2018.01.18 Boss 101, future games and ShMUPS devblog

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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.02.01 BERL Vid Arcade Mac

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

The video series with BERL continues! These are all hosted by BERL and this one is all about the AWESOME ARCADE MACHINE!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 3 - The Arcade Machine <<<

Some images from the video!
Spoiler
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Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next are the Map Room, the Upgrade room, the Hat Store and the Make a Boss and more! So keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.02.08 BERL Vid Upgrades!

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

The video series with BERL continues! These are all hosted by BERL and this one is all about the Boss 101 Upgrade Room, or at least HALF of the upgrade room!

Watch BERL max out an upgrade and show you some secret stuff about editing the user interface in Boss 101. TOO RIGHT!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 4 - The Upgrade Room <<<
Spoiler
Some images from the video!

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Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Battling a fireball spitting, beam firing robot T-Rex near the Robo Homeworld!
Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next are the Map Room, the Gopher upgrades, the Hat Store and the Make a Boss and more! So keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.02.15 Upgrade Gophers

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

The video series with BERL continues! Hosted by BERL, this one is all about the Boss 101 Upgrade Room and the GOPHERS in it! Watch as BERL talks about how you can find and RETURN gopher buddies to the Command Center.

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 5 - The Upgrade Gophers <<<

Some images from the video!
Spoiler
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Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Fighting through the snow and elements to battle bosses. We're coming soon so keep your eyes peeled for more updates and official dates! Thank you for all your support!

Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next are the Map Room, Hat Store, the Make a Boss and more! Keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun Feb 19, 2017 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.02.18 - Progress update

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome to the Boss 101 Update!

The BERL videos will continue next week but we wanted to share a little update on the game’s release date and what is going on behind the scenes.

Polish and more polish

As we mentioned before – we are entirely self-funded and the great benefit of that is we can take the time to bring you something special. Of course, we aren’t interested in an endless development cycle but we are interested in doing our very best job with Boss 101. We wanted to take this update and highlight exactly the type of work that is happening when we say “polish”.

The Endless Boss

The Endless Boss is the arcade mode in Boss 101. It is probably closest to the ACTUAL game we had in mind when we started this journey. It’s a fun, action packed time with lots of powerups and a huge variety of bosses. Needless to say – the FULL Boss 101 game has gone way past that starting goal and ideally it has all been worth it. A couple things about the Endless Boss mode we will talk about today – the start area and the warp area.

The start area refers to the launch area you begin from. You go up an elevator ride to the top of the Cosmic Clicks ship and then begin your Endless arcade missions from there. While we were playing we noticed you simply screen transitioned from the Endless start area to your first mission. Hmm, that seemed a little abrupt so we took some game assets and made a short launch animation of the Clicks ship taking off.
Spoiler
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Of course – since the launch area uses the environments from the Start Screen we had to add a switch case in there for the different times of day you can leave the Command Center from.

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This is all an example of LITTLE things we believe adds a lot to the flavor of Boss 101. We didn’t HAVE to make the launch animation. The game is totally playable without it. We FELT it was in the spirit of the game to create it. It adds a lot to the moment and didn’t cost us a whole lot of time. Sure, we could slam through all the unneeded stuff just to be “done” but that isn’t why we’re making Boss 101. We’re making it to entertain you, we’re making it to be a HUGE VALUE to you and mostly we are making it the very best way we can.

Another area of the Endless Boss is the Warp Win Screen. In between rounds you have your money tallied and any awards given. From there you can move onto the next stage OR you can take a moment and fly around in the warp area. Why do we allow that? Cause it seemed like a fun thing to do. There’s no reason other than its fun and oh yah, you can blast meteors in there with your fireworks gun.

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The Clicks Ship can take out Meteors too!

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You see, this is the kind of stuff we want to make sure gets in Boss 101. That’s the spirit of Boss 101 you’re seeing. It’s about a fun universe with people you would want to know better and visit. The best way we can introduce you to this world is to show it to you through THEIR eyes.

Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Watch out for the boss spray and you got this!
Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

All right – that’s it for today’s update and look for more BERL next week!

Thank you again and remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.02.22 Endless Boss Video

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***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

The video series with BERL continues! Hosted by BERL, today we are looking at the Endless Boss - ARCADE and IRON BOT for your enjoyment!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 6 - Endless Boss Mode <<<

Some images from the video!
Spoiler
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Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Simple equation - grab the powerup and blast the boss!

Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: 1st Half of 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next are the Map Room, Hat Store, the Make a Boss and more! Keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Fri Mar 17, 2017 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.03.12 Video - Map Room

Post by Donley_Time »

Welcome back to the Boss 101 Video Update and thank you for joining us!

These videos are hosted by BERL and today we are looking at the Boss 101 Map Room!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 7 - The Map Room <<<
Spoiler
Some images from the video!

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Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Weapon tuning and balancing time. We're "nacho" ordinary shooter! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next are the Hat Store, the Make a Boss and more! Keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sat Apr 08, 2017 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.03.15 Video - Make a Boss

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Video Update and thank you for joining us!

These videos are hosted by BERL and today we are looking at the Boss 101 Make A Boss!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 8 - The Make A Boss Room <<<
Spoiler
Some images from the video!

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Screenshot of the Day

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Take a break with the bonus round in Breakdown the Game. You can play this inside the Boss 101 arcade room!

Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: Early 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Up next is the Hat Store and more! Keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sat Apr 08, 2017 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.03.17 Video - Hat Store

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the Boss 101 Video Update and thank you for joining us!

A big thank you from us to you! BERL is wrapping up the current series today with a look at the HAT store! You heard right! Now you can see how lids are attached. More videos will be coming down the line and expect more announcements about the progress towards our (ideally) very near release!

The video is up on YouTube right here. Check it out!

>>> DIRECT LINK TO THE BOSS 101 Video Series - Chapter 9 - The Hat Store <<<

Some images from the video!
Spoiler
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Boss 101 Screenshot

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Gameplay tuning with the player lightning gun.

Boss 101 Info Roundup

Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Thank you for hanging in there with BERL! Keep checking back. If you have any ideas or suggestions we welcome them! Feel free to comment or reply below.

We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for Boss 101! It means a lot to know you are rooting for us.

As always… LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sat Apr 08, 2017 10:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.03.18 Polish and Fun pt1

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome to the latest Boss 101 update!

