The Legend of Bum-Bo News

Today we spoil Bum-bo the Stout! The defensive control tank who loves to eat (his mana!)



Bum-bo the Stout was originally designed as a Cleric who would focus on making hearts and healing himself with a yum heart, but that proved to be quite boring... with a few redesigns and a mechanical suggestion by Tyler i decided that it would be best if he became more of a crowd control character with a huge upside and minor downside...

The Stout starts with 2 spells:

- The Stick: this medium damage spell uses 3 brown mana and deals 2 damage and knocks an enemy back 1 space from bum-bo, if a primed melee enemy is moved, it unprimes.



- The Blender Blade: a puzzle spell that costs 3 green mana and removes the tile selected as well as all tiles touching up down left and right from it.



Bum-bo The Stouts Stats:

Hearts: 2
Spell Damage: 2
Moves: 2
Puzzle Damage: 1
Luck: 1

Character Special Ability: Goodie Bag!

Stout has the ability to gain +1 bonus mana for each 2 mana gained of the same type. so if you get a 4 combo of boogers, you gain +6 mana and a 6+ combo will yield max mana of that type ( you cant gain more than 9 mana). this enables the stout to pull of some crazy hits on his turn but there is a down side... at the end of each of his turns, he eats all his mana.



this makes items that use multiple types of mana more difficult to cast and changes the game a great deal.

BONUS LETS PLAY!



since i wont be showing off the stout in action, and you guys seem to love lets plays, i thought it would be fun to have Danielle do a lets play since shes been testing the game non stop for the past few weeks.. then she thought it would be fun to include peach in on the action ( she just turned 4 )... get ready for some chaos!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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QA:

Q: how are characters unlocked?
A: you unlock the first 4 characters by completing chapter 3 with each one in order starting with The Brave ( the only unlocked character at the start)

Q: will spells have synergy like in isaac?
A: very much so, most spells were designed to play into specific draft archetypes and tend to synergies in interesting ways.

Q: how many bosses are there per chapter?
A: currently each chapter has 3 bosses.

Last week re recorded a few Lets plays for fridays blog post, but due to power outages in CA i wasnt able to make the post... so today you get those 2 lets play videos of us playing with Bum-bo the Nimble... and a bonus video of me failing at the game!

First here is James playing as Bum-bo the Nimble.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

then here is a bonus video of me failing at not only playing, but also at recording game audio...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

and just to redeem myself, i recorded a second video with fixed game audio!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Friday we will go into detail about the final character spoiler, Bum-bo the Stout!

see you then!

-Eggy McNugget

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BONUS QA:

Q: are there other tile types?
A: outside of the 5 major types and wilds, there are also heart tiles ( rare tiles that heal the player ) and curse tiles that damage the player when matched.

Q: are the characters starting items locked to the player or can you unlock them?
A: each of the characters starting items are locked to the character.. but can be unlocked and added into the items pools by completing specific milestones with each character.

Q: are there more references to you other games in it?
A: yes, if you know my older work youll catch quiet a few references.

Q: can you play it with a game pad?
A: no, not currently anyway.

Today we spoil Bum-bo the Nimble! the backstabbing thief who steals mana with his attacks!



Bum-bo the Nimble is a little math character that has you crunching numbers all day to gain advantage. not only does he deal more damage the more he attacks, but each time he hits with a puzzle spell he steals mana!

The Nimble starts with 2 spells:

- Needle: this attack spell is fueled by 3 Yellow mana and each time it hits it raises its damage by 1. this little needle can take down bosses in no time, especially since it's tied to a mana color that also gains you extra moves.



- Tooth Pick: this spell uses 2 black mana and removes a selected tile from the board, gaining you 1 mana of its type and enabling lots of ways to chain giant combos.



aside from his starting spells and core ability, Nimble is the most lucky of the characters and starts with +1 luck.

Luck affects a few things, chance of critical hits ( double damage ), chance of dodge ( avoid an enemy attack ) and chance of finding more coins at the end of each room.

Bum-bo The Nimble's Stats:

Hearts: 2
Spell Damage: 1
Moves: 2
Puzzle Damage: 1
Luck: 1

Character Special Ability: Bag of Sucking!



Nimble is a thief character, design wise we push this theme by making his puzzle attack spells steal mana. each time Bum-bo the Nimble deals damage with a puzzle combo, he gains 1 mana of each color, and since bones deal out multiple attacks, the larger the combo, bones are Nimbles best friend.

in just 4 days we will be doing another lets play, this time showing off Mr. Nimble in all his roguish glory! stay tuned!

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QA:

Q: Will isaac appear in the game?
A: i think so.

