Developing two, possibly three games at once makes it difficult to get around to working on PBNJ. Hopefully one of the games (which has a nearly complete engine and one of six worlds entirely completed) will have everything but the artwork and beta testing complete in the next month or so, and then I'll get more time to focus on PBNJ. I can't tell you what it is yet (the producer of the game doesn't want the name leaked) but I can tell you it's very enjoyable to play and will be free on the Android and Iphone markets. As for my other game, it's undertaken as a long term project-- something that won't be complete for years, so I don't plan to do much now. After adding perhaps 100 of the 256 characters, I'll probably call that phase of the project done.

Now, for PBNJ news:

While I /have/ gotten some time to work on the game, most of it has been pushed to a later date. Writing a weather, time and seasons system is a lot more difficult than I gave it credit, and finding a way to implement achievements that doesn't weigh down computers is more difficult than you can imagine. I'm probably going to abandon the concept of 'achievements' altogether, despite it being a staple of the idle games and macrogame genre; however, I notice that A Dark Room did away with achievements and was better for it. There will still be a 'questing' system, but nothing like the achievements as you think of them.

Finally, one of the assistant programmers is having trouble at school. They probably won't resume programming with me until that is resolved, so I'll have to wait a bit longer for their help. If /you/ want to see items implemented into PBNJ, submit your suggestions and I /might/ just squeeze in an update... after all, I've gotten all of the non-achievement non-weather content squeezed in and fixed for bugs. Also, we are still looking for artists, musicians, foley artists, programmers, marketing and one web programmer for a very special project. If you are interested (or know someone interested) in making games, contact me at [email protected] or though skype at 'chemiisan'.

I'd like to make sure you all know that an update is pending, but it's taking more time than expected to finish. I'm doing a big overhaul of how the costumes, research and sandwiches are done as well as adding a tutorial and achievements to unlock. I'm slowly reworking the way PBNJ handles all of its tools without changing the gameplay much, and it means i have to create more sprites and many, many more lines of code. This is good for you: you'll be greeted with a much more intuitive interface next time you play. But it will also (hopefully) explain the delay. Right after this update we'll be seeing Thanksgiving gets its time in the spotlight, so stay tuned. 

CURRENT STATUS (11/26/2013)

costumes - 50%

tutorial - 90%

achievements - 10%

UPDATE:

PRE-EMPTIVE DEFENSE: THE UPDATE!

OLD USERS: PLEASE PRESS 'RESET', THIS UPDATE CHANGES THE FARM LAYOUT. DOWNLOAD!

Hello there, loyal chefs! I'd like to present to you: PBnJ 0.0.4!

HERE'S WHAT'S NEW!

-MOATS!

Make moats to keep monsters out and yourself safe! Fill it with jelly or milk, or build a cobblebread path over it!

-WALLS!

Build walls so strong, even you can't destroy them! Monsters beware!

-MONSTERS!

Creepy crawlies come forth from the STUMP, a dangerous pile of rotting bread tree. Cut them down with your mouse!

-COSTUMES!

Put on your new scarf and mask, it's time to hit the town! More costumes will be added weekly and by popular request, so get cracking!

AND MORE SECRETS TO FIND!

DOWNLOAD!

This version is much more customization-friendly than previous versions, and emphasizes using a much larger part of your farm. All but the PICKLE JUNGLES are now arable farmlands once conditions are met, so building a castle is much easier. Just remember that doors won't be arriving for another few updates-- the walls are permanent fixtures for now.

DOWNLOAD!

This week's update art is done by the lovely Inpuratus. She'll be our update artist for a while!

KNOWN BUGS:

Fields don't go grey when unaffordable, sometimes.

The sandwich room is not accessible. I forgot to add back the warp. Also, you now make sandwiches IN another sandwich room, so your ability to build a sandwich is temporarily removed.

AI pathing is hilariously bad.

I. I think I need an exorcist.

'am i too late for halloween, guys? guys?'

Get the most recent version of PBnJ! 0.0.3.4!

Today's secret update brings some much-needed graphical updates along with a few new tools to play with. I'll try and add content weekly from this point forward-- stay tuned!

This update ALSO permanently fixes a few bugs with the save files. You'll need to start a new game-- however, you won't need to start a new game again for the foreseeable future. And what a coincidence! A new update every week coupled with an update that makes save files permanent? It's almost like I'm preparing for something HUGE...

WELCOME TO PBNJ 0.0.3.2!

THE BANANA UPDATE! DOWNLOAD BELOW!

There's a whole lot of new stuff in this update, but I'm going to let you explore most of it. There's also a mini tutorial, but I better tell you about the two important things.

NEW AND OLD USERS

Press ENTER to access the store. You'll need to set your preferences once you unlock your second resource, STRAWBERRIES.

OLD USERS

*PLEASE* start a NEW GAME or press RESET in the main menu. If you don't, your save file will be corrupted and could possibly cause crashes. In the future, you will not have to reset as frequently, but for now the versions are volatile. 

Suggestions and changes can go straight to the inbox! Download here!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO SEE A WARNING FROM YOUR ANTIVIRUS:

This is a well documented issue with Game Maker Studio games-- because of the lack of identification, just about any commercial antivirus has the chance to get overzealous. If you see the message, know that it is a dud. I apologize for triggering your paranoia.

AA: i pressed the space bar?????????

PE: yes

AA: what is this

PE: you went to the sandwich room

AA: is this horse mode

PE: WHERE THE SANDWICHES SCREAM AT YOU

AA: how do i escape from the sandwich room

AA: I DONT WANT TO BE IN THE SANDWICH ROOM

Is this you, ekc?

I mean. Uh.

Working on the shops! You'll be able to select your 'active' sales from a list and assign them to a grid. Only focused on buying breads? Unload jelly to make room for sourdough. Here's hoping I can get the code to work, ahahaha. Anyhow, look out for an incoming update-- it'll bump the game to 0.0.3 Alpha: The Banana update.

(Click the image to download)

ALPHA 0.0.2.15

- Make sandwiches!

- Visit your sandwich pile!

- Enjoy your toast!

- Upgrade your capture level!

- Play with five new resources!

- Autosaves!

Fixed:

- Dreaded Toast Crash!

- The game now includes 'sell all' and 'buy all' buttons-- hold shift to buy the maximum possible resources that you can get at that moment.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19511238/pbnj/PBnJ-Default-0.0.1.3.exe

- Numbers displayed are now whole.