2017.11.14 Boss 101 Playthroughs and more!

Boss 101 Playthroughs by our friends!

First up is DJ-TigerFox with a fine set of playthroughs, fun commentary and lots of good looks at the game.

Check them out here:

Twitterhttps://twitter.com/RetromationYT

Then we have Retromation, another set of AWESOME Boss 101 action packed playthroughs with great commentary!
Check them out here:

Twitterhttps://twitter.com/RetromationYT

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Out now on Steam!
Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please check out the Steam Store if you would be so kind!

2017.11.11 Boss 101, our first week and more for you!

What a week!

Boss 101 has been out a week and thank you for everyone who purchased and supported the game. If you haven’t yet got your copy then we have some really good news. Apparently Steam has more copies available for purchase – in fact we understand the amount of copies is near unlimited! That doesn’t mean you can’t rush right over there and get one now. Do it!

Thank you for your support!

We appreciate the letters, comments and reviews for Boss 101. We really are glad many of you are enjoying the game and we are looking forward to bringing you more!

So – what’s been going on SINCE the release?

Well, Boss 101 is still our number one priority and that is what we have been working on! Guess what? We’ve been doing bug fixes and even adding some features!

Difficulty Settings!

Check this out! We added the ability to change your difficulty in Boss 101. If you want you can go EASY to ULTRA now! From our build notes!

From the options panel

Three settings you can change on the fly!

Easy – this is what the game shipped as. All settings are the prior version of Boss 101. Personally speaking this is a good choice if you want to enjoy the story and have some easy fun. It can be challenging at times but more than likely you will have a few relatively easy to beat bosses early.

Normal – This setting has a few thing new. The normal story mode has an adjusted curve where the early bosses hit a little harder and have more hitpoints. The overall scaling ends up at the same point the old game does but the early game is more of a challenge. This mode does rely a lot more on picking a good hat to help you against a boss.

Also – the Endless Boss has a tweaked curve to make it a lot more fun and challenging. I HIGHLY recommended checking out the Arcade Mode. We’ve been testing it and it’s a blast. It only drops level 3 guns now BUT the bosses are much hard and subsequently much more fun.

Ultra – This is things cranked up a bit. The normal story mode is a bit harder than the Normal setting and bosses have more HP and hit harder. Also the scaling ends up way past the normal game. In other words – the level 20-31 bosses are on a new level of tough. Additionally all the status effects (freeze, webbed, etc) last a little longer. Again – hats will help counter these.

This mode also has Endless Boss tweaks and the bosses hit hard in here. Should be fun to use arcade and iron bot if you want to earn some cash for the main campaign.

So we listened folks! We want Boss 101 to be a fun game for you and if there is more we can reasonably do – we will. Mostly we wanted to preserve the game people were enjoying but add things for people who wanted a little (or a lot) more challenge.

Extra adds and fixes

We also did a lot of quality of life fixes. One of our later boss fights got some visual indicators to help players. We did tweaks and tunes to fights and power levels to make things a lot more fun.

Endless Boss

Check this out. We did a bit of reworking to the tuning in this area. Personally I think it’s a LOT more fun and probably closer to the original arcade experience we imagined when we made it! It’s actually tuned to be harder BUT we only give you the most powerful guns in the game now. More power for your blasting!

Some clips from me getting shellacked by a tough boss combo!

Boss 101 Playthroughs with ToborPrime

Two more videos in the series!

Part 5

Part 6

That’s all for now folks and thank you for being there for us! We’ve got more news and continued support of Boss 101 coming your way! Thank you and remember to always. . .

. . . LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Out now on Steam!
Price: $9.99
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please check out the Steam Store if you would be so kind!

2017.11.08 Boss 101 Fan Art by Joe Madureira!

Boss 101 JoeMad fan art!

Our old friend Joe Madureira did a spiffy rendition of Steve and Max in action! YEAH baby!

Link to High Res version: https://i.imgur.com/TJQF5qi.jpg

We’re out on Steam now! Thank you SO MUCH for your support!

