reDEATH v0.1.0 is live!

So what?

Eh, it doesn’t mean much. This release is pretty arbitrary. Mainly I wanted something polished enough I could send my friends that was fun, save-able, without too many frustrating bugs. If you’ve never heard of this game before, it’s a challenging, fast-paced platformer inspired by Celeste. The unofficial v0.0.1 was submitted to GB Jam 12, which you can find here (https://mfpekala.itch.io/redeath).

What does the game have so far?

• Reasonably polished movement/platform mechanics
• Over 60 screens ranging from easy to very, very hard.
• 26 semi-secret collectibles, just for fun
• 1 “boss fight” (extra challenge) to top off the run
• Technically it has a story but the writing is garbage

What’s the north star (v1.0.0)?

I would say I have medium hopes for this game. It definitely won’t be anywhere near as good as Celeste, although to be fair I’m not sure any game is. First and foremost I want to make something polished and memorable. It probably won’t be that long of a game, but I’m hoping it’ll still have challenging and rewarding moments, with a world/story you haven’t seen before.

From a gameplay perspective, the game currently has one chapter, and a few core mechanics. I’d like v1.0.0 to have at least three chapters. In each of these chapters, I’d like to introduce new movement mechanics to keep things interesting, and build on existing challenges. The v1.0.0 ballpark is ~300 screens, ~100 collectibles, and enough mechanics that you never feel like you see the same screen twice.

From a polish perspective, the game needs a lot of work. First, there’s sooo many quality of life things I know I need to to. Better UI, more friendly controls (with controller support), better “feel” overall. I also made an intentional (but very limiting) decision to only use 8 colors for all sprites in the game. Why? It makes life a lot easier, and the jam I originally made this for had a 4-color limit. I might change this so that I can make important gameplay things more clear, but I might not. Either way, it should be easier to glance at a level and understand what it is you have to do.

Performance is also top of mind (but mainly because I think performance engineering is fun). On older machines, the lighting system can sometimes tank the framerate. That shouldn’t happen. There are some other shortcuts I’ve taken along the way that I should iron out.

Last, but certainly not least, I need to do a lot more world building. Sprites, sound effects, music, cutscenes, blah blah blah. All the little things that don’t change how hitboxes interact but make or break a player’s experience. A lot of this will be chapter dependent. Chapter one should feel like a totally new world compared to chapter two. Same with chapter three. Finishing the game should feel like completing a journey.

Want to help me get there?

The most helpful thing you can do is play the game and give your honest feedback. Drop it here, or email me at dreamlakegames AT gmail DOT com. We have a discord server for people passionate about the game here https://discord.gg/rV5qepg2aP.