Switch Block Dungeon Mega Thread
This project is finished, check out the Itch.io page for a more complete game page (https://mitch-match.itch.io/switch-block-dungeon)
Welcome to my Pico-8 platformer project. This thread will contain any updates and dev logs so check back here every now and then for news. If you have any questions or concerns leave them in the comments and I'll get to them eventually.
For inputs and controls use the arrow keys for pc or the D pad for mobile devices. All the other buttons change from version to version but this should work for most updates.
Controls:
- Move: S,D,E,f or Arrow Keys
- Jump: Z,N,C
- Switch: X,M,V
- Enter: Menu
Update V1.0
V1.0 Is finally here! And the biggest improvement of all is the new consistent 60 fps in all rooms. For as long as this game has been in development it has had performance issues, luckily it was a simple code fix. There are lots of small details but nothing super notable, some aspects have been removed from 0.8 to accommodate for the code constraints but the I think the game didn't loose anything important. Overall this has been such a fun and rewarding experience and I wouldnt trade it for anything. Thanks to everone who tested this and gave feedback and a special thanks to @Gruber for letting me use his music. Thanks for playing! - Mitch Match
Update V0.8
V0.8 Admittedly progress has been slow. Making new levels and rooms that feel new at this point is challenging. On top of that school is now in session and I have significantly less free time to work on this game. I still plan on finishing this game but things will be much slower so be patient. Overall the coding portion of the game is done besides some small things here and there. I have recently hit the memory limit for Pico-8 so don't expect any new features from this point on. Most of the development past now is level polish and balance changes. V0.8 also has notable lag spikes at certain points, I am aware of this but have very few ideas on how to fix this. The two main sources of lag are the brick background drawing and the torch drawing code. Both take up huge amounts of memory for Pico-8 and make the game run below 60 fps some times. But ill figure something out I'm sure. In the mean time enjoy the first half of the spring section and look forward to the updated timer in the next update.
New Additions for V0.8:
- Fully implemented springs
- New intro cutscene at beginning
- New firework effect at end screen
- Updated room appearances
- New Spring section (WIP)
- Various balance changes
- In game timer dispaly (WIP)
- New Menu options
- FPS display toggle
- New grey scale pallet swap
- Dev mode (WIP)
- Reset player
Update V0.7
V0.7 Finally I can see the finish line. Lots of things I have been meaning to do are finally done. On/off spikes, crumble blocks, and finally music. I decided to use the "Pico Tunes" 1 & 2 music from @Gruber_music. What an awesome collection of free music he made. As of V0.7 I have only implemented three of his songs (all from volume 2) but I hope to add more in the future. Again huge thanks to @Gruber_music for making the songs, go check out his other songs on his Lexaloffle page here > @Gruber_music. Besides the music I have also finished the bottom left side of the map which uses the newly fixed crumble blocks, no duplication glitch this time I promise. This level design has been both my favorite and the most challenging to make. Each room is fairly different and I tried to make them all feel unique. Seeing how well this section turned out almost make me want to go back and change some rooms in the laser section of the game. I also scrapped the relic collectables for now unless I can find a way to add them into the game. Relics were suppose to be a golden themed treasure looking item. There were four, one in each section. As of now I have no reward in mind for collecting all of them, maybe I'll make one if I ever implement them. Moving on from here will be challenging since I've used 7461/8192 data units. Coding an entirely new section in that space will be tough.
New Additions for V0.7:
- Fixed crumble block glitch
- Three new music tracks
- Updated sfx in the final cutscene
- Finished main menu
- Updated final top right room
- Lots of new art for the Itch.io page
Update V0.6
V0.6 Pretty much solidified the game overall. The top left section has been finished (apart from the on/off spikes). This new area uses the new jump bricks that turn off/on when you jump. I really like how this area turned out, even if it sets a pretty high bar for the next two sections. There is also a final cut scene and a win screen. If you beat the game with less than 10 deaths it will appear in rainbow text. There is also a new main menu that used to be much more complicated. Originally I had planned on multiple difficulty's and color pallet swaps not unlike downwell, there is a left over gray scale pallet still in the code if you want to try it out. Although it will go away as soon as the screen fades from a death. The main room now has 4 platforms that hold the key pieces you collect. Each platform corresponds to the area that you collected it from. I also touched up the brick sprite sheet and the coin sprite. There is a lot more that I'm not talking about but ill try to put in the updates list here.