A Break from BERL

This week we’re taking a break from the BERL videos and just talking about the game and what’s been going on.

The Update and “When Will We Be Done?” question

As you know – we have been doing regular updates twice a week for about three years. That’s ROUGHLY 310 updates all told. During that time we’ve shared our progress and kept you posted about the game. One thing we’ve been clear about (at least I would like to think) – is we are more concerned with making a GREAT game than with hitting a date on the calendar. I know that is pretty standard game dev speechifying but it’s how we actually feel.

Boss 101 is currently in the polish phase. That means we play it every day and assess the game for bugs as well as consistency. It’s the consistency thing you might care the most about. Consistency for us is making the game consistent and congruent within itself. It means each character, menu, UI panel and icon not only does its job extremely well but fits within the Boss 101 universe. It’s this very thing we feel will make Boss 101 a special experience for you when you play it. As much as we can we’re making the world of Boss 101 alive with interesting characters and locations. I would also say it’s the reason Boss 101 isn’t in your hot little hands as we speak! Rest assured we are hammering away 24/7 to get this done. Let’s go over some basic questions you might or might not have about the final ship date.

What is left on the list to do if you are just ‘polishing’?

A few things fall in that category as we mention. One is obviously bugs. Bugs being crashes, glitches and problems that arise when systems in the game don’t work as intended. It can be anything from game play issues to things like buttons not functioning when they need to.

Additionally, as we play we are encountering areas where they game could use a little oomph to make things more “Boss 101-ish”?

Can you give an example of this?

Sure, here’s a simple one we worked on this very week. What I am about to explain might be pretty minor sounding and might seem minor. For us though, we have spent so much time on the game that it’s simply not worth it to skimp at this point. At the end of development we feel it’s really time to turn up the effort and bring you the highest effort and best value we can.

OK – here we go:

In Boss 101 we have guns that overheat and in the UI we have a little indicator to tell you when your gun is overheated. This has been in the game nearly three years. The icon is a generic pistol that gets the point across and all seems well on the surface.
Spoiler
Sample of the old generic icon in action
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While playing the game during the tuning rounds we quickly realized a few things. One was the machine gun (the player’s main gun) was effect set to never overheat. The reasoning there is it’s the main gun and for a lot of gameplay reasons we felt it wasn’t a ‘fun’ thing to have your main gun constantly stopping to cool down. The secondary guns though were another story. They are generally more specialized and effectively the most powerful guns against bosses so they could benefit from a cool down mechanic.

Well, we looked at what we had. An old and well done UI drawing of what looks to be a Colt 45. Sure, sure – that is cool and all and YOU would probably understand what was happening there. For us though – we want the game to be special so we went and made little icons for EACH of the guns. MUCH cooler and much more in line with the kind of value we want to give you.

New version of overheat icon for pistol
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New version of overheat icon for flamethrower
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New version of overheat icon for shotgun
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All New Icons for Overheat in the editor
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This didn’t take a lot of time but we feel these are the touches which separate the truly amazing gaming experiences from the “it’s all right” gaming experiences. We want to bring you the best and as these opportunities pop up during the polish pass we look at each one and think “Is this a reasonable thing to adjust or change?” “Will it make the game more fun?” “Weill it help solidify the look, feel or work of Boss 101?” I assure you if any of those answers are yes then we do our best to bring you that change.

YOU DESERVE IT! When you plunk down your hard earned cash for Boss 101 you DESERVE to know we put our BEST EFFORT into the game.  

OK - talk with you soon and to answer the question of "When will it be done?" - AS SOON AS WE POSSIBLY CAN. We do expect to make a date announcement when we are cruising into the last round of testing so stay tuned!

As always - LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.03.25 Polish and Fun pt2

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome to the latest Boss 101 update!

How have we been doing you ask? We have been doing fantastic thank you!

Polish and Fun Part 2

As you know we are jamming in the final stages of Boss 101. This means a lot of gameplay testing and little touches to bring YOU the highest level of fun, charm and personality. This week has seen us deal with the usual assortment of bug fixes as well as touchups on the VFX in the game.

As with everything else the main focus is giving you the most entertainment we can inside the Boss 101 universe. We want this series to continue and the best way we can guarantee more Boss 101 is by making THIS GAME the best possible game we can.

Check out some of the little touches going into things like player pickups, boss deaths and the shooting VFX.

You might need some health in your Endless Boss battles…

Spoiler
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Look out for the boss bullet sprays. They all have patterns you can dodge but the minions can make it tricky. You will want to wear your best hat for the job!

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When you finally wipe a boss out you can enjoy the slap down.

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Endless Boss Warp Time! You make new friends while traveling in deep space! You make friends everywhere in fact!

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Did we mention every single hat has a custom machine gun bullet? YES! Katana bullet time!

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Boss 101 Screenshot of the day

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Everyone hanging out in Rob's Room! Poor BERL needs and extension cord!

Ok – that’s a quick look at some of this week’s updates and touchups.

Thank you again for your support and keep checking back for the latest news. We will keep you posted about the release date. Though if you were to ask us, it’s getting down to the last round!

Have a TREMENDOUS WEEKEND and always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.01 Super Bombs!

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***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Welcome back to the latest Boss 101 update and THANK YOU for joining us.

I’m not going to kid you – we saved today for a SPECIAL TREAT. You and only those reading this will see one of Boss 101’s most exciting super weapons this early. You guessed right, I’m talking about the mother lovin’ SUPER MISSILE UPGRADE!
Spoiler
YEAH BUDDY!
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The SUPER MISSILE upgrade

This is one of the upgrades you can purchase in the Command Center. Unlike many other upgrades you are limited to three levels of power for the missile. This might seem like too little but when you are done reading this update you may think it is TOO MUCH! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

So let’s see what we have here with the upgrades – feel free to read the little text at your leisure. The deal with each upgrade for the missile is a small mission is required to get the needed parts. You didn’t think we were just going to hand this kind of weaponry to you without any work did you? Once you meet the requirements you can purchase the missile and then the fun begins! Let’s check out the various levels of power shall we?

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First of all – every one of these bad boys can send out a shock wave that annihilates everything in its path. They hit enemies and once triggered can give you breathing room from a hail of bullets.

Level 1
This is your basic missile. You get 1 per battle and it has the smallest radius blast. Still, it can be MIGHTY effective if you place it right.

