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[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot

Working on the front end UI. Specifically the save game panel so it shows your current gun and hat. These days it's about the nice touches as we polish up Boss 101 heading into the final stretch.



Remember to live your dreams people!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

You asked for it and you got it! Welcome to the Boss 101 update where we sweat the details and share the secrets behind the making of Boss 101 the game.

Speaking of details, this week we’re looking at more of the little touches we think make Boss 101 a special game. Things like interface cleanup as well as various UI screen niceties to enhance your game experience are covered. We feel the ONLY way to bring Boss 101 into your life is by giving you OUR VERY BEST EFFORT and then some. We also believe the way to make a mark, give you value and bring you back for more is to put forth an effort so spectacular you can’t ignore the joy we had making it.

Every day we look at ways to make each element of the game as fun, engaging and charming as possible. No screen, character or BUTTON is immune to this thinking. It’s not enough to have a great gameplay feature or some neat looking loading screen. We feel each part of the experience must match up and equal the rest. We have themed the entire game around the Boss 101 look so let’s check out samples of what I am blabbing about shall we?

Main Screen Options Panel



Once you get to the main screen panel you can access the base options for the game. Among other things you will be able to configure your keyboard controls. Let’s talk about that for a second.

When we first looked at this panel we had static icons to represent the various controls you were going to remap. That’s all well and good but how much cooler is it when the buttons move and activate? MUCH BETTER WE SAY! Check out the screen:





Work in Progress Movie Room Icons



You can see here in the movie room the start of the process for labels. We are adding in animated icons for the movies you can replay. Again, a static icon would do just fine but that’s not us and we think we can do better FOR YOU! We’ll post more in progress images here as we go forward.

The room! The work in progress area:



Close up




The Endless Boss Win Warp Screen



Winning a round in the Endless Boss mode will toss you to the warp screen where you can catch your breath and ready yourself for the next round. Here is where ROB and the Cosmic Clicks ship will meet you for a refueling stop. We thought about this room and felt ROB would definitely want to be on this journey with you so we had him join you in the win area.



Of course the gophers show up to give the Clicks ship a bit of polish and top off the fuel tank. YOU KNOW!



OK – that is it for the week’s highlights. Hope you enjoyed seeing the plan come closer to fruition. Boss 101 will be released sooner than later and though we can’t put a pin on the EXACT DATE we can tell you this – it will be the most fun, most charm and the very best value we can possibly give you. YES!!!

Take care and remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 on Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind. Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



The guys hope you're having a great day and remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to another Boss 101 Development Update and thank you so much for stopping by to see what’s up!

The Team Makes the Difference

I want to start this week with something I have mentioned before but it bears repeating. The team bringing you Boss 101 is one of the finest teams I have ever had the privilege of working with. It may be boring to hear that but I can assure you the work is anything but. These are dedicated people who are going the extra mile at every single turn to bring you the very best game we can make.



Manon (pixel artist) and Joshua (lead programmer) along with myself are the core of the Boss 101 experience. The game would not be this awesome without their help. There is an old saying I heard a long time ago that you can judge a leader by what his team does when he is NOT in the room. Well, I think it is better to say when you give the right people good direction and let them run free they will deliver the goods whether you mapped things out perfectly or not.

What I am getting at is there is a TON of stuff in Boss 101 that was not plotted out perfectly at the beginning. The thing is, when it came time to make an A or B decision – both Joshua and Manon have consistently picked the highest quality outcome. This in turn is being passed directly back to you in the form of value and gameplay.

I really am a fortunate person to get to work with these fine people and I think you will agree when you see the final game.

Gun Store Touchups

Moving into the polish stuff for this week. First up is the gun store. As you have seen before, the gun store has had a couple upgrades over the time we’ve been working on Boss 101. All the upgrades have been about making the user interface clearer and easier to use.

Something you might already suspect is good looking does not always equal easy to use. We have adjusted a lot of little interface items due to this. When things first go in we tend to be pretty proud they are in and working. From there on out it is pretty easy to get used to a functionality and forget the end user will likely see the interface in an entirely different light. (probably a much less forgiving one too!).

We have gone through several of the panels in the Command Center and the idea is we touch them up to provide the information needed quickly and without any fuss. Where things were unclear we worked to make them MORE clear. Check out the gun panels below being lightened up so you can see the gun hardware you are getting.

