8-Bit Adventures 1: The Forgotten Journey Remastered Edition News

Hey there, great to see ya! How’s everything going? Had a good Halloween?

Oh, me? I’m just writing the October 2019 update for 8-Bit Adventures 2! …Yes, I know it’s the 2nd of November. For some reason, that’s just the way I’ve ended up doing this. Eh, don't think too much about it. The months go by so quickly now haha. But enough small talk with myself – let’s get into it!


First off, Happy Halloween for the other night! I posted this little GIF on the actual day (via Twitter @CriticalGamesAU), but in case anyone missed it…

In 8-Bit Adventures 2, you'll find ghosts and ghouls galore! But despite all the fiendish foes you'll face, on this Hallows' Eve, I thought a stroll amongst the graves might be a more appropriate treat...



But these ain't your average, mindless Zombies. They may be maggot-ridden, but they're on a mission - to stop you from reaching their master, no matter the cost! Poor guy - that looks like it hurts...




This month will probably be a little light on the details, but I always like to show off a new batch of screenshots and animated GIFs! I’m approaching the end of testing what I consider ‘Act 1’ of the game (based on a 3 Act structure), so if you’re hyper concerned about spoilers…well, this update should be okay, but we’re getting to a point where I’m being extra mindful of what I show – while also trying to keep things interesting haha.



Oh, and don’t mind the names for Warrior/Thief/Mage – these images are taken from my personal save file (they’re actually the same names I used when testing the first game too!).

Jerram (the artist) has now totally, fully, 100% finished his work on 8-Bit Adventures 2, so give him a round of applause! He’s done an absolutely incredible job, and a lot of my time in October was spent implementing the ending assets he’s made, as well as many other odds and ends which enhance the look of the game, and frankly make it feel polished and complete – such as the final battle transition effect (which I’ll definitely be showing in the near future!).



We’ve still been contending with some very tricky bugs, but Sufyan (the programmer) has been hard at work taking care of them. There’s still plenty more to do (I just ran into one a couple of days ago where every time I defended in a particular battle, my character would get faster XD), but we’re on the road to making 8-Bit Adventures 2 airtight by release!

One of the dungeons I worked on this past month is the Ocean Cave – which is so dark, that unless you’re standing near a light source, you can’t see! These battles are pitch black and enemies appear only as vague outlines – which actually alters their moveset a little. To even the playing field, you'll need to lead them close to one of the many torches before starting the battle. This will let you fight them under optimal conditions, helping you see and revealing their true forms!



But if you do get stuck in the dark, don’t worry – Emma is blind, and fights using her other senses, so she’ll be your secret weapon! If you get caught like this, it’s usually best to put Charlie on support, using Items or Abilities to aid her. But the monsters here are no joke (well, power-wise anyway =P), so be careful and try to put yourself in the best position possible!



Another thing I wanted to briefly touch upon is team attacks! In 8-Bit Adventures 2, we have Combo (2 people) and Trio (3 people) Abilities which combine your party members’ various skills. To gain one of these special team-up attacks, both characters must have learnt specific Abilities. For example, Love’s Shield requires Thief to have learnt First Aid, and Warrior to have learnt Shield Wall.



These abilities can be activated by any of the participating characters (except Robot – he functions a little differently), however they also drain AP/MP from everyone involved - so be careful you don’t overuse them. Otherwise, your whole party might end up running on empty!

Also a minor mention, but the Escape Amulet from the first game returns in 8-Bit Adventures 2 (it’s one of the things I set up this month)! If you ever need to get back to the entrance of a dungeon in a hurry, just open up your Key Items and use the Escape Amulet to zip straight back to the entrance. Leaving the dungeon will re-spawn all of its enemies though (at least, under normal circumstances), so you’ll have to decide if it’s worth the risk!


To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!

You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev

And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!



As usual, I’m afraid it’s not the update we’ve all been waiting for – but I just want you guys to know that I’m still here and doing my best to get everything done. And you know, I’m really happy with how everything’s turning out! This might be a bit of a strange highlight, but emerging onto the Xanthus Desert section of the World Map for the first time felt really satisfying. I know I made the thing, but there’s something about a fully realised World Map that still just feels *right*. I’m hoping to deliver RPG veterans a lot of those moments – not just references that play to nostalgia, but moments that capture the style and feel of games long past in a new context.