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Level 2
This is the next one up. Bigger blast radius and you get TWO missiles per battle.

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Level 3
BIG BANG BOOM! You get THREE missiles per battle and it has by far the largest explosion radius.

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Boss 101 Screenshot

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Friends are forever in Boss 101!

Yah – I could gas about the bugs we fixed and all that but come on – that would only be lost after seeing the glorious destruction of enemy armament. So I’ll leave you with happy thoughts for this week and talk with you soon. We’re getting there and it will be sooner than later. The only things we’ve been doing are play testing and tuning! Most everything else is DONE!

Take care, believe in yourself and LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Boss 101 December Gameplay Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMQ1CrYeac
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.08 Three Years of Prog

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome to the latest Boss 101 update and we have something super special for all you longtime blog readers. We opened up the WAY BACK MACHINE on a nearly three year old Boss 101 build and ran some comparisons to the latest and greatest.

First off – you gotta know by now we are serious about bringing you our very best. We put a lot of love into Boss 101 – making the world, the gameplay, heck, EVERYTHING as special as we can. When you put down your hard earned cash you will be getting a lot of TLC and ideally a really fun game to boot.

With that said let’s look at a build from nearly THREE YEARS ago against one from yesterday.

2014 The Intro Screen
Holy hell – this one looks a little bit different right? Look at the moon!!! Not even busted! The inside of the Command Center looks like a college dorm right before move in.

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2017 The Intro Screen
MUCH better – look at this place! So much more going on and so many things happening. Room has way more life and the place has a lot more interest for you and a much better sense of the place you are in.

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2014 Command Center Levels
Man, this was way, way back in the day. Look at the old version of the stores. The HAT STORE used to be a closet.

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2017 Command Center Levels
Much better. Look at how the gophers make it all more interesting when they moved in and helped you with the tech.

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2014 Map Room
Well, you can’t fault us for the ambition of the one. One thing though was the early room had the ideas but not the execution. We even had stars to rate levels!

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2017 Map Room
Look at all the goodies in here. We have guides, medals and gophers working the area. Also you can see the progress of the gopher space station as the game progresses.

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2014 Make A Boss Room
Yep, this is where it all started. Hard to believe but the basics and the BOSSES were done (at least art-wise)

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2017 Make A Boss Room
This is the super sweet latest version. It’s got the commentary – the boss abilities, the new equip panel. YEAH BUDDY!

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2014 Gameplay
Wow – we use to have the dialog box at the top of the screen and kinda janky too.

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2017 Gameplay
So yeah, this got a lot better – just look at the intro section. More dynamic and the interface slides into view.

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Ok – just look at all the work that has happened and we are in the final stretch. We HOPE HOPE HOPE you are as excited about Boss 101 as we are. We do appreciate the support and as always…

Remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920

Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.15 Train Boss & Update

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome to the latest Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

Let's talk about progress and then onto the cool train boss!

How is the game progressing?

Great question and we have a lot of answers. It’s going well and mostly we are spending our days working on polish and bugs. It may seems like that’s been going on a while and it HAS BEEN GOING ON A WHILE! There’s a pretty obvious reason and it’s because YOU MATTER TO US. We want YOU to have the best game possible and we work on Boss 101 thinking how we can make the best for you.

Bugs, polish and cleanup is all being done to bring you the very best value we can. It’s taking a while since there are only three of us but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve said it before – rushing the game gets us nothing and you will remember a good game far longer than a game that shipped on time or early.

Remember, Boss 101 is entirely self-funded. We’re actually putting our money EXACTLY where our mouth is. We didn’t do a Kickstarter, no publisher is giving us cash. It’s all on us. Trust us when we say – that is a HUGE motivator to get things done as soon as we possibly can.

Thanks for hanging in there and thank you for the comments, support and email. We promise you the game will be in YOUR HANDS sooner than later.

Train Bar Health Icons

We continue our look at the final fit and finish of the game with the mighty train boss. Check out this guy and some of the goodies we are touching up on him.

At first the boss was simply a collection of train cars you battled one after the other. That’s pretty cool right? Well it’s NOT COOL ENOUGH. You see – we had these neat little dialog icons we use when the boss talks with you. You know what else those dialog icons work well with? CUTE HEALTH BAR INDICATORS!

You guessed it folks, we moved those little dialog icons to the boss health bar so you could see the layout of the train at the bottom of the screen. Check this out...

A shot of the bottom of the screen with the train icons on it. From here you can see the upcoming cars and help plan the best attack.
Spoiler
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Close up of the little icons – THOSE FACES!!!
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Of course – we went through and added all sorts of dialog and VFX to the various cars. We selected the correct layout for the train to give you breathing room between gun cars and allow a little rest. Here’s Steve and Max blowing up a box car.

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Still you have to watch out for the minions flying around. Don’t get torched!

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Some of the gun cars can drop huge energy balls – check this giant plasma shot. SUPER DEADLY but you can shoot it if you’re quick enough.

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Of course there are gas tankers with jets of flame because – WHY NOT!

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Boss 101 Screenshot

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B.E.R.L. in his charging stand thinking about life. Be his friend in Boss 101!

Take care. Enjoy your day, Believe in yourself. Most of all though – LIVE YOUR DREAMS.

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.22 Submergible Bosses

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome to the Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us once again!

Submergible Bosses

Did you know that if equipped with the correct engine attachment ANY BOSS CAN GO UNDERWATER!?! This is true!

With the right ‘digging’ engine attached a boss will dive into the nearest street or body of water and continue their assault from the safety of cover. Check out this guy taking a dive into the seas.

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Once a boss is underneath you have a couple choices. One is you can wait him out. He will re-emerge at some point. The other option is to attack the periscope and force him back out into the open where you can wail on him with your best weapons.

So here you are attacking with your lightning gun while he is underwater. That’s right – get him outta there!

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You gotta watch out since the boss can fight back. He has the ability to channel his secondary attacks through the periscope! Check out that flame action!

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Do enough damage and you get him back out like so.

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Where you can shoot him proper in the face! BOOM! Like that bossy? Yeah, thought so! That’ll teach yah to hide underwater!

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You see? We give you the options YOU need to take on the bosses in all their forms and look stylish doing it. At every turn we look to remove the limits to your fun by giving you options to choose the methods of attack you want.

