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[ElkiwyDev]

Hi everyone!
I'm Stefano and I'm developing with my friends Alberto and Giacomo a game about a cyborg bearded bear shooting aliens through time and space. It's been in development for around 2.5 years now and I already posted some updates and devlogs on IndieDB, I hope that posting them here on TigSource too will help us getting the right feedback and hopefully improve our game.


Some screenshot

A little mashup of the first four levels of the game (Prehistoric - Ancient egypt - Babylon - Ancient greece)
Full size image here

The first boss fight arena in the Colosseum

The powerup selection menu, where you can choose both yours and enemies powerups

Gif of one of the "combo bonuses"

A taste of coop gameplay

Portal effects (with a very old background)

Brief introduction to BeardedBear
Since it's my first post on TigSource here is a little introduction to BeardedBear:
It's a frenetic arena arcade roguelite shooter. You, the BeardedBear, are a cyborg bear with a mighty beard that allows you to travel through time. You are the only hope for humanity against the alien invasion that is attacking the planet in the past, present, and future.
Interesting things about the game:

• Weapons and bullets are randomized each time you pick up a new crate(Example: You may have a flamethrower that shoots fire of course but also arrows, rockets, poisonous darts and so on)
• Custom music for every combination of weapons and bullets
• 15 levels (4 normals + 1 boss fight)
• You gather experience and powerups but enemies do the same
• Random level generation
• Level design is aimed to be as dynamic as possible and not let you rest half a second
• Combo System grants small temporary bonuses
• Cool pixelart
• Local Coop and Online Coop
• Seeded levels and Daily Challenges

Current state
Currently the game is halfway done, the main mechanics are ready to go as the first third of the levels.
The rest of the game is there, but surely needs more testing, balancing, and proper graphics.
The final version will let you loop through the 15 levels course granting a tougher challenge.

The actual DevLog
Latest changes in the game are better explained here:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/beardedbear/news/beardedbear-update-n9-downloadable-demo-06-and-many-many-important-news


The demo
Download the latest from our website:
NB: it may be detected from windows defender ( ) as a virus, but you can run a scan with any other trusted antivirus and it'll say it's fine and there are nothing dangerous in it.
https://beardedbearthegame.com/downloads

[ElkiwyDev]

Just made a little spawn animation at the start of every level, before it it would just create the bear without nothing special.. Now it's definitely cooler 

[nikolaus]

I love the hanging gardens! I also like those weird trees you describe as old background. They kind of create a different sense of scale. In the other ones you always aim for the very monumental which might be a bit tiring over time. I could very well imagine variations of completely different scales, like a very close garden scene with gigantic tomato plants.

[nathy after dark]

Hey there! I saw your post in the screenshots thread, and I really like the visuals so I thought I'd check out the log as well. After reading your description... this sounds like exactly my kind of game! I totally get the sense that it's Vlambeer-inspired. Am I right? I've been playing a lot of LUFTRAUSERS lately, which also has different music for each combo of upgrades. Plus, your randomized weapon pickups sound a lot like Super Crate Box.

Overall I really like your visuals. One thing I would point out, though, is in the second screenshot with the hanging gardens. Because the fountains at the bottom are made from blue tiles, it took me a little while to realize that the darker blue columns were running water, so I had no idea what I was looking at. I think you could improve that in a few ways:

- Animate the falling water, maybe with little horizontal white lines or particles falling down
- Animate the water at the bottom with little waves and splashes so I can tell it's a pool
- Change the color of the tiles (maybe something other than blue entirely) so the water streams stand out as a completely different material, not just a darker strip of the blue wall

I'm really rooting for you to finish this so I can play it! If it's half finished after 2.5 years, are you anticipating another 2.5 years before the end? Maybe it would be worth cutting down on the features you're planning to make sure the game gets shipped. It seems like the kind of thing you could also release updates for, with content to expand the game.

[Hellion]

I'd like to thank both for the feedback and I'd like to answer you.
To nikolaus, I really appreciate you like the gardens being the artist behind it. We wanted to create sort of a timeline through the background images (since the game is also about time travels) so when I started working with Elkiwy we decided that one image for a primitive landscape was enough and from the second level and on we wanted to have some piece of human architecture, in the end the gardens took the place of the wood that was originally made by Elkiwy. For the same reason it's hard to use a different scale on a standard level cause the timeline could be harder to read, still we're designing secret levels for when where are done with the core components and we may consider your suggestion.
To Natman, thank you too for the appreciation. You're right about the whole game feeling, Elkiwy loves Valmbeer, he's actually a top player on Nuclear Throne daily leader board. All the water in the game is not static so once you play the game you can easily tell its water since its stream changes over time. About the color I already asked that it had to match the static water pond of the background but we never thought of adding other animations so we'd like to consider your suggestion for the future development of the level. We recently changed the whole game resolution and with it many measurements if you see elements out of place this may be the reason. The very same major change is taking most of our efforts right now but we have a good feeling about it, the most recent demo takes advantage of it, we have to fix now some measurements and hit boxes. About the completion time we think we might be able to release by the end of the year, the former team was only Elkiwy, it became a three men team only recently and the development got really faster since. To both best regards and have a nice day

