Archive:
Ahhh... There she blows! Eggnob is running on the Nintendo Switch! And the port was incredibly simple, once I worked out how to get access to the SDL3 Switch Sku. (Derp)
Massive thanks to Ryan and co for an awesome piece of software. That has to be one of the simplest ports I've ever worked on. From zero to working build in less than a morning. There's probably some hardening to do for cert, but it's basically there.
The Steam build now has achievements, and leaderboards for Time Trial runs; one for zero deaths (a perfect run, good luck with that), and one for Any Deaths, which I'm assuming is where most of the action will be.
Content-wise, I've just about crossed the halfway point, and I've had re-jig a bit of code. Up to now, the traps have been one shot, based on a reimplementation of the foxy triggers I used in 2umo, which meant they did one thing (which might have been multiple movements) and then went inert. That wasn't flexible enough, so I've rearchitected everything onto a "rules" and "tracks" system.
Rules are driven by Gameplay Tags (connecting tags to Tracks) as a skinny layer between the Triggers / Switches, and whatever verb targets the Trap may have. Rules react to ON_ADD, ON_REMOVE, WHILE & ON_TRACK_END. Tracks can PLAY, STOP, RESUME, RESET or CLEAR. Rules can also carry a prerequisite tag, and the end result is like a scripting language of nodes. Veeeery very simple, but pretty flexible due to the way they can be composed.
The tracks themselves are a slightly more advanced version of the types of movement that the old code supported, largely path based up to now, but I'm adding more as I need them.
So after all that, I have traps that can grief you more than once. And run multiple tracks simultaneously, based on triggers and events happening in the level. I just need to think of more stupid things to do with them...
I've also added some quality of life stuff, made sure the interface lets you short-circuit restarts quickly, flipped the character controller over to full analogue, added a walk button, loads of audio, and tweaked various levels. Progress has been good. Once the keyart lands, I'll be able to publish the Steam Page, and get the proper demo online. Phew!
I've done something quite silly, but possibly amazing. Not sure if it'll ever get released, or if/when I can say much about it, but I've resurrected a really old game, given it a dust off, and remastered it for 4k resolution across all the things. PC. Linux. Switch.
What started as "I wonder if this will even compile" became a full-on side mission, but the end result has come out even better than I could have dreamed. Hopefully more news on this soon.
Musings, random thoughts, work in progress screenshots, and occasional swears at Unreal Engine's lack of documentation -- this is a rare insight into what happens when a supposedly professional game developer plans very little up-front, and instead follows where the jokes lead them.
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