#meanderforth

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These three play in a band called "Hand Towel," though they're thinking of changing it to something more retro-chic.

Though their look is a little more clean-cut than T.A.T's, their music is a little darker. Funny how that works out.

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OutTake: Jump Up!!

Sometimes, gamedev isn't a walk in the park. Bugs, glitches, and outtakes happen.

Teak remembers his training, though. In the event that someone falls unconscious, don't forget to jump 10 feet in the air and just... stay there! /s

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Snail Beatz

Say what you will about the giant enemy snail, but you can't deny that he's spitting some mad beats.

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These three may appear to be common punks, but that's only because they are.

Still, they're not so bad once you get to know them. They play in a band called "T.A.T." The A stands for "Ass."

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Custom FPS!

@godotengine's new version (4.3) is wonderful. I can now change the game's framerate without jittering or artifacts!

If you have a display with a non-standard refresh rate, you can change the FPS on the fly in the options menu.

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Accessibility: Enable/Disable Particles

Meander Forth's settings menu allows you to toggle various effects, such as particles and weather.

This is meant to make the game a little more welcoming to those with photosensitivity, or even just those who don't care for the effects.

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Dach?

Who is this weirdo? He seems so familiar, but he doesn't want to take that dragon mask off...

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🎵Do you remember, the 21st night...🎵

It seems the lads made it to the campsite before summer got over. I hope they have fun!

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The snails have been so rambunctious, lately. What's going on with them?

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Good news! Meander Land has finally been released on Itch.io!

This game is a remaster of one of my older games to celebrate its 10th (now 11th) anniversary! It has a game boy aesthetic.

The 2024 version features an all-new original soundtrack, as well as retro 4-shade color palettes (thanks, Jess!)

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Hey, folks! 

In the last update, I detailed the techniques used to port the levels from the old GameMaker version of Meander Forth to the Godot engine.

I had hoped to have a playable build of the game ready for patrons by the time this post rolled around, but it's not quite ready yet. There are still some finishing touches and known issues I need to work out. I can safely say it will be available soon, however!

In the meantime, here are some updates regarding the game:

Outskirts Progress:

First and foremost, I've made some more headway on the outskirts stage, populating it with NPC's and story events!

As the opening stage of the game, the Outskirts area serves as an introduction to the game's mechanics, world, story, and characters.

It opens with a scene of three friends (Isaak the human, Scotty the fox, and Garret the otter) getting reacquainted after some time apart.

As the stage progresses, Garret bumps into a variety of quirky characters, such as his sister Emerald and his brother Parlo, who seem elated that Garret is finally out-and-about.

If you've played the Teak's Tall Tale demo, you may recognize some familiar faces! Meander Forth picks up right where that one left off.

It seems Garret's friends are worried about something, however. It must be important, if they have their own cutscene areas!

Not everyone has some long-winded diatribe, of course. Some just spout what's on their mind. And that's okay.

Admittedly, this stage has a lot of dialog. In fact, it probably has the most out of any stage in the game! Despite the blocky aesthetic, my goal is to create a world that feels "alive." I want players to really get a sense of what this world means to Garret... and what it means for it to be stolen away from him.

Godot 4.3

Since the last update, I have upgraded the game's engine from Godot 4.2 to Godot 4.3.  The previous version had a lot of issues regarding pixel art positioning and scaling, causing art on the screen to shimmer and jitter. 4.3 fixes this issue, giving the game a smoother feel.

A by-product of this update is that the framerate can now be uncapped without introducing ugly visual artifacts. An option to choose your desired framerate will be added to the settings menu for those with faster monitors.

School Stuff

As of the writing of this post, the Fall 2024 semester of my college has begun! Admittedly, I'm taking this semester off from school. I have completed all-but-two of the classes in my program, and neither of them will be available until Spring.

Thankfully, I have been allowed to continue my front-desk job at the school's tutoring center, so I will be able to support myself with that, and even work on some STEM-related projects such as this one in the downtime.

Admittedly, development may slow down a bit as I get adjusted, but rest assured the pace will pick back up when I get used to the new schedule.

Thank you for reading! I hope to see you in the next update. Hopefully I'll have something playable ready by then. After that, it'll be time to create the second part of this level: the Forest area. (Note: These areas will have better names in the final game, haha!)

Note: This is a cross-post from my p*treon blog. The original can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/3-sept-2024-111383422

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I've put this off long enough! The upgrades you get and the places you find them have been decided on for months, now, but I haven't implemented the actual system for finding them.

Now, you can open this fancy box for new abilities/upgrades!

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23 Sept 24 Patreon Update

New Patreon Devlog about the first boss and some of the thought process behind it!

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...Guys?

...It seems the fun's over. Where is everyone?

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To make development easier on myself, I've created an area called the "Test Nexus." It contains a bunch of doors leading to every room in the game.

I wonder how many doors there will be when the game is done!

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It's good to have Scotty Nikola Jr. on your side, even if he does spend a lot of time lost in thought.

Sometimes I wonder what he's thinking about. He does tend to bring up Garret a whole lot...