Our fourth set of games... those three brings us memories. By the time we made those games we were a bit tired of gamedev, and we also were not really getting better positions at jams or anything. It was kind of a deadlock.
So, that explains the few amount of games. Either way, each of them actually did quite well, strangely. In particular, this season ended with Diver Down, our first game that really, really hit the mark. It was our first game jam winner, and to this date it still is our most popular game, somehow.
Begins: Aug 24, 2018, with Ticaruga at the Demake Jam.
Ends: Oct 21, 2018, with Diver Down at the Godot Wild Jam #2. This was close to me defending my undergraduate thesis, and also was our first game jam win.
Highlights: Diver Down. Is was our first game jam win. I had fun developing and playing it. I think this was the first game were both parts were fun! It also made some nice success.
And finally, the one and only Diver Down. Besides the Van Halen album, the JoJo stand, and the sign (that means that there is a diver down a boat, or something like that).
To this date, Diver Down still is our most popular game. It also was the first of our games that won a game jam, the Godot Wild Jam #2.
It is a platformer where you can dive on walls, and you need to hide from lights. A simple premisse, that ended up evolving quite a lot on its own. I mean, the game has about 25 levels if I recall correctly... and I planned 10, I think. As I played, new ideas appeared by themselves. For instance, I noticed the player could climb walls by diving in and out! So, that made more levels possible.
I'm quite happy to have made this game. It was a milestone we were looking for since the start: winning a game jam. It was a sign that we were getting better, even if little by little, we were getting better.
However... it still haunts us a bit. At least me. Could Diver Down be our one and only successful game, and never again would we make something as great...?
Now, our fourth TIC-80 game. Nothing outstanding, just a platformer about flipping gravity around. Different from something like VVVVVV, the player could aim to make the gravity about 0, so that their character would only hover around.
Once again, we learned a good amount about level design and, spritework, coding, and how it is quite possible to make a fantasy console lag when you don't manage well your code!
Ticaruga was our third TIC-80 game, and boy, did it ended up being a big project. It of course is a demake of Treasure's Ikaruga, and ended up being quite a popular game for a while. We also learned a big ton.
Sadly, the music sucks... not the original I mean, but my rendition on the TIC-80 tracker. I still hope that one day it will magically fix itself and sound great.