Old Version


New Version


Now we understand there is nothing technically wrong with the old version. The thing sticking out for us was that it was a) very old in terms of implementation and design and b) a bit dark compared to other store panels. The corrected one is much more in-line with all the other stores and the Command Center in general.

Hat Store touchups

We have a bigger update planned for the hat store but check out the jazzed up hat room. Again – these are some other items we are excited to talk with you about but the deal here was to add some space for UI elements and also clean up the background. Of course you can have tech in the Command Center without Professor Gopher and Friends!

Old Version


New Version WIP


Screenshot of the Day

Adding in a hat inspired by the great J Hause! (check out his page here https://www.facebook.com/Ghosthause)



Thank you again for stopping by and hope you enjoyed this look at the game. We appreciate your support and emails!

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Rolling bosses in the Make a Boss! Just another day making the universe safe for you and me.

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 Update

Polish and cleanup. That has been an ongoing theme for the last few weeks and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future. You see, Boss 101 could be done and wrapped up in a few weeks. It COULD be in your hands sooner than later. The only problem we have with that is the game would not be our best effort and that is not acceptable.

UI touchups

Something important we are working at the moment is making certain the UI is understandable and readable. The way we are doing this is, well, playing the game and having others play the game. You might image how easy is it to make a game and get used to the controls you install. After working on a game for over two years it is easy to think “Oh, this little control makes enough sense! Sure, it’s a little odd and I have NEVER seen anything like it before but PLAYERS WILL GET IT!”

Well, I have news, they probably won’t get it. It’s actually very likely they will not understand any scheme which deviates to far from logic of the norm of game controls. In those situations it requires a dedicated team to address the issues and correct the little weird things. I can’t say everything we ever did will be perfect but I can assure you we thought of YOU at all times. We looked at our game and asked “will someone who has never seen the game understand this in context?” We put ourselves in your place as much as we possibly can. It’s really the only way.

Let’s look at some of the things happening this week…

Rob’s Store

Here we have an update to Rob’s special store. In it you can find all sorts of odd guns and hats. We’ll talk more about how you access it but in the meantime let’s look at the design of the place.

First we have the current store. Pretty nice and there is a neat look happening. In a lot of ways there is nothing wrong with it on a purely aesthetic level.



Here is the remodel work in progress. We added space for UI elements that clearly explain what you are doing and show the controls a lot better. We also lightened up the area so you can see the products better. This is a great example of taking something that was working and simply making it better for the player. We could have shipped with the old one and players would have figured things out (we hope) but when we played the game it was pretty obvious clarity would help.



Something to remember is a lot of times you can get caught up in what looks good versus what works well. UI needs to work well first and foremost. The looking good will mostly be a function of the efficiency and thematic clarity you create (ie – form follows function)

Help Panels

We added little help panel overlays to all of the main Command Center pages. The idea is to give you an easy assist if you are still learning the ropes or need a refresher. Also – we didn’t want to intrude on your game so we made the overlay and activates as innocuous as possible.

Command Center

With help on and off


Upgrade Room

Help on and off


Gun Shop

Help on and off


There you go! A quick snapshot of this week’s work and much more to come. The goal of our development at this point is the same as always – give YOU the best game we can. You deserve it and we aim to deliver.

Thanks again and always remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!!!

-Tim

Please put Boss 101 on your Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind - Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Hat Store, you can wear a hat for looks or ability or BOTH. You decide. We give you the ability to look like you want and play as you like.

Talk with you soon and remember to live your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 Weekly update!

Let’s talk about dialog, specifically about the way we interact with YOU in Boss 101 through the dialog box.

If you recall the dialog boxes from recent updates, they were pretty practical affairs. Got the job done. Readable and overall pretty straightforward. Well, as you know in Boss 101 land “good enough” ISN’T! No it is NOT!

Improved Dialog Box

Look at some of the new features we added to make your reading engagement easier, better and more entertaining. We have things like font style changing, pausing, more interesting text draw-in and allowing you to interactively speed up and slow reading down to YOUR pace.



Name Tags

We added the ability to put a small animated name tag above the current speaker. Previously we had it above Max and Steve on special occasions but now EVERYONE gets a tag!

