Gas Station Story News

[p]Hey there everyone, just a heads up that a big update is coming on Friday this week (November 14th)! Make sure to turn off automatic updates, or finish your current play through before then as the update will be pushed to the public branch, and it will overwrite your save file (the Game Boy ROM at the heart of this game has to be updated, and the save files won't be compatible).[/p][p] [/p][p]Okay, that's it for now. I'll be back on Friday with a full devlog![/p][p]
[/p][p]Love,[/p][p]Enzi[/p]

[p]​Hello all![/p][p]I'm back with a big update that fixes some major game-breaking bugs! There were a few issues with the final boss battle (seemingly mostly from hitting multiple inputs at the same time), so I rebuilt it from scratch using a different scene type that has 8-directional movement. It feels really different from the other battles in the story, but it also fixed the "launch you through the wall" bug (and feels weird, but like, in a good way). There's an additional patch added in as well, just in case that bug still occurs, where pressing the Select button will reset your position to the center of the stage. [/p][p]On that note, I want to talk about updates. Since Gas Station Story is primarily a Game Boy Color game under the hood, there's not really a way for me to make save files compatible across updates as I have to generate a new ROM file every time I write new code. Part of the reason I waited so long to release this game is that I wanted to make sure I polished every corner possible so I wouldn't have to cause anybody to lose their save files. That said, it seems like I missed a few, and since the bugs patched in V 1.1.1 are so major, I couldn't hold off on making this update live (especially since it's been a pretty quiet launch due to the Steam Summer Sale I need to make sure these issues are fixed if/when sales pick up). After this update, I'm going to push any other ROM-changing patches to the Beta branch first, with a devlog post to announce when it will go live on the release branch - so that people can be aware before their saves are overwritten. My genuine apologies to anybody that was affected by this issue! Next project I won't be using such archaic architecture and will be making sure saves can transfer between versions. If there aren’t any other major bugs that need patching, I’ll likely save all public branch updates for a 2.0 version, and if there’s enough interest I’d be open to making a public beta branch for those that want the latest updates.[/p][p]Beyond these fixes, I've also bundled a "Streamer Mode"/"Edgeless Mode"/"Family Friendly Mode"  into the game that can be activated at the title screen by pressing the Select Button (image below): this mode removes the game's edginess (swear words and cigarettes), as well as adding in two new ending variations for this mode only (that override every other potential ending). This is primarily for streamers or content creators that are worried about branding or demonetization, which hasn't been an issue yet but I thought it would be a good idea to build in before I start sending keys to streamers for promotional purposes. I, personally, also find it hilarious that "removing cigarettes" mechanically translates to disabling the smoke animation and changing "cigarettes" to "sugarsticks" in the script.[/p][p][/p][p]That's it for this dev log. Thanks for reading this far! Patch Notes are down below. Next we're going to be working on getting those full achievements integrated in. More coming soon :)[/p][p]Love,[/p][p]Enzi
[/p][p]Patch Notes - V 1.1.1[/p][p]Bugs:[/p][p]- Buying an item from Vendo no longer causes a time travel loop[/p][p]- Clerk no longer goes invisible after pre-boss fight conversation with Sam[/p][p]- Rebuilt final boss fight from scratch, patched out wall collision bug (if for some reason this bug still happens, press Select to reset your position to the center of the screen)[/p][p]- Wizard conversation no longer hardlocks dialogue[/p][p][/p][p]Updates (All):[/p][p]- Point-of-Sale pointer location is now persistent across scenes[/p][p]- Sam relationship balanced (slightly easier to get “Best Ending”)[/p][p]- Added option to “Remove Edginess” (removes swears, drug references, cigarettes, and includes two new ending variations exclusive to this mode, the “Fake Out Family Friendly” endings)[/p][p]- Minor performance improvements[/p][p][/p][p]Updates (Steam):[/p][p]- Swapped A/B button inputs on MacOS and Linux[/p][p]- Added X/Y buttons as inputs for pause menu[/p]

[p]Hello all! If you’re reading this, it means I didn’t perish from a terrible death - which is to say:

GAS STATION STORY IS NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE!

Thank you all so so much for following along with me these past 3.5 years. Learning how to create this project has been a joy, but watching you all play it and react to it has been so much more than that. From the bottom of my heart, thank you 💚

To celebrate the launch, GSS will be on sale for the next week on both Steam and itch! I might continue the discount through the Steam Summer Sale, but I’m not sure if I can add that due to the launch discount.

