Wow! It's been a while since the last update huh? I have been working very hard on GARBANZO QUEST every day and I believe this update is a HUGE leap in quality, I'm very excited to have it released! This update is essentially a reboot on everything that was done so far. EVERYTHING has been updated at least a little bit. There's lots of new content and overhauls to existing systems.
An important note about Save Data:
- Save Data won't be able to transfer, since pretty much everything is different or rearranged.
- Save Data for 0.6.1 will still be safe (there is a different file on your device for each version) and you will still be able to play version 0.6.1 as an alternative beta branch.
I encourage you to see for yourself in the game, but if you're curious here is a rough list of changes. I'm not very good at keeping track :^)
CHANGELIST
Narrative:
- The game now has a first pass at a simple narrative.
Overworld:
- 5 Worlds total!
- Another complete art and design revamp!
- Completed levels will show various stats and accolades
Levels:
- Lots of new levels, enemies, mechanics, etc. (37 levels in total!)
- Lots of misc. art revisions/improvements
- Lots of misc. level design changes
- Only the best levels have not been scrapped
- Revamped and replaced bosses
- Better secret level presentation
- Redid some songs too
- Improved the level clear screen (it's prettier and shows stats and stuff)
Home Base:
- Complete overhaul of art and layout
- Lots of new dialogues for everyone.
Updated Collectibles system:
- all the different things you could find (aside from friends) have been moved into a new FRAGMENT system. There are two kinds of FRAGMENTS littered about as secrets throughout the game.
Badges:
- Badges are built with BADGE FRAGMENTS
- Badges can now be changed at will anytime with QUICK-SWAP
- Lots of polish/changes on all the Badges
- Certain badges have been removed (Chime, Gum). The hint for missing something is now shown in the overworld stats box
Customization:
- Customization options are built with CUSTOMIZATION FRAGMENTS
- PAINT-COLORS: Instead of tinting the player character there are now custom defined palette swaps for each color. (Looks better)
- ACCESSORIES: You can now build and wear different accessories
- CANVASES: Various improvements to the drawing minigame
- You might notice FRIENDS sometimes wearing the customization options you unlock :)
2 Player:
- Instead of being tethered to each other, the non-advancing player will be teleported to the advancing player when they get too far from each other
- Icons show kind of where you are if you're off screen
- If you die, but your buddy is still alive you will turn into a ghost. You can fly around and stuff until your buddy makes it to the next room and you're revived. It's up to you to help, or to make your buddy die faster >:)
- Tweaks like HP and STRENGTH can be configured per player.
Characters:
- You can now play as my dog Frankie. Why not?
- You can now play as Ghostly. This is only available for player two. Ghostly can't be hurt and can mostly only fly around. This is a good choice if you have a friend that sucks at video games, but you still want to include them :D
- You can select between 4 different Characters at the home base and at the beginning of the game (Garbanzo, Pinto, Frankie, and Ghostly)
UI:
- Generally looks better
- Added art for keyboard prompts
- Improved gamepad prompts and added some more controller types
Rounding Corners:
- Things like falling of the screen no longer kill you in one hit. Instead you will bounce taking exponential damage each time you fall without reaching ground.
- While you're in the "fell off screen" state, hitting your head on a 1 tile high ceiling will have you teleport through it.
- If you are in a situation where you're about to be squished, the game will attempt to slightly push you out of the way. If there is nowhere to go, you'll die in one hit. AFIAK this is the only remaining scenario where you just die in one hit.
Mod friendly:
- All sprites are now stored as .pngs so you can edit/replace them
- All sound effects and songs are stored as .oggs so you can edit/replace them
- Assets can be placed in a folder called "Custom" in your Save Data location, so you can override things without modifying the original.
- The level editor and dev tools are now exposed for you to play around with. See "Extras" in the "Options" menu.
Misc:
- Rumble has been implemented! (Options to remove it too)
- The camera now moves smoothly as opposed to at a linear speed
- Master Volume option
WHAT'S NEXT
This update, I'm expecting, is the last BIG update before 1.0. In 1.0 I will be mainly adding more content and doing another pass on the narrative. I'd say what's in this update represents roughly about 60-70% of what I have planned for the game. There's still plenty of work to do, but I am slowly getting towards the end of development for GARBANZO QUEST. I'm thinking it will take me another year to get 1.0 done, but who knows!
Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you have fun playing the game!
- Zachary