PogoChamp News

* Found a fix that should dramatically increase level select FPS on mid/low-end hardware. Will go into more detail on the fix in the Weekly Progress Report, but wanted to get this fix out ASAP.

Swim, Roll and Fly your way to the goal in the first triple power-up level!

[h2]Some thoughts on prototyping[/h2]
Something that happened this week was that I spent several days working on a level prototype that ended up just not being any fun. This happens sometimes, and is a perfectly normal part of the level design process. Sometimes I have an idea, and I'll try to quickly make the "minimal version" of it just to validate if it has any chance of being fun.

During this week, I got the "minimal version" of a level complete, and thought "ehh, maybe this can work", but every time I went to go work on that level and improve it, I didn't really want to. This should have been a pretty big red flag, but it took a few days of that for me to realize that I should just totally scrap the level and move on. In the future I think I'll be better about "cutting my losses" sooner when it comes to new levels. If a level isn't fun to work on, it's not going to be fun to play.

• NEW LEVEL: Triathlon level (#56).
  
• DEV: Various prototyping work that was scrapped.
  
• DEV: Updated the build generation to automatically update the level list (for daily challenges) and the version number (for version update checks).
  

Made a new level this week. This level meant that I had to update the Level Select to include another science experiment in the "Science Wing" of the ship. Here's a preview of the new experiment: "The Shaker".

Right now I'm working on some new level ideas. They're a bit more complicated than the average level, so they might take me a while to complete, but hopefully you'll enjoy them when they're ready!.


Would've made this a gif, but I don't wanna spoil anything about this level.

• NEW LEVEL: Added "Light 'em Up" level (Level 54)
  
• CONTENT: Added new science experiment to the science section of the level select.
  
• BUG FIX: Steam uploads will now retry if they don't complete properly.
  
• CREDITS: Added list of assets used to the credits.
  
• DEV: Experimenting with some stuff for new levels.
  
• BUG FIX: Fix bug in Light 'em Up replays where the candle flames weren't properly reset.

This week I worked making a couple new levels and some experimentation for the final level/end game.


A nice early-game level that's got some fun theming and one of the few levels where you can really make use of small jumps.



This new level might be a little weird at first, but I hope it's not too confusing for people. It's very late in the game (currently placed at level 72), so I expect people who get to it to be able to figure it out without too much trouble.

• NEW LEVEL: Added "Console Gaming" level (Level 22)
  
• NEW LEVEL: Added "Tumbler" level (Level 72)
  
• IMPROVEMENT: The camera in The Classic no longer scrolls vertically, so you can always see the ground now.
  
• DEV: Various experimentation for end-game stuff. I am bad at animations.
  

This week I spent a lot of time prototyping and working on the final level. There's not a ton of stuff to show for that yet, but look forward to it soon! That being said, I did also whip up a brand new level.



This level is pretty much exactly what it looks like: A room full of columns that you'll need to jump around and between to get to the goal. I'm pretty happy with it, and I like that the difficulty is pretty much entirely based on how fast you're trying to complete it. It's pretty simple to complete if you go slowly, so I put it relatively early in the level list.

• CONTENT: Added "The Forest" level.
  
• DEV: Various work for the final level
• DEV: Various prototyping stuff that hasn't panned out yet.