taking will dramatically increase your happiness as a side benefit. How you ask? Well, less remembering to do and less forgetting is, of course, less work for you and that is always a nice thing. Also – you will learn to collect ideas efficiently as you write things down.

That’s all for this session and tune in next week for another look at our progress!

Remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS folks!

-Tim