I’m really looking forward to everyone’s feedback! If you would be so kind as to leave a review on the Steam page, that would help me a lot with discoverability. I also added the Official Soundtrack to Steam for free, make sure to give that a listen - it's available for free as well on my itch (in the form of a GB ROM) and Bandcamp, with links to all of the wonderful artists that created these amazing sounds! There's also a way to listen to the soundtrack in the Steam version, but I don't want to spoil any secrets (or achievements)...

That's it for now! I'll be back soon with updates and patches, but first... I'm gonna take a break (－ω－)

Seriously though, thank you all.

Love,

Enzi

[/p]

​Gas Station Story releases at 9am PST on June 23rd



Be ready​

Hi!

I’m back with an update on the Kickstarter Campaign for Gas Station Story, an overview of planned enhancements that will be coming soon, as well as a peek at the next few months leading up to release. I've got a lot to cover this time so I'm just gonna get into it!

Kickstarter Campaign: Gas Station Story's Kickstarter Campaign was successful! 140 backers came together to raise $4,284 to help me finish development, and I am just so so so grateful for the support. With this, I'll be able to commission more music to extend the soundtrack, create an "Art of Gas Station Story" art book (in PDF form, I'll look at possibly creating physical copies of this book at a later date), compensate a couple of models for the Game Boy Camera portraits, extend the supported platforms to Linux / Steam Deck (more on that down below), as well as pay for some other miscellaneous development fees that will help me get this game across the finish line! I didn't quite meet the stretch goal for a Gas Station Story DX DLC, but I'm still planning on enhancing this title even more in the next year or so after release with a free update. I'll announce more about that when it's ready, but we're already looking at a much better finished game with what was raised! Thank you all so much, endlessly :)

Steam Edition:
I've been messing around with Godot lately to create a new wrapper for PC, huge shout out to GreenFox and his GodotBoy Template, he's been helping me get this working on MacOS. With this new wrapper comes a TON of improvements and quality-of-life updates!

- Display Options -
To start with, check out this snazzy new Overworld!

This is the primary way to experience Gas Station Story in the new PC wrapper. I felt like the surreal/meta feeling of playing an in-game Game Boy on your Game Boy could be enhanced for the PC edition by putting in an era-appropriate in-game PC inside of your PC. There is also a fullscreen option if you prefer that, as well as a toggle for the overlaid CRT filter in both modes.

I've also plugged in some colorblindness accessibility options! I would really like to integrate a screen-reader as I've heard that some of the text in Gas Station Story can be tough to read, but I'm not sure if there's a way to expose the dialogue from the emulator to the Godot build. I'll keep picking at this though and hopefully I can come up with something!

- Keybinding / Controller Support -
You can now choose which keys and buttons are mapped to the GB Emulator! This should allow for limitless options of play, but due to the limitations of emulation, I won't be able to switch the in-game glyphs to match players' chosen inputs. Due to this, I'll be changing the "Z Key" glyph recently added in to the PC builds back to the "A Button" glyph from the GB build, as well as reverting tutorial verbiage back to GB appropriate language.

I've also tested out controller support with a DualShock 4 and a Nintendo Switch Pro controller, and they're working great! I don't have an Xbox controller or a DualSense to test with, but I'm pretty sure it will work just fine as well.

- Compatibility -
I'm also happy to announce that Gas Station Story will be compatible with Linux / Steam Deck at launch! I'm working on a way to test this out with a buddy of mine, so stayed tuned. This game is really built for the handheld experience, so I'm excited to get this thing optimized for PC / Linux handhelds.


Roadmap to Release:
As you can see, we're on track to release in roughly 3 months! I'll be doing a lot of promo in June for NEXT Fest - possibly streaming myself playing or putting the final touches on the game if I can get off work, and then releasing shortly after. The soundtrack extension is already being worked on, and I'm really excited to show you what's cooking. But, if music commissions or achievements take too long to finish up before release, I'll patch them in later with a 1.1 update so we don't have to delay any further. I know some of you will have been waiting for 3.5 years by June, and I don't want you to have to wait any longer!

Miscellaneous: - Pierrot à la Mode Goes Free-to-Play! -
In case you missed it, Gas Station Story's "Spiritual Prequel" is now Free-to-Play (and I explained my reasoning behind this decision in another devlog, which you can find here)! You can download it now on Steam or itch - see if you can get a perfect score and unlock the secret ending!

- Gas Station Story in the Press -
Gas Station Story was recently featured in a couple of articles - with a Preview here and a Review here. Thanks to Seb at retrododo and Oliver at waytoomanygames for the coverage!


Okay, that's all I've got for you for now. I've got quite a bit left to do in the next few months, so you won't hear from me that much leading up to release, but I'll make sure to post another log when the official release date is set. See ya at NEXT Fest!

Love,
Enzi