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[Pretzel Bros Studios]

About

'To Hell With Dave' is a narrative-driven adventure platformer for the connoisseur of the absurd. Explore a world full of charming characters and twisted humor. If you're a fan of challenging action, wacky puzzles and foul language, this game is for you!

Teaser





Story

Bacon is the most miserable, lonely creature you can imagine. He's different from the others. Like a butterfly in a cage full of moles. Until one day his world gets turned upside down as he accidentally destroys Father Time's hourglass. He can't die anymore and suddenly has to deal with the phantoms of his former lives. And while the forces of darkness try to take advantage of Bacon's newly acquired talent, he finds himself in the center of a massive conspiracy.

Screenshots

Demo

The demo of 'To Hell With Dave' is now available on Steam, Itchio and Gamejolt. Download it! And feel free to add the game to your Steam Wishlist.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/971710/To_Hell_With_Dave/
https://gamejolt.com/games/thwd/374854
https://pretzelbrosstudios.itch.io/to-hell-with-dave-demo


Thanks!

[jamesprimate]

seriously though... to hell with dave! i really like the logo

[Sokuaisushi]

Wow I love the unique gameplay concept of dying and using your "ghosts" and their bodies in order to get further in the game.

The graphics are very nice and stylized, and the sounds/music all sound really good! The game looks like it will have some comic relief as well as a funny/satirical storyline too. All in all I'm really excited to see where this game goes as you continue it!

[foofter]

Just out of curiosity, did you ever play Bob the Demon? A Mac platformer with maybe similar tone in like 1996? I just flashed back to it...

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

All in all I'm really excited to see where this game goes as you continue it!

Thank you so much! I'm working on a playable 30-minute demo at the moment. I really want to see how people react to the gameplay mechanics.

Just out of curiosity, did you ever play Bob the Demon? A Mac platformer with maybe similar tone in like 1996? I just flashed back to it...

Is it 'Bill the Demon'? Looks really great! That's pretty exactly my type of thing!

[Juwdah]

Yeah! Screw you Dave!

Cool game mechanic, it's like you took super meat boy's replay thingy and expanded it into a game.

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

Hi,

making games is really hard. Here are some of the lessons I have learned so far:

1. 'Explosives. Do not eat!'  



2. 'You're not paranoid. Some really are watching you!'  





Guiding Dave through hell by opening doors, moving platforms and kicking his butt is another widely overlooked feature of the game! That's probably because nobody knew about it.

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

A is for Asphyxiation!

If you made a mess, you can now use your demonic powers to clean it up! It's way better with sound.



All in all it was a good week for me. I made great progress on so many parts of the game.
 

[joey4track]

Oh wow this looks excellent!

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

B is for blood sacrifice!

These guys are up to no good, I tell you.



This has been a hard week. I rewrote most of the dialogue and filled some big gapping plot holes. But the music is coming along nicely and fits the mood very well. My daughter had the idea of using two difficulty levels to make the game more accessible for casual gamers. I think that's a pretty good idea and not too hard to implement.

Here's a raw snippet of a track I created this week:

http://www.tohellwithdave.com/Tigsource/Wintertown.ogg

Creating original songs that match the emotional level and overall mood of the current scene is the one thing I'm struggling most with.

[joey4track]

I think the music sounds great! But if you need help with music or audio let me know, I love working on cool, quirky projects like this

[jack0088]

you do everything yourself? art, code .. everything? how long have you been developing this already?

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

I think the music sounds great! But if you need help with music or audio let me know, I love working on cool, quirky projects like this

Thanks!

you do everything yourself? art, code .. everything? how long have you been developing this already?

I do everything myself: art, animation, design, music, code, story, etc. All in all about 9-10 months of work went into the game already. But I can only work in the early morning hours and late at night. I have a pretty time consuming full time job (loading shipping containers for a shop that deals in second-hand goods ...), but I try to work at least 5-7 hours a day on the game.

