Andy Blast Vs The Forces of Evil is a 2D side-scrolling platformer based on one the first id software games, Dangerous Dave and the Haunted Mansion which was one of my favorites as a kid!
If you'd like to support me as an independent content producer and game dev feel free to check it out, add it to your wishlist, and snag a copy when it's fully released!
Thank you!
Due to my schedule I think there's a high chance my "Friday" Devlog is just going to end up being an "Early Saturday Morning" Devlog, but since we got rid of the cartoons you have to have something to look forward to, right? Anyway, I've been on a bit of a roll with the game and have a lot of minor, but major things on the list of updates! Mostly it's art updates! Lots of art updates which have made the game look MUCH better and more professional than before! Check them out!
Updated Andy's colors to remove the black outline around him. Now he seems more "Amiga" like in design
Did the same thing to the Zombies. They're softer, but they look good.
Added some shading to the cultists. Now they look better!
Altered the smoke around the shotgun blast so it looks like the blast is IN the smoke not ON the smoke.
Added some more details to the Ghost to make them "Pop?"
Updated Jeanette's art to look WAY better than the original!
Updated and animated the Ghoul's idle-walking animation. Now he's not as stiff looking.
Added a second secret door to level 4. May edit this more in the future...
Converted "SlamFiring" to a super move. Now you can only slamfire when you have 8 shells instead of whenever
Added shadows to the following:
Gibs
Expelled Shotgun Shells
Score popups
Every finished level 1-7
Be sure to keep coming back for more updates! Hopefully soon I'll be able to say I have another level done! Soooo close to finishing them all up and with the new art they're going to be fantastic!
First Devlog of the year... and it's late! Turns out I got my head wrapped up in some personal stuff and with working overnight I forget what day it is. Even now, I keep thinking it's Saturday, but nope, it's Sunday. I don't even KNOW where Friday went?
The bonus is, that in what spare time I was using these last couple weeks to work on Andy Blast I got a LOT of things done! Most of it is housekeeping as I am still in that "avoiding new art and levels" stage of procrastination, but it was all important and some of it came from more player feedback! (Really, if you play the demo ALL feedback is welcome to try and make the game better.) So here's a list of all the things I've done since the last Devlog:
Updated the Itch demo to the same one as on Steam
Fixed a bug in the Steam/Itch demo for the keyboard layout screen to show layout properly
Following changes are NOT in the newly uploaded DEMO:
Changed some internal timing code so V-Sync is no longer a stringent requirement
Due to the above change the game can be run correctly on a VR headset if desired, still in 2D though
Updated the controls menu:
Joystick can now be toggled independent of the keyboard layout
Joystick and keyboard controls are both always shown regardless of which is selected
Game should show you an "N/A" if joystick is not detected and default to keyboard
Keyboard is now "always on" in game with the selected control scheme regardless of Joystick status
Added (joystick) tutorial indicators on the first level so it's easier to know what buttons do what
Replaced the "SpeedRun" option with a "Tutorials" option to disable tutorials
Decided to not move forward with Speedrun tracking as LiveSplit would be more accurate and works just fine
Limited max lives to 9
Added a lives counter under the ammo counter for easy identification of lives left
Skeletons now have randomly selected skulls to add variety to them
Updated the Skeleton Walk cycle animation and arm swing animation to be more fluid
That's all for now, but I'll hopefully be more on the ball in the coming weeks! If I'm not it's because big things are happening in my world and sometimes I have to pause my gamedev!
Hey everyone!
Wow! Where does the time go, eh? Turns out going from part-time day job to full-time day job really puts a hamper on gamedevving and updates! However, not to fear, I've got some great news; I'm still working on Andy Blast and have been posting micro-updates over on BlueSky for a while now. Still, I can't neglect the real Devlog or people will begin to think I've given up! So here's a short list of things I've done up to the last day of 2024!
Added Spider enemies to level 4
Added Spider "stun" state to allow the player to attack/bypass them
Added more detailing art to level 4 so it's not all repeating dirt background
Smoothed Andy's pump animation by adding more frames
Added more frames to the reload animation (without adding more time between reloads)
Revamped the pump and reload animation code to allow for easier backend changes
Blocked out Level 7, finished up the main flow, added slimes and zombie enemies
Got slimes working "better" they don't ceiling crawl anymore, but they're just as annoying as before
Brightened the colors for the score popups
Adjusted the position of the camera when player drops down to allow a better view of what's below
Changed Bat attack speed
Reverted Bat attack speed back because it was too fast
Normalized shotgun sound (you can hear actual game sounds now)
Animated more of the Ghoul (Tentacles are HARD!), still not done
Added more frames to the skeleton's legs so they walk more smoothly
Of course, I'm still working on it, but I'm just one guy! Getting closer every day now, so keep an eye out!
