Hey everybody!
February’s Patreon demo is live!
Things have been super busy for me this month - I’ve picked up a new side project with a lot of potential.
Feedback always appreciated!
Also, Cat Story has a Discord. You should come hang out.
Hey everyone!
I’ve put together a really quick overview of my iteration process for maps in Cat Story - you can read more about it on my Patreon page!
Cheers
A couple of in-progress screenshots of the ALPIX mining complex.
This is one of the first areas of the game where the player is given freedom to simply explore at their own pace, and I’m very happy with how it’s turning out!
Some of the things I’m focusing on while I’m designing these areas:
Jumps that feel right - each jumpable object is spaced apart to make jumping comfortable and natural, and I’m deliberately avoiding designs that are likely to bonk your head against the ceiling.
Small opportunities to reward the player for exploring - small things are already hidden throughout the area for players with keen eyes.
The basics - the goal for this first exploratory stretch is to teach you the majority of the platforming and interaction mechanics that you’ll need throughout the game.
Going fast - every map has spots that are designed to save you small bits of time while speedrunning if you have the skill to consistently execute well-timed jumps. A second here, a second there - adds up quick over the course of the run.
Hey also friendly reminder devfriends: GET BACK TO WORK
These games aren’t going to make themselves!
Cheers everyone, more updates soon!
Alrighty, the holiday rush is over. GET BACK TO WORK ♥
January’s demo will be live tomorrow evening.
Fixed bug where screenshots would occur at the end of the input handling but before the render pass which would sometimes break Tilde’s tail.
Fixed bug where forward slashes weren’t being parsed the same as backslashes when saving and loading level data.
Aquatic critters now have their own namespace and their code has been refined to allow for more customizability via their .enemy files.
^ Same as above except for Terrestrial critters.
The fourth rewrite of the RamSpiders has begun. Expect to be able to engage them in combat again soon.
Fixed several small bugs in the map editor. Some quality-of-life upgrades are WIP (especially for the camera constraint tool).
Fleshed out more of the train station dialog and added an auto-save before the player’s first combat encounter to prevent new save files from being reverted to the start if you manage to die to the first enemy.
Minor tweaks to behavior based on whether or not the player enters the train station before the recruiter does.
Weapons are available in the demo again in the new train tunnel map.
Added entrance to Alpix Mining Complex.
Additional scripting for cutscene placeholders and map transitions.
Minor bugfix involving weird edge case with perpendicular sloped surfaces and handling for player position.
Fixed bug where map editor would occasionally apply physics to the last sprite in the file if you deleted the last physical object while editing.
Also, new bestiary art. Meet the Carver.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Fixed a bug today that I’ve been meaning to get around to for awhile that was preventing lines from rendering properly for enemies when testing their pathing in the editor
Hey everyone!
December’s demo is up on Patreon.
This one’s a little late - sorry about that! (Work has been crazy during holidays)
Cheers!
Inspiration
So, moving from map to map by moving through an exit (up, down, left, or right) has been possible in Cat Story for a long time now, but today was the first time that I actually made any use out of the feature.
Found a lot of inspiration in this album!
GET BACK TO WORK
Prepping for Linux testing
Threw a really quick and extremely dirty C# app together to check to make sure all file endings are consistent across Cat Story’s repo.
The following is the entire source code for it if anyone cares:
Fish
Hey everyone!
November’s demo is up- this one focuses on dialog and refining the starting experience of the first few minutes of the game.
Still a long way to go, but we’re leaps and bounds forward with each demo!