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

C is for clumsiness

The main character is a tragic hero, facing his own downfall. Everything he does ends in tragedy and disaster. I named him 'Schinken' - the german word for 'Bacon'. I felt like he had to be punished for his otherness and that he should be treated like a worthless piece of meat. I also declared that he had to wear a slave mask and that he should not speak a single word. This is what happened next:



My partner for life told me that there is so much of myself in the game that it frightens her. If that is true I ought to go and see a psychiatrist really soon.

I had some very stressful days finishing up the demo. But it's done and I'm really happy with it. Sadly all the dialogues are written in german and I think I have to go through the process of translating next - at least to a level that it makes sense to the native proofreader I haven't found yet.

[jack0088]

I do everything myself: art, animation, design, music, code, story, etc. All in all about 9-10 months of work went into the game already. But I can only work in the early morning hours and late at night. I have a pretty time consuming full time job (loading shipping containers for a shop that deals in second-hand goods ...), but I try to work at least 5-7 hours a day on the game.

The graphics look very polished. And there is also a lot of animations going on. Many things that you've pushed into that 10 months
I wish you luck succeeding with the game! Viel Erfolg! - cheers

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

D is for drowning

Death plays an very important role in the game. Most new players need some time to adapt to the fact that dying is not punished. Instead it is the only way to progress. For variety, each ghost visually adapts to his death.

Progress feels slow at present. Many small fixed and routine work. But nothing to worry about.

[Josh Bossie]

That is quite the mechanic. Very interested in this one

[joey4track]

Oh man that is brilliant. And probably pretty therapeutic for some of us. 

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

E is for Ed

'Don't ask me about being a writer. If, when you wake up in the morning, you can think of nothing but writing ... then you are a writer'.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Character design is a huge thing for me and propably the most fun experience in the whole game development process. Strong characters create a living and breathing world. Players have to be able to identify with the characters to like them. I think many games miss the chance to create memorable characters with unique and strong personalities. I've read some books about character creation for fiction writers and I think they helped me a lot.




This is Ed Gein making preparations for his birthday party. I'm not sure if he will make it into the final game, but I like him.




Mistress Betty and Colonel Nevernothing are still WIP. But they are taking shape.




WIP of Santa Claus a.k.a. Mr. North. I still have to fiddle around to nail down his personality. But what does Santa do when it's not Christmas? I think he is reading the book "How to become a porn star in five simple steps".


Most of todays games are more than simple entertainment. But I still miss the massive impact some books had on my life. I miss how they changed my perspective. How they changed my perception of the world around me. I miss the 'deeper meaning' that cannot be expressed in words but can only be found between the lines.

Some years ago we had a TV show in Germany called 'Literarisches Quartett' ('Literary Quartet'). On the show the latest publications on the book market were discussed. It was not so much about the content of the books, but about the authors intention, the books significance and what the author was trying to accomplish with his book. It was about the message.

Writing literature is about giving something of importance back to the reader. I'm not sure if games can do the same because they tend to narcotize the players imagination. It's like watching the film version and reading the book afterwards. But I think it's worth a try.

'It's one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.'
Robert Louis Stevenson

PS
My progress over the past two weeks was kind of slow I guess. My daugther Hanna had her first day at school. My car died on me. And with the autumn came rain and depression. I feel like some old fart looking out of his window and moaning about how everything was better back then. But it wasn't.

[Pretzel Bros Studios]

Hi,

moving platforms can be a bit tricky. The player can get stuck literally everywhere. Instead of 'attaching' the player to the platform I made the platform to push the player around. It took some brain power to prevent the player from getting pushed into the ground while standing too close to the edge. Or from getting stuck inside a moving platform while performing a wallslide. Or from getting stuck inside a corner while standing too close to the edge of the moving platform. Or to perform a wallslide on the side of a moving platform ... But after a days work I'm pretty happy with the results. Time for a cup of coffee!