Below are some examples of colored text for highlighting those super important (or funny) phrases. We also added triggers for text effects to add a little oomph to the reading experience.



Check out Rob giving us one of his deep though moments here with some of the new effects in place.



A small set of samples of effects



OK – the whole idea is to make the game and the enjoyment as awesome as we can. This is just a small example of the things we are making daily. Everything we are putting in is about YOUR entertainment. Boss 101 is more than just an action adventure game and as we edge every closer to shipping we will be bringing you more looks at the game making magic we employ.

As we have said before, it’s very important to bring you the best game and value possible. We want you to be right there with Steve and Max while they battle the bad guys and discover things about the universe AND THEMSELVES!

How do we do that you might wonder? Well, we are keeping you in mind as we work and most importantly – WE LIVE OUR DREAMS!

Remember to live your dreams too and we’ll see you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 on Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind. Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot

Tuning the pirate boss. This guy can lay down the serious smack if you aren't careful. Bring your "A" game people!



Talk with you soon and remember to live your dreams.

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 weekly update!

Today we’re going to talk more about the UI tuning we’re doing to make YOUR experience smooth and fun.

Make A Boss Equip Panel

In the game you have a few places to outfit your character. The basic ones are the gun and hat shops. This is where you purchase and store all the equipment you use on your adventure.

Hat Store



Gun Store



Beyond this, we added couple more places to kit out your character. These are intended to help with game flow by letting you see the boss you’re currently fighting and adjust your strategy on the fly. Let’s say there is a boss with a fire weapon and you want to wear your fire protective hat. The Equip Panel in the Make A Boss room is where you can do that.

Let’s talk about the Equip Panel for a moment shall we?

When we first built the MaB Equip Panel the design was inspired by the need to see the boss abilities AND see your hat & gun abilities. We had a first version in the game and while it was nice visually it didn’t quite do the trick when it came to functionality. One of the main problems we ran into was with abilities added to the hats (like being able to equip a costume and ability version) as well as general space and layout concerns. Due to this we felt a small redesign was needed.

The Old Version of the Make A Boss Equip



As you may already know, one thing about creating games is not getting too attached to an idea and being open to feedback. When we looked at the old equip panel a bunch of problems became apparent (I won’t bother to list them all here). We ended up doing a slight redesign and wouldn’t you know it? We found a way to show MORE guns and hats in the same area. Check out the hat and gun slots we have going in these work in progress shots.

Work In Progress - New Equip Panel Hats



Work In Progress - New Equip Panel Guns



To be clear – what you are looking at is the current version we are working on. It’s not a final product yet but getting there. As we said before, it is SUPER important to bring you a polished game you can dive into and enjoy. For THAT to happen we are bringing our best efforts by testing and retesting levels and UI panels.

Going Forward with Boss 101

It’s been a busy week and a lot of our work was little cleanups all across the game. Every time we sit down for a play through I’m impressed by what our team has managed to do. It’s inspiring and the people on this team inspire me to keep me going through the day and on into the night. It’s energizing and the most fun I’ve had in a LONG, long time. Great people and great teamwork are driving Boss 101 forward. Of course – we also have some amazing friends and supporters like YOU. So thank you for stopping by and we appreciate the comments and letters we’ve been getting.

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 on Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind. Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Well it looks like Mr. Squirrel moved into the Command Center. No worries though, there's plenty of room.

[SunWuKong]

Welcome back to the Boss 101 update!

This week we are looking more at the little touches we think make Boss 101 special. Let’s start with the Command Center proper shall we?

So, the command center is your main base of operations and your home.  We have often spoke of the elevator nature of the floors. You use a small control panel to travel up and down. Well, we always thought it was pretty straightforward but after some consideration we added a new touch that solidifies what is happening – the Command Center Door!

Check out these screens of the new door which closes when you are in ‘elevator mode’. The idea here is you will clearly get a sense you are ‘outside’ the room. You will still be able to see what is going on though and you will get a better idea of the floor you are on relative to the others. It’s a small touch but we think it adds a bit to the feel of being in a place.

