A preview of Super Mario Crossover 4.0 is released for WebGL
Update: The port was canceled due to getting a demanding job.
I have good news! I still know how to make games and am not dead. Due to those two things (and also getting a lot of requests), I have been porting Super Mario Bros. Crossover to WebGL. You can play a preview here.
Please note that this is a very much not done game. It is so not done, that playing the game will make you sad because there are bugs everywhere and performance is not so good. The good news is work on it is going fast, and it will not be too long before it catches up to the flash version.
I have spent the last 5 years working on a general-use 2D platforming codebase and workflow that I could use on multiple projects. It took a while, but it’s finally ready to start using, and this is the first project I made with it. It’s built on top of Unity.
It will take much less time to add new content to the game due to the clean codebase and data-based asset workflow. This is a complete rewrite of the game. In fact, I may allow people to mod the game in the future by open-sourcing the data portion of the game. There is no promise or timeline on that, but it’s a goal I have in mind.
Super Mario Bros. Crossover will be updated until it reaches general feature parity with the Flash version, but please note that not every feature will be ported to the WebGL version. There will also be additional features and characters added.
Improved communication, regular devlogs, and several product releases are just some of the things to expect from ?? in 2018.
The poor website has been neglected for several months. Let’s get you caught up!
Communication Skills +10
I recently got a community manager, as mentioned in this video, and he has been helping me to plan out a communication strategy that is sustainable and that covers several platforms. We’ve mainly been focusing on Facebook and Twitter, but the website will be getting some ❤️ as well. He’s helping me to make communication a higher priority, so I’m factoring it into how I do things going forward. His name is Jason. Here’s his Twitter.
Exploding Editor
When working on Glitch Strikers, I ended up making a small editor to simplify the development process. The editor kept getting bigger and more advanced as we needed features, and then it got to the point where it seemed good enough that other people could find it useful.
I decided to call it the Exploding Editor and made an itch.io project for it. I’ll distribute it through there as soon as I finish some remaining features and make it more user friendly. We’ll probably do some alphas and betas first. If you’re interested in participating, follow the project. The editor will not be free, but it will be affordable.
Exploding Devlog
I’ve always wanted to do a development log, and it’s finally happening. I’ve been tweeting it out about once a day, starting with the log for Exploding Editor. I’ll be posting consolidated versions of the devlog on this website. There’s also a devlog on itch.io, but that one is only for the editor. The devlog posted on this website is for all ?? projects.
High Level Plan for 2018
The first task is to release the Exploding Editor. This should not take too long. After that, I’ll be finishing up a personal project I’ve been working on and off for several years. The editor is very closely tied to this project and some features were added to the editor just so I could finish it. The personal project is planned to be a free WebGL game. It shares a lot of similarities with Glitch Strikers, but is simpler and will be a good appetizer.
After that, I’ll get back to either Glitch Strikers or the game collection mentioned in this video. We’ll see where things are then and decide what’s best at that time.
Glitch Strikers takes giant leaps forward in the code that powers it and in its design with an unexpected epiphany.
The last month of development on Glitch Strikers is the best month the game has ever seen. I’ve made two huge advancements with the project, and I am more confident than ever that not only will the game get done; it will be great.
You can watch the video above for an in-depth discussion or read below for a summary.
A New Beautiful, Clean Codebase
I rewrote all the code for the game in a much cleaner, scalable, and maintainable way. I’m very close to being done with the refresh; all I have left to do is the attack system and sound effects. If you’re not a programmer, this may not sound like a big deal, but trust me; it is a huge deal, and it accounts for about 75% of my confidence boost for the project.
I had been working with more or less the same codebase for four and a half years, and I accumulated a lot of technical debt, especially in the months leading up to the trailer. In transitioning to the final iteration of the game, I was getting bogged down, so I decided to start fresh and apply everything I’ve learned since starting the project.
If programmers are curious, I’ve rewritten everything using dependency injection and reactive programming as a foundation. I’m also now using C# 6, which just became available in the most recent Unity beta.
A Game Design Epiphany
Throughout the development of this project, we never had a design that felt “perfect”. There aren’t many games that let you switch between characters that are very different because it’s hard to make every part of the game fun and challenging for each character. The more different the characters, the harder it becomes.
We solved the character switching problem right before the project was put on hold, and I never implemented the solution because I couldn’t figure out how to fit it in with the rest of the game.
Then… last month, an answer struck me like a bolt of lightning, and everything made sense. It’s a very simple idea, but you probably won’t recognize it unless it’s directly pointed out. I’m taking a well known game formula and tweaking it. The best thing about it is that the game is now unique. Once people see these mechanics working together, they will no longer say Glitch Strikers is unoriginal.
This epiphany also gives me a very clear way to make a non-episodic game. We will instead make a small game based on this formula. Instead of episodes, we can do sequels, and backers will get sequels for free because you deserve the world for what you’ve been through.
