Development
The longer the Fancy Pants Adventures: Classic Pack has been in development, the more time there's been to contemplate what exactly this Pack could, or should be! It started from a very humble place of, "let's package all the old games together, and add a bit of bonus content to justify charging for it", into something far different - now headed down a path we believe is absolutely for the best!!
We know this has taken a long time. That can be attributed to Brad's commitment to this collection living up to the Fancy Pants legacy, rather than taking any shortcuts. Here is a quick conversation snippet that feels representative of the average development update coming from Brad. I do not envy the amount of work it's been to bring this all together...
Once Brad worked his magic to get "Classic" versions of World 1 and 2 working (these are the original Flash games) his immediate next thought became: "what if I offered up new levels in these old styles? Which leads us to:
The Back Pages
These are BRAND NEW levels accessed through tears added to the Worlds you already know and love. They stretch Fancy Pants in interesting new directions, making use of all the old animation and code to craft new experiences that will play and feel just like old Worlds, with brand new art and challenges to play around in!
The Demo
We wanted to take part in Steam's Next Fest, which requires you to have a demo. It was an odd thing to conceive of a demo for a game that everyone has probably already played. And how do you put limits on a game that is meant to be played around in as a big open sandbox?
The solution we opted to go for is: short and sweet. This demo is just a few levels, and can be completed in 2-5 minutes. The idea is to show off some of The Back Pages, as well as the game's seamless ability to swap between Worlds and engines! So while it's not a very large slice of the game, we hope it does its job of advertising the smooth gameplay Brad's achieved, and the creative ways he's gone about updating the old Flash games.
Early Access??!
We felt Next Fest would be the perfect opportunity to share our latest plan for the Classic Pack. I'm worried it won't be the most popular decision, especially considering how patient everyone has been with us! But when Brad explained the development process to me, it quickly became apparent how valuable an Early Access approach could be for a game like Fancy Pants!
I'm paraphrasing, but the main takeaway was, "after working on these same Worlds for 17+ years, how can they ever truly be called done?" The idea is to let the public into the development process, seeing the difficulties of bringing this vision together and allowing for your live feedback along the way - rather than attempting to predict what everyone's ideal version of the Classic Pack would be.
The plan is to launch in Early Access in 2023!!! All of World 1 and 2 are in a playable state. Brad is still polishing things up as much as possible so that the Pack launches with plenty for you to see and do right at launch! We'll hopefully have a date shortly - and the next steps can be decided alongside this wonderful community. Thank you all once again, for everything!!
-Graeme
(2 Left Thumbs)
Feeling nostalgic?
Did you know Kajenx has created a stunning 3D sequel to his classic William and Sly series?
That is intended to release in the spring of 2024. Be sure to add that to your Wishlists, do you don't miss out on what he's got in store. It's looking PHENOMENAL!!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459620/William_and_Sly/