next »

[joycestlavie]

This game is a 2D platformer puzzle game where you, a witch who lost her way in the woods, are going to find her way home using her spatial magic tricks. You will be able to change the scales of objects, rotate them, or even relocate and reposition them.

The game is now public on https://www.indiedb.com/games/magic-way-back-home/#processmediaform.

Here are some screenshots of early gameplay:

[joycestlavie]

== Devblog 01 ==

This week the development team analyzed the playtest feedback from the last iteration, and we also added some new features to the game. Other than minor bug fixes, some of the improvements we’ve made include adding more sound effects and refining the background parallax so that the clouds in the background are constantly moving, to give the game a lively feel. We also added level transition animation to make the game more professional. In addition, we added a health system and checkpoints in the level. To make the health system meaningful, we added spikes that will cause players to lose health if stepped on, and dropping in a pitfall will load the last checkpoint (if health is not zero) instead of always reloading the scene. Finally, we adjusted the tutorial a little bit to make it more fluent and less explicit.

Two major features that we implemented this week are the coin shop and the grappling ability of the wand(not in the build yet). In the coin shop the player can purchase heart(hp), and mana point limit. This way, the coin collection system becomes more meaningful than a side challenge. The grappling ability will allow the player to move in dimensions and traverse the level in a different way.

Because we feel the grappling feature is not polished yet, we decided not to put it in the game for this iteration. For the next iteration, we will polish the grappling feature and design a specific level (or section of a level) dedicated to the new traversal brought by the grappling ability. We are also going to extend current levels and add in more sections of the game. We are also looking forward to adding more music done by the freelancer.

[joycestlavie]

== Devblog 02 ==

We made a huge push for our beta development in the past week. After going through all the playtest videos we received from players for our alpha version, we noticed that it took on average 8 minutes for them to play through the whole game, which is a lot shorter than the 15-minute goal we expect gold version.

Regarding the levels, we not only extended level one and redesigned several existing puzzles, but also added two brand new levels. Each new level is comparable to level one in terms of fun and length. Our level 2 is dedicated to the flying box "mechanics", which many people said is fun. It also has moving obstacles. Our level 3 introduced a new magic ability, "grappling hook".

We redesigned the shop feature and changed it to a cauldron. We also changed the currency(coin) to ingredients(berries). Players also said the potions were too expensive, and HP potion is not even nearly as useful as MP potion, so we made it so that each potion uses different ingredients.

Last but not least, we added a lot of arts. We now have an opening animation, level transition animation between each level, and an ending animation which will be slightly different based on how many materials the players have collected (materials are not the same as ingredients, you will see when you play the game).

For the coming week and gold version, we will be adding different music for level 2, level 3, and cut scenes, and also a voice for our main character. Our freelance musicians and voice actors are currently working on them and on track to finish them all by next week. Other than that, we will not be adding more content to the game, and instead, go through more playtest videos and take time to polish the game.

[joycestlavie]

== Devblog 03 ==

This week we made huge steps towards providing the best experience to players and at the same time did lots of fine-tunings and polishings to our game. Since the gold iteration is the first publicly released, we set our goal to make the game experience as fun and indulging as possible by improving what we already have.

Several biggest improvements were made possible by our great freelancers. We now have different music for each level and also the credit screen thanks to the hard work of our musician, Musa Haydar. We also have a voice actress, Madison Lee, to cover the voice of our main character, the young witch, and a voice actor, Jonathan Cox, to cover the narrations during the opening cutscene. Another sound-related addition is we added sound effects for jumping, running, item collection, and brewing potion.

We also added several elements that are not critical to the gameplay. The first one is a beautiful credit scene that will be played after players beat the game. We also allow players to adjust the game volume at any level of the game. Another small change is that we added an indication when players need to click to proceed. We also changed the sprite for the magic projectile, grappling hook, and character to provide a better aesthetic experience. Another critical change we made to help improve the indulging experience is that we replaced the still tilemap with a water mesh renderer to the lunar pound level to mimic the true water.

After watching the gameplay footage of our beta version, we discovered that the game is a little too difficult for most players to finish in the timeframe of fifteen minutes, which is required by the showcase that we will enter this Wednesday. So we made many small adjustments in each level. In level one, we reduced the number of spikes and the size of some spikes that are in tight spaces. In level two, we added a lot more ingredients for the health potion, and one more checkpoint. In level three, we reduced the size of spiky platforms to give players more clearance when they "spider-man" their way through the level.

[Devilkay]

not so bad