The game is coming along fine. Got a little nettled at making a house for her. I’ve never made such a large sprite or one with so many elements. But I have the foundations down which is fantastic. The rest is just detail and detail is fine.

Also worked on the camera view.

Someone asked why I didn’t make this game a 2.5D game – top down view as in your classic Legend of Zelda games or Stardew Valley. It’s a great question. And truth is when I started out I wondered if I should have gone with that camera perspective.

I’ve decided against it for a few reasons. I thought I’d make a bit of a longer post to show how I think about game design and development.

(1) Indie game development is hard. Efficiency is important. To change direction, I would have to scrap all the work I’ve put into the game to this point and all the trust credit given to me (if only by a few people) to see this game go somewhere.

It’s not that I don’t believe that sometimes major changes should be made early to save more work later on. I do. But I do not believe this to be the case. The game jam version was already proof of concept that this current system worked. It may not be the greatest bestest oscar winning system ever. But it works. And good finished is better than perfect unfinished.

(2) Verticality. Alchemist’s Mountain name suggests that you are climbing a mountain.

Again we are in early game development, so it’s not like changing the name is going to be a very bad thing to do. Still. I like the name. No one has complained about it. And the few narrative pieces I’ve written around it work well with the name. The current platformer view works better to show ascension.

(3) The energy system. Jumping, climbing, swinging, diving, falling – are all a lot more visual with the platformer angle. Because the energy system is about doing all these things, players ought to feel the effort more. These are mostly lost with the 2.5D design.

Well that’s all for now folks. Remember to come visit our Discord for (almost) daily updates on the development. Or follow is on Twitter or Instagram!

Yay! I’ve just released Little Lost Robots. But I’m gonna write an honest post here and say, I’m not feeling as happy as I thought I would. This timely youtube video though helped me understand why:

But whatever my emotional state: this is a big achievement for me and this little studio. Our first game. Our first baby.

Personally, I believe the game to be quite an inspired piece. I think people really do enjoy playing it (if they’re into puzzle games) and just watched some guys really enjoy it together on stream.

Do give it a checkout here at our Steam page.

Or test a few levels at our Itch.io page before buying (also available for purchase there).

… is going faster than I thought it would.

Hi everyone!

Back in 2018 we happened to win the Metroidvania Jam 2 with a little game called Alchemist Mountain. It’s been awhile since we touched Alchemist Mountain. And it has been getting quite a few views and downloads. As you would know, we’ve been busy getting ready Little Lost Robots as a full game.

But now that project is complete and ready to ship (April 4th release date on Itch.io and Steam), me and my slowly growing team, can turn our attention to more projects.

Alchemist Mountain was an obvious choice to move forward with. It’s energy mechanic holds a lot of promise and the world building does too. (We have another super secret thou shalt not know project on the boilerplate too).

I intend for Alchemist Mountain to be built in quite a public fashion and itch.io will be its main stage through its development. What does that mean? It means lots of mini games mainly. I hope that will help me get lots of player feedback on the movement and feel of the game.

Try out the current jam version on itch.io. And tell us what you’d like improved upon. Follow us there to get updates on the latest developments.