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[Sam B]

Dodging looks lovely! The "gravity-stop" does indeed look like it feels good.

Great work with adding a function I didn't know I wanted! =)

[Zack Bell]

Thanks for all of the positive feedback on the multiplayer stuff. It's funny how these things work. When beginning this project, multiplayer was a definite, but WAY IN THE BACK OF MY MIND stretch goal. However, the game's single player mechanics transitioned perfectly over to a Towerfall/Samurai Gunn-ish setting. Screen-wrap, lightning fast kills, etc. Due to this, I have been having a lot of fun with developing a deeper multiplayer system and have been getting almost unanimous positive feedback on the subject.

My questions for you guys are...

1) Should I embrace the systems that already work? For example, I could add vertical screen-wrap to the multiplayer arenas. This increases complexity due to the fairly mobile wall jumping ability that is at the players disposal. I already added block/countering so that the teleport ability is actually avoidable. I also plan on having crate spawns with various power-ups/goodies. 

2) Does increasing the value of the multiplayer at all decrease the value of the single player campaign? I am worried that the multiplayer mechanics attract a different audience than the simplicity of the single player mechanics (though the single player difficulty makes up for this).

Thoughts, opinions, concerns? 

[kruxus]

Those latest additions look super fun. I like the blood trails when respawning.

Vertical screen-wrap on some levels wouldn't be bad I think, but vertical teleportation would seem a bit overkill.

Adding multiplayer might make it a bit harder to label the game, harder for people to understand or describe what the game is about maybe. I'm not sure if this is your concern? But as it seems like the single and multiplayer experience go hand in hand so this is probably a small risk in this case.

You might also get some angry fans wanting network multiplayer.

[Zack Bell]

Those latest additions look super fun. I like the blood trails when respawning.

Vertical screen-wrap on some levels wouldn't be bad I think, but vertical teleportation would seem a bit overkill.

Adding multiplayer might make it a bit harder to label the game, harder for people to understand or describe what the game is about maybe. I'm not sure if this is your concern? But as it seems like the single and multiplayer experience go hand in hand so this is probably a small risk in this case.

You might also get some angry fans wanting network multiplayer.

Thanks for the feedback. And yeah, I think that really is my main concern. It's like making a metriodvania w/ Super Smash Bros style DLC or something. It's just kinda...all over the place? They both play well and certainly coexist in the same universe properly, but it still feels like a bit much.

I love them both, but they could almost be separate releases?

[oodavid]

Following!

I couldn't quite get my head around how the mechanic would lend itself to the gameplay but these most recent gifs look really frantic and fun.

[Zack Bell]

Following!

I couldn't quite get my head around how the mechanic would lend itself to the gameplay but these most recent gifs look really frantic and fun.

Hey, thanks! Working on this today...



EDIT: Steal the flag!

[Sam B]

Alright, so here's a bit of feedback.

Multiplayer seems really exciting to me. However, keep it in the realms of what can/cannot be done in single player. If you cannot wrap vertically in single, don't put it in multi. If you can't dodge in single, don't put dodge in multi. I very much think you can have a successfully single player campaign and a multiplayer game. Tie the two in together. Unlock characters and stages through single player. Add traps!

I suspect that once I beat singleplayer mode, I wouldn't revisit the game. With multiplayer, I could absolutely see myself revisiting with a friend or two. The mechanics are really snappy and simple, which fits perfectly for the sort of games that are popular right now.

I'd suggest two modes in multiplayer: "Deathmatch" and "race." Deathmatch is obvious... and race would simply be a race to get to the guy who spawns randomly in the stage.

TLDR; You should put in multi. It CAN be tied into the theme.

[Zack Bell]

Alright, so here's a bit of feedback.

Multiplayer seems really exciting to me. However, keep it in the realms of what can/cannot be done in single player. If you cannot wrap vertically in single, don't put it in multi. If you can't dodge in single, don't put dodge in multi. I very much think you can have a successfully single player campaign and a multiplayer game. Tie the two in together. Unlock characters and stages through single player. Add traps!

I suspect that once I beat singleplayer mode, I wouldn't revisit the game. With multiplayer, I could absolutely see myself revisiting with a friend or two. The mechanics are really snappy and simple, which fits perfectly for the sort of games that are popular right now.