And I guess on a grander level, I hope to tell a positive story about the things that really matter in our lives; one that embodies both a hopeful optimism, and a sense that we can overcome any obstacle. I feel these elements – the sense of “striving for a better tomorrow”, as Hironobu Sakaguchi once put it - were key to making so many JRPGs into beloved classics. We’ll see how I do, but essentially I want people to leave my games feeling happy and re-energised, rather than frustrated or depressed. In these troubled times, I feel like making people smile is the most helpful thing I can do with my work. Hopefully 8-Bit Adventures 2 will make you smile too! =)
~Josh

Phew, I’m so glad the August update’s done, now to get back to- Wait, what do you mean it’s the 1st of October?! Uh…well then, I guess we’d better get on with the September update!

Yes, while my understanding of calendars might be a bit iffy, I once again come bearing screenshots and insights into the seemingly ‘never-ending story’ that is 8-Bit Adventures 2’s development. Thankfully, that movie *does* in fact have an ending…which may technically be grounds for a false advertising lawsuit, but in our case makes me very optimistic! So hop on your nearest Luckdragon, and let’s get into it!


September’s been an interesting mix of swift progress and frustrating roadblocks.

On the bright side, Jerram has finished the ending and is just wrapping up the last few odds and ends; after which, that’ll be the graphical assets completely and totally 100% finished! Obviously I can’t show you anything from it, but the ending looks utterly fantastic and is by far our most ambitious cinematic sequence in the game. This took a *lot* of figuring out – particularly trying to convey the emotions of the scene - but I really think we leave players on a high note. Jerram really went above and beyond here! But while I can’t show you the ending, I can show you one of my favourite shots from the opening!



Beyond that, I’m currently testing and tweaking the game at the 3 and a half hour mark. Even though hour-wise this definitely isn’t anywhere near as far as I’d hoped to be by the end of September, there’s a big reason for this - which *is* a type of progress of its own.

Basically, this has been the month of bugs haha. To give you some idea of what a difference they make, one large city area with no bugs took only a day and a half to finish, whereas one particular dungeon took a week and a half – partly due to cutscene issues in a big story sequence, but predominantly because of bugs. So while I’ve been trying to play through the game, I’ve also been spending a lot of time trying to figure out, document, and (in cases where I’m able) fix some very tricky problems with the game. Sufyan (the programmer) is currently working on a lot of fixes for me, so things should be a lot smoother once they’re implemented.



A lot of the problems have been things which only really reveal themselves if you’re playing the game in a linear, long-term form; like players will once it’s finished. For example, Thief has a passive ability which gives her a massive speed boost on the first turn of battle. But, at some seemingly random point in my playthrough, that ability just suddenly stopped working, which consequently throws off the turn order that the player’s supposed to have for every battle with her in it. And that then compounds with a bunch of other bugs, making balancing battles pretty tricky! Of course, that’s why it’s so important to test games as a whole, rather than just in vertical slices – you run into all the conflicts between different, evolving systems that way.



While it’s disappointing (and often hair-pullingly frustrating =P) to encounter these problems at a point when I desperately want to make rapid progress…they had to be found. Much better that I run into this stuff now than you guys at launch! So even though it can be a little disheartening, bug fixes are an important kind of progress too.




But the actual content I've completed has been pretty significant as well; both in terms of big story events, and the long-term progression of various gameplay systems. This makes it a little tough to show things off, but I’m making sure to stay well away from any big spoilers!



*Please Note - there are a couple of bugs on display within these battle GIFs with the enemy HP bars, and Omega Burst gauge. Apologies for this, but I still wanted to show them off!*

Some of the battle GIFs demonstrate the ways in which enemies can work together in battle. For example, the Molten Man and Lava Lady – when both foes are alive in battle – can combine their powers for a Red Hot Combination attack. Whereas the Rampaging Ram, with its randomised attacks (which will either attack the party or its own allies) can accidentally enrage The Hibernator, forcing the player to think on their feet (that bear is an enemy you want to keep docile for as long as possible!).