Going into the Command Center from the Start Screen


Moving Between Floors


Moving to the top floor



Pets join you on Kite Hill

Hey, you know your little buddies like to be around you so we are letting them out onto Kite Hill with you. Of course, they just want to fly around and enjoy the day (or night) so you might see them off in the distance bopping around. Check these snaps out.

Look at Mister Mouse flying around! He’s so tiny!


Here a cute giraffe with a jet pack hanging around


Same little guy during the day


Those are just a few of the little touches we continue to add into Boss 101 as we head towards completion. It’s important we give you the very best experience we can and that means pulling out the stops to make the Boss 101 universe as complete as possible.

Comment on the new hat store


Check out this great post from a friend on Newgrounds. We think this pretty much embodies WHY we are doing what we are doing!

Keep checking back for more release news, images and even new videos!

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 on Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind. Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
 

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

You can have a pet coffee cup in Boss 101. See him flying around outside? Man, I have always wanted one myself since it would make those morning coffee runs a lot faster. hehe



More to come and remember to live your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 Update!

As you know we are dedicated to bringing you our best effort. At this stage the news is really about polish and cleanup. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

Equip Panel in the Make A Boss

This one has come up a few times in recent updates and there’s a reason. It’s an important area for the player and has a lot of moving parts to understand. For us that means testing and retesting things that will make YOUR game a lot more fun in the end.

So here we have an example of the panel being iterated on. This is a nice little idea here and improved from version 1.0 (see prior updates). Upon closer inspection we thought it could stand a little more cleanup and brought the whole she-bang into the Boss 101 lab to work on it.



We looked at what was working and how we could make things even clearer. We lightened up the panel to make the guns and hats pop out as well as added a few labels to clear things up for you the player. I’m not a huge fan of tons of small text but I believe there can be a place for information and decals when used correctly. In this case there is so much information happening in this room it seemed to warrant a little more text information.



You can see we also have nice nods to the hat room way of equipping your hat as a costume or an ability hat. This is one of those design moments when we asked ourselves “What have we been teaching the player up to now?” When we did that we felt it was necessary to put in this function since a player might rightfully expect it here. Originally we did not want to do that and ONLY wanted to deal with the ability hats since they are all that matter on this screen. Of course the issue with that sort of thinking is we are making choices for the player instead of giving them the decision.



It was easy enough to add the hat equipping idea from before anyway – SO WE DID! YOU SEE HOW WE ARE!

Little touchups to the Command Center

Endless Boss and the Trophy Room get some shine on their selected animations. Just nice adds to make it clear you have selected these items. We already have a nice green outline and placard but the shine effect puts a cherry on the whole thing.



Movie Room Animated Icons done

You can see here the movie room animated icons are in place. There are only two movies in the queue at the moment but the way they work and the neat new icons for the spooling tape and movies look marvy!



Sound and Music Updates coming!
Ok – more to come soon including updates about the Boss 101 sound and music! Thanks for checking in. Boss 101 is well on track and we are excited to bring it to you soon.

Remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!!

-Tim

Please put Boss 101 on your Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind - Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

[SunWuKong]

Interview at Indie Hangover Live Now

Check out our latest interview over at Indie Hangover. Jacob (from IH) talks with me (Tim) about Boss 101. Lots of fun and I recommend checking out their site. Great stuff!

Link to interview: Boss 101 Developer Interview at Indie Hangover



Thanks for stopping by and remember to always live your dreams!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome back to the Boss 101 Update

Today we are giving you a tour of a few of the weapons you can use in Boss 101. If you’re a longtime viewer you might have seen a few of these but for those that haven’t here is the general idea; during the course of the game you will have access to the most MIGHTY weapons in the Boss 101 universe. Some will be accessible from the start and some will be unlocked as you progress. The various means of unlocking guns is for another update and you might guess they involve things like completion of rounds, general progression or even hitting specific goals.

When we designed the various guns we aimed for variety and designs we felt were ‘fun’ in the Boss 101 sense. Sure we have pistols and bazookas but did you know we have friendship guns and knives? We do!



Here we have one of the more straightforward guns. The pistol set. Three levels ranging from pretty much a pea shooter to a more solid firearm guaranteed to dent most robot armor. The pistol is one of your starting guns and though it is a weaker weapon some may find they like it.