Hey everyone!
A while back I tried playing Andy Blast on an Intel i5 all in one computer and it ran like trash. I chalked it up to bad optimization or an integrated graphics card and walked away from the problem for a while, but the other week I showed the demo to some folks who know LOVE2D and they ripped into the code and found a MAJOR bug; the game was writing to the preferences file EVERY FRAME. I was mortified and went about fixing the bug and viola! the game runs fantastic on the i5 no stutters or issues! Because of this I'm definitely going to be pushing to have more people play the game/beta/etc to get feedback just as was mentioned last week. But until then here's a list of things that were fixed/changed:
Added new achievements, including secret ones!
Implemented achievements throughout the game (WIP)
Fixed an issue where Zombies maintained their fast walk even when no longer agitated
Increased Zombie's fast-walk speed slightly
Zombies will now maintain an "agitated" state if left at 1 HP (fast walk and different animation)
Added health bar indicators to boss fights
Added the ability to turn off health indicators for boss fights
Added a copyright logo to the title screen
Made massive changes to the in-game menu system to allow for more options and make current options easier to navigate
Moved control layout when selecting controls from the ReadMe area to the Options area so you can see the changes live
Renamed "ReadMe" to "Story" as it only contains story elements now
Fixed a bug where you couldn't cancel quitting/reseting in game with the controller
Found out through some nice folks that the game has been writing to the HDD repeatedly during play
Fixed the file write bug in the game and the demo and reupped the demo for everyone to update their copy
From feedback; tweaked the player movement calculations to calculate between frames for consistent movements on all systems
Removed the hacked together frame limiter as it was placed in to fix the above issue which it did not do
Hey everyone!
Some super exciting news for today's devlog! ACHIEVEMENTS!
That's right, one of the big things that was looming over me was implementing Steam API/Achievements into the game and, luckily, someone out there made a LOVE2D/Lua plugin that works with the Steam API that's super easy to implement and works great!
Of course, there are a few other things I worked on as well and here's a short list:
Created a new boss encounter including new level, sounds, and animations!
Began work on Level 7!
Corrected issue with pause menu showing Andy's "You are here" head in the wrong place
Set the game to grab the mouse and make it invisible so it's no longer in the way visually
Integrated Steam API for Achievements/Scoreboard
Created the first set of achievements for the game w/appropriate artwork
It's important to note that a big hurdle for me was the level 6 boss fight and it's now implemented, but may need some tweaking which brings me to another point; Beta Testing!
I'm looking into how to implement some "open"-ish Beta Testing to make sure the game works and is fun and playable to more people than just myself. Stay tuned for news on that front as well!
Hey everyone!
You might be wondering why this "weekly" devlog hasn't been every week. Well, a couple of reasons, but the main one is; gamedev is hard and sometimes things get stuck. The other reason was, while stuck, I made a quick Adventure Game for MAGS in Adventure Game Studio and you can check that out for free here: https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo
However, I have also been working on Andy Blast again and here is a short list of recent updates:
Changed the color of the brick wall in front of the tree in level one to show it was a foreground/blocking item
Increased speed of Ghouls after detection to "Ludicrous"
Adjusted gibs spray upon monster death to be more visually appealing
Assembled level 6 framework/platforms/etc
Created art assets for levels 7/8
Adjusted colors of some previous assets to current palette
Minor visual adjustments to some enemies
Added "Y"/"N" keys to confirm/cancel quitting due to old habits
In addition, I'm super happy to announce that I've been able to finally figure out level 6 which has been causing me no end of grief (and the reason I had to take a break because it was holding up the rest of the game) and with that I've also been able to figure out the final boss!
So hopefully quick progress will be made on the remaining levels/bosses/etc and I can finally release the game!
Hey everyone!
I joined in Nextfest not expecting much from my tiny game and 0 advertising budget (it's just me doing all this, remember), but I was surprised to find that at the end of Nextfest the wishlist count for Andy Blast DOUBLED! Wow! Absolutely fantastic and super surprising to find so many people stumbled on my game over the week!
