DevBlog

The update with the new skybox and the new level is now live on both Steam and itch.io! Don’t forget, use the “new content playlist” to immediately play the new level!

I began this development blog on Leap Day, only about two weeks ago, hoping to draw more customers to buy and play my small, unfinished indie game. I know it’s trite, but that really does feel like forever ago, now. So much craziness has happened since then, near and far, and there is so much more to worry about.

The most fantastical thing about Cheer and Track is supposed to be that two college students were warped into deep space by a quantum-connected hivemind of alien flowers that won’t let them die. Now it’s maybe that, once they inevitably return to Earth as best friends, they happily go back to attending college as usual. There is no COVID-19 outbreak in the Cheer and Track not-so-cinematic universe.

As humanity continues to fight it, someday COVID-19 will no longer be a problem in our world, either. We will get there. But we’re not there yet.

Whoever you are and wherever you are, if you’ve given me a few minutes of your time to play Cheer and Track or read this vanilla blog about one more video game among hundreds of thousands, thank you so much, and I hope it helped you through a few more minutes of your day. I also hope you and yours are okay, and I hope things get better soon for all of us around the world as we do what we must to get through this crisis. Now go wash your hands, and do not give up!

Continue.

The new level (plus less-barf skybox) update isn’t up yet, but I’m too lazy to think of another title right now. However, the new level is playable and complete-able! …wait, is “completable” a word? Online dictionaries don’t seem to have a consensus, and I’m also too lazy to look into it further. Farther? No, further, it ain’t distance! That one I new.

Without farther ado, here’s the full-size version of the level’s “thumbnail,” the little graphic you see to identify it in playlists and the “Times & Deaths” score menu.

I’ve taken to calling it “The Church of Pain” because the center bit kinda resembles a church and steeple. But it’s not difficult, although there are lots of moving dangers, creating good tension. Most Cheer and Track levels are admittedly pretty easy, although getting to the exit without a single death and/or cutting down completion times to their lowest can be challenging. Harder levels will be part of the mix someday, but the game has to have much tighter platforming controls and responsiveness first.

This coming week is mostly about bug fixing. I’ll be starting off with a full playthrough to look for anything egregious, then working on some of the new player movement bugs I’ve seen lately. When those have been fixed, or the movement is at least a little better, update ahoy, hopefully by the end of the week. Always more to come!

Nothing’s ever 100% complete while you’re in early access, but I think I’ve reached a stopping-for-now point on the new skybox. This version just has a few more clouds since the last update, with some pink lightning-ish flashes and some very subtle noise detail on the sun. The sun could be a bit more glow-y and the lightning more lightning-y I guess, but I kinda like how it turned out!

Here are Cheryl and Becca praising it, as one does (or two do, in jolly cooperation), from a corner of one of the levels. Sorry the movie’s not a perfect loop, but the clouds travel slowly and I didn’t want to post a huge file!

As a reminder, here’s what the current skybox looks like, from nearly the same corner in the same level in the latest release:

Blarp. P2 can join, but they don’t wanna. Didn’t need an animation to show this bit, because the old skybox didn’t animate, at all. Let’s hear it for effort!

Next up, one new level!

I hope to release the next update soon, but a handful of odd running and jumping bugs have surfaced (might be performance-related due to the new skybox), so I need to make some fixes there first in addition to the new level. More to come!

My original plan was to focus on levels, levels, levels after launching in early access, but I’m concerned that the rough look of the game so far is turning people away. So I’m also working on improving some of the most bare-bones assets. First up is the “skybox,” the graphics that fill the empty space around every level. Here’s a sneak peek so far.

Still needs work, but at least the sun’s not a polygon anymore! …maybe less obviously, anyway!

The next small update will feature the new skybox and one new level. Remember, use the “New Content Playlist” now to play just the levels included in the last update! After the next update, if you didn’t finish the levels already (unlocking them for Custom Playlists), you can only reach them by playing a full game. The updated New Content Playlist will instead feature the new level.