Without getting too highbrow we like to think we give you a nice little puzzle when you confront a boss. Sure, there may be an aspect of randomness to the Make a Boss but we are countering that with YOUR ABILITY to analyze and adjust to his patterns on the fly. You aren’t entirely at the whim of fate. You make YOUR OWN FATE!

And also, as you already know – you must LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Did you see that coming?!? I thought so!

Boss 101 Screenshot

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You like arcade games? Boss 101 has them! Relax and play one in-between rounds. Here's Tank War!

OK – take care and more to come. Polish and bugs are still happening and we made great progress this week!

Thank you again for all the letters, comments and messages! We appreciate your support tremendously.

Take care till next time!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.22 Submergible Bosses

Post by BulletMagnet »

Sounds good - just off the top of my head, it might be neat to include some sort of bonus for successfully forcing the boss out of hiding, or at least for doing so quickly, just so that when a boss retreats it's not a matter of "bah, now it'll be awhile before I can actually do any damage/make any progress in this fight", but rather "okay, time to make the most of the opportunity before getting back to business".
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.22 Submergible Bosses

Post by Donley_Time »

BulletMagnet wrote:Sounds good - just off the top of my head, it might be neat to include some sort of bonus for successfully forcing the boss out of hiding, or at least for doing so quickly, just so that when a boss retreats it's not a matter of "bah, now it'll be awhile before I can actually do any damage/make any progress in this fight", but rather "okay, time to make the most of the opportunity before getting back to business".
HA! Cool idea. Thanks for checking out the latest too! Appreciate the support!

-Tim
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.04.29 KeyBoard Mapping

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome to the Boss 101 Development update and thank you so much for joining us again!

Today we are talking about OPTIONS, specifically....

Keyboard Control

Hey look, we realize that Boss 101 will be released on Steam FIRST and that means there might be a few of you who might like to play the game on a keyboard. Well, guess what. YOU CAN!

Sure, we PERSONALLY feel you will get maximum enjoyment playing Boss 101 with a controller but to each his own. To this end we have setup Boss 101 to allow keyboard mapping controls as well as changing the various UI screens to reflect your configuration. What does this mean? Let’s see!

So we have the initial options screen to adjust your controls to your preference.
Spoiler
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Of course you have the ability to reset to defaults if you want.

You’ll notice the keys will change if you touch the keyboard and go back to the controller that is plugged in.

Start Screen Controls

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Hat Store Controls

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Awards Room Controls

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In this room and a few others we do little graphic changes to the menu to help things fit better.

Equip panel in the Make a Boss

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You see how much we like you? We are making this game for you too! The deal is we are hoping to give you as many options as reasonable and possible.

Screenshot of the Day

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Little pet buddies. Whales, kitties, birds, a unicorn and more! Look at this collection of friends and this isn't even half of them!

OK – talk with you soon and remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun May 07, 2017 7:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.07 Robo Council Again!

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Welcome back to the weekly Boss 101 Update and thank you for joining us!

Boss Tuning and all around fun. Check out the latest haps as we work on bringing you our best.

How much longer you ask?

Well, we don’t have a pin on the calendar but we can tell you this. There are no major or minor systems being added and most of last week was testing. Of course along with the testing comes lots of little bugs that need to be fixed.

When we mention bugs these can be anything from things that crash the game to behavior which breaks the game. Maybe a bullet doesn’t register as a hit on a boss, maybe a player gun doesn’t fire or not enough money is rewarded on a kill. Things like that.

One thing we leave in where we find it is the fun. Sometimes it’s planned and sometimes it comes about organically as we're making the game. Check out this shot of the melee crow bar slapping minions. We put this death in early as a regular death for minions. It didn’t have all the bouncing it does now but it looked fun. As we were tuning the melee weapons this week we moved this particular death to this weapon class. Kinda worked out and looks hilarious. It’s fun, leave it in!

We’re still twizzling the effects a little but you get the idea.
Spoiler
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Pirate Boss Tuning

Just working on the gun patterns to make his attacks interesting and fun for you. Always striving for a challenge balanced with excitement!

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Watch it when he rises!

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He’s got a long range freeze sword too! If that hits you are frozen in place for a moment and at the mercy of the boss. We did allow you to wiggle the controls to get out quicker though – we have you covered!

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Robo Council Commentary on Your Death

When you die the Robo Council will weigh in on your performance. They’re a tough crowd to say the least.

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OK – more to come and keep checking back. WE’RE GETTING THERE!

Thank you and always remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.13 Weapon VFX and more

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome back to the latest Boss 101 update!

Today we are talking about some of the weapon effects in the game as well as what makes a great game! Or, as I like the phrase it WHAT MAKES A GAME GREAT!

What makes a game GREAT!

I’d like to put something out there for all the friends and fans reading this. You really can be the person you want and live the life you want to live. You really can FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. You might be saying “Oh Tim, that’s easy for you! You just gas around drawing sneakers on robot T-Rexes for a living.” Well it wasn’t always that way!

I have come to believe a great game is really made by great teams. Great teams are about inspiration, trust and most of all respect. I consider myself very fortunate to be working with two people – Manon and Joshua – who inspire me regularly to bring my A+++ game to the table.

When Boss 101 is released I believe in my heart it will be a great game. That’s not a brag or a boast. I say this because what you are seeing in Boss 101 is our best efforts and we are proud to stand behind the game. Will you PERSONALLY like it? We hope so. We would love you to purchase Boss 101 and feel you got a fantastic game at a great price. That is the hope! To that end we are working EVERY SINGLE DAY UNTIL RELEASE (and beyond) to make sure you get our best!

Weapon Effects

You know we're looking to give you the sweetest guns we can in Boss 101. We created what we HOPE is a great variety of cool guns to battle your way through the robo hordes. When we started most of the guns were based off standard types you see in many games – pistols, shotguns, bazooka, melee and even bows! Later we rolled in high tech ones such as Lasers and Multi-shots. Lastly we dropped in throwbacks to the Boss 101 web game – namely the ULTRA GUN!

Before we look at the VFX guns can have, let's quickly overview their use in game. To start with they all have inherent abilities like speed and power as well as unique attributes such as limited tracking (lightning guns) or giant areas of impact (flame thrower). From there bosses can be weak or strong against them. What this means is a boss might take MORE damage from a flame thrower and LESS damage from a shotgun. That is all explained in the game. At the start of each round you are given a chance to inspect the boss as well as YOUR EQUIPMENT so you can make the best choice to winning the battle.

