Hi there, before I dive into the new stuff, I have to talk a bit about Combo Devils.

I've been working on this game for years, so if you ever wonder where a lot of my time goes, it's here. We are a small team making an enormous game. We have been trying to secure funding for a while now, but it's been tough. The game industry has imploded recently, and the platform fighter scene is in a dire spot with the recent flops. Publishers and investors are being more risk averse than ever, and they simply don't believe in the genre right now. Still though we push on, we'll either convince the right people and get funded on the way, or eventually build the whole thing on our own. 

Besides combo devils, I've also been doing contract work on other games. I've been doing vfx work for The Puzzle Maker , which is a super chill puzzle game with beautiful pixel art. Give the demo a go! Go wishlist both these games!

Ok, recursor time! This update is largely about visual updates, it's been a big focus since the kickstarter. I feel like more than anything else, the visuals will be the hook of the game, the thing that will get peoples attention and make the game a commercial success. Obviously I want the game to be fun too, but it will stand out less in that regard (at least to non ssbm players).

So here are some cool space scenes!

So yeah, recursor takes place in space, it has been decided. These scenes are procedural so they will generate as you play through a run. I will likely have special authored ones for important moments too. These will always be visible in the corners of the screen, and through windows when I make implement those.

For the longest time, recursor has been a true pixel accurate game and as a mixel (when different pixel art resolutions are mixed) hater, I pride myself on that. But then I saw what a sub-pixel camera can do for a game, and it has shattered my perception. Since I am upscaling the game to fit a modern screen resolution, each game pixel becomes a bunch of actual screen pixels. A sub-pixel camera leverages those extra pixels to smooth out movement.

In the above video, I show the old camera, which is pixel to pixel, and then the new camera which is sub-pixel, the difference is insane. This is only 1440x810 too, and it will be even smoother at higher resolutions. This does technically put recursor in mixel territory because the HUD and the background obviously can't move around, so if the scene is shifted half a pixel to the right, the pixels will be misaligned with the HUD and background. You really gotta squint to even notice it, so I think it's totally fine and definitely worth it.

I've been taking strides to get a proper roguelike game loop going, and part of that is creating a sequence of rooms that ends in a kill room (a room with enemies to kill), and then doors leading to new sequences. A first I created an actual door that you walk through, it would fade to black and you'd appear in a new room, but it sucked and didn't really make any sense. Then I had the idea to link the sequences via wormhole technology.

It needs some sfx of course, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I wanted to do a more scientifically accurate wormhole, but seeing the destination before I've even generated it is too much hassle for what it's worth. Working at this resolution as well, it wouldn't retain much detail anyway. I tried to preserve the distorted space vibe and keep it short and punchy enough to not get annoying.

There is also fragments of a reward system there which is something I'm working on. I'm trying to figure out how to dispense them, as much as I want to make unique interactable machines for each type of reward, I might just have to keep it simple for now so it actually gets done.

There is new UI for the health bar. I know some people were fond of the old one, but don't worry I'll do cool big UI for certain moments. For general gameplay though, I had to keep it small and clear.

Lastly, a pretty drastic change is a new resolution. Everything is zoomed in now. Before I was working at 640x360 pixels, but I felt like it was losing it's pixel art aesthetic. SNES-era games are around 256x224 pixels, so I decided to go to 480x270 pixels. This better fit the standard of character to screen ratio I see in other similar games too. Fingers crossed this was the right call. Unfortunately it does mean I can't release a new build today, since all the menus are broken because of it. There isn't much new gameplay anyways, so I'll make sure to fix those up for the next update.

I've been quiet on socials with recursor even more so lately because I want to eventually do a proper marketing plan when I have enough of a game to show and when I have a better idea on a release window. Marketing too early can exhaust an audience by the time the game actually releases (if that's you, I am so sorry!!!). I am also considering a name change too. I've taken down the option to buy beta access now, since eventually there will be a public demo (most likely at a next fest), I want to give those that did purchase a good window of exclusive access before then.

Thank you for your patience :)

Wills