Thanks for playing and all the kind words Ned! This is the tenth SBIG anniversary so I felt I had to step things up a bit from last year 😅
I'm really happy with how my sandbox of mechanics has progressed over the years, and I'm happy it was all stable enough I could throw in a lot of stuff I had made over the years into one janky stew that was still enjoyable. And yeah I am especially happy to finally get this pistol used for its intended purpose!
Yeah I really wanted it to feel like getting a crew together for an adventure while at the same time replicating the dumb AI companions of Daikatana, Bethesda games, and Fallout 1. Janky and unique enough to be charming, but not enough to be frustrating, and I intentionally set the game up so they weren't REQUIRED to complete the game. As for Thesmothete #0034 I did think about including him early on as a bakcground joke, but as an actual AI the Thesmothete moveset was frankly just too complex to include as a companion. Though I do wish I had more Thesmothete references beyond the Bonesaws and the prison cell, maybe a Quadpod boss fight or something, but alas time and scope yadayada.
It has been way too long since the town of Stalewater has made an appearance. The first level here is actually partly how I envisioned Stalewater ending originally, with Mallone coming in and fighting bandits in the vein of the Chris Redfield section at the end of Resident Evil Village. Having the original animations, sound effects and voice lines felt very nostalgic and was fun to put together so I'm glad you liked it too!
I meant everything I said in the hall of fame section, SBIG Jam has been one of my favourite events of the year since 2019, and I love seeing all the whacky things the community comes up with. And I'm incredibly happy I get to contribute to that pile of jank!