But enough about that, let’s check out boom-booms! We set up a test room for the guns to help us sort out damage and twizzle the special effects till we got something special.

First up a high level pistol – nothing wrong with it and a SOLID gun. Hits hard and can do some damage on a single target.
Spoiler
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The shotgun – a nice spread and a good punch. Little slower on the firing but overall a goodie!

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Laser – here's a mid-level version doing work!

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Multi-shot – a CLASSIC – lots of bullets, fast but each shot hits light. Them's the breaks with a gun like this.

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Throwing knives! Come on! – these are just cool. Some bosses are weak against them too!

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Wrenches – ok these have limited range but the high level pipe wrench hits in a 360 arc – BOOM!!!

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For today we’ll wrap up the gun preview on the good ole ULTRA GUN. This is a holdover from the web game and one of the most powerful guns in the game hands down. Of course – we ain’t gonna just HAND THIS to you. You will have to earn it! But yah – pretty powerful!

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The Gamemaker Podcast – Boss 101 Interview

In case you missed the announcement earlier this week. Check out this snazzy interview posted up at the Gamemaker Podcast. Learn about Boss 101 and hear my (Tim’s) actual voice!

Link here: Gamemaker Podcast Episode 4 - Boss 101

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OK – thanks for checking in and remember to always – live your dreams!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.20 Super Warp Gates!

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and WELCOME back to the latest Boss 101 update for friends and fans. Thank you so much for joining us again.

WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Let’s get down into it!

So, we are basically down to little knick knacks to round things out. I recently wrote up a summary of where we are with the game. It was written to establish exactly the mindset we are using to wrap up Boss 101 and bring you our best. I’ll put a few parts of that below so YOU TOO can share some behind the scenes action.

What’s Left in Boss 101 Update

The actual amount of work is easily explained. It’s only polish. HAAAAAAAAA!!

That can mean a lot of things but mostly we are talking about taking all the systems we already have in and features we’ve already done and making sure it all works together as bug free as possible. That is really about it.

This means crash bugs obviously but it also means things I call ‘connective tissue’ between systems. This is stuff that is not TECHINCALLY a bug but SHOULD be in the game since it helps link two systems together. This can mean a UI addition, a new VFX or sound to help the player understand something. It can mean a lot of things and none of them are actually hard to do or take much time. The more we do the better off we are. The balance is stopping when it’s feature creep yet still recognizing when things are needed.

While we are avoiding feature creep things have been added. The defining choice for any add to the game at this point is “Does it help make the game experience that is ALREADY IN better?” examples - Does this UI help explain to the player a system we already have? Does this change to the guns make the combat system more versatile for all players? Etc.

The big things ahead are playthroughs and soak tests to clear out any possible day one grade A bugs. These are those things which would pop up in a typical player playthrough. This is stuff like testing guns, effects, rewards and in game progression. Kinda tedious if the truth be told but it has to be done.

Simply put….

The amount of time remaining is sufficiently small we are focused on shipping a high quality project. That will do more for us, for our fans purchasing Boss 101 and our future than ‘hitting a date’. Our aim is to hit a high quality bar and ideally the rest will take care of itself.

LOVE YOU!

Ok – today’s inside look at the SUPER BOSS WARP GATE!
Spoiler
This is a little gem from when you are taking on big bad bosses near the end. Here’s the process of taking an existing art asset and re-purposing it for another use. In this case we grabbed a regular warp gate and made it SUPER!

Here’s a regular warp gate in a level – this is the player’s version
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We took that one and added some note about what needed to change to make is deluxe
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Here is the sample of the regular one setup for animation
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And the NEW super boss warp gate getting prepped in Photoshop
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Now here is the super gate prepped for animation
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And finally – just a SAMPLE of the super gate in the game- you can see the massive scale! Don’t worry, you’ll see even more of it in later levels!
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Boss 101 Screenshot

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Lightning gun testing and tuning - FIZ-ZAP!

All right – THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH. Please remember to always ….

…. LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.20 Super Warp Gates!

Post by Fat Pug Studio »

Your devlogs are always inspirational :)
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.20 Super Warp Gates!

Post by Donley_Time »

Fat Pug Studio wrote:Your devlogs are always inspirational :)
HA! Thanks so much.

It's great to hear you say that since the hope with the devlogs is to perhaps inspire you or others to give something like this a try. Maybe you have some other things you would like to do in games or elsewhere? Whatever the case - the hope from us to you is you GO DO THAT THING WHICH CALLS TO YOU!

Give it a go and I promise you will never regret it!

Best,

-Tim
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.05.27 Big Boss Bombs

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome back to the latest Boss 101 update! Hope you are doing excellently today!

Wanted to peel back the curtain again for those interested in how we make our magic behind the scenes.

Gun Store Extra Info

So check this out. We have our gun store and there is an option to see some extra helpful info about each of the guns you are preparing to buy. By hitting a button you can pop up a small panel showing you the ammo loadout and extra stats about any gun.

We were talking about the gun store (and all the stores) recently. Now that we are near the end of the development of Boss 101 you can imagine it’s easy to look back and see all the amazing things we could, should or MIGHT have done. Specifically the stores in Boss 101. As they stand they are the product of a lot of testing, updating and rejiggering to give you the player the best information. The process was pretty organic (like most of the game’s development) and the end result certainly has the feel we wanted.

In fact, one nice thing about the Command Center design aesthetic was the choice to make it a repurposed, built up place. The guys are using alien tech and creating things as they go. A lot of the machinery and layout are the result of ‘as needed’ design choices.  

Let’s get on with the images!

You can bring up a panel for extra info (shown for the bows here)
Spoiler
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You can cycle through similar weapons

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On a slightly different note – we have a special shop for purchasing secret equipment. Once you buy said equipment it gets sent back to the main stores for you to use.

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Boss Battles and more!

Next week we will be looking at some of the ways you can battle a boss. Check out this short preview of a boss boom bomb! BOSS BOOM BOMB! You heard it here first!

Teleporting in the BBB!
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Idle for the BBB
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Boss 101 Screenshot of the Day

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Don't worry if you lose a round in the Endless Boss, we have an ambulance to take you home to rest.

Awesome Boss 101 Fan Art

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Check this out! Our old pal Alyssa Wright did some awesome Boss 101 art! She's so freaking good!