[lobstersteve]

That looks interesting

[ElkiwyDev]

Hey there! I saw your post in the screenshots thread, and I really like the visuals so I thought I'd check out the log as well. After reading your description... this sounds like exactly my kind of game! I totally get the sense that it's Vlambeer-inspired. Am I right? I've been playing a lot of LUFTRAUSERS lately, which also has different music for each combo of upgrades. Plus, your randomized weapon pickups sound a lot like Super Crate Box.

Overall I really like your visuals. One thing I would point out, though, is in the second screenshot with the hanging gardens. Because the fountains at the bottom are made from blue tiles, it took me a little while to realize that the darker blue columns were running water, so I had no idea what I was looking at. I think you could improve that in a few ways:

- Animate the falling water, maybe with little horizontal white lines or particles falling down
- Animate the water at the bottom with little waves and splashes so I can tell it's a pool
- Change the color of the tiles (maybe something other than blue entirely) so the water streams stand out as a completely different material, not just a darker strip of the blue wall

I'm really rooting for you to finish this so I can play it! If it's half finished after 2.5 years, are you anticipating another 2.5 years before the end? Maybe it would be worth cutting down on the features you're planning to make sure the game gets shipped. It seems like the kind of thing you could also release updates for, with content to expand the game.

Yes, as hellion said, I'm working on it for 2.5 years but the lifespan of the project has been very complicated.
Now we are really working hard hoping to have a release of it before the end of this year, meanwhile you can play the demo on IndieDB and follow the development of it since I'll update the demo once every one or two months 

[ElkiwyDev]

MiniUpdate

We got some good feedback about the demo, and now we almost completed the first 1/3 of the game.
Right now it feel kinda balanced and enjoyable, but we will see how will it fit with the rest of the game when it will be ready.
Currently I moved on working on the mid game while Hellion is still finishing the early levels so I can tell you that the demo for the next few updates will be pretty much unchanged, but that doesn't mean that we are not working to finish the project

Meanwhile enjoy this few gif, one about a session of the game where you change a minigun shooting arrows for a triplegun shooting grenades, and the other about the spawn in effect in the Colosseum level:

[ElkiwyDev]

MiniUpdate #2

Our artist almost finished the Ancient Egypt level, and for the next update it should be finally done!
Here is the current state of it:

And here is a little gif of it:

With this, we also worked on tuning and fixing little things and balancing bosses, trying to push the current state of the "playable/almostfinished part" to the 6th level.

As always, see you in the next update and feedback is always really appreciated 

[nwizrt]

That pyramid screenshot on the first post immediately caught my eyes. The overall effects also looks really good. Heading to the demo page right away.

[ElkiwyDev]

MiniUpdate #3

We worked on few things lately, mostly balancing stuff though, but also some pretty cool new stuff:

• 3 new bullet types: Bees, Lightining, and bits!
• visual improvements on the portal
• reworked cocoon boss, now it's more interesting to fight
• flash from shooting giving more feedback to the player
• remastered music, now with even more cool sounds
• double gamepad support
• random important fixes and a lot of minor things added

It's dangerous to go alone, take some gifs:

Soon there will be a new Demo playable, but for not it's all 
Thanks for all the feedback and please, keep sending it to us because it really helps a lot!
 

[/list]

[ElkiwyDev]

Major Update

Hi guys! We just released a new demo for BeardedBear!

We are also in closed beta, so if you want to help us testing the game and giving us suggestions or ideas, just send us an email [email protected] , and we will give you an unlocked version of the game with all the levels playable from start to finish!

New stuff:

• Total rebalance of the game!
• Weapon unlocks reworked!
• All aspect ratios supported!
• New score system!
• Dobule gamepad support!
• Awesome portal effect!
• New bullet types: Bees, Lightning and Bits!
• And more!

If you want to see all the new things, head over to IndieDB Article and remember that the new demo 07 is ready to download here .

[foofter]

I don't really like rogue-likes and I'm not good at frenetic gameplay, so I don't think playing it is for me, BUT I love the backgrounds. They are a perfect mix of out-of-control and beautiful. I also like the black hole effect. Artist respect!

[Hellion]

Thanks a lot for the appreciation, about the artworks we agreed quite some time ago to have an oniric feel about them especially when the main subject would have been too simple, glad you liked it

[nathy after dark]

I sent y'all an email about the closed beta, but delivery failed to the email address above. I tried again with the address elkiwy[email protected] and it seems to have worked. You should fix that! 