I'd suggest two modes in multiplayer: "Deathmatch" and "race." Deathmatch is obvious... and race would simply be a race to get to the guy who spawns randomly in the stage.

TLDR; You should put in multi. It CAN be tied into the theme.

Thank you for the feedback! We like a lot of those ideas actually. The big one being adding the dodge/counter to the single player. I like the idea of making the enemies a lot more projectile based and letting the player dodge/reflect those.

Also, indie cameos in multiplayer will be able to be unlocked via both modes. Multiplayer trailer and KS update coming tomorrow!

[Zack Bell]

TRAILER #2

We posted a multiplayer update via Kickstarter! You can check that out, HERE:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/super91/super-iii/posts/968206

If you're already backing or don't want to share, you can just view the new trailer via YouTube:




Also, RE: Trailer, special thanks goes out to Derek Yu/Mossmouth! :D

[Zack Bell]

Again for those of you who didn't catch the multiplayer trailer:




Uh, taking a breather after wrapping up that trailer. Trying to do something interesting with our lava. I've never really messed with this sort of thing so I'm just screwing around in a new project file.


^ The FANCY SCHMANCY DRAW STEP approach


^ The I KNOW PARTICLES approach

I declare today a double fail.

[Zack Bell]

Spelunky Guy and III getting smashed by some falling fish. I'm testing numerous items, this being one of the SSB-like Pokeball summons (obviously spamming it, this isn't how it would work in-game  )

[Rebusmind]

Uh, taking a breather after wrapping up that trailer. Trying to do something interesting with our lava. I've never really messed with this sort of thing so I'm just screwing around in a new project file.


^ The FANCY SCHMANCY DRAW STEP approach

Nice!
I did water like this for one of my games a year ago and if it doesn't hurt the performance too much, you can also add Bezier curves to the point interpolation to make it extra smooth. (you can see it here at 0:36 -

)

[Zack Bell]

For those who have asked, the Kickstarter isn't going super well. Working with contracted artists/composers has been a treat, but it also makes things expensive 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/super91/super-iii

This is our first time running a KS and we hit the typical kinks. Mainly hitting milestones while unable to afford enough new content for sequential press updates.

We are incredibly grateful for the support so far and are still pushing. Also considering alternatives if the worst happens. Thanks for your patience in terms of devlog content. 

[Sam B]

Talking to my dev team about Super III today; We noticed the KS is a little behind funding. Surprising to say the least! I hope ya'll make it!

[Zack Bell]

Talking to my dev team about Super III today; We noticed the KS is a little behind funding. Surprising to say the least! I hope ya'll make it!

Yeah, that's pretty much what my last post was about. Don't worry, we have plans  We did realize going into this that it was our first time and that we needed quite a large sum of money for something that looks like a small, simple, pixel platformer.

Updates soon, I'm sure! Thanks for the support, by the way

[Rebusmind]

You could also show the game to Youtube guys like The Completionist, ProJared or the Game Grumps.

[Zack Bell]

You could also show the game to Youtube guys like The Completionist, ProJared or the Game Grumps.

That's the plan! Well, part of it. We will post an official "this is what's up" post, soon. No worries!

[premonster]

I still dont know why no alpha was released yet... : {

Maybe things could have been different, with lets players and streamers playing it. And theres still time!

[Rat Casket]

I still dont know why no alpha was released yet... : {

Maybe things could have been different, with lets players and streamers playing it. And theres still time!

Because no sfx, no music, no levels, etc.

And all resources had to be shoved into multiplayer asap for a KS update.

[Zack Bell]

My main concern was silence. You'd think I would have learned this with Frog Sord, but we didn't budget enough to make sfx and tracks for a playable alpha. The Kickstarter launch was pretty good, but their was almost a spotlight on the trailer track. I didn't want that to be backed up with a game with absolutely no audio.

Again, we'll put an official update this weekend. A build will be available shortly.

I still dont know why no alpha was released yet... : {

Maybe things could have been different, with lets players and streamers playing it. And theres still time!

And all resources had to be shoved into multiplayer asap for a KS update.

Plus, this^. To some extent. Originally a stretch goal, the multiplayer had been extremely fun to work on and has only seen positive feedback.
Because no sfx, no music, no levels, etc.