There's more of her work on her Instagram: instagram.com/alyj_art
All right – hope you enjoyed the latest look and we will talk with you soon.

Remember to always LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.06.03 June Development Up

Post by Donley_Time »

Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 Weekly Update! Thank you for joining us here again.

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Development Update – Let’s talk about Progress!

First off we have the THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT DURING BOSS 101's development. It's been a long road and we are heading towards the finish line. We could not have made it without your encouragement! Thank you!

“So, when will Boss 101 be done? You said you were aiming for Early 2017 and it’s Summer now!”

That’s a legitimate question and the answer now is the same it's always been. The ONLY reason for any delays in release is simply us polishing and bug fixing. At this point we are close to final. The last 4 months have been a LOT of quality of life fixes for YOU THE PLAYER! If you add in the general big fixing then it’s not too hard to imagine where the time has gone.

I know we spoke about this before but a refresher on Boss 101 might be in order. Let’s review what exactly is happening in our day to day.

Behind the Scenes
We work pretty much all day, every day on Boss 101. This is mostly about playing, testing and looking for ways to make the game a clean and fun experience for you. For now that means playthroughs to see if we are hitting the goals of a fun, cohesive experience. We are not looking to have an endless development cycle but at the same time ‘hitting a date’ doesn’t get us much if the game has bugs or obvious usability issues (bad interface, crashes, etc).

Money and Funding
We are ENTIRELY self-funded and working off our OWN DIME. We have taken no one else’s money, we are beholden to no publisher at this point nor did we do a Kickstarter. The idea was to make sure we could create a game for you on the terms we felt best about. This would allow a level of organic development. Aspects of the game could be discovered and worked on as we found them.

The general idea someone can sit in a room and write up a 300 page design doc covering all aspects of a game before development starts is pretty outlandish if you think about it. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try but the meat of development is, well, during development. Ideas come into play as you insert new mechanics. Things that didn’t seem like they would be much fun become VERY fun and things you were sure would be amazing are, perhaps, less than stellar.

The point here is we can take advantage of all the ebb and flow of a natural game development cycle. All this means Boss 101 is really its own game and has its look and feel. Whether you like that or not is another question BUT we can assure you this is something we are working with all our might to make SUPER ENTERTAINING AND FUN FOR YOU!

The Team
We have three people. That’s not an excuse but a fact. We are dedicated to Boss 101 and pore over the game daily but that’s the size we have. Would a bigger team get things done faster? Perhaps. Would they be better? That's debatable.

I've worked on and managed teams close to 300 people in size. That is a ton of people and many moving parts. You can imagine it is like herding cats to keep the team on the same track. We don’t have that issue on Boss 101. We’re on the same page, working towards the same goal at all times. Again – the proof will be in the release but this is something we feel you will directly benefit from.

Release Date News
So, we are still in the 2017 release window and if truth be told we expect you to have the game in your hands in months, not years.

No one, please hear me NO ONE READING THIS wants the game to ship more than us. We aren’t holding onto Boss 101 like some overprotective parent. We’re gamers and we know what we demand in a game. When Boss 101 hits the quality bar we demand and has the fun we want it will ship!

Check out our three years of updates nearly anywhere we post regularly. You can see we work all the time and ideally it shows the progress and love we are putting into Boss 101 FOR YOU!

Let’s get over to some weekly touchups and developments shall we?

Boss Bombs
Spoiler
We spoke about this a little last week but we the bosses have the ability to catch sneaky players who hang around near the bottom of the screen. They teleport in a giant weight and drop it on them. You can’t hide down there buster!

On the land
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One the sea
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Even with a train!
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A look at some of the guns for sale. Check out this handy dandy blasters!

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Ok – that’s all for this week and thank you for all the support. Yes, will have Boss 101 in your hands as soon as POSSIBLE!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.06.10 Mini Quest Achievem

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 weekly update!

We have something to talk about we all love! ACHIEVEMENTS! You love to get them and we love to give you achievements for YOUR HARD WORK IN BOSS 101!

You know your pals here working on Boss 101 made sure you have cool Steam Achievements (which will translate to console achievements when the time comes). Did you also know we have in game quests which have their own achievements and rewards? Some of these dovetail with the main game achievements but some are simple as collecting a new pet. You know what? We want to celebrate EVEN THOSE!

Mini Quests and Achievements
We created these little popup to tell you about adopting a new pet in the Command Center or maybe winning a new hat. Let’s look at the basics here.

We setup a structure with the achievement plate and allowed for text identifying the achievement name and reward name.
Spoiler
Starting with the plate setup and animation in Spine:
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Here’s a sample of a few layouts:
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We setup these to show up in the bottom left corner and stack if needed. Some examples:

Command Center – Get a Pet:
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Stacking example:
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When you are in something like the Upgrade room and complete a row of upgrades you can also get a special reward.

Complete Damage Upgrade:
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Complete Health Upgrade:
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Closeup of achievement:
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The deal is we wanted to have some fun with the reward system and instead of just dropping a little “NEW” icon on the menu we went a little further and put some oomph into the presentation. For us, it's work like this which helps bring you a really fun experience and ideally enjoy the game a lot more.

It’s all part of bring you the best we can!

[size=14pt]BOSS 101 Video Peek by RobJ[/size]

Rob J Nova did a video peek at Boss 101 earlier this week. We really think he did a great job catching the spirit of the game and the feel we were aiming for. Check it out here:

Boss 101 Video Peak
Link here:  >>> Click Here <<<
OK – that’s all for this week and remember to live your dreams!

Talk with you soon!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.06.17 Hat Store Sorting

Post by Donley_Time »

Hello and welcome to the latest Boss 101 update

Work continues towards the final release. This week we look into quality of life interface improvements for the hat store. This is a great example of the little things we look to help YOU with when it comes to playing and enjoying Boss 101.
Spoiler
Sort label for top of store
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The Hat Store

As you might have guessed – we have hats in Boss 101. A lot of them. A little over 250 hats and counting. For you that means we have hats for sale, hats you can earn via a quest, hats you own - and on and on. There are a few things to note here, the most important to us being you quickly getting the information you want when you’re in the hat store. Here’s what we see happening and what we are doing.

A Store

Yep, this place sells hats. So you needs to see prices, abilities and any relevant shopping information when you are making your buying decision. This is what the place started as and it evolved from there.