It’s a small touch, but I’ve also changed the way that shopkeeper dialogue works. We’ve all been there; we just want to buy a few dozen potions, but every time you have to skip through the shopkeeper’s opening and closing dialogue. The text gives the game some personality, sure, but it’s frustrating on repeat visits when you’re just looking to buy.



So what I did is open up the counter of every store. The first time you speak over the counter, you’ll get the full dialogue. But every time after that, now that you’re acquainted, you’ll just see a quick and easy menu that gets you right into buying and selling. And if you want to read the full dialogue again, just talk to the shopkeeper from behind the counter and they’ll be happy to have a good chinwag!



As I've said before, 8-Bit Adventures 2 is a mixture of old and new; both in its attempt to blend retro and modern game design, as well as in its environments which include the majority of locations from the first game (albeit re-designed!). As you can see below, the Volcano is one of these areas. It was a bit of a tricky dungeon in the original, but this time you've got a few more tools and tricks at your disposal - and a much better balanced game haha. Of course, even though you'll meet new enemies (as you can see above), there might be a familiar face or two to greet you...and maybe blow you up. Who can say? ;)




To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!

You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev

And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!



Everything I said in last month's wrap-up still holds true, so there's not much I can add at this point (I recommend reading it if you haven't!). It was just really important to me that I take the time to check-in with you guys, and let you know how we're going - both the good and bad. And to be clear, most of it *is* good! If you guys could see the full, spoilerific picture that I can see...well, I'm extremely hopeful that everyone will be really happy with what we've created here =) Because even though the speed at which I'm making progress can feel incredibly demoralising, I'm really proud of what we've achieved and I honestly can't wait for all of you to see everything 8-Bit Adventures 2 has in store!

On that note, for anyone concerned about this update format, I'm absolutely conscious of spoilers, and am doing my best to keep that stuff to a minimum =P I hope you all have an awesome October, and I'll see you soon with a (hopefully) equally awesome update!
~Josh

Summer turns to Autumn (well, Winter turns to Spring for me in the Southern Hemisphere!), and with it comes the 8-Bit Adventures 2 August update! I’ve made a bunch of new GIFs showcasing some of what I’ve been working on, so I’ll try and keep my commentary to a minimum this time! Will I succeed? Read on to find out…

…But if you look at your scroll bar, the answer is clearly no =P

*Please note, some of the below GIFs had to be slightly compressed, or their framerate edited, to fit into Steam's 3MB limit.*



August has been full of great progress, but I had a bit of a rough start to the month! The day after I wrote the July update, my dog tripped me over while we were crossing the road, causing me to face-plant on the asphalt XD Unfortunately, both of my hands (particularly my palms) were injured, and this really slowed me down for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, though, the rest of August went pretty smoothly!



As you may remember, I’m currently playing through 8-Bit Adventures 2 minute by minute, tweaking/testing/balancing/polishing every detail to get it ready for all of you! It took me the whole of July to reach the 30 minute mark, and now at the end of August I’m sitting at 2 hours in. Now, that may sound really worrying, but as I said last month, these early sections of the game are by far the most unpolished and were somewhat unfinished (as they were created relatively early in development, before most of the graphics were completed).



The great news is that the last half an hour of that 2 hour progression has only taken me three days to fully test – as opposed to the previous hour and a half which basically took 2 months. I’m finally getting to the point of the game where, back in 2017, I’d started to develop a syntax – a language and a logic for constructing environments, cutscenes, and recurring events (e.g. shops or map transitions) in this engine. So there’s now more and more consistency in the content I’m testing, which makes this whole process a much quicker and smoother experience than it was prior to this point. If this continues, as I expect it will, then we should be in a great place by the end of September.



Honestly, testing the game like this been a really good experience! Everything’s pretty much just as I hoped it would be. Battles feel snappy, responsive, and look great, cutscenes are concise and entertaining, everything feels very neatly paced (areas have enough time to breath, but you’re constantly doing something/going somewhere new), environments are fleshed out just enough without being intimidating or overbearing, and I’m still chuckling at some of the silly NPC dialogue I wrote a couple of years ago =P Obviously this is just my (extremely biased!) opinion, but I’m really proud of what we’ve made – and more than a little relieved ;)



One of the challenges in this early portion of 8-Bit Adventures 2 has been figuring out the right approach to difficulty. The player only controls a single character during the first dungeon, and in a Conditional Turn-Based Battle System (to borrow Final Fantasy X’s terminology) that singular party member can either receive too many advantages or be swamped by enemies, if the game’s turn order system isn’t designed correctly.