Next Milestone? Beat the game.
In all this time, we’ve never actually had a “game.” By that, I mean we had gameplay and some fragments of levels, but we never had a game that could be played from start to finish. That’s where I’m headed next.
I don’t mean the next step is finishing the game. To put it simply, we have a diagram for the flow of the entire game, from title screen to credits. Currently you can start on any level, but there’s no beginning or end. So this next step is turning it into a beatable game. Once we have that, it’s just a matter of filling in content, and we can also start thinking about early access and private betas.
I plan on posting again after I reach the beatable game milestone. See you then!
We made a lot of progress and will be showing it in a demo video soon.
I made a video talking about progress on Glitch Strikers since the release of the trailer. We got a lot done, including a new feature I’ll be demoing in an upcoming video. I hope to have it ready in two weeks. There will be some other stuff shown as well. See you then!
What actually happened with the Super Retro Squad Kickstarter house?
As we move toward the Steam Early Access release of Glitch Strikers, (formerly known as Super Retro Squad), I thought it was important to refute the rumor that I used the Kickstarter money to buy a house for myself.
When the Kickstarter campaign concluded, our team was distributed around the country, so we thought we could save money by living in one location during development so that each individual would not have to pay their own rent. I contributed personal money (with the help of my parents) to help one of the team members buy a house that was big enough for all of us to live in. The address of this house was 6386 S Canterbury Rd, Parma, OH, 44129.
Take a look at the public records on Trulia (or wherever you want). The records show it was purchased on September 20, 2012 for $139,000, and it was sold again on October 21, 2016 for $135,000. If the records let you view the owner, you will see that it was not me; it was one of the other people on the team. I have never owned a house, and I currently live in an apartment that my wife and I are renting in Wisconsin.
Personally, I lived in the house from October 2012 to April 2016. The house ended up being a terrible decision since I didn’t get back most of the money I contributed to it. Looking back, I think it would have been smarter to rent a house since we still could have saved money by each individual not having separate rent to pay. I also think renting would have been seen as less controversial, but that is not something I expected at the time.
Glitch Strikers is coming to Steam Early Access this summer.
Great news… Glitch Strikers has been approved for distribution on Steam! This means we can release the game on early access later this year.
Although the greenlight process only lasted a few days, we received a massive amount of feedback, so we will be making some changes based on what we heard.
Many people were concerned that the games shown in the trailer were too similar to existing games, so we are focusing heavily on making them more creative and original. You will see some of these changes in an upcoming gameplay trailer.
Secondly, we’ve decided that instead of releasing separate “games” and later combining them into a story mode, we will make Glitch Strikers an episodic game with the story told along the way. It is very similar to what we already announced, but the overall story of Glitch Strikers will be woven into each episode, and each episode may not necessarily focus on one game world. The episodes will follow the story of Manni and his friends as they travel across games to solve the mystery of the glitches.
Thank you so much to everyone who voted. Stay tuned for the upcoming gameplay trailer of the first episode, Hyper Manni Pals. We expect it to be ready in a few months.
Glitch Strikers is announced with a trailer and Steam Greenlight campaign.
IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! You can now see what I had in mind when I launched the Super Retro Squad Kickstarter way back in June 2012. It was a lot harder to get to this point than I could have imagined, but we made it.
As you can see, the game looks amazing! Even though it took a long time and we had many difficulties, I was improving my game development skills and learning throughout all of it. However, knowing how to make a game means nothing if there’s no art or sound.
On one fortunate day, I met Matt Kap… and almost instantly, the game was back on track. HUGE thanks to Matt for using his amazing pixel art, music, and sound skills to bring this game to life. The project would still just be in my head if it wasn’t for him.
So this is huge news. Exploding Rabbit is back, and Super Retro Squad is reborn as Glitch Strikers. And as you can see, we put tons of work into this trailer. I hope you enjoy it. Please vote for the game on Steam Greenlight. We’ll try and get the first part, Hyper Manni Pals, on Early Access as soon as we can.
For more info on Glitch Strikers, check out the press kit.
I recently got active on Youtube again have been live streaming videos about Super Retro Crossover.
I just wanted to let you know I’m active on Youtube again, and I’ve been experimenting with live streaming. I live streamed some of the development of Super Retro Crossover (previously known as Super Retro Squad), which you can see above.
I’ve also been answering questions from fans in a new series called #ExplodingQuestions.
And the first video I did was a live stream of just talking.
It feels good to be back. Live streaming is so easy, and it feels like a natural fit for me since video has always been my preferred way to communicate. Subscribe to the Exploding Rabbit youtube channel to stay up to date.
We’re preparing a trailer and Steam Greenlight campaign that should launch within a month or so if we’re lucky. See you then!
As we move toward the Steam Early Access release of 