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

2017.11.07 Boss 101 Bonus Update Coming!

Folks we have something we think you might be excited about. It’s coming soon and we wanted to give you an early heads up since it deals with the game’s difficulty.

New Game Plus/ Ultra Mode

Yep, we’re looking at putting in a feature that would allow you to crank of the difficulty of the game quite a bit. Right now we are calling it a ‘new game plus’ feature to be added at the end of a completed game but we are also considering making it open to you from the start. We’re love to hear your thoughts on when to make it available in game.

To be clear – this is a pretty straightforward mod. We are basically talking about making the bosses harder hitting and harder to damage. There are subtleties beyond that basic explanation but I think you get the idea.

We’ll keep you posted on this one as it’s ‘in-progress’ right now.

Endless Boss Mode

This is a fix independent of any New Game Plus Stuff
If you haven’t already you should check this mode out! We’re going to do a tune in here to crank up the difficulty of the Arcade and Iron Bot mode. The idea is to make it quite different feeling than the regular game in terms of challenge. A rough sense of what’s happening is we’re adjusting the balance curve to make Level 1 equal to closer to the current level 12 and ramp from there. Levels 1-10 are pretty breezy in Endless Boss at the moment and this would fix that.

Base Game Difficulty

This is a fix also independent of any New Game Plus Stuff
This one is relatively minor. The early part of the game will be ramped up. Levels up to 12 will see the most change with levels after that seeing a minor increase in difficulty.

New Arcade Game?

We may or may not be thinking of a new arcade game. No promises till all the above is done and in. haha

We need your help too!

Ok folks – you know we are serious. You know we are here for you. We appreciate every single person who has purchased the game. Now, we would like to know if you would help us. Like the game? Would you mind writing a short review saying so? How about recommending the Boss 101 experience to a friend? We’d love that too.

Really, any and all support is VERY much appreciated. You already did the heavy lifting with your purchase. We want to be around for Boss 102. A small group like ourselves lives and dies on the kindness of our community. We are indebted to you in many ways and thankful you care.

Feel free to comment on the above and talk with you soon… remember to always – LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please check out the Steam Store if you would be so kind!

2017.11.04 Boss 101 Released and Reviewed, pt1

Hello and welcome to the first week of Boss 101’s release!

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please check out the Steam Store if you would be so kind!

We wanted to thank you for all your support and take a moment to reflect on the moment. First though – let’s look at some videos and updates from around the web.

First off a quick blurb on the upcoming Release from Joel Couture of Silicon Era
http://www.siliconera.com/2017/11/02/shmup-boss-101-gives-players-hand-creating-bosses-fight/

SodaJunkie took a look at the game too!

Retromation did a look too! We hope he does more! 

Then we have what was one of the NICEST things to happen for us during launch. Our good friend Matt “ToborPrime” Fitzgerald did a live stream countdown to the game’s release. In it he played the game for a marathon right up till we hit the publish button. Check out a few of the videos below and see how AWESOME his voices for the various Boss 101 characters are!

Boss 101-a-thon, Part 1

Boss 101-a-thon, Part 2

Really hilarious stuff and we can’t thank him enough!

Very Thankful and Humbled

Now I (Tim) wanted to take a moment to share something with you today. I posted earlier on my Facebook page about this but it bears repeating here in this post. I am extremely proud and happy of the work Manon, Joshua and I did on Boss 101. The response from people has been great and I even got a message from a friend I hadn’t spoke with in over 30 years telling me he and his son were playing the game and having a blast. That was awesome and meant so much!

We still have work to do to get the word out but I think it’s time to take a moment to celebrate the achievement. Below is my post on the shipping of Boss 101 (with minor edits).

Please enjoy!

I wanted to drop an update about the latest and greatest news I have! Please forgive the public nature of this note but I had to share the moment with you. A few of you might know this already so consider it a refresher.

I embarked on a journey years ago to work at a pace I could control and on subjects I found personally interesting. Thankfully I was able to team up with two incredibly talented people and together we started on a game project.

