YEEESSS it's released! Grab it on itch.io for PC https://ohmnivore.itch.io/peasant-knight or on PS4/PS Vita/Switch/Steam https://pk.fouramgames.com
It really took forever to finish. The "new project" excitement depleted after a month or two and it's been a long slog since then. I don't even know how it took so long. I technically started Peasant Knight in 2015 (December 29 2015). But really it's been on/off from January 2016 till January 2019 - three years.
There was a 1.5 year period during which I focused on my day job and barely touched the project. Still, the Peasant Knight repository has 637 commits and that alone is interesting 0_0
It's quite a bit for such a seemingly humble game! ~500 of these commits were done since the last time I posted in the devlog so let's break them down (in no particular order):
- Localization (lots of UI work since elements are not fixed-size anymore!)
- Gamepad support
- Steam integration (mostly achievements)
- Cutscenes which were eventually replaced by comics drawn by a friend
- Added local multiplayer
- Added settings (key bindings, volume, screen shake, flash, localization, etc)
- Improved visibility of flamepit and other traps
- Pre-level menu for scrolling through the level before starting
- Added a bunch of levels, reworked some undercooked levels,
- BUGS BUGS BUGS
- Massive optimizations (pooling and preloading and making friends with the garbage collector)
- Rendering fixes (wobbly sprites and tilemap/sprite tearing)
- Made Steam and other promo artwork
- Added new traps
- Environment effects (darkness, rain, snow, lava steam)
- Tombstones on death to mark progress
- Skeleton boss
- Mortar boss
- Smooth level transitions
- A pause menu that works correctly (even pauses in-progress sfx)
- Integrated some more sfx and music tracks
I spared you the endless commits for polish, iterations, and tweaks which probably outnumber the feature-related commits. Commits with messages like:
- Better stop after OverlayPauseMenu and GamePadPauseMenu (to prevent accidental player deaths)
- Game now pauses on gamepad disconnection
- Improved the orcknight sprite
- Camera lerping during teleporting is now quicker
- Fixed a crash in multiplayer
- Small fix to lvl 8 (Ever Higher.tmx)
- Fixed huge level transition bug
- Fixed a MAJOR skeleton boss bug
- Possibly fixed the bug where FlamePits don't erupt 0.01% of the time
Looking back, some of them have pretty amusing stories and would be fun to share xD