Moving into some of the more hard hitting firearms we have the bazooka series. These pack a serious punch but have limited firing speed. They will do the trick for a lot of minions and put a crimp in most boss armor. The 976-BOOM is a fan favorite.



Bows! Everyone loves a good bow and arrow fight against a giant armored metal opponent. Check out this sweet progression of string weapons. That crossbow can get right in there on those tough bosses.



Throwing Knives Series! You might have thought the game was mostly about bullets and bombs and you would be partially correct. We have LOTS of those but we also have some NEW weapon types you will enjoy. The throwing knife series is all about quick firing and piercing damage. There are a few robo’s weak to this so packing one in your arsenal is a good idea.



Wrenches. You knew these were coming so here they are! This is a nice assortment of old reliable beaters. Get ‘em! They work, you just need to be up close to deliver the blow.



Interview with Indie Hangover

Quick re-post about the interview I (Tim) did with Jacob at Indie Hangover about Boss 101. Check it out!

http://www.indiehangover.com/interview-tim-donley-of-the-donley-time-foundation/

Jacob was very nice to allow us some airtime and it was a blast to talk with him.

Thank you!

That’s all for this week’s weapon looks but stay tuned for more peeks in the coming updates.

As always – remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!!!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Boss 101 tuning the Endless Boss mode with gun power-up drops. Yep, there is a classic arcade option! You can go into Endless Boss and select an arcade mode YOU want!

[Enagic]

I think this is one of my favorite indie projects at the moment. It just looks like pure and unceasing fun, and the love put into it is too notorious.

Keep the good work, as always(:

[SunWuKong]

I think this is one of my favorite indie projects at the moment. It just looks like pure and unceasing fun, and the love put into it is too notorious.

Keep the good work, as always(:

Well that really made our day and thank you. It really is about making the best game we can for YOU. The hope is you really get your money's worth AND are super entertained by the game play and story. Appreciate the compliment for all of us working on Boss 101!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 Update and thank you so much for joining us today! Lots to talk about so let’s get rolling.

The Attitude of Gratitude

You know it is really easy to talk about working on Boss 101 because it’s so fun. I mentioned this before but I have to give credit where it’s due. The team is what makes Boss 101 such a blast to work on. Manon (pixel artist), Joshua (lead programmer) and myself hammering away for the love of the game and for YOU!

If you ever wondered what it would be like to have an amazing life by doing what you love then WONDER NO LONGER! I can tell you it’s the best thing. There is only success in following your dreams. The rewards outweigh the cons by such an amount as to make the journey an easy choice. I know from the outside you might say “But Tim, I have a lot of responsibilities and can’t just go draw sneakers on T-Rex’s all day like you guys do on Boss 101” Ah, but you CAN!

Each day you can take a step towards your goal. Soon enough, you will see progress and sooner than you think you will be well on your way.

It’s that determination and the great fortune of finding two people like Manon and Joshua which make Boss 101 the easiest job I have ever had in my life. The actual work is there but it’s fun and I like doing it. A LOT!

So do it… FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS and by all means, bring as many people along as you can.

Adding Pets to the Cinematics

Did a pass on the cinematics to make sure the pets were showing up in all of them. We added a small blanket for all the pets in the appropriate cinemas. This allows them to sit or fly along with you during the course of the game. Check out these SWEET images….

Kitty in the vending room. Why does kitty have its back to us? Because it’s a kitty!



You can have Mister Whale fly around whilst you dine outside



Also – what would a picnic on a hill be without a UNICORN!!!



Cinematic Room Adds

Working on some adds to the cinematic rooms. Here are setup shots in Spine (by Esoteric Software) we input into GameMaker. Apparently there are some more Spine integrations coming for GameMaker so that might help swing it over to more people using it.

Setup the room and layout art and animation



Closeup of STEVE art and animation



Make A Boss Save Function

We added a save for the most recent boss you rolled. The idea here is you can roll a boss – see his stats and then if you need to go get a gun, take a break or otherwise step away from the boss generator you will still keep your most recent roll. We think it will allow more strategy and most of all MORE FUN FOR YOU!



Ok – that’s all for this update. Check back again for the regular look at Boss 101. YES WE ARE FINISHING IT! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Please put Boss 101 on your Steam Wishlist us if you would be so kind - Thank you!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920