As it’s the start of the game, I’ve kept things fairly simple so that players who are inexperienced with turn-based combat can ease themselves in. In these first couple of hours, you can technically progress by simply mashing the attack button. However, this is definitely not optimal, and players doing this will likely take more damage and so use up more of their healing items. So even though this early stage of the game is quite easy, playing smart and making the most of your abilities still has its benefits for more advanced players!



One thing I don’t believe I’ve mentioned before is that your old pal Save Point has gained some new, handy features inside dungeons! In addition to telling you when danger’s approaching, he can also provide some general tips to help you prepare for upcoming boss fights. These tips are 100% optional, and they’re intended to reduce the need for obnoxious trial and error.

For example, say there’s a fire boss coming up, and your best attacker has a fire sword which will, consequently, heal the boss whenever you hit it. Well, Save Point might be able to warn you of that fact ahead of time; and so rather than forcing you to reset and equip a different sword (because you now know that the boss is a fire elemental), you could preemptively strategise, and go into that battle a little more prepared - no restarts required! I’ve played several RPGs which can catch the player off-guard in frustrating ways, so I’m hoping an optional hints system will help to alleviate this –for players who want the advice!



Additionally, Save Point can also revive all of the monsters inside a dungeon. Because enemies are no longer random encounters and physically roam the world, I didn’t want to make them respawn every time you left the room (that can quickly become time consuming and frustrating). But some players might be hunting a rare item, or wish to grind, and so I wanted a way for enemies to be re-fought. If the player leaves a dungeon, all of the enemies will be restored automatically, but what if you want to remain inside the dungeon? Well, just ask Save Point and he’ll revive every beastie you’ve slain!



While I don’t imagine this will be a commonly used feature, I feel it’s important to give players as many options as possible. In the very first RPG I ever developed, I made grinding impossible (you could only fight each enemy once – after that, they’d permanently disappear) as I didn’t want players to waste their time on it. However, I found that some players disliked this, as they either needed an extra boost to get past a challenging boss, or they simply enjoyed the act of grinding and feeling overpowered. Their feedback taught me an important lesson, and so I wanted to avoid this pitfall in 8-Bit Adventures 2 by offering players the choice.



And finally, as promised in last month’s update, I wanted to show off the Game Over screen effect that Sufyan (the programmer) has made for the game, with Jerram’s (the artist’s) excellent concept and visual design. Can anyone guess which NES game inspired the Game Over screen design?



But death isn't the end! You can immediately retry any battle (without any penalties), so there's no need to give up if you find yourself staring at this screen. Hopefully you won’t be seeing it too much though! ;)



To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!

You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev

And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!


~Josh

Even though it might *technically* be August now, that’s no reason to skip the month that was. So let’s dig into the July 2019 8-Bit Adventures 2 Update! This time I get into the nitty gritty of what we’ve all been working on, peppered with an assortment of brand new GIFs from the start of the game!

*While almost everything's final, please note that a handful of effects/details are still being tweaked.



Big question! Thankfully, my predictions came true, and this month I began playing through 8-Bit Adventures 2. Essentially, I comb through the game, examining every moment and polishing/fixing/tweaking/changing/adding – whatever needs to be done to get it ready for release!



While this is a great stage to be at, I’m sure you can imagine that this is a very big job for an elaborate RPG that’s likely somewhere in the 20+ hour range (I’ll keep you updated on playtime – I’m very curious to find out the exact number myself!).

At the time of writing, the first 30 minutes of 8-Bit Adventures 2 are polished and fully playable. That includes a dangerous trek through the desert, and an introduction to our new playable character Charlie in Pheopolis Castle.