New Additions for V0.6:
- Jump Bricks
- Main menu
- Win screen
- Final cutscene
- On/off spikes
- Revamped laser code
- Fade in/out functionality
- Small level design changes for the laser section
- New layer for the torch glow effect
- New key detection
- New sprite sheet
- New coin sprite
- Temporary fps display
Update V0.5
V0.5 Totally revamped the concept of the game and gave it a different feel entirely. Most noticeably I named the game "Switch Swap Dungeon" since the new rooms use the red and blue switch swap blocks. Switch swap blocks are helpful and act like normal blocks when you walk across them but be careful, if you turn on a switch block while you're inside it skelly will lose a life and be sent to the last activated checkpoint diamond. Lots of old blocks and concepts were removed or put on the back burner until I find a way to implement them into the game. Namely, Keys, Chests, Red crumble blocks, Purple crumble blocks and manual checkpoints. In favor of stationary checkpoint diamonds, switch blocks, switch lasers, signs and more. Overall I feel like this update gave the game a good direction to follow and I'm very happy with it so far. The game now has a general premise. Find all 4 key pieces to beat the game. Each key piece will be at the end of one of 4 sections. As of V0.5 I only have the top right section, the laser section, but look forward to more in the future.
New Additions for V0.5:
- Switch Blocks
- Switch Lasers
- Chain ladders
- Signs
- Checkpoint Diamonds
- Key pieces
Update V0.4
V0.4 added lots of new interactable items like keys, chests, key doors, and my favorite crumble blocks. This new block was tough to implement but it was well worth it. I made some rooms that only use the spikes and crumble blocks and I think they turned out pretty well. There are two variants of crumble blocks so far. The red crumble block dissolves fast while the purple block dissolves slowly. If you find three keys you can unlock the room to the right which contains an un-nerfed version of an old room I was working on. Its really hard so only go for it if you're looking for a challenge. Overall this update probably feels pretty big but the changes are mostly temporary so don't get too attached to these rooms or layouts. Side note, all the rooms used to exclusively use red crumble blocks originally so try that if you want something harder.
New Additions for V0.4:
- Both SDEF & Arrow Key support
- Collectable keys
- Key doors
- Red and purple crumble blocks
- Updated coin code
- Updated torch code
- Lots of new rooms
- Secret dev room
Update V0.3
V0.3 is by far the biggest and most time consuming of all the updates so far. V0.3 is a complete overhaul of the original cartridge which was really just a proof of concept for me. Switching to the new 60fps was so nice compared to the old 30 fps in versions V0.2A and V0.1A. The camera was also reworked to be stationary which will stay for all foreseeable updates. Maybe later ill add a dynamic camera option in settings.
Everything was re written so I could fit the games code better for what I needed. The new particle effect proved to be extremely useful. It was used in everything from coin collection to deaths and even to torches which might be reworked later for limitation purposes. The only downside of this build is the absence of the dash mechanic which will be reimplemented eventually.
One of the biggest additions is the new spawn point mechanic. By pressing (Down) + (O) you set a spawn point where you stand. This addition was super easy to code but it makes play testing so much nicer. I'm not sure if ill keep this in the full game but it's starting to grow on me. Also don't put your respawn inside a spike you've been warned.
I could go on forever about all the new features so here's just a list of everything that's worth noting in this update.
New Additions for V0.3:
- wall jumps
- collectable coins
- spike collision
- improved collision code
- pallet changes
- spawn point mechanic
- brick background
- added potential rooms
- added sound effects
- reworked sprite sheet
- new stationary camera
I'd also like to thank merwok for the helpful advice on the lexaloffle formatting
Update V0.2A
Controls:
- Dash: (X) + (any cardinal direction)
- Jump: (O)
- Respawn Point: (X) + (Down)
V0.2A is a mini update after some feedback from friends and family. Most notably the ceiling and the fixed camera. This version still runs at 30 fps. Its pretty common to get stuck in walls so expect that to be fixed in future versions. Nothing is interactable besides the blocks so just pretend like you died to spikes or something lol.
Side note there is a fun glitch where you can fly upwards really fast if you press jump and vertical dash at the same time. I left this in since it was so much fun to play test with. You can also climb walls with no wall jump by lodging yourself into a wall and then jumping off the walls top hit box and repeating that process. Its super hard to preform and its really useless but it sounds like the kind of thing speed runners would love.
Update V0.1A
Unnamed Platformer V0.1A
Note that this version only has SDEF controls so this version wont work on mobile.
Hello! For your information, it’s common practice to have one thread per game, and edit the first post to hide (or remove) old versions when you upload a more recent version. You can also replace the cart identifier generated by the bbs (like 'tubetawah' here) by something you decide (say 'unnamed_platformer'), so that all versions share the same name + a version number ('unnamed_platformer-1', 'unnamed_platformer-2', etc). This makes it easier for people to follow one game on the BBS, or get automatic update if they have the game favourited in splore or if they run 'load #unnamed_platformer' in the console. Hope this helps!
Thanks so much for the advice merwok I'll do this in the future
The platforming is very fluid. I do think it is a bit cumbersome that you have to go back all the way to the beginning when you die though, and it doesn't help that there isn't very clear feedback about what you die from. Maybe a death animation would help, as well as shrinking the spike hitboxes by a pixel or two. But otherwise, great work.
Thanks for the comment THATUSERUSER, I'm glad you liked it. I do agree the spikes feel a little large. I'll probably tune that later when the levels are more finalized.
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