PogoChamp News

This week I finally checked an upcoming games release calendar and realized that the end of March is actually pretty packed with games. Because I don't want PogoChamp to be completely overshadowed by bigger games on launch, I've decided to delay the release for ~2 weeks. The new planned release date is April 12! For any of you that are disappointed by this news, I'm sorry, and I hope you understand my reasoning. I only get to release the game once, and I want to do what I can to make sure people find out about the game when it launches.

As a way to make it up to people who were excited about the launch, I'll be releasing an updated demo toward the end of the month that has some new / different levels than what the current demo has. As it stands now, there will be 5 different levels in the demo, but that might change as I continue refining the level ordering.




This week I've been iterating with Clark on the music for the game. I think it's coming along great, and Clark is really going above and beyond with cool generative music tracks that keep the audio from being repetitive. I'm really excited to let you all hear the final product, and hope you like it as much as I do!

• Add sample background music.
  
• Fix some incorrect colors in some levels.
  
• Experimenting with adding more texture to shaders (I don't think it's good).
  
• Fix bug where missing jackpot sound effects prevented the level from functioning properly.
  
• Created Maxi Golf level.
  
• Imported some better sports ball assets.
  
• Fix bug where you could crash inside a hamster ball if you hit something while moving fast enough.
  
• Windmill blades in Maxi Golf now properly push the character with physics.
  
• Gave the environment golf balls in Maxi Golf more friction.
  
• Added Maxi Golf to the list of levels.
  
• Fix null reference error related to Maxi Golf windmill.
  
• Hide the jump charge UI when jumping is disabled (like when inside hamster balls, cannons, after you crash, and after you enter the goal zone.
  
• Fix null reference error related to hamster ball destruction.
  
• Prevent hamster ball power up from checking if it's on the ground during replays.
  
• Replace old Football model with a new better one.
  
• Re-style the hamster ball power up to be reminiscent of Super Monkey Ball.
  
• Fully fix the bug where perfect jump trails would still be visible when replays restarted.
  
• Add down arrows to the first wall you see in Controlled Fall.
  
• Reorder a bunch of levels.
  
• Changed music to be quieter by default.
  
• Allow volume pickers to go up to 150% (was previously 100%).
  
• Adjust gate star requirements to be a bit more strict now that stars are easier to get.
  
• Add a missing gate.
  
• Gate star requirements now scale with the difficulty of the levels they lock off, instead of being a flat 1.8 star per level requirement. (this means that early gates should be easy, but some of the later gates require a LOT of stars.
  
• Added a pause menu to the level select (allows you to access the options menu from level select, which wasn't possible before).
  
• Fix bug where "fast mode" in level select would make the level info text not appear sometimes. (Fast mode isn't messaged in the UI, but is activated by holding shift or right trigger while moving in Level Select. It's not really necessary though because warping exists).
  
• Fix bug where closing pause menu in level select using the Esc key could sometimes permanently disable input, forcing you to quit & relaunch the game.
  
• Camera FOV settings now apply to the camera in Level Select.
  
• Fix various bugs with the credits display if activated from the Pause Menu.
  
• Fix error messages related to the Unity Input System missing some deprecated inputs.
  
• Fix issue where level entry fade in animation could display on top of menus if you immediately paused the game after entering a level.
  
• Added a "Development Priorities" chart to the initial Early Access warning screen, to convey what I am focusing on.
  
• Possible fix for certain ultrawide monitor resolutions not appearing in the options menu.
  
• Add hotkey for quickly swapping between options menu pages.
  
• Added placeholder scene for a cinematic when you get all the stars in the game.
  
• Added helper to track whether you have entered the "End Game".
• Total star count UI now supports "End Game".
• End Game goal times now appear in all the usual star requirement places.
• End Game goals now appear in the level quick select menu (replacing prior star icons).
• Change shadows in Level Select to be Soft Shadows instead of Hard Shadows (looks better).
  
• Added various parameters to the music for some dynamic situations.
  

I spent a lot of time this week working on the new "Hamster Ball" power up, and a level that properly showcases it. The level ended up being one of the most complex levels I've made, but I think it turned out really well. I don't want to spoil it so I won't be saying too much about it, but I hope you like it when you finally get to play it.

Other than that I'm continuing to fix bugs and add polish to the game in preparation for the Early Access launch. Functionally I think the game is actually pretty solid. It has a bunch of features that Early Access games rarely have at launch: a replay system, leaderboards, achievements, etc. Just a few more things (like music!) and I think it'll be ready.

• Achievements added to Steam.
  
• Added a way to export Achievement information to json for easy uploading to FeedbackBot.
  
• Update some Achievement names.
  
• Implemented a way to track the number of flips a player has done.
  