Now, 30 minutes may not sound like much, but there were a few mitigating factors. Firstly, I still had to actually create the opening sequence of the game; those first 8 minutes required a lot of work, and I wanted to make sure it was as polished and exciting an introduction as it could possibly be. However, this took a significant portion of July.
Secondly, the content that takes place in Pheopolis Castle is quite old (created in late 2015, before I'd even switched engines!), and so has needed a lot of work to bring it up to speed.

Unfortunately, it’s Winter here in Australia, and I ended up being unwell for a couple of weeks, which took quite a toll on my productivity. Also, a few other things (family/personal) also contributed to that toll, so it’s been quite challenging to get things done as quickly as I’d wanted.





Beyond all of that, Jerram (the artist) and I have been planning out the cinematic shots for the game’s ending cutscene, and boy – it’s a whopper! The challenge has been figuring out how to make it feasible while incorporating all of the important, emotional moments it needs to.
When I first told him what I had in mind for this, he told me: “You’re crazy XD Crazy ambitious, I should say!” So that’s a good sign haha. But whether I'm crazy or not, he’s hard at work on it =P

Sufyan (the programmer) has also been working constantly to implement various new features. He's made it so that the game can now differentiate between Playstation and Xbox controllers (allowing us to display correct buttons in the opening tutorial), fixed some in-battle glitches, and (based on Jerram’s excellent concept) created a really cool looking ‘Game Over’ sequence that I can't wait to show off in future!



As for me, when you progress through a game step-by-step like this – just as a player would – it’s a very different experience than the task-focused work I’ve done up to this point (which was mostly a lot of loading in and out of thin slices of the game; dealing with thousands of individual pieces, rather than a collective whole). It reveals a lot of new insights into your game, and there are dozens of changes and tweaks I’ve made to streamline the experience.

After spending a lot of time in menus, or fighting dozens of battles in a row, you really get a good sense of what ends up being frustrating or unclear. For example, we’re reducing the number of pop-up windows that appear at the end of every battle (e.g. telling you how much Gold and EXP you earned, etc.). While in isolation they seemed perfectly fine, the number of times you had to press confirm became quite frustrating after only a few hours of constant testing haha.



So while there were a lot of challenges to deal with, the work I did in July has really laid the foundations for what’s to come. The further I get into the game, the less will need overhauling, so I’m hoping to really pick up the pace as we go!

We’re finally getting there everyone =D



One exciting piece of news I wanted to highlight is that July saw over 900 people add 8-Bit Adventures 2 to their Steam Wishlist! For comparison, June only had 78 new wishlisters, so this was an extraordinary leap, and bodes extremely well for the game’s future.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea why so many new people discovered the game in July; it just suddenly…happened! Steam’s new machine-learning curator might have made an impact, but beyond that, I’m stumped haha.



But nonetheless, I wanted to thank every single person who has added 8-Bit Adventures 2 to their Steam Wishlist. Not only does it mean a lot personally (as it shows players taking an interest and putting their confidence in our work), but it will also be integral to getting the game noticed when it releases on the Steam storefront.

Wishlists play a very large role in Steam’s algorithms, so if you want to support an indie developer, adding their game to your own wishlist is one of the best things you can do!



To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!

You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev

And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!

Just to reiterate from last month, I wrote a short article about Final Fantasy VII Remake and RPG Design, which made it as a Featured Post on the front page of Gamasutra! Using the Remake as a framework for discussion, I examine some of the ways developers can add value to their RPGs *beyond* the core narrative.

I don’t know how interesting it would be to most people, but I bring up 8-Bit Adventures 2 a handful of times, so I just wanted to mention it again in case anyone was curious: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshuaHallaran/20190624/345339/Expanding_Midgar__Simple_Solutions_for_Satisfying_Postgame_Content.php


~Josh

Is is just me, or do months seem to get shorter and shorter? Well one way or another, it's time for the June 2019 8-Bit Adventures 2 Update! Steam wasn't letting me upload pictures, otherwise this would have come out days ago haha. It's a bit of a small one again (we're in the calm before the promotional storm right now), but it should give you guys a sense of where I am right now (and show off a little more). We've also got to cover Steam Summer Sale deals, so let's get into it!