Here we are three and a half years later. A lot of time for sure and it caps one of my most satisfying and fun experiences in games. Let’s be clear – I’ve had the privilege of working with many talented people over my career. I learned my craft from far smarter folk who saw fit to give me a break when I needed one. I wouldn’t be here or anywhere unless I stood on the shoulders of giants who took pity on me when I needed it most. From those people and my sainted parents, I stand before you now.

Still, I have to talk about the great fortune and amazing project I’ve been on over these last years. The game is called Boss 101 and I am telling you right this instant you CAN live your dreams. Anything is possible if you are willing to put in the effort. That’s not mumbo jumbo claptrap, that’s the TRUTH.

Boss 101 is a project of pure creation. Myself along with my friends Manon and Joshua managed to make something I personally never thought I’d see. A game without any apologies or compromise. The game we released is basically the game we wanted. That release was based on nothing except two questions we asked ourselves over and over. “Is it fun?” and “Is it done?”

That’s it. That got this game finished. When we started, the project was small and the scale was limited. The framework went up quickly and we started asking “Is this fun?” If the answer was no then we worked to add things to make it fun. Adding features we felt had value. From there we iterated and played the game. At every step the same question was asked “Is this fun?” This was coming out of our own time and effort. No publisher. No Kickstarter.

At one point the game pretty well hit all the story beats and we felt the value was there for anyone who would buy it. So, we released it.

And you know what? When I hit “Publish” on Steam this past Thursday I felt something strange. I felt no urge to apologize for the game. No sense of “Well, if we only had a few more months” or “You know, you should have seen the ideas we LEFT OUT! OH BOY you would not believe how awesome they were!” It was strange as we got past the first few hours of release and early buyers were playing and commenting on the game. Most all were getting the vibe and liking what they saw.

Really though, really, and I mean this – the game was already a huge success before I hit that publish button. It was a success because it proved something I long imagined possible. You can live your dreams. It’s doable. You can even do it with other people. Heck it’s BETTER when you journey with other people. Friends. Family. People you trust and can laugh with. Makes the whole shebang a lot easier.

In fact, you might learn something important about yourself while you’re on this journey. I pretty much guarantee it. I can’t tell you what that lesson is since it varies from person to person but I can tell you one thing. If you live your dreams, one day – at the end of your grand life, as you lay there thinking to yourself during your final moments on this magnificent planet – you won’t wonder “Well, if I only had a few more months” or “You should have seen the things I WANTED to do! OH BOY you would not believe how awesome they were!” No ma’am. No sir. You’re going to feel right cause you didn’t compromise.

Be true to yourself everyone. . . and live your dreams.

-Tim

All right – go out and get Boss 101 if you haven’t already! It’s on sale this WHOLE WEEK!

Thank you!!!

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please check out the Steam Store if you would be so kind!

2017.11.02 Boss 101 is out! YAY!!!!!

Boss 101 is OUT RIGHT NOW!

The day is HERE friends! Three and a half years of MAKING MAGIC can be yours for a mere $8.99 on Steam. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!?!

$8.99 – A bargain for you!

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!

Check out a bunch of NEW videos for your enjoyment and thank you so much for your support.

Check us out on Steam – We’ll be on the forums and hanging out there as much as we can. We want to make the release as smooth as we can!

Boss 101 Streams and Videos:

The Boss 101 Release Trailer – Start with this if you are new to Boss 101

Endyo on Twitch Playing Boss 101
https://go.twitch.tv/videos/186708706

Early look at Boss 101 release (Polish Language)

Interview with Tim from the Donley Time Foundation on Developing Boss 101

Thank you!

Thank you to our friends and fans over the last three and a half years. It’s been an amazing ride and we appreciate all your support. Thank you so, so much! We made Boss 101 for you and with your support we would love to CONTINUE making more games in the series!

Also – we will be back this weekend for a development update about how things are going! Check back then and in the meanwhile you can catch us on our Steam Store Page.

And as always – remember to LIVE YOUR DREAMS!

-Tim

Boss 101 Info Roundup
Release Date: November 2nd, 2017
Price: $9.99 $8.99 (Promo Price for ONE week at Launch)
Boss 101 Steam Store Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/380920
Please wishlist us if you would be so kind!