Hats for Sale Sort
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A Dressing Room

The hat store is one of the places you can equip your character in hats they own. This is a function closely tied to the purchasing of the hats. We made a decision earlier in development to allow the player both a Costume and an Ability hat for maximum fun.
- Costume Hat: what you character outwardly looks like
- Ability Hat: What abilities from which hat do you want to use. This allows you to LOOK like you want and have the POWERS you want without tying you down to one or the other.

Sort by owned hats
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A Quest Room

Some of the hats are only available after completing some missions or tasks. We use the hat store to show you the known requirements and, where possible, we show you the progress you are making

Sort by Quest hat
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Sorting and quick jumping around

That is a LOT of stuff going on and we KNOW it. We added a couple quick ways in the hat room to sort the categories YOU want to see as well as jump quickly through the hat collection.

Various Sorting Options in the Store
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Jumping through the hats quickly
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In conclusion

As you can see, these are the little things we are working on to make the game as fun as we can make it. Do we need to do every little thing like sorting hats into groups or allowing quick movement through your hat collection? Technically no but we thing it MAKES YOUR GAME BETTER!

And that’s what it’s all about right?

Boss 101 Screenshot  

Hope you are enjoying your day!

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OK Talk with you soon and REMEMBER TO LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sun Jul 02, 2017 3:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.06.25 Upgrade Stickers

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and thank you so much for joining us for another Boss 101 update! We hope you’re doing excellently.

As you know –bugs and polish continue. This week we have a question from a fan and process ideations to share so let’s get cracking!

Upgrade Room Process

So the upgrade room has all these sweet little stickers to show various upgrade levels. They help with indicating what you are buying by giving a sense of purpose. We’re going to peel back the curtain right now and show you why things are the way they are and how we got here.

Let’s start with the basic stuff. Here’s a bounty sticker and how it’s assembled from various parts. As you  might guess these parts are for interchangeability. We shuffle them around for different upgrades and we get to keep that jazzy layout. SAVES TIME TOO!
Spoiler
Basic setup for bounty
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Here’s the various levels of the Bounty upgrade
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When you are in the Make a Boss the color of the money is determined by your bounty level. (and corresponds to the dollar sign icon color)

Legendary upgrade – see how it colors the money display golden!
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Examples of the shield patterns for the various upgrades
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Once ONE upgrade is in place it’s a relatively painless procedure to start laying out the other upgrades. . .

Machine gun
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Machine gun with levels
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Other upgrade background samples
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You see how we are? Making things as pretty as possible and fun as we can!

Here’s the whole bloody thing in action! You even get an achievement for completing the bounty upgrade.
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You like that one? We hope so!

How’s the game going? GLAD YOU ASKED!

We get this question a lot because people care and we know you do too! You know you can always head to the Steam forums to speak with us directly. We try to get around to each and every question!

We had a fan ask us (for all the right reasons) about shipping the game NOW and maybe adding in little features after to round things out. Now I would NOT assume this person was asking to rush or crap out the game. I think the intent was to ask about perhaps holding out on some non-essential tidbit or something and just hitting the fun basics. Well, the deal here is Boss 101 has GOT to be our best. You deserve no less and most importantly we need to be true to OURSELVES and BRING YOU OUR BEST.

I gave a long answer to their question in the Steam Forums but I wanted to reiterate one of the general points. It was about something like a quicker release schedule and working in some neat things AFTER we ship.

What about Early Access or major updates to complete unfinished features with patches, etc
Generally speaking the above solutions are basically making you buy an unfinished product. That is not our goal. We haven’t ever had nor currently have plans to do any of those. We want you to have a finished game at $9.99. That might seem a little lofty but how many games have you seen lately which seem to have been rushed to hit a release date? I can think of a few. I can also think of a few games that while they seem bug free also seem feature light. We want YOU to LOVE Boss 101. Ideally, we want you to think “I got a FRICKING AWESOME DEAL and this game is FUN!”

While we know we have a savvy fan base following our development we can’t say everyone would be understanding of an early or unfinished release. You can check YouTube or Steam reviews for many examples of devs getting pummeled by effectively shoveling a game out early. People don’t like that. We don’t like that. We’re looking to avoid it.

Does that mean Boss 101 will be a flawless masterpiece? Hmmm, maybe not but let’s let time be that judge. What we CAN tell you is Boss 101 will be the best game we can possibly deliver given our time, money and resources. We want the BEST for you.

Come on people – we’re doing this not just for you but for us too. When you plunk down your $9.99 we want to knock you OVER with the fun of Boss 101.

Boss 101 Screenshot

Rose Chevalier visiting the Command Center bringing a present for you!

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Remember friends - be yourself, BELIEVE in yourself and live your dreams!

Best,

-Tim
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sat Jul 15, 2017 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.07.01 Arcade Games Roundu

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome back to the Boss 101 weekly update! Glad you are here and hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Wanted to take a detour to review a few of the COOL THINGS we are putting the game for you. We’re still working on the polish and cleanup and in the meanwhile there’s an opportunity to check on some of the little touches you will get in your Boss 101 experience.

The Arcade Room

So, we have Boss 101 but did you know we also have a full featured arcade cabinet with some sweet games you can play on? You did? Well did you know those can be played for rewards, in-game achievements and a ranking on the Steam leaderboards? YOU SEE HOW WE ARE!?!

You got that right folks – we have an arcade cabinet with three games you can play to pass the time and maybe get some bragging rights among your friends. Let’s go over what you can expect then shall we?

The main arcade room entrance from the Command Center
Spoiler
Just go to the arcade machine in the Command Center and you can access the arcade games directly!

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From there you can select a game (don’t forget to read the instructions)
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So we have three games from there. Let’s look a moment at each of them and what they are about.

First up – Tank War

Bring your twin stick aiming skills into TANK WAR – you have one life and unlimited time. Blast as many enemy tanks as you can before they get you!

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Second – Break Down

This may or may not seem like a game you know but I assure you – YOU MAY BE RIGHT! We added a couple Boss 101 touches, cute-d the thing up and added CRAZY powerups to keep things moving! Bounce the ball, break bricks and advance!

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Third and certainly not last – Mazard

Battle the evil maze wizard and his minions in the maze of death. Look out because some of the enemies are invisible. You gotta use your radar to find them. One life and that’s it! How far can you go!!?!?