First off, I’m on track to meet the prediction I made in the last update, where I said I hoped to “start playing/combing through the game at the start of July”. It’s always a good sign when my predictions turn out to be accurate haha - and this should definitely be the case, as I’m working on the final cutscene at the moment (it’s a little more than just a cutscene, but that gives you the gist!).



Jerram is still hard at work finishing up the graphical assets, and it's been fantastic seeing so many final touches be added to the game. For example, as you can see below, every playable character now has a unique sprinting animation! Not only does this look great, but it also makes movement in the game *feel* significantly smoother - especially when playing with a controller.



Thanks to Sufyan (the programmer), we’ve also continued making several tweaks to the presentation and battle system. For example, anyone that played the demo may recall that 8-Bit Adventures 2 features a Limit Break-style mechanic. However, when the ‘Limit’ bar finished filling up, it could easily go unnoticed by the player that their special attack was ready to go. So we’ve added both animation and a sound effect to communicate more clearly that the bar is filled. This is the sort of minutiae that we’re working through, while I simultaneously finish up the big stuff.



On a similar note, I wanted to mention that enemy portraits on the turn list are no longer generic (like they were in the demo, and some screenshots). Every foe that you fight in 8-Bit Adventures 2 now has their own unique graphic to represent them in the turn order list. Again, it’s a small addition, but this is the sort of polish that I believe really enhances a game.



Unfortunately, because of the type of content I’ve been working on (spoiler-y and mechanical), I don’t really have much to show this month. I hope to be in a different position by the end of July, but for now please bear with me! More than anything, I just wanted to avoid another missed month and keep you up-to-date on the game's progress.



For the next week and a half (until 10:05 AM on July 9th Pacific Time), you can get 8-Bit Adventures at 60% off! That means you can own it for just $4 USD! You can also get the fantastic Remastered Soundtrack 30% off ($3.50 USD), or the Game + Soundtrack bundle 45% off (that’s only $6.60 USD)!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/370300
Additionally, my most recent game Tales Across Time is also participating in the sale, making an already cheap game even cheaper! You can now get it 20% off - that's just $2.39 USD!!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/461710
As I've said before, these discounts won't get any lower in the future, so now's the time to buy!

As has always been the case, every purchase goes towards 8-Bit Adventures 2's development. Most things are now fully paid for, but we've still got a few things to cover, so any and all support is greatly appreciated!



Some of you may have heard that Steam’s newest Summer Sale competition has caused a lot of trouble for some indie developers. Essentially, there was some confusion about the phrasing, and it caused many players to delete smaller or cheaper games from their wishlist (while all people actually needed to do was reorder their lists).

I’m extremely grateful that my games have been unaffected by this, however for some developers it has been a big issue. Wishlists play a very large role in Steam’s algorithms, which in turn affect how many people see your game on the storefront. If you’d like to learn more about the situation, I recommend reading this article: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/345689/Devs_hit_by_Steam_promo_confusion_as_games_are_pulled_from_Wishlists.php

Anyway, I just wanted to include a quick PSA, on behalf of my fellow devs, that deleting games off your wishlist is *not* necessary for the Summer Sale promotion =)



I apologise that this was such a lean update; I really ran out of time to prepare it this month, but I still wanted to post *something*. As I mentioned above, the best thing I can say is that so far we’re on track with my predictions – and that’s a very good thing.



To make sure you don’t miss any news in future, I recommend following @CriticalGamesAU on Twitter, as that’s the best way I’ve found to keep up-to-date!

You can also check out the 8-Bit Adventures 2 Website for more info and screenshots, or check Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/CriticalGamesDev

And don't forget to visit the Critical Games Creator Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33038547
Follow that page or wishlist the game to be notified when 8-Bit Adventures 2 is finally released!

On a slightly unusual note, I wrote a short article about Final Fantasy VII Remake and RPG Design in my off time this month, which made it as a Featured Post on the front page of Gamasutra! Using Remake as a framework for discussion, I examine some of the ways developers can add value to their RPGs *beyond* the core narrative.

I don’t know how interesting it would be to most people, but I bring up 8-Bit Adventures 2 a handful of times, so I just wanted to mention it in case anyone was curious: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshuaHallaran/20190624/345339/Expanding_Midgar__Simple_Solutions_for_Satisfying_Postgame_Content.php


~Josh