• Added achievement based on # of total flips.
  
• Added flip count to Stats menu.
  
• Prototyped a bowling level (and decided it was bad).
  
• Added new level Jackpot, (probably the most complicated level yet)
  
• Fix bug where Hamster Ball powerup was misplaced in replays.
  
• Fix issue with stats where rolling in a Hamster Ball counted as being in the air.
  
• Don't count flips while inside Hamster Ball.
  
• Conditional Goal Zones are now always activated in replays.
  
• Fix bug where Hamster Ball power up was not properly reset in replays.
  
• Fix non-convex colliders in Jackpot level.
  
• Add SFX to Achievements menu.
  
• Adjust game launch popup to reference "Early Access" instead of "pre-alpha".
  
• Implement various safeguards to deal with trying to load levels that don't exists from the level select menu.
  
• Add logic to level select menu to prevent players from going past the last available level.
  
• Add a scene to "End of Levels" level that has a message thanking players and asking them to review the game on Steam and join the Discord.
  

This week I added achievements to the game. They're not currently Steam Achievements, but they will be before the game launches into Early Access (I just need icons for all of them). I'll be adding more achievements as development continues and I think of more things that would make good achievements.


This is one of the oldest levels that's still in the game. It's a pretty simple concept, just a dart board that you have to jump into. It's a nice, straight forward level with a little bit of a twist.

• Implement back button in the stats/achievements sub-menu.
  
• In-game achievements menu is complete!
  
• Implemented 29 achievements (with more to come!)
  
• Add achievement notification popup that displays when you unlock an achievement.
  
• Fix several compiler warnings.
  
• Fixed issue where achievements wouldn't fire properly in the first level after changing the save file.
  
• Figured out a way to modify Script Execution Order (been broken for a few months).
  
• Fix bug where hidden replay ghosts still caused explosion VFX.
  
• Fix issue where players could get stuck on on the surface of water while swimming.
  
• Increase notification description font size.
  
• Fix various bugs with "They See Me Rollin'" achievement.
  
• Add achievement progress popup (shows "X / Y" for certain achievements).
  
• Fix opponents floating slightly off the ground in Sports!!!
• Update Sports!!! field goal models.
  
• Adjust Sports!!! level geometry to be bigger.
  
• Add caching layer to Achievement.IsUnlocked() checks to avoid unnecessary disk reads.
  
• Update stats to have a single distance value (instead of separate air & ground values).
  
• Add "Total Jump Height" to stats menu.
  
• Fix distance stat recording bugs.
  
• Dismiss Achievement notifications when leaving or restarting a level.
  
• Show Achievement completion numbers in achievements menu.
  
• Add & adjust close button placement for stats & achievements menu.
  
• Update Controlled Fall ring colliders to be more reliable.
  
• Experiment with Hamster Ball power up.
  
• BREAKING CHANGE: Reworked the save system to use fewer files. This dramatically improves performance for certain things, like calculating total stars / percent completion. This is not compatible with the prior save system and will result in all progress being reset.
  
• Add file extensions to various save-related files.
  
• Fix bug where "No Partial Credit" achievement would unlock incorrectly.
  
• Update styling for various levels.
  
• Green levels are greener.
  
• Update models for sheep on Shepherd (they have ears now).
  
• Update Shepherd surface materials.
  
• Fix bug where pause menu button wrapping included an extra invisible button for some reason.
  
• Experiment with styling on various levels.
  

This was a short week, since I'm transitioning from these announcements going up on Saturdays to Wednesdays. As I approach the Early Access launch, I'll be showing a new level in each of these posts, here's the first one, titled "Getting Tilted":

And here's my best time:



The major thing I did this week was adjust the star times for every single level in the game. The way I thought about the original star times was:

• 1 Star: You did it!
  
• 2 Stars: You demonstrated a strong understanding of the mechanics, but didn't use any super jumps.
  
• 3 Stars: You used entirely super jumps, and demonstrated mastery of the mechanics / nuances of the game.
  

Part of my justification behind this breakdown was that I wanted to convey to players that there is a level of mastery that allows them to achieve much faster completion times than they initially thought they could. This often led to first time players trying a level, beating it with 1 star, going back and getting a second star, and then saying "Yeah that's impossible". It also lead to some serious frustration when players continued to bang their heads (literally) against levels without understanding certain things about the mechanics that could make achieving the 3 Star times significantly easier. I tried to prevent some of that by labelling the 3 Star times as "Impossible?", but people love collecting stars in games.

The star times weren't really a great way to convey this "next level" of player expertise, but for a while they were the only way I had. This changed when I added Steam Leaderboards. The leaderboard scores show the absolute peak of PogoChamp, even beyond what I think is possible, and if players need some advice about how to speed up their time, they can click in and watch a replay instantly. It's an amazing tool for teaching players what's possible in the game, and significantly more effective than oppressive star times.

