2017.05.07 Boss 101, The Robo Council!

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.

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!

Watch it when he rises!

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!

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.

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!

2017.04.29 Boss 101 Options and KeyBoard Mapping

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.

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

Hat Store Controls

Awards Room Controls

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

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.

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!

2017.04.22 Boss 101 Submergible Bosses

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.

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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!

2017.04.15 Boss 101 Train Boss and Game Progress

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.

Close up of the little icons – THOSE FACES!!!

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.

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

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.

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

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!