Q: what does James smell like?
A: ive never smelled him in person, but i imagine he smells like these ketchup flavored chips he sent me once.

Q: Does the game have a tutorial?
A: yes, the game starts with a playable tutorial that goes over all you need to get playing, i may post a video of that Friday.

Q: How is it going to be for a dirty casual, like myself?
A: if we are talking difficulty, that's something we are currently balancing. i want the game to feel hard but fair, currently its harder than id like so we are nerfing and then scaling up the difficulty much like we did with isaac, the more you unlock, the harder it will become.

Q: How is Bumbo related to Isaac? Like lore-wise?
A: that should become apparent as you play, the further you go the more pieces will fall into place. i think people will dig the connection once it all comes into focus, it's an aspect of isaac's story im very proud of.

Q: does bumbo connect itself to repentance in anyway?
A: yes, some of the story that unfolds in repentance takes place shortly after the events in bum-bo.. but before the events in OG isaac... it will make sense once you finish both games. also there are quite a few enemies/items from bumbo that are finding their way into repentance.

Q: will Bum-bo's puzzle board feature a lot of chaining combos at random like other match 3 puzzle games?
A: no, since bumbo is a match 4 there is less of a chance of chaining combos at random, but each time you do a double combo (two 4+ tile combos with one move ) you will gain a wild tile and with wild tiles there comes a higher % of random chaining. we are trying to push more strategy and reward for smart plays than just random chance.

Let's play the Legend of Bum-bo... with Bum-bo the Weird (feat. James!!) his video looks super pretty and high rez compared to my lame ass recordings.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

but this week we double dip! i also did a lets play using Bum-bo the Weird! my recording is more ugly and less professional than james, enjoy!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

i think i should just do lets play videos for a living now.. im amazing at it! 1 like = 1 kiss on the lips, subscribe = make babies!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

also this week we March to War! this sweet boss track by Ridiculon its amazing, and i love it!

more next week!

-Mc Millen

Today we spoil Bum-bo the Weird! my personal favorite character!



This glass cannon can be a blast to play with because their core mechanic is one that allows for most rooms to be completed in 1-2 turns.. but if you don't play perfectly you can go down with only a few hits.

The Weird starts with 2 spells:

- Puzzle Flick: this attack spells costs 3 white and 3 black mana and when used removes all of one tile type from the board and deals damage = to that total number divided by 2 to the closest enemy in a column. a costly but amazing attack spell that on average deals 4 damage and if used well can chain into more tile combos.



- Magic Marker: this puzzle spell costs 4 yellow mana and adds 2 more tiles of the tile type you choose to the board in random locations.



like The Brave, Weird is all about dealing damage and gaining extra movement so all his initial mana costs revolve around attack and movement gaining tile combos.

Bum-bo The Weirds Stats:

Hearts: 1 + 1 Soul Heart ( a temporary heart like in isaac )
Spell Damage: 1
Moves: 2
Puzzle Damage: 1
Luck: 0

Character Special Ability: Bag of Souls!



each time Bum-bo the Weird kills an enemy, you gain +1 movement! this is a huge passive ability and allows you to chain through a room filled with small enemies in one turn if you play aggressively. the down side to this is bosses can be a bitch so you gotta change your attack strategy to fit the situation.

Friday ill be showing off this Weirdo to the best of my ability! stay tuned!

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Bonus QA (common questions gathered from twitter/youtube):

Q: i saw your lets play last week, why arent there many SFX in the game?
A: the game is still in dev and will be till we release ( and lets be honest, probably for quite a few weeks after to make sure everything is perfect ). we currently have in very few SFX so far, we will be adding around 100+ of them over the next few weeks along side lots of balance fixes, cut scenes, visual tweaks and the like.

Q: is the game still coming to iOS and Switch?
A: yes, eventually.

Q: are there multiple endings, i thought there was one route?
A: yes there are more than a few endings, you'll understand how/why when you play through the game.

Q: will bum-bo tie into Repentance?
A: Kinda, Repentance and Bum-bo both add to the story of isaac in interesting ways and give a better picture of why isaac is who he is. there are also items from bum-bo in repentance.

Q: why did you change the game from a dungeon crawl where you explore into linear puzzle battles.
A: it wasnt at all fun. the exploration aspect felt dull and uninspired, we had a lot in too, we had traps and hidden coins and even toyed with npcs that had dialog.. its not at all what a puzzle game like this wanted, it made games last for hours and felt counter intuitive so we stripped it down to its core and it sped up game play a ton and kept it feeling fresh and exciting.

Q: how long is an average session now?
A: it takes about 10-15 min to beat a chapter now that we have tuned everything up a ton.