With the leaderboard replays in place, it didn't make sense for the star times to be so strict. Almost across the board I adjusted them so that the old 2 Star times are the new 3 Star times. But for those of you who appreciated the challenge of the ultra-strict 3 star times, don't worry, I have something planned ;)


I also spent some time this week experimenting with new features that probably won't make it into the game. Sometimes it's important to try out something weird to re-ignite your enthusiasm, and this experimentation helped with that. I tried adding a speed-line effect based on character speed, but it didn't really make sense for this game, since the character changes direction pretty suddenly. It makes sense in racing-style games, since you're pretty much always moving in the same direction / away from the camera. If anyone has a good example of this kind of effect that handles directional changes well, let me know!

I also played around with leaving skid marks on the level when the player slides. I kind of like the idea of leaving a "permanent mark" on the level and having it be scuffed up and messy by the time you play a level for the 30th time, but in practice it looked kinda dumb. Overall though I think it was valuable, and gave me some ideas for possible future mechanics.

• Fix replay character outline not rendering (due to Unity update).
  
• Update 2 and 3 star times for all 56 levels.
  
• Prototype speed line visual effects.
  
• Prototype skid marks from sliding.
  
• Fix issue where gravity was still affecting the players while they were teleporting.
  
• Add controller rumble to crash, landing and bumps.
  
• Fix issue where bumping into something while crashing would skip rumble firing.
  
• Relabel 3 star time from "Impossible?" to "Expert" now that they are less difficult.
  
• Remove some old disabled UI elements from Stats menu prefab.
  
• Experimenting with Achievements UI.
  

And don't forget to wishlist the game!

Last week I mentioned that I was planning to not update the demo for a few weeks, so that I could work on getting the new content ready for the Early Access launch. As I worked on the game I ran into a few serious bugs that also affected the demo, so I actually ended up uploading new demo builds a few times. It's not that difficult to swap back and forth, and I've streamlined the process a bit, so I think my new policy will be to only update the demo build if something major is added, or if an important bug has been fixed.

After some initial hesitation (and a lot of Valheim), I finally got around to restyling the 35 levels I had made previously that weren't included in the demo. I was initially worried that because the level order isn't totally finalized, I would have to restyle levels multiple times, and that would mean a lot of wasted effort on my part. Eventually I decided to frame the situation a different way: "The new levels aren't currently playable [the lighting and colors make them difficult to look at]. If you want to figure out the order, you need to actually playtest with them, so just style them already." This was enough to get me to just apply some "default" styles to the remaining 35 levels. It also didn't take very long, only a few hours in the morning, so even if I have to do it again a few more times it's not that big a deal.

The next major thing to do is to re-calibrate all the 2 and 3 star times for all 56 levels. I go back and forth about how much work I think this will be, but I just need to do it, and I think it should only take a few hours to figure out appropriate completion times. Wish me luck!


I've decided to change the day of the week that I post weekly updates. From now on I'll be posting updates on Wednesdays. Posting on Saturdays has been alright, but I found that I would only work on the update posts and not actually work on the game. Changing to Wednesday should be good at forcing me to quickly make these announcements (I'll need to finish them before I go to work), and will totally free up my Saturdays to work on game content. Also #wishlistwednesday.

• Game now pauses when the Steam overlay is opened.
  
• Fix bug where opening leaderboard locked out some controls after completing a level.
  
• Update Unity version to 2020.4.1f1
  
• Fixing production builds (they were broken in strange new ways).
  
• Fix level entry being broken when not connected to Steam.
  
• Controller warning screen had the text "Button" displayed in the middle of the screen.
  
• Add level # and monospace editor fonts to Level Order editor.
  
• Update "Point and Shoot" level geometry.
  
• Add water tutorial level: "Splash".
  
• Remove difficulty display from level info UI (the difficulty rating was intended as a developer thing anyway).
  
• Fix bug where retry / exit level inputs could be broken if you crash -> exit level -> reenter level -> crash.
  
• Streamline transition back and forth from demo builds a little bit.
  
• Fix issue where jump and bump sound effects would play when speeds were very low.
  
• Tweak level order.
  
• Various level geometry updates.
  
• Prevent water splashes when level geometry is in the water.
  
• Experimented with new level color schemes.
  
• Fix bug where jumping into water multiple times (with Fish powerup) didn't trigger splash effect multiple times.
  
• Adjusted goal zone collider so that it picks up rolling characters more aggressively (you could stick your head inside a goal zone while rolling and it wouldn't count).
  
• Updated level geometry on 20+ levels.
  
• Adjust lighting and materials for 35 levels.