So, how is it going?

Hey! So, I started writing a reply to your post but it ended up getting very long, so I turned it into a full fledged blog post. I'm going to post the entire text here but if you want to see some new screen shots make sure you check out the blog here.

First off: I'm sorry I haven't been very good at keeping you updated with progress of the game. I'm really bad at that. But, I do have a plan to release some video blogs on the RobitStudios YouTube channel soon.

Second: So what's been going on? A lot, actually. The past couple months have been some of the most productive I've ever had. That's a direct result of me getting laid off from my day job (I have held a day job all throughout the creation of TAG and TAW). So, due to the fact that we've made a lot of progress on the game and that I need to find a way to bring in some income or look for another job (which would significantly slow down progress of TAW) we are going to be offering a pre-order for the game. We’re going to do something similar to that of Starbound with multiple pay-tiers with bonus goodies and a few stretch goals. We’ve determined that with even a modestly successful pre-order the entire team can continue working on the game full-time. That, of course, will significantly reduce the time to release.

As for the game itself: let me give you some info on the progress. Just about 100% of the player game-mechanics are in-game. Two of the bosses and 18 baddies are finished. About half of the game-levels have been built with art assets in-place. Robert Ellis (composer) has produced 7 new music-tracks. I think it’s some of his best stuff yet. I’m also happy to announce that if we reach a certain stretch-goal on the pre-order, Robert is on board to remix the entire soundtrack from TAG (with the option to play the game with the new or original tracks).

Which leads me to a question I’ve seen from a lot of people: What differences will there be in the re-make? I realise I probably haven’t been very clear on exactly what will make the remake worth playing by those who’ve played the original already.

Remixed puzzles - Just about every puzzle in the game has been tweaked, remixed or completely changed. Some of them have been adjusted to account for new play mechanics in TAW. Most of the puzzles will still be familiar to those who played TAG but they will still give you a new challenge.

Enemy Behavior - Many of the enemies have had their line-of-sight mechanics improved to make them more formidable foes. To compensate for the enemies being tougher I also made sure that they give “tells” before attacking to make the combat feel a lot more fair than it was in TAG.

Bosses - First: There are new bosses! I can’t say for sure how many yet, but at least two. Second: Just about every boss fight is also being “remixed”. We’re redesigning them to be much more menacing: graphically and mechanically. For some of them we’re changing the boss level arena itself to make the fight more dangerous and exciting. Again I’m hoping that for people who already played TAG they will get a feeling of familiarity with each boss encounter, but also feel challenged in learning the new patterns.

New Items/ Upgrades - A lot of items from the original game are going to be upgradable now. For example; when you upgrade the shovel you’ll now be able to dig through tougher ground. You’ll also be able to upgrade your main weapon AKA your pointy prosthesis. We’re doubling the number of hats you can find. And each hat will now have a different useful ability (extra coin spawns, invulnerable to projectiles, etc)

Secrets - I’m adding a ton of new secret areas. 100 percenting the game will require you to find every secret nook. Luckily there’s also a new item that will help with that.

Game stats - The game will now track things like play time, total damage taken vs damage dealt, number of secrets found and much more. This will hopefully give the game more replay value as players compete for the best stats.

Sleeping - An outcry I heard from fans of the original game was that there was no way to pass time fast. So now, yes, you can sleep in the game. It will allow half a day to pass each time you sleep which will make some of the time-based puzzles less frustrating.

New Compass - I’m making a somewhat significant change to how the compass works. In the original game the compass arrow would always point to the direction of the selected treasure. There were a number of problems with how this mechanic worked (for example: where should the compass point when you’re in an interior level with multiple exits. or: it could mislead the player if the actual route to the treasure was far from a direct line). I dealt with this partially by turning the compass off when indoors. However, in TAW, I’m taking a different approach. Now the compass behaves more like a metal detector. The compass pulses faster as you get closer to the treasure. I think this gives the game a much better feeling of exploration and discovery as well. The only drawback to this method is that when you are now very far away from the treasure it doesn’t give you any indication on which way to go. Therefore....

World Map - There is now an overworld map that will update itself as you explore the game. Treasure markers will show you a rough idea of where a treasure may be hidden. Used in combination with the compass every treasure can be discovered with a little luck and some geocaching skills.

More - There’s also going to be some new levels altogether, as well as at least one new island. Basically we’re adding more of everything.

The pre-order doesn't have a definite start-date yet but expect it sometime soon. As we get closer to the pre order I’ll be releasing a new trailer and as well as more updates on the progress of the game.

Thanks to everyone who has reached out asking about Treasure Adventure World. The team and I are working our butts off trying to make this game as great as we can. I’m both excited and nervous about reaching out to the fans to support us through a pre-order. This is truly a case where you will be able to make a huge difference in the development of a video game. When the time comes, we’re going to need everyone’s help to spread the word, tell their friends and upvote us on Greenlight, reddit etc.

I’ll be in touch again soon.

Cheers,

Stephen Orlando

 

I kind of hate putting a % complete because it's hard for me to judge. But my best guess is somewhere between 50%-60%. That includes art, music, sound, coding, level building - basically everything. Now that I'm working on the game full-time I've been able to get most of the game's core mechanics coded along with most of the enemies. Once the pre-order is live I'll try to get a rough release window together. How well the pre-order does will really determine how fast we can complete the game.

Can't give a hard date on this yet as we still have a couple things we need to polish. We want to start the pre-order, release a new trailer and get up on steam greenlight all at the same time. If all goes according to plan it should be before the end of the summer.