For the weekly update here's what I've gotten done over the last two weeks:
Fixed minor animation bug on Ghoul normal walk-cycle
Replaced Monk sprites with correct Skeleton sprites on level 5
Worked on fully animating Ghoul after detection. Current animation is limited and jumpy.
Worked on updating Skeleton animation frames
Crafted and uploaded a new trailer for Steam NextFest!
The new trailer can be found on YouTube and has also been added to the Steam store page so you can watch it there if you like!
On a personal note, as an Indie Dev sometimes things can get overwhelming or you can get stuck on a feature or update in the game that is either difficult due to your skillset or not your favorite thing to do. Right now I'm stuck a bit on animations and level design; two things that need to be done in order to make the final three levels of Andy Blast.
Three levels may not seem like a lot, but it's designing, implementing, testing the flow, then designing monsters, animating them, writing their AI, etc. It is a lot for one person to accomplish, but I will not give up and am working, even in small amounts, towards completing the game! Just don't be surprised if the list of things I accomplish at the end of each week is sometimes very short as things get harder and there's more to do, but less to report.
Thank you everyone who wishlisted the game before and during Nextfest! More updates coming soon and keep enjoying the demo!
Greetings everyone!
It's time to get ready for the next NEXTFEST on Steam! And because of that I didn't get much done with the code this week. Here's a list of things I did/attempted to do with the game through the week:
Fixed a typo that caused the controller selection screen to not loop one way
Getting ready for NEXTFEST! (Lots of non-game stuff in this)
Several days trying to get a Linux version working. Did not work.
For the Linux version of Andy Blast there are ways to get it to work on Linux. The simplest being distribute the core files to someone running LOVE2D 11.4, but that requires work on the user's part and is not intuitive for a download and play from Steam.
Other ways all include variations of the above method and, hard as I tried, I could NOT get Steam to download ANY files from the depot onto a Linux system, only the Windows files with Proton support.
On the plus side I can confirm the game runs through Proton and I can also confirm it takes a small performance hit. Of course, the computer I was using to test had trouble running the game on Windows proper due to its age, but there was a difference between BAD and WORSE that I could notice. So, for the moment at least, I will not be able to get a Linux demo working for Nextfest, but it's still on my list!
Greetings everyone!
A quick list of the things that have been improved for Andy Blast! This update was focused mostly on adding sounds to the game, but also corrected some old issues that weren't game breaking, but were visually irritating to look at. Now the game plays very well, feels hard, but balanced (to someone whose played every iteration of it), and really feels like I've solidified the first five levels!
Added sound to boss bat wave attack
Increased speed of boss bat wave attack
Added sound to ghost death
Sped up ghost death animation
Corrected Ghost death to face player
Corrected Cultist death animation alignment issue
Cultists will now throw daggers when shot (sometimes)
Fixed issue with Cultists throwing two daggers when shot (sometimes)
Added sounds to Zombies when they are shot
Added new sounds for different door types
Updated credits to match current assets
Reset Extra Life score to 0 on death regardless if it's the last life
Greetings everyone!
Welcome to the first official Devlog for Andy Blast Vs The Forces of Evil! Once per week, hopefully on Friday (yes, it's Saturday so I'm off to a good start) I'll upload a screenshot or image to display something I'm working on without including spoilers and then a short list of things that have been changed or updated in the game! If you want to provide feedback you're welcome to join Discord (link at the top) or send me an email, or hit me up on Bluesky, etc!
Changes since last update... Since the last update was on Steam I'll use that:
Redesigned level four again to make an open/arena area. I was too busy trying to "lead" the player and it was making everything play like a too-tight maze.
Added a Ghost enemy which includes movement and death animations. There's still a bug where they don't face the player on death. Having a hard time finding the reason.
Added a new Ghoul enemy. It has an idle state and detection animation. It is in the game, but needs more animations; Walk/Death
Played with the Anim8 library for Love2D due to the Ghoul having multiple animations and figured out how to fix some animation issues; IE: All cultists performed the dagger-throw animation when one would throw the dagger. It's been fixed and they all have their own animation now!
Added death animations for Andy for Spike Traps and Ghost attacks
Added a layer for animated background sprites. It was originally for water which is now animated and in the game, but can be used for other animation items as-needed.
Created a prototype animation set for Jeanette. I had Jeanette's head and upper torso finished for a while, but went back and tweaked them then added arms and legs.
Created a list of enemies I'd like to put on each level. Not set in stone, but gives a better idea of where I want to put things. No fun to just have zombies on every level.
