Ambystoman

Wishlist Dragon March on Steam!!!

Hey yall again! been a while... Still working hard on the game. I feel ive been doing good progress so far but still got some more to go. Anyway this will be my first Steam release so please share! Its an important moment for me...

Hello again! been a while. I've still been working hard on the game all the time. Today I bring you something fitting for the coming holiday. Cereal now can wear unlockable costumes!

The number for each costume unlock might change but for now its 15. I am very happy with how everything about this turned out. The costumes look so cool and especially with the menu. The costumes are references to things I like which makes it a lot better for me lol. See if you get them!

I am still not sure how many costumes there will be in total so I need to leave it until the time is right. I could go on for days making new ones though. Its so fun

I wont show any more. You will have to unlock them yourself lol

On other news, currently all levels in the main worlds except 1 special level are done. This special one will probably be done later in development as it requires stuff by other people. So for that, I will move on to the endgame side of things. Its very exciting. It feels the end of development is not too far away now. I can't wait to complete the project.

Please stay tuned! Updates might slow even more until the game is completed so hang on tight. It won't be too long now. Of course, the game is not coming in 2025 anymore and there are many things missing. I overshot my capabilities and time. I have decided to take all my time with it which results in a better game in the end I say.

With Steam Next Fest finished, I took some time to implement some fixes and additions to improve the demo experience that will get carried over to the full game in the form of 2 updates. Mainly, these were changes/additions for accessibility and better visibility of the game elements.

The main changes include:

Automatic Mode: A setting so you can make your speeds a toggle instead of a continuous press.

New Cereal collisions: His body and grounded collisions have been reworked to provide a better experience and less jank.

Updated Dialogue system: Made the tutorial prompts easier to see during gameplay.

Expanded tutorial: Introduced new sections that explain certain aspects more instead of unloading it all in the few text boxes.

Visual updates to the buttons and keys. Helps make them more clear.

With the Steam Summer Sale starting now, you should totally try the DEMO if you haven't yet! It's 100% OFF!!! wow!!!

A demo for Dragon March has been released on Steam and Itch.io!Play it today now and wishlist on Steam!

Been working hard to get this out just in time for Next Fest

Finally started selling stickers as I had wanted to do for a while now.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmbystomanShop

For now, its just a design with Moon Lizard, Neuron and Cereal. Hope you like them! More to come in the future depending on how well these sell :)

Happy new year y'all! It's been a while. Development has been rocky these past months because of school but going forward, it will not be a nuisance anymore. I have been simply working on the gameplay elements for the last world lately. These aren't many because I am not too sure how wise it is to introduce new gameplay in the last part of a game. They are simply a new enemy, a warp-star kind of thing and conveyor belts. Here they are in action.

The last world is set in the internet itself. I don't want to show too much of it visually to avoid spoilers as I want people to reach it themselves. It is very purple though I will say. The second world is done and undergoing playtesting at the moment.

Sneak peek

As mentioned previously, these things function like warp-stars and bring Cereal to a specified part of a level. As for conveyor belts, they simply do what you'd expect and move Cereal along their direction.

The cursor ride things are actually repurposed jump pads from some updates ago. Those ones that looked like e-mails. They got simplified and improved in my opinion.

Farewell jump pads...

As for the last enemy, it is one I had designed a year ago. They are called Draxaus and they are computer viruses. They do not kill Cereal but will instead cause a pop-up window to appear blocking the player's vision. This can get overwhelming and dangerous in a game where you constantly keep moving. You might have seen them around the Latency Lobby board in Party Project.

They are goofy

Among other small stuff, I redid the level results screen and I am much pleased with it.

Looks better and has more information

Who is this?!

As for the demo, it is still not here. I want to have new music for it so for now I am waiting on my composers. Don't wanna rush them either so for now I will keep on working. I am playtesting with some people though.

I want to complete the last world of the game this month and move on to all the final and side stuff. This game has grown too much out of my hands but at least it won't be too long until it's done.

Erm...

Lastly this is Cereal's actual final irreversible redesign. See y'all soon!

Cereal dressed up for the occasion

I don't really got much to show for today other than that lol but play my short spooky games if you haven't:

Been working on adding lots of SFX. Want to make the game more presentable and feeling better. Audio is my greatest weakness. Composing and understanding audio stuff is just incredibly hard for me. Despite that, I've been pleased with what I have achieved this time. Thank you bitcrush.

Almost all elements have sound effects now. Some may change but I'm pleased with most of it now

Also added a button that does a top down view camera. This hopefully helps some people.

The Overworld has seen a substantial redesign. It also works now!

The background is still subject to change since it doesn't look quite right.

Also added a bit more detail to the Files menu. As you can notice, there's also an indication for inputs in these screenshots. I've been wanting to make stuff more clear with these and hopefully give a better experience.

Metal (Dragon) Heart

wanted to try do something in this aesthetic/style. I had no idea I was capable of doing this on Krita tbh lol. Surprised myself

Mainly took cues from this video

Goodbye summer...

Something for the start of the Autumn season.

If you'd like to support what I do (game dev & art), consider tipping me on my kofi page

I let Aster take care of the page for me. Hope he does a good job.

With the first world done, I have been working on the second one; Overloading Onset. This world takes place inside of a server rather than a single computer. This place connects to the internet and all systems that operate within Half Heart Robotics.

Feels nice having a new backdrop and tilesets. Lots of antennas here.

So far 2 levels are completed out of the 5. I think that after the grueling and slow process that was making the first world, I have a much better idea of how levels should be and such. If everything goes well considering this, it may be possible to finish Dragon March before the year ends maybe. At least that's my goal...

The first level of the world introduces keys and doors.

This world also sees the introduction of a new enemy. These are called V-Guards. They are a sort of anti virus creature seeking to destroy any foreign invader to the systems of the facility. They seem to have a dislike for Cereal but not the other metal dragons. Peculiar.

As their appearance may suggest, they are not the brightest...

Gameplay that shows some of their behavior (Music not mine of course):

I should be done with the world sooner than the first one. Really need to focus and speed up development at the moment. See ya next update!

Char and I collaborated on content for Party Project (his Mario Party fangame). As part of the game's newest update, Cereal joins the party!

Alongside him, a brand new board based on Dragon March first world, Latency Lobby is added. The board has a unique Metal Dragon collecting mechanic. Take your dragons to an open checkpoint to receive stars in exchange for them! Watch out for shock tiles and collapse folder bridges though...

This game is so cool and fun. Much better than any MP game Nintendo could do nowadays. Please try it out!

Dark Side is completed!

A tiny spooky game jam thing I did in less than 2 weeks.

You control a telescope and have to scan various space objects while being witness to weird stuff...

This is my first ever game jam attempt. Of course, I still wish I could have done more but I'm happy with how it turned out for the time given. I feel I gained experience. Back to Dragon March now...

Game Link:

Game Jam time

Doing a tiny game for a 2 week game jam. I got 6 days left. I am trying something pretty different from my usual style. I can't call myself a low poly artist without at least doing a PS1 inspired horror game can I? Also taking lots of cues from Analog Horror series I like.

The game concept is simple, just scan different celestial bodies. First non Soul Trail related game from me. Impossible