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[SunWuKong]

Welcome to the Boss 101 Development update and thank you so much for joining us again!

Today we are talking about OPTIONS, specifically....

Keyboard Control

Hey look, we realize that Boss 101 will be released on Steam FIRST and that means there might be a few of you who might like to play the game on a keyboard. Well, guess what. YOU CAN!

Sure, we PERSONALLY feel you will get maximum enjoyment playing Boss 101 with a controller but to each his own. To this end we have setup Boss 101 to allow keyboard mapping controls as well as changing the various UI screens to reflect your configuration. What does this mean? Let’s see!

So we have the initial options screen to adjust your controls to your preference.



Of course you have the ability to reset to defaults if you want.

You’ll notice the keys will change if you touch the keyboard and go back to the controller that is plugged in.

Start Screen Controls



Hat Store Controls



Awards Room Controls



In this room and a few others we do little graphic changes to the menu to help things fit better.

Equip panel in the Make a Boss



You see how much we like you? We are making this game for you too! The deal is we are hoping to give you as many options as reasonable and possible.

OK – talk with you soon and remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day



Be yourself and live your dreams!

[SunWuKong]

Welcome back to the weekly Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

Boss Tuning and all around fun. Check out the latest haps as we work on bringing you our best.

How much longer you ask?

Well, we don’t have a pin on the calendar but we can tell you this. There are no major or minor systems being added and most of last week was testing. Of course along with the testing comes lots of little bugs that need to be fixed.

When we mention bugs these can be anything from things that crash the game to behavior which breaks the game. Maybe a bullet doesn’t register as a hit on a boss, maybe a player gun doesn’t fire or not enough money is rewarded on a kill. Things like that.

One thing we leave in where we find it is the fun. Sometimes it’s planned and sometimes it comes about organically as we're making the game. Check out this shot of the melee crow bar slapping minions. We put this death in early as a regular death for minions. It didn’t have all the bouncing it does now but it looked fun. As we were tuning the melee weapons this week we moved this particular death to this weapon class. Kinda worked out and looks hilarious. It’s fun, leave it in!

We’re still twizzling the effects a little but you get the idea.



Pirate Boss Tuning

Just working on the gun patterns to make his attacks interesting and fun for you. Always striving for a challenge balanced with excitement!



Watch it when he rises!



He’s got a long range freeze sword too! If that hits you are frozen in place for a moment and at the mercy of the boss. We did allow you to wiggle the controls to get out quicker though – we have you covered!
 


Robo Council Commentary on Your Death

When you die the Robo Council will weigh in on your performance. They’re a tough crowd to say the least.







OK – more to come and keep checking back. WE’RE GETTING THERE!

Thank you and always remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

The Gamemaker Podcast - Boss 101 Interview

Check out this snazzy interview posted up at the Gamemaker Podcast. Learn about Boss 101 and hear Tim's actual voice!

Link here: Gamemaker Podcast Episode 4 - Boss 101



And remember - LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

YES!

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Beams and lasers in your face!

[SunWuKong]

Hello and welcome back to the latest Boss 101 update!

Today we are talking about some of the weapon effects in the game as well as what makes a great game! Or, as I like the phrase it WHAT MAKES A GAME GREAT!

What makes a game GREAT!

I’d like to put something out there for all the friends and fans reading this. You really can be the person you want and live the life you want to live. You really can FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. You might be saying “Oh Tim, that’s easy for you! You just gas around drawing sneakers on robot T-Rexes for a living.” Well it wasn’t always that way!

I have come to believe a great game is really made by great teams. Great teams are about inspiration, trust and most of all respect. I consider myself very fortunate to be working with two people – Manon and Joshua – who inspire me regularly to bring my A+++ game to the table.

When Boss 101 is released I believe in my heart it will be a great game. That’s not a brag or a boast. I say this because what you are seeing in Boss 101 is our best efforts and we are proud to stand behind the game. Will you PERSONALLY like it? We hope so. We would love you to purchase Boss 101 and feel you got a fantastic game at a great price. That is the hope! To that end we are working EVERY SINGLE DAY UNTIL RELEASE (and beyond) to make sure you get our best!

Weapon Effects

You know we're looking to give you the sweetest guns we can in Boss 101. We created what we HOPE is a great variety of cool guns to battle your way through the robo hordes. When we started most of the guns were based off standard types you see in many games – pistols, shotguns, bazooka, melee and even bows! Later we rolled in high tech ones such as Lasers and Multi-shots. Lastly we dropped in throwbacks to the Boss 101 web game – namely the ULTRA GUN!