[ElkiwyDev]

I sent y'all an email about the closed beta, but delivery failed to the email address above. I tried again with the address elkiwy[email protected] and it seems to have worked. You should fix that! 

Yes, you are right I misstyped the mail in the post before but now it's fixed.
The correct email is indeed [email protected] 
Thank you!

[ElkiwyDev]

Hey Hey Hey!
It's been a while since the last update, and today is still not the update day

BUT we have an announcement:

https://www.beardedbearthegame.com
is now online!

If you want, feel free to check it out and let us know what you think!

Soon there will be a very juicy update about the game too 

[ElkiwyDev]

BeardedBear Major Update

Hello everyone!
sorry for the long time without an updated but don't worry, a fresh update is now here!

Remember that all you will see in this article is ready to play in the new full demo 0.1.6, available right here:
BeardedBearTheGame.com
or here:
IndieDB Download Page


So, let's dive in the core of this article:

GAME:
   
- Exciting things! We made huge progress on almost everything: graphics, animations, enemies, weapons and music!

- The lab had some improvements and graphical upgrades too, with some new animations.

- The main menu. Not just a graphical upgrade. A total revolution!

   
- Music! Another revolution! Bye bye old generic chiptune music, say hello to a brand new Synthwave inspired music for menu and weapons! (Boss music tracks are still old, they need time to be done). I hope you like it as I love to make this style of music.

- We also created various ambient background sounds, different from each level.

- HUD has been improved after various feedback from people who tried the game. Now we have a simple lifebar and optional outlines to make the bear easier to see ingame.

- With the new server we also added online features like notifications if there are new demos, daily challenges and leaderboard (though they are not playable in the demo) and funny global statistics.

- And obviously lots of bugfixing.

OTHER THINGS

- Now we have a website! Go check it out on
BeardedBearTheGame.com

- We have opened a Discord server entirely dedicated to BeardedBear, from here everybody can talk to us developers in a friendly and informal manner... come to say hello!
BeardedBear Discord Server


- As you can see from the new website, we have a new trailer!
   

And that's it!
Thanks for your time and see you on the next update! 

[ElkiwyDev]

Mini Update

Hello everyone!

We want you to know that we are making progress and we are getting ready to build up our kickstarter project, which should start in November !
And in the meanwhile we are searching some press to feature BeardedBear, so if you are into that kind of things, please feel free to contact me where you want to tell me!

Also, there are a few build updated available, but I'll not post it here or on IndieDB because those are very unstable and work in progress... BUT if you want to check that out anyway join our Discord Server

Thank you for your attention and remember: feedback and comments are greatly appreciated! 

[ElkiwyDev]

Update 0.1.7

Hi guys!

We released a new demo of the game!
This new version comes with the usual load of bugfixes and some new features involving the late game.

As always, (almost) everything you read can be played in the demo build here:
BeardedBear Official Website Download
(Feedback is always greatly appreciated, check our Discord for further information)

• Menu
  We improved the main menu, with transparent buttons and backgrounds from the levels.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The animations are also faster so it's more usable and fluid when you select buttons and go through menus.
  
  As a final touch, we synced the music with the splash screen at the start of the game.
  
  
• Gameplay
  New powerup! It's a portal that lets you teleport to the other side of the screen when you go through it.
  
  
  
  
  We also created two new backgrounds and polished the stronger enemies from levels 6 to 10 so now the mid-to-late game is ready to be fully tested.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For all of you that can't see the crate, we added a beautiful hologram-style indicator on top of it. Yay.
  
  
  
• Late Game
  
  We created a loop system (it's in but it's not playable yet) when you beat the final boss.
  
  There are stronger enemies to keep you busy while you compete for the best score, and a new mechanic to spice things up: Timewarps and Spaceshift.
  Timewarps are sudden changes in the enemy spawn rate, making enemies drop faster.
  Spaceshifts randomizes all the enemy types on screen.
  They are activated randomly and they are limited to one per level.
  
  We added a final boss (again, not playable yet). Needs some balancing but it's loads of fun.
  
  
• Audio
  
  Now the game comes with new boss fight music in the style of the new soundtrack.
  
  
• Demo
  
  The demo is now extended to the 7th level, meaning that for the first time you will fight a boss and see the first two mid-game levels, with stronger mk2 enemies.
  
  
• Other things/Announements
  
  We are receiving a lot of good feedback and we are very happy with that because it helps us a lot!
  
  The website has been updated with the new build of the game.
  
  We are finally heading to the Kickstarter! We hope to launch it in November if everything goes as planed. We will post another update when the Kickstarter will be online, see you soon!