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Boss 101 Screenshot

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Look out for Kitty Bad Breath!

OK – more to come next week. We’re getting there folks – most of this week was general bug fixing, some sound editing and cleanup. We’ve also been testing out the game via Steam with builds uploaded and tested to prep for the final release. Lots of little things, all important and happening for you!

We’re working hard for you people! LOVE ALL OF YOU!

Talk with you soon and remember to LIVE – YOUR – DREAMS!!!!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
Last edited by Donley_Time on Sat Jul 15, 2017 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.07.08 Lore and History, p

Post by Donley_Time »

***ALERT! Images in thread except for the latest post has been put inside spoiler tags for faster loading. Remember to uncheck them when you read!***
Hello and welcome to the Boss 101 weekly update!

Polish, cleanup and bug fixing continue! We’re three people working as hard as we can FOR YOU! Boss 101 is heading your way as fast as we can make it. Some good news is we are getting ready for a friends and family release for further gameplay testing! YAY!

Thank you for joining us THIS WEEK to talk about the LORE and backstory for Boss 101.
Spoiler
Tanya wants to know if you are ready for some battles in Boss 101

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Let’s get rolling with some of the basic history of the Boss 101 universe. This is a place of high technology and sentient robotics. As you might imagine from the title of the game – the boss robots are in charge of a large part of the known universe. Earth is part of their federation. Thing is – Earth is sorta viewed as a rural area of the universe. Not a whole lot of technology and it’s really not much of a threat to the ruling robots.

When the game gets rolling you are introduced to Max (from Earth) and Steve (formerly of the Robo Alliance). From here on out you learn about the Robo Alliance, the bosses, the Earth and what exactly is happening to free Earth from the Robo Federation. Now, we realize there may be a few of you who don’t really care for a huge backstory and Boss 101 will allow (where possible) you to zip ahead in dialogs or skip things if you just want to play. As much as possible we designed the game to allow a basic level of fun without the need to know everything going on in the story.

Stickers!


Did you know you bring stickers and toys back from each round to give to Rob? Well you do and he loves them. Here are a few being handed to Rob after hard earned battles!

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Visitors in the Command Center

So you win a battle and end the round. Occasionally you get a notice a new visitor arrived in the Command Center. This normally means you get a few things. One you get to make a new buddy. Two most all visitors bring you a pet! Yay! Last, you will receive a little bit of info about what’s going on in the universe by checking out the info they bring with them.

Passports and The Professor’s Wiki

These are a few of the ways we are adding in details about what is going on with Boss 101. You can always check on the Professor’s Wiki and read the latest entry. He gets updates every time a new person, pet or event happens so it’s worth your while to give it a look at least every now and then.

The Passports – all the visitors in the Command Center will be carrying their galactic passports. These are the main way beings travel about the Robo Federation and use the system of jump gates. On these passports you can see where people are from as well as some character notes.

Mostly – we want you to play the game like YOU want to play it. We know there are a few of you who are excited about the whole Boss 101 universe and we will be giving you as much info as we can about it. Boss 101 (the game) is ideally just the first in the series and with YOUR KIND SUPPORT we want to continue building on this start to bring you more.

Check out some of the images below to see what we have been talking about!

Trigger Newman notification at the end of a game round

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Trigger in the Command Center

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Trigger’s Wiki with pet he brought for adoption

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Trigger’s pet friend on Pet Hill

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Screenshot of the day - A boss dying with style!

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Boss 101 Screenshot

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Win a round and set off fireworks to celebrate!?! Yes you can in Boss 101! Hope you are having an AWESOME day!

Thank you for stopping by and more to come. We’re DOING IT! We’re getting Boss 101 done so you can play it! Thank you for your support and hanging in there!

As always – LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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Posts: 186
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:20 am
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Re: Boss 101 [In Development] 2017.07.15 Lore and History, p

Post by Donley_Time »

Hello and welcome back to the Boss 101 Weekly Update!

Quick update about the release and progress towards it!

This week was mostly bug fixes and a lot of sound system polish. There’s a long story in there but the summary is – we found a way to improve the sound and music in the game and implemented it. The end result for you should be a better aural experience.

Beyond that we continue with polish and testing. We are also beginning to do limited testing with close friends and fans to help identify and clean out bugs.

Overall progress is good and we are jamming along 24/7 on bringing you Boss 101!

Lore and world building continue

So when we were putting together the characters for Boss 101 we wanted to add little personality traits and identifiers for each of the people you will meet. Part of that implementation is the passport system and the Gopher Wiki system. These are mostly for people who might be interested in the background and history of things in the game.

A key point for us in doing this is to make even the READING of the stuff fun for you. This means an interesting presentation of the info and as much as possible making the information itself fun and meaningful to read.

Enter the Boss 101 Galactic Horoscopes!

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Ok – we thought it might be nice to do something along the lines of a horoscope or a ‘blood type’ guide. Way back in the day I remember reading things like the Street Fighter II manual and seeing Guile had Type O blood or Ken had Type B. Now to me, as a kid, this didn’t mean anything since I wasn’t familiar with blood types as they relate to personalities. HOWEVER, I did think it was super cool they included this. Basically, even not getting the whole picture gave me the sense there was a lot going on with these characters I didn’t know.

So here we are with Boss 101. Well, we added a horoscope of our own and gave each of the characters you meet a personality type. Now, we have this entire behind the scenes system of why each person is classified the way they are, it has to do with age, personality and function in the game. Beyond that though we added this little icon to each of the passports as some sort of galactic guide.

Of course we like to think that each character is much more than just a horoscope rating but we do think it’s fun to have these little touches in the game. Heck we use them ourselves and it does help with the writing and conceptualization of the character.

Also – look how dope those little icons are! SO CHARMING!

Check out the images!

Visitors with passports
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Even your gopher friends have passports and horoscope traits!
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Boss 101 Screenshots and Fun People!

Jim Mother 'Effin Sterling

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Check Jim out here: http://www.thejimquisition.com/


James and Nick from The Weekly Planet

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Check them out here: http://weeklyplanetpod.libsyn.com/

Alyssa Wright - Amazing Artist!

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See Alyssa's art here: https://www.instagram.com/alyj_art/

OK – that will close it out for this week. Thank you again for your support, comments and messages. We appreciate it and are doing our best for YOU!

Remember to always – LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

Best,

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: 2017
Planned Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!
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