Before we look at the VFX guns can have, let's quickly overview their use in game. To start with they all have inherent abilities like speed and power as well as unique attributes such as limited tracking (lightning guns) or giant areas of impact (flame thrower). From there bosses can be weak or strong against them. What this means is a boss might take MORE damage from a flame thrower and LESS damage from a shotgun. That is all explained in the game. At the start of each round you are given a chance to inspect the boss as well as YOUR EQUIPMENT so you can make the best choice to winning the battle.

But enough about that, let’s check out boom-booms! We set up a test room for the guns to help us sort out damage and twizzle the special effects till we got something special.

First up a high level pistol – nothing wrong with it and a SOLID gun. Hits hard and can do some damage on a single target.



The shotgun – a nice spread and a good punch. Little slower on the firing but overall a goodie!



Laser – here's a mid-level version doing work!



Multi-shot – a CLASSIC – lots of bullets, fast but each shot hits light. Them's the breaks with a gun like this.



Throwing knives! Come on! – these are just cool. Some bosses are weak against them too!



Wrenches – ok these have limited range but the high level pipe wrench hits in a 360 arc – BOOM!!!



For today we’ll wrap up the gun preview on the good ole ULTRA GUN. This is a holdover from the web game and one of the most powerful guns in the game hands down. Of course – we ain’t gonna just HAND THIS to you. You will have to earn it! But yah – pretty powerful!



The Gamemaker Podcast – Boss 101 Interview

In case you missed the announcement earlier this week. Check out this snazzy interview posted up at the Gamemaker Podcast. Learn about Boss 101 and hear my (Tim’s) actual voice!

Link here: Gamemaker Podcast Episode 4 - Boss 101



OK – thanks for checking in and remember to always – live your dreams!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot



Lightning gun testing and tuning - FIZ-ZAP!

[SunWuKong]

Hello and WELCOME back to the latest Boss 101 update for friends and fans. Thank you so much for joining us again.

WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Let’s get down into it!

So, we are basically down to little knick knacks to round things out. I recently wrote up a summary of where we are with the game. It was written to establish exactly the mindset we are using to wrap up Boss 101 and bring you our best. I’ll put a few parts of that below so YOU TOO can share some behind the scenes action.

What’s Left in Boss 101 Update

The actual amount of work is easily explained. It’s only polish. HAAAAAAAAA!!

That can mean a lot of things but mostly we are talking about taking all the systems we already have in and features we’ve already done and making sure it all works together as bug free as possible. That is really about it.

This means crash bugs obviously but it also means things I call ‘connective tissue’ between systems. This is stuff that is not TECHINCALLY a bug but SHOULD be in the game since it helps link two systems together. This can mean a UI addition, a new VFX or sound to help the player understand something. It can mean a lot of things and none of them are actually hard to do or take much time. The more we do the better off we are. The balance is stopping when it’s feature creep yet still recognizing when things are needed.

While we are avoiding feature creep things have been added. The defining choice for any add to the game at this point is “Does it help make the game experience that is ALREADY IN better?” examples - Does this UI help explain to the player a system we already have? Does this change to the guns make the combat system more versatile for all players? Etc.

The big things ahead are playthroughs and soak tests to clear out any possible day one grade A bugs. These are those things which would pop up in a typical player playthrough. This is stuff like testing guns, effects, rewards and in game progression. Kinda tedious if the truth be told but it has to be done.

Simply put….

The amount of time remaining is sufficiently small we are focused on shipping a high quality project. That will do more for us, for our fans purchasing Boss 101 and our future than ‘hitting a date’. Our aim is to hit a high quality bar and ideally the rest will take care of itself.

LOVE YOU!

Ok – today’s inside look at the SUPER BOSS WARP GATE!

This is a little gem from when you are taking on big bad bosses near the end. Here’s the process of taking an existing art asset and re-purposing it for another use. In this case we grabbed a regular warp gate and made it SUPER!

Here’s a regular warp gate in a level – this is the player’s version


We took that one and added some note about what needed to change to make is deluxe


Here is the sample of the regular one setup for animation


And the NEW super boss warp gate getting prepped in Photoshop


Now here is the super gate prepped for animation


And finally – just a SAMPLE of the super gate in the game- you can see the massive scale! Don’t worry, you’ll see even more of it in later levels!


All right – THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH. Please remember to always ….

…. LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Awesome Boss 101 Fan Art



Check this out! Our old pal Alyssa Wright did some awesome Boss 101 art! She's so freaking good!

There's more of her work on her Instagram: instagram.com/alyj_art

Remember to live your dreams and talk with you soon!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day



Don't worry if you lose a round in the Endless Boss, we have an ambulance to take you home to rest.

[thefoolishbrave]

Awesome Boss 101 Fan Art



Check this out! Our old pal Alyssa Wright did some awesome Boss 101 art! She's so freaking good!

There's more of her work on her Instagram: instagram.com/alyj_art

Remember to live your dreams and talk with you soon!

-Tim

holy smoke! I thought he was wearing some kind of blue space hat this whole time! oops.

let's get this bullet fest in my hands already :D
i'm all for releasing a polished project rather than forcing a deadline but try not to promise too many released  dates because people can get their panties in a bunch when you do that:P that being said KEEP PUSHING, the game looks amazing!

[SunWuKong]

holy smoke! I thought he was wearing some kind of blue space hat this whole time! oops.

let's get this bullet fest in my hands already :D
i'm all for releasing a polished project rather than forcing a deadline but try not to promise too many released  dates because people can get their panties in a bunch when you do that:P that being said KEEP PUSHING, the game looks amazing!

HA! Thanks - yep, that's his own blue hair!

As for the release, the good news there is we have never announced a specific date for the release for the simple reason the game isn't finished. We mos-def have announced rough targets we were aiming for but we feel the main thing people want is a high quality game with solid entertainment. Some things are taking longer than we thought due to playtesting, rechecking and evaluating what we have. Basically, we play, find bugs or a gap in the feature set we didn't foresee and then we fix it.

I think I've mentioned this before but no one wants the game done more than us. Out team is small and we work on Boss 101 full time, all week. That's not an excuse, just a fact. As you mention, it comes down to polish and lots of it. This is one of the main reasons we aren't doing Early Access, Kickstarter or anything like that. We wanted to be able to make the call about how the game is progressing and as you note - it's come a long way and looks amazing.

Boss 101 updates are done twice weekly and have been for a nearly three years. Any delays, extensions or even general progress is pretty well documented in there. We've been upfront about the forward leaps and the delays every step of the way. It's understandable people might be excited for Boss 101 goodness so we want to deliver our best.

We do believe we're close to finish and will keep you posted. If development goes long at this point there is only one reason, polish!

Thanks for hanging in there and keep checking back. We appreciate it!

-Tim

[SunWuKong]

Hello and welcome back to the latest Boss 101 update! Hope you are doing excellently today!

Wanted to peel back the curtain again for those interested in how we make our magic behind the scenes.

Gun Store Extra Info

So check this out. We have our gun store and there is an option to see some extra helpful info about each of the guns you are preparing to buy. By hitting a button you can pop up a small panel showing you the ammo loadout and extra stats about any gun.

We were talking about the gun store (and all the stores) recently. Now that we are near the end of the development of Boss 101 you can imagine it’s easy to look back and see all the amazing things we could, should or MIGHT have done. Specifically the stores in Boss 101. As they stand they are the product of a lot of testing, updating and rejiggering to give you the player the best information. The process was pretty organic (like most of the game’s development) and the end result certainly has the feel we wanted.

In fact, one nice thing about the Command Center design aesthetic was the choice to make it a repurposed, built up place. The guys are using alien tech and creating things as they go. A lot of the machinery and layout are the result of ‘as needed’ design choices. 

Let’s get on with the images!

You can bring up a panel for extra info (shown for the bows here)



You can cycle through similar weapons





On a slightly different note – we have a special shop for purchasing secret equipment. Once you buy said equipment it gets sent back to the main stores for you to use.



Boss Battles and more!

Next week we will be looking at some of the ways you can battle a boss. Check out this short preview of a boss boom bomb! BOSS BOOM BOMB! You heard it here first!

Teleporting in the BBB!


Idle for the BBB


All right – hope you enjoyed the latest look and we will talk with you soon.

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day



Don't fly too low or the boss might bomb you with a shockwave!

[SunWuKong]

Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 Weekly Update! Thank you for joining us here again.



Development Update – Let’s talk about Progress!

First off we have the THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT DURING BOSS 101's development. It's been a long road and we are heading towards the finish line. We could not have made it without your encouragement! Thank you!

“So, when will Boss 101 be done? You said you were aiming for Early 2017 and it’s Summer now!”

That’s a legitimate question and the answer now is the same it's always been. The ONLY reason for any delays in release is simply us polishing and bug fixing. At this point we are close to final. The last 4 months have been a LOT of quality of life fixes for YOU THE PLAYER! If you add in the general big fixing then it’s not too hard to imagine where the time has gone.

I know we spoke about this before but a refresher on Boss 101 might be in order. Let’s review what exactly is happening in our day to day.

Behind the Scenes
We work pretty much all day, every day on Boss 101. This is mostly about playing, testing and looking for ways to make the game a clean and fun experience for you. For now that means playthroughs to see if we are hitting the goals of a fun, cohesive experience. We are not looking to have an endless development cycle but at the same time ‘hitting a date’ doesn’t get us much if the game has bugs or obvious usability issues (bad interface, crashes, etc).

Money and Funding
We are ENTIRELY self-funded and working off our OWN DIME. We have taken no one else’s money, we are beholden to no publisher at this point nor did we do a Kickstarter. The idea was to make sure we could create a game for you on the terms we felt best about. This would allow a level of organic development. Aspects of the game could be discovered and worked on as we found them.

The general idea someone can sit in a room and write up a 300 page design doc covering all aspects of a game before development starts is pretty outlandish if you think about it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try but the meat of development is, well, during development. Ideas come into play as you insert new mechanics. Things that didn’t seem like they would be much fun become VERY fun and things you were sure would be amazing are, perhaps, less than stellar.

The point here is we can take advantage of all the ebb and flow of a natural game development cycle. All this means Boss 101 is really its own game and has its look and feel. Whether you like that or not is another question BUT we can assure you this is something we are working with all our might to make SUPER ENTERTAINING AND FUN FOR YOU!

The Team
We have three people. That’s not an excuse but a fact. We are dedicated to Boss 101 and pore over the game daily but that’s the size we have. Would a bigger team get things done faster? Perhaps. Would they be better? That's debatable.

I've worked on and managed teams close to 300 people in size. That is a ton of people and many moving parts. You can imagine it is like herding cats to keep the team on the same track. We don’t have that issue on Boss 101. We’re on the same page, working towards the same goal at all times. Again – the proof will be in the release but this is something we feel you will directly benefit from.

Release Date News
So, we are still in the 2017 release window and if truth be told we expect you to have the game in your hands in months, not years.

No one, please hear me NO ONE READING THIS wants the game to ship more than us. We aren’t holding onto Boss 101 like some overprotective parent. We’re gamers and we know what we demand in a game. When Boss 101 hits the quality bar we demand and has the fun we want it will ship!

Check out our three years of updates nearly anywhere we post regularly. You can see we work all the time and ideally it shows the progress and love we are putting into Boss 101 FOR YOU!

Let’s get over to some weekly touchups and developments shall we?

Boss Bombs

We spoke about this a little last week but we the bosses have the ability to catch sneaky players who hang around near the bottom of the screen. They teleport in a giant weight and drop it on them. You can’t hide down there buster!

On the land


One the sea


Even with a train!


A look at some of the guns for sale. Check out this handy dandy blasters!





Ok – that’s all for this week and thank you for all the support. Yes, will have Boss 101 in your hands as soon as POSSIBLE!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Boss 101 Video Peek

Our pal Rob did an amazing look at our game Boss 101. Check out his video right in the link below. Thank you so much Rob for the look and your time!

Boss 101 Video Peak
Link: https://youtu.be/OyCf5pv7BTM



Check it out, see what you think and hit Subscribe if you like his style!

Thank you and talk with you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[SunWuKong]

Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 weekly update!

We have something to talk about we all love! ACHIEVEMENTS! You love to get them and we love to give you achievements for YOUR HARD WORK IN BOSS 101!

You know your pals here working on Boss 101 made sure you have cool Steam Achievements (which will translate to console achievements when the time comes). Did you also know we have in game quests which have their own achievements and rewards? Some of these dovetail with the main game achievements but some are simple as collecting a new pet. You know what? We want to celebrate EVEN THOSE!

Mini Quests and Achievements
We created these little popup to tell you about adopting a new pet in the Command Center or maybe winning a new hat. Let’s look at the basics here.

We setup a structure with the achievement plate and allowed for text identifying the achievement name and reward name.

Starting with the plate setup and animation in Spine:


Here’s a sample of a few layouts:


We setup these to show up in the bottom left corner and stack if needed. Some examples:

Command Center – Get a Pet:


Stacking example:


When you are in something like the Upgrade room and complete a row of upgrades you can also get a special reward.

Complete Damage Upgrade:


Complete Health Upgrade:


Closeup of achievement:


The deal is we wanted to have some fun with the reward system and instead of just dropping a little “NEW” icon on the menu we went a little further and put some oomph into the presentation. For us, it's work like this which helps bring you a really fun experience and ideally enjoy the game a lot more.

It’s all part of bring you the best we can!

BOSS 101 Video Peek by RobJ

Rob J Nova did a video peek at Boss 101 earlier this week. We really think he did a great job catching the spirit of the game and the feel we were aiming for. Check it out here:

Boss 101 Video Peak
Link here:  >>> Click Here <<<

OK – that’s all for this week and remember to live your dreams!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

[lolo]

Love that type of scavenging!
How do you balance something like that?

[SunWuKong]

Hah! Well, things like the guns we aim tend to fall on the side of 'fun for the player' as a start for the tuning. Mostly it comes down to "Gun X is strong against this but weak against that". That gun is an early look at a very high level beam cannon so you would not even get it till much later in the game which makes things a lot easier to balance out.

Thanks for the questions and the kind words!

-Tim

[lolo]

rock paper